"Do it! Do it now!"

Chibiterasu stared on in disbelief as Kurow stood in front of him, fighting against Akuro's power. The young wolf god had been expecting another painful fight with his former partner once the boy allowed himself to become Akuro's new vessel, but somehow, what was happening now seemed worse.

"Is that... That's Kurow, isn't it?" Isshaku said.

The real Kurow... Chibi thought.

"You have to put me down if you want to defeat Akuro," the blonde boy stated, his voice cracking with sorrow, "This is your only chance."

"You-You're not making any sense, kid!" Isshaku stated again. Chibi knew Kurow could not understand anything he said, so he stayed silent. All he could do was look on in pain at the boy, who was struggling to contain the dark entity.

"Y-You have to do it... this is my destiny," Kurow explained, "My body was created to be a seal for Akuro."

Chibi tilted his head in confusion. Before he could do anything else, Isshaku bounced forward. "What the heck are you goin' on about?"

Kurow took a deep breath, trying to keep his wits about him while he explained. "One of the Moon Tribe, Waka, made a doll that was a copy of himself. That doll… was me."

What?! Chibi whined.

"Listen... I... I can't hold Akuro for long," Kurow stated, his voice sounding strained. "If I die, then Akuro... Akuro will die with me."

Isshaku stared at him in confusion. "You're a living doll, though? How is that possible?"

Tears started forming in Kurow's eyes. "Like I said, I'm not like the rest of you. That's why... why I've always been alone."

The boy slowly lifted one hand to his chest, obviously struggling to contain Akuro. "I thought my destiny would end being something like this. That's why I avoided finding out what it was," he stated. His gaze then fell to Chibi as a tear rolled down his cheek, "After all, who wants to wind up as nothing more than a copy? A soulless copy."

Tears poured from Kurow's eyes at the same moment that Chibi felt them soak his own cheeks. He wished with all his heart that he could speak to the boy, to tell him how wrong he was, but he knew he could not. At least, not on the mortal plane.

"...So, I ran away. I tried to avoid my fate," Kurow continued, "That's why I decided to throw my hat in with Akuro."

He sniffled as he began to sob. "Pretty pitiful, eh? I couldn't b-bear the weight... the w-weight of my destiny." Clutching his Moon Tribe amulet to his chest, he looked down at the ground, guilt gnawing at his heart as he avoided everyone else's eyes, "I was weak... so, so weak."

"Kurow..." Isshaku sniffed.

Kurow's knees suddenly gave way beneath him, and Chibi whined, taking a step towards him. However, Kurow gave him a hurt look that made the small god stop in his place.

"I can't hold Akuro for much longer..." he choked out. "Dude, you tried to save me before... thanks for that. You really were... the best partner a dude could have. Now let me repay you for everything you've done."

Chibi halted, unable to do anything. He felt frozen in fear and pain and every other emotion a creature could feel at once.

Kurow shakily took a breath, trying to speak as clearly as possible. "Please dude... I'm not doing this because I have to. I'm doing this because of everything I saw, for all the people I met... for the world itself."

After a brief moment, the small boy heaved himself off the ground and stood with his arms outstretched, "I-I'm ready. Please dude… Do this one last thing... for your partner."

Chibiterasu howled pitifully at Kurow, shaking his head and backing away as tears fell from his face. Isshaku went to speak, but before he could, Kagu ran forward.

"You IDIOT!" she yelled, tears pouring from her eyes. "Don't you remember what you said to me in the city? You said you would come back alive! You can't die here!"

Kurow's eyes grew wide with shock at her outburst. "K-Kagu... I'm sorry, but this is the only-"

"This isn't the only way! I want you to live, Kurow. We all do. You don't have to sacrifice yourself for us and everyone else."

"There isn't any other way. This..." Kurow sniffled, "This is the only way."

Suddenly, Kagu reached into her pockets and pulled out two large prayer slips. "Are you forgetting that I'm a Miko? I may not have completed my training yet, but Miko Cho says I'm still far more powerful than any Miko she's seen before."

Kagu turned back to Chibi and his remaining partners. "All of you, listen up! I'm going to exorcise Kurow in order to weaken Akuro. After Akuro is released, someone needs to jump in and destroy him. Got it?"

Everyone stood still except Chibi, who barked and stepped forward confidently. After a heartbeat, Kuni stepped forward, too, sword drawn. He patted Chibi on the head.

"We can do this, Mutt," he reassured him, meeting his gaze. "We're not going to let Akuro win."

Kuni jumped onto Chibi's back, and both got into a battle position. As they did, Kurow began struggling more and more to keep control over Akuro. His body contorted as the two souls fought for control.

Akuro roared, "Release me! Free me now! You foolish boy, you will never win!"

Kagu ran forward and threw her prayer slips at Kurow, brilliant white light erupting from them as they made contact with his body. Akuro screamed as the white magic tore through him.

Manpuku and Nanami watched as the spell did its job, but they and everyone else knew this battle was far from over. The pair looked to Chibi and Kuni with hope in their eyes.

You can do this, Squiddy and Kuni, Nanami thought, I have faith in both of you.

Come on, Porkchop! I know you would never let a friend down! Manpuku thought.

Sweat dripped down the side of Kagu's face as she put all her energy into the exorcism. She glance back at Chibi and Kuni for just a moment. You are strong, Pooch, and you showed me I was strong. You will succeed!

Just then, small orbs of white light began to form around each of Chibi's partners. The lights floating through the air directly to Chibi and Kuni, and the two were adorned in a brilliant white light for a few moments. As the light died out, the two were left with a faint glowing aura around them, but that was not their only change.

Kuni found himself wearing none other than Nagi's armor, and Chibi had rays of light rippling off his back similar to the great Shiranui. The two felt their hearts swell with confidence as they regarded their new looks.

Just then, Kagu fell back and the exorcism slips crumpled to dust in an instant. Kurow fell backwards onto the ground, motionless, and a purple haze began billowing out of his body.

"NOW!" Kagu yelled.

"Time to end this reign of terror!" Kuni shouted.

Chibi leapt forward, letting loose a Power Slash on the now-free Akuro, and Kuni followed suit with a slash from Nagi's sword. The hope and love from all the partners had channeled through the pair, and it ripped Akuro into nothing. The shadowy beast convulsed in the air above them before exploding into a thousand flowers. In an instant, the dark world around them faded, and they were returned to the Moon Cave. Kuni and Chibi, too, returned to their normal selves as Nagi's armor and the white light disappeared.

After a moment or two of composing themselves, everyone looked to Kurow and ran to his side. He lay still on the ground, alive, but sore and exhausted.

"You guys..." he weakly spoke, "You all did good. You're real stand-up dudes."

"Kurow," Kagu started, "Why on earth did you keep all this from us?"

"I didn't want to hurt any of you," he explained, his voice flat. "I thought I would be better off pushing you all away... so you wouldn't regret letting me die. But now... now I realize that I ended doing the one thing I wanted to avoid. I'm sorry."

He started crying again as he looked around at everyone surrounding him. "I'm grateful for all of you, really. You saved me back there, even when I was too much of a coward to back you up. But now... now I'm useless. The one thing that gave me a purpose, the thing I was meant to do... it's over. Now I'm nothing but a useless copy of someone else."

Chibi whimpered and leapt forward to embrace his friend, who jolted in shock at the action. Suddenly, the amulet Kurow was holding flashed and glowed, and the group was surrounded by scenes from Kurow and Chibi's adventures together.

Everyone looked around in awe, especially Kurow.

"W-What?" he gasped, "What is this, dude? Memories?"

The images circled them multiple times, and after some time passed, the images faded completely. Kurow was left staring on in confusion.

Isshaku suddenly burst out of nowhere and hopped up to the blonde boy. "Don't you see, Kurow? That was your life, your memories! You're not some useless copy, you're your own person! You're Kurow! You lived your life by your own rules, and you've touched the lives of so many people. No one will ever forget that."

Kurow pulled himself off the ground and into a sitting position. "I... I suppose that's true."

"Of course it's true!" Manpuku stated. "Not to mention, you're a hero! You helped take down Akuro!"

"And you're one of Squiddy's partners, too!" Nanami added.

"You guys..." Kurow teared up, a faint smile crossing his face briefly before fading. "I'm so sorry, This was my fault, all of it. I was weak... and I hurt you because of it."

Manpuku butted in, "Hey, I was weak, too. I caused problems for my mom, and Porkchop."

"It was the same with me," Kagu added, "but then I met Pooch, and that changed me." She turned to Kurow, "I'm sure you were changed, too."

"No doubt you were," Kuni stated, "I know because we were all Mutt's partners at one time or another. We're all connected."

"You're not alone," Kagu said, tearing up yet again, "You never were."

Nanami started tearing up too, as did the others. "She's right. You don't have to feel alone."

"We're all here for you," Kuni added.

Kurow started crying, but this time they were not tears of pain, but tears of joy. "Thanks. All of you, I mean it." He turned to Chibi, "Especially you, boy."

Chibi jumped up and hugged Kurow, who pulled him close. "You saved me, dude. I can never repay you for that."

"Hey, I think I should get some credit, too!" Kagu joked. Everyone started laughing and wiping away their tears.

Kagu helped Kurow up from the ground, and the partners began to head out of the Moon Cave, laughing and joking without worry. Their journey was over, the evil was defeated, and now they could truly start living their lives normally as partners, and as friends

bECAUSE KUROW DYING FOR SHOCK VALUE SUUUCCCKKKSSS CAPCOM.