The journey back to Base Camp was in many ways similar to the journey there from the Archylte Steppe, except for the fact that Fang was the only one with a significant load. But she didn't complain; in fact, she raced ahead of the other girls. For awhile, Lightning and Aqua struggled to keep up.

Since the monsters on the trail were for the most part cleared out, the trio faced little opposition. The three of them made their way back to Base Camp in record time.

The rest of Fang and Lightning's group was sitting around a campfire that they seemed to have just started. It was beginning to get dark. The Chocobo Chick was the first one to notice the girls' return.

"Kwe-kwee! Kwee!" the bird chirped happily, gesturing towards Fang, who was nearing the others. Aqua and Lightning were several steps behind her.

Snow, Vanille, and Sazh (the chocobo nestled in his hair) stood up immediately, seeing that Hope was still unconscious. Fang handed him partly to Snow, and the two of them set him down by the fire as gently as they could manage. Lightning crouched down next to him, putting her hand on his forehead. No reaction. Then she pinched his arm. Still nothing. She drew her arm back to slap him awake...

"Lightning!" Vanille said, stopping her.

Lightning shrugged in indifference. "Worth a try," she said.

"I wonder what happened...?" she said, moving closer so she could get a better look. But nothing was out of the ordinary... not a hair on his head seemed out of place.

The chocobo again peeked it's head out of Sazh's hair.

"Kwee! Kwe-kweh-kwee kwee!" it chirped knowledgeably. It continued tweeting for a few seconds. The majority of the group was completely oblivious to the meaning of it's bird-sounds, but Vanille was listening intently. When it was done, Vanille nodded seriously, and turned to the others to translate.

"The chocobo says that everything was going fine at first. Then a strange-looking boy in a black mask appeared out of nowhere. Hope tried to attack him, but was defeated before he even got close to the stranger." Vanille paused to listen to the rest of what the chocobo had to say. "The little guy left before the boy seemed to notice him, and he came back here to us."

Aqua let out a small gasp of surprise, but no one noticed.

Fang looked incredulously at the bird. "Couldn't you have let us in on that before we went looking for him? That man sounds dangerous."

The chocobo's wings and beak drooped. It acted like it was going to try and say something else, then gave up and shrugged as well as a baby chocobo could.

Sazh reached his hand up to pat the bird on the head. "Aw, don't make it feel bad," he said, "it helped as much as it could. And you guys did rush off pretty fast..."

Fang rolled her eyes. Aqua tried to help herself, but a giggle managed to slip out of her mouth. Everyone's looked at her.

"What?" Snow asked.

"You!" Aqua said, her small fit laughter dying down. "You guys are good together. It's easy to see that you guys have a strong bond with each other. Like a big family." Aqua thought of Ventus and Terra when she said that, and paused. "I miss mine..."

"That reminds me," Lightning said, "you never really told us in depth about how and why you are here. Now seems like as good of a time as any to elaborate."

"I agree..." Snow said, "Sorry if I sound rude, but it's a little suspicious. I mean, you show up, and then this happens with Hope..."

"I hate to say it, but he's right," Lightning said, flipping her head at Snow.

` Snow crossed his arms and sighed at Lightning.

Aqua smiled and nodded. "I understand," she said. "but all I can really say is that a few close friends of mine and I got separated. There's someone who seems to be pursuing one of my friends. He also seems to be the one controlling those monsters that we saw by the river." Aqua paused and took a breath. "That's all that I can tell you. I'm sorry. I can understand if you don't trust me. I can leave, if you wish."

There was a moment of awkward silence. Then Vanille, who was standing next to Sazh on the opposite side of the fire from Hope, spoke up. "I believe you, Aqua," she said, "I get the feeling you're telling the truth."

"I agree," Fang said, "I mean, if you were out to get us like everyone else seems to be, you've had many chances to harm any of us. And you didn't. And anyone that's had my back in a fight is right by me."

Snow, a serious look on his face, sat down by the fire, staring into the hot embers. He raised his eyebrows before turning his head towards Aqua.

"I'm sorry... Aqua, was it?" he asked with a slight smirk, "That's not quite enough info to get me on your side. We have too many people chasing us... there's a big risk. I hope you understand."

"I do," Aqua said, "that just means I'll have to get a chance to prove it."

"I suppose," Snow said, looking back to the fire.

The rest of the group - Aqua included - settled around the flames in a similar way, huddling closer and closer as night began to fall. Hope still showed no sign of movement. The group said nothing for hours; all of them staring into the mesmerizing glow of the blaze. Aqua felt more and more out of place every minute. She knew there was something that they weren't telling her. She had no idea why people were "after" them, or if she should be as suspicious of them as they were of her. But she said nothing; only wondered in silence like everyone else was seeming to do.

"Guys," Sazh said, jolting everyone out of their trance, "what do we do next? I know we've gotten a bit distracted by Aqua and Hope here, but we have something important to think about. Our time is running out. And so far, there hasn't been a single sign of life on this cursed planet. No offense," he gestured towards Fang, then Vanille, who both had an offended expression on their faces, "but I'm really starting to think that we would have been better off on Cocoon. It's a miracle we're still alive at all. We're lucky to have made it this far."

Aqua was thoroughly confused by his words. But the rest weren't. Vanille stood up and walked forward.

"...Sazh, there's still a place where we haven't -" Vanille was interrupted, unexpectedly, by Hope.

"Oerba. Fang and Vanille's home. Where the Pulse fal-Cie lay dormant. The answers we're looking for might be there."

"Hope!" Fang, Lightning, and Aqua all said in unison as the three of them rushed to his side.

"...Who is that?" Hope said, pointing to Aqua. She smiled weakly.

"Aqua, a new friend of ours," Lightning said. Snow snorted.

Hope gave her an odd look, as if he wasn't sure what to think. So, for the time being, he mostly ignored her.

"Fang, Vanille... you know the way, don't you?" Hope asked.

"Yeah," Fang started, "and it's a tough journey from here, it is. But I think we could make it without too much trouble."

"Yeah," Hope repeated, "If you go on without me."

Everyone was surprised by his words. "But Hope," Vanille said, crouching next to him. He started to try and sit up, and she helped. "There's no way we could just leave you like that."

"Yes you could. And you should. You've taught me how to fight. I can do well enough on my own." Hope tried to stand up, but his knees gave out. Snow was the one to catch him.

"You don't have to," Snow said.

"He's right. No one here is alone." Lightning said.

Hope furrowed his brow in frustration. "But all I can do is slow you down or get in the way or get hurt. You have to hurry; you have no time to babysit me, I know." Hope pushed away from Snow. "I know that eventually something bad could happen because of me. Because of getting in the way. I don't want anyone to get hurt." Hope cupped his head in his hands. "And...and you have Aqua now. She's surely a better fighter than me. She'll do more good for the group," Hope said, his voice beginning to break, "It would be better... better for everyone if I stayed behind."

As Hope said that, something strange happened. An enormous yellow light erupted from his body, forcing everyone away. Beams of the light shot towards the sky, illuminating the area for miles with their glow. Hope seemed to be yelling in pain. No one knew what was going on; all they could do was stand and try to shield their eyes.

As if on cue, a tall boy in a dark mask appeared from a source of darkness similar to the ones the Unversed had come from. He silently raised his arm towards Hope.

The light, which started off as a bright yellow, became shrouded with tendrils of darkness. The shadows slowly spread, enveloping everything it touched. Eventually it reached Hope. He was no exception to the shadows' advance.

"Hope!" Fang and Lightning yelled, running towards him. But they couldn't get close because of the light; the light and power radiating from it was just too strong.

Aqua seemed to be the only one to see the masked boy. And as soon as she did, she identified him. It was Vanitas.

She sped off towards him as fast as she could. Her keyblade appeared in her hand as she ran, making a movement to attack Vanitas as she approached. But he just stood there, nonchalant. When Aqua got closer, he put his hand down, job finished.

Aqua jumped towards Vanitas, slicing her Keyblade through the air in front of him, perfectly aimed. But the moment before her blade struck, Vanitas vanished. The only sign left of him was his maniacal laughter, echoing through the camp and in Aqua's mind.

Growling, Aqua turned back around to see Hope. The darkness around him began pulsing and flowing, running up the paths of light leading towards the sky. Before long, every ounce of the light was converted into darkness.

The shadows met in the air above the group, imploding into a flash of power. From the epicenter of the collision emerged something monstrous; an enormous autonomical being. It hit the ground with an earsplitting thud, shaking the ground with its massive strength. It sent Snow, Vanille, and Sazh flying, but Fang, Lightning, and Aqua stood their ground.

Joints creaked and cogs turned inside the gigantic machine that was towering before them. It's plating was golden in color with spots of rust. It seemed like a beast that had once been something greater, but had been corrupted by something evil. Its humanoid appearance added to its humility. But the girls weren't deterred by its sorrowful manor. Mainly because of its glowing red eyes, and the emblem of the Unversed that was emblazoned on its chest.

Hope, still engulfed in shadows, collapsed onto the ground.

Lightning, Fang, and Aqua rushed forward to confront the Unversed and protect Hope from it.

"What is this thing?" Lightning yelled.

"I'm not sure," Aqua said, "but I know it's been tampered with. And I know that it needs to be stopped!"

"I heard that," Fang said, whipping out her spear. "Charge!" she announced, running straight towards the monster.

Her attack was successful; the Unversed didn't even try to counter or move out of the way. It didn't need to. With a clank, Fang's spear simply bounced off the leg of the beast, throwing her backwards with opposite force and leaving nothing but a scratch.

After assessing what happened, Lightning thought of a better strategy. "Fang!" she said to get her attention, "switch to Sentinel. Aqua and I will focus on attacking it with magic, and healing each other. Okay? Aqua? Let's go."

Aqua and Fang nodded in acknowledgment of Lightning's plan. Fang changed to a Sentinel like Lightning suggested. But before she could Provoke the Unversed, it raised its giant fist and smashed it down, hitting Aqua hard. She was flung back and yelled out in pain, but recovered fairly quickly and prepared to hit the monster with her magic. The shockwave also damaged Lightning and Fang, but only slightly.

As soon as she saw the chance, Fang used Challenge on the humanoid mechanical beast, and instantly she could tell that it worked. Since Fang was fairly close to the monster, it had to take a step back to see exactly where she was. It looked down upon her, and it was surprisingly easy to see the fury in the robot's eyes. It brought up its fist again, but the moment before it struck, Fang activated Entrench. She held her spear in front of her, and it acted effectively like a shield. When the beast hit it, the force from the blow pushed Fang back, but she was mostly unharmed. She also had her Fringeward ability active, and because of that, her allies took much less damage from the wave of power radiating from the Unversed's attack; they were barely shaken.

Fang, who was still holding back the monster's fist, glanced at Lightning and Aqua and gestured for them to attack. They took off immediately, the two of them splitting up to position themselves around the beast to cover as much space as possible, and to confuse it and restrict its movement. Lightning stayed back as well as she could, using only long distance magic attacks. She was mainly hitting it with Water, and the attack seemed pretty effective, so she decided to focus on that.

Aqua, on the other hand, took a slightly more close range approach. She ran around behind the Unversed, and jumped as high as she could to hit the monster in the places that she thought would be most damaging. She cast her close-range magic like Thundaga and even Mine Square. She continued to batter it with as much firepower as she could while she had the chance. The robot didn't even seem to notice; it was completely focused on Fang.

After the monster withdrew its fist, Fang was quick to counter with a hit from her spear on the hand of the beast as it was drawing away. It didn't seem too stunned; but it did seem more angered. Fang went back in to Entrench; she sensed it was about to attack again. She was right.

The Unversed brought its arm back again, but this time, it was doing something different. It hit Fang from a different angle; with a devastating uppercut.

Fang was caught by surprise. If she had seen it coming, she might have reacted better; but as it was, she was sent soaring through the air, to land hard on her back. She felt weak, but she forced herself to stand up. She didn't have time to try and heal herself, so she just used Mediguard in preparation for the mech's next attack.

It only took moments for the attack to come. The Unversed drew back and hit Fang again, amassing all of its strength into this one blow.

The difference in force behind the attack was enormous. Fang was again caught off guard - so to speak. Again her spear absorbed a large portion of the attack, but another large portion of it tremored down her arms and drained Fang's energy. But she made it through, and she was healed quite a bit by Mediguard.

Lightning and Aqua were still hacking and casting away at the monster. It seemed like they were starting to have an effect. Its plating was scarred and burned, as well as damp in the joints. But being a machine in nature, it was difficult to tell exactly how much damage had been done.

Fang withstood yet another of the Unversed's attacks, and was healed again; less this time. It wouldn't be long before she ran out of the strength to put up with any more attacks.

"Guys!" Fang yelled as loudly as she could through her gritted teeth, "I can't last much longer!"

"Coming!" Lightning and Aqua yelled at the same time. Lightning took off to help her friend, and Aqua wasn't far behind, ready to cover Lightning if the need arose.

But then something happened that no one saw coming. As soon as Lightning and Aqua ran into the monster's line of sight, the effects of Fang's Challenge wore off, and it turned its attention to them, identifying them as the bigger threat. Since they were a little ways away, the beast decided not to pursue them directly. It braced itself on the ground, its legs like pillars of unmovable resolve.

Propping up its right arm with its left, the Unversed began resonating with the unmistakable sound of something winding up. There were grinding and clicking sounds mixed together with screeching and electronic ones. Fang realized what was happening, and started to warn her friends.

"Look out!" She yelled. But it was too late. The monster's entire fist shot away from its wrist.

The Blast Punch came at Aqua and Lightning with blinding speed. Both of them saw it coming and tried to jump out of the way, but it was just too fast. The giant mass of a hand hit them both and pinned them to the ground.

Lightning tried to wrench her way out from under it, but it was immensely heavy and she didn't budge. Aqua was even worse off; almost her entire body was caught under the mechanical fist, and she was having trouble breathing.

As Fang began to run past the Unversed to try and help her friends, the fist made a loud clicking noise. Then it exploded, sending shrapnel, fire, and Aqua and Lightning flying in opposite directions. Both of them hit the ground hard, and seemed virtually unresponsive; they were barely moving.

Fang was slowed a little by the explosion, but she quickly started to take off again in Aqua's direction, since she was closest. But the enemy was a step ahead - almost literally. Swing itself around as best as it could, joints creaking, it lifted its leg above the ground and positioned it directly over Fang. As it came down, it pinned her leg to the ground with so much force that pain clouded her perception.

Fang was screaming in agony, and both of her comrades were close to unconsciousness. The giant that was holding Fang down looked down at her in some sort of victory stance. Its hand that had been shot at Lightning and Aqua was beginning to reform, and it was now rearing its other arm back to put and end to Fang and her squirming before turning to the others.

Hope's eyes opened, and the first thing he noticed were the stars. Then he noticed the nearby light, then the sounds emanating from a shot distance away. Creaking, and an explosion. Then screaming. Fang's screaming.

The Unversed was ready to attack. Fang, Aqua and Lightning were helpless. The rest of the group was in no position to help. It seemed that everything was over.

Then Hope's boomerang, whistling as it sliced through the air, slammed into the back of the mech's head. Startled, it whipped its head around as fast as it could to see what new enemy had assaulted him. To its unmarked surprise, there was no one there.

"Hey genius!" Hope yelled from the direction that the monster had already been facing.

The brute turned its head back around, tearing something in the process, which began to emit a spark from the base of its neck. Hope caught his boomerang, which flew around the Unversed to reach him. The beast shifted its right shoulder and pointed its fist - which had fully regenerated - at Hope to try and knock him off of his feet with another Blast Punch. But Hope realized that he was only fighting a machine; and machines have systems. And systems can be beaten.

Hope threw his boomerang once again, aiming it so that this time it made a large, open loop around his foe. Just as he had planned, the machine identified the 'rang as a threat and turned its sights on it instead of Hope. It spun its torso as much as it could to try and keep up with the spinning object, and eventually shot its charged attack; missing it and hitting the wall of the ravine in which their Base Camp was set, exploding and sending boulders and rocks flying.

The Unversed seemed utterly confused at what was going on. But Hope was not. He jumped in the air so he could catch his weapon as quickly as he could so he could launch another attack. He had spotted what seemed to be a definite weak point in his enemy's defenses.

Hope threw his boomerang with practiced aim towards the point where the robot's arm met its torso; there was a large gap that had broken through its armor, and Hope could see the glisten of water lightly dampening - but not damaging - the Unversed's circuits. Thinking on his feet, he changed to a Ravager, focused his energy, and cast Thunder on his own weapon. It worked just the way he had planned; he could see the tendrils of electricity running along the length of his boomerang.

The Boomerang struck its target with precision. The moment it hit the water-logged wires, the electric power enveloped the entire body of the now-helpless Unversed beast. It spasmed around as the lightning made it do things to itself that it wouldn't naturally be doing. It twitched and twanged, the power of the electricity burning the air. After long moments of tortured malfunctioning, the giant monster stopped moving. With a few more short spasms and sparks, it fell backwards with a gigantic thud on the ravine floor. The Unversed began to melt away, and as it did, a strange sort of peace seemed to take place over the violence that had embodied it earlier. It seemed to be happy that it had been set free.

Hope switched his role to Medic so he could heal his friends. Since Fang was the most prominent one - for all her painful screeching - he decided to heal her first. After her pain was relieved, she stood, took a deep breath, and patted Hope on the shoulder. "Good job, kiddo," she said, and walked with him as he healed the others.

Aqua and Lightning were quick to get around once they were fixed up. Aqua looked around, and noticed that their adversary was gone.

"What happened?" she asked, keen to hear about what force could have defeated such a foe. As she said that, Snow, Sazh, and Vanille all emerged from their watching places to hear what was to be said.

"It was all Hope," Fang said, as Snow put his arm around the boy, "he did it all. He figured out how to distract the beast, and found its weakness. It seems he's stronger than he thought."

Lightning and Aqua smiled in his direction.

"I... I guess I did, huh?" Hope said, shy, but also proud.

"Yeah," Lightning said, "looks like you did."

Hope looked up towards the glittering stars. Everyone else began talking about what had happened, why it happened, what he did. But he ignored it all and went to put more wood on the fire before sitting down by it and looking up again at the celestial bodies above him. "Maybe I am something more than I thought..." he said too quietly for anyone to hear.

Aqua yawned, stretching her arms above her head. "I don't know about you guys," she said, "but I'm officially exhausted."

Lightning nodded in agreement. "Seconded," she said.

"Well, I'm not sure what that weird guy was doing here," Snow said, and corrected himself at Aqua's surprised glance, "yes, we saw him. But I'm not asking. It's time to sleep now, for all of us."

Aqua smiled at him in a sort of thanks. And at that, the seven of them began to settle in their places to rest. Only a few words were said among them. Fang held back, purposely slowing, trying to catch Snow alone to ask him something in private. And right before he laid down in his designated area, she put his hand on his shoulder, getting his attention before sitting down next to him.

"Snow," she said, "I have something to ask."

He looked at her with an almost expectant expression on his face. "Yeah?" he asked.

Fang looked away from him and into the fire, looked back at him, and asked, "Why didn't you guys help us? I know were capable. But you just watched," she pointed out. "Why?"

Snow smirked a little. "Isn't it obvious?" he said, and seeing it wasn't, he continued, "It was Hope's time to shine." He looked over at the boy, who was sound asleep. "Goodnight," he said, laying down and pretending to have passed out as well.

Fang nodded and looked into the sky, thinking. She thought about Aqua, Hope, and a little about Snow and what was going on in his head. It was another hour before she went to sleep, sitting and staring into the vast unknown.

The sun didn't appear over the edge of the chasm until about eleven. Since everyone was exhausted, no one woke up until then. But when the harsh rays of the sun finally did appear, everyone simultaniously began to stir, and then stretch. In only a few minutes, everyone was up. Hope was first and foremost, jumping up and even fetching the water to put out the smoldering embers of the fire. Fang was the last, but she wasn't far behind.

Lightning was leaning on a piece of ancient machinery on the outskirts of the camp, thinking to herself. No one said much; they just got ready for whatever was waiting for them in the new day. Aqua was the first one to start a real conversation.

"Guys," she said, everyone's attention shooting to her, "You know I have to follow him. The boy who made that monster from Hope."

Lightning uncrossed her arms. "'Course," she said, "he's the one you're looking for, isn't he?"

Aqua nodded. "And I'm almost positive he left after what happened last night."

Sazh's chocobo peeked its head out of his matted hair. "Kwee?" it chirped, questioningly.

"I have to leave soon, if I'm to catch him," Aqua sadly stated.

Snow made a hmph sound. "Good riddence, I say," he said.

"Snow!" Vanille said, briskly walking over to him and stomping on his foot.

"Ow!" he said, "What? I was just kidding!" Everyone gave him a skeptical look, but they were mostly paying attention to Aqua. But there wasn't a whole lot more that she could say. Instead, she hit the switch on her arm, and she was covered by her armor.

"Kweee!" the chocobo urgently chirped, flying over to her and landing on her shoulder. It seemed that it didn't want her to go.

Aqua giggled and picked up the bird in her hands. "I may be back one day," she said, patting it on its tiny head. Then she tossed it into the air so it could fly back to Sazh.

"Good luck," Lightning said, pusing away from the structure to walk closer to her new friend, "I hope you find him and give him whatever he deserves."

"Yeah," Fang chipped in, "don't let him get off easy. We all saw what kind of bad things he could do."

Aqua nodded, but no one saw the happy expression on her face through her helmet. "I will." She summoned her Keyblade and tossed it into the air, and everyone watched as it became her Glider. "And good luck to you as well; whatever it is you're looking for." Aqua jumped onto her vehicle.

Fang and Lightning nodded. And with that, Aqua began to rise in the air. When she gained the appropriate height, she took off breathtakingly fast, quickly becoming no more than a glimmer in the distant sky.

Lightning walked over to Snow, who now seemed mostly indifferent to the girl who had come and now left without a trace. But she didn't say anything, just looked at him for a moment before turning to the others, who were all about ready to leave for Oerba.

"For the record," Snow said, seemingly to Lightning and Fang, "... I think you girls were right about her."

Lightning turned, smiled, and walked over with Fang to prepare for the rest of their journey.