"The rules for Pandemonium are a little different this time around."

Yajima interrupted his cohort's explanation.

"No doubt due to Erza last time."

The other announcer coughed.

"Ahem. In any case… The basic goal is the same. You destroy the most high level monsters, you win. The difference is that this time the pool of monsters you can draw from are limitless. While I'm sure someone like Erza would appreciate the effort to make things more challenging; this is also making it more dangerous than before."

Yajima came to his own conclusion.

"I can imagine. With infinite monsters, there can be any number of high level ones in any given scenario. Theoretically, you could face a room of 100 weak D-class monsters...or 100 S-class."

The other man nodded.

"Correct. And the monsters themselves have been beefed up quite a bit. Even a D-class is nothing to sneeze at this time around. I can't wait to see how our contestants will take it."

Riku and Natsu stood in front of the castle where all the monsters resided as Riku looked to Natsu and extended a hand.

"Hey. May the best man win."

Natsu paused for a moment, then gave him his famous big toothy grin as he shook his hand.

"Thanks. I will."

Riku chuckled as he realized what kind of guy he was dealing with right away.

After a telling his long story, Erza looked like she had some questions.

"I think I've got it. You fought against Ansem, but not the bad one. Then another guy who has Ansem's name mixed up, but is not the real one either. Both of them are Xehanort in a group 13 other Xehanorts. One of the other Xehanorts traveled through time to ensure his own future, but lost when you traveled through time...and dreams to save your friends. And there are 4 other versions of you all with different names and appearances, but they are all their own people now?"

Sora was impressed.

"I'm surprised you got all that."

"Well, I've dealt with Edolas and the Eclipse before, so time travel and alternate versions of people are not foreign concepts to me. You think that's bad. My own mother was….um...nevermind. I'll save my story for later; we'll be here all day at this rate."

"But you do get my point though, right? I'm far from the best person to teach you."

She smiles.

"Based on your story; you're the BEST person to teach me. Titles and hearsay about Masters and whatnot...those mean nothing to me. In my mind, you ARE a Master. And I always wish to learn from the best."

Sora blushes a bit from the compliment as she continues.

"Are you worried I'll use it against you in the games? If so, you can teach me after the games have concluded."

Sora shook his head.

"Nah. It's fine. I'll teach you what I know."

Polyussica enters the room and screams at Erza.

"Get out, Erza! Stop bothering my patient!"

Erza gets up and heads out the door, but not before whispering to Sora.

"We'll talk about it later."

Sora tried to defend Erza's presence.

"It's fine, Miss. She's not bothering me."

Polyussica gave him a death stare which chilled him to the bone.

"I mean...maybe she is? What do I know? I'm not a doctor."

Erza gave a look that basically said 'I warned you' as she left the room and Polyussica got to work on Sora's condition.

"You'd better not make a fuss or this will take longer and you'll miss your chance to watch your friend in the game."

"Yes ma'am."

Outside in the stadium; Pandemonium had already begun with all competitors entering the castle to fight at the same time, leaving no way for the to determine the progress of the others. Erza arrived just in time to catch Natsu blowing large numbers of D-class monsters away with his Fire Dragon Roar.

"How's he doing so far?"

Gray responded.

"Not bad. He's up to 100 kills already, but he hasn't seen anything stronger than a C-class. I'm starting to think this game hates him."

They notice how Natsu seems to be begging for stronger opponents as he lets out a bellowing war cry. She smirks.

"Well, at least we know he's...all fired up. What about Red Crown's Riku?"

Laxus offered his insight.

"He's a bit more methodical. Taking it slow since there is no time limit. Looks like he's being rewarded for pacing himself with higher leveled monsters more often. Haven't seen a single A-class or S-class yet though."

Gray scoffed.

"Yeah, but Natsu's still got the lead just from steamrolling them all. By the way, Erza. Did you see Juvia?"

"Yes. She went to get a lifetime supply of ice cream for Sora as an apology."

"What?! That's what she needed my ice make magic for?!"

"Wait...you helped her make her apology gift to Sora? That's sweet."

He turned away to hide his embarrassment.

"I didn't know she was making ice cream with it! Especially not for him!"

Erza smirked.

"But you still helped her anyways?"

"Of course I did. If she needs help, I'll help her. That's what being friends means."

Erza got in front of him to look him in the eye.

"Just friends?"

"Yes."

"Did you tell HER that?"

No answer. She groaned as she grasped the bridge of her nose.

"Ugh. Gray. You need to stop beating around the bush. The longer you put this off, the harder it's going to be."

"I'll tell her when I'm ready."

Laxus throws his hand into the pot.

"When will that be? When she's walking down the aisle to you with heart in her hand ready to say 'I do'?"

They both look shocked that Laxus even had an opinion on the matter, let alone one so strong. He continued to lay down the law.

"Let me make this easier for you. You tell her...today. Or I'm gonna pump you with so many bolts of lightning, you'll be able to power all of Magnolia for a year."

Gray cringed.

"Fine! I'll tell her! After the game. Let's get it over with."

Deeper inside the stadium, Juvia is using the ice she got from Gray to make ice cream as she hums a tune to herself. It wasn't long before she was greeted by another blue haired woman.

"Who's all this for?"

Juvia looked up to Aqua examining the desserts she was making.

"Juvia was making all this for Sora."

Aqua rolled her eyes.

"We're going to need to have an intervention with him about his addiction to frozen sweets. You know you're making snow cones and not ice cream, right?"

Juvia's sudden realization caused her to panic.

"Oh no! Should I start over?"

Aqua quickly put her hands on Juvia's shoulders to calm her down.

"It's okay. Like I said; he'll like pretty much anything as long as it's frozen and sweet."

Juvia squinted her eyes at her a bit.

"You know a lot about him. Are you...his girlfriend?"

Aqua almost fell over on top of Juvia.

"W-what?! Me...and him?! No way! I could never… I knew him when he was like 6!"

Juvia's eyes widened.

"Oh! So, the 'childhood friends' trope?"

Aqua couldn't help but to burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! I mean...technically yes. But he doesn't remember. Besides...I think he has eyes for someone else."

Aqua raises her eyebrow at Juvia who didn't seem to get it.

"He has a girlfriend though? Juvia figured as much."

Aqua rolled her eyes again.

"You know…for someone who obsesses over love...you're pretty oblivious yourself."

Juvia tilts her head in confusion as Aqua shrugs it off.

"Anyways, let me help you with that. I happen to be experienced at making ice cream."

"Thank you, Aqua."

They both start making the ice cream as Juvia returns to humming and Aqua notices she's humming the familiar tune of 'It's a Small World After All' and Aqua started to get traumatic flashbacks of Disney Town, but quickly shook them off.

Sora eventually recovered in time to catch the game before it ended as he rushed up the stairs to the balcony.

"What'd I miss?!"

Lea and Terra look bored as Aqua tries to answer him.

"Um...well..."

Lea spoke up.

"It's embarrassing, honestly."

Riku finally taps out after fighting as many monsters as he could as the announcers take over.

"And that's the game folks! Everyone has finished their quota! Let's tally up the numbers now! Taking into account higher monsters yielding more points we reach our final results! The winner is...WOW! Not even close! With an absolutely dominant performance of 397,614 points...Natsu of Fairy Tail is the winner! Second place goes to Riku of Red Crown with a respectable 13,020 points."

Riku breathes heavily as he plops down on the ground in disbelief.

"He got HOW MANY?! That guy's insane!"

Natsu came over to Riku and offered him a hand up.

"What did you expect? Monsters and destruction is my specialty."

Riku scoffed and took his hand as Natsu pulled him up.

"Yeah. Well, good game anyways."

"Hey. You took out way more high leveled monsters than me. I got stuck with canon fodder the whole time."

Erza and Gray didn't want to correct him on the fact that he actually fought sever S-class and A-class monsters, but just didn't realize or notice the difference in power. Sora runs down to congratulate Riku.

"Way to go, Riku!"

"Uh...Sora? I didn't win."

"No biggie. I'm sure you still learned a lot. We're not here to win. We're here to have fun."

Lea pipes up.

"Speak for yourself."

Aqua flicks Lea's ear.

"Ow. What is with you and my ears?"

Terra splits them up before they start a fight.

"Lea has a point. Some of us ARE here to win. Like me, for example. I'm up next for the 1v1s and I won't be holding back. Oh, and I guess I'll avenge Sora for you, Riku."

Riku snapped at him.

"Hey! I did pretty good."

Lea keeps his ears covered as he responds.

"You didn't even get a FIFTH as many points as Natsu."

Aqua pinched his nose.

"AH! For Pete's sake, woman!"

The announcers get back on the mic.

"And there you have it! Pandemonium is complete. Next up; we have a one on one match."

Terra gets serious as everyone else pays attention.

"The matchup for today is...Terra vs Gray!"