Heya folks, sorry it's taken SO long to get to Chapter 6. It was easiily the foggiest chapter of the bunch for me to work out, even inculding the remaining chapters. Thankfully I got it done at least!

This chapter serves to set up the stakes for the final battle between Atrimel and Kajex

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Hours had passed since Kajex and Kaja’s fight in the city. Cherry and her group had been holding their breath as they slinked their way through the palace undetected with Cain’s magic. They had to descend to the very depths of the palace to find the device and analyze it… but the security only got tighter and tighter as they kept going and Leah’s size only made it trickier.

“Kinda wishing I gave you the size compression prototype now,” Cherry whispered as she glared towards the lucario as they made a turn.

“My apologies,” Leah whispered back, trying to control her heart rate, “I-I’m doing what I can.”

“Yeah I know,” Cherry sighed as she rolled her eyes, “Nobody had the foresight for this.”

“Can you two please try not to talk?” Cain gritted as sweat poured down his cheeks, “It’s hard to maintain Veil.”

“Yeah yeah,” Cherry rolled her eyes again before she peeked ahead out of caution, “You aren’t good enough at it to mute everything we say, we heard it a dozen times.” As they continued through the treacherous hallways, the faint echoes of Atrimel’s unfiltered rage continued to ring no matter how far they got. They haven't heard about Kajex’s victory yet.

“Whatever happened he’s sure pissed at it,” Cain thought as he focused on the barrier, his arms wavering a tad as he held them out.

“Hopefully it means something good happened for us,” Leah remarked out of pure hope.

“Probably,” Cherry shrugged as she thought rationally about the situation. Out of the blue however a guard turned around and walked right in front of the barrier, their hearts pumping wildly as they held their breath until he finally passed by them. They were soon in the clear.

“That was too close,” Cain wheezed as he caught his breath again.

“Let’s just hurry up and get to the device,” Cherry huffed as they continued onward. Their hearts continued to race as they slinked through the halls for a moment longer, soon enough coming up to a door at the deepest part of the palace’s basement. Cherry already knew they were finally at the heart of the madness.

“It’s gotta be in here,” Cherry remarked as they came up to the door, sweat streaking down her cheeks.

“I truly hope so,” Leah replied, heart racing as Cherry opened the door. They were right on the money. What stood before them was the stadium sized device, its brightly lit core shooting a beam through an opening in the ceiling and the air felt like they were in an over. Luckily the room was unguarded for the time being, just like what the group planned.

“Looks like Atrimel’s guards aren’t back yet,” Cain breathed a sigh of relief as Leah closed the door behind them, “We got a little time.”

“I’ll go ahead and hack into the console,” Cherry smirked as she darted over to the control panel and plugged in her laptop. Cain’s heart leaped in his chest over her eagerness however.

“H-Hey be careful!” Cain jumped as they caught up to Cherry, “I can’t make this barrier any bigger and they can still see anything you touch.”

“Oh relaaaax,” Cherry shrugged as she began typing away, “Atrimel’s gonna be too busy dealing with Kajex to get the drop on us.”

“I truly hope so,” Leah sweated as she kneeled beside Cherry to examine what she was downloading, “I don't want to know what’ll happen if he catches us.” Cherry’s screen was being loaded with schematics, every piece individually loaded as a wireframe surrounding the core. The girls were scanning over every piece to see if there was any way to stop it.

“Attacking the core’s already a bad idea,” Leah remarked as sweat poured down her cheeks, ees fidgeting across the screen, “If it blows up it could nuke half the planet with an output like that!”

“That’s why we gotta see if there’s any weak spots hiding somewhere on this thing,” Cherry sighed as she began to scan for an emergency shutdown protocol, “If we’re luckier though I can find the shutdown procedure code in here and shut it down right now.”

“I’m hoping lady luck is on our side or else what happened back at the Grand Clash will look like a slap on the wrist,” Cain sweated, his heart pounding with pure anxiety. Time went on as Cherry tried scanning for anything she could find on the device, but constantly turned up empty. Atrimel truly left no stone unturned with this scheme.

“Geez he really wanted to keep people like me out,” Cherry sweated as she started scanning for weak spots again, “That shutdown protocol needs like 20 layers of code decrypted.”

“But there’s no way this device is flawless,” Leah assured, trying to stay positive in the situation, “There has to be just one crack in the design.”

“Yeah I’m starting by looking at the terminal before moving around,” Cherry sighed as she began to check every inch of the design in the schematics.

“The terminal’s looking to be a nothing burger,” Leah remarked as time went on, “Try the cooling chamber.”

“Already on it,” Cherry remarked as she moved around the schematics. As time went on and on, Cain’s arms only grew weaker and weaker, but he chose to keep pushing on. They were too close to give up now.

“Just try to hurry,” Cain sweated as he began to wheeze, “My arms are getting tired.”

“I can hold them up for you if you want,” Leah asked him as Cherry continued to examine the schematics, “Cherry can handle the research for a bit.”

“Th-THank you,” Cain stammered as Leah walked over to behind him and grabbed his underarms, gently holding them in the air. Cherry however was not impressed.

“You really think someone with cheat codes like you need to take it easy?” Cherry groaned, stretching her arms a bit behind her.


“Hey it’s not like I asked to be born into a magic using family,” Cain countered with a twinge of agitation, “I know you hate my mom, but I seriously don’t care about being able to use magic or anything. I just wanna live my life.” The response honestly shocked Cherry a bit, noticing how Cain wasn’t quite like his mom.

“If I could I honestly would just never use my magic,” Cain assured Cherry as Leah just let him speak his mind, “All it does is blow up in my face and mom needs to fix it.” That line alone was enough to sway Cherry a little.

“Wish that witch thought about life more like you,” Cherry simply replied before everyone went silent. However their time suddenly got cut short after a few mere minutes as someone opened the door. It was the elderly weavile who built the device in the first place just coming in for a mere checkup.

“Guys hurry up!” Cain whispered as he drew closer to them, “If he stumbles into the Veil we’re screwed!”

“Just a little longer!” Cherry whispered back, furiously checking every spot on the schematics she could find, “We’re checking the part connecting the core to the device itself!” The weavile drew closer and closer, his worn legs stumbling by as he remained completely unaware of the trio. Not for long however.

“Now to regulate the output before there’s an accidental meltdown,” the weavile remarked to himself, a few steps away from the barrier Cain was holding up.

“Cherry stop now!” Cain whispered again, his entire body shaking in fear now.

“I GOT A WEAK SPOT!!!” Cherry exclaimed the second the weavile stepped into the barrier. It was too late for them now. He found their location and immediately deduced as to what they were plotting in there.


“Well now look who we have here,” the weavile smirked, his tone raspy, yet confident, “A little gaggle of intruders spying on my lord’s Region Veiler?” The trio were paralyzed for a brief moment, Cain’s arms dropping as well as their barrier. Atrimel could now see them on the security cameras.

“Ardos!” Leah gritted, backing away from Cain a little as she tried to contain herself.

“We need to get out of here!” Leah exclaimed at the top of her lungs as the weavile put on an earpiece. Neither of the other two got to spot the Veiler’s weakness.

“We have some intruders in the Veiler room Lord Atrimel,” the weavile smirked as Cain began to rummage through his pockets for the vial of teleportation magic.

“I know,” Atrimel’s voice echoed through the device before he suddenly cut himself off. The trio now entered panic mode, knowing they had to leave at THAT exact moment.

“Hurry up ya dork!” Cherry panicked as she threw her laptop aside to save time, “If we can get outta here I can-” Cherry was suddenly cut off. It was like a blur, a flash of lightning even. Atrimel was standing before Cherry without even making a sound and holding her by the throat. He held the feline in the air, she was flailing around to try and break free from his grasp to no avail. Cain and Leah were paralyzed.

“Wh-When did you get here ya bastard?!” Cain stammered, hardly able to comprehend his sudden appearance mere seconds after the call. The room he resided in was borderline across the entire palace.

“I was here the second Dr. Ardos made the call,” Atrimel replied in pure disgust, staring down Cherry as she gave him a look of pure rage.

“Let go of me ya bastard!” Cherry wheezed with what little oxygen was left in her lungs.

“If you wish,” Artimel said with a toothy grin before giving her her wish. She threw Cherry straight into Cain with unprecedented force as his eye went from blue to red once again. The two were sent flying and skidding across the floor like skipping stones in a pond before they ended up crashing into the far wall and leaving an indent in it. The vial of magic fell out of Cain’s pocket and towards Ardos’s feet. They couldn’t escape now.

“Seems this was their escape plan,” Ardos remarked as he picked up the vial, “Shall I take my leave milord?”

“Do as you please,” Atrimel smirked as he stared at his former subordinate, “I’ll get these three to join my son as spectators to the fall of their hero.” As Ardos left Leah’s heart began to pound. Atrimel may have only been up to her chest in height, but the raw power he exuded was striking fear into her heart. She knew she couldn’t escape him.


“You’re not getting your hands on my Kajex!” Leah exclaimed as she threw a Drain Punch at him, tears welling up in her eyes.


“He was never yours to begin with,” Atrimel scoffed as he caught her punch so effortlessly. He tightened his grip on her hand, her fingers instantly breaking as she let out shrieks of pain. Atrimel would follow up by using his spare hand to charge up a Plasma Fist. She was already finished.

“I only left my weapon with you against my will,” Atrimel scoffed before punching her in the gut. She was sent flying straight into the air, at least a few hundred feet until she collided with the ceiling. She immediately went unconscious as she fell to the floor. Atrimel’s eye suddenly went back to the normal blue.

“If you wanted a real chance you should’ve sent a proper heir to The 12 Pillars instead of this runt,” he scoffed as he glanced towards the unconscious Cain, “But she would’ve been even more mangled than you Alura.” As Leah hit the floor, plumes of dust rising all around her Atrimel rummaged her unconscious body and found a slightly damaged cell phone in her apron pocket, quickly unlocking it and going through her contacts.

“Now for the scene to finally be set,” Atrimel smirked as he pressed the call button.


Meanwhile however Kajex, Lilith, and Naomi were huddled around the unconscious Kaja resting on the same couch Kajex was in and covered in bandages. They were waiting for the others to come back while hoping Kaja would wake up.

“Kaja…” Kajex mumbled under his breath, his body visibly shaking at the sight of his unconscious twin. Lilith and Naomi had been silent the entire time since they got back. They were still processing what had happened to Kajex during their fight, how his powers evolved and his eyes turned a bright purple. So many questions… and the time was finally here to ask them.

“Kajex…” Naomi began as Kajex clenched Kaja’s hand, “What… what happened out there?”

“Huh?” Kajex replied back as he snapped back to reality, his eyes flashing light purple for a moment.

“Your eyes are now changing color in flashes and you used your powers completely differently than before,” Lilith began, looking dead straight into Kajex’s eyes, “All after you went berserk. What… happened to you?”

“Oh… that,” Kajex remarked in a somber voice, the memories of his mind scape rushing through his mind again as his eyes stayed the light purple, “Best way I can describe it is… that I came to terms with myself and my past.” They both looked at him in confusion, not knowing what he meant by it.

“Sounds like it was a life changer Kajex,” Lilith remarked as she placed her hand on Kajex's shoulder, “When this is all over definitely tell us exactly what you experienced.”

“I'll try to-” Kajex began before he felt something vibrate in his pocket. It was his smartphone and it was his mom calling him… or so they thought at first.

“What's she doing, calling like that?!” Naomi exclaimed in a pure panic, “Answer her!”

“O-Okay,” Kajex stammerer as he answered the call, only to be greeted by a familiar, hated voice.

“I have your little trio at Orrei Palace Kajex,” Atrimel's voice bellowed on the other end, “Tried taking advantage of your little scuffle earlier?” Kajex's eyes were glowing so bright his irises almost looked as though they were on fire.

“You motherfucker!” Kajex exclaimed in a fit of rage, “Let them go!”

“He's got Cherry and everyone?!” Naomi panicked as her whole body began to quiver in fear. Atrimel had them wrapped around his finger all over again.

“How about this,” Atrimel proposed in a calm, yet intimidating tone, “You come to Orrei Palace. Alone. Then meet me in my special chamber in the dungeons for a proper chat. Then maybe I will let them live. Ones already unconscious and barely breathing.” Kajex was starting to lose himself more and more.

“You bastard if I find out it's mom,” Kajex gritted, trying not to explode with pure malice towards him.

“Come to me and find out,” Atrimel scoffed smugly, “Just remember. Alone. Or else I'll have her within an inch of her life… if you’re that lucky.” Atrimel suddenly cuts off the call, leaving the fuming lucario visibly shaking with rage.


“OH HE'S GONNA GET IT!!!” Kajex exclaimed as adrenaline rushed through his veins like a torrent, “That bastard’s got mom and the entire city!” Kajex was visibly shaking with pure malice, so much so that the two girls were scared to approach him for a moment. That was until Naomi took his hand, reeling him back in and having him calm down.

“Kajex breathe please,” Naomi began in a calming tone, herself trying not to have her tears well up, “We’re not gonna let him get away with this.” Kajex began to take deep breaths to try and compass himself.

“Yeah you’re right…” Kajex replied as he clenched Naomi’s hand tightly as tears streaked down is cheeks, “But still… he’s playing dirty.”

“When has he played clean since the Grand Clash?” Lilith replied as a half joke, trying to lighten the mood a little.

“You got that right,” Kajex said with a slight chuckle in his voice, “But… he told me to come alone to this fight.” The two had somber looks strewn across their faces. They knew they had to stay behind to protect Kaja anyways, but it still stung.

“I believe in you Kajex,” Lilith remarked as she snapped herself out of it, “Atrimel can’t hold a candle to what you’re capable of now.”

“Considering you knocked out a monster sized Kaja without growing to match her strength I’d say so,” Naomi continued, wiping away what few tears there were in her eyes.

“I’ll do what I can,” Kajex remarked as he summoned his Keyblade, looking down at it with hope and confidence. As he did however, something unexpected happened.

“Wh-Where…?” a barely conscious Kaja wheezed as she began to stir. Everyone jumped at the sound of her voice, glancing towards her as she began to sit up, visibly shaking with every move she made.

“Kaja be caref-!” Kajex exclaimed as she tried to stand up, but fell upon standing up all the way, landing in her brother’s arms. She was clearly far too weak to move and too dazed to properly process what happened to her.

“Get her back on the couch!” Lilith exclaimed as Kajex laid her back down. Kaja was slowly piecing her memories back together, her mind and body feeling heavy.

“Last thing I remember… was the pain,” Kaja recalled, her head a blur and her memories foggy, “Then all I saw was… nothing.” Kajex wiped away his tears, knowing that Kaja was at least not aware of what she was forced to do.

“It’s far too much to explain Kaja,” Kajex assured her, his heart pounding in his chest, “Right now I need you to stay here and rest while I deal with Atrimel. Lilith and Naomi will keep you safe.” His eyes changed for a brief moment again, Kaja able to notice it through her blurry vision.. She was only confused.

“What… is going on?” Kaja grumbled, raising her hand into the air as if she was reaching out for something, “Your eyes…”

“It’s even more I can’t explain,” Kajex continued to assure her, wondering what she was doing, “Please just rest. Atrimel only wants me right now.” Kaja was slowly beginning to paint a faint picture of the reality she was facing now… but she also knew she couldn’t accept it.

“Yeah and you’re in no shape to fight after what you’ve been through,” Naomi remarked, her body quivering at Kaja’s weakened state. Kaja did one thing nobody expected. She summoned her own Keyblade, but the weight caused her to drop it almost instantly onto the floor as her arm gave out, the blade clanging on the floor in front of Kajex.

“Do me a solid then,” Kaja wheezed as Kajex looked down at the blade, “Give Atrimel a good smackdown for me. I… don’t remember much, but… I know he’s responsible for whatever happened to me.” Kajex picked up the blade, a pink light forming in his palm holding the blade as Lilith snapped her fingers. He felt newfound determination in his veins.

“I promise Kaja,” Kajex said as he dismissed her Keyblade like it was his own, “You just stay here and rest.” Kaja nodded, Lilith kneeling by her side as she began to prepare a healing spell for Kaja. Naomi and Kajex locked gazes, their hearts pounding as they took in the weight of the situation.

“Kajex if you-” Naomi began before she was cut off by Kajex taking her hands, his eyes filled with both hope and fear.

“I’m gonna come back,” Kajex smiled before giving her a kiss on the lips, his own heart racing as the kiss subsided, “I promise.” Kajex began to move towards the door, glancing back at the three individuals watching him leave, ready to face Atrimel once and for all.

“It’s a promise then,” Naomi cried, watching as Kajex stepped out the front door and headed for the final battle…