A Wielder and His Students

Chapters

Explanations At Dinner And Daily Outings
Meeting One of the Chosen
Enter The Mane 6
Interlude: Book of Prophecies
Mark of Mastery
Gotta Get Back
Welcome to the Satellite
Alfheim, Land of the Fairies
Journey to the World Tree
JD and the Lightning Chariot
At The End of the World
Interlude: Flashback I

Explanations At Dinner And Daily Outings

After that little fiasco, the princesses calmed the ponies of Canterlot and changed into more presentable dresses that were similar to the ones they wore. Night had fallen and the four of us were situated in the dining room with dinner served; spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce. I ate my dinner pretty quick, not caring if royalty was watching, yeah I was that hungry.

Celestia giggles, "I love a stallion that can eat."

That was enough to get me to eat a little less sloppily while I blushed a little, invoking a few more laughs.

I cleared my throat, "So, um, Princess Cadence—"

"Just Cadence is fine."

"...Okay, Cadence, where's that Shining Armor character I met? Will he be joining us?"

"No, he's working late to make nopony else breaks in." she sighs, "I just wish my husband wouldn't take things so seriously nowadays."

"Well, you and your aunts almost lost your...virginity," I cough nervously, "so if I were married to either of you, I would do my level best to ensure your safety and protection after something like that."

Luna gazed at me with her bedroom eyes, "Is that a suggestion of marriage?"

I choked on my spaghetti a bit before forming a coherent sentence, "W-W-W-What?! That's not what I—"

"So you don't think we're attractive?"

"That's not what I'm saying! You three are absolutely gorgeous! But...I..."

But it was too late to say anything else; the three of them looked at me in surprise, then smiled as they stood up and walked over to my seat.

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

Before I could say anything else, one by one they planted a kiss on my lips, making my blush come back full force.

"Thank you." Celestia said, "Whenever we tease stallions, they either blurt out embarrassing things or their true intentions. But you...you said you think we're gorgeous. Beauty is skin deep, you know."

"Um..." I was speechless, they were teasing me to see if I wanted something out of all of this, but what they found were my true thoughts. Yeah, they were downright beautiful, any sane person would think that, but the stallions that courted them either had an ulterior motive or were just plain stupid.

"I'll tell you what; if you can answer our questions, we'll each take you out for a night around Canterlot, starting tomorrow, what do you say?"

I couldn't answer any faster, "Yes! That would be great!"

"Good. Now then, what was the weapon you used against Armored Tyrant?"

"I agree, it is strange for a blade to cleanly cut through solid steel." Luna added.

"I'll do you one better, I'll show you." I stand up from my chair, back up from the table, and in a flash of dark light and static, my new Keyblade appeared.

"My word!" Luna said in awe.

"You can say that again! How did you do that?" Cadence added.

"Well...how do I put this?...this is called a Keyblade, it can either be a weapon of light or darkness, as one cannot coexist without the other, it's the only weapon that defeat the black creatures known as Heartless, and it can open any lock."

Celestia examined it as she walked around me, as if she scrutinizing my every move. Needless to say, I was a bit uncomfortable by this, when Celestia stood in front of me again, she lit up her horn with a yellow light, which wrapped itself around my Keyblade as it started to hover over to her.

"Hmm...interesting design..." she muttered.

But her examination didn't last long as my Keyblade vanished and reappeared back into my hand, surprising the girls.

"Uh, sorry. I forgot to mention that the Keyblade can only be wielded by the person it chooses." I explain.

"Incredible..." Celestia whispered.

"Can we wield Keyblades of our own?" Luna asked me.

"Yes, if they choose you. But..."

"But...?" Cadence coaxed.

"Keyblades are very picky about their owners, but with the power that was granted to me, I can bestow Keyblades to others."

"Really?!" Cadence exclaimed, "How'd you get a power like that?!"

I sigh, not liking this part of the explanation, "Alright...I'll start from the beginning..."

First I explained the Mayan calendar, which foretold humanity's end at the year 2012, I told them that an all powerful deity named God told me it was a test that only a selected few passed and I was one of them, I asked for three things as I was offered a new life in a new world; a Keyblade, journal, and a Book of Prophecies that predicts the future of the world I enter.

"...And well, here I am." I concluded.

The girls were flabbergasted, I guess they never thought a calendar could foretell the future.

"Wait...'Book of Prophecies'?" Celestia asked.

Oh, shoot.

"I'll show it to you three later, when we're in private, but this stays between the four of us." I state.

They nod as the doors to the dining room burst open by a unicorn pony with icy blue eyes, blonde mane and tail, wearing a fancy suit. He had this pompous air around him, and it made me want to yack up my dinner.

"Auntie! Why didn't you tell me dinner was served?!" he said, all whiny.

Celestia sighs in exasperation, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Well, my dear nephew, this was a private dinner for us and—"

"And what is a commoner doing in here?!"

I scowl, "Pardon my hearing issues, but I don't think I caught that." I pointed my Keyblade at him "SAY THAT AGAIN."

He gasps, "Auntie! This ruffian has just threatened me! I demand that he be thrown in the dungeons!"

"I shall do no such thing," Celestia refused, "this gentlecolt saved us from a fate worse than death."

"What?! But...but..."

"Leave, Blueblood," Luna demanded, "or we'll throw YOU in the dungeons."

He stared at the princesses wide-eyed, neither of them willing to help him, then glared at me as I glared back, finally he huffed and left the room, slamming the door shut on his way out.

I groan, "I guess rich snobs exist in this world too."

"'Snob'. That's one word to describe him." Luna says.

"Anyway, tell us more about your world."

I felt like this was going to be a long night...

Day 1
Night Out With Celestia

After explaining to them about the ups and downs of humans and humanity, we all finished our dinner and went to bed. When I woke up this morning, I noticed something wasn't right...first of all, I feel like I'm being smushed, secondly, I also feel arms wrapped around me, and thirdly...I got a good look at who it was.

Celestia and Luna.

In my bed.

Without a stitch of clothing on them.

Now, normally this would be a perverted guy's paradise...but I'm not like that, so...

"AHHHHHH!!!"

Celestia and Luna were standing before me, now fully clothed and looking nervous as I paced around the room.

I rub my temples as if I had a massive headache, "Okay...at first I was going to scream at you two for your little...stunt. But I decided to let you girls tell your side. Now then. Celestia. Luna. Tell me. WHAT. IN GOD'S NAME. WERE YOU TWO THINKING?!"

Celestia sighs, "It was Luna's idea."

"What?"

Luna takes over the conversation, "You saved us and shared information with us willingly, I thought you deserved some kind of reward."

Something tells me there's more to this. "And?"

"Well..." Luna mumbles something I can't hear.

"Say again?"

"I and my sister wish to court you as our soon-to-be husband."

...

I could've sworn I heard my own heart skip a beat. "WHAT?! Did you ever think to ask me if I wanted anything to do with this?!"

Luna looked dejected as she stared at the floor, "I should've known you'd say no."

Aw, Goddammit! Why do these ponies have to look so irresistible?!

"I-I didn't say no, I'm just...surprised is all. Don't you think you girls are taking this a little too fast?" I say.

"We do." Celestia interjected, "But that is why I offered for us to go on dates for the next few days, for you to get used to us and grow a little more comfortable with the thought of marriage."

"Yeah, but...a few days? At best, I'm gonna need a month to decide something this major."

Celestia nods, "We understand, right Luna?"

Luna begrudgingly nods, "...Yes." her head pops back up when she thinks of something, "But we CAN still cuddle with you, right?"

I sigh, "Alright..." Luna looks absolutely giddy...too bad I'm gonna have to shut her down. "But keep your clothes on please. At least until I make my decision."

Celestia smiles smugly at Luna's unprincess-like whine.

Once that was over, Celestia and I left the castle and walked around Canterlot, attracting some unwanted attention and the nobles bowing before her.

I lean over to whisper to her, "Um...if I do decide to marry you and your sister, ponies are gonna bow before me like they are right now to you, aren't they?"

"Most likely. Why? Is there something wrong?" Celestia whispers back.

"It's just...well, I'm not a big fan of being worshipped, especially for marrying royalty. I just want others to see me and think, 'oh, there goes Devin, hope he's doing good with his life,' not think of me like, 'sweet Celestia, it's him! Bow, you idiot of a pony!' It's makes me feel like I'm better than them, but I'm really not. You know what I mean?"

Celestia stifles a giggle, "'Sweet Celestia'?" I scowl at her not taking this seriously, "Sorry, sorry, I heard you, and I understand completely. In fact, that's how I think you're going to be a great ruler one day; not all stuck up and full of yourself. Now back to the other topic..."

"You gotta admit, you had to have heard some of the ponies taking your name in vain."

Celestia sighs, "Yes. It becomes quite...insulting after a while. Even if I make a law to prevent ponies from saying that, they'll still say it behind my back."

"Yup. An old saying where I come from, 'you're only in trouble if you get caught'."

"From what you told me about your world, such philosophy would give birth to crook and thieves."

"A little late for that now." I say bitterly, remembering the reality of my world.

Soon enough, we came up to a fancy restaurant and entered as the waitress set up a table for Celestia, and stopped me as I tried to sit down.

"Excuse me, but this table is for the princess. I can seat you somewhere else, sir."

"It's okay, he's my—"

"Guest!" I stop her before she says something we'll both regret, "I'm her guest for the evening."

The waitress and Celestia both look at me wide-eyed until the former cleared her throat, "Okay then, please take your seat, sir." I sit down and hear her say, "For a moment there I thought that the princess was going to say you were her date."

I chuckle nervously, "Yeah, crazy, huh?"

She gives us our menus and she leaves. I look it over and decide on the ravioli, but when I look at Celestia she doesn't seem very happy.

"What was THAT all about?" Celestia harshly whispers.

I sigh once again for today, "Sorry...I just thought It'd ruin your image if you were dating...well..."

"A commoner?"

I look away in shame, "...Yeah."

Celestia puts her menu down and cups my face with a hand, "Devin, look at me." I do so and see her most compassionate eyes staring into mine, "I don't care about my image, some ponies don't think I should be in power, I don't care about the naysayers." she smiles, "But it was sweet of you to put me before yourself. Don't be afraid or ashamed to admit to dating us, okay?"

I nod slowly, "Okay."

"Great!" she leans back into the chair and reads the menu, "The ravioli looks good."

My eyes went wide, "I was thinking the same thing."

Celestia smiles at me again, "Well, guess great minds think alike, don't you agree?"

I blush at her compliment, but I forced it away when the waitress returned and she took our orders, then leaving saying she'll be back with them soon. As we wait, we talk about various things; our worlds, our customs, even how romance works, but we kept our possible marriage hush-hush, didn't want anypony on the outside knowing, image or not. A waiter comes with orders and sets them down.

"For you, sir and madam." he then walks away, giving the stink eye.

"What crawled up his ass and died?" I ask.

Celestia shushed me, "Language!"

"Uh, sorry. Cursing was part of living in my world."

We chose to ignore what happened with the waiter and ate our food. Unfortunately, the waiter came back with some choice words.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm afraid you'll have to leave."

"Wait, what?" I ask.

"You're bothering the princess and you don't even look like you're from Canterlot, so you'll have to leave this fine establishment."

"The princess invited me to dine with her, thank you very much, and no, I'm not from Canterlot, I'm from another world that is most likely been destroyed by now, so I'll thank you for leaving us in peace."

"Very well, it appears I will have to escort you out. Security!"

The three security guards gathered around me as I continued eating. Celestia looked like she wanted to intervene, but I was just nonchalantly chewing on a ravioli.

I swallowed my food, "You're making a big mistake, dude."

"And why is that?"

I glare at him from the corner of my eye, "...You have no idea who you're messing with."

I call my Keyblade and point it to the guard on my left, "Fire." I blasted him with a fireball as the one on my right tried to grab me, only to be hit by me swinging my Keyblade outward, knocking him unconscious, the last guard tried to restrain me from behind, but I back-flipped out of my seat, landing into a crouch as I swung downward at his back. The guard mumbled something before he collapsed into a heap, I turned to face the waiter who nervously held a kitchen knife at me.

"S-Stay back!" he ordered.

"Why?" I ask as I casually walk over to him, making him walk backwards in fear, "You're the one who had a problem with me and tried to sic the guards on me, so..." I hum as I tap my chin with the tip of my Keyblade and decided, "...I think I'm gonna let you slide."

The waiter blinks, "...Really?"

"Yup." I smirk and point behind him, "But THEY might not be so forgiving."

He turns around and his eyes bulge out in shock, a male pony who looked like the manager of the restaurant was glaring at him as well as some of the waitresses. He snaps his fingers and what looks to be his personal bodyguards show up and grab him by his arms.

"You're fired." the manager said before the bodyguards dragged him out as he was kicking and screaming, he turned to me and Celestia, "I am so sorry about my former subordinate's attitude and rash actions, as an apology, the food you ordered is free for today."

I nod, "Thank you for your kindness, but I think my date and I have had enough excitement for today." everyone gasps at the mention of 'date'. "Shall we go?" I hold out a hand to Celestia and she takes it.

"Yes, we shall." she says.

We headed back to the castle as the sun sets to cuddle for the night with Luna.

Day 2
Night Out With Luna

The moment we got breakfast was the weirdest part of the day; Luna was sitting on my lap, eating out of the same bowl of cereal as me, occasionally spoon-feeding me like a child. It got annoying at first, but then I remembered that Luna wanted to be my husband in the first place, so I let her do as she pleases...no, not anything like THAT! Get your mind out of the gutter!

"Are you okay? You're blushing." Luna asked, making me blush deeper, and she smirks, "Are you considering some...bedroom activities?"

"HUH?! Wa-Wa-Wait a minute! We're not doing anything like that!...not yet, anyway. It's too early." I say, making Luna smile bigger.

"You're really cute when you fumble with your words."

I blush and start shoveling my breakfast, hoping to get this over with before Luna ties me down to the bed. Once we finish, we talk a little bit while Celestia is in the Throne Room dealing with Day Court and selfish, whiny nobles. Then once night fell, Luna and I decided to take a moonlight walk out into the Canterlot Gardens. Truthfully, I enjoy the night, sure it means robbers and thieves come out to play, but I always felt a sense of peace within the blanket of moonlight.

Luna noticed me staring at moon and smiling, "Do you...love the night?"

I look at her, "Of course I do." Luna blushed at my words, "In my world, the nighttime was a time for criminals to run around and cause mischief...but to me, it's a sign of comfort, knowing that the moon and the stars shine a guiding light to those lost in the dark." Luna smiles at my philosophy, "Funny thing, something I've heard of, is that every star in the sky is another world. And the light they give off is shining down on us like a million lanterns."

Luna tackles me into a hug and kisses every part of my face, leaving me in surprise and bliss.

She stops and looks into eyes, "...Thank you."

We spend a long night kissing under the stars...

Day 3
Night Out With Cadence

Today it was Cadence's turn to spend time with me, I refuse to call it a date because she's married and I'm fairly certain that Shining Armor isn't into sharing.

"So, ready for our date?" Cadence asked, wearing casual clothing that really showed off her slim figure.

"It's not a date, you're married. Plus, does Shining even know about this?"

"Oh no, he doesn't, he would flip if he heard I was hanging out with another guy."

I sigh, Guess we got a rebel on our hands. "Alright, but if he finds out, I'm not gonna be cannon fodder."

"Yay!"

We walk around, going into a few shops to buy clothes and a few...adult stores, for Cadence to buy some "toys", if you know what I mean. After the shopping was done, we dropped off her bags and headed for a local café for a coffee and a snack. We talked a little bit and enjoyed each other's company, but it didn't last long as the Heartless showed up; an Invisible, five Neoshadows, and several Soldiers, like ten or so.

I summoned my Keyblade and ran into the fray, "I got this!"

I was able to destroy some of the Neoshadows, a few Soldiers, but the Invisible was sneaky, so I followed it as it was trying to get away, when I did I noticed the Heartless giving up after the ponies ran inside their houses. But why? Somebody had to be controlling them, otherwise they'd break down the doors.

Which means...

"It's a trap!" I exclaim.

"Hey kid!"

I looked at where the voice came from and saw someone wearing Ventus's Nightmare Armor from KH:3D holding...the χ-blade?!

"What's the rush?"

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

Next chapter: a crossover with Balance

Stay tuned!

Meeting One of the Chosen

Author's Note

The beginning was co-written by BioQuillFiction in the third person.

Meeting One of the Chosen

“What’s the rush?” The Nightmare Ventus armored man spoke, jumping from his rooftop and across the street from Devin.

Devin pointed his Keyblade at him, threateningly, “Who are you?! And why do you have that Keyblade?!”

“Do I just look untrustworthy? This makes two times I meet someone from earth and they both point Keyblades at me… maybe it’s my armor?” The man questioned himself.

“That, and the fact that you have the most powerful and dangerous Keyblade in existence!”

“Well, that and the Heartless I sent to lure you out. Last attempt to find one of you guys left me waiting all night.”

“I'll ask about that later, why are you here?”

“Looking for you. I can explain everything, but first I wanna know something. How long have you been here, and what’s happened since then? You tell your story, then I’ll tell mine.”

Devin seemed hesitant, but the armored man appeared honest enough, so he lowered his blade slightly, “Alright. First off, I've been here for at least four days, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were nearly raped by a former member of Celestia’s counsel after being hopped up on darkness and controlling the Heartless, I spent the past couple of days dating two of the royal sisters, and today I was spending time with Cadence, not dating, she's married. Now your turn.”

“Allright.” The man pushed a button on his shoulder and his armor reverted into a metal sleeve like in Birth By Sleep. After that he disbanded his Keyblade. “So to wrap up my end I’ve been doing this close to a month, or over? I haven’t entirely been keeping track of time. When I asked for the X-blade, I accepted the job that goes with it, keeping the worlds in balance. After a while I found out the X-blade can take me to parallel versions of the world's. The first one I went to was nearly killed off by Nobodies and a survivor of the Keyblade War. When that was dealt with I woke up after the fight a week later where I found out that, on that Equestria, a law stated that a hero who saves the kingdom is given the hand of the princesses… so yeah, only the other surviving people wanted in, not I have seven wives-to-be. Gave them all keyblades and the eight surviving kids… well, six of them, the last two are not even a year old yet.”

“...Wow. Your life sounds harder than mine. And the royal sisters wish for my hand in marriage, but I'm giving it a month before I decide. So, what's the reason you came to my Equestria anyway?”

“Getting as much help as possible. The first born Emblem Heartless is… well, let's just say that He’s pulling a multi-dimensional Xehanort from Dream Drop Distance. That’s not all though.” Zeke pulled out something from his pocket, and tossed it to Devin. When he picked it up, he was stunned.

“What the hell?!”

“358/2 days. He has access to earth.”

“Well, ain't that lovely?! Now what?!”

“I’m searching the worlds, every reflection, trying to find people willing to fight to win against Core. I think I can count on Huxley, but… how old are you?”

“Eighteen, going on nineteen in a few months, why?”

Zeke just tilted his head. “Seriously? I’m nineteen and like a foot taller than you. I thought you were like, fourteen!”

Devin sighs, “I was short when I was a kid, but I outgrew my older brother by an inch, and I'm STILL short?!”

“Well, in any case. What are your plans for this Equestria?”

“Well, I was going to fight some Heartless like any other wielder, but apparently I have to make a decision about whether or not I'm gonna marry the princesses, tell them about the Book of Prophecies, and give those I consider worthy Keyblades.”

“I’ve already given over a hundred people in my dimension Keyblades.”

“Well, that's good, I suppose, but I got a Book of Prophecies from God that depicts the future of this world and I haven't even read through it yet.”

“You mean this?” Zeke asked, pulling out Devin’s book.

“What the—?!” Devin pats his pockets for his book, but nothing.

“Had one of the Heartless pick it out of your pocket on the way here. Not very observant, are you?” Zeke opened the book, skimming through the pages. “Looks like you’ve got quite the life ahead of you. Seems we’ll meet again many times after this.”

“That's great, but could you please give that back? I don't want anypony seeing it and getting any wild ideas for the future.”

Zeke tossed it over the Devin. “Now then, I have a personal question to ask?”

Devin sighs once again, “Alright, but it better not be TOO personal, or we’re gonna butt heads.”

Zeke pushed the button that made his armor reappear, and summoned the X-blade. “I need to test just how strong you are. The luna in my world can take me on one-on-one, let’s see how you do.”

Devin shrugs, “Okay, but keep in mind, I've been practicing my sword skills since I was little, so I may just give you a challenge.”

Zeke rushed forward, swinging his blade as Devin. Devin managed to summon Gazing Eye in time to block, but was thrown to the side like a ragdoll. “And I was taught to kill since I was little.”

Devin picks himself up, “Seriously?! Do you come from a family of hunters or something?!” he rushes forward to deliver a downward strike as Zeke raises his blade to block.

“My name, is Zeke Ventral. You should know that name if you watch the news.” Zeke punched Devin the the stomach with his free hand, once he was distracted, and Zeke spin kicked him into a wall.

Devin coughed, “Damn. You're better than I thought you were.” he gets into a fighting stance, “But playtime’s over.” Devin uses Teleport to disappear and reappear behind Zeke and attempted to bum rush him, but he was too quick and swung behind him in wide arc, making Devin slide under his blade and his wide open legs, he then stood up and used Fire on him, but Zeke jumped out of its path and onto a rooftop. “C’mon! Take the beating like a man!”

“I guess you really never heard of my family before. I suppose it’s possible.” Zeke arched his back, and to Devin’s shock, Xehanort's Guardian heartless appeared behind Zeke. “You fight well though, so this will be interesting.”

“I don't listen to the news, too boring. But I will give you a fight you won't forget!” Devin leaped up to the rooftop and tried to land on top of Zeke with his feet ready to crash, but he dodged the attack and Devin only managed to destroy part of the building...and started hopping on one foot. “Owowowowow! That really hurt! Son of a bitch!”

Zeke snapped his fingers and Green Requiem appeared. “Heal him.” The Heartless floated over to Devin and sprinkled a small amount of green dust.

“Huh. Well that worked.” Devin gets back into his battle stance, “Shall we continue?”

“Perhaps somewhere without risk to property damage.” Zeke points to the half broken building behind Devin.

“Ehehehehe, right.” Devin chuckles nervously.

“Alright then, let's hope your girlfriends don’t kill you over this.” Zeke taunted as his opened a portal with his Keyblade and tossed it into the air, turning it into a glider. “Follow.”

Devin jumps in carelessly, “Last one in's a rotten egg!”

As Zeke enters the portal, he sees Devin screaming as he is tossed and hits the walls of the portal… Yeah… it’s kinda funny. He thought to himself. After a short while, the portal spat them out, and Devin rolled around the floor after he landed. Zeke landed next to him. “You should have turned the Gazing Eye into a glider.”

Devin stood up, wobbling as he was still dizzy, “Granddad, you ran another stop sign.” he slurred.

Zeke slapped him. After Devin returned to his senses, he looked around, and saw the rusted Keyblades around him. “Yeah, this place.”

“The Keyblade Graveyard?”

“Last place out Keyblades saw battle, right?” Zeke said as he jumped a distance away from Devin. “Seemed appropriate.”

Devin smirks, “I agree.” with one step, he pushes forward into a breakneck dash and clashes Keyblades with Zeke, holding them in a deadlock.

Zeke smirks and hits Devin with a nearby Keyblade he grabbed. “Keep your eyes not just on the opponent… GAH!” Zeke screamed as his fell to the ground. The Keyblade he grabbed was pulsating.

“Whoa! You okay?” Zeke continued screaming, his eyes started to glow both black and white. “It's that Keyblade!” Devin rushed towards him and attempted to knock it out of his hand with a single swing.

The Keyblade was thrown somewhere in the distance, leaving Zeke breathing heavily as he tried to regain his calm. “T… It…. IT hurts!”

“Dude, what the hell just happened?!”

“K, Keyblade… They hurt! They want wielders! They’re dying. They need wielders… Kept screaming.”

“You're not making any sense, man! Are you saying the Keyblades are still alive?!”

Zeke managed to nod. “Need, need wielders. Make the pain go away, stop blood, forget war…”

Devin was at a loss for words, Zeke is acting way differently than he was before. Devin picked him up and put his arm over his shoulder as he raised his Keyblade to open a portal, “C’mon, let's get the fuck outta here.” the portal activated and he threw his Keyblade in the air, turning it into a glider, it looked similar to Terra’s. They left the wretched graveyard and returned to Devin’s Equestria. They rested nearby the area where they first started their battle.

To Devin’s worry, Celestia and Luna were both walking down the street towards them, both looking rather cross. When Devin checked on Zeke, he was muttering and twitching still. “Great.” He said.

“Devin, what is the meaning of this?” Celestia demanded.

“I wish to know as well.” Luna added.

“Alright, I'll explain.” Devin explained the whole situation from start to finish, when he was done, the sisters looked like they a mix of anger and shock.

“Why didn't you get us to handle this issue?” Celestia asked.

“Do you not trust us?” Luna asked with pouty lips.

“No! I DO trust you two! It's just...I wanted to handle this myself, I felt like this wasn't your problem, that it was mine. I'm sorry.”

Celestia sighed, “I suppose I can't stay mad at you, but what about him?” she motions to Zeke.

“Well…” Devin rubs the back of his head, not knowing the answer to that particular question.

“Can we not just send him back?” Luna asked.

“...I can try, but I don't know if it'll work.” Devin activated another portal and checked it to see it was exactly the world Zeke came from, “Close enough, I guess.” he picks Zeke up and tosses him in, “SORRY, DUDE! HAVE TO PICK THIS UP NEXT TIME!”

No sooner after Zeke was thrown into the portal, he fell out, grunting and muttering. “F, f. Forget the war.” He managed to say.

“Well, that failed.” As Devin went back to pick up Zeke, Zeke screamed a noise that was inhuman, shattering windows and even cracking the ground around him. Devin and the princesses backed up.

Zeke soon stopped abruptly, and stood up. His expression was blank and his eyes looked almost hollow. “Forget the war.” He said, and the Keyblade that started all this appeared rather than the X-blade. “Forget the blood.” Several more keyblades appeared, but they were stuck into Zeke’s body like needles in a pin cushion. “Forget the darkness.” A small group of Keyblades appeared and were floating around Zeke. “We. Want. New. Wielders.” Zeke’s voice sounded like a hundred different people talking at once.

“Oh. Crap.” Devin said. Zeke ran towards them, faster than should be humanly possible. Devin brought up his Keyblade to guard, but Zeke passed him. “What in the fuck?!” As Devin turned around, Zeke’s real target became clear. He was after the princesses. “Nooooo!” Devin charged after him and launched a beam from his Gazing Eye that erected a barrier that protected the princesses, like Aqua did for Terra in the battle with Xehanort and Vanitas.

Zeke stopped just in front of the barrier, touching it with his free hand. “Chosin.” He said, as Celestia and Luna clutched their cheats as two of the Keyblades floating around Zeke vanished. He then ran off towards a random direction.

“Now where is he going?” Devin shook his head, “I'll deal with him later. Celestia! Luna! Are you two okay?!” The two moved, and seemed fine as they got up.

“Y, yes I believe so.” Celestia answered. “It hurt, but like getting pricked by a needle.”

“Good, now we gotta deal with Zeke.”

“I feel… odd though.” Luna stated. “Like… something is new.”

Devin felt worried about this. “What do you mean?”

“I feel like… I can’t quite put it. I just know something is different.” Luna stomped in frustration. As she was gonna hit the air in the same froze when a flash of light appeared in her hand, and what was there was one of the two Keyblades that vanished from around Zeke. “That’s it…” The blade was long, decorated like the night with the stars and dark sky as the blade. The base was a full moon, and the top was a crescent moon. The Keychain was a star. “So...now I have a Keyblade as well?”

“...Yeah, it looks like it.” Devin said, not believing what just happened.

“Perhaps this is all he is doing?” Celestia said. “Devin, you said the Keyblades at the graveyard were still alive, and Zeke heard them screaming when he touched one, right?”

“Yeah, but how is giving ponies Keyblades a good thing? The Keyblade can be either light or dark, therefore even the Keyblade can corrupt somepony.”

“Idiot.” They all turned around, and saw a man in a blank mask and dressed in purple robes. “Keyblades aren’t just given out like candy on halloween. A Keyblade chooses it’s master, meaning it searches for a master that’s compatible, otherwise it can’t keep a connection to them. Basically only someone with a largely dark heart can posses a Keyblade of Darkness.” He said.

“So what? Not all Keyblades are of darkness, and judging by your words, you seem to know too much about them and the darkness.”

“I believe Zeke was trying to get you to help end me. I’m Core, and right now we need to stabilize Zeke, or everyone, good and bad, will be getting new weapons.”

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“Kid, to me, you’re worthless, but I need Zeke. Right now he’s being controlled by every Keyblade from the Keyblade Graveyard. Those rotting blades are too mad to think, they just want wielders. Your options are either trust me and get Zeke under control, or you’re gonna be teaching this whole world about Keyblades.”

Devin looked back at Celestia and Luna for a counter-argument, but they looked just as unsure as him. With a growl, he said, “Fine! But if you try anything funny, I'll end you myself!”

“God himself tried, and failed. But we’ll see how you do after this is over.” Core turned around to face the road. “I can trace Zeke’s energy. I just need to get close enough for him to pull out the X-blade. Once that’s done, the X-blade will do the rest.” Core ran off, and Devin, Celestia and Luna followed.

“So, you're sure this'll work? Any defects? I should know if this plan blows up?”

“By themselves, Keyblades are no real match for the X-blade, but the whole Graveyard is taking advantage of Zeke’s situation to control him and keep the X-blade from keeping them away.”

“Okay, where is he then?”

“... Feels like he made it to… the castle.” Core jumped across rooftops, staying a distance ahead of the three. It took a while, but the three caught up with him in front of the castle gate.

“Where is he exactly in the castle?”

“... coming right at us.” Core jumped back, dodging the door’s sudden burst open. “Figured they come after me.”

Zeke looked at Core. “Purify. Save.”

“What gibberish is he saying?”

“It’s the Keyblades. They’re alive, but they’re so worn they can only speak their basic functions and actions. I am a Heartless so they’re gonna target me.” Zeke rushed at Core, a barrage of Keyblades following the attack. Core blocked them all without effort. “Told ya.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Devin summoned the Gazing Eye, “Let's thrash him till that X-blade pops back out.” he rushed Zeke, ready to strike.

Three Keyblades met Devin’s attack, stopping him mid air and tossing him aside. They followed after Devin, swinging as if someone else was holding them. “Brother. Why fight us?” The Keyblades asked.

“First off, I'm not your brother,” Devin began, “second, you guys are going crazy and I gotta stop you!” he pushed back, trying to gain some ground.

“Wielder. Silence. We. Speak. To. Brother.” They said, and the Gazing Eye flashed with light for a second. “Wielders. Forget the war.” Several more Keyblades went after Devin, until Luna jumped in and blocked them with hers.

“HOW DARE YOU FEEBLE WEAPONS TELL MY FIANCÉ TO SILENCE!” Luna booms with her Royal Canterlot Voice, “HE IS MORE NOBLE THAN ALL OF YOU COMBINED!!” Luna pushed them all back with little effort and they all were flung and embedded into a nearby wall.

“New. Wielder. Sister. You. Are. Well?” Luna’s Keyblade flashed white for a second. “Sanity? We need wielders. Forget the war. Regain sanity.” Out of the ground, a mini hurricane of Keyblades swallowed Luna, and she screamed in pain. “Wielders. Sanity. No difference.”

Devin was struggling not to lash out at the Keyblades, he knew he had to think rationally about this, maybe fighting them won't help, but perhaps talking to them… “Wait.” The Keyblades halted their advance on Luna, “You don't need wielders to be whole, and you also don't need them to regain your sanity. Look into your hearts, you know this is wrong, please, just let my friends go.”

The Keyblades looked at Devin. “Keyblades heart is wielders Heart… body’s heart is like fathers heart. Father made us. One Keyblade for every sentient being.”

“Whoever this ‘father’ is, he wouldn't want you to do this, there's always another way. Don't take away other being’s lives to make yourselves whole again. We can find you new wielders, just not by force.”

“Father made us. Are you there, father?” As hoped, the Keyblades summoned the X-blade, and raised it to the sky. “Father. What are we to do is we lack wielders?” The X-blade glowed, shooting a beam of light into the sky, making all the clouds swarm around the beam. After a bit, Kingdom Hearts hovered up in the sky above Canterlot. “Father! Make us forget. Make us forget. MAKE US FORGET THE WAR!”

“I’m out.” Core said as he fell into a dark portal.

“Hey! Coward!” Devin exclaimed, but let it go for now. He finally made headway with the Keyblades, and felt it was best not to keep fighting.

Kingdom Hearts lowered some light over the Keyblades controlling Zeke’s bady, and they began to speak. “We want wielders father. You made us incomplete. We need wielders. You made us this way. Give us our chosen wielders.” They stood silent for a time. “Can such deed be done?” Silence again. “Thank you, father.” The Keyblades took the X-blade, and stabbed it into Zeke’s chest. “Complete at last.”

“What the hell?!” Devin said, “What was that about?!”

Zeke’s whole body arched, facing Kingdom Hearts. An orb of light left Zeke’s body and in the light of Kingdom Hearts, turned as blue as it, and went back inside of Zeke. The Keyblades around him disappeared and soon Kingdom Hearts vanished, leaving Zeke lying on the floor.

Devin ran over to Zeke’s unconscious body. “Zeke! You okay?”

Zeke grunted. “What? What the heck happened?” He asked as he got up.

“You were possessed by every Keyblade in the graveyard, and we had to snap you out of it.”

“Really? That feels… really?”

“You are not hurt, are you?” Luna asked.

“No, I feel fine. Great actually.” Zeke noticed Luna’s Keyblade. “Oh, when did Devin give you that?”

“I didn't. When you ran off, you said something and Celestia and Luna were grabbing their chests in pain, then all of a sudden, Luna got her Keyblade.” Devin explained.

“That… that happened?” It’s true. “Who said that?”

“Said what?”

“Someone just said ‘it’s true’, right now.” In Luna’s hand. Zeke looked at Luna’s Keyblade.

“Uh… I think Luna’s Keyblade spoke?”

“Really?” Devin looked at Luna’s Keyblade, “The other Keyblades talked, but we were able to hear them. So how come only you can hear Luna’s?”

“I can answer that.” Zeke spoke, covering his mouth in surprise as that voice wasn't his.

“Uh…” Was all Devin could say.

“That wasn’t me.” Zeke said.

“It was me.” The other voice spoke from Zeke again.

“What the heck? Who are you?” The X-blade appeared in Zeke’s hand. “I didn’t summon it.”

“I summoned myself.”

Zeke looked at the X-blade. “M, my Keyblade is talking through me… How?”

“Well, the father of all Keyblades, myself included, Kingdom Hearts, basically turned you into… well, a human Keyblade.”

“Wow. That's...pretty cool.” Devin said.

“How in the flying hell did that happen?!” Zeke screamed.

“Well, the decayed Keyblades from the Keyblade Graveyard wanted wielders, but Father was on Devin’s side in this argument. Since you already had a connection to him through me, he just basically turned your own heart into another version of himself. You can store and purify every decayed and insane Keyblade you come across. Welcome to the family brother.”

Devin pats Zeke on the shoulder. “Congrats! You got a new family!”

"I have a family! Twilight, Fluttershy, Luna, Celestia, Hearts Care, Rune, and Rainbow Dash! How in the hell am I gonna explain that I became a Keyblade?!”

“Well, just tell them the truth, if they're truly your family, they'll understand.”

“Pardon.” Luna spoke. “But my sister and I have never met you before Zeke.”

“And I imagine Twilight would have wrote about having a special somepony.” Celestia added.

“You forget I’m from a parallel version of your world.” Zeke said. “I just know Rune’s gonna try and swing me around like a Keyblade… How long was I on that Keyblade possessed rampage?”

“Um…” Devin counted with his fingers, “Half an hour, give or take a few minutes. Why?”

“How many people here did the Keyblades choose and give themselves to? Other than Luna and Celestia?”

“I have no idea. Maybe we got lucky and they didn't get anyone.”

“Oh, they did. About twenty people, including the princesses.”

“Damn.” Zeke said

“Who, exactly?” Devin asked.

“Not sure. The ones we got in the castle though were a guard, a pink version of those two, and some blond unicorn.” The X-blade said.

Devin’s eyes bulged out of his head, “Oh, God, please no.”

“I think the Keyblade that chose that guy was… I think it was our youngest brother, Ultima. Yeah, he picked that guy. He rarely chooses a wielder. Most of the time he mimics me and has wielders make or earn his Keychain.”

Devin could not believe his ears, “...WHAT?!?! THE BIGGEST ASSHOLE IN EQUESTRIA HAS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL KEYBLADES EVER MADE?!?!”

“As Keyblades we see a person's true nature by seeing their heart. When I tell you that we pitied that sad guy, it was like looking at a wet, kicked puppy. Ultima saw something in him though, and his past wielders he chose kept the worlds safe for years.”

Devin wanted to argue more, how Blueblood was physically, mentally, and morally unfit to wield even one normal Keyblade, but he knew he wouldn't win with the wisest Keyblade of all, so he just grumbled in annoyance.

“Well, the last few I didn’t quite catch who they were… except this one other oddball. Looked like a Centaur, watch out for him. His heart was as black as they come. And don’t blame me, Keyblades of darkness were trying to find wielders too. Luckily it was just the two.”

Devin sighed, “Fine then. So now what happens?”

“Well, as the X-blade, first forged Keyblade by my father, I declare that you Devin, Personally train those that were given Keyblades and keep an eye out for the two dark ones. Also, keep an eye on Ultima for me. Strong he may be, he’s still the baby of the family.”

“Thank god, I can talk now.” Zeke said.

“So, guess I'm a teacher now.” Devin said. “Not the worst job I've had. But what about the other dark Keyblade?”

“Void Gear? Meh, just look for some girl with an itchy sweater and huge glasses that hangs around a library even when a crazy Keyblade person is in the room. Void is very troubled by the way, last wielder he had was someone with part of a heart, but only the darkness in it. Same guy tried to wield me, worst migraine ever after I broke and exploded.”

“Oh boy…” Devin groaned, rubbing his temples.

“Well, I’ll be off. This guy needs to have a talk with his finances.”

Zeke shook his head. “That’s going to take some getting used to.” Zeke used the X-blade and opened a portal. He then turned it into a glider and jumped on. “Good luck with all this… We both need it.” He flew into the portal.

After resolving that whole mess, we returned inside the castle to rest after a long day, Celestia, Luna, and I cuddled for the remainder of the day, until something was gnawing at me.

"Is something wrong?" Luna asked.

"I just can't shake the feeling that I'm forgetting something..."

Meanwhile, the sun begin to set as Cadence remains seated at the café, waiting for her date, as she calls him. Finally, she groans in annoyance and leaves the establishment.

"When I find you, you're gonna get it, Devin!"

Enter The Mane 6

"Note to self: never forget about Cadence...ever again." I take note as I limp out of the infirmary.

After everything that happened yesterday, I completely forgot about Cadence and needless to say...she really laid into me. Now I have to have pain killers handy for the next week until the pain completely subsides. Damn, for a pampered pony princess, she sure hits hard.

Now, I'm on my way to Celestia's bedchambers to inform her of my condition, once I enter, she rushes over to me and treats me like I'm glass.

"Celestia, I'm fine. Nothing a couple pills won't fix...temporarily." I say.

"I still can't believe Cadence could do something like this, over a date no less." Celestia said.

"It wasn't a date, we were just hanging out as friends. Besides, she's married, and I don't Shining's gonna agree to a harem."

"A what?"

"A harem. On my world, it means being in a relationship with more than one person."

"So, it's like a herd in our world, where ponies mate with more than one life partner."

"Precisely. And that practice is looked down upon in my world."

"Well, it's not that way here."

"Huh?"

"You're allowed more than one wife or husband in Equestria without fear of being ostracized."

That shocked me, I thought she'd be against it...then again, she agreed to Luna's crazy idea of a hare—ahem—herd marriage. "...O-kay." I say, uncertain.

"But," Celestia adds, "you have to let everypony in the herd know that you're adding another mate, and they only join if we all agree."

Annnnd there's the kicker, "Fine by me, I don't see myself marrying anypony other than you and your sister." Celestia was about to ask, but I stopped her, "And no, I haven't made my decision yet."

We began talking about a few things for a little while until a purple unicorn barged in with her friends; she had deep purple eyes, long indigo hair and tail with two streaks in it, pink and purple, wearing a pink button-up blouse that was loose around her torso, a dark purple short skirt with a six pointed magenta star that hung around her waist, covering what needed to be covered, and indigo sneakers with magenta laces.

The other unicorn was an ivory white, curly purple hair and tail, and ocean blue eyes, wearing a baby blue shirt, a greyish white skirt with three blue diamonds on it, and fashionable shoes. Everything about this girl screamed fashion victim.

One of the pegasi was sky blue, messy rainbow hair and tail, and rose eyes, wearing a sports tee with a cloud and lightning bolt with the three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, tight spandex shorts, and rainbow-ish cleats. This was obviously the athlete of the group.

The other pegasus was yellow, long, flowing pink hair and tail, and aqua eyes, wearing a white blouse, a long green skirt that reached her shins and was marked with three pink butterflies, and what looked to be nurse's shoes. I honestly think this one is some kind of peacekeeper.

Then there were the two earth ponies, the pink one had puffy dark pink hair and tail and baby blue eyes, wearing a blue shirt that looked like it was slightly stained with cake and frosting, a pink short skirt marked with three balloons, one yellow, two blue, that looked a little too short, and yellow high top sneakers. Seeing the smile on this one reminds me too much of my older brother, cheerful and random.

Lastly, the orange one, she had blonde hair and tail both tied into a ponytail (ironically), and green eyes, wearing a plaid shirt, denim pants, and work boots marked with three red apples on each one. This girl looked to be some type of hard worker.

After I finished examining the girls who suddenly broke in here, I motion to Celestia to see what the problem was.

"My faithful student and my loyal subjects, what is the problem?" she asked them.

"Well..." the purple one hesitates, "I think it's best if you see for yourself."

She takes a couple steps back and holds her hand out, in a flash, a Keyblade materializes.

Celestia gasps, "Twilight...you have a Keyblade?!"

"Huh?" they all say.

Now's my time to step in, "Okay, okay," everyone turned to me as I addressed Celestia, "I'll take it from here." she nods and I walk over to them, "Alright, it's like this..." I explain to them everything I know and remember about the Keyblade; what it is, what it can do, and what it means for the girls should the others wield one, "...And that's pretty much all I can tell you."

The girls stand there, processing all this information I gave them. The first one to snap out of it was the purple one, who looked at me with eyes of wonder.

"I can't believe it! This is so amazing and exciting! There new magic that all of us ALL OF US, can learn! I can't wait to get started! When DO we get started?!"

The blue one pulled her back before her tangent could go any futher, "Slow your roll, egghead." she looks at me, "Besides, how do YOU know about this whole 'Keyblade' thing?"

I hold my hand out and show them my own Keyblade as it appears.

"Freaky-deaky!" the pink one says.

"While it is impressive...the design seems a little...dull." the white one comments.

"Gee, thanks." I sarcastically remark.

"I don't think Rarity meant anything bad by it. Oh, I'm Fluttershy..." the yellow one whispers.

"I'm Pinkie Pie!" the pink one introduces.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle." the purple joins in the introductions.

"Ah'm Applejack," she says in a country accent, "an' this here's Rainbow Dash." she pats the blue one's shoulder.

"You already heard my name, but I'll be ladylike and introduce myself, I am Rarity." she said.

"It's nice to meet you all." I said, "Honestly can't believe you're all personal friends with the princess."

Twilight was wide-eyed, "How did you..."

"When you barged in here without knocking first."

Twilight blushed as Celestia laughed, "It's okay, Twilight, you're welcome anytime."

"Anyway, now that that's settled, how many more of you have a Keyblade?"

They all looked at each other, then me as they summoned their Keyblades; Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity respectively.

"Whoa..." I uttered.

"WAIT A MINUTE!!" Rarity shrieked.

"W-What?!"

Rarity got a little too close and examined me, or more specifically my clothes; a red shirt with small holes all over hidden under a black hoodie with a hole at each sleeve, a broken zipper, and a torn right pocket, and my blue denim shorts that the color faded a little bit, but my red sneakers with black laces were brand new.

"This outfit is absolutely horrendous! There's holes everywhere, your hoodie looks like it was tugged every which way, and...IS THAT A HOLE BETWEEN YOUR LEGS?!"

I blushed since I knew what she was talking about, my shorts were so worn out that the fabric started tearing on its own.

"No, no, no! This will not do! This will not do at ALL!" Rarity grabs me by the wrist and proceeds to drag me out of the room, "Come with me, I MUST fix your clothes!"

"That's NOT th' real issue here, Rarity!" Applejack called.

Celestia giggled, but then frowned, "I hope she goes easy on him, he's still recovering from his injuries after all..."

After about an hour, I've had all I can take with this Rarity pony; fixing my clothes is fine, but lecturing me about how I dress?! I like my clothes simple and not over the top! Who does she think she—ahem—sorry, I'm rambling, I do that when I'm angry. Let's get back to the story, shall we?

"I must admit, your shoes are quite fashionable, but wearing too much red is just not done, I think to match your ensemble you need some yellow to complete your red shirt and blue shorts, oh but then your color scheme will be on par with Rainbow's Cutie Mark..." she continues her tangent.

I desperately tried to tune her out, but being the nice and sociable guy I am, I couldn't just ignore somebody talking to me, my mom raised me better than that.

"Sir? Is something wrong?"

It was at that point that I realized I deep in thought and unintentionally ignored everything else she said. Unfortunately I had a bad habit of zoning out most times.

"S-Sorry, I was lost in thought, what's going on now?" I asked.

"I was just saying that I finished fixing your outfit." Rarity answered.

I looked down and saw that she was right; every hole I had was sewn up, the pocket on my hoodie was stitched back together, the gaping holes in my sleeves had extra black fabric added and sewn together to nicely patch them up, and she even went to the trouble of replacing my broken zipper with a brand new one. Guess she really DOES know what she's doing.

"Thank you, Rarity, I appreciate it." I said.

"Oh, it's no trouble, though I would never wear it myself, you DO pull it off either way." Rarity says.

"Are ya finished now, Rarity?"

I didn't know when the other girls came in, but there they are, even Celestia and Luna who were watching in amusement, and Applejack was the one who spoke.

"Yes, Applejack." Rarity answered, stiffly.

"Okay, NOW can you explain what's going on here?" Rainbow asked me impatiently.

I spent the last hour telling the girls what I told Celestia and Luna already. I even told them about parallel Equestrias and the situation we were stuck in with Zeke and the whole Keyblade Graveyard controlling him, giving the Keyblades new wielders, and this Emblem Heartless named Core, not only that, but Zeke was recruiting other wielders to his cause to defeat him. After I was done, the girls other than Celestia and Luna had varying reactions such as shock, fear, determination, and excitement.

"So, lastly, I have to deduce that the Keyblades from the Keyblade Graveyard have chosen you six as their new wielders." I conclude.

"This is astonishing!" Twilight cheered.

"I suppose so." I said, "And now, I have to take you girls on as my apprentices."

"Wait, what?" Rainbow asked, confused.

"Well, I know more about the Keyblade than you all do, so it makes sense that I become your teacher. But..."

"But what?" Twilight asked.

"I'm...not exactly a Keyblade Master yet." again, they looked confused, so I elaborated, "Keyblade wielders can become Keyblade Masters if and when they pass their Mark of Mastery exam."

"Exam?!" Twilight's eyes twinkled.

"Yes, but it is performed differently for each Master and student; some have the students keep a still heart in a state of hostility, most have combat."

"Combat?" Rainbow suddenly looked eager.

"Yes, but it's not a battle for supremacy, there are no winners, only truths, for when two equal powers clash, their true nature is revealed."

"And this is normally how the Mark of Mastery is found?" Luna asked.

"Normally, yes, but there ARE other ways to conduct the exam."

"So lemme see if I got this right," Rainbow began, "you can only teach us by becoming a 'Keyblade Master', and to become one, you need to pass some exam?" I nod, "Then what are we waiting for?!"

"A week for my pain to go away."

"Huh?" they all said again.

"The doctor said after Cadence knocked my block off for leaving her at the café, I have to take pain pills for a whole week till the pain stops completely."

"Ohh...wait, Cadence did what for what?!" Twilight shrieked.

I had a feeling Cadence was in for it now.

After an entire week of healing, and Twilight giving Cadence a chewing out session, the time had come for me to begin my Mark of Mastery exam. Twilight organized the whole affair, Rainbow and Applejack chose to be my sparring partners for this, Pinkie prepared a "Devin Passed His Keyblade Exam" party, Fluttershy's role in this was to be a nurse in case I get any injuries unlike the ones Cadence gave me, and Rarity made me an entirely new outfit for the occasion and I made sure it was durable as well as fashionable. Luna was going to be my final test, for she already has the hang of her Keyblade, minus the Kingdom Hearts magic, of course, Celestia, Cadence, Shining, all of the Royal Guard, and even Twilight's parents, Twilight Velvet and Night Light will be spectators at this exam, making me slightly nervous.

After I put on my new battle ready outfit, a red tunic with yellow shoulder pads that are hooked to matching chains wrapped around my torso in an X with the symbol known as Terra's Mark from the Land of Departure in the center, red shorts with yellow and blue accents, and red and yellow shoes with blue laces, and steeled my nerves, I walked out into the Royal Guard's training area where the exam was taking place and was met with cheers from my viewers. I guess everypony is rooting for me to pass. With no further delay, I walked up to Luna, who was also overseeing this examination, placed my hand over my heart, and bowed like in Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep.

"Devin Freeman, young warrior, hero of princesses...are you ready for the Mark of Mastery examination?" she asked me and I nodded, "I must warn you, this will be done similarly to the Royal Guard's training regimen, but more difficult and intense with these Keyblades we now possess. This will be no easy task. If you wish to back out now, speak. If not, remain silent." everyone was quiet, awaiting my response...but I was silent. I knew there was no turning back now. "I will say again, this will be far from easy."

I stand up straight and gaze my blue eyes into Luna's with an expression of sheer determination and confidence. "Fine. Let's jump right in."

Luna nods, "...Then let the examination begin."

Here we go.

Author's Note

Next chapter: an interlude involving the week my character was incapacitated.

Stay tuned!

Interlude: Book of Prophecies

Day 1 of Rehabilitation

After being situated in my bedroom, I laid down on my bed to sleep off the headache I got from Rainbow Dash's complaining. After a while I could hear Twilight yelling at Cadence from a few rooms away, making my headache worse. Knowing that I wasn't gonna get any sleep, I picked up my Book of Prophecies from my nightstand and started reading.

After Zeke left this world, Devin had been beaten by Princess Cadence for leaving her at the café.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got that part already, what about later?" I flip through the pages impatiently.

Devin lets his soon to be students and wives in on the secret of the Book of Prophecies and tests out their own theories, making them ecstatic, especially Twilight, whom of which was very curious about the future.

"Hmm...interesting."

I continue to read until I finally pass out, the last thought running through my mind was how was I going to tell them about the Book of Prophecies.

Day 2 of Rehabilitation

Everyone gathered into my guest room for the week and I began to explain to them about the Book of Prophecies, that it is a tome that reads the future of this world, needless to say, Twilight was ecstatic, just as the book predicted. Thank you God.

"I can't believe it! A book that can see the future!" Twilight said as she squee'd.

"Shh!" I shushed, "Do you want all of Canterlot to hear you? We have to keep this to ourselves, we can't risk any temporal paradoxes."

"But we can still read through it, right?" Twilight asked, giving me the puppy dog eyes.

She didn't need to do that, I was gonna loan them the book anyway.

"Okay." I said, making Twilight jump for joy.

She snatched the Book of Prophecies from my hands and started reading through it.

"For the record, can't you just ask for me to hand to you like a normal hu—ahem—pony being?"

Twilight realized what she did and blushed in embarrassment, "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to—"

I cut her off with a laugh and patted her head, "I was just kidding."

Twilight puffed her cheeks in annoyance and began reading. I had a feeling this was gonna be a good and funny week.

Day 3 of Rehabilitation

After a while, I was able to get out of bed without any help and wander around the castle, wondering where the girls went, if they're planning to screw around with my book, then I better keep an eye on them just in case things go south. Eventually I found Rainbow and Pinkie at the top of one of the castle towers holding a giant water balloon filled what God-knows-what. I approach them quietly to overhear what they're saying.

"Do you see him yet?" Rainbow asked.

"Nope! Like the book said, he's supposed to be entering the castle with his complaint at 1:00 PM on the dot." Pinkie answered, quoting part of the book.

"Okay, so what time is it?"

"12:58." I say, startling both of them.

"Where'd you come from?!" Rainbow asked me.

"Been here for less than a minute, what are you two up to?"

"Oh well we read that some ex-waiter from the restaurant you and the princess went to once gave you a hard time and we read that he was going to complain to the princess about you so we decided to get him back for ruining your date!" Pinkie ended her tangent with a squee.

"...Wow. You'd probably give my brother a run for his money talking fast like that."

Pinkie just smiled and checked her watch, "Ohmygosh! He's almost here!"

Rainbow lifted the massive balloon with ease over the tower's edge, "Ready!"

We all looked down to see a male pony, who was indeed the same ex-waiter from the restaurant, storming his way to the castle gates, seemingly muttering to himself, unaware of the fate that is about to befall him...

The stallion was seething.

Not only did he lose his job, but he lost the benefits that came with it; parties with the nobles, free food from the restaurant, and a slowly growing rank in the nobility. But now it was all gone. Nobles laughed at him, no restaurant gave him a job, and he lost his ranking.

All because of that peasant.

He was muttering something nopony could hear, "When I get my hands on that child, he's gonna—"

SPLOOSH!

A large object fell on top of him and splattered an orange-ish substance, some of it got in his mouth, which he spit out in disgust.

"SWEET CELESTIA, IT'S URINE AND HOT SAUCE!!"

We laughed and laughed and laughed until our sides ached from doing so, once we were done we looked back down to see the entire city laughing at the stallion's misfortune. He ran away screaming and crying like a little kid as we high-fived each other.

I knew this was gonna be fun.

Day 4 of Rehabilitation

I decided to rest in bed for today, because my pain killers were taking forever to work this time around. Later on, Celestia and Luna joined me in bed and snuggle and cuddle, which relieved some of my pain. I suppose marriage with these two didn't seem so bad after all.

Day 5 of Rehabilitation

I was laying in bed like yesterday, the only two differences is that the princesses didn't join me and I was reading through the Book of Prophecies to see what the future had in store for me.

Not long after completing the Mark of Mastery exam, Devin's Keyblade suddenly reacted and opened a portal to another world. He chose to check it out, but not even a minute later, he falls out of it backwards screaming and shaking in fear. Naturally, everypony goes to him to make sure he was alright, but all he said was, "I'm not going back in there."

"Huh? That's strange. How bad could this world have been to scare me out of my pants?"

Guess I'll find out soon enough.

Day 6 of Rehabilitation

A while had passed now and I was able to walk around with no problem, but I still need to go to the doctor on the seventh day to be sure that the pain is completely gone. Right now I was trying to find Twilight, who had the Book of Prophecies for the day and was analyzing it in the Canterlot Castle Library...now if I only knew where it was. After about five minutes of searching, I nearly bump into Princess Cadence, who looked guilty upon seeing me.

"Hey." she said.

"Hey." I said back.

An awkward silence occurred.

"Look, I'm sorry for beating you up, I wasn't thinking straight." Cadence apologized.

"And I'm sorry for forgetting about you and leaving at the café by yourself." I apologize back.

"It's okay. How about we start over?"

"Sounds good to me. Hey, do you know where the castle library is? Twilight has the Book of Prophecies for the day and I'm trying to find her."

Cadence giggles, "Of course she would do that. C'mon, I'll show you the way."

I nod and follow her to the library. I'm glad we got things patched up between us.

Day 7 of Rehabilitation

Today was the day.

Today I was going to hear from my doctor about my condition.

My possible wives and Princess Cadence were sitting with me in the doctor's office, waiting as he did some basic tests for pain and reflexes. After he was done, he wrote some stuff down on his clipboard and turned to us.

"Well, Mr. Freeman, it seems the pain has finally stopped, but I would advise not doing anything strenuous for the rest of the day should you have a relapse."

"I understand." I said as we left the hospital, the princesses hugging me all the while.

"So what should we do to celebrate?" Cadence asked.

"Hmm..." I think for a moment, then snap my fingers, "How about we have Pinkie plan a party for my recovery?"

"I think it's perfect. Let's go inform the girls, shall we?" Celestia said.

Little did we know that Pinkie had already planned ahead and surprised us with a surprise party and invited nearly everyone in Canterlot, the banner up top said, "CONGRATULATIONS FOR RECOVERING!" In no time at all, the party started up and everypony was having fun, even me, despite the fact that I had to stay out of some of the party games. Today, I will have fun with my new friends and future wives.

...But tomorrow, my true test of worth begins.

The Mark of Mastery.

Author's Note

Sorry this was so short.

Also, thumbs-up for anyone who can guess the Boondocks reference :twilightsmile:

Mark of Mastery

The moment my exam began, Luna conjured several suits of armor that surrounded me, at least six in total, their eyes began to glow a blue color and started moving on their own, drawing their swords and wielding them in both hands. I summoned my Keyblade and me and my opponents readied our battle stances, the first to attack was from one of the armors and I raised my weapon to block, but it had the momentum advantage and pushed me a ways across the battlefield. I recollected myself and readied for another attack, which soon came from a different armor as I clashed blades with it, locked in between each other as one of us tried to gain an edge over the other.

Eventually, I was able to push it off and follow up with an old three hit combo from the Kingdom Hearts games and a Fire spell, which made it disperse into nothingness.

One down, five to go.

Unfortunately, I let my guard down too long and let yet another armor strike me across the field, the same with another and another until the whole field became one giant pinball game, and I was the pinball. I had enough of the onslaught and prepared to hit the armor I was being knocked over to and sliced it out of existence, I did the same thing to another armor that tried to get the drop on me except I dispatched it with a Blizzard spell, I didn't know I had that one.

Okay, half of them are done, now for the other half.

This time I was focused as an oncoming attack from behind was blocked by me and redirected its blade to its side and slashed across its chest, destroying it. The other two ganged up on me and used their swords against my Keyblade to keep me pinned down. Luckily, I was able to slide under in between one of the armor's legs, making their sword crash to the ground as I picked myself up and dragged my Keyblade across their backs, causing them to disappear. Then, the crowd started cheering for me, happy that I cleared my first test.

Luna walked up to me, "Well done, Devin. Now, on to your next test. Miss Dash, Miss Applejack, you know what to do."

The two nodded and walked in front of me a few feet away as we returned to the center of the field.

"Ready?"

We all readied our own Keyblades for battle.

"Begin!"

We all charged forward in a rush of wind and collided each our Keyblades.

I knew I was in for a rough battle.

One Hour Later...

After conducting a bunch of skills and tricks during our fight, we were so exhausted that we could only hit each other's Keyblades very weakly, as if our arms were limp noodles.

Luna giggled at our tiredness, "Okay, that's enough, it is clear that you are all evenly matched, so Devin passed." Luna became serious, "Which will make this harder for me."

"Huh?" I ask.

"After you take a break, you'll be up against me. If you couldn't defeat Rainbow Dash or Applejack, what hope do you have against me?"

I was rendered silent all throughout the break.

Rainbow and Applejack sat with me on a bench, "C'mon, Devin, you can't get yourself get down because you can't beat Luna." Rainbow said.

Nothing.

"It'll be okay, Sugarcube, you can handle yerself."

Nada.

"Well...we'll be with the others in the stands, you get ready for your final test. See ya!" Rainbow said as she and Applejack left me alone.

I began to think to myself, if I can't beat Luna then why did the Book of Prophecies say I passed? It should be pretty much impossible! Unless...I'm missing something.

Just then, I remembered what I told the girls about the Mark of Mastery.

"Yes, but it's not a battle for supremacy, there are no winners, only truths, for when two equal powers clash, their true nature is revealed."

"Of course...!" I utter.

I get up and steel my nerves for my final trial against Luna. As I enter the battlefield once again, I see Luna waiting for me, Keyblade in hand and her dress replaced with full body armor, and the crowd looking quite anxious, but I remain confident, yet serious. The moment I stand a few feet away from Luna, she speaks to me.

"This, is your final test. Are you ready?"

I nod and notice Luna looking nervous to battle me, it's time I gave her some words of encouragement, "There are no winners, only truths, for when two equal powers clash, their true nature is revealed."

Luna was slack-jawed at my words, but then smiled and nodded, then we both get into our battle stances and prepare for a fight. We rushed forward and met in the middle, our Keyblades clashing and sparks flying as we tried to push each other back. Luna had more strength than me and shoved me backwards, but I didn't stumble as she predicted and charged at her with an uppercut swing, knocking her Keyblade off to her side, then quickly going for a downwards swing, which she retaliated by swinging inward and redirecting my Keyblade's path to the ground as she jumped to the side to get away. I wouldn't be denied so easily as I rushed her again, swinging sideways as she raised to block, holding us in another deadlock, which I broke by sliding under her in between her legs like I did with those suits of armor, good thing she wasn't wearing her dress anymore, otherwise it would've really threw me off...anyway, I went for a thrust the second I was behind her, but she swiftly spun around and knocked my Keyblade away from its desired target, instead I was able to cut her arm, but not close enough to slice open a vein, thank God.

Luna was surprised at her sudden gash on her arm and turned to me with a smile, "Impressive. Nopony has ever been able to land a blow on me in over a millennia."

I break my serious face and smirk, "Guess I'm the first in a long time, huh?"

"Verily, surely you will make a grand husband."

"Care to disperse with the banter?"

Luna smirks confidently, "Gladly."

We charge again, but instead of locking in the middle, we slashed and clashed our Keyblades multiple times in several different directions, sometimes raising a block, trying to land a hit on each other. A good five minutes has passed as we kept going strong, but then Luna raised her free hand in front of her as I was going for another strike.

"Enough. The battle is over."

I disband my Keyblade and kneel before her, waiting for her verdict of my test.

"Devin Freeman, you kept a still heart in the most trying of circumstances, never gave up even though you became tired, and managed to survive in a blade fight with me, Princess of the Night...with that said..."

She raised her Keyblade and tapped both my shoulders with it before making it disappear.

"...You have truly shown the Mark of Mastery. Rise, Master Devin."

I did so, and the crowd went wild, cheering at my victory as my friends dogpiled and hugged me, making me laugh at their boldness. Today was truly a good day.

Soon, my victory party came around and everypony from Ponyville and Canterlot were invited, even Blueblood...unfortunately. I met a lot of ponies who became quick friends with me and today couldn't have gone better. But before I knew it, my Keyblade appeared in my hand and shot a beam in front of me, opening a portal to another world.

Everyone was staring at it as I walked up to it, until Celestia grabbed my wrist, "Are you sure it's okay?"

I shrug, "Won't know unless I try."

Reluctantly, Celestia let go and I entered through.

Time to see what was so scary.

Once I was on the other side of the portal, I was in some sort of office with dim and flickering lights.

"That's weird..." I spoke.

Just then, the power went off leaving me in the dark. Shortly after it did, creepy music started playing in the background with mini-lights flashing all around, unnerving me more.

"Okay...how can there be music playing if the power's out?"

Suddenly, an animatronic bear wearing a top hat appeared out of nowhere and screamed as it tried to grab me, making me scream back as I fell backwards back into the portal, landing on my ass and the portal closing immediately. Everypony rushed to my side to see if I was okay, but I was still shaking with fear.

"Devin, are you okay?" Celestia asked me.

"I'm not going back in there." was all I said before passing out from the rush of anxiety my body felt.

In my unconscious state, I could still hear that bear's screech...

Author's Note

Yeah...Five Nights At Freddy's gave me freaking nightmares, so I made this last part to show that this world was a one time thing and will NOT be shown again.

Gotta Get Back

"Forced to pass out because of a fake bear? Damn, and you called me a chickenshit."

I snapped my eyes open and found myself in a void similar to the one God had me in, but the world around was black instead of white. I look around to see where the voice came from, when I finally looked behind me, I saw a being wearing a familiar dark grey hoodie and loose green spandex shorts, but was barefooted.

Why did this person look familiar?

I didn't have time to ponder this as the person attacked with a twisted version of the Master Sword from The Legend of Zelda.

I summoned my Keyblade to block and when we clashed, we both tried to push the other aside, but we were equally matched in physical strength. I jump away and ran around to attack from the side, anticipating this, the person swung in a wide arc with their left hand holding the sword as my Keyblade collided with it. I jumped over his head to get behind the person as I swung in an arc of my own, but the being saw this coming and spun around to block my assault.

I redirected the person's blade away from their front and kicked them in the chest, knocking them down and knocking the wind out of them. I thought the being would stand up and they did, but very slowly and didn't make another attempt to fight. Naturally I was confused at this, why wouldn't they fight anymore?

"Child's play."

I spun around to see Core himself!

"Poor naive idiot. You really think you're a true Master? I've seen all of the known survivors' Mark of Mastery exams, and compared to yours, I'm not impressed with you."

"Why not?! I'm getting stronger every day!" I argue.

"Size of strength means nothing to a Keyblade Master, it's the strength of the heart that matters, and you have done nothing to face the darkness inside you."

"What?"

"You think I don't know what you're thinking, or what you've thought about?"

I was confused, I had no where he was going with this.

"You've had horrible thoughts about killing yourself and those close to you."

Suddenly the temperature dropped to a -30 degrees.

"...Core, that's not me anymore. I've overcome those thoughts. They were beyond my control, all I could do before was resist them."

"You have the power now, what's stopping you from going on a genocidal killing spree?"

I scowl, "My morals."

"And when those are gone, what then?"

"What?"

"There will come a time that you'll have to let go of your morals and realize the way to protect those you love is to become a monster."

I said nothing.

"On to another subject, have you met my newest minion? He's somebody you know all too well."

"He?" I turned around to see that the guy I was fighting was a foot away from me.

"C'mon, Devin, that's no way to greet your brother." He removed his hood to reveal his face; a mullet was his hairstyle with his dirty blonde hair, a beard and mustache combo on his face, along with acne and freckles, a normal green right eye and his left eye had a sickly light blue sclera and a dark purple pupil making him look menacing as he sneered at me.

"JD?!" I leap into a sitting position as I woke up from my nightmare.

I was panting heavily as I took in my surroundings, I was in my assigned room for my stay in Canterlot. How did I get here? It was then I remembered everything that happened so far.

A new world was opened up.

A scary being nearly killed me.

And I fainted from my anxiety attack.

...Stupid disability.

The door swiftly opened to reveal Celestia and Luna with worried looks, "DEVIN!!!" they both leaped at me, nuzzling me the hell out of me.

"Girls, girls, I'm okay, I just passed out." I reassure them.

"But I couldn't see into your dreams! I don't understand how I can't!" Luna said.

My eyes widened, could Core have gotten into my dream and blocked Luna out? And why was my brother there? Too many questions with no answers, so I chose to cuddle my future wives until they dried their tears.

After that little episode, The three of us got out of bed and went to eat late lunch, which we all enjoyed, me, Celestia, Luna, and my new students. Like the princesses, my students pony-piled me into a fit of nuzzles even after I told them I was fine. After we finished our lunch, my Keyblade summoned itself again and opened another portal, instantly, the girls were on me like flies to stink, we talked about it and agreed that one of them should go with me in case something goes wrong, and Luna nominated herself, which we all agreed since she was the most capable fighter right now, with no further hesitation, the two of us went in...

We found ourselves in an empty grass field with the wind lightly blowing through our hair. Just then, we heard explosions in the distance, we turned around to see a village being attacked and what looked to be...an alien mother holding a baby and her daughter running from giant robotic bugs? No, not just them, they're also being chased by...the Heartless! I could see several Armored Knights, Defenders, and Blitz Spears.

The mother and daughter began communicating through their antennas, projecting words and symbols.

You!

That was what the mother said and the daughter said the same thing.

You!

The bugs and Heartless circled them until they stopped and stared the small family down. In the distance, we all heard the sound of a motorcycle headed towards us, making the daughter's antennas say, "?", the driver pulled out a massive gun and blasted a pathway through the robots and Heartless with a missile and over to the small family. It was then that I got a good look at the guy; he was full body armor, a strange looking tall helmet that had horns, and a tiger's mask to conceal his face.

Before I knew it, he shot at the creatures again with a machine gun function from his blaster, firing multiple bullets and dropping the empty shells as Luna and I ducked for cover. He gave most of them holes that could easily rival Swiss cheese before he halted his assault, then he did a wheelie with his ride and spikes protruded out of the front wheel as he rode forward to shred an oncoming bug-bot, as I like to call them, and as he flew through the air, his rear tire had spikes of its own and began to tear apart more of the bug-bots. He was knocked off his ride by one of the bug-bots and immediately pulled out a hand gun that blasted off most of its head when fired at, once he landed on his feet, he shot a few more bug-bots before putting away his weapon and drawing a new one; a retractable staff that had two buttons he pressed, one for a bunch of claws and hooks, and the other for an electric tip.

Surrounded on all sides, the unknown warrior prepared to fight a melee battle as one of the bug-bots charged forward and he stabbed into it with the hook end while twisting the staff and ripping it out, along with most of its wiring. The mother and daughter held each other and watched in awe as the warrior continued to fight, tearing the bug-bots apart and even making them explode with little to no effort, until his mask was sliced in half and fell off his face as his helmet was knocked off his head. Luna and I were able to see his face; extremely long black hair, a merged beard and mustache which was also long, and a serious, determined look on his features, saying "don't mess with me".

It was then the daughter spoke again.

Jack

Jack?

Who's...wait.

Could this be...his world?

I couldn't think much on that as "Jack" shouted a battle cry while jumping into the air, plunging his staff into another bug-bot, piercing straight through and going after another, which was the last one, making its remain spew oil out of its hole and over to the daughter, who made a symbol of a face with X eyes and tongue sticking out. Before Jack could relax, the Heartless began to advance on him, making him grit his teeth in anticipation. They didn't get a chance to attack him though, as I used the skill Zantetsuken to destroy all of them in one fell swoop, making him look at me in slight surprise as he examined me and my own weapon, I disbanded my Keyblade and lowered my arm back to my side, showing that I mean no harm.

Seeing that the battle was over, he picked up his helmet, replaced it on his head, and got back on his motorcycle to leave, me and Luna gave chase on our Gliders to get some answers as the daughter ran in our direction, speaking with her antennas.

Thank

You!

She watched as we went after Jack, who rode off into the sunset.

If this world is what I think it is, then that warrior, Jack is gonna need our help and guidance.

Somewhere, in an unknown location, what appeared to be some kind of cult was bowing to a statue of a dark being. Not long, the screams of a mother giving birth, babies crying, and a gong ringing every time a child was born resounded through the cavern. After she finished, she gave birth to seven little girls, and the mother of the children was helped off the table and dressed by her followers, she then approached the statue the followers were worshipping.

"Seven daughters to do your bidding, master," she began, "They will succeed where so many others have failed, and we will find favor in your glory."

The statue said nothing back, of course.

But what they all didn't know was that they were being watched from afar by a figure hidden in the shadows...

"Soon, bro...soon I'll settle the score."

Luna and I followed Jack into the desert, where he was going, we didn't know, but we followed. After a whole night of following him, and Luna resting on my back after she got tired from flying her Glider all day, he stopped in the middle of a forest where he removed his helmet and took a deep breath as I woke up Luna and we hid in one of the trees, then proceeded to take a drink out of a nearby stream of water. Suddenly, he looked really freaked out by something in the stream, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. Could he be hallucinating?

All of a sudden, he noticed us above him and called, "I know you are there. Show yourself."

We hopped down and began to introduce ourselves, "Sorry about stalking you. I'm Devin, and this is my...fiancé, Luna." Luna took note of my hesitation, but Jack didn't seem to notice.

"'Fiancé'? But you're so young, and she is...not human."

"I know, but it was...kinda spur of the moment, but never mind that." I began, "I, um...heard much about you, and noticed you lack a certain...weapon." Jack's eyes widened, which I noticed, "If it isn't too much to ask, could you...tell me what happened to it?"

He closed his eyes and cringed greatly.

"Uh, never mind, it's obvious that's a touchy subject for you."

Luna seemed rather confused; a certain weapon that Jack had lost? And they didn't even speak to anyone on the way here, how did he know him? Luna would have to wait for answers, Jack appears like he wants to speak.

"I did lose it...but I can't say how, or why." he answered vaguely.

"...I understand." I said, "When you're ready to tell us, we'll listen, okay?"

"Very well."

After a while, and Jack ignoring a nearby explosion, it soon got dark as we made a campfire and luckily Luna and I brought food for dinner, because Jack was about a cook a dead rat to eat...gross. As we continued to eat our food, Jack stared into the fire, fear and shock in his eyes, Luna noticed as well and we knew immediately that Jack was hallucinating again. We tried to snap him out of it, but he didn't respond until he yelled in absolute anger and burst through the campfire with his motorcycle, charging straight for the plume of smoke where the explosion from before came from.

"We gotta follow him! He's not well!" I said, Luna nodded.

We summoned our Keyblade Gliders and we rushed to Jack's aid. Whatever's going on with Jack...

...It MUST have something to do with his missing sword.

After a hard fought battle with some magic robot man that controls blade through music, especially scatting like a Scat Man, Jack took some of the weapons that were still intact from the fight and left, we followed him from a distance as to not freak him out too much. Poor guy was hallucinating again during the battle, and even the robot man was weirded out, but the message was clear: something happened with Jack and his missing sword that caused him to be this way.

And we're going to find out what.

Should've guessed this would happen; Jack was ambushed by some unknown assailants, who were, as my brother would put it, "fast as fuk boi!" Luna and I WERE watching from afar and getting ready to step in, if it wasn't for some freak in a hoodie knocking us out of the sky and separating us from Jack. But the moment I saw the sword he was wielding, I knew exactly who it was.

"Show yourself...bro-migo!"

He removed his hood and saw my brother exactly the way I saw him in the dream realm, freaky-ass eye and all.

"Heh, guess I should've known you'd figure me out...brother." he said.

"Hold on!" Luna interjected, "That is your brother?!"

"Yeah, but...something real bad happened to him, judging by that eye he's got." I answered.

"You mean 'something real AWESOME'!" JD said with smile that bled malice, "I'm finally ready to pay you back for making our parents favor you over me!" he then when on a monologuing spree with a spiteful frown, "I don't care if you're the one who listen or does everything our parents say, you're NOT better. We share the same blood and the same family. But..." his malicious smile returned with a vengeance, "...There IS something that sets us apart!"

I deadpanned, "...That we don't share the same brain?" This witty comeback seemed to shock Luna.

"Ha! Predictable response! But no." he pointed at me, "...Unlike you, I fear nothing."

"What?" I got confused, "Yeah, everybody has their own fears, but--"

"You're afraid of the darkness in your heart!"

THAT certainly shut me up.

"Your horrible visions of genocide and suicide still frighten you, no matter what façade you put on!"

I grit my teeth in frustration while Luna looked confused as to what was going on.

"But, I'm different: I wear my darkness on my sleeves, I can make it follow my every command." JD gripped his hoodie and with a firm yank, ripped it clean off his body, revealing an incomplete Heartless symbol branded on his chest, very similar to the mark from Riku's Dark Mode suit. He then prepared his battle stance with his twisted version of the Master Sword; his left hand open and his palm aimed towards us, his right hand holding the sword leveled even with his head, and his legs spread out, "On that note...I can paint the town red...with YOUR blood!!!"

That was all the incentive I needed to summon my Keyblade, but Luna summoned hers rather reluctantly. Why though? I couldn't think much on it as the battle began.

Meanwhile, Jack was hiding within a broken metal shell away from the lightning speed assassins as it started to rain, then Jack began hallucinating and saw...himself.

"I believe it's time to end it, don't you think?"

Jack was surprised, but regained his composure, "Never. They are just machines. I'll find a way. I always have."

"When you have the sword! But now it's gone! There's no hope."

"I have been doing fine without it." Jack said, but didn't feel entirely sure.

His words seemed to anger the apparition of himself, "Well listen to you. And what happens when Aku finds you and realizes that you have no sword?"

"Aku doesn't know. And he hasn't shown himself in years. He keeps thinking that one of his machines will defeat me."

"Maybe he's right. You have never faced anything so powerful! How much longer can you keep this up?!" The vision of Jack asked, noticeably getting angrier.

"It always seems bad at first, but then I find a way. They are just nuts and bolts. Just nuts and bolts..."

The Jack mirage got in the real Jack's face, "WHO CARES ANYMORE?! There's no way home, there's nothing to fight for! There is no more honor...come to think of it, the only honorable thing would be to--"

"Quiet."

"NO!! I WON'T SPEND ETERNITY IN THIS FORSAKEN TIME!!"

Jack was shocked by his anger and declaration, but then became somber, "...What do you want from me?"

The spirit became somber as well, "I want it to end. Aren't you tired? Wouldn't it be great to be free of all of this? Our ancestors are waiting for us...they want you to join them."

Jack took a peek out of the shell and saw an armored man with an antler horned helmet riding on horseback, staring into his soul, then he saw an ancient temple in the distance.

"There!"

"You'll never make it! They'll get you!"

"I'll make it."

Back to the fight, Luna and Devin were knocked back by JD's electrically charged Skyward Slash and were spasming from the electricity, paralyzing them.

"...That really all you got? Man, Core wasn't kidding when he said he wasn't impressed with you...not that I care. He's simply a means to an end. I'd be going against boss's orders, but who gives a shit? As far as I'm concerned, your jobs here are done."

Like before, JD raised the blade into the air as a lightning bolt struck it, making the sword crackle and spark with electric power. He readied another electrical Skyward Slash when a speeding blur rushed past him, knocking him off balance and losing the power within the sword.

JD growled, "Grrr...who dares?!"

Silence. JD could only roar in anger.

With a deep breath, he regain his composure, "...Fine. But the two of you? Consider yourselves and your little harem bitches on probation." JD then disappeared into a Corridor of Darkness.

The person who tackled him was watching the two in the shadows as they barely stir after that beating they received, she was also the one who lead the assault on Jack, The samurai is the target. Not them.

She rushed back to her sisters to finish what they had started with Jack...

After finally coming to, Devin looked around and saw that he and the still unconscious Luna were still alive, much to his surprise, but there was no sign of Jack, JD, or the assassins. Utilizing a quick Cure spell on him and Luna, Devin picked her up and opened a portal back to Equestria.

"Sorry Jack, but we're pretty banged up, and we need to rest for a while. I promise, we'll be back for you soon..."

With that vow said, he limped into the portal with one of his beloved and left this world behind for now, not realizing that Jack was floating down a bloodstained river by now, struggling to staying alive...

Author's Note

Yeah, I know, I'm WAY late with this one, but I want to introduce more worlds now, so I'll post a blog with a poll for which world goes next soon.

Welcome to the Satellite

Author's Note

In the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds chapter, some Duels that aren't majorly important I'm going to skip and get straight to the main story, so bear with me.

EDIT: I realized my character already knew Cure and switched it with Stop.

Welcome to the Satellite

The moment we stepped through the portal, Luna and I collapsed, barely registering the others' frantic cries of concern. Once we woke up, Fluttershy was watching over us while reading a book, and nursed our wounds the moment she noticed we were awake. Not long after, Gazing Eye appeared in my hand again and another beam of light shot out of my Keyblade, opening another portal, Fluttershy, although scared out of her mind, decided to go with me to make sure I'm safe this time.

With some hesitation, we entered...

...And immediately found ourselves into some kind of hellhole of a ruined city; smog in the sky, not a soul in sight, the whole sha-bang. At least, until we saw some girl running through the streets wearing some ragged clothing. Maybe this was some sort of slum area?

"...C'mon, Fluttershy," I said, gaining her attention, "let's follow her."

"Oh, um...okay..." she uttered.

We both headed for where that girl was going, which was an old subway passage that was half destroyed, crumbling, and abandoned...well, almost abandoned.

"Yusei! Hey, Yusei! Are ya down here?!" she called out.

A few other guys gave her some greetings, as if she were male, before I laid eyes on a young man working on a really tricked-out motorcycle; he had black, spiky-ish hair with yellow highlights, tan skin, and deep blue eyes, wearing a weird biker jacket, a black shirt with a weird red logo on it, dark grey pants, brown boots, and dark brown long gloves. This guy's appearance screamed "trouble", but this Rally kid seems to take a liking to him.

"Check it out; a Skylon 30 acceleration chip!" Rally said, pulling a computer chip out of her pocket.

"That's a Skylon?" the nerd-looking guy asked, "Aren't those incredibly expensive?"

One of the other guys, with the bandana on his head, gripped Rally's wrist to take a better look at the chip, "It looks like it's never been used. Don't tell me you stole this."

Rally wrenched her arm free, "I didn't steal nothin'! It was just laying on the ground in broad daylight...maybe someone dropped it."

They started chastising Rally about taking things that don't belong to her, how things work around this place, and how they'll track them down if they saw her. It was then that I noticed that funny yellow mark on her cheek, was it some sort of tracking device?

The nerve of some people... I thought, angry that a simple kid would be kept under surveillance. Fluttershy seemed to be thinking the same thing when I saw her angry face, and seeing that on HER were rare occurrences.

"Easy, Nervin." Yusei said, approaching them, "Rally, let me see that."

She handed him the chip, and began incorporating it into his ride, much to the other guys' dismay, and I could understand; my mom raised me not to be a thief, but Rally could be one in some ways, also she's just a kid, probably didn't a proper role model in her life before coming to this place, possibly.

"We know how you feel, Yuse," Nervin began, "but I think it's time to bury the past, move on, and forget about Jack Atlas."

Jack Atlas? Who's that?

But Rally didn't take kindly to that suggestion, "But Jack also took Yusei's best card, remember Nervin?!"

Best card? What kind of world did we end up in?

"And you remember Jack's in the city, and the people over there don't take too kindly to those of us from the Satellite." Nervin countered.

City? Satellite? I thought we were in a city. And what does space junk have to do with this?

"Yeah, and? In case you forgot, sometimes you gotta stand up for yourself!" Rally countered back, defiantly.

Fluttershy had to withhold a gasp at her words, she knew she was an absolute doormat to many ponies back home, but she DID learn to stand up for herself, and yet...Rally's words seem to have struck a chord in her.

But Nervin wasn't going to accept this, "Yusei. Us Satellites should just stay put."

"Jack didn't stay, so why should I?" Yusei asked, matter-of-factly.

"Let him go, bro," Bandana Guy agreed with Nervin, "don't risk your freedom for some wheels and a card. I think Nerv's right; it's time to put the past in the past."

But Yusei didn't want to do so, in fact he kept on working until he heard the power coming from the motorcycle, it was like the ride was fresh out of the factory. Rally began to hand Yusei his helmet and suggest that he take it for a test drive, but all of a sudden, a bright light flashed down into the subway tunnel, surprising everyone, even me and especially Fluttershy, who cowered behind me from the suddenness of the light.

"It's Sector Security!" Nervin shouted.

Sector Security? What's that, a police force?

"IDENTIFICATION NUMBER 8WX86007, YOU ARE IN POSSESSION OF STOLEN PROPERTY! ESCAPE IS NOT AN OPTION! YOU'RE SURROUNDED!"

Stolen property? Don't tell me...!

"Look what you did!" Bandana Guy shouted at Rally.

"I didn't do nothin'!" Rally continued to deny, "Blitz, I promise, I didn't steal anythin'! It's like I said before; it was just lying there and no one was around!"

"None of that matters, Rally!" Bandana Guy, AKA Blitz, said.

Yusei stopped him from ranting any further, "It's gonna be alright."

"So what should we do?"

"There's nothing we CAN do!" Big Guy, who I learned was named Tank, began, "That mark is like a homing device, it sends a signal to Security!"

Rgh...bastards. Picking on a little kid.

Yusei typed something in on a computer near his motorcycle, "I got that covered."

Then, before I could figure out what he's doing, we heard the police, Sector Security, started getting riled up.

Yusei hopped into his ride, "I bought you guys a couple of minutes." Rally handed him his helmet.

"Where do you think you're going?" Blitz asked.

"You take the east tunnel," he pushed a button on his helmet that lowered a visor over his eyes, "I'm gonna take this chip out for a test drive."

We had to properly duck as Yusei drove past us, just so he didn't notice us eavesdropping, and the rest of his gang left through the aforementioned tunnel. After they were gone, Fluttershy asked a good question:

"What do we do now?"

I thought for a moment...then I figured it out, "...We're going after that Yusei guy." Fluttershy gasped when I said that, "We need to know what's going on, and he may be the only sane one with answers here. Let's go."

"But you saw how fast that machine was, how are we going to catch up?"

I smirked, "Already got that taken care of."

"Huh?"

"You on the runner, pull over! There's no use trying to escape!" the leading officer ordered as he on a motorcycle, a cruiser, and a chopper pursued Yusei through the streets.

Soon though, Yusei smashed through a gate to an abandoned factory and hit the brakes as the cops closed in on him. Fluttershy and I were flying over them on my Glider, keeping out of sight of the chopper, so we wouldn't get in trouble too. We landed a certain distance away and snuck up to hear what they were saying.

"...And with you and Rally off to the Facility, Jack will have one less thing to worry about." the leading officer said, from what I can guess, it was a trick all along, "Now tell me: are you going to make this easy and come along quietly?"

Don't do it, dude...

"I will..."

Son of a bitch.

"...If you can beat me."

I smirk. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about.

The leader seemed to laugh at that, "I see you still think you can out-Duel Sector Security. It's too bad the rules say that you Satellites can't carry cards."

"Out-Duel"? Cards? Could this place be...?

Yusei pulled out a deck of cards with a very familiar picture on the back, that proves it: this is a Yu-Gi-Oh world, one that I've never seen before, "Rules were made to be broken...weren't they?" he attached the cards to some sort of deck slot on his wrist, "Now if I win this Duel, Rally and me are free to go, no questions asked, Trudge."

But one of the officers didn't like what Yusei said, "The law does not negotiate with--!"

The leader, named Trudge, held his arm out, silencing him, "And what's in it for me should I accept your proposal?"

"But Article 4-B clearly states that--"

"Well allow me to clearly state this: get moving or else."

I had a feeling that's what was going on. Crooked cops, mainly that Trudge guy. Why am I not surprised?

"This is highly improper!" the lesser cop argued back. At least he had SOME morals.

Trudge turned to him, quite agitated, "I said 'move'! Or would you prefer to be working on trash detail?"

The cop realized that while he had the law memorized to use if need be, Trudge was above him and had no choice but to do as he said, "Back to Command Central everyone, direct orders."

As they left, I felt a little bad for the guy, he was only following orders, but Trudge was abusing his authority. Also judging by how hard Fluttershy was gripping my shoulder, I can clearly see that she didn't like what she was seeing either.

Yusei continued with his terms, "Well, should you accept and win, you'll tell Sector Security to call off their hunt for Rally."

"And how does that benefit me?" Trudge asked.

"'Cause I'm gonna say that it was me who stole the chip, and that I tried to flee the scene, but couldn't outrun your pursuit. A statement like that will probably bump you up to Sergeant. So whataya say, officer?"

I hope this Yusei is good enough at Yu-Gi...ahem, Duel Monsters to beat this Trudge freak.

Speak of the devil, he walked back to his motorcycle, "You've got yourself a deal...fool." We'll see who's the fool, Trudge.

The two lined up their rides, as if they were getting ready for a race, and lowered their helmet visors.

"Here we go. I'll engage the Speed World Field Spell." Trudge said, pushing a button on his control panel.

A Field Spell named Speed World? Just before the Duel starts? What did I miss on this show?

//Duel Mode engaged.// a computerized AI voice spoke, //Autopilot activated.//

The area around them turned cosmic as a Life Point counter appeared over each of their heads, displaying 4,000, guess some things really do never change.

"Let's ride!!" they both called out before driving off.

Fluttershy and I came out of our hiding spot and watched them go, what in the blue hell kind of Dueling was this? "Fluttershy. Let's go after them. I GOTTA see this."

She nodded and I summoned my Glider again, with Fluttershy climbing on and holding on to my back as I flew after them.

As soon as we caught up, the Duel just begun, and Trudge drew first, "I can't wait to finally put you away," he then played a monster on his field, "and my Assault Dog's gonna help make sure of it!" the monster summoned was an armored dog with a turret gun on each side of it, displaying it's ATK, or Attack Points, at 1,200, "With it on the field, I play a card facedown and end my turn."

It was Yusei's turn as he drew from his own deck, "It's my move then, and with the power of my Speed Counter, I can summon..." he slapped down a monster card and a robotic humanoid appeared, "...Speed Warrior!" it's ATK came out at 900, which weirded me out, why summon a monster that weak? Unless...

Trudge smirked as his visor showed Speed Warrior's ATK and DEF, which appeared to be 400, "You never WERE good at math, now were you? I mean that monster's Attack Points are less than mine. Why bother summoning him out?"

At this point, Yusei sped up a bit, and Speed Warrior started to glow, it's ATK going up from 900 to 1,800.

Trudge's smirk disappeared and in its place, a look of shock, "Hey, why did it's Attack Points double like that?!" I was just wondering the same thing, Trudge.

"I heard you were at the bottom of your class at the academy, and I can see why now." Yusei's remark made me and Fluttershy chuckle a bit.

Trudge looked slightly annoyed now, "Huh, still a wise guy, I see. I expected nothing less." he didn't even TRY to deny what Yusei just said, maybe this'll be easy for him after all.

"Well, did you expect my Speed Warrior to take out your blast dog?!" Yusei asked, ordering the attack on Trudge's monster, effectively destroying it.

Trudge's Life Points went from 4,000 to 3,400, "You always were a know-it-all, but I'm about to teach you a brand new lesson, Yusei!" suddenly, another Assault Dog appeared on to Trudge's side of the field, "You see, when Assault Dog is sent to the Graveyard because of an attack, I can summon another one from my deck to take its place."

Yusei snatched a card out of his hand and set it down, "Still using the same old deck I see, I play a facedown and end my turn." after that, Speed Warrior's ATK went back down to 900.

"And now that your Speed Warrior's Attack Points are halved, I remove my Assault Dog from play to bring out Handcuffs Dragon!"

A weird-ass dragon with handcuff-like rings on its mouth and tail appeared with 1,800 ATK, scaring the living hell out of Fluttershy as she gripped me for dear life.

"Here's a quick math lesson; with 1,800 Attack Points, your Speed Warrior is about get subtracted from the playing field!"

Handcuffs Dragon charged at the machine man with the intention of destroying it utterly.

"Not if I play my facedown! Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" Yusei revealed a Trap Card I've never seen before, "With this, I can absorb your dragon's attack and save my Speed Warrior!"

But Trudge didn't look the least bit worried, "Hah, you mean that would've worked, if not for..." he revealed his own Trap, "the Wiretap Trap Card!"

Yusei grit his teeth as his scarecrow Trap was destroyed.

"Handcuffs Dragon! Take out his monster!"

The freaky dragon charged in and pinched Speed Warrior with its cuff-like pincher and crushed it into shards of light, making Yusei's Life Points drop down to 3,100.

"Your deck's made up of cards others threw away, and no matter how patch it up, trash is still trash!"

"Ugh, man, what a jackass!" I said to Fluttershy above the two Duelists, "Can you believe this?"

"I can't." Fluttershy uttered, "How somepony, or somebody, be so cruel?"

"That's most of humanity for you; no matter how many good people there are in the world, there will always be bad people. Always."

Back to the Duel, Yusei began to recover from losing his monster, "It's my turn. I summon Sonic Chick in Defense Mode!" he called out another monster: a pink feather bird wearing red boots, its DEF, or Defense Points, at 300, "With that, I place two cards facedown and end my turn."

Trudge began to laugh, "Just like a Satellite to hide behind junk! Well, I'll flush you out." he drew and smirked. Uh-oh. he then sent three cards in his hand to the Graveyard, "One, two, three! Hahahahahahahaha! Now by sending those three cards to my Graveyard, I can Special Summon Montage Dragon to the field!" a menacing three-headed dragon appeared with 3,000 ATK, seriously scaring Fluttershy more than the last one, "And with a powerful beast like that in play, it's only a matter of time before this Duel is over and I get to turn you in!"

"Fluttershy! Take it easy! I can't drive like this!" I said.

When I finally regained control of my Glider and Fluttershy calmed down slightly, I saw a screen appear in front of me with a picture of Montage Dragon's card.

"What the...?!"

//Montage Dragon's Attack Points are equal to the total level of the monsters sent to the Graveyard multiplied by 300.//

"Well...that's new." I simply said as the screen closed itself out.

Yusei's visor showed the ATK stat of the new monster, "...Quite the beast."

"Wait till you see it in action!" Trudge began, "But first my Handcuffs Dragon is taking out your Sonic Chick!"

The aforementioned dragon charged forward and pinched the poor bird, destroying it like Speed Warrior, making Yusei growl and Fluttershy suddenly went silent.

"And with him outta the picture, I'm just one attack from putting you away for good! Go, Power Collage!"

The tri-headed dragon blasted their own beam out of their mouths, kicking up dust in the area around Yusei and making his Life Points take a massive nosedive, from 3,100 all the way down to a measly 100. Not only that, but also his Speed Counter, which was at 4 by this point, now dropped down to 1.

"You may have knocked me down, but it'll more than that to knock me out." Yusei said, defiantly.

"There's not a card in your deck that can save you now!" Trudge disagreed.

"Jeez, arrogant much, Trudge?" I mutter.

"How dare you..."

I looked back to see Fluttershy's eyes shadowed under her bangs, "Flutters? You okay?"

She whipped her head up glared at Trudge below us, "How DARE you!!"

I placed a hand over her mouth, "Shhhh! Are you TRYING to get us caught?!"

Meanwhile, Yusei drew as it was his turn again...and smiled confidently, "It's go time." he played a Monster Card with an interesting Type, "I summon out the Junk Synchron Tuner Monster!" a weird, puny humanoid machine-like monster appeared with 1,300 ATK.

Synchron? Tuner? I've never heard of any of these terms in Yu-Gi-Oh.

Another screen appeared in front of us, //Junk Synchron is a Level 3 Tuner Monster. Tuner Monsters combine with other monsters to form more powerful Synchro Monsters.//

Synchro Monsters? So it's kinda like Fusion Monsters, I guess...?

"You have a Tuner Monster? That can't be..." Trudge said.

"And yet somehow it is." Yusei interjected, "Next, I activate the Graceful Revival Trap Card, and it allows me to do what us Satellites do best: recycle my Speed Warrior from my Graveyard!"

With that, the Trap did its job and revived Speed Warrior back to Yusei's field. But what's he gonna do next? Those cards aren't strong enough against either of those dragons.

Trudge growled as Yusei continued, "Now I tune my Junk Synchron with my Speed Warrior, to Synchro Summon Junk Warrior!" Junk Synchron pulled a cord on his side and turned into three green rings that went through Speed Warrior, changing him into two orbs of light, and then a massive beam of light shot through the rings, "Let's rev it up!"

The light died down to reveal another mechanical humanoid that looked like it was merged with Speed Warrior and Junk Synchron, with a total of 2,300 ATK. Could this be Synchro Summoning?

"Clever move," Trudge began as he looked pretty nervous, "but your monster's still not strong enough to stop my Montage Dragon! Looks like after all that, you still underestimated the power of my beast!" Trudge, you simple-minded fool.

"And you underestimated the power of my deck!" Yusei countered, activating a Spell Card, "Go, Vision Wind!"

"My Vision Wind?!" His? "You won that from me on your last day at the Re-education Center!" Oh. "What're you gonna do with it?!"

"Win this Duel! As I'm sure you remember, with it I can Special Summon one Level 2 or below monster from my Graveyard. And I summon my Speed Warrior!" In a plume of wind, Speed Warrior returned to the field once again. Guess third time really IS the charm. "With it on the field, Junk Warrior's special ability activates, making Junk Warrior nine-hundred points stronger!" I get it now! Junk Warrior must gain the ATK of whatever monster is with it on the field...at least, that's what I think after seeing Junk Warrior's ATK go up from its usual 2,300 to a whopping 3,200.

Trudge immediately realized that Junk Warrior is strong enough to take out his strongest dragon, "How could I let a punk kid from the Satellite Sector get the upper hand? With that power..."

"My Junk Warrior's gonna make sure me and Rally stay free!" As Yusei said that, Junk Warrior charged forward and destroyed Handcuffs Dragon first, reducing Trudge's Life Points from 3,400 to 2,000.

And yet, the jackass AGAIN didn't look too worried, "I bet you thought that by attacking you'd only be hurting me, but in fact you really just hurt yourself! But that's nothing new, is it, Yusei?" the spirit of Handcuffs Dragon returned and wrapped itself around Junk Warrior, sapping away at its ATK until it went down to 1,400, "As I recall, you were to act first and think second. Reminds me of the time you tried to break curfew with Rally; you never thought you'd be caught, but one never does until they are! I can still remember the scared look on Rally's face, and I can't wait to see it again once your friend is rounded up."

You bastard...

"Well KEEP waiting, 'cause I'm not losing!" Yusei said.

"Not what?!" Hard of hearing, Trudge?

"I activate the Trap Card, Equip Shot!" Yusei revealed his other Trap, "This releases my Warrior from your dragon's grip and let's me use its ability against you!" Junk Warrior all but ripped Handcuffs Dragon off of him and threw it at Montage Dragon, returning Junk Warrior's ATK to 3,200 and reducing Montage Dragon's ATK to 1,200, much to my and Fluttershy's joy.

"Ahhh! You can't use my monster against me!" Says who?

"Growing up on the streets, I learned to become very resourceful; using everything to my advantage. And that includes using my opponent's own move against themselves! Junk Warrior, end this!"

Junk Warrior charged one last time and punched Montage Dragon into pieces, making Trudge cry out as his Life Points hit 0 and his motorcycle spit out steam every which way because of it.

"Ugh...there goes my promotion..." Trudge uttered in disbelief, "Guess I'm going back to being a Duel Runner Meter Maid..."

Yusei stopped near Trudge for some choice words, "You mentioned earlier how you wanted to teach me a lesson, well how 'bout I leave you with this: don't underestimate us Satellites or our decks, 'cause what you see as weakness is what truly makes us strong." he then drove off and spoke to Trudge via com link, //Tell Jack 'thanks for the chip'.//

Trudge growled, "Things ain't over between you and me..."

I decided now was the time to finally approach Yusei and talk to him about what's going on here, and I got a very powerful feeling that we haven't seen the last of Trudge. We landed a distance away from where Yusei stopped and saw him staring out at a grand and bright city across the ocean.

"Get ready, Domino City. I'm coming." he said.

We walked out from our hiding spot and I called out, "Hey." Yusei quickly spun around to see us, "Nice Duel back there. Really showed that guy a thing or two."

"...Who are you two? I've never seen either of you in the Satellite before."

"It's...a bit difficult to explain, you might not even believe us if we told you. But, if you can answer our questions, we'll answer yours. Deal?"

Yusei seemed a bit hesitant, and I don't blame him; two complete strangers asking him to answer questions and they answer his after? I'd be skeptical myself! But he looks like he relented, "Alright, deal."

"Okay, which one should I start with?...Um...what exactly is going on here?"

A long while after that day, we traded info in exchange for info; this place is a recycling center for those of the lower class and everyone here are forbidden from entering New Domino City, makes me wonder what happened to the original Domino City...either way, New Domino City is a place mainly for rich snobs and anybody marked with one of those yellow trackers are ostracized by society as lowlifes and scum, even Rally...whom of which we learned was really a boy who just LOOKS like a girl, which is weird. After that was finished, we explained where we came from, who and what we are, and why we're here, naturally Yusei and his crew didn't believe us, until we summoned our Keyblades, giving them some form of proof, I suppose. Lastly, I told them that I was a retired Duelist and that I've never heard of Synchro Summoning before until that night, and Yusei agreed to teach me if we found some Synchro Monsters in the recycling bins. One other thing, in that timeframe, I learned a few new spells: Stop, Reflect, and Magnet.

Which leads to mine and Fluttershy's current predicament: working at the Satellite, recycling the snobs' garbage, I mean jeez, you'd think they'd pay or feed us for a job well done at the very least, it's a good thing we grabbed some humanly edible food from Equestria when our new friends were hungry. Speaking of which, Blitz, Tank, and Nervin were talking about food when some punk-asses tripped Tank up and made him drop his boxes full of trash.

"Tank!" Blitz exclaimed.

"What happened?!" Nervin asked.

"Rgh...I fell." Tank moaned out.

"No, you didn't." I walked over to the troublesome trio sitting nearby, "'Punk-ass Magee' here tripped you."

"Heh, a smart kid with a smart mouth." the leader of the trio said, smugly.

The guy with the sunglasses spoke next, "Hah, it looks like he scuffed up your shoe real bad, what do you think he should do about it?"

The freak with the abnormally long index finger chuckled as the leader spoke again, "How 'bout he buys me a brand new pair of kicks and we call it even? I wear a size 11."

Before anyone could say or do anything, I decided to add my two bits, "I got a better idea: how about I give you a pair of kicks...in your teeth?" the trio looked shocked for a moment, "How's the funny yellow mark there? Get caught by Sector Security for your ugly mug disturbing the peace?"

The leader growled and stood up, "I'll show YOU ugly!" he grabbed the collar of my tunic and reared back a punch.

"Dude, I don't think that's a good ide--"

POW!

I barely even felt it as I slowly turned my head to face him, surprising him and his cronies, "...You done?" I harshly gripped his wrist and pulled his fist off my face, "My turn." I reared my own fist and punched him halfway across the room and into a trash bin, dumping the filth all over him as his cronies watched, frozen in fear. With that done, I began to walk away, "Let's go."

Fluttershy followed while Blitz, Tank, and Nervin tried to process what the hell just happened before snapping out of it and coming with us.

"Cure." I said as a green aura surrounded me and easing my pain.

I hated bullies with burning passion and still do, that's why I laid into that horse's ass with my words and my fists.

"I still don't get how you can do that." Nervin said.

"That was pretty reckless, kid." Blitz began, "What would've happened if that guy's buddies ganged up on you?"

"I knew they wouldn't; they're cowards who pick on the weak, and when they pick on someone stronger than them, they leave them alone after a small...demonstration. Cowards think they have power over the weak, but when real power rears its head, they fear it. Such is human nature." I explain.

"Forget all that!" Rally began, "Yusei maxed out his Duel Runner!"

"Yeah, like how 'maxed out'?" Blitz asked.

"Enough to get outta here." Yusei answers.

"Ha, you shoulda seen him and his Runner speedin' through tunnels!" Rally began to explain, I stopped him.

"I think we can take your word for it." I turn to Yusei, "So, quick question: how exactly are you gonna get outta this pit? Last I checked, your ride can't fly or go over water."

"Don't worry, I got it all planned out...probably." he said.

I raise an eyebrow, "Why doesn't that give me much confidence?"

Yusei began typing on his computer as Tank spoke up, "So what's this plan you think MIGHT work, Yusei?"

"Oh, it's GONNA work, Tank!" Rally insisted.

"Well, I hope you're right, Rally, 'cause if everything falls into place, Stardust Dragon will be mine again and we'll all be one step closer to leaving the Satellite." Yusei answered.

"Yuse, are you sure that card is worth the risk?" Blitz asked him, "I mean, you REALLY think that card will make a difference?"

"Of course it will, don't you remember the feeling when you first saw it in action?" Tank began, "'Cause I'll never forget it! Seeing the Duel Runner Yusei made from spare parts in the recycling center was amazing, and then when Yuse started it up and showed us what it could do, it was like a whole, new world opened up!"

"I think I know the feeling all too well..." I mumble to myself.

"Yeah!" Nervin added, "And then when he summoned his Stardust Dragon, I couldn't believe my eyes OR ears! I mean you were screaming at the top of your lungs, Blitz!" Knowing these guys, I would've paid big money to see that.

"That's right, I lost my voice for a week after all that hollerin', too bad Jack took away our dreams..."

"How cruel..." Fluttershy mumbled. If only you knew the depths of humanity's cruelty, my student...

"Well, Yusei's about to get them back, 'cause with this new Runner, Jack doesn't stand a chance!"

"Yeah! What're we waitin' for?!" Tank asked, all pumped up.

"Midnight tonight." Yusei answered.

"Why? What's at midnight?" Nervin asked.

"The tiniest of opportunities." Yusei began, "Check this out, guys, see, the only way between the Satellite and New Domino City is this sewer pipeline here, problem is, they flood it with trash 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But once a month at midnight, they shut the system down to check the compressor pumps, then a maintenance hatch is automatically opened, and THAT'S when I'll get my chance to make it through."

After Yusei finished explaining his plan to us, there was a brief silence as some of what Yusei said went over mine and Fluttershy's heads since Equestria doesn't have very much in technology and I've never had any interest in industrial machinery. And the others...

"...A sewer?" Nervin asked, "That's sounds...a bit...unhygienic."

"Well, it's either that, or stay here with all the punks and dickweeds..." I turn to the shadows, "Isn't that right...Punk-ass Magee?"

The aforementioned punk and his lackeys walks in, ready for a fight, "That ain't my name, little man. How's the healing goin'?"

"How's the trash bath I gave you?" I respond back, angering him.

"Shut it, tough guy!" Mr. Sunglasses barked, "I'll show you what tough is--"

"Fire." I launch a fireball over his head with my Keyblade, scaring the living shit out of him and the fireball explodes harmlessly in midair behind them, "YOU shut it...chickenshit."

He took the hint and backed off as the leader approached, not caring that I just demonstrated a feat of magic, "That's a pretty sweet Runner you got there. How much do ya want for it?"

"Sorry, pal, no dice."

"Well, if it's not for sale, how about you give it to me instead of the shoes we're here to collect?"

"The only things you'll be 'collecting' are the limbs I'll chop off your rotting corpses if you don't leave. NOW."

"Or would you prefer I go topside and tell Sector Security that you're hiding an illegal Duel Runner down here?"

"Why don't we Duel for it?" Yusei offered, interrupting the verbal sparring.

"Heh, Duel me? You might as well just hand it over to me now. Well, how do these stakes sound? I win, and that Runner's mine, you win, and we leave you alone. So...?" The leader had Mr. Sunglasses strap on a dark grey Duel Disk to his left arm as it activated.

"Don't Duel him, Yusei." Blitz disagreed.

"He's just a bully." Nervin agreed.

"And bullies never learn...unless you stand up to them." Yusei said, making Fluttershy look at him in shock.

Stand up...to the bullies? she thought.

"But what if you lose to him, Yuse?" Blitz continued to disagree.

Yusei disengaged his Duel Disk from his Runner and attached it to his arm, "We'll be fine, Blitz."

"Huh, I think I'll change the color." the leader just couldn't keep his mouth shut.

I decided to make a reference, "Your overconfidence is your weakness."

"Don't do it, Yuse, please!" Tank begged, "This Runner is the key to our...our..."

"Future. That's why I have to do this." Yusei finished.

"Well, your future's coming with me, so you better start making new plans for tomorrow." the leader and his punk-asses laughed as they moved away from Yusei to get a better arena for their Duel. Knowing Yusei, he's got this in the bag. "Let's Duel!"

(Duel Skip)

The Duel just began and I already found out that Yusei's afraid of bugs like my brother was and still is, JD's biggest bug fear is spiders, but that's for another time, besides, for a guy who's scared of creepy crawlies, he seems to be composing himself rather well, much better than JD. Dumbass just attacked himself with his own Retribution of the Antlion Spell Card trying to Tribute Summon a better monster to his field, then went on a monologue about how Sector Security dumped him in the Satellite and with Yusei's Runner, he'll be "back to where he belongs".

"The only place YOU belong is in hell with the other scumbags!" I call out.

As his Chainsaw Insect attacked, I finally got to see what exactly Scrap-Iron Scarecrow does: it stops an attack cold and goes back facedown on the field, but it can only be used once per turn, which sucks. His other bugs destroyed Yusei's only monster and dealt damage to his Life Points, including his Spell Card. After using the Double Summon Spell Card, Yusei finally summoned out Junk Warrior with Junk Synchron and Speed Warrior, then used Fighting Spirit, an Equip Spell, to boost Junk Warrior's ATK by 300 points for every monster Punk-ass Magee controls. Yusei then stacked the deck further against him by playing the Spell, Domino Effect.

//With the Spell Card, Domino Effect, for every card on your field that you send to the Graveyard, one of your opponent's monster's is destroyed.//

And so, Junk Warrior attacked Chainsaw Insect, Yusei sent his Equip Spell and Trap to his Graveyard and the other monsters toppled like...well, dominos, and exploded in shards of light. Again, dumbass forgot his Spell was still in play and lost his remaining Life Points, winning Yusei the duel. Yusei walked up to him, explaining that an "old friend" of his taught him something about Duel Monsters, but I didn't pay much attention, Fluttershy was cowering over the insect monsters and I had to comfort her. He decided that maybe they can be friends someday and that maybe they'll Duel topside.

Yusei smiled, "Just no bugs, okay?"

I don't trust the guy or his cronies, but I'll let it slide...for now.

As we were waiting for midnight to hit, I noticed Yusei staring out at the massive crack in the ceiling of the tunnel we were in, who knows what's going through his mind right now? When I went back to take a quick power nap, I saw a deck of Duel Monsters cards near my sleeping spot and a note with them. I pick up the note and read it:

I hope these will help, it wasn't easy getting these from your old home, but maybe some familiar territory might give you some assistance.

--God

P.S. I unlocked the Formchange function for your Keyblade, now you can will it to change into any form you imagine, including a Duel Disk and even a Duel Runner. Enjoy!

God? The guy who sent me here?

Wait...could these be...?!

I looked at the cards...

YES!!! My old deck from my Dueling days!

Thanks a million, God!

"You've only got one shot at this Yusei; the maintenance hatch opens at midnight, and only stays open for three minutes after that..." Nervin began to explain.

"He knows..." Rally groaned.

"...Then they flood that pipeline with garbage..."

"He knows!"

"...And as soon as you jump over that sewage plant's fence, the--"

"HE KNOWS! Try being positive for once, Nervin!"

"I thought I was..."

Blitz spoke next, "Hey, Yusei!" Yusei turned to his group, "Can you really do this?"

"A test run is one thing, but uh, the real thing is something else...if they catch you--" Nervin tried to discourage.

"Don't listen to these guys, Yusei!" Tank at least tried to remain positive, "Just, uh, hit the gas and don't ever look back!" That's a real confidence booster...I guess.

"Almost forgot!" Rally ran up to Yusei and his Runner, "Here, for good luck!" Rally gave him a card.

"What is it, Rally?" he asked.

"Turbo Booster!"

"Wasn't this your father's card?"

Rally nodded in response, "I want you to take it. Like my dad always says, 'You never know when you might need a boost'! I just hope it can help you get back your Stardust Dragon from Jack!" I felt Fluttershy tense up from the word "dragon" and I wrapped an arm around her to calm her down.

Yusei inserted his new card into the Disk Duel of his Runner and slipped his helmet on, "...You gonna be on the monitor?"

Rally nodded again, "We'll go topside so we can get a clear signal, now rev it up!"

"And don't slow down for nothin'!" Blitz ordered.

"Fluttershy." I whispered in her ear, "Once we get above ground, we're going after Yusei. He might need all the help he can get."

Fluttershy nods just as Yusei pulls out.

"You go, Yusei!!" Rally called out as Yusei vanished.

Once we got outside, when the others were climbing to a higher vantage point, I activated my Glider with Fluttershy and flew after our new friend, immediately noticing a certain crooked cop on his ass: Trudge.

"Grr...bastard." I grumble.

"Pull over, Yusei!" Trudge ordered him while Yusei looked confused, "Where do you think YOU'RE going? Don't you know it's 2 hours past curfew, or can you still not tell time?" It goes without saying that me and Fluttershy are REALLY not happy to see him again. "Pull over!" But Yusei sped up to get away from Trudge as he muttered, "Kids these days, never do what they're told." Gee, I wonder why, asshole? "Is he going through the sewage plant?" First hard of hearing, now half blind? Geez, what kind of cop IS this guy?!

Yusei barged through the tiny blockade and with a mighty leap, jumped over the gates to the plant.

"Hanson, come in!" Trudge barked, "Open the security gates and do it quick!" the gates opened up as ordered and Trudge continued to follow Yusei.

//He's heading for the compactors!// the guy named Hanson said through his com link with Trudge.

"I'm on him! He won't get far! There's nowhere he can go!" Jesus, does this moron EVER give up?!

"I really, REALLY dislike that man..." Fluttershy muttered.

"Yeah, me too..." I agreed.

"You may have beaten me in our last Duel, but I've got something special planned for you, and this time I'm taking you down." Yusei looked back curiously at that. "See, with that chip you installed, I can now force you to Turbo Duel." Trudge pushed a button on his motorcycle's touch screen, activating the Speed World Field Spell.

//Duel Mode engaged. Autopilot standing by...// the computer in Trudge's ride spoke.

//Overriding suspect's Duel Runner.// the computer in Yusei's ride spoke next.

Yusei actually looked surprised, "But how?"

//Autopilot engaged.//

...Clever bastard.

"I let you off the hook last time, Yusei," Trudge continued to monologue, "but this time, me and my special Pursuit Deck are gonna haul you to the Facility for good!"

"Damn you...!" I grit my teeth.

Suddenly, something REALLY weird began to happen; the sky in front of me and Fluttershy cracked.

...No, really, the sky ACTUALLY cracked into a gaping vortex, complete with several glitches within it!

Before we could respond appropriately and dodge it, the crack sucked us in, the two of us screaming all the while, but one thought dominated my mind.

First I abandon Samurai Jack, now Yusei?!...I hope he'll be okay...

Before I knew it, I woke up and I found myself in the small clearing in some forest with Rainbow Dash instead of Fluttershy next to me. I didn't get to panic because a note suddenly smacked me in the face. I grabbed it and read aloud:

Apologies, the crack in the sky was not my doing, but even I couldn't control it. I believe it was the doing of some outside interference. Don't worry about Fluttershy, she was about to be landed in a world with Titans and bloodshed, but knowing how she is about that sort of thing, I intervened and returned her to Equestria.

Sadly, I'm afraid I can't keep assisting you and your friends when things go wrong, I AM a busy God, after all. So this may be the last time I can help you for now. Best of luck to you, my child.

Signed,
God

Well, guess I'm on my own, no more divine help for the time being...hang on, where are we?

Wait, there's more.

P.S. In case you're wondering, you and Rainbow Dash are currently in the virtual world Alfheim Online, since you're a big fan of video games, more so RPG's, I changed the trajectory of the crack's exit, that much was within my power.

Enjoy!

...

......

.........

Well, hell.

Alfheim, Land of the Fairies

So...I'm in a virtual RPG game world now...that's logical, I guess? Well, Kingdom Hearts is an RPG game universe with multiple worlds in it, but I don't recall it being in VR, to my knowledge at least, so there's that. My thought process was interrupted by Rainbow stirring awake next to me.

"Ugh...what the Tartarus hit me...?" she uttered to herself, rubbing the side of her head.

"You gonna make it, Dash?" I asked, making her look at me.

"Huh? Devin? You're back already? Where's Fluttershy?"

"She's back in Equestria, safe, thank God."

"What? But we ARE in..." Rainbow then got a better look around, "Wait a minute...I don't recognize this forest...where are we?!"

"Fluttershy and I got pulled into a crack in the sky, I ended up here and Fluttershy made back to Equestria."

"How do you know?!" I deadpanned and showed her the note I received mere minutes ago, she read it quick and gained a sheepish look, "Oh. Right."

"Back to brass tacks," I took charge of the conversation, "I'm pretty curious to how YOU got here. Last I checked, you were back in Equestria."

"Hmm..." Rainbow began to think, "Well, I remember taking a quick break from my Keyblade training, then some guy got the drop on me, opened a black portal and said, 'move it, dyke' before shoving me in. Yeah, my mane is rainbow-colored! I can't help it!"

"Focus, Rainbow."

"Right, sorry. Anyway, he had a hood over his head, so I couldn't see his face, but...he wasn't wearing shoes. He was LITERALLY in his bare feet."

I sighed, "...JD."

"You know that punk?"

"He's no punk, he's my brother."

"That guy is your BROTHER?!?"

"Yeah. Core recruited him during the Mayan Calendar-End of the World thing for whatever end game he's planning, and what JD gets out of it, I don't know. Petty revenge, maybe? Either way, both of them need to be stopped."

"Can we get back to Equestria, though?"

I summoned Gazing Eye in my right hand, "As long as we have our Keyblades, we'll always have a way to return."

Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good. I'll admit, I was pretty worried for a minute there."

I dismissed my Keyblade, "I know this is your first time in a new world, but we have to adapt accordingly. Okay?"

Rainbow saluted, "Roger that, Teach!"

"Teach?"

"Ya know, cuz you're our Keyblade teacher...?"

"Oh, right, gotcha."

Suddenly, I heard the telltale sounds of a scuffle taking place in another clearing next to ours, and judging by the way Rainbow's ears are moving, she heard it too.

"You think...?" she asked.

"Yeah. Trouble." I answered.

"Think we should go help?"

"I'd be ashamed of both of us if we didn't."

Rainbow smirked, "Then let's go."

I nod, "Keep quiet and stay low. Let's get the jump on them."

Rainbow nodded back as we snuck into the other clearing.

In the other clearing, a ponytailed blonde haired girl wearing a green warrior's outfit held her katana out, and despite breathing heavily from overexertion, ready to defend herself against her attackers: three heavily armored and winged guys in red wielding spears and shields, not looking the slightest bit remorseful about ganging up on a young woman.

"Sorry about this. We're on a mission, though. Give up your money and items, and we'll let you go." the leader of the red guys ordered her.

"What're you actin' like a gentleman for, Kagemune?" the red guy on the left asked.

"Yeah, we haven't fought a chick in forever! C'mon, let's waste her!" the red guy on the right spoke right after.

The green girl grit her teeth in anger before properly raising her blade to strike, "Go on, try it! But I'm taking one of you with me! Whoever's not afraid of dying, come on! Step up and get some!"

"You're a stubborn girl." Kagemune commented, "Suit yourself."

The red guys and the green girl got ready for a fight. 3-on-1, not very fair odds, but Dash and I should balance it out easily.

"Ahhhhhhh!!" Huh? A shout of surprise momentarily distracted everyone, including us when a guy in black with wings similar to the red guys fell out of the sky and on his head, probably a newb.

Yikes...that's gotta hurt... I thought.

The guy in black groaned as he got on all fours and rubbed his head, "Damn...gotta work on those landings..."

"What are you doing?!" the green girl asked in a panic, "Go, get outta here!"

"Would someone tell me why three big guys are fighting one single girl? That's pretty uncool, if you ask me." This guy must have a death wish.

"What did you say?!"

"Better get your ass outta here, newb, fast!"

The two cronies got ready to mow him down with their spears.

"Hold it." I called out.

They all turned to the big tree the green girl was standing in front of and saw me and Rainbow Dash stepping out from behind it, us summoning our Keyblades beforehand.

"You wanna fight? Then try us!"

One of the red guys growled, then said, "A fellow Salamander AND an Undine?! You go right, I'll go left! Get ready to die!"

The guy in black simply caught the spear in his hand while I used Formchange to morph my Keyblade into a whip and latched onto the other's spear.

"See ya!" the guy in black said as he threw his opponent back.

"Catch ya later." I said as I flung him into the airborne opponent, slamming them into each other.

"Excuse me. Hate to interrupt, but do you mind if I take care of this?"

"Cut me off a slice of THAT action." I added.

"Same here!" Rainbow agreed.

The green girl was at a loss for words, but then spoke, "Uh, I guess if you really want to. It's not like they were gonna let you walk outta here alive anyway."

The guy in black smirked, "Then sit back and lemme at 'em." he drew his short sword and took a step forward, swiftly passing the cronies at break-neck speeds that would make even Rainbow jealous.

"Huh? Where'd he go?...AHHHHH!" was all one of the cronies could say before he burst into red flames, surprising all that was present.

I was able to recover from my shock and rushed the other crony, "My turn."

The red crony looked scared before I straight-up slashed his midsection, splitting him in half before he too burst into red flames.

"Nice job." the guy in black complimented me, I simply responded with a thumbs-up, and he turned to Kagemune, "How 'bout you? Feel like fighting?"

Kagemune just shrugged and shook his head, "No thanks, pal. My Magic Skill is gonna reach 900 soon, so I'd rather not die just yet."

"Huh?" Rainbow uttered confused.

"I'll explain later." I walked up and whispered to her.

"At least you're honest about it." the guy in black said before turning to the green girl, "How 'bout you, miss?"

The green girl just sighed in relief and lowered her blade, "Guess I'll pass, too." she then gave Kagemune a determined glare, "But next time, you're going down!"

"Oh, then next time I'll be sure to bring more friends along." Kagemune concluded before flying away, leaving us with the small flames of his comrades behind.

"Hey, what's up with those flames--"

"Shh!" The green girl interrupted the guy in black, "They're Remain Lights. The players you killed can still hear you." we waited until they disappeared, allowing Rainbow to ponder the term "player". Once they were gone, she spoke again, "Okay, NOW we can talk. So. What do you guys want? You want me to thank you? Run away?" she raised her blade again, "Or do you wanna fight?"

I stopped Rainbow from charging at her with an arm before speaking, "I wasn't really expecting anything in return, I just thought I should help. I can't speak for Dash here, though."

The guy in black sheathed his sword and folded his arms in contemplation, "If we break down what just happened, it's one of those 'knight in shining armor saves the princess' moments."

"Huh...?" the green girl utters.

"You could burst into tears and throw your arms around me."

"Pffft!" Rainbow snickers.

"Oh, piss off, loser!" the green girl scolds.

The guy in black chuckles, "Naw, I was just kidding!"

The green girl simply growls in frustration and her eye twitches.

"No way!" What? Who said that? "I won't let her do that!"

The guy in black suddenly clutches his shirt pocket, "Watch it! Stay outta sight!"

A little pixie girl with black hair flew out of his shirt pocket, that's a new one. "Mommy may be the only one allowed to have daddy!"

"Wait, 'daddy'?!" The green girl said as she approached them.

The guy in black grabbed the pixie and tried to mumble out an excuse, but couldn't find the right words.

"No way...is that one of those Private Pixies?"

"Uh, sort of, I guess..." he said, nervously.

"Mm-hmm...then how 'bout you tell me what a Spriggan like you is doing wandering around here. And an Undine with a Salamander, too. Quite the unusual combo, if you ask me." The green girl demanded to know, suspiciously.

"'Undine'?" Rainbow asked.

I tapped her shoulder and whispered, "Probably a good idea to play along for now. It's best if less people know what's really going on."

Rainbow nods and turns back to the green girl, "We...just got lost is all."

"Yeah...same here." The guy in black added.

The green girl looked confused, then laughed, "How could you guys get that lost?! Spriggan territory is way to the east, Undine territory is underground, and Salamander territory is in the Desert Area! God, you guys are weird!" she giggled a little more before she sheathed her blade in the scabbard on her side, "Anyway, thank you guys for saving me. I guess I should introduce myself; Leafa, nice to meet you, even if one of you are a Salamander."

"I'm Kirito, and this is Yui." the guy in black finally introduced himself and his pixie companion.

"My name is Devin, and this is Rainbow, but everyone just calls her Dash."

"Nice to meet ya!" Rainbow greeted.

"Okay then, Kirito, Devin, and Dash," Leafa began, "Do any of you have plans today? I mean, cuz if you don't, I can buy you all a drink as...thanks."

"A drink sounds awesome!" Kirito said.

"Agreed. I AM parched." I replied.

"Apple cider for me!" Rainbow chimes in, excitedly.

"And if you don't mind, I'd like to pick your brain about some stuff." Kirito added.

"Like, what kinda stuff?" Leafa asked.

"Just more about this world. And especially...about the Tree."

"Oh. You mean the World Tree?"

"World Tree?" I muttered, then looked in the distance and saw a massive tree reaching the heavens.

"Yeah, sure. I may not look like it, but I know a lot about this game."

"Game?" Rainbow asked as I elbowed her side.

"Later." I whispered.

"There's this neutral village to the north of us, it's a little out of the way, but we can fly there."

"So Leafa can fly too?" Rainbow asked me.

"Seems that way. This world appears to be based off of a role-playing game."

"Like that O&O thing I've heard about back in Equestria?"

A Dungeons and Dragons parody? I thought, "Yeah, precisely."

Rainbow nodded in understanding as Kirito and Leafa kept conversing, the former of the two speaking next, "Okay, but...what about Sylvain? Isn't that town closer to us?"

"...You really don't know anything about this game." Leafa began to explain a bit, "Sylvain is Sylph Territory."

"So?"

"You're not a Sylph, if you're in THEIR territory, you can't attack them, but they can attack YOU."

I began to picture a scenario where Rainbow and I are in a pinch with the Sylphs and think of what would happen if we died in this game world. Would we respawn like any other player? Or just flat out die? I shudder. I think it's best if we don't find out.

"As long as I don't do anything to provoke 'em, they won't attack me." Kirito smiled, "And you'll be there Miss Leafa."

Leafa sighs with a smile, "Just call me Leafa. And if you really wanna go there, I'll take you. I can't guarantee your safety, though." she turns and summons her wings, "Let's get flying!"

"Wait, you mean you can fly without using the controller?"

"Of course. Can't you?"

"I just learned how to use this thing, so I'm still trying to figure everything out." Kirito answered.

"Huh? 'Controller'?" Rainbow uttered, making me elbow her again.

"It's something from my world, I'll explain later." I tell her.

"Okay, just stop elbowing me..."

Leafa took over, "Well, there's a little trick to doing it; c'mon, turn around, but don't access your controller."

"O-kay...?" Kirito mumbled.

Leafa then proceeded to explain how to go about using his wings without his game controller, and he seemed to be getting the hang of it...

"Go!!"

And then she launched him without warning.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Kirito cried out as he flew.

"Oh no!" Leafa flew up to find him with Yui following.

As we watched them in the air, Rainbow had an important question for me; something that I should've thought of.

"...You can't fly like they can, can you?"

I jumped at those words, then sighed, "No, I can't. Keyblade wielders can gain the ability to glide, but I can't do that yet."

"Then what're we supposed to tell them? Even if I lift you all the way to this Sylvain place, it's just gonna draw more questions."

"Hmm...I think I have an idea, but you have to play along with me..."

Rainbow did indeed fly me to Sylvain, only for us to find Kirito lying on the ground and Leafa crouching with her hands together, as if saying sorry.

Wonder what happened...

"That was so not cool..." Kirito groaned.

"Stop whining, I can heal you." Leafa said, then held out her hand and began chanting some words I couldn't pronounce, and just like that, Kirito's HP went back up.

"No way...this is magic...?"

Just then, I accidentally brushed up against the edge of the spell Leafa cast, and a screen popped up in front of me, surprising me and shocking Rainbow.

Obtained the power of greater healing.
Cura now available.

"Huh, that's new." I whisper. I close it out before anyone else can see.

"The Undine are the only ones who specialize in high-level healing spells, but that's an important one anyone can do, so you should learn it." Leafa said.

Kirito looked at his hand, "Different races have different skills, huh?" He sat up, "Does the Spriggan race have anything they're good at?"

"Well, you guys are good at treasure hunting and illusion magic. Neither of those things are much help in battle, though."

Kirito sighs and hops to his feet, stretching, then takes a look around the area of Sylvain we're in, "So this is a Sylph town. Man, it's beautiful."

"I know, right?" Leafa asks rhetorically.

"It's certainly got a majestic charm to it." I agreed, then thought, I definitely know that JD would enjoy this place, knowing that his favorite color is green...if only he hadn't--

"LEAFAAAAAA!!" the voice of a young boy roused me from my thoughts and I saw someone with short lime green hair, dressed in a LOT of green to be considered normal running towards us, "Thank God you're okay!"

"Oh, hey Recon." Leafa greeted as the kid caught up and hunched over panting.

"I knew you'd survive..." He turned to face us and went on the offensive by grabbing the handle of his knife, "Uh-A Spriggan?! An Undine?! AND A SALAMANDER?!?"

"No, it's okay, they saved me from those other Salamanders."

"Yeah, take it easy, I'm not like the other guys, I promise you." I say to Recon calmly.

Recon looked confused at all this.

"This is my friend, his name's Recon." Leafa introduces.

"Nice to meet you, Freeman's the name, Devin Freeman." I greet.

"I'm Rainbow Dash, but you can just call me Dash." Rainbow greets as well.

"Hey there. My name's Kirito." Kirito greets with his hand out.

"Uh, hi, nice to meet all of ya..." Recon greets, until he had a sudden change of heart and reached for his knife again, "Wait! What am I talking about?! I take that back! You sure about them? They could be spies for their own territories!"

"Geez, dude. Paranoid much?" Rainbow quips.

"No, they're all cool!" Leafa cheerfully assures, "I'm pretty sure if they really WERE spies, Kirito wouldn't such a ditz, Dash wouldn't be so clueless, and Devin wouldn't be so quiet."

"Gee, thanks a lot." Kirito says, sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm trying here!" Rainbow complains.

"...I'm just gonna ignore that comment...THIS time." I respond, cryptically.

Recon looked upset for some reason, "Anyway, Sigurd and the others are waiting for you at the tavern." Sigurd? Who's that?

"Oh, that's right. Hmm..." Leafa began thinking, "On second thought, I can't go today."

"Huh...? You're not going...?" Recon mumbled, now worried.

"Nope! I kinda promised these guys I'd buy them some drinks for saving me." Leafa began pulling me and Kirito somewhere with Rainbow chuckling at our predicament, "See ya later!"

"Leafaaaaaa..." Recon whined as we continued to walk away.

"Oh, by the way," Leafa began, "I didn't even see you use your wings when you and Dash got here, Devin. Is there something up?"

"Oh, uh..." I stumbled my words for a moment, "My...avatar is a little on the glitchy side, so...I can't really fly without Dash's help right now."

"Oh. Okay then." Leafa seemed to accept.

Kirito had a suspicious look, "Hmmm..."

We now found ourselves in a bar of some sort, with an NPC barkeep and waitress, the latter of which passed out our drinks before bowing and leaving us to converse further.

"Is that Recon guy your boyfriend?" Kirito asked Leafa.

"Are the two of you in love?" Yui asked cheerfully.

Great conversation starter, guys... I thought inward as I deadpanned outwards.

Leafa blushed and responded with, "No! We're not in love! W-We're just in the same party is all!

"I don't know, from where I was standing, you guys seem tight." Kirito smugly pointed out.

"Alright, Cupid Yui, don't tease the poor girl." I say.

"Well, I'm teasing her too," Kirito added, "so what does that make me, Cupid's Bodyguard?"

"No, secretary would be more appropriate." I answered in a unamused tone.

"Heeeey!"

"Whatever, I know him in real life! We go to the same school and we're classmates, but that's it!"

"Mm-hmm..." Kirito hummed in a knowing tone.

"Ugh..." Rainbow groaned.

Leafa glared at him until she cleared her throat and spoke, "Anyway, bottom's up! And thanks again for saving me!"

We all tapped our glasses together in celebration and drank our beverages.

"Those guys in the forest were playing pretty rough. Are gangs of PK'ers normal in this game or what?"

"'PK'ers'?" Rainbow whispered to me.

"'Player Killers'." I answered quietly, with Rainbow struggling to control her emotions.

"Well for one thing, the Salamander and Sylph races never got along. But those guys were organized and THAT wasn't happening until recently. I don't know. If you ask me, they're gearing up to try to clear the World Tree soon."

Racism must be rampant in this world, but the Salamanders being more organized only recently? There's something a little fishy about that. I ponder.

"Actually," Kirito spoke up, "I was hoping you could tell me what you knew about the World Tree."

"Oh yeah, you mentioned it before, why do you wanna know?" Leafa asked him.

"I wanna get to the top, soon as I can."

Leafa was silent for a second, "Join the club; every player wants to get to the top. You COULD say that's the Grand Quest of Alfheim Online."

"What do you mean?"

Leafa then proceeded to explain how the players in this game world couldn't fly as high or as long as they wanted, that they had limits, which I could tell was pissing Rainbow off, Leafa began to tell the tale of a floating city just above the World Tree and its ruler named "Oberon", who grants the first race to reach the top to be reborn as an advanced race called "Alfs", who can fly all they wish. But to get there, they have to enter the gateway to the floating city and fend off the NPCs guarding the way, which all of them are powerful. Leafa also explained that the game has been out for a year and no one has cleared it yet.

Kirito then figured out that not one race alone can clear the Grand Quest, making Leafa compliment his instincts, and even say that nobody will work together to clear it, because only one race will get the reward of it all, Kirito even remarked that clearing the game is impossible then.

And with the racism here, it is very much impossible. Normally a game has a great challenge to clear it entirely. But why make a game impossible to clear? That doesn't make any sense...something isn't right here. I think to myself.

Leafa finished up with flying being addictive and even if it takes years, someday a race will fly forever, making Rainbow look at her in respect.

"But I can't wait around that long!"

Kirito's declaration shocked all of us, even more so when he looked serious. Deadly serious.

"Daddy...?" Yui flew up to his shoulder and asked.

Kirito looked sad, "Sorry. It's just that...I have to get to the top of the World Tree as soon as I can..."

Leafa had an odd look, "Uh-...Okay, what's the rush...?"

"I'm sort of...looking for someone."

"But what do you mean?"

"No offense, but...it's hard to explain..." Kirito gained a look of deep-seated longing, which surprised Leafa and Rainbow, but I knew that look all too well.

I saw that same look in the mirror, more times than I care to count.

"...Thank you, Leafa. All the info you gave me is really gonna help."

Kirito began to get up and leave until Leafa grabbed his arm, "Wait! Are you heading for the World Tree right now?"

"Uh-huh. I need to see for myself."

Silence reigned for a moment.

"...Alone?" Leafa asked as Kirito pulled away, "That's crazy. It's really far away and...you'll have to fight a bunch of monsters...I know you can handle yourself but..." Leafa then looked as if she made up her mind, "Hey. If you want, I can take you there! All of you!"

Kirito looked shocked, but I had a knowing expression; she didn't want him to leave.

"Thanks, but..." Kirito began as Leafa walked up to him, "We just met and I wouldn't feel right you coming all that way..."

"Right, then maybe you already know how to get there?" Leafa asked, accusingly.

"..."

"Whatcha gonna do about the Guardians?"

"Well...I'll think of something when I get there..." He answered, not entirely sure of his own words.

"...Too late! My mind's made up." Leafa concluded as she reached him and looked to the side, stunning Kirito.

"...Okay." Kirito submitted with a scratch behind his head.

Leafa blushed a bit as she spoke, "So...do you wanna meet up tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Then I'll meet you here tomorrow at 3 PM sharp, um, I have to log out now," Leafa pulled up a screen with a flick of her finger, "so when you're ready, you can log out in one of the rooms upstairs, okay? Well, see ya then." she was all set to log out until Kirito stopped her.

"Wait!" she turned to him, "...Thank you, Leafa." he said with a genuine smile.

Leafa smiled back, pushed a button and vanished in a flash of digital light.

"We'd better pack it in, Dash. Big day tomorrow." I say suddenly.

"Uh...right."

We waltz right up the stairs to the rooms in the upper floor with Kirito and Yui doing the same.

"I guess this means goodbye until tomorrow, doesn't it?" Yui asked Kirito.

"Yeah, but I'll be back soon. It won't be that long." He assured her.

"...Daddy...? Would it be alright if I slept next to you...? Just until you log out."

"...Yeah. Sure. I don't mind."

Silence, then the lights went out.

"You and me, we're gonna save Asuna, then we'll all go buy a house somewhere again."

"That would make me so happy. You know, living with you and mommy again would be a dream come true."

"...It's not a dream. I promise you, I'll make it a reality."

Yui giggles.

"Daddy, there's one other thing."

"What's that?"

"...It's that boy, Devin."

"...What did you find out?"

"I checked his player credentials when he was unaware..."

"And?"

"That's the thing: it just says 'Unregistered Player'."

Kirito gasped.

"And his weapon...all I can see it's name and stats: the stats are abnormal for this game, and the name..."

"Go on..."

"It says...'No Name'."

"No Name?"

"Yes. I can't even see what type of weapon it is. It's as if something is preventing me from gaining access to its properties."

"Weird..."

Silence again.

"Good night...daddy."

I stopped eavesdropping there. I got what I needed to know.

Rainbow was waiting for me in our room, "So? What the verdict, Teach?"

"...They're onto us." I began, "Those two seem pretty sharp for their ages, especially Yui. We need to be careful of what we say and do from now on."

"Right."

"Let's get some rest. We're gonna need it."

"Okay, good night, Teach."

"Night."

JD's POV

Meanwhile, Devin's brother, JD was scrolling through the list of players within Alfheim Online and saw four players, three of them who recently logged in, and two of them he recognized, "So, you think you can help Kirito save Asuna? Well I have news for you, BRO, you're in my domain now. Just in case..." JD went through the avatar selection screen and chose Spriggan, "Wait till they get a load of me..." His form changed into his new avatar as he inputted an alias.

Name Input
Zenrix

"And now for a voice change. Devin's a little too smart for his own good, he'll recognize my voice right away, soooooo..." He selected a voice change for his avatar, "Get your game on!" He declared, sounding dangerously similar to Jaden Yuki from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

He was soon teleported into the World Tree, meeting with Sugou, as his Fairy King Oberon avatar the second he finished toying and taunting Asuna, "Ahh, I see you finally made it."

"You know it!" JD, as Zenrix, said.

Sugou deadpanned, "You don't have to keep up the disguise, no one else is here."

"Maybe I'm a fan of Jaden and like doing it!" JD said, a little too cheerfully.

Sugou sighed, "Fine, fine. Let's go already."

"Very well," JD began as Sugou walked past him and he followed, "after all, you only got a week anyway. I picked up my brother's signature in the game, as well as that Rainbow Dyke he has with him."

"Hmm...and you're sure he can't just be ignored?"

"Trust me, those two have special powers that you don't have, and I do as well, just different from theirs."

"I'll have to do some research on them when they get here. But how did they log in? My team hasn't informed me of their characters entering ALO."

"Simple." The sclera in JD's right eye glowed a sickly light blue while his pupil and iris became a dark purple, "They are not of this world."

"...We'll go into detail later. Anything else?"

"One condition before I inform Core of our alliance."

"Name it."

"When you see my brother and his dyke friend; leave them to me. Whether they come to me dead or alive..." JD summons his dark, jagged sword, "I'm going with...DEAD."

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long, busy as hell and all that.

Journey to the World Tree

Devin's POV

Not long after the sun began to rise in Alfheim Online, I woke up bright and early, ready to take on the day...well, more or less. My internal clock was kinda out of whack since back on Earth mom got that job that required us all to wake up early and help her get ready to head out.

God, I miss her...

My family had their annoying moments, more times than I'd like to admit in my situation, but that didn't mean I hated them. I just...wish they'd ease up on the rules a bit sometimes. And my brother...who knows what he's up to now? Not only did he join Core for whatever he has planned, but he tried to kill me and Luna back in Jack's world. Could he really just want petty revenge? All I know is that if he joined Core, then to JD, that monster is no more than a means to an end to him.

Rainbow Dash was still out like a light, snoring rather loudly all the while, and knowing how lazy she is from the show, that was a given. I decided to take this time to go for a little walk on the streets of Sylvain, to get a little bit of exercise and clear my head a bit, I've been known to overthink things when I'm deep in thought. I exited our room in the inn and headed out into the streets, and thankfully, not a lot of players are active this early in the morning.

Man, even in the daytime, this place is beautiful...huh? What's that?

I turn to my left and saw a Moogle Shop was set up. In the shop area. As if nothing was wrong. I hoped that no one else could see it, otherwise it would just raise a million more questions that I didn't need right now. I approached the Moogle running the store and he took of me.

"Hello, kupo! Would you like to check out my wares?" the Moogle greeted.

"Sure, just...quick question: how did you get here and can anyone else see you?

"That's TWO questions, kupo, but I'll answer them all the same: first, I came here via a crack in reality, it appeared to my clan and we saw what was beyond it, so now we have shops in all of the towns of this funny world, and second, no one here can see me unless any of them have collected at least one Munny Orb, kupo."

Okay, so basically it's impossible for them to be found out, since Munny only spawns when a Keyblade wielder destroys a Heartless. Good.

"See anything you'd like to buy, kupo?"

I took this time to see what all he had in stock: Potions, Hi-Potions, Ethers, and the like, even an accessory or two, but not everything is here, like Mega-Potions and Elixirs, maybe I need to progress further like in the Kingdom Hearts games?

"Oh! There's one other thing, kupo!" I looked at the Moogle, "We recently started building Keyblade Forges!"

"Keyblade...Forges...?" I asked, confused.

"Yes, for upgrading your Keyblades, kupo!"

Upgrades? For Keyblades? Is this a new mechanic that was introduced in the game series? Either way, this seems like a good way to strengthen Gazing Eye a bit and there's NO WAY I'm passing this up. Besides, who knows how long it'll be before Rainbow and I make it to another town?

Note to self: tell Rainbow about these Keyblade Forges. "Sounds awesome to me, let's check it out!"

"Great, kupo!"

2 Hours Later...

After some experimenting with some materials I didn't even know I had, with some from the Moogle shopkeeper, of course, I was able to at least get Gazing Eye to +1 from the Forge, but the weird thing was, it was called "No Name +1", guess there's no weapon rename feature in the games yet...eh, oh well. I'll just nickname it Gazing Eye, no skin off my bones. Not long afterwards, I bought some Hi-Potions and Ethers for the road and headed back to the inn, where the others were waiting for me, Rainbow Dash more so unamused.

Good thing I had an excuse planned out before leaving the Moogle Shop.

"Oh, uh...hey guys, I just took a walk and got held up at the shops, looking for some cool gear, sorry."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Kirito spoke up, looking at the short sword on his back, "I don't think this is gonna be enough."

"In that case, let's find some gear and items at the shops, I may have been gone a while, but Leafa surely knows her way around the market better than any of us."

Kirito then checked his inventory for money, and found a currency called "Yuld", while he, Leafa, and Yui were getting ready to head out, I took the time to tell Dash about the Moogle Shop and its Keyblade Forge, even how the shop got here.

"Seriously...?!" she whisper-shouted, "So, I can make my Keyblade stronger...?!"

"Yes, but you need certain materials for that, and we don't need Kirito and Yui getting any more suspicious of us than we've already made them," I whisper back, "Patience, Dash..."

Rainbow quietly groaned, "Fine..."

Once we made it to the shops, Kirito was able to get himself a rather large black double-edged greatsword befitting a Spriggan like him, making Leafa cover her mouth giggling at him. While they were walking around, I took Dash to the Moogle Shop and see if we could upgrade her Keyblade a little, fortunately, yet unfortunately, I only had enough of what was required for one more upgrade of her Keyblade, which is now "Hero's Crest +1". I had some Munny leftover to get Dash some Hi-Potions just in case I couldn't heal her, so now we were heading back with Kirito, Leafa, and Yui as they were headed to the tower in the center of town; Leafa explained that if one from ALO (Alfheim Online, for short) were to travel long distances, they would need to start at a very high vantage point, causing Kirito to grimace a bit at the tower.

I guess that crash-landing hurt more than just his body, it also hurt his pride.

Leafa was pushing him into the structure's main entrance just as I noticed Yui returning to Kirito's shirt pocket after coming back from somewhere.

Hmm...wonder where she was this whole time...?

Upon entering, Kirito glanced around and marveled the place, then Leafa grabbed his wrist and pulled him to what looks to be the elevator while saying, "This way, slowpoke! You too, guys!"

I smile at Leafa's cheerful attitude, but noticed that I wasn't being stared at favorably by the other Sylphs, and considering the fact that I'm wearing mostly red (my favorite color), including me being classified as a Salamander didn't help my popularity in this town at all.

"HEY!!"

Everyone turned to Dash, who looked rather pissed and glaring at them all.

"YOU JERKS GOT A PROBLEM WITH MY FRIEND?!?"

Just like that, everyone went back to their own devices, making my companion calm down slightly.

"Thanks, Dash."

"Ehh, don't worry about it, you're not just my teacher, you're my friend now."

Needless to say, I was touched by her words, "Yeah, you're right. Let's go, they're waiting for us."

Dash nodded and we continued towards Kirito and the girls to the elevator, ready to leave and press forwar—

"Leafa!"

Oh, for the love of God, what NOW?!

We were stopped by a trio of male Sylphs, two of them short on the left and right and the center one was taller than them, and also appears to be the one in charge.

"Oh, uh, hello Sigurd..." Leafa greeted nervously.

"What's this I hear about you leaving the party? Is that true?" the tall guy I'm pretty sure is Sigurd said.

"Well, yeah it is."

"Do you have any idea how much that's going to upset the other members?"

"You said it wouldn't be a problem if I joined ONLY if I had the time. You also said I could quit whenever I wanted to!"

"Yes, I know what I said, but you've been with us for a while now, everyone knows you. If you leave us, it's going to damage the reputation of the party!"

Leafa was at a loss for words at that last comment, and Dash was behind me, but I could almost feel her murderous intent directed towards this "Sigurd" person. In normal circumstances, I would try and keep the peace...but this isn't a normal circumstance. Not only that, but I consider Leafa to be my friend, and I never leave a friend hanging like this.

Kirito beat me to the punch, though, "Party members are NOT items." This surprised Leafa as he approached Sigurd.

"What did you say...?"

Kirito got within striking distance of Sigurd before he stopped and continued, "Party members aren't items, so don't expect them to be on call for you. They're not your armor, they're not your sword, they're not your equipment."

While Dash was admiring Kirito's courage and resolve, I decided to walk over myself and add my two bits, "And another thing, if you said she can leave anytime she wanted, why stop her now? I really detest people who don't keep their word, and then try weasel their way out of it."

"You son of a...!" Sigurd went for his sword, "I bet those big mouths of yours got you two thrown out of your own territories. Let's see what ya got, you Spriggan and Salamander trash!"

"You can't handle what I got. Especially 40% of my own strength." I commented.

Dash was ready to step in herself, until Leafa spoke up, "Okay, that's it, enough! Kirito and Devin are my new partners, including Dash here, so leave them alone!"

"What?!" Sigurd looked shocked, but recomposed himself, "Leafa! You're abandoning US, to be a renegade like THEM?!"

Leafa was shocked at the idea, but steeled her resolve, "Yes. I am. And I'm not coming back, EVER!"

Sigurd narrowed his eyes and drew his sword, "I don't give a damn about your kind buzzing around my party members, but if you think you can steal them, then that's another story! If you're stupid enough to waltz into another race's territory, then it's your own damn fault if get killed, renegades!"

Kirito looked bummed at this, probably because he ended up provoking Sylph without trying to, but I had my own reaction.

"Put that toy away..." I squinted at him, "...You'll poke your eye out with it."

This angered him to the point where he tightened his grip on his weapon. The standoff continued until the guy on the left tried to stop his boss.

"This isn't the time or place, Sigurd," he began, "If we kill these guys in front of all these people, we're gonna look bad."

This shocks Sigurd, making him look around at all the possible witnesses in the building staring at us like a fight is about to break out.

"...I'd do what he says, pal." I add.

Sigurd grunts, then sheathes his sword, "Once you cross our border, you better run and hide, Leafa. I never expected you to betray me like this, never. But you'll regret it soon enough." With that, Sigurd and his posse turned around and left.

"Tch. What a wuss." Dash said.

"Got that right." I agreed.

Leafa sighed, "I'm really sorry you guys got dragged into all that drama."

"It's cool." Kirito assured.

"You shouldn't have to put up with that kind of crap. You're NOT his property. You're your own person." I said.

"I'm worried about you, though. Are you sure about this?"

At Kirito's concerned words, Leafa mumbled something we couldn't hear and began pushing Kirito to the elevator. Dash and I hung back for a minute to talk.

"Something tells me that Sigurd guy is gonna give us A LOT of grief from this point forward..." I tell her.

"Yeah...we better keep our eyes peeled..." Dash warned, making me nod at her.

We followed Kirito and Leafa before the elevator doors closed.

We made it to the top of tallest tower in Sylvain and started getting ready for take off while admiring the sights.

"Wow...this is an amazing view." Kirito complimented, "The sky's so close, It's like I can reach out and touch it."

"I know, right?" Leafa began, "Whenever I look up at that sky, everything else feels so small." she then held her hand out to that very sky, then lowered it back to her side, "The timing couldn't have been any better. I've been thinking about leaving here for a while now."

"Um...full disclosure and off-topic, but I'm not very good with heights..." I lamely comment.

"Uh, what about when I flew you all the way here?" Dash asked, almost offended.

"Oh no, I trust you when it comes to flying, especially not letting me fall..." I hesitate for a moment, "...it's everything else about being this high that frightens me."

But our commentary went unnoticed when those two continued their conversation with Kirito leading next, "Okay, but...I feel like it's sorta my fault you left on bad terms with those guys."

Before Dash could comment anything, mostly likely about who cares what they think, Leafa replied, "Yeah, well, I don't think it could've happened any other way."

"...What do you mean by 'renegade'?" Kirito asked our million dollar question.

"A renegade is a player who abandons their territory; if you get branded as one, everyone's gonna look down on you."

"Who gives a crap?" I say, surprising them, "Let the babies stay in their cribs and whine about us. Those close to us should be all that really matters, not everyone else's opinions."

Kirito nods at me and turns back to Leafa, "And you're cool with that?" he asks, just to make sure.

"Yeah. I don't really care." Leafa confirmed, "But I don't understand why everyone's so quick to tie each other down like that. I mean, what's the point in having wings, ya know?"

Dash nods in finality, appreciative of that response, Kirito looked a little concerned for Leafa, and me? I stared at her in respect, not letting what people think get to her; once, I cared about what people thought of me, and I ended up losing a cool friend...who also became my first girlfriend, now ex. It was back when I was 9-years-old, the kids around us were ridiculing our relationship, and I don't know what came over me that day, I just...broke it off.

That day still bothers me like nothing else, my regret still heavy even now. To be honest, what I did to her didn't even hit me until years later, that alone worsened my guilt. Her name was Ashley...something. She had black hair in a ponytail and wore glasses. I never even bothered to learn her full name. My hope was that, even if she never forgave me, I would apologize for what I did to her, she deserves to at least know that I regret what I did, especially if she hates me forever.

But now, I'll never get the chance.

Man, I was a dirtbag back then, and I didn't even know it...

Yui took this moment to come out and voice her opinion, "You humans are so complicated," she began, "Honestly, your psychology is confusing, why do you act so horribly to each other when all you want is companionship?"

Leafa glanced at Yui curiously, "What do you mean?"

"If it were me..." Yui leaned over and kissed Kirito on his cheek, "I'd do that, it's simple, straightforward, and efficient!"

Leafa now looks pretty shocked, "T-That's an amazing A.I., do all Private Pixies act like that or just yours?"

Kirito had a strange look on his face while Yui looked triumphant, "No, just mine, but she's a weirdo." he proceeded to pick her up and stuff her back into his pocket.

"I guess you would know, huh?" Leafa then looked thoughtful, "'All we want is companionship'...huh."

Dash and I glanced at each other at Leafa's response, until the elevator opened behind us.

"Leafaaaa!"

We all turned around and saw that kid from yesterday, "Hey Recon." Leafa greeted, casually.

"How could you do this?" Recon ran up to us, "You could've at least said something before you left!"

"Oh, sorry, I guess I forgot." Recon slumped at Leafa's words.

"Why'd you quit the party all of a sudden like that?"

"Well," Leafa took a moment to think, "I really didn't think too hard about it, I just did it. What're you gonna do, though?"

"As if, Leafa!" he drew his dagger as a sign of loyalty, "It doesn't matter where you go, my sword belongs to you and you alone!"

Me and Dash stared at him at surprise and respect as I thought, Whoa, that's some dedication! I wonder what Leafa will say to tha—

"I don't need it, but...thanks..."

The two of us deadpanned at her reaction, Geez, that was cold...

Recon slumped again as he groaned, "...W-What I meant by that was, I'm gonna go with you, wherever. That is, I'd like to go, but, there's something that's been bugging me."

"What is it?" Leafa asked.

"I can't really prove anything yet...but there's a few things I wanna look into some more, so I'm gonna stay in Sigurd's party a little longer." Recon turned to us, including Kirito, "Hey, Kirito, Devin, Dash?"

"Yeah? What's up?" I ask back.

"She has a habit of getting herself in trouble, I'd appreciate it if you guys could keep an eye on her."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say." Kirito agrees with a smile.

"No problem. She's in good hands." I agree as well with Dash giving a determined nod.

"And just to make sure we're absolutely clear," he began to approach us, "Leafa is my—"

Leafa stomped on Recon's foot before he could continue, making hop on his good one while clutching his other, "We'll be in the neutral zone for a while. Message me if you need anything." with that, she walked over to the edge of the tower.

Dash and I sweatdropped at that display, "Harsh much?" I uttered.

Leafa summoned her wings and took off as Kirito did the same with me having to use Dash as my wings.

"Let me get this straight, in real life he's your friend?" Kirito called.

"Yeah, something like that..." Leafa muttered over the wind.

"Mm-hmm~"

"Okay, what's that weird noise suppose to mean?"

"Nothing. Just a little jealous is all."

Yui takes this moment to poke her head out of Kirito's pocket, "Now that person's feelings I can understand. He must like you a lot. Wouldn't you say, Leafa? Do you feel the same way about him?"

Leafa blushed and flew a little faster, "I-I don't know! Geez!"

Dash and I chuckled at Leafa's predicament and I more so felt a little glad that someone in this world was looking out for Leafa.

"Hey, Devin," Dash began to ask, "what did that Kirito guy mean by 'in real life'? This IS real life, right?"

"Oh, that's right. I haven't finished explaining." Devin began as Kirito picked up speed without hearing us, "From my understanding, we seem to have found ourselves in a virtual world where role-playing video game stats are nearly everything here. Basically, numbers are power."

"Video game? You mean an arcade game back in Ponyville?"

"Oh, yeah..." I cringe, "Equestria hasn't advanced that far ahead yet in the game industry..."

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"Hurry up, you guys!"

We turned forward to see Leafa calling out to us as we fell behind her and Kirito.

"Let's try to make it all the way to the lake without stopping!"

"Okay!" Kirito agreed.

"Alright!" Dash looked competitively confident, "Then let's race all the way there!"

"What?" I suddenly began to panic, "No, Dash, no, no, no, no, no—"

Dash immediately picked up speed as did Leafa and Kirito, making me scream in utter terror all the while.

"—NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

JD's POV

I approach the total scrub of a developer just as he was leaving the birdcage of "Titania" once he was done groping and taunting her. Blech. Get over yourself.

"Are you done goofing off?" I ask him.

Sugou glares at me, "Yes. I am." he's trying not to show any offense to me. Fat lotta good that's gonna do him.

"Good. Where's the project I asked you to finish?"

"My focus is towards the total control of the human soul, not some kid's silly pipe dream of reliving one of his favorite video ga—"

He barely dodged a swing from my weapon, which has now changed to have four Materia Slot-like holes to hold certain objects inside it.

"I know you're a relatively smart man...so act like it, and stop testing my patience."

Sugou lightly growls at almost being offed by the guy with an axe to grind towards his brother, "...Follow me."

I desummoned my blade and followed Sugou into the World Tree. We went deeper and deeper, until we stopped at a giant pair of double doors with bright lights shining through the cracks in the frame.

"In here." he directed me.

I entered without question, both of us knowing full well that I can easily escape and actually kill him should this be some sort of trick. Upon entering, my eyes widened at the sight...then a sinister grin plastered itself on my face.

"There, it's done. Happy?"

I gazed upon the digitally recreated Lightning Chariot from Kid Icarus: Uprising, complete with Phos and Lux, as I gave him my answer.

"Very."

Kirito's POV

After Leafa and I got our need to eat in the real world out of the way, we all, Devin and Dash included, decided to head off towards the Undine Territory, which was underground. As we were on our way, Yui poked out of my pocket and quietly tried to get my attention.

"What is it, Yui?" I asked her.

"It's Devin and Dash." Yui began, "Earlier when we all went shopping for weapons and armor, they headed to a shop I've never seen before with a little baby bear-looking creature running it."

"Okay...?"

"And when they left, I tried to see if I could interact with it."

"And?"

"Any and all access was restricted. I couldn't even get the shopkeeper to look at me."

I was shocked to say the least, "Then how...?"

"I don't know. But when I checked Devin's stats again, his No Name changed to 'No Name +1'."

We looked over at Devin and Dash, who are slowing down because of Devin's fear of heights and outburst after Dash tried to race us with him clinging to her for dear life.

"Hmm..." We need to keep an eye on those two.

3rd Person POV

Little did Kirito's group know that a party of powerful Salamanders were watching them and tailing them from afar using a red bat with glowing eyes as a tracer to follow them.

As per Sigurd's orders.

Author's Note

The backstory regarding Devin's first girlfriend was from my own experience; I chose other people's opinions over my girl, hurt her in the worst way possible (at least in my eyes, I did), and carried on with my life like nothing was wrong...at least until a few years later, when I realized what I did. And yes, I never tried to learn her last name, but we had a good thing going...and I ruined it. I still regret it, even now, and I hope to apologize to her for being as stupid as I was back then, even if she never forgives me, she deserves to know that I regretted hurting her.

Also, sorry I took so long to get this chapter out, IRL stuff and all that.

JD and the Lightning Chariot

JD's POV

I am currently driving my newly acquired Lightning Chariot to patrol around Alfheim Online at...well, lightning speeds, in search of my idiotic brother and his stupid friends. While I'm doing that, I'm having a little too much fun. How did Mater from Cars put it into words?

"WHOOOOO-HOOOOOO!!! I'M HAPPIER THAN A TORNADO IN A TRAILER PARK!!! EAT YOUR HEART OUT, 'BRO-MIGO'!!!"

...Yeah, pretty much that.

Anyways, I pulled out my binoculars to search around for my idiot brother and his moronic friends...and the rainbow dyke.

"Whoa, buddy, LOVE the ride there," a random flying player of the Salamander race spotted me and began buttering me up, "this is exactly what we need to assault the treaty with the Sylphs and the Cait Siths, show me what that thing can do."

"...Okay." I summoned my sword and slashed at the guy, making him slowly glitch out of existence, "See ya, chump."

3rd Person POV

Meanwhile, in the real world, some guy in an apartment complex was just forcibly logged out of Alfheim Online and received an alert on his VR device: the AmuSphere Rig.

WARNING!
Virus detected!
ALO Account deleted.

He swiftly took off the Rig and had only one thing to say:

"WHAT THE HELL?!?!"

JD's POV

Back to me, I went back to searching for my brother and his companions, and I eventually found them, heading into a cave system that led to an Undine city.

"There you are...huh?" I looked in front of me and saw that I wasn't paying attention to my driving and flew into a mountain range, "OHHHHH NOOOOO!! If only there was a way I could jump off the chariot and be safe!...Oh wait, I can totally do that!" I quite literally jumped off the chariot and activated my Spriggan wings, "Hmm..." I noticed a trio of Undine players flying around the mountain range like they were in some kind of race, "Hey, I remember seeing a guy do this in a toothpaste ad once!" I conjured some of the magic Core gifted me with and discreetly created a large ice wall in the Undine players' flight path, "Ta-daaaa!"

SLAM!!!
SLAM!!!
SLAM!!!

I could hear the players' groaning in pain from the other side of the ice wall, making me chuckle like crazy, then I got to thinking, "Should I make their avatars go viral too? Hmm...Sugou said I was allowed to patrol the game world...he never said anything about NOT breaking the players." I brought my sword back out, "Okay, kiddies, let's play a little game that I like to call...'Boink'." I say the last word with a rather demonic voice.

The only thing I could hear after that was the terrified screams of carelessly moronic players being bisected.

Author's Note

Yes, this is a short chapter, but that was the intention

EDIT: Guess the Spider-Man 3 reference :twilightsmile:

At The End of the World

We were packing our things and loading them up into the truck, trying to get away as fast as we could. The end of the world was nigh, and we were all about to die. I can only guess what my family was thinking right now, "Why did this have to happen?", "How did it come to this?", I honestly had no idea why things would end this way for all of us. All I could think about was why everything bad happens to us; it was bad enough that we were struggling on payments, especially with my family's disabilities, but now this happens, I guess it's true what they say, "Bad things happen to good people."

Even as the world crumbled around us as we drove, I couldn't keep my eyes open, I felt like I was exhausted and wanted to sleep, but I knew if I did, I would be dead. But that didn't stop my tiredness as I dozed off...

When I woke up, I found myself in an empty white space, with a man bearing overgrown hair on his head and face, wearing Christian robes and holding a tome of some sort.

"Hello, my child." he said.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am who your people refer to as 'God'."

"God?!" I then realized something, "Am I...dead?"

He shook his head, "No. I simply liberated you from your world before it completely collapsed. The apocalypse was the result of a test mankind was given to see if people could change for the better...millions failed miserably, but a select few passed. One of them being you."

"So. What happens now?"

"I can send you to a new world with a power you can call own."

"...A Keyblade. And the power to bestow Keyblades to others."

God was silent for time, then burst out laughing as if I told him the funniest joke in the world.

"I...don't understand."

God finally caught his breath from laughing so hard, but he still chuckled from time to time, "It's just...you'd be surprised how many people have asked for a Keyblade." he clears his throat, "Which one do you want?"

"Master Xehanort's Keyblade."

God went wide-eyed, "That's a first."

"I just...thought it looked cool, that's all."

He smiles, "I know. I'm God, after all. Anything else?"

"A copy of the Book of Prophecies that depicts the future of the world I enter and a journal to chronicle my life there."

"Fair enough. All I ask is that you keep the book a secret until you find someone you can trust to know about it. We don't want to risk any temporal paradoxes."

"Agreed."

"Well, if there's nothing else, I will send you to a world with little hostility, that is almost in harmony."

"Thank you, for granting me this second chance."

"One last thing before we finish up here: will you be going with a different name or your normal name?"

"I'll be sticking with my original name, Devin."

"Very well, goodbye, my child."

God sent me away with a wave of his hand and I ended up blacking out.

I began to wake up, groggy from my sudden sleep, when my senses finally came back, I saw that I had two books with me: a blank journal and a Book of Prophecies. I picked them up and viewed my surroundings, I found myself just outside a city that appeared to be on the side of a freaking mountain with regal looking people with tall ears, long mouths, and tails walking around like nothing was wrong.

...Wait, what?!

I had to do a double take to see whether or not I was hallucinating, but I wasn't, it seemed like the people here looked like horses or ponies or something...wait a second. Could it be that I'm...in an anthro version of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic?! Well, I wouldn't put it past God to send somewhere that was almost completely harmonic...if only the females of this world didn't look so hot...damn, now I feel like a pervert.

It was then I heard screaming, "HELP!! THE PRINCESSES ARE IN DANGER!!"

I knew that if I could help I needed to, so I checked to see if God gave me my other requested item, and lo and behold, there it is, Xehanort's Keyblade in all it's glory.

Now, I wasn't much for confrontation back in my world, but...I'm not in my world anymore, now am I? I flipped the hood of my hoodie over my head and rushed into the city, ready to help. When I made it to the city square, I saw all of the, um, ponies gathered there and decided to ask one of them what was going on.

"What's happening?" I ask.

"It's the princesses!" the mare spoke, "Somepony barged into the castle with weird black creatures and fought off the entire Royal Guard! Now he's holding all three of the princesses hostage!"

I see... I began to think, So the Heartless must be here, not only that, but Twilight must not have become princess yet.

It was then that a stallion with a red coat, snow white mane and tail, and sickly yellow eyes, wearing a black spying outfit walked up to the balcony with a mare's mane in his hand as he drug her with him; she had a rainbow like mane and tail, white coat, and purple eyes, wearing a yellow regal dress that appeared to be in tatters. That's when the crowd started shrieking in terror.

He brought her head up to his and addressed the crowd, "LISTEN UP!! EQUESTRIA WILL SOON HAVE A NEW RULER!! ME!!!" the crowd became even more frantic, "AND MY HEIR SHALL TAKE MY PLACE, LONG AFTER I'VE FINISHED HAVING MY WAY WITH THE PRINCESSES!!" with that, he left the crowd in shock, fear, and disgust.

Was he really going to...rape them?

My anger started boiling inside me as the mare spoke again, "This is horrible! If somepony doesn't do something, the princesses will be violated!"

"Roger! Over and out!" I said as I ran past everyone and made a beeline for the drawbridge.

"Wait, are you crazy?!" a stallion shouted.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?!" another mare asked and sighed, "What can a single boy possibly do?"

After jumping over the large fence, like how Sora jumped in his battle with Xemnas, I rushed to the front door, only to be blocked by the Royal Guards.

"Hold it! You can't go in there!" one of them said.

"The black creatures are too dangerous!" another added.

"Explain." I demanded.

"Do we really owe this kid an explanation?" a third asked.

"It's our job as the Royal Guard to protect, not just the princesses, but all of Equestria."

The three turned around to see a white coated stallion with a two toned blue mane and tail and blue eyes, wearing purple guard armor.

"So yes, we do." he approached me, "The stallion you saw was an old member of Princess Celestia's counsel, but he was fired because of his rash ideas and actions. Now he's back, and with reinforcements." he waved a hand to some of the injured guards, "My men were able to escape when we realized the creatures couldn't be defeated by normal means."

"The Heartless." I said.

"What?"

"They're called Heartless. They are what remains should anybody lose their heart to darkness."

"And how do you know this?"

"Because I've tangled with them before." it wasn't entirely a lie, I fought them in the Kingdom Hearts games, "I can handle this. Let me show you. The weapon I carry is the only one that can stop them."

"Show us."

I nod and with a wave of my hand, I summoned my Keyblade again. They were all surprised by my ability to conjure a weapon out of nowhere.

"So...that's it?"

"Yes. This is called a Keyblade. It's the only weapon that can destroy the Heartless."

"What do you say, guys?"

"I don't know, Captain," the first one said, "If we couldn't take those things down, what makes you think that this kid can?"

"He might." the second one spoke up, "I mean, if he carries the only thing that can destroy them, he may be our best shot."

"He still a kid." the third one added his take, "And like the Captain said, it's our job to protect others, so we can't let this kid in."

"Well, I, for one, think he's the best we got right now, and we have to trust him." the Captain said.

"That's two votes for two." the second guard said.

"Yeah, but I'm the Captain of the Royal Guard, so my votes outrank yours."

They grumble. "...No fair." the third childishly said.

The Captain turns to me, "You think you can do it?"

"I have to try." I said.

He looks hesitant, but I felt that deep down, he knew I had a point, "...Alright. What do we have to lose?"

"Other than the princesses' innocence?"

"...What." he said flatly.

"You didn't hear? I think that guy is planning to rape the princesses."

The Captain began to look extremely angry, "...I'm going with you."

If I knew one thing, it's never cross a man who's angry, "...Okay. But stay close."

He nods as the three guards reluctantly moved aside and we both rushed in.

"Don't worry, my dears," the evil stallion began as he gazed upon the princesses chained up and gagged forms, "I'll be gentle."

Before he could make a move on them, the sounds of a struggle were coming from the main doors to the Throne Room.

"Hmph, no matter, those doors are locked by a spell that only I can remove. Now, where were we?"

He saw a light washing over the room and looked back at the double doors to see that they were opening.

"What?! No! That's impossible!"

The doors opened all way to reveal Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard and...some kid with a weird sword?

I looked at the stallion who had a surprised look his face with a hint of defiance, behind him were the three princesses, whom of which I knew were Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, their dresses ruined but still covering what needed to be covered...thank God for that. They were wrapped up in chains, their muzzles gagged, and things on their horns that I learned, from fanfiction, were magic inhibitors, to prevent them from using their magic.

"Cadence!" The Captain rushed to the princesses, but stopped himself when he saw the stallion raise a sword to their necks.

"Not another move or they're headless!!" he barked.

With the utmost control over my emotions, I used my newfound magic to teleport behind the stallion like Aqua fighting an opponent when she collects the Teleport reaction command.

"W-Where did that kid go?!" he asked no one in particular.

"Surprise." I said, making him spin around to face me, only to be whacked in his face with my Keyblade.

"W-Who are you?!"

"Not who..." I took off my hood to show him I'm not a pony, "...what."

The stallion readied his sword to fight, but with a single swing of my Keyblade, I sliced off the tip of his blade. I went for a downwards swing while he tried to block, only for me to chop his sword in half, making it completely useless. Dropping whatever was left of his weapon, the stallion walked backwards until he was grabbed from behind by the Captain.

"Armored Tyrant, you're under arrest for attempted rape, assault, and high treason against the crown."

As the Captain was cuffing him and placing an inhibitor on his horn, I walked over to the princesses, used my Keyblade to unlock their chains, ungagged them, and took off their own inhibitors.

"You girls okay?"

I didn't get an answer, they all leaped onto me, hugging and nuzzling me. I blushed majorly, I was expecting a "thank-you", I wasn't expecting this.

"Um...you're welcome?"

The guards came in and secured Armored as they took him to the dungeons while the princesses regained their composure.

Celestia wiped away some tears in her eyes, "We're sorry. We're just grateful somepony came to save us before we lost something precious to us."

"You're not kidding." I agreed.

Luna kissed my cheek, making me blush again, "Thank you, young warrior."

"It was no big deal." I tried to dismiss.

"Wrong, that was a very BIG deal." Cadence disagreed, "You put yourself in danger to help us, not a lot of kids your age would do something like that."

"I just thought I could help."

"Quite the modest one, aren't you?" Celestia said before kissing my other cheek, making my blush burn more.

"I-I-I-I guess, yeah."

The three of them giggled at my bashfulness.

Cadence cupped my face and kissed my forehead, "Again, thank you."

"Cadence?"

She turned to see the Captain, "Shining!" she jumped into his arms and they hugged, "You're okay!"

"I should be telling you that! Did he...?"

She shook her head, "No. Luckily the two of you came just in time."

Shining smiled and hugged her tighter, making me smile. Soon enough, the royal sisters embraced me from both sides with big smiles on their faces.

"We can't thank you enough for saving us." Celestia said, "Could you tell us your name?"

"...Devin."

"Devin. That's a nice name." Celestia seemed nervous about something as she blushed, "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

My stomach growling was all the answer she needed and giggled again.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Interlude: Flashback I

I bet you're all wondering why my brother mentioned my thoughts about genocide and suicide? Well, I'll tell you...but it's kinda hard. This was a huge part of my childhood, and it's still difficult to deal with.

Let's go back long before the Mayan Calendar event, when I was still a carefree kid...

Several Years Ago...

My brother and I were helping our parents pick up garbage around the yard, mainly because our stepdad was rebuilding lawn tools and lawnmowers for a living. As I was lugging some of his tools back to his work shed, a horrible thought came to my mind: I saw the hammer in my hands and wondered what would happen if I embedded the claws on the back end of it in my chest, then a vision showed me what would happen, I would bleed out and damage my heart pretty bad. I came back to reality and was breathing heavily, my parents took notice and I explained to them what had happened, naturally they got worried, but then I had another vision, of throwing the tools at them and hurting them greatly.

I was scared out of my mind, my parents then eventually explained to me that I inherited these visions from my deadbeat birth father, and that unlike him, I tried to get these visions under control overtime, which made them proud. I had feeling that these visions were only the beginning...but if I had bothered to noticed before, I would've seen the look of absolute jealousy on JD's face.

I'm sure you're all now wondering why I have a stepdad and why I called my blood-related father a complete deadbeat...

...But I'm afraid that's another story for another time.

Author's Note

This Interlude chapter was to explain why mentions of genocide and suicide were brought up in the last chapter.

Next time:

Travelling to another new world.

If you haven't voted for what world is next yet, here's the link: https://strawpoll.com/kv8uw95v5

The poll will end today around the afternoon and I will post a blog as to which world has won.