The howling gale that swept across Mt. Coronet was terrifying even for the Aetherian that was hiking up the side of the mountain with no company except an Espeon on his head.

Deciding to head to Axel himself as soon as the carnage was over, Aeron Solo now battled his way through an intense storm. For no reason whatsoever, and without any reports of bad weather for the week, a hurricane had spawned above the mountain, with dark clouds and pouring rain. It even had enough force to rival one he would have made.

Normally, a storm such as this could be suppressed by Aeron's powers. But even as he held his hand to the sky and channeled his power into the air, it would not respond. Can we get to cover quickly? I don't think I can hold on much longer… This thought came from the Sun Pokémon on his head, but even if it was telepathy, Aeron felt like he was having trouble hearing it.

I can't say, Aeron responded, also with telepathy, for he was sure he couldn't be heard over the wind and rain. It's safe to say, though…the source of this unnatural weather is not something of this world. We'll have to make it to cover eventually; I feel like it's trying to erode me from existence. The final sentence was no exaggeration; everything was unsettling even Aeron to the core.

Even if Axel's become stronger than he was before…whatever's going on here with this ungodly weather, can he stand up to it?

"WHOA!" Ben jumped back into the cave, feeling the intense wind tear at his face. "What happened? The weather wasn't this bad when we got here!"

"This doesn't even feel like one of Aeron's storms, either," Axel added, sticking one hand out for just a moment before swiftly relinquishing it. "Something bizarre is at work here."

"Hey, can't you sense some reiryoku in the wind?" Niko asked, ears twitching as he reached from Axel's shoulder out to feel the strange wind. "In fact, this reiryoku seems familiar…and very hostile."

Axel's shoulders stiffened for a moment, and then relaxed…slightly. "Let's hope it's not that," he muttered. What he meant by "that" did not need to be said for the others to understand.

"On a side note," Marth's voice finally managed to break up the silence. "Does anyone have an idea to get past this storm, whatever it is?"

"Well, we don't have Aeron with us right now, so…" Axel looked around, sighed, and turned around to walk into the cave. "We need to find an alternate route to the top."

"So what is at the top anyway? Aside from Spear Pillar, that is," Ben asked, hurrying to meet Axel's speed.

"The only thing worthy of mention is Spear Pillar. And that's exactly what I'm looking for," Axel replied, as if it were the most logical idea. "Because it is actually the Sanctuary for the Dragon-Type!"

"Wait…hang on, how did you know it would be there?"

Niko was the one who spoke this time. "It's most likely because of the relation to Dialga and Palkia-they were born from there, and created the rest of the entire world from it. So it's not just a monument to time and space-they're both Dragon-type, so the presence of draconic energy is quite high."

"Uh…if you say so?" Ben wasn't quite sure he understood, but decided to roll with it nonetheless.

At this moment, Axel suddenly froze. Multiple people in the group began to ask him what was wrong, but he raised a finger to his lips, took two steps as silently as possible, and then bounded out from behind the corner, Shiruba-Getsu singing with an eerie note as it was pulled from its dissolving scabbard. There were several screams as the long sword swept through several ranks of Cipher Peons, and by the time the others had rounded the corner, several Cipher Peons were lying unconscious, not even having a chance to call out their Pokémon. "I used the blunt edge to hit them, so at worse they'll have huge bruises," Axel noted. "Oh, and Cipher will be down a few bucks to repair the armor stuff."

Ike whistled as he examined the shredded armor that was so cleanly cut there were no stray shards of it. "I haven't seen you do things like that for a while. You weren't quite the guy to go to for assassinations if I remember correctly."

"Then you may have remembered wrong," Axel replied, adjusting his coat and placing the sword on his back, the blue sheath reforming over it within seconds. "Well, it doesn't matter. Guess I'll confiscate their Pokémon, though…"

"Even the non-Shadow ones?" Marth interrupted, crossing his arms. Axel rethought it, then took the ones he could sense shadow energy from and then created an electric pulse of magic, disabling the rest so they couldn't be used later, as per the unspoken rule that no normal Pokémon should be taken.

Dusting himself off, Axel stood up and looked in another direction. "I think I hear some more people coming. Be careful. And Ike, I'll leave you to guard the rear, but take extreme caution; I detect a very strong presence of idiocy in that passage."

Everyone gave him a bizarre look, also having detected that presence. "But, Axel, it's-" Ike began.

Axel nodded without letting him finish, the corners of his mouth twitching up in a smirk. "That's why I said it was a strong presence of idiocy."

Several more screams behind them, and then a Cipher Peon was sent flying into the same passage as them. Then after that, Aeron walked in from the same direction he had sent the Cipher Peon flying, with Soelle just behind him. "Hey, hey. I'm the idiot now? According to the guy who went off by himself to practically commit suicide just to deal tons of damage which probably could've been covered by Cipher's tendency to Zerg Rush?" (Zerg Rush: A tactic that involves swarming using weak enemies to wear down enemies. Seems to be an odd favorite of the Big Bads in most media today.)

"At least I did more damage than you would've done if you tried the same thing," Axel retorted. "And it's not like I left glaring clues on where I was going."

"If that's the case, explain how the Legendary Birds found you," Ike suddenly called from behind.

"And how we also found you so easily," Marth added. Neither one tried hard to hide their smirks. Ben considered trying to side with Axel, especially because the process wasn't easy at all, but couldn't find any good arguments and remained silent.

After an awkward silence, Axel just muttered something in defeat and sighed. "Aw, forget it," he muttered.

"…well, you made a good effort at trying to hide everything relating to your presence from us as well," Aeron noted as he came closer. "If it weren't for Ben, we'd still not know where you were…which would've been too late at this time, am I right?"

Axel refused to answer that question and walked off with a very annoyed air, though the others couldn't help but feel it looked rather comical, as though he were acting much less mature than his age…actually, much doesn't even begin to describe it. Yet the others couldn't help but laugh at how silly and juvenile his actions were when the previous hour, he was in a poor state of mind.

The next hour was spent amongst the shrill notes of flying blades and flashes of sparks from the metal striking. With Aeron by their side, now they progressed through the caves even faster. In fact, the others had to do practically nothing while Axel and Aeron took to the front, Axel's long sword sweeping through the ranks of the Cipher Peons as he ran right between several that stood practically side by side, and Aeron, now using his invisible sword as well as Tsubasa no Raioh in Shikai, leaping between the enemies before they had a chance to counterattack Axel and striking them from directions they couldn't react to in time.

As the two literally danced between the legions, the Cipher Peons couldn't keep up with either Axel or Aeron on their own, and the tactics the two displayed when fighting in tandem-rather than just them fighting in the same area as individuals-made things even worse. Normally, Axel would throw so many light hits upon an enemy they could not respond before he had overwhelmed them, while Aeron would strike calculated blows upon the least-well defended points and skillfully repel each attack that came at him. But now not only did Axel strike fast, but the longer Shiruba-Getsu caused his attacks to scatter the Cipher Peons erratically, and he also would occasionally ram his shoulder into them, stunning them from the impact before taking them out with his normal tactics.

And Aeron…was something different entirely with the invisible sword. While his right arm and Tsubasa no Raioh, he still struck fast, accurate blows, but his left arm made wide sweeps that slammed into enemies with tremendous force and blew them away like leaves in a hurricane, just before leaping after them and striking with Tsubasa no Raioh. And this wasn't even when they were using their special abilities; Aeron's various attacks caused the Cipher Peons to scatter further into confusion with whirlpools, blasts of fire, freezing bolts, lightning, and discharges of Invisible Air.

At that moment, Axel would take the water created by Aeron's whirlpool attack and sweep it through their ranks once again. This would hurl them into the walls and leaving them helpless before Aeron's attack. The twins stormed up the mountain at a breakneck pace, with the others barely able to follow even when they weren't the ones battling.

Axel was glad to see Aeron was fighting at (almost) full power now, while Aeron was astounded by Axel's new abilities and fighting style. Occasional comments of praise, sometimes sarcastic and sometimes genuine, passed between them.

Then at one point, Aeron rounded a corner and saw two Cipher Peons sitting at computers, seeming to collect environmental data to make sure there were no fluctuations in the miasma. Holding a finger to his lips, he silently ran up to them from behind and struck one swiftly in the back of the head, then kicked another one over the cheap table he was working on top of.

However, Axel grabbed the computer just before it landed and placed it gently on the floor, then picked up a wire connected to his headphones and pushed it into the computer. "Um…what are you doing?" Ben asked.

Axel's face had a huge smirk as windows began to open up on the computer without him having to lift a finger. "Hacking the network. Cipher probably uses the same connection for all their computers that are collecting this data, and they have to go to some main computer that compiles all the data. So I can pull files straight from the homegroup!"

Of course, Axel searched as much as he could, but didn't find anything that could be of value, until he reached the last folder and found a file of…

At that moment when his shoulders stiffened, everyone knew what he saw was important and crowded around the computer. The first thing they noticed was that it portrayed a Lugia. Although all of them knew right away which Lugia it was that would make Axel react like that. "…looks like I've finished copying the files," Axel finally declared, somewhat less bold than before. "Let's get moving-"

Aeron pushed him aside and looked over the info. "Hm…it seems Demon Lugia has lost both rational thought and his control over the storms that appear when he flaps his wings," he noted. "Meaning whenever Demon Lugia's in the nearby area, its bizarre shadow storms start raging for a few km around him…ah, that explains the terrible weather that's been going on outside for a while."

"So that means Demon Lugia might be right above us…just wonderful," Marth muttered. Then he noticed something else. "Wait…it says here he gains power when there is an abundance of miasma in the area…and after each mission, he must be charged with a unique energy. The process takes about a week."

Ben thought about it, then shook his head. "It's already been a week since Demon Lugia destroyed the Battle Frontier. He'd have to be at full power at this moment."

"But. We still have a few advantages against him," Marth reasoned. "We can isolate him from the miasma and make him lose a large amount of his power through Chaos Blade Works. Next, Ben's Wado Ichimonji can destroy the barrier if you chain enough hits…though you'll have to do it fast. My Shield Breaker might be able to pierce it, as would Axel's Ketatamashi Getsu. Finally, we have-"

"Me?" Aeron asked with a wry grin.

Marth glared at him for the boastful comment, but said nothing. "So we still have several advantages. And because most of the Origin Captains are here, we've got enough power to nullify most of the special attributes of Demon Lugia…the only problem is that we can't determine how much he's supercharged with that special energy."

"Good. Send this to everyone else," Aeron ordered, and Axel quickly saved the file to his headphones (yes, Axel's headphones have data banks, but more about that later). Then he squeezed his thumb and index finger together, calling down a holographic screen. There were numerous boxes on it stacked vertically with words written on them to do their job. Axel pressed one that said "mail", then clicked numerous names on the screen-specifically those of Hanna and the others-and sent the file to them. "Let's get moving, then!" Aeron declared, getting up, but then he noticed Axel was rapidly typing away with a huge smirk on his face. "Um…Axel? What's with that look?"

Axel didn't listen and simply pressed the enter button. The screen suddenly went black, and then a blue screen appeared, showing:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent further damage to your computer.

ALL_YOUR_BASE_ARE_BELONG_TO_US

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as catching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your compute, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical information:

01011001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 0100000 01101110 01101111 0100000 01100011 01101000 01100001 01101110 01100011 01100101 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01110011 01110101 01110010 01110110 01101001 01110110 01100101 0100000 01101101 01100001 01101011 01100101 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 0100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.

Axel stepped back and dusted his hands off. "This ought to be good," he grinned, taking out the headphone cord. Everyone else groaned and facepalmed.

Meanwhile, every other computer in Cipher's system experienced the same screen, causing large amounts of raging and computer smashing.

Eventually, they found themselves standing at another cave opening up to the mottled purple clouds. Checking the altitude meter and the map, Ben sighed. "We've gone as far as we can by underground routes. We'll have to leave the cave at this point."

"Just wonderful," Aeron muttered, and everyone was surprised even he didn't sound enthusiastic about going in through the storm. "I barely managed to get through it last time, and now, we're even closer to those clouds…argh. Soelle, let's put up a Light Screen for the time being."

Soelle began to comply, but then she saw something outside and froze, all hairs standing on end. "Um…Soelle? Hey, are you okay?" Niko went up to her, grabbing a Cheri Berry from Axel's pocket. "If you're paralyzed, I've got t-"

But his voice died out when he caught a glimpse of her eyes. They were absolutely terror-filled, and as he had gotten closer, he even noticed she was trembling. Then, finally, Soelle began to stutter out something and point a paw towards the clouds outside, confirming the worst fears everyone had as they slowly turned back. Axel and Niko, in particular, broke into a cold sweat when they beheld it.

Two glowing red eyes had appeared out of the miasma-filled black mist-no, it wasn't mist anymore. It was the black body of a dragon-like Pokémon with a red underbelly and sharp talons. The eyes glowed with absolute hate towards them, and its mouth opened wide in a howl that shook the earth and even the very bones of the group. Its identity did not have to be questioned; it was Demon Lugia.

"It's…here…" Niko finally managed weakly. "That thing that defeated all six of us, and Axel right after that…Demon Lugia…"

"No one was actually able to defeat it before," Aeron added, gripping his swords tightly. "It was only repelled…or frozen…but now only we are here to fight it…"

Axel did not speak at all, but remained motionless. His mouth and throat had dried out just like that, and his mind had gone blank. This was the monster that had caused him to fall into despair and attempt to throw away his life, and even in the few moments when he managed to sleep, it had haunted his dreams. When Ben had used the power inside the headphones to revitalize and strengthen him, he had felt invincible at the time, but seeing Demon Lugia once again threw all that confidence away. The only things he could think of at that time were his previous defeat and that terror that only comes when hope turns to despair. What could be done now…?

At that moment, Demon Lugia howled once again, sending a stream of water straight at the cave entrance. Snapping back to reality, Axel ignored the panic as best as he could and unsheathed his sword in a mad dash. Thinking about what had happened before would not redeem himself or save anyone. What was happening, here and now, was the only reality that could be accepted.

"Rule over the Midnight Heavens, Shiruba-Getsu!" he roared in a voice much more forceful than before. As if it was responding to his sudden invigoration, the gauntlets flashed upon his hands faster than they had before as he punched towards the water stream. Dark blue water gushed out back towards Demon Lugia, violently battering against the dark purple liquid. At first, it seemed as though the purple cascade would pierce the blue stream, but Axel strained against it with every bit of power that he could find in his body.

Slowly, in the midst of the dark, tainted water, Axel's blue stream began to take shape into the sleek head of a sea creature with a pointed nose and a mouth full of fangs. From four sides of the face the head protruded back and outward as if creating fins, the one protruding upwards longer than the rest. This head roared, gnashed its teeth, and defied the treacherous waters around it, cutting straight through them without restraint.

Time and again, the current of the tainted water pushed it back, but each time it pressed onward with even more resolve. Finally, it sheared through the entire cascade, tearing at Demon Lugia with its fangs and knocking him backwards. The demonic Pokémon shook his head, as if the attack had truly stunned him, and then glowered at Axel with even more hate, preparing to fire another attack…

The green beam of light that sailed past Axel's head the next moment pierced the dark clouds that began to gather around the wings of the Diving Pokémon and exploded violently, once again disrupting the attack. Axel turned slowly to see Aeron's right hand raised, a single finger taken off Tsubasa no Raioh and pointed at Demon Lugia, more lines of green light pulling in around it. "I thought the obvious thing to do was run away, but we'll have to fight this thing sooner or later. Axel, if you're serious about fighting this thing a second time…" Aeron cracked a huge, enthusiastic smile. "How can I just sit out and let you fight alone again?"

"We'll go all out on it!" Ben agreed, drawing all three swords. "Everyone will!"

Axel watched the others prepare to fight and couldn't help but smile at how they went so far just for him, and were still willing to keep moving on with him until the end. Then he turned back to Demon Lugia, who seemed unfazed by the united front that just appeared in front of him and just let out his signature roar again. As if this was the signal for the battle to start, everyone let out a battle cry and charged at him for the most difficult battle yet.

Fragments of ice burst from the wings of Demon Lugia, but Islinger flashed as Marth made multiple stabbing motions with it, knocking away all the ice and at the same time bending down for a Dolphin Slash, though he was surprised that he had actually been driven back by the attack. Immediately after the storm of ice ended, Ike leapt over Marth and raised Ragnell, bringing it down with a yell upon Demon Lugia's head. The blade stopped just millimeters away due to the barrier just off the Diving Pokémon's body, but Ike's tremendous strength actually managed to force him back.

Axel and Ben made a leap straight at Demon Lugia at this very moment. Ben's arms crossed in front of his chest, and he turned his head so the blade was pointing away from Demon Lugia. But before he could use Oni Giri…he realized he couldn't fly. "OH SHIIIIII-"

"Soelle! Catch Ben!" Aeron ordered. The Espeon complied without delay, catching Ben and throwing him at Demon Lugia and allowing him to continue his attack. All three blades crashed against the barrier as Ben started chaining various attacks upon the barrier. Meanwhile, Axel's gauntlets flashed, shooting him upwards in a storm of silver feathers. His arms outstretched as the wing-like blades flashed into existence and struck at where the barrier was supposed to be, just as Wado Ichimonji flashed and struck the barrier, causing a red veil to suddenly appear and dissolve away.

Demon Lugia roared in pain from the barrier's disappearance, but that was the least of his worries when Axel was swinging his blades relentlessly at his head. Then Niko hurled Thunder at the Diving Pokémon, and Marth took a flying leap while swinging upwards, both of which dealt considerable damage. The Diving Pokémon angrily stomped the ground, sending pulses of seismic energy which nearly toppled Aeron, Soelle, and Niko, but they held their ground, and Soelle's gem flashed as it fired Zap Cannon. However, the reforming barrier blocked it partially, and Demon Lugia did not seem fazed by the attack.

Ike flipped backwards while slashing, and the ability of Luna ignored the partial barrier to deal massive damage, while Axel's swords just kept swinging, as if they could cut through the barrier now. The Demonic Pokémon began to retreat from Axel, or so it seemed, but then opened his mouth, revealing a maelstrom of red energy, and fired out Aeroblast, blowing Axel backwards so hard it took him incredible effort to halt his flight and then strike back at Demon Lugia. "I'm ready! Now stand back, everyone!" he heard Aeron shout, and Axel noticed he could smell ozone. His foot kicked out, and he sailed back towards earth.

Aeron's right hand raised itself without Tsubasa no Raioh, and a three-pronged spear of glowing golden, violently crackling lightning appeared in his palm as he shifted his right foot back and raised the invisible sword, pointing its tip which only he could see at Demon Lugia. The winds began to pick up, blowing back towards Demon Lugia in defiance. The clouds began to swirl, and lightning flashed in the air.

"Sanmai no Raitenyari: Torishūra (Third Lightning Heaven Spear: Trishula)!" Aeron roared as he hurled the spear at the center of the swirling clouds. The golden light disappeared into the sky-and one moment later, thousands of lightning bolts rained from the sky upon Demon Lugia just as he began to reconstruct his barrier. The lightning bolts crashed against the barrier in a storm of gold and crimson, but the might of Trishula could not be stopped by the incomplete barrier. Demon Lugia, once again, was forced to take the attack head-on.

However, as soon as the attack ended, Demon Lugia's eyes flashed, and a red lightning bolt came down upon Aeron. When Aeron tried to stand against it, it hurled him into the wall without any of the other effects that came when he absorbed electricity. As soon as this resolved, dark energy whirled in a typhoon at the combatants, blowing tons of debris into them while the winds themselves ripped mercilessly through their defenses. Even Niko and Soelle's tandem Light Screen could do nothing before the attack, allowing Demon Lugia to continue his assault with purple shards of ice.

Gritting his teeth, Axel forced his body to move and called upon the water in the immediate area, causing it to amass just in front of the Blizzard. The ice shards struck it, and Axel forced the current of the water back towards Demon Lugia to slow the shards as much as possible before they froze the water, leaving them safe. Ike moved next, jumping at the newly-formed mass of ice and kicking it straight at Demon Lugia's head. Unfortunately, at this point Demon Lugia's barrier had reformed, and the ice shattered harmlessly against it.

However, while Demon Lugia's view was obstructed by the ice, Marth flew at him head-on and pulled back his sword, which was glowing blue at the moment. Islinger jabbed forward, and the barrier actually flashed violently from Shield Breaker. This was followed by Aeron throwing both Brionac and Gungnir at Demon Lugia, and Ike sending jets of magma flying up from beneath him. The Diving Pokémon took to the air and let the magma miss, but Aeron simply pointed at Brionac and Gungnir and they shattered into raw lightning bolts, which soared up into Demon Lugia's underbelly and sent him falling out of the sky. However, Demon Lugia got straight up and made another roar, and suddenly everyone was aware of purple threads weaving themselves across the battlefield, leaving much less room to move.

Once this was done, the Demon Pokémon flapped his wings and ascended, at the same time shooting enough water from his mouth to cause a few dozen floods. Soelle and Niko placed a Light Screen just above them, just barely repelling most of the water. Aeron pointed his own palm at the deluge, blue streaks of cold air flying into it. A moment later, it was all frozen, and he jabbed at the mass of ice and shattered it.

Just as Axel was about to make his next move, however, a strange darkness suddenly covered him, Ben, Aeron, Niko, Soelle, and the rest of the mountain. Demon Lugia, Marth and Ike were still illuminated, however.

"…And thus, this world has no meaning."

It was at that moment that they noticed shining light from a ledge much further down the mountainside. This light was grasped in the hands of Haku, who was gazing intently at Demon Lugia. "Does he plan to fight Demon Lugia in Chaos Blade works?" Ben wondered. "But will it work?"

"It will buy you time, at the least," Marth replied, distancing himself and Ike from the others. "Axel, Aeron, Ben…you must head to the top and stop whatever Cipher's still doing! The rest of the Origin Captains will be fighting Demon Lugia!"

"From the very beginning, it was certainly made of swords. Kaosu Bureido Wakusu!"

A pulse of white light flew into the sky, illuminating the darkness and throwing white outlines upon everything, as well as illuminating white particles in the sky. Pale swords suddenly appeared, stabbed into the mountainside, before shattering into white fragments that blinded Axel, Aeron and Ben. When they could see again, to their surprise, while the miasma still hung in the air, the harsh weather was gone-and so were Demon Lugia, Marth, Haku, and Ike. "It almost sounds like they planned it out before we knew it…" Ben muttered.

"They all can communicate with each other when they want to, but to think they wouldn't tell us…" Aeron sighed and began to ascend the mountain once more. "Anyway, we're almost to the top. Let's finish this, guys!"

Axel, Niko and Soelle followed just after him, but then noticed Ben was starting to lag behind. "Hey, Ben, are you alright? You're actually not looking too great now…"

As it was, Ben thought his skin looked a bit more whitish than it did normally, and his breath was shallow. "I think I'm fine for now…" he wheezed, but both Aethereans took notice of the emphasis with which he said "for now". "I don't think I can fight for much longer, though."

Axel's look showed both guilt and self-loathing as he let out a "tch!" of displeasure. "The miasma must be taking effect on you now. Your body and senses might start crumbling away if this keeps up…this is what I was worried about when you arrived." He raised his right hand, pinched his thumb and index finger together, and made a motion of pulling down something. Numeous circular buttons came down upon the line he had traced in the air, and he pressed one that said "Inventory". A few more button clicks, and a green crystal shaped like a rectangular prism landed in his hand. He handed this to Ben. "If things get too bad, hold this up and say 'Recover'. It'll work for the time being."

"Uh…" Ben looked at it with a clueless expression. "Is that really all it takes?"

"It's a simple magic to use, so even humans can do it," Aeron affirmed. "Well, now that we have that out of the way…"

Suddenly, the miasma began to twist around in a pillar in front of them. Aeron suddenly broke off what he was saying and halted them, raising both his swords in a defensive stance. The others all began to feel like something terrible was on its way…

The polluted air peeled away to reveal two gigantic wheels that were designed after the yin-yang symbol, except instead of the white or black circle inside each section that was the opposite color, there were instead two black screws. Attached to the wheels were two metallic torsos-one blue, and one pink. Both possessed shoulders shaped like a U that seemed to be exhaust pipes. Blue arms with blades in place of hands manifested attached to the appropriately colored body, while the other possessed pink arms with cannons instead. Finally, the heads appeared-the blue one carrying a wickedly sharp blade on his head, while the pink one ending in a large cannon pointed skyward.

"Holy crap, how do you build something like this out of miasma?!" Ben wondered, gazing at the bizarrely-designed robot with interest, though he remained cautious.

The robot's wheels spun, turning the blue body towards them. Ben let out a yell of surprise and jumped backwards a few feet as the robot spoke in a deep voice. "I am Duon. Axel Nightblazer, I am also the last opponent you will ever face."

"Says who?!" Axel shouted back, taking a brave step forward. "I don't see how you can guarantee that so fast!"

"And even if that's the case," Aeron continued, "With Ben and I here, we can more than cover for Axel's weaknesses. Whatever advantage you think you have against hi-"

Suddenly, the wheels spun again, turning the pink body towards them, who began talking rapidly in a high-pitched, insane voice. "I AM DUON! I HAVE COME TO TEAR YOU APART LIMB BY LIMB, AERON SOLO! I WILL BLAST YOUR LIVER TO PIECES AND RIP OFF YOUR FLESH PIECE BY PI-"

"STOP IT!" the blue side roared, turning his head to glare at the pink side. "You interrupted me!" The pink side brought one of his cannons to bear and shot a burst of pink energy, knocking the blue head away, to which the blue head struck back with a blade.

"…talk about a dual personality?" Axel commented as he watched the two rage at each other, not sure whether to be amused something like this could happen or horrified at the extreme amount of profanity in their words.

"…um…guys, do you think retreating is a good idea?" Aeron asked, sounding very unsettled. Axel suspected something so insane had actually scared the wits out of Aeron, something which amused Axel greatly…but unfortunately, it also made the situation very inconvenient.

"Um, no. WHAT THE HELL WOULD YOU RETREAT FOR AFTER WE CAME THIS FAR, YOU COWARD?!" Axel hollered, kicking Aeron straight at Duon's pink half. Both heads turned too late, and Aeron smashed into it with enough force to send Duon spinning rapidly about before striking a rock and slamming into the ground, plowing up dirt. "There, you've made yourself useful," Axel grinned towards an irritated Aeron. "Ben, let's take this guy on."

"Huh?" Ben looked up from a game on his iTouch. "Did you say something? Sorry, I'm infecting Australia-" His voice trailed off when Axel gave him the most annoyed look. "Uh…never mind." He stowed the iTouch and stood up, pretending that didn't happen.

Axel smacked his forehead with his hand and groaned. "Playing video games now of all times…"

Ben waved his arms in the air like a protesting child. "Hey! I thought he would stay arguing for a lot longer, which would give us some time to unwind-"

"Yeah, yeah, totally legit," Axel nodded with an unconvinced tone. "Ah, well. Let's strike this guy down and-"

Ben shook his head and pointed at the stairs. "Axel, I think you and Aeron should go on. I'll take Duon on by myself."

"Okay, seems legi-say WHAAAAAT?!" Axel and Aeron acted as though Ben had turned into a Magikarp. "Take him on your own? He's probably designed to take us down specifically, so you shouldn't be able to-"

"I won't give up based on that chance!" Ben raised his Pokéballs and pressed the buttons, releasing all his Pokémon. "Besides, we don't know where the Admins are, remember? That's why you guys need to head to the top safely…you need to take down their leader and come back alive!"

Axel seemed to grapple with the decision for half a minute but Aeron made the decision by raising all his Pokéballs, then released Rayquaza, Psianne, Raika, and Rald. "Guys! Help Ben and take down Duon!"

Alright. You can count on us, Psianne responded, returning Duon's furious leer with a Mean Look. Though both sides of Duon let out an undaunted roar, Psianne's eyes flashed, and a faint glow of green energy divided Axel, Soelle, Niko, and Aeron from the rest.

While Axel was giving one last glance back to Ben and a thumbs-up, he heard Aeron urge them on with "Let's keep going!" and turned away from his friend with all hope he could muster. However, he and Aeron barely even got meters away when they noticed six people standing at the top of the stairs. "The Admins are here, even though I dealt with most of them hours ago…" Aeron scowled.

The two Aethereans stepped onto the large platform of square stones to face the Admins. Axel noted that Aeron's grip on his swords tightened, and he himself held his armored hands in front of his hands, fingers outstretched as though to grab something.

Shooter looked rather depressed due to the absence of his gun, while Frostelius and Dordondii looked eager to fight. Luna showed the same cold expression which was always on her face, while Gaea stood in the back, eyes focused on Axel with some degree of guilt. Axel couldn't tell, but it seemed she pitied him, which confused the blue swordsman no matter how he thought of it. Rocky stood in front of them all, a determined expression on his face. His hand rose, and his mouth opened to issue a command…

However, before either side could take action, there were battle cries from behind them-some sounding like proud warriors, some savage and brutal. Then, Auralda, Gladias, Seishira, Arboreon, Pyrelios, and Volticron all flew out of the black clouds, landing between the Aethereans and their enemies with ground-breaking force. "Axel, Aeron! We will take care of them!" Auralda shouted, pointing a finger towards the peak of the mountain. "You keep going on!"

Without even having much time to be surprised, Axel and Aeron nodded, and Aeron threw out his hand, sending a great gust straight between Rocky and Dordondii, blowing them to the sides, then blasting through the gap with the air around him compressed into an umbrella shape, creating zero air friction. One moment later, the silver wing-blades let off a flash, and Axel disappeared down the same gap, leaving nothing but trailing silver feathers.

"Hey! Don't let them get loose!" Rocky shouted, turning around for one moment before suddenly finding himself getting lifted into the air and smashed back onto the ground violently by Seishira's psychic powers. "Screw it all…" Turning back, he raised his hand over his head and sent gigantic rocks flying at the Elementals, which called all the other Admins to action.

Axel and Aeron continued to run without looking back. For the sake of the Origin Captains, Ben, and the Elementals, they had to win now. Just too many people were suffering from Cipher. They had to end it all in one swoop before…

As they ascended the last few stairs, the heel of Axel's boot struck out and slid across the stones, bringing him to a halt gradually. "Is that the guy…?" he asked, pointing unsurely.

Aeron followed his gaze and saw the crystal that signified the Sanctuary…and hovering above it, a naked man whose entire body seemed holographic-it looked more like pixels, and they could see the ruined pillars behind him through the body. There was no hair on his head. His body was clearly bigger than theirs, as even though he was hunched over slightly, arms folded, he still towered at roughly 4 meters. Inside his body was a circular pink core with dark purple rings upon its surface when viewed from the angle that Axel and Aeron were standing at.

"I feel like I've seen this person before…" Aeron muttered to himself, raising his swords instinctively.

The man did not open his eyes as the two cautiously took small steps forward, but the corners of his mouth turned upwards in a vicious sneer. "So you two have come to fight me. I have been awaiting the chance to give you two exactly what you deserve for a long time…"

This obviously was an indication that he knew who they were, but they were not sure it was the other way around. "Give your name, and I might make enough effort to remember who you are," Axel ordered. Another step forward…why was it becoming so hard to take a step now?

"My name is Tabuu. Has it been so long since the times in which you resided in Dimension Zero that you can no longer remember?"

Axel shot Aeron a warning glance. Anything that mentioned Dimension Zero could not be good. That was the place Aethereans had originated from, and technically the world that was first created out of the nothingness. As for the name Tabuu…that didn't seem to be one they remembered, and his form certainly could not be remembered. Yet Aeron seemed to have a conclusion already. "If I had to guess…you were a criminal who was banished to the void between dimensions?"

"Correct. And as you can see, the inhospitable nature of that place has crumbled my body to this state." Tabuu looked about his arms with a disappointed look. "Ah, well…but, Aeron Solo, Axel Nightblazer…you realize you played a role in my banishment, correct? It's taken me far too long to gain enough power to pose a threat, but your departure from Dimension Zero has made it easy for me to wipe you two from existence once and for all."

This was just a little too much for Axel to hear. His fists started clenching, and the area suddenly began to tremor. "You killed thousands of people…and ruined even more lives…just so you could get revenge on the fourteen people who sent you off into oblivion? What kind of monster…ARE YOU?!" With a furious expression, Axel's hand thrust skyward, and the tiles burst in several places as water flew up into the air in a vortex just above Axel. The water swirled dark blue at first, but then a silver light pierced the black clouds, entered the vortex, and caused it to come crashing down on Axel all at once. The single word he uttered at that point need not be said.

The cascade of silver suddenly stopped when four great feathered wings burst from the torrent, dispelling the water in showers of white to reveal Axel a good ten meters off the ground. Axel then held up two blue objects which looked like the hilts of swords chained together. The guard was shaped like a four-pointed star flat against the hilt rather than perpendicular to it. Two of the points had crescent moon-shaped objects attached to them, while the last point of the star projected a blade of silver light. "Doki no Shiruba-Getsu!" Axel roared, an absolutely murderous wind blowing from his flapping wings.

Aeron, watching his brother, sighed and pointed Tsubasa no Raioh into the air. "I guess it can't be helped with him this angry…I'll have to go full power on scum like you." The last part was spat out rather harshly as the golden blade sent a green light into the clouds, twisting them into a spiral just above him and letting a golden lightning bolt strike him head-on. The golden light then gave way to a tower of pale blue ice, the tip of which broke off to reveal Aeron in an ankle-length coat with a golden inner layer and holding a broad, two-handed sword which tapered to the point. "Senkei: Kage no Raioh."

Tabuu glanced at this with amusement, and then a blade appeared to replace his hand. Then he charged at the two, signaling the beginning of the brutal fight between the beings of Dimension Zero.

OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO HAVE TO DO FIGHTS FIGHTS FIGHTS FIGHTS FIGHTS FIGHTS AND MORE FIGHTS NOW. NOT JUST IN SHADOWS OF THE DEMON BUT ALSO SILVER WINGS. THIS WILL OVERLOAD MY BRAIN. AERON I'LL RELY ON YOU TO WRITE MY WILL.

Aaaaand our second contender from Super Smash Bros. Brawl's adventure mode appears: Duon. I remember having quite a bit of trouble fighting him, and he's even ranked as the hardest boss of SSBB (despite the fact that I died FAR more against the real final boss). Speaking of the final boss…I planned this (poorly) for a long time but…I felt weird writing my description of Tabuu…OTL

The scene with Axel putting the virus in the computer utilized (most of) what you'd find on an actual Blue Screen of Death (I do hope I don't have to explain what that is). As for the technical information, since I don't know what's supposed to go there except a jumble of numbers, I threw in some words translated into binary. It translates out to "You have no chance to survive make your time."

…which leads to another reference. "All your base are belong to us" and "You have no chance to survive make your time" are both from Zero Wing (and both memes I picked up long after they were popular, sadly). I was originally going to include all components of the memetic opening, but then I decided nah because I felt spending too much time on that joke was a silly idea.

As for the sudden mention of Volticron…uh, sorry, I'll talk more about where he came from in the rewrite. As much of a spoiler this is, I'll tell you this so you won't be confused: he is the Elemental of Electricity, and his human identity is Volkner.

Any guess where the green miasma-curing crystal came from? :3