Uh, Ravxen, you should know that people who aren't afraid of anything are either in denial or stupid. Which one are you? :P

I just noticed a lot of villains frequently say "bah"...

Hate to break it to you, guys, but Ezan can not want to "go to the dark side" and still hate you all at the same time. :P

"Not that you're going to get off Scot free," Uh...why not? You let Ben off Scot free after he killed a few billion people...

And don't flatter yourself into thinking Sephiroth saw you "couldn't be dismissed so easily", Ben. The villains in this thing continue to dismiss you easily even when you're vaporizing them. "Black Knight" syndrome. :D

Er, Ben...girls will never like you if you call them "clueless fools" behind their backs.

I have to wonder...wouldn't Brad be stronger than Sabin? It kind of makes me wonder why he takes orders from him. Now...there's an easy "practical" answer for that...punch out your commanding officer and it's time to pack your bags and go home. But seeing as Brad is pretty much a half-witted gorilla, I wouldn't put it by him.

"Oh well...if she has been with him this long there has to be a good reason." ...Unless, you know, Lacus is in a controlling relationship or has no self esteem or is codepenent or...(Goes on)

Well, overall, I liked the bulk of this chapter as it's been a while since we've had a "slice of life" chapter that focuses more on the OCs. Of course...the last scene ruined it utterly. This is why I still think Lacus is a brainless, useless twit, and I've never stopped thinking that for even a second. I wish she'd get killed already...she's dragging down the story. As I said before, it was alright for the first volume and even nice to have a character who "wasn't perfect"...but she just keeps getting more and more loathesome. She's makes Bella from "Twilight" look like Jane Eyre...

And also, as has happened in every single chapter until now, the heroes are making absolutely no progress as new villains arise for every one they kill. This is getting problematic. I noticed that Xaldin had to die "abruptly" because the villain docket is so overloaded you can't really devote time to any more "satisfying" fights... If this doesn't change soon, I'm guessing in Volume Three you'll just have ten of them die abruptly in one chapter toward the end or something like they do in badly-paced animes...

I'm personally of the opinion everyone can dance...so long as no one is watching. :P

So, if their original orders were to either kill Ezan, recruit him, or kill Ben...dude, why are you guys acting so smug? You're 0 for 3 thus far. :P

Perhaps the guys in black could have thrown out a "Next time I won't go so easy on you!" at Sephiroth as they ran off with their tails between their legs... Yeah...I'm pretty sure the bad guys are suffering from "Monty Python Black Knight" syndrome...as in if they were nothing more than a legless, armless stump they'd only call it a "draw".

Um...the "sore winner" comment was rather facetious, as all of the villains in this story have had their personalities changed to constantly gloat... It'd actually be unusual if Ben ran into a villain who would just shut up and fight...

That's actually my biggest complaint this chapter. The fighting is pretty good, but...I can't stand how every villain is the same person. It was ok enough for the original villains...but when I read over Sephiroth's dialogue and realized: "If I swapped out the name Ezan or Kira for Sephiroth it wouldn't make any difference at all...", that's pretty bad. Sephiroth keeps what little taunting he does to short phrases. The only time he "maniacally laughed" was in the original Final Fantasy VII, and Crisis Core retconned that out.

I...think there's a bit of a plot hole here. It's clear Ezan was far weaker before he got power from Sephiroth. Hence...logic suggests that since he was just even with Ben before even with Sephiroth's power, now he should be far weaker than him...

I really have no idea what Zexion can even do. I hear you could actually fight him in the Final Mix versions of KH2, but I only played the GBA COM, and all that happened to him was he died in a cutscene. Epic fail.

To be honest...I haven't the slightest clue what Eden looks like. Quite problematic in the first "Sorceress Cycle". I've looked at one picture after another...still no idea. Doesn't really look like anything...

Hmm...Ben COULD have done a "Kamesennin" and just blown up the moon...but oh well.

Now there is no confirmation that anyone died in this chapter, and I DO like it when things don't get bogged down for too long, and I DO want more villains to hurry up and get whacked, but...that all said, the bad guys fights here seemed to be kind of abrupt. Kind of "Brolly-style". What I mean is...having-a-hard-time...having-a-hard-time...hav ing-a-hard-time...having-a-hard-time...having-a-ha rd-time...having-a-hard-time...Whoa! Bad guy killed in one hit.

I'm like...huh?

Is it odd that when I hear Cid and Mid talk, I picture Professor Farnsworth and Quebert from "Futurama"?

Heh...listening to their dialogue... "Remember everyone...even if you sense something extraordinarily bad, pay it no mind so long as it disappears a bit later. After all, that hasn't come back to bite us in the bum yet...except, of course, with every big bad we've run into thus far..." But nah...I understand. You can only make so many characters capable of picking up on signatures before you have to start writing in lots of ways they don't notice everything the bad guys do.

"Ansem Zeon? Why would Ezan have the same magical energy as the founder of the Zeon Federation?" ...There's not an "intelligence test" involved in getting into the Enji Knights, is there? There's literally only a couple logical possibilities, gang...

I never really was familiar with Shantoto's character. I mean, I saw her briefly in a few scenes when I played Final Fantasy XI for a month or two, but that's it. Definitely seems to be a "Fluffy, Destroyer of Worlds" though.

...Well, obviously Ezan's going to lose to Sephiroth, because if he didn't, we wouldn't very well have a fight against Sephiroth, now would we? :P It'd be nice if Ezan got killed in the process of killing Sephiroth, though. The story is all stocked up on jerks who are better off whacked as is. :P

Nice progression, good pacing...now if only a lot of bags-of-wind will die, it will make my day. :D

At Aerith's statement of never wanting anyone to die unless they were evil, I couldn't help but think of that one old phrase: "I would never kill anyone...(shrug) unless they pissed me off."

Whoa, whoa, Ben...getting angry when you ain't even her boyfriend? Didn't forget about Slab Bulkhead, did we? You'll be in the "Friend Zone" until the day you die AND DON'T FORGET IT. :P

I actually thought the attempted genocide would be good news for Brad...that he'd get promoted by default to make up for the sudden loss of personnel.

...Let's not exaggerate, Ben, about the whole "friend" thing. At best, Ezan is "co-worker who occasionally can talk to me without insulting me" to you.

And there's a third option there, Saix...namely, he joins you, you kill him...or he kills you. Seeing as "option three" has been very popular as of late, I'd include it more often.

I'll be disappointed with Sephiroth if he decides to become a peon. Too many of those already. Other than that...see you next chapter!

Was Ganon really supposed to be as tough as Kira in the last chapter? Well, phooey. That means we're in store for another dozen or two "power ups" in the next fight with him... :( I mean, I'm one to talk, but even DBZ tried to at least not make theirs end up being "Chekhov's Guns". Like, as soon as Frieza started talking about having additional transformations plus only using a small percentage of his power, it was a foregone conclusion that Frieza would eventually reach his final form at 100%. It was just a question of how long Toriyama planned to drag it out to get there. So in the next sagas, power ups were more "unexpected"...aside from Cell's absorptions since those too were Chekhov's guns. (Has any hero in anime/manga EVER not fought the villain at their most powerful point/managed to stop them from getting maximum power?)

...King Dedede is a penguin? I never noticed that... Huh.

Would a self destruct really be an issue at this point? You'd think guys that threw around power like this could take something as insignificant as a ship blowing up.

To be honest, I didn't even bother reading the last part. No need. Bad guys don't care Ganondorf is dead and replaced him with someone stronger, right?

Well, another side storyline done. Wow...only fifteen chapters from the end, too.

Hope your venture to get Stan Lee's autograph succeeded.

As promised, a second chapter this weekend.

Oh, hunch nothing. You really expect the bad guy to set up shop in the broom closet or rec room, Ben? :P

Well...nothing really happened in this chapter except fighting, so...see you next chapter!

I probably should have touched on this last chapter, but that's just a peeve of mine that people (not you specifically) seem to think. They always define human activity as "unnatural". Why? We're just like any other species on Earth, and just like any other species we're interested in promoting our welfare over that of any other. The fact that we can pause and try to promote the welfare of other species is the "unnatural" part. Anyway...semantics out of the way, on with the review...

I have to facepalm with Kira blames his previous failure on being arrogant and then claims he knows every move the good guys are going to make. Isn't that kind of like saying: "Nobody in the entire history of mankind is as humble as I am!" :P

Wow...did Damonus actually nearly say something "humble" at the beginning of this chapter? Perhaps that's one of the REAL signs of the apocalypse... I'd also crack the whip on the new guy. "Uh, Kira, you just got here. You're only number two. I make the decisions and plans around here." :P

Is the Triforce really relevant anymore at this stage? How does it stack up to the other power sources or individuals we've seen thus far? BTW Link, don't feel bad for falling for this evil plot. You fall for A LOT of Ganondorf's schemes.

I'm going to be honest, this chapter brought back entirely too many cliches. They were easing up for a while, which was a good thing, but now they're back en masse. Plus, Ben is starting to turn into a "Goku" in more ways than one, which I do not like. It seems like everyone else is reaching the point where their only purpose is to get beaten up and drag out the story until Ben just steps in and does the business, meaning the only reason they exist is to enhance Ben's prestige.

Only one thing I'd like to know before going much further. Is this battle going to play out pretty much just like Goku vs. Vegeta? Because if so, I'll just read the synopses and move on to the first chapter after it's done.

Hey, octopi can be intimidating. Just look at H.P. Lovecraft. Still, it sure was nice of the giant monster to just sit there and not do anything while everyone planned against it and sorted out the history issues. :P

Look on the bright side, Alexei. You did better than an "Android #19"-esque character.

Yuri's philosophy on the rules that Brave Vesperia "go by" and what takes precedence sounds remarkably like how the bad guys always justify themselves...

I'm sure the back story would be more compelling if I actually played the game. The "summed-up" version only stimulates an FFXII-level of interest in me.

Well, so far it looks like I was spot on in my last review...this fight IS being spread over several chapters.

All they had to do was install a semaphore flag structure variable on Estelle's critical section to prevent unauthorized access!

...Sorry, I have computer engineering classes on the mind.

She just kills Darknuts with a single spell? Why doesn't Link know that damn spell... I hate those things. "Come on...bit closer...and...damnit, you changed directions you armored SOB!"

There's your standard overconfident villain who doesn't know when he's losing...and then there's guys like Yeager who doesn't see the heroes facepalming and rolling their eyes at their boasting.

If Kirby can call on his powers at will, he needs to call on the most legendary power of them all: ROCK. It's like a Tanooki Suit Statue that doesn't suck.

During the pre-fight banter...

(Ben pulls out a ledger and slips on a pair of glasses.)

BEN: I can point out 10 people just like you who all thought they were the one bad guy who was somehow smarter and more powerful than all other bad guys before them and was bound to win...and none of them had a tooth knocked out of their head before the fight even started. You don't stand a chance. Why don't you just go "all out" right away so you can save yourself the embarassment of being smacked down multiple times? Oh...and the fact that you registered surprise when one of your attacks failed...that's kind of the definition of "underestimating your opponent".

ALEXEI: All you're doing is making your own deaths more long and torturous! Well...that and easily overcoming every last one of my attacks and putting me into progressively greater and greater amounts of pain...

Again, pretty good chapter. Not too drawn out, which it shouldn't be if your opponent is a windbag. Unfortunately, it looks like the next fight is spread over a good three or four chapters... :(

I'm going to admit I have a bit of a hard time keeping up with a game I never played and I scratch my head from time to time, but I get the gist of it.

Poor disposable villains never went to First Grade. Otherwise, they would have know is still 0. :P

If you're not familiar with the names of the original Zelda bosses: Dodongo, Gohma, Digdogger, Manhandla (congrats, you just won the prize for most creepy-named boss in NES history), and (Insert-Head-Number-Here)-Headed Gleeok in addition to Aquamentus.

Call me a bastard if you want, but in a situation like the group found themselves stuck in, I would ALWAYS default to the Keanu Reeves solution: "Shoot the hostage. Take them out of the equation." Unfortunately, game designers weren't made for Keanu Reeves. Back in Resident Evil 5 during the Jill/Wesker fight, the first thing I did was start shooting Jill in the limbs to "take her out of the equation". All I got was a big fat "Game Over". Jerks...

...Wait, if the ritual would have completed whether she was alive or not, why didn't they just kill her at the get-go and save themselves the trouble of her drawing it out via her resistance?

And yeah...I would have killed her, or least beaten her to a pulp first/crippled her first. :P Easy way out nothing. This story already proved it's more responsible to kill people being controlled at some points rather than the sacrifice more people over vain attempts to "restore" their sanity. Scenes like this are effective for villains because it's effectively the same deal as in "Full Metal Jacket". The sniper wounded a couple soldiers and then continued to shoot them in non-fatal spots to torture them and make them scream so someone would come out to try and save them...and promptly would be killed by the sniper. The villain is counting on you wasting time, energy, and sympathy. So spit in their face and ruin their little plan.

I would have liked it a bit more if the villain had just "shut up and died" for once rather than always going out with a completely empty threat, and the "big" fight could have been faster, but still good. Kept up to a good speed.

Sorry for the delay. School is rough and it's taken me all day to get to this after finishing up my own quotas...

I know in one of the Zelda mangas they actually had a back story of how Majora's Mask came to be...but I can't remember it that well... Ah well, Majora was pretty dumb in that one too as it literally gave Link the Fierce Diety mask before getting into a fight...and so Link beat it without even trying. That's a new one on me...Big Bad actually helping the hero kill them...but ah well. Sorry, Majora, but you're the Android #19 of this story. :P

I have no idea anything about this game series, but...it sounds a bit like a more elaborate "Link to the Past" knockoff in some ways, so Link's presence might be appropriate.

...I thought you said the list of People-To-Kill was going to get smaller. Apparently just the opposite.

Why do I sometimes think of Wreck-It Ralph when I picture ol' meathead? :P Not sure if I said that before...but I do.

Not sure I'd be THAT relieved to have Kirby on my side...but ah well. :D

I'm not familiar with this game, to be honest...but, seems like things are "back to normal" for the moment.

Bit of a conundrum: Sigma's a machine. Why would any hypnosis work on him as he doesn't have a mind to mess with?

Another annoying thing about Mr. Delusional Windbag is that the whole thing behind his powers just reinforces the subconscious idea that everyone seems to have: good is meaningless...evil is the only thing that matters. I'm not talking about in the framework of this story. I'm talking about that's what everyone thinks in real life. How? Apparently, in spite of being completely corrupt, he can still use "light" powers at will. But if someone non-evil tries using "dark" powers, they become corrupt. Hence, it's implying the idea that evil really is the greatest force in the world and good is "just for kids".

You know...I always wonder if people really know what they're saying whenever they say "you shouldn't force your views on others". Of course you should in the right situation. Hell, if the Enji didn't force their views on others, they'd just kind of wave at Sithanos as they took over the universe. Now, someone might say: "But wait, THEY'RE trying to force their views on US!" Alright...so...you can force the view on someone that they shouldn't force their view on someone else? The whole idea that "you shouldn't force your views on others" is nothing more than one of the key arguments for Moral Relativism, and it's a weak one because it tries to say there is no objective moral truth by saying that you shouldn't violate an objective moral truth of pushing your moral code on other people...a completely self-defeating argument.

In addition, this chapter endorses the whole idea of Moral Hedonism. There is no such thing as good and evil. There is only things people do to bring themselves pleasure while avoiding pain. Altruism is a lie. No one ever does it...they do things that LOOK like it to make themselves feel "uppity". The problem with this argument is that something is good by virtue of the fact it brings you pleasure. In other words, all of the bad guys are "good" because when they kill people and do evil things, they're making themselves happy. Of course, you could say the ultimate standard is "Universal Hedonism": that it has to bring the greatest amount of pleasure to as many people as possible. In that case, Ben is evil because he wanted to make himself a great warrior at the expense of beating down other people...kind of like Brad.

Whoa, whoa, whoa...what's this crap Myers is saying? Essentially, he's telling Ben: "Ok, we'll cover up the fact you mass murdered everyone so long as you never do it again, you big lug"? You've been trying to tell me for several chapters that Ben is completely innocent and didn't do anything wrong...that it was all Necron possessing him that did all of this. So what's this? Is Myers saying it WAS his fault, in which case...what the heck, man?! You're just going to make a couple billion people "disappear"? Was he lying when he said earlier that he thought it was Necron responsible for everything? If Necron WAS responsible, why is he giving Ben a hard time about it? And it's not like you can really say to someone: "Now don't go having dark gods sneak up behind you and possess you, or I'll have to punish you." That's like saying don't go getting a flat tire...you don't really have any control over it.

...I have to admit, Myers looks like the LAST guy to take advice from in the story at this point, considering how utterly incompetent he's been in regards to decisions and responsibility. Though that may change now. I mean...at least he shook his finger vigorously at Brad at the end of this. That makes him at least as competent as the UN. :/

This review is actually for a couple chapters in a row, and I kind of wrote down my thoughts as I had them.

Silly bad guys...didn't Star Trek tell you that the odds you calculate for chances of victory are always painfully off? ("Odds are approximately 7,891 to 1...but we succeeded anyway, captain. Fascinating.")

The fight actually went pretty good...nice clip...but I think its pacing could be even more intense with less banter. You don't want to lose a good momentum. When someone pops in (like Max did), yeah, go ahead and have a short one, but then get back at it.

"My absolute hypnosis is invincible! Nothing can stop it!"

"...Well, obviously not because I kinda, uh, just did." (Troll face)

AAAAAAND...Villain Breakdown! :) Thank you, Ben, for pointing out the obvious! Although...the flashback sequence seems a little hard to figure out due to wording... I don't know if you've reeditted already, but if you could make it a little less vague sounding.

"Damnit, you minions! How dare you not die when I tell you to!" This guy would fit in great in WWI trench warfare... But yeah...I kind of guess Crazy McCrazy had falsified everything regarding Max. Still not sure I like him at all, though. He just happens to have a "common cause" at the moment.

...Good call, Zidane...even if you chipped the fourth wall a bit to do it. :P

Your bit with the government soldiers being used for private businesses is somewhat reminsient of Robert A. Heinlein's stuff. Ever read him?

Yup...lots of villain breakdown. Practically whining like a spoiled child by the end.

Myers then sees the dark red mass in the sky take form, and is horrified at what he sees! He then stares at Kira and says,"No, don't tell me you were this far gone! Son, have you lost all of your morals?"

...Ok, Kira was right about one thing. His dad is definitely "dumber than advertised". Not only is this the fifth time he's asked this question, and each time Kira's asked in the affirmative, but I thought he had crossed the Moral Event Horizon a couple chapters back now.

And now...the ending...

...and I'll save that for a PM. I'll only say this. I have no idea what Kira's motivation is at this point.