Miitopia 2: Rise of the Shadow Queen

Chapter 23: Heroes Hand in Hand

So I think I should clarify a few things as far as pronunciation goes:
1. Kojima's name is pronounced "Ko-GEE-mah." Not "Ko-JIM-ah."
2. Harmoni is pronounced "Har-MOH-nee." Not like the word "harmony".
Just wanted to clear up any confusion.
Also, I recently completed Paper Mario: The Origami King and the ending was THE SADDEST THING EVER. Not going to spoil anything, just saying.
Enjoy! No comments! I don't own Miitopia!

Sister. Dead. Gone.

Friends. Lost. Unmoving.

Love...

Fragments of his thoughts were everywhere, slipping from his grasp as he tried to hold on to his sanity. What happened to this world?

"Akira."

Voice. A voice. Someone else was here. Someone he knew. He wasn't alone.

"Who...are...you?" His own voice was a weak stammer, lost to the dark void around him. Attempting to clear his throat resulted in only choking.

"It's me. Harmoni. Listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you, since I can't repeat myself."

Processing the information, he nodded. "Okay..."

"The Eternal has conquered Miitopia, and as a result, you and the rest of the team are in a state of imbalance. I managed to save you from being lost to the distortion, but in doing so, I had to split your soul from your body. As of right now, you're trapped in your own mind."

That explained why it was so dark. But wait...now he was a ghost? Looking down at his feet, he saw that they were barely visible, as his whole body seemed to fade into nothing as it went downward. Additionally, he'd also gained a greenish-blue aura.

"You have only one option if we hope to stop The Eternal: find the New Elite. I can't sense them, but I called the spirits of the original Elite back so they can guide you. The team is split into groups, and you must lead them to victory."

Only one word escaped him. "How..."

"It's all right. You all still have your powers, and thanks to my magic, it's stronger than ever, even in the ruined world you're about to see. It looks exactly like it does in the real world, but you might see flashes of people there as well. If you see me, I'm not really there. Ignore it and move on."

There was a pause. "And about Janice..."

A name. A name he knew, one he was quite fond of.

"...Know that she's counting on you. We all are...now more than ever."

Falling...
...
"—Haack!"

He shot up with a gasp, feeling sanity return to him as he observed the broken reality in front of him. This used to be Miitopia? No, it couldn't be...it was completely undone.

"You're not just going to sit there all day, are you?"

He looked up and saw Antonia, who also appeared very ghostlike, kneeling down in front of him. Matter of fact, everything he saw looked like that, their wispy forms and colors bleeding into the world around them. The princess's expression was troubled, yet determined.

He found his voice after a moment. "Where are we?"

"This is Greenhorne, Akira. Or at least, it used to be. Now it's known as Despair, only one part of the fragmented world." Antonia looked up at the blood red moon, squinting so as not to get vision damage. "We're in our minds...like we've all been dreaming the exact same thing, at the same time. Our team is here, but..." She looked down, clenching her eyes shut to hide her tears. She'd been crying. "The citizens, everyone in the castle...my poor sister... they're all gone."

"Gone?" He raised an eyebrow, and then looked at her with horror evident in his eyes. "They're dead?!"

"Yes and no. They aren't dead, but you can't say they're alive either. The Eternal literally stole their life energy, pulling them from their rightful places and using them to create this sorry excuse for a home." Antonia flicked a small pebble out of the way, and as soon as it left the ground, it disintegrated into a bunch of purple sparkles. "Horrid, miserable place...thanks to my connection with The Elite, I can sense the lost souls...they're all tearing each other apart, scared to insanity, screaming...so much screaming...!" She grabbed her head in agony, the only sound he could hear being her short and quick breathing. "...Sorry, I still haven't gotten used to it. I was the first to arrive here, followed by everyone else. We've already split into groups: Scarlette, Apollo, Cameron, and Lazarus are investigating Sorrow along with Scorcher's spirit. Trinity, Ricky, Ethan, and Cadence went with Lumino to Dejection; Regret is being scouted by Eclipse and Jean-Luc, and Teresa's with us. She's over there by...what I hope is a bush...trying to make sense of all this." Akira looked over and saw the black cat girl shivering, muttering things like "Why" and "Had to be us" and "Help me" and "So much yelling".

"What's the plan?" The Great Sage's apprentice stood up, stumbling a little thanks to his barely visible feet.

"Harmoni said we need to find the Elite's spirit. Ours is Flora. She should be around here somewhere...the Great Sage suggested we look in the area where the castle was."

Akira nodded, and a wand not unlike Ethan's appeared in his hand. "You're gonna need that," Antonia said, joining Teresa in an attempt to comfort the frightened cat. The wand was black with silver designs on it, identical in appearance to Ethan's save for the colors.

"It won't stop, the sounds are everywhere...!" Teresa was whimpering, ears flattened against her head. "My home...my family... I failed all of them...!"

"All we can do is move forward, T," Antonia soothed, fanning her. "If you stay here whimpering, you really have failed them by giving up."

Teresa flinched. "Y-you don't understand... the monsters took everyone away from me. My younger brother told me to run, to hide...those were the last words he ever said to me. And you know what my last words to him were?" She choked on her sentence. "'When this is over...you and I can play again.' Can you believe what an IDIOT I was?!"

Akira hesitated before approaching her. "Hey...you want to know what my last words to my sister were before she supposedly died? 'I promise I won't cry anymore.' I said that because all the ignorance from people who hated my old face was making me really upset... I'd cry myself to sleep every night, and barely get any rest. But now? I'm not giving up. We have to fight...for the world, for everyone we've lost... and for Janice."

Teresa paused before wiping her eyes, standing up, and smirking at them. "Then let's go get those monster jerks."

Yes, the new areas of the world are synonyms for the word "sadness". Fight me.
Peace out! No comments!