A scream Dopplered into hearing, and a dark elf slammed into the ground with enough force to leave a body-shaped hole in the ground.

"...aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--OOF!"

Taratell pulled himself to his feet and looked around. "Where am I?" he asked.

Cale looked over at Taratell and replied. "Your in Vallhaia Forest. But who are you?" The dragon/elemental walked over to Taratell and looked at him with confusion.

Taratell replied, "I'm a drow. In the other world, my double Taratiel and his friend Angel are fighting some demons, and on the ship, I'm talking to Lucien. How did I get into this forest?"

Cale shrugged. "Not sure actually. Oh, I'm Cale by the way, Calypso's double, even though I'm older than him." Shade looked over at Taratell before looking back at Marik (Maria's double) and continuing their conversation.

Taratell rubbed his posterior. "It's nice to meet you, Cale, though I wish our method of introduction had been a bit less painful."

Cale laughed. "It's nice meeting you too. Yes, it would've been a bit nicer if you didn't wind up sprawled against the ground like that, but hey, you don't always get what you want eh?"

Taratell laughed. "All too true. My creator just got sprayed with Coke. I doubt he wanted that."

Trent walked over, observing the newcomer casually. "Hey Cale, who's your friend?"

Taratell oriented on the stranger. "I'm Taratell. And... I would guess you're Torval's double?"

"Yep." Cale said with a nod. "This is Trent." Spike was watching them, but said nothing of it before looking back at the book he was reading. Allen was reading over his shoulder. Shade and Marik walked past, talking happily to eachother.

"The one and only." Trent said, grinning. "But I'm a few years older, and I'm a shapeshifter instead of a vampire."

"You seem much more peaceful than Torval," noted Taratell. "But I guess it'd be hard to be sad or scared in this beautiful forest," he added, gesturing expansively.

Trent laughed. "Well, I don't really have any respect for my alternate. He's like a snake. And I like to think that I am the better looking one."

Cale grimaced slightly. "You'd be surprised what all can happen in here. We were attacked by a goblin army just a few days ago." Rowen (Did I kill her Living? I can't remember...) was fidgeting with her fingers boredly.

(No clue... I don't think so.)

Taratell smirked. "Your double missed a huge demon attack on the ship, Cale. I don't think goblins are that bad. Of course, I could be wrong," he added hurriedly, not wanting to make waves.

Trent shrugged. "Demons, Goblins, Nightshade, we live a pretty good life over here. I've been to the ship, it's chaos."

Cale sighed. "Yes, but there's always the problem that we lost two men in that fight...well, one woman and Rowen's brother Westen." Rowen glowered at Cale.

"Don't even bring him up."

"She's touchy about it." Shade said softly. Marik nodded.

Taratell glanced at Rowan. "I noticed," he said dryly. "So how did you guys wind up here? I just split off from Taratiel, like, 20 minutes ago."

Spike ran over and the chocobo said. "We didn't split from our counterparts. We just...existed. It used to be a parallell world...but then S...Shadowblade got killed, so now it's not parallell."

Trent sighed and looked away, muttering about overemotional birds.

"I HEARD THAT TRENT!" Spike shouted. "DON'T MAKE ME SEND YOU TO THE SHIP!" He shouted that in a joking manner, even his tone was cheery. He'd obviously gotten over Shadowblade's death, though he still wasn't all that happy about it happening.

Trent rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "Ha ha, very funny. Remember what happened last time?"

Spike paused, then said with a grimace. "Oh yeah...uhh...fine then, I'll...uhm...I don't know what I'd do...drat." He chuckled at his own stuckness. (If that's even a word. :S XD )

(XD)

Trent grinned, and grabbed two apples. "Want one?" he asked, biting into his own.

"Sure!" Spike said, still laughing at himself.

Trent tossed him the apple, then leaned back against the tree, finishing his and setting down the core. "So you're okay? With the whole Shadowblade thing, I mean."

(GTG for real, seeya!)

(Bye Living!)

Spike nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Sure it's still sad, but I'm not bawling my feathers off." He bit into his apple, almost eating half of it in one go.

Trent nodded, before shrinking down into a cat and stretching. "You have to admit, even with the goblin attacks, it's been a bit boring."

Spike nodded, soon swallowign the rest of his apple whole, core and all. "True. There's not much excitement around here now." He looked around, then asked. "So, any ideas on how to spice things up a bit?"

Trent shook his head. "No." He shifted into a jaguar and stretched further, unsheathing his claws. He sat back and watched Spike, an almost hungry look in his eyes.

"Ok, Trent," Spike said, getting up and taking a step back. "Just because I'm a giant, talking chicken, doesn't mean I'm on the menu for dinner, ok?" Trent was obviously scaring him.

Trent grinned and stepped forward. "And just because the worlds are seperate doesn't mean I haven't found a connection between them."

"Trent, I am NOT YOUR DINNER!" Spike practically yelled, backing up even farther. "And what do you mean by finding a connection anyways?"

He chuckled darkly. "Shadowblade was an idiot. As soon as I started working for her I realized this. She was a dumb blond, who couldn't begin to fathom the extent of her powers." He licked his lips as he crept forward. "But her alternate... Nightshade... She's brilliant. She offered me power beyond your wildest dreams, Spike! But... unfortunately... I must kill you in order to obtain it."

Spike shook his head as he continued backwards. "N...No...Trent you've fallen for some trick of hers! Where's your common sense!" He shouted as loud as he could. "TRENT'S TRYING TO BETRAY US!" Issac woke with a jolt and quickly headed over, looking at the pair with confusion. Volga followed him.

Trent roared and sprung towards Spike.

Spike let out a terrified scream and ran out of the way as Volga plowed into Trent's side with her claws. "Never attack him again you monster!" She shouted. Issac had his swords out and Shade and Marik had rushed in to help.

"Marik get out of here!" Shade said.

"No." was the reply.

Trent growled, his fur bristling as blood flowed from the cuts Volga had given him. He snarled and began to grow, turning into a large red dragon, and blasted fire down at his attackers.

Taratell dodged the fire, and conjured a fireball of his own at Trent's head level. "Trent!" he screamed. "You've become crazed by your need for power! Snap out of it!"

"Too late!" He roared, laughing as he shot more fire.

Taratell realized that it was probably too late; they had no choice except to die, or fight to kill. He conjured a globe of darkness around Trent's head and drew his bow, aiming for the dragon's eye.

Spike was now hiding in his tent, keeping very still and very quiet.

Volga didn't relent her attack, and kept slashing at Trent, circling him and dodging his fire. Cale ran over, morphing into his dragon form as he did so. The air grew extremely cold as he did so, and frost covered almost every surface near him.

Trent roared as he shot fire at Cale and Volga.

Cale let out a snarl and blocked the fire with a large blast of ice. Volga's tail feathers caught fire and she let out a screech, quickly landing on the ground, just in time to be showered with melted ice, the fire beign extinguished quickly afterwards. She shot into the sky and continued her attack. Cale slashed at Trent. "Trent why are you doing this?!" Cale demanded.

Trent shot more fire, and smoke too, swirling it around with his wings to make it harder to see. Living Torval's life showed me one thing. He's got it far better than I. Even his girlfriend is better than mine! And yet, I am forever trapped here in this boring world. I want out, and Nightshade offered me a way.

Cale snapped at Trent's face, again blocking the fire with ice. "I used to think the same way Trent! And you know something? That almost landed me committing suicide! What makes you think that Nightshade's offer is a good one?! Tell me that one Trent!" Julia heard Trent's comment and started crying.

(*Gasp* Calypso might commit suicide?!)

Trent roared and tore out at Cale with his claws. She has no reason to lie to me! I was Shadowblade's loyal servant before, and now I am hers! She hates Torval, and would gladly replace him with me!

(He'll try it, yes.)

Cale let out a roar and slashed in retaliation at Trent, clawing at his head. "ARE YOU STUPID TRENT?! She'd lie to anybody to get her purposes finished! Where did your mind go?! If you try to tell me you still have it I won't believe that, because the Trent I knew would never do something like this!"

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