"P H A N T O M ! !"

   Mani's cry of anger echoed throughout the entire stronghold, heard even by those in the midsts of deadly combat with Lord Paradox's minions. He slowly turned to his left, looking down upon the unconscious form lying beside him.

   Lily.

   She had taken most of the force of that last energy blast. Mani caught some of it too, if he hadn't, Lily would surely be dead. But that didn't matter, what concerned Mani was the fact that Phantom was still alive, and could possibly try something like that again.

   "Did I hurt your little girlfriend?," Phantom taunted, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She smiled wickedly, casually twirling around her glowing blue-energy whip. "Pity... I guess I'll have to finish the job..."

   With a quick sweep, Mani whipped out his his katana and leapt towards his sworn enemy. His intentions were clear- Phantom had to die.

   "Why don't you try that with ME?!," he roared, cutting a wide arc through the air. Phantom barely had time to dodge the assault, catching some of the blade in her shoulder. As soon as he hit the ground, Mani cresent-kicked Phantom, smacking her in head. As she staggered, he finished the combo with a nasty punch across Phantom's face.

   Phantom slowly wiped a line of blood from the corner of her mouth. She had been injured. That's never happened before, she thought. "I don't know how you did that," she slowly began. "...but I'll be damned if it happens again!" She suddenly lashed out with the whip. Mani did a quick swing of his katana and sliced it in half (much to Phantom's dismay...).

   Meanwhile, Lily slowly began to stir. The sounds of the raging battle echoing in her head, she drifted back into consciousness. All around, her Traveler friends did battle with the minions of Lord Paradox. Vision blurred, she could barely make out their forms. That was <or was it?> Neil fighting with Masquerade... David <or perhaps Malik?> against Warlocke... and Phantom, standing over...

   "Oh my God...," Lily found herself saying.

   That blast of energy came from nowhere, taking Mani down hard. It had torn his uniform and sent him crashing against one of the stronghold's stone walls. Mani slowly dropped down to his knees, then down to all fours. He coughed, spitting out some blood. Now that, he thought, was NASTY.

   He suddenly felt his uniform being pulled, as if it were being sucked by some type of unknown force. He managed to look up and saw a swirling mass of blue energy some distance before him. Standing further back, he could make out the massive frame of Lord Paradox, his hands glowing omniously with dark energy. And at that very moment, Mani realized the horribly truth.

   Paradox had opened a portal and it was sucking him in.

   "C R A P ! !"

   The force of the portal was dragging him across the ground and towards its swirling mass. Mani looked up to see that he was the only Traveler not holding on to something to keep from being sucked in. Great. Whoever said that a Ninja is a master of himself and his environment obviously never had to deal with portals to who-knows-where. Reaching franticly for anything he could use to save his hide, he caught hold of one of the last things he was expecting to grab- Lily's hand.

   "I... can't hold on!," she yelled.

   Great.

   "Just let me go!," Mani responded. "There's no need for us both to go through!"

   Despite the gravity of the situation, Mani could not help but notice the beauty of Lily, not only physically, but also in her heart. Her rounded eyes ("Almond colored," he once told her), her midnight black hair, the perfect shape of her body, the physical meant nothing at this time. What struck him was that this petite little flower, fully nine inches shorter that himself, was holding on to him with all the strength she could muster. It didn't seem to matter that she could have possibly gone through herself, the fact that she was still weak from the blast, the fact that her arm was hurting terribly. Mani sighed. He couldn't let it happen like this.

   "Please Lily... let me go..."

   He knew it would happen, and he hated to see it when it did. Lily's eyes slowly began to fill with tears. As they fell from her face, they were quickly pulled in by the force of the portal. He hated to see Lily cry. <Great. Not only am I being sucked into hell, but I made Lily cry...>

   "I... love you...," she tearfully answered, clutching his hand for what she feared to be her last time. "Whatever happens, I will always remember you..."

   "No matter what happens to me here, I will come back for you," Mani responded, his grip slowly fading. "Nothing can keep us apart, Lily. I promise." Lily's hand began to let go. He knew that she couldn't hold on much longer. "I love you Lily," were his final words.

   Her grip suddenly ceased, and Mani found himself sliding towards the portal once again. As he approached, he realized that he had not seen Phantom in quite some time. Perhaps she had already been sucked in. If this WAS a portal to hell, then perhaps Phantom was where she belonged. No matter. A moment later, he could feel his legs being sucked into the portal. A moment later, his body. The last thing he saw was Lily, holding on for dear life with one hand, the other still reaching towards him.

   "Lily..."

   All was then black and still.