AN: I must deeply and honestly apologize to all of my readers. I have been working hard these past few months on homework, projects and other necessary items for graduation. It may sound like I am giving excuses and for that I am sorry. But I am glad to inform you that this chapter is over and thank goodness for that. It is one of my longest chapters to date and I hope that makes up a bit for its lateness. As always, I hope that you would review, comment, or message me with any ideas, comments, concerns, or just to chat. I do not own AKB0048, or anything that you recognize. Enjoy.

It was like any other morning in the AKB0048 dormitory. The understudies were bustling around the place trying to get ready for the new day of training from brushing their teeth to putting on their make up for the day. The loud amount of noise coming from the understudies didn't reach the ears of Ito and Suko as they lay resting in their bed. Suko, who lay to one side of the bed, was sleeping peacefully and dreaming dreams of the original AKB48 and the wonderful times they had. Ito, on the other hand, was dreaming of the day he first entered the war of the world.

*Flashback*

In the midst of the night, a young boy sat looking out the window of a hospital in the middle of downtown Seattle. Outside the window all the boy could see was the fire raining down upon the city of Seattle. Planes flew overhead dropping bombs, civilians were running around screaming, crying, and dying. He could see that the destruction could take decades to fix and even then the once glittering Emerald City would never be what it once was. He saw a woman running with a child in her arms only to get hit by shrapnel from a bomb and thrown forward.

This boy wore a light blue shirt with jeans and a zip up vest that was left unzipped. He turned to look away from the window in respect for the woman and instead cast his gaze across the nearly empty room he inhabited. After the he was taken to the hospital, after the war began, no one seemed to remember that he was still there except for one nurse who would bring him food.

Suddenly the door on the opposite side of the room opened up, flooding the room with light. An elderly man with white long hair and beard came into the room and the light followed him as if he were the source of the light. He was dressed in a black suit that seemed out of place on this man, but what really stood out was his eyes. Eyes that looked as if they had seen many grand and terrible things, weary of the life that he had seen unfold in the world. The man continued to cross the room until he came to a stop in front of the young boy.

"Hello, young one. I know you regret the pain that your family has put you through with this war. I see the reason that you blame them the most."

At this, the boy looked at the figure with an angry glare.

"How can you know? They were the one that started this war! All the pain, all the fires, all the death…" As the young boy said the last part his voice softened. Turning to look at the only bed in the room, the boy stopped talking in order to just stare at the bed, remembering the person who had lain that bed not even a week ago. The man also turned to look at the bed, nodding his head in respect he turned back to the boy.

"One special to me died a while ago as well. She wished for a world of peace. Which comes to why I am here." The old man said as the boy turned to look at the man. The man took a card out of his pocket and handed it to the boy.

Jephro-Vath Liam

Japanese Self-Defense Force

"Are you really a member of the defense force?" the young boy asked the man.

"I am. I am one of the highest members of the JDF and I believe you know what I am here for?"

"You're here to take me in." At this the old man began to laugh.

"No I am here to invite you, to join a new division of our group. One that will help you bring peace to your friend." At this, the young boy sat in silence, looking at the card in his hand. After about 5 minutes the young boy began to shake his head.

"I can't bring peace to my friend. She is already at peace. But if you can help me to realize her dream then I will follow you."

The old man stopped and asked "What was her dream?" Ito only uttered a single word in response,

"Peace."

"I assure you," The old man said as he offered a hand to the young boy. "We will do everything you can to make her dream come true."

The young boy took the outstretched hand and hopped off the seat by the window. Together the two of them walked out the door closing the door behind them. Leaving the room to the mercy of the darkness.

*Flash back End*

Waking up slowly from his dream, Ito opened his eyes and begun to stare at the ceiling in confusion. For Ito this was the first time since he left Earth that he dreamt about his dark past. Feeling a weight on his right arm he looked over to see the love of his life laying down next to him.

"Wake up Suko. It's time for a brand new day." Ito told her as he gently shook Suko awake. As Suko gently swayed back and forth, she finally began to stir.

"Good morning!" Suko said after she stretched her arms, curling back into Ito's arm. Ito smiled and tucked a lock of hair that had fallen in front of Suko's face behind her ear. The only response that came was a light chuckle from Suko.

"Come on we have to get up."

"Fine." Suko said as she got up and changed clothes to a casual black sundress with pink accents and a white shawl. Ito realizing that Suko had finally gotten up from his arm, decided that he also had to get up. Ito then changed into black combat pants, a forest green tank-top, and a black vest with pink accents.

Seeing that both of them were ready Ito held out his hand to which Suko grabbed and intertwined her fingers with his own. Together the two of them left the room and went down the stairs to the first floor only to meet Mayuyu in the dining hall, glaring at Chef Papa.

"Mayuyu! Why are you glaring at Papa?" Mayuyu, with her aura beginning to manifest around her, turned to Ito.

"Extra helpings. I only had 5." At this Ito faced palmed with his free hand.

"Papa can you make some food for the three of us real quick." Ito asked in a slightly hurried but calm voice.

"Right away!" Chef Papa agreed as he quickly set to work cooking another few round of food for the group of people. As he was cooking, the three people sat down at a table and talked about the current understudies.

"Besides them stealing my extra helpings, I see some potential in them." Mayuyu said.

Too many, that compliment wouldn't seem too big, just that the understudies had potential. But to Suko and Ito who knew what the understudies had potential to do, it was a relief. Mayuyu was programmed to have the heart and personality of the original Mayu Watanabe and the hope that came with that personality.

"Here you go you guys." Chef Papa said as he sent a single plate of food in front of Ito and Suko. In front of Mayuyu the Chef put down three heaping bowls of rice and food.

After the group had finished eating their food. Ito and Suko bid Mayuyu a farewell and began to walk to the front door with interlocked arms. As they neared the rehearsal studio, they saw the understudies in their work out gear standing right near the studio.

"What are you guys doing?" Ito called out to them as they approached. Surprised that no one was in the room the understudies turned to greet them. As Ito was about to continue, Tsubasa showed up and began to speak with the girls.

"You don't have lessons today. It's your monthly recreational day. This applies to both you and the successors." At this Kanata face palmed as she had completely forgotten that it was that time of the month. The other girls however were confused.

"What?" Mimori also forgetting that began to avoid looking at the other understudies.

"Then let's practice on our own!" Yuuka said in excitement trying to figure out what to do.

"Good idea!" Nagisa said in agreement with Yuuka.

"I like that! Nice Idea!" Sonata said adding her input. Before the group could become more rambunctious, Ito stepped in adding his two cents to the situation.

"Are you guys sure about that?"

"What do you mean Master?" Sachi said in confusion. 'Why would he not wish for us to practice our dancing skill?'

"Your lives are literally scheduled down to the minute for most days. Due to this time management and use is a key part of your life. Making the most out of your free time greatly impacts your future, days off give you time to relax before more work. With that Suko and I are going out for a while." As he began to walk away, Sachi walked forward towards Ito and knelt down on one knee with her head bowed.

"Master, would you please teach me how to use this rapier in a way that brings honor to my ancestor? I know only the basics of how to use it but beyond that I know not how to wield it with grace and honor."

Ito realizing what Sachi was trying to ask faced palmed at her extreme formality. As she finished Ito with his hand cradling his face continued in response.

"Sachi, please don't call me master. Your ancestor was like an older sister to me. If you have to give me a title call me uncle. I can try to help you with some techniques that your ancestor taught me. If you ask me another day I may find some of the scrolls that your ancestor left me but I was unable to learn. Anyway I'll work with you this morning but only in the morning as I do actually have plans for tonight. Suko, you don't mind if I help train her do you?"

As Ito expected, Suko was okay with him teaching Sachi. What he didn't expect was her insisting that she comes along with in order to ensure that he didn't run Sachi into the ground on her day off. With that Ito led the two girls to a special room that he designed when the mansion was initially build.

When he opened the door, the girls were shocked to see what was inside. Inside the room was a large track like one would see people running around on. Within the area surrounded by the track was a ring of wooden warriors holding wooden swords and wooden shields. On the far side of the room was a giant curved almost warped like wall that stood roughly 15 feet high. The lights where bright enough to simulate actual sun light.

"What is this place uncle?" Sachi said in amazing not even caring in the least what she called Ito. Suko couldn't blame here she was even surprised as to layout of the area.

"This is an exact replica of my first training arena." Ito said as if he was about to remember something but then shakes his head getting back to the present before a flashback could occur.

"Ok. First things first I'm going to have you run several laps around the room for a warm up. After that we will start on some basic forms that your ancestor taught me. Is that ok?" Ito asked Sachi.

"Sure let's get started." As she said this Sachi moved to take off her rapier that hung at her side. Before she could, Ito stopped her.

"No don't take off your blade. Your blade is an extension of yourself. You wouldn't run without your legs or your arms as that would be weird. If you train yourself to always carry your sword at hand, all your movements will become natural and you won't even realize that's there most of the time." Hearing this, Sachi fastened her rapier to her side and begun running laps.

After a half hour of laps, Ito told Sachi to stop. As Sachi walked over to Ito in the center of the encirclement of warriors she noticed that Ito was still holding a Katana.

"Next I want you to do, 100 horizontal strikes and 100 vertical strikes."

"Yes Uncle!" Sachi said and began to do as Ito told. Once she was done, she turned to Ito and awaited his next instructions.

"Ok, let's get started on some actual techniques for the blade that all Shinda Sekai Sensen should know." Before Ito could move to strike a warrior, Sachi spoke up.

"But, I use a rapier not a katana like you. Wouldn't the techniques be different because we use different swords?" Ito actually smirked to the surprise of Suko as she had actually begun to wonder the same thing. But Ito on the other hand began to remember the first time Alli worked with him on sword skills.

*Flashback*

"Hey Ito, you really are one of the best warriors this group has got. No wonder they made you the leader here." A strawberry blonde girl said to a boy who was currently destroying several training robots that they currently had on base.

This girl was 16 years old wearing the blue and white sailor uniform of the Shinda Sekai Sensen. Complete with the lack of left sleeve and the class triple S tattoo. What was different about this girl, however, was that in addition to this uniform she wore a white beret on her head.

"Thanks Alli-nee. But I'm only this good after going through the previous war." Ito said in his full Shinda Sekai Sensen outfit. "My only problem is that I have several techniques that I can actually use and almost all of them are known to the US soldiers. Eventually they will find a way to counter them."

At this Ito bowed his head in what appeared to be shame. Seeing this as an opening one of the sparing robots tried to attack Ito only for Ito to slice the head off the robot without even looking away from the ground.

"Nice Shot." Alli said dryly as she tossed Ito a bottle of water. Ito skillfully caught the bottle midair before drinking some and pouring the rest over his head. "You know there are several good techniques that I could teach you that could really give you an edge in combat." As she said that, she began to draw her Rapier and enter the same arena as Ito.

"Wait one sec. How can you teach me a rapier technique while I use a katana?" Ito asked while sheathing his Katana. Knowing that Alli was about to show him, Ito got out of the arena.

"This is a technique that has been passed down through my family for several generations before that it was passed down through a Shinto shrine family for who knows how long. Point is, that this technique is only know to a few and because of its origins it should work with a katana. I'm not entirely sure but I think that it actually works with all the weapons the major members of the Sensen use." After saying this, Alli had at least 50 fully armed sparing bots come out.

"Alli! That is way too much for you to handle!" Ito said as he made his way to the arena in order to save his friend. Before he could though, Alli held her rapier up in the air, took a deep breath and uttered a single phrase, "March of the Titan."

With a single leap, Alli leaped towards the bots and landed a single strike to the ground in the center of the mob of robots creating an explosion that caused a deep crater completely destroying the bots leaving only a few nuts and bolts.

"What just happened?" Ito said surprised at how powerful and fast a move that was. Normally Alli would not be able to handle 4 bots against her but she easily took out 50 bots. As he was he admired the results of the move he saw that Alli was now kneeling on the floor panting as a heavy sweat settled around her.

"Alli-nee!" Ito cried as he rushed over to her. "Are you okay Alli-nee?" Ito asked with genuine concern etched onto his face.

"I'm okay." Alli said with heavy breaths. With a serious look, Alli looked back down at the ground.

"This technique exerts a huge amount energy and force throughout the body. It took me years in order for me to actually work the technique to this level, the problem is that I don't have enough power and energy for it to work. I think you might be able to use this technique better than me." As Alli said the last part, she turned her head up and gave a cheerful smile to Ito.

"So the technique is called 'March of the Titan?'" Ito asked her. Shaking her head, Allison said

"No, 'The March' is an extension of your will. My inner symbol is that of the titan so my march allows me to use titanic strength in order to destroy my enemies in a single swipe. Your March however would be different though. I'm actually excited to see what March you will achieve."

Allison, using her sword for support, slowly got up off the ground. Once she had gotten up, she turned away from Ito and started walking away. "You coming?" She said as she turned and flipped her hair.

*Flashback End*

Shaking his head to focus himself, Ito made to reply to Sachi.

"You know, I actually said the same thing to your ancestor when she first told me about this technique. Just watch me first." Ito said as he walked over to the middle of a training circle, just like Alli did to him years ago. Turning the settings to release 1000, fully armed, training bots, Ito centered himself and took a deep breathe. Closing his eyes, Ito allowed for the spirit inside to flow from his center to his legs.

Not even bothering to take out his sword, Ito felt the energy in his legs consolidate until there was enough to use. Ito raised his right leg in an arcing pattern until he was performing an almost perfect split. As his leg was rising, excess green energy seemed to flow from the leg creating a green arc.

On some unknown signal, all of the training bots began to descend upon him. "March of the Kangaroo." Ito said as he opened up his eyes and dropped his leg straight down. Once his heal connected with the ground, the ground beneath him seemed to explode outwards and a dust cloud seemed to roll across the training ring. As the clouds began to disperse, to Sachi's surprise, Ito was standing casually. As if he had not just completely destroyed 100 training bots with one move.

"What was that?" Sachi was barely able to get out, her mouth still open at witnessing the destructive power that Ito exhibited.

"That was my Ba taken form." Ito said as began to walk towards Sachi and Suko.

"Do you know what a Ba is?"

"No, I've never heard of a Ba."

"I should have known as much. You see the Ba is an interesting topic." Ito said brushing a hand through his hair. "In the ancient world of Earth, long before anyone from the current generation was alive, there was a kingdom called Egypt. They believed that the person held 5 aspects to themselves. The Ba, Ka, name, shadow, and Akh. The Ba is the aspect that makes up your personality. What I just used was a technique that allows for your Ba to enhance certain aspects of yourself."

"Isn't the inner spirit just the Kirara?" Sachi asked in confusion, never having heard of an inner spirit.

"You're not wrong," Ito said with a sigh. "The Kirara are the essence of an Idol. But that is still not their Ba. If you look at my Kirara you see that it takes the appearance of a kangaroo while the kirara of the successors vaguely resemble them showing that there is a connection to their personality. The major difference is that the Kirara are not theirs. The kirara that many idols use were created long ago, as a result of Suko's sacrifice."

"A kirara reflects the inner self that can be seen by the individual. For those idols who have found who they were as an idol, their kirara reflects that image for all to see. But if they were to look harder at who they are, then a kirara will be born to reflect that change." Suko said to a now attentive Sachi.

"Your ancestor, Alli had the Titan as her inner spirit and it allowed her to create torrential blast with a single swipe of the blade." Ito said to Sachi.

"Now let's see if we can't find you a spirit?" Suko said clapping her hands together. Taking this as a hint to sit down. Sachi sat down with Ito sitting next to her.

"In order to find your spirit, you subconscious will travel to the spirit realm. There you will search through the spirits until you find one that bonds with you. Normally a person only has one Ba spirit. But there have been cases where multiple spirits form a bond with a single person." Ito said to Sachi with a hand on her shoulder.

"Ito will try to enter into your mind with you, to keep you safe." As Suko said this, she waved a hand over the floor in front of Sachi and Ito. A giant body of water seemed to erupt from the floor and came to rest right at the edge of Sachi's knees.

"Look into the water below. Look into your eyes and concentrate only on my voice. Search for the forest. Search through the forest." Silo said touching the center of the water.

As the waves rippled across the pond, crossing her eyes, Sachi entered a trance along with Ito. Their bodies remained the same, but their minds drifted off, far away.

*Sachi POV*

Opening my eyes, I see myself in a dark and desolate cave. The air is moist and the smell was horrid.

"Ito!" I called out trying to find where he is. I wait for a minute before trying again.

"Ito!" Still no response. Seeing a light in the distance, I decide to go towards it and get out of this terrible cave.

I start running and emerge from the cave on top of a cliff face. I was in awe, for before me was a huge expanse of nature. To my left, a grassy plain full of the most magical of creatures from the great wooly mammoth, to the common deer. To my right, sea serpents danced in play with young gold fish sliding down their back. To my front I see the greatest forest in the world. The trees were thick and taller than 200 feet, and the forest as a whole seemed to be filled with life, yet I could see none within.

From my cliff, all of this world of wonder and amazement could be seen and yet, there still was no Ito. I was wondering what to do next when the earth beneath me began to rumble. The rumble grew and grew until I fell over. Trying to see what was going on I looked over the edge of the cliff to see a pink head?

'The heck?' I thought to myself, I scrambled back to avoid being hit by the rising object. As it passed the cliff face, I saw it truly was a pink head but not just a head but an entire body. This giant of a man was at least 100 feet tall and … not wearing skin.

Rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn't dreaming, I saw that the giant being before me truly wasn't wearing skin. It was all just muscle but anatomically it still looked human. That's not even the worst part! The worst part is the stupid grin that it had on its face. That alone would make me scream in terror. But for some reason I was unable to scream or move.

"Hi!" He voiced in a booming tone while raising his right hand in a waving motion.

"Umm, Hi?" I said waving my right hand as well. This didn't seem to help the situation as he continued to look straight at me without speaking a word.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"You don't know where you are?" He said with confusion before laughing a jovial laugh. Not an I'm going to enjoy eating you laugh, more like a Santa Clause just ate the cookies laugh.

"Young one, you are in the realm of the spirits. Here every spirit, every Ba, lives together in harmony. You probably came here searching for your Ba am I right?" He said.

"Yes my name is Sachi and my Uncle was supposed to be here with me to help me find my inner spirit."

"Wait, Sachi? As in descendent of Alli? The last wielder of the rapier Sachi?" He said bringing his eyes level with my own. He had lost that grin of his and was actually serious for once.

"Yes? How did you..." I go to ask him but before I can his grin breaks out again.

"Why didn't you say so?" He said with that same jovial tone he had before. "Oh I just realized that I haven't introduced myself." He said taking a few steps back so I can see his full body. With a flourish of his arm he tucked it into his body and body down at the waist.

"I am the titan known as Obelisik the Tormentor. The chosen Ba of Alli Clark, one of the eternal warriors of the Shinda Sekai sensen."

"I thought the Ba was the inner spirit, the essence of a person? That is what my master said." I asked truly confused, a lot has happened in the past hour.

"He must truly be worthy, that's the intro to this place. No, the Ba is a chosen companion which may help you attain higher power in your world. We spirits willingly help but there are some in your realm that would try to come and force a companionship. No we say that we are inner spirits because it's safer."

"Umm ok."

"You know what, I'm gonna help you find your Ba. Does that work?" He asked me. I knew that he genuinely wanted to help me so I nodded yes.

Holding out his hand level to the cliff side, I jumped onto it and we began to walk.

"So what kind of creature do you want? An idol? A warrior of strength? A defender? A flier? What suites you?" He asked looking forward not even eying me.

"I have no idea. Maybe something nice but dangerous when angered?" I said honestly not knowing what type of creature I would want.

"Here." He said lowering me to the ground. At this point we were equidistant to all three areas. "Walk in whichever direction you feel is right and we shall find your Ba." He said while taking a step back.

Looking over my options I looked to the plains and saw a great number of creatures. Though there were a great number, I couldn't see one that was dangerous enough. Looking to the sea, I see many kinds of aquatic creatures, creatures that have been extinct for centuries. They wouldn't be any help to me. Looking to the forest, I couldn't see any creatures, but I could hear many noises. The forest itself seemed to be filled with life, yet from the outside it showed none. I knew what I had to do. So I began to walk forward in to the forest.

Walking in the forest was different than the grass plains back home. At home the only scents that one could smell was the scent of flowers and the wind seemed to speak in your ear. But here, the only smell I could smell was the smell of decay and the air itself seemed stale. I moved slowly hoping not to anger anything when I felt a slight pull.

This pull was not a physical pull but I could feel the need to go left. Following this pull I began to walk faster and faster as the pull began to grow stronger. This creature was to be my Ba, I just know it.

Bursting through the trees and into a clearing, I feel a crunch beneath my feet. Looking down at my feet, I see a broken bone. I back up a bit but with each step I hear another crack of a bone. Looking around, all I could see were piles and piles of bones. But in the center of this clearing of bones, was a little rabbit.

I don't know why but I felt the need to help this rabbit. Whatever it was that caused all of these deaths was sure to return soon and I didn't want the rabbit to be its next meal.

"Here little rabbit." I said while whistling quietly to draw its attention. "Come here. We need to go." As I said this the rabbit began to hop towards me a bit. Obviously warry of me, the bunny stopped for a second before coming closer and closer till it hopped into my waiting hands.

"Hey little guy." I said as I began to rub its back. "Are you my Ba?" I asked him, half not expecting an answer. But to my surprise the bunny looked to me and began to nod its head.

"Wait, you can understand me?" I asked. Yet again I received a nod.

"Sachi, are you there?" I could hear Obelisk ask. I only now just realized that he was no longer by my side.

"I'm over here Obelisk." I called out to him. Hearing a rustling in the nearby trees, I turn to see Obelisk walking into the clearing. "I found my Ba." I told him, holding out my new companion.

"I'm surprised, the Rabbit of Caerbannog typically doesn't like other people or spirits but seems fine in your arms." He told me in a nonchalant way.

"Oh is that what this little guy's title is?" I ask and began rubbing noses with it. "You need a proper name little one. You know what, I'm gonna call you Bern. Does that work?" I said to him. Yet again I received a nod before he froze.

Suddenly all of the noise in the forest was silenced. No one dared to move as a single melody was heard. It wasn't loud but it still seemed to be heard all around me. As beautiful as it sounds, I could feel the atmosphere begin to tense up.

Looking back towards Obelisk, I see the blood drain from the muscles on his face. His normally happy grin was now replaced with a dark and terrified expression. I didn't understand what was going on. This melody seemed normal to be a great piece played on the flute but I still had no idea what would cause the happy titan to become so fearful. Even Bern was scared, which was even worse after he killed a whole wolf just earlier.

"We must go…" He told me in a very slow tone like he wasn't fully there. Looking in to his eyes, I could see that he wasn't looking at me. Instead he was looking at the sky in fear. Slowly he turned down his head down to look me dead in the eye. Realizing the situation and that I was still there, his eyes began to bulge.

"We have to go!" He shouted, and all together the forest seemed to come alive. All the creatures began to run as fast as they could. Farther and farther away from the source of the music. Obelisk scooped me and Bern up and began to run.

"Obelisk what's going on?" I asked in a confused tone as I was now being carried in one hand by a 100ft tall skinless man. No matter how I spin this, it was the weirdest moment of my life.

"That is The March!" He said frantically while still running. I did not know that we went this far in.

"What like a power march? What's so special about that?" I asked as he just got out of the forest. He set me down at the entrance to the cave.

"No not a march, The March. The march that all of the powers come from. It summons the one of the most dangerous spirits in all of the realms, the Dragon King Abilmelchk." He said in a hushed tone. I was about to ask another question before a bit of the sky above turned a deep emerald green and a great roar could be heard.

I have never felt this frightened before, the sound was almost primal in rage. I turn to ask Obelisk about it but he pushed me and Bern into the cave.

Waking up in the real world, I could feel the sweat still all over my body. I turn to see that Ito was still mediating and I began to freak out.

*Ito POV*

'Where did Suko's voice go?' I thought to myself as I couldn't hear Suko talk anymore. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was no longer in the training room with Suko and Sachi. Instead I was in a dark looking forest. Beneath my feet lay centuries of mulch and other debris. I could smell the decay that seemed to permeate the air. The trees were a light gray with no leaves. Almost as if they were petrified. Not believing my location I looked up to the sky to see a night sky.

To any experienced astronomer, the stars and their orientations would be unknown. But to Ito he remembered the exact location of each of those stars. The stars etched into the face of a twin colored sky. A dark emerald green on one side, the other was a chaotic red that seemed to be in an endless conflict across the sky.

"Oh shit!" I said out loud. This was a place that I never wanted to visit again. I kept it here so that it would not tempt me again to use its destructive power. Realizing that I had no choice, I continued through the forest until I came to what seemed to be the ruins of a city. The streets were deserted, cars flipped over, and worst of all, not a single form of life in sight.

The air stilled as I walked down the old streets, remembering this place from my time back in the USA.

"This was my home, my life. Where I was a kid. Where life was supposed to be fun." I said to no one in particular. I continued to walk in a daze, barely noticing as I passed a sign.

Now this sign wasn't anything extraordinary. Just a simple sign to welcome to a city or a particular part of the city. The sign seemed to be missing half of it for the only words that could be discerned was "OVE BEACH."

Realizing I was at the beach, I gazed out to the dark sea. For once it was calm and quite. With the gently rolling waves, I finally began to understand why I was called to this place again.

"Why have you of all people called me to this point?" I said aloud.

"You know why I am here." A voice behind me stated with a matter of fact tone. Turning around I see who the figure is. While everyone of this time period sees him as an expanse of Kirara, the figure before me is not the grandiose mastermind that everyone imagines.

The man in front of me could be no more than 6' 5" with a little bit of a pooch that doesn't show too much. He wore a black suit that was seen by people back in the 21st century and a pair of glasses. Too any other person he seemed like a big creep, and they would be right. But the absolute worst part of it all, was the stupid cup of Jagariko (potato chips shaped in thin sticks sold in cup o noodle like packages) that he was eating.

"This place, full of destruction and chaos, it serves as a reminder of the destruction that your bloodline can cause." He told me taking a bite of Jagariko.

"Ok I get that but why now, of all times, was I brought to this place?" I said getting more and more agitated with every word. "I sealed Her here so that destruction like this would be harder to achieve. And why in all Nine Rings of Hell are you still eating that stupid Jagariko?" I shouted out in anger. But he still continued to eat with that passive expression that he always had.

"Do you know why I'm still alive?" He asked walking right next to me and gazed out over the ocean.

"Is it because your creation still needs your help to listen to the Goddess of Idols?" I asked remembering him talk about that before. All he did was laugh and smile a bit.

"Close. Very close. It's true that they still need me to listen to the Goddess and the hearts of everyone. But I also exist to nurture every one of my children, including you." He said finishing another stick of his snack.

"I don't understand." I admit both to myself and to him.

"You don't have to. You still have your mortality and have not embraced eternity. The universe still has secrets that you can't know. Secrets that can change fate itself. But I can say this, war is coming. Make peace with your demons, or in this case demon, for this worlds and all others beside Earth will need you." As he said this, he began to dissolve into a flurry of butterflies which then flew off into the moon.

"Of course Akimoto-sensei." I said locking at the place where he just disappeared from. Turning back to the sea I steel myself for what I need to do. Grasping at my right hip, a simple silver flute appears in my hand. Bringing it to my mouth I feared for what I was about to do.

"March of the Dragon!" I say softly as a familiar melody came from the flute. The melody that came pouring out the flute was very harmonious and seemed to be heard all across the spirit realm. Just the sound of the tune brought a dangerous feeling to the air. (A/N: March of the Dragon is an actual flute piece. For those who have understood the reference, it is the song that is played through use of the dragon dagger flute to summon the Dragon Zord. It is a great song and I highly recommend that you listen to it.)

Upon hearing the sound, a series of bubbles began to appear in the ocean, until a giant beast rose from its depth. Standing at a monstrous height of 150 feet, the beast was a scaly bipedal creature with a tail, tiny arms and a giant snout that would put all three heads of Cerberus to shame. Though it looked like it would come to me, the beast made no motion to move forward as its limbs were being held by four silver chains.

"Greetings Abilmelchk, King of the Dragons and Keeper of Order." I said with a low bow. I knew that he may have held some distain to me so I needed to show that I am sorry.

"So the prodigal son has returned." He said with a booming voice that echoed for thousands of miles. "Why do you come? I have done my duty and been bound by the same chains She has."

"Amikoto-sensei and the Goddess of Idols have told me a great war is to come. One that is sure to hold much destruction and pain." I said coming out of my bow to look straight at the Dragon.

"Ahhh I remember the fool Akimoto. So he joined with the Goddess of Idols. Hmmmm. But war is on the horizon? Why though would you come when you know that She would be better for chaos and destruction?"

"She was my power, many a years ago. But she was too destructive, even more so than you. Even with all the bindings I placed on Her," I said looking up to the sky. "She still seems to match your power." Abilmelchk looked up to see the same fight for power that I saw. As I was talking the red seemed to become more aggressive across the sky.

"She seems to be stirring." Abilmelchk said in a hurried and fearful tone. Casting his gaze back at me, I saw that he genuinely did not want her to escape her prison. Sighing in dejection, I moved my right hand to my exposed left arm, just covering the kangaroo. With a quick motion, I pulled the kangaroo off of my arm and threw it at the binds covering Abilmelchk's left arm.

With a resounding crack the binds covering his arm opened up and dropped down into the water. Moving his arm around Abilmelchk looked to the sky as his eyes began to glow a brilliant green. As this occurred, the conflict in the sky began to turn in favor of the green.

"Go now! I am able to push her back enough for you to escape! Go!" Abilmelchk roared.

"I will be back. When I do, you shall be free again." I said as I close my eyes and come out of the trance to see Suko trying to comfort a clearly distraught Sachi.

*3rd Person POV*

"So how did your trip turn out?" Ito said to Sachi as if she wasn't about to go into shock.
"It was fine and dandy until I was essentially kicked out of the realm." Sachi replied in a calmer tone, apparently having Ito their made her feel safer than before.

"How did you manage to do that? Even I was never kicked out of the spirit realm. More like they tried to keep me there forever." Ito said while muttering the last part.

"All I know is one moment I am playing with my Ba, the Rabbit of Caerbannog, and then I suddenly heard a mysterious sound being played across the whole realm. Then everyone was charging and trying to run away as fast as they could. Obelisk had to shove me and Bern through the cave in order to escape this so called evil." She said in a very tired tone of voice.

"Sweetie, do you remember what he called this evil." Suko asked in her motherly voice.

"He called it The March." Suko said while shaking slightly at the March. Upon hearing this, Suko turned her gaze slowly over to Ito and began to give him a deep glare. Ito began to cringe under the weight of Suko's glare.

"Ito can I talk to you outside." Suko said in a sickly sweet tone. All Ito could do was not his head and follow Suko outside. Once the two of them were outside, Suko began to hit him and question him.

"What the hell were you thinking Ito? You sealed the two of them in so that they wouldn't cause damage in any realm and here you are summoning the Dragon of Order, which you know frightens animal spirits, while you were supposed to be helping your student search for her inner spirit. Instead she has to rely on Obelisk and eventually comes out with one of the most dangerous creatures from the spirit realm. What is your reasoning?" Suko finally asked after blowing up at Ito and slightly calming down.

"I don't know how I ended up in the Grove, but I do know this. Once I got there, I was greeted by an old friend of ours." Ito said in an angry voice, just at the thought of Akimoto.

"Don't tell me. Akimoto was there and he was eating Jagariko." Suko said remembering how much Ito hated the food.

"Yes it was him. Of all the foods he could be addicted to, why did it have to be one of the only ones in this whole universe that I hate? Also while he was there, he kept getting crumbs all over my spirit scape seriously. I hate Jagariko so much and now I've got crumbs of Jagariko all over my spirit scape." Ito said as he ranted to Suko.

"What did he say?" Suko said after letting Ito get all of his repressed anger out.

"He said that war was on the horizon and that at the very least I am going to have to eventually release him from his seal. You know what that means right?" He asked Suko.

"Yeah, if you release him from his seal, then She will be free to leave and you have no idea what could happen as a result." Suko said to Ito.

"Yeah. That's exactly it, for all I know She will be the cause of all our destruction." Ito said as Suko placed an arm around her Fiancé.

"I'll be right here honey." There they sat outside, for a while at least, with just each other for company.

"Let's head inside." Ito said to Suko, so the two of them went inside and saw an amazing sight. The girl who they were training only just hours ago was now sleeping soundly, cuddling with her rabbit.

"You know Ito, let's go out now and see what Akibastar has in store for us." She said offering Ito her right arm. Ito, being the guy he is, took the arm and together the two of them walked out of the house. As if the two were back in Japan, they decided against using personal transportation and instead chose to use the train system that was in place to get from the Mansion to the middle of Akibastar.

Now when they got to Akibastar, Suko was amazed. For being only one of two people in living memory who had been able to see Akihabara, this place was amazing in comparison. It had the feeling of being the home of AKB0048 while at the same time being large and accommodating to the general populace. The only thing she could fault them for was the stadium being too big but other than that it was great.

Standing outside the AKB theatre, the two could only feel nostalgia at the site. Suko was remembering the first time AKB performed at the Tokyo Dome, as the theatre looked surprisingly like the Tokyo dome from the outside. The memories, both happy and sad came to the fore front of her mind. Having to cheer everyone up from being nervous before the performance. Standing on stage for the final song of the evening. But at the same time it brought back her depressed memories. Before the last war, she was planning on graduating at the Tokyo dome, in front of all of Japan, and finally being able to be with Ito for the rest of their lives.

For Ito, it reminded him of home, not this world that was built upon the ruins of a civilization. No their house, their plans, all of it was gone. But now that they were together again everything could begin to rebuild.

"Like this, right? Ito and Suko stopped when they heard that voice. Spinning around, they saw a crowd gathered around two individuals. Looking closer they saw that it was Nagisa and Chieri practicing some moves in the streets.

"Wrong." Chieri said abruptly. Nagisa stopped dancing and responded

"But Yuuko-san moved like that at her last performance." At this Chieri shook her head.

"No, the steps were bigger, like this." As Chieri said this she began to dance from side to side. Looking up from the ground, Chieri looked as saw that a group had begun to form around them. Seeing Chieri's reaction, Nagisa too looked around and saw the crowd that had gathered.

"When did they all… U-um, we're sorry! This isn't a performance or anything! We were talking about our mentor's dancing and got kind of into it. Then we tried it out but it didn't feel right, so we kept going… Um, sorry for causing a scene!" Nagisa said very nervously. She didn't mean to draw a crowd like this but the dancing seemed to have made people want to watch. Instead of the feeling of sadness she expected, a round of applause came from the people gathered instead. Looking back at Chieri, Nagisa realized that both of them were confused by this action as well.

"If it doesn't feel right, then just continue." Ito said from the crowd of people. Upon hearing someone speak, the bit of crowd in front of him moved to the side to make way for him.

"Ito-sempai. Atsuko-sempai." Both girls said in awe before bowing.

"If you two are going to make a scene, then make a scene." Suko said to the girls.

"What do you meeeaaaannnn?" Nagisa began to say before Ito began to beat box and Suko began to dance in beat with Ito's music. To the onlookers, it looked wild and amazing, the image of perfection. To Nagisa and Chieri, it looked like a goal, someone that they could look up to, to reach the stars. But for Ito and Suko, it was a welcomed reminder that they were now home.

When Ito had stopped beat boxing and Suko had come to a standstill, there was a silent pause. That was until the crowd began to cheer loudly. Ito turned back and looked at Chieri and Nagisa,

"Come on you two time to head back to our dorms." At this the four began to walk back from the downtown area and to the dorms.

"Hey Chieri," Ito heard Nagisa say behind them. "When we get back to the dorm, wanna practice Yuuko-san's moves together?"

"Sure, I'll prove you've got it wrong." Chieri said with a slight grin on her face.

"Ouch!" Ito said softly. Hearing this all four of them began laughing their way back to the dorms.