"It’s the end of the world as we know it,

It’s the end of the world as we know it,

And I feel fine…

REM, It’s The End of the World as We Know It.

Lightning flashed, and Ash caught a look at Phil’s new face. He immediately wished he hadn’t. Apparently, on his way back up to the top of the building, Phil had grown to two meters in height, and he’d yanked out two of the stakes stuck in his head. Only one remained, right between his eyes. His eyes. They were scarlet, tinged with evil. They looked much like those of an angry cat. Muscles bulged out all along his body, and his skin had taken a bluish tone, green along his chest, where all the stakes remained. His new wings were made of skin, like a bat, and he had a wingspan of about two meters. A shocked look came over Ash’s face.

"Whassamatta, Ash? Don’t like what you see? Well, let’s get this over with!" His voice sounded like Barry White from hell.

The large television screens all around Times Square lit up suddenly, showing the scene on top of the MTV building. Spotlights lit up the roof. Mega-Phil raised his hand, and a zombie floated up between them. Not just any zombie, mind you, but Mills Lane, complete with ref’s jersey. A microphone was in his hand. He spoke with the voice of the recently tongue-less.

"In this corner, weighing in at 125 pounds, from Valleyfield, Virginia, heeerre’s Mercutio "Ash" Grey!"

A cacophony of boos echoed from the zombies below.

"And in the red corner, weighing 700 pounds and hailing from Lower Transylvania, iiiiit’s Lithpicis "The One Who Walks In Days" Von Carfiels!"

The zombies below cheered heartily.

Mega-Phil had adopted a silver boxer’s robe (it said ‘EVIL’ on the back), and yelled to the crowd.

"WHO’S GONNA DIE?"

"ASH!" responded the crowd.

"THAT’S RIGHT, FOLKS! WE GOT A HELL OF A SHOW FOR YOU TONIGHT!"

The Winds of Change circled around Ash, and he adopted his other form. He summoned up his naginata from its holster on his back, and took a defensive stance.

Zombie Mills Lane found a ring bell, said, "Let’s Get it ON!" and rang the bell.

Mega-Phil swooped down, attacking Ash with his new foot-talons. These slashed Ash’s arm, and he cried out in pain. He ducked out of the way as Phil came down again, landing 5 feet away. Ash attempted to run him through with the sword, but Phil sidestepped it, kicking him in the solar plexus in the process. Ash fell over, and Phil attempted to maul him with hand-claws. This he avoided by rolling to the right, and swinging his sword wildly. It caught Phil on the cheek. The crowd screamed at first blood. Phil roared, and caught Ash in the leg with a claw. A large gouge took the place of Ash’s right calf. Ash limped to his feet, and again tried to slash Phil. With lightning speed, Phil caught the sword by the pommel, and swung it around until it hit Ash’s left shoulder. Then he picked up Ash by his neck and threw him into a nearby radio aerial. The metal rod erupted through his stomach, and blood poured. Slowly, Phil walked close, and he picked Ash up off the aerial, his large hand dwarfing his neck. Ash was in shock and no longer cared what happened to him. Phil was smiling. Then, suddenly, a voice echoed from behind him.

"Put him down, Phil!"

Phil turned and saw Aliciana, Fate and Ed. Aliciana’s eyes glowed like white fireflies, Fate held a menacing quarterstaff, and Ed had a shotgun. The tube had slowed down his decay, so he looked almost human again.

"You heard me, you bastard!" Aliciana cried.

"Hello, Aliciana, you look well." Phil let go of Ash. He fell to the floor limply.

"Lithpicis Von Carfiels, we meet at last. I’m Fate. We’re here to win the game for our side. Capeesh?"

"Sure. I’m afraid Ash didn’t really put up much of a fight for your team."

"How did you get the armor off of Ev’Ash?"

"Lenrock did it for me. I found a loophole in the rules. Although no human could kill him, a homunculus like Lenrock could. That’s how I did it."

"Ingenious. Well, let us get this over with, shall we?"

"That sounds good."

Flames echoed from the business end of Ed’s shotgun, as Phil took two shells worth of buckshot to the chest. Aliciana threw a force bubble around Ed and herself, much like Tetsuo in Akira. Fate hit the ground with one end of her quarterstaff, flinging herself into the air. She came down on Phil’s head, fracturing his skull. Phil screamed in pain, and sliced Fate through the stomach simultaneously. She came to rest on the ground behind him.

"Who’s next?" growled Phil. "Who wants some more?"

With a fierce battle cry, Ed rushed the behemoth, letting two more shells go in the process. He attempted to bash the rest of Phil’s head in with the other side of his gun, but he soon found himself flying over the edge of the building instead. Aliciana reached out towards the forest of antennas covering the far side of the roof, and flung them at Phil. He ducked these, and smacked Aliciana about the face. She fell into unconsciousness.

During all of this commotion, Fate had crawled over to where Ash sat propped up by a chimney. He was awake, but still in shock.

"Ash, it looks hopeless. We’re going to lose today, and the earth will suffer a thousand years of turmoil because of it."

"I… I’m sorry, Fate. I’m sorry I lost."

" There’s one opportunity left to us still. We could still win this."

"How? We’re screwed royal!"

"Plead with Gaia. She’ll help you."

"How do I do that?"

"Grasp the ankh in your chest, and believe. She’ll come through for us yet."

"Okay Fate, I’ll try."

"Please save my earth, Ash. Please."

Fate died beside Ash, while Phil and the crowd proclaimed victory. He grasped the ankh.

"And that looks like checkmate, Gaia, I win." Mr. Dark started to do a victory jig.

"Go ahead, Dark, laugh it up. We’ll come through yet."

Ash found himself in a small room on the roof. He hadn’t seen it before. The rest of, well, everything, was an ethereal blue, while the room was normal. Ash walked towards the room. A man dressed in black and wearing a small bowler hat was dancing, while a woman looked at a chessboard on a table. She looked like a mother.

"Hello, Ash. Come over here." She gestured towards a chair beside the table. Ash obliged.

"You must be Gaia. Pleased to meet you."

"You didn’t do so well, Ash. You’re pretty beat up." She pointed at his stomach and legs.

Ash looked down. His stomach wound was still oozing blood, and his leg was a sea of crimson. And yet, he didn’t feel anything.

"How am I still living? I should be dead!"

Gaia leaned close to Ash. "I’ll let you in on a little secret. You can still win."

"How? We lost horribly!"

"There’s always a way. Here, let me show you."

She pointed at the chessboard. There was a small square in the middle surrounded by black pawns on all sides. In the square, a white pawn lay on its side, along with two white queens, and a white rook. Only a black king was standing in the circle. But when Ash looked at the square on the board Gaia gestured to, he saw a whole new board. A board with equal forces for white and black.

"This isn’t the only Earth, you know. Go to that one there, and you can come back here later, and win one for the good guys!"

"Can I bring my friends?"

"They’ll be bringing you, more likely. In the other Earth, you can rise up, and come back here eventually to make you stand. There are people there that need your help. If you help them, I’ll bring you back here. Can you do that?"

"I…I think I can. Yeah, I’ll do it."

"Good. Say hello to the Limbo King for me."

The floor disappeared from under Ash.

"Another Game?"

Mr. Dark stopped dancing and sat at the table.

"Sounds good to me!"