Fanfic / Muse Hysteria

The second tale of the Project: Alternate!Gentaro story arc, and the prequel to The Friendship Asylum and (to a lesser extent) . The Great Upheaval. It is set during a Friday the Thirteenth.

The tale, compared to the two other stories in the arc, follows the standard "three acts" plot found in television shows and video game franchises such as Jak and Daxter, and thus, is the shortest tale of the trilogy. You can read them here.

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Muse Hysteria provides examples of:

A - M

• 24-Hour Armor: Riku is briefly shown in his armor for The Grid when he confronts Clu in Chapter 8. Ruby is also shown in armor when she enters Space Paranoids.
• Accidental Misnaming: When Tron is corrupted, Ruby accidently screams out Penny's name as she's also forced to relive her death.
• Action Bomb: Sora uses a stronger version of Trinity Limit to destroy all the Cragmites that threaten the House of Technology. It brings him down to 1HP as a result, allowing Courtney Gears to One-Hit KO him.
• Action Girl: Kairi wants to be one to regain her temple, but the Yaoi Fangirls won't let her. So, she disguises herself as the Unknown Thief.
• All Love Is Unrequited: 14-year-old Edward has a crush on 16-year-old Sora, but he does not hold romantic feelings towards her.
• Alone with the Psycho: The climax of Sora's side of the story has him captured by Courtney Gears, who is by now shown to be a sadist Evil Diva willing to cause chaos if it means destroying organic life forms.
• Always Chaotic Evil: Bringing the Princesses of Heart together can summon up a portal that will release any pure evil species into the pantheon. The species summoned would be the Cragmites.
  • We also get a mention on what happened to the Drophyds, another evil race, by Tachyon in the final battle. Most of them died in the Battle of Fastoon, and the rest were obliterated by King Triton when Ursula took control of them after Tachyon's defeat to launch another attack on Atlantica.
• Always Save the Girl: When Sora discovers Radical Ed asleep in a crystal coffin, the first thing he does is break her out with his Keyblade.
  • Unfortunately, this is subverted later on with Kairi, much to Sora's dismay.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The Slamwitch in Chapter 11, which is the comedic foil to the more serious rampage of the Iron Giant in the following tale.
• Arc Villain: Emperor Tachyon is summoned by the Proxy to destroy the pantheon, starting with the captive Princesses of Heart.
• Banned Episode: In-universe. All of Gears' music videos are banned from the pantheon due to them having subliminal messages promoting genocidal hatred towards organic life forms. Though a few have been reported to be displayed as a brainwashing tool by the GUAE.
• Bar Brawl: Chapter 11 started off with one due to Decade's control over most of the patrons. Luigi puts a stop to this, but this only triggers a Food Fight against a brainwashed Gramma Stuffum and her food minions.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Sora is known to be violently aggressive when he's been pushed one too many times, to the point where Ruby Rose compares his anger issues with that of her older sister, Yang Xiao Long.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Courtney Gears and Alternate!Gentaro. They're working together, but they're not a duumvirate because they have different agendas. In reality, both are Co-Dragons to YHVH, the mastermind of the asylum incident to trigger the rise of the GUAL, though they don't realize this.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Courtney Gears has Sora shackled, gagged, and mentally broken in her temple and is about to zap him into the computer to fight Rinzler, using a laser gun that was stolen from Black Jack earlier. Before she could fire, the gun is struck with a Thundaga spell casted by Donald from one of the cages, while Goofy quickly rushes in and cuts Sora free. Cue a boss battle with Gears.
  • Voltaire rescues the group off to stop the Proxy in Count 17 thanks to his Shadow Step. He justifies it in that he's always having Artix's back during Friday the 13th and also to apologize for being brainwashed two days earlier.
  • In Count 12, Sora saves Riku from drowning in an onsen after the "Stuffum Syndrome" begins to take its toll in them both.
  • Who's the one who puts the Darkness Proxy back into the Friendship Asylum at the end? Jack and Annie, using the Wand of Dianthus to blow them back.
• Black Comedy: The whole story seems to have this vibe, mostly with the third chapter involving Uncle Howee and Voltaire beheading a puppet-transformed Mitsuzane while Voltaire sings new lyrics to his song, "The Headless Waltz".
• Blinded by the Light: Being exposed to too much light will cause Sora to become unstably ill and begin vomiting endlessly. In fact, Mickey warns him not to go into cyberspace while sick because the Tron Lines inside will cause him to have seizures unless he's blindfolded. Natural light, on the other hand, is apparently harmless to him. Funny, because Sora is the God of Light.
• Bond One-Liner: Clu gets one as he cuts ties with Courtney Gears for going against his programming early on.
  Clu: "Courtney Gears. Consider our alliance... terminated." *disconnects*
• Bound and Gagged:
  • When Cinderella got captured in Act One, Satoko Houjou, who witnessed what happened, gets bound and gagged with the materials she was suppose to give to the princess. She and the rest of the LOL Rangers attack Trollkaiger as payback in Act Three after the Proxy frame them for being in league.
  • In Act Three, Sora is captured by Courtney Gears and taken as a hostage to the House of Music. His hands are tied behind his back, while a rag is forced into his mouth. Unlike in the next story, he's incapable of speaking because he's in his Halloween Town form; as a result, his fangs are keeping the rag in his mouth. We do get to hear his thoughts, though. This nearly kills him, however, because of his illness worsening from the lights inside the temple.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Pretty much the line of gods who decided to beat up Mitsuzane in the opening can be considered this.
  • Voltaire was hit by this sometime between Hysteria Count 2 and 3 and decides to help behead Mitsuzane on live television.
  • Kairi and Nora were both under partial control of Angela Cross' thief outfit while wearing it.
• Break the Cutie: Ruby Rose gets her heart crushed when she watches Tron get corrupted, which doesn't help when she has flashbacks to Penny's death.
• Brought Down to Normal: The tale coincidences with five of the Princesses of Heart passing their powers to different girls, with only Cinderella and Kairi keeping theirs, at least for the time being. Hence why the proxy are in a rush to bring them together.
• Bullying a Dragon: Penelope attacks Sora with the intent of killing him to spite Bentley. He defeats her easily.
• Call-Forward: Many to The Friendship Asylum. Word of God states that this is because Muse Hysteria is supposed to be read after Friendship Asylum. Case in point:
  • Between Sora and Edward; one is comatose, and the other has to bring the comatose individual to an ally, and then they look after the other with said ally. The comatose person is Edward in "Muse Hysteria", and Sora in "The Friendship Asylum".
  • Both times, Sora was in a form: Halloween Town for "Muse Hysteria", and Space Paranoids for "The Friendship Asylum".
  • Artix notes that the Fashion Zombies aren't nearly as threatening, or fun to slay, than real zombies. An Undead Uprising happens in the next story.
  • Upon seeing Audino in the GUAG Medical Division, Artix is shown to be short of breath and about to faint. It turns out it's due to his fear of pink, which is revealed in "The Friendship Asylum". In the same one, he suggests the Aquabats! to create a pizza delivery service to pay off their debt to Rey Mysterio.
  • During his reconnaissance in Chapter 6, Sora briefly imitates Jeff Hardy (or rather, his Willow persona) and ends up laughing before thinking to himself that the minute he starts laughing like that for real, it's the sign of the apocalypse. Jak, in Sora's body, ends up doing a Laughing Mad routine in the next story which is the harbinger of the Undead Uprising.
• The Cameo:
  • The trio who work with Tron in Act Two are Jinx, Mog, and Grim. However, they're not the same trio Jak knew, because they're programs modeled after them, even retaining their personalities.
  • At the end of the tale, Sly Cooper is seen entering the asylum, unaware that he's about to get corrupted. Other characters include Dipper and Mabel Pines, Jaune Arc and Ash Ketchum (and Pikachu) also preparing to enter the asylum.
  • Louisa Ferre, one of Lucifer's many avatars, makes an appearance at the end of Act Two, where she obtains several blueprints from Penelope.
  • Willy Wonka is among the deities who angrily confront Mitsuzane in the second act.
  • William Shakespeare, the Tenth Doctor, and Charlie Chaplin make cameo appearances near the end of Act Two. The first and third are guards of the House of Theater alongside Mickey, while the second is visiting for a brief Continuity Nod towards "The Shakespeare Code".
  • Riku's Absol makes short cameos in the second and third acts at random moments, but only Jak sees her.
  • Mami Tomoe and Nagisa Momoe are among the people helping Kyoko remove the food from the Pantheonic Wrestling Federation when the Cragmites are summoned.
• Camp: When you have the Aquabats! in your story, you can expect melodrama. Most notably, we have Artix von Krieger exclaiming how there are zombies from the House of Costumes and Personal Appearance as if it was as serious as a real invasion.
• Canon Discontinuity: After a mass rework regarding the lore of the Trope Pantheons, this fic is considered to be non-canon.
• Canon Welding: The Heartless are also present in other universes, but under different names, and how they're created are also given different matters.
  • In Jak's universe, they're the Dark Makers, and anyone exposed to too much Dark Eco becomes one unless they're a descendant of Mar, though in rare cases (such as with Daxter), they instead become ottsels.
  • In Ratchet's universe, they're called Cragmites. They breed like most creatures, but are infamous for destroying worlds and mass genocide, and were often the reason why Summon Gems constantly rained in the pantheon until the lombaxes banished them. They are the dark creatures summoned by the Princesses of Heart here.
• The Caretaker: Mickey takes both Riku and Sora in for protection after the viruses from the Slamwitch begin to take a toll on their heath. Despite his very best at keeping both of them stable, Riku is left in a critical state from salmonellosis and has to be taken to the medical division.
• Cerebus Retcon: The Food Fight and the Slamwitch rampage are played for humor, but the aftermath isn't. A few deities have gotten the so-called "Stuffum Syndrome" from being in contact with the rotten food and/or the minions created from it, with Riku being the worst case.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Wand of Dianthus that Jack holds on him. After the destruction of the Proxy's temple, he and Annie use its powers to hurl the proxy back to the asylum.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Kyoko Sakura is among the angry mob trying to attack Mitsuzane for stealing all their food. She later aids Sora, Donald, and Goofy in their raid, and helps recover the food that hasn't spoilt overnight.
  • Sora spends the first two acts wondering how Kairi is doing with Murray after the Yaoi Fangirls tried to kill her. Kairi is the (first) Unknown Thief who'd been leading the resistance against the proxy.
  • Nora Valkyrie appears in the café at the beginning of Act Three, where she speaks with Sora and Goofy about the food theft from yesterday. She also reveals to Kyoko that the Mystery Gang found the stolen food, and asks herself if that Slamwitch is just the first of many attacks that is to come. She swapped places with Kairi to confuse the proxy, and is the actual identity of the Unknown Thief.
  • While playing just a small role in this tale, Daxter plays a very important role in the next.
• The Chew Toy: Penelope throughout Act Two is in jail, and the ones watching her every move show no restrain in abusing her for her (accidental) treason. Donald makes it very clear that part of their hostile attitude is payback for her actions against Bentley.
• Clothes Make the Maniac: Angela's memories, until before her disappearance with Max Apogee, are tied to her thief outfit, which gives Kairi and Nora some trouble when they are forced to wear it. The only reason why Kairi isn't Brainwashed and Crazy is because of her status as a Princess of Heart.
• Combat Pragmatist: Sora doesn't care for rules when in serious conflict. He demonstrates that by tripping Courtney Gears over a ledge.
• Continuity Nod: The password for the "DTD" being "Sora, Donald, Goofy", rather than the names of the Princesses of Heart. In Kingdom Hearts II, Tron was forced to change the password to prevent the Master Control Program from destroying Hollow Bastion.
• Covered in Gunge: Riku and Sora are both left as this after being eaten, and then vomited out, by the Slamwitch. Both become ill from the contact.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Four members of the proxy are defeated by Nora after she swaps place with Kairi and wears the thief outfit. But Alternate!Gentaro then appears and, thinking that Nora is the final Princess of Heart (because of a slip-up from Sora), calls on the "o' purist of hearts" to create a Door to Darkness and summon the Cragmites... just as Kairi stepped into the castle alongside Jaune, Ren, Artix, Jak, Daxter, and Mickey.
• Damsel in Distress: The Princesses of Heart, by default (though only Cinderella fits this to a T), and any female who gets captured for the "Princess Test", which includes Annie, Radical Ed, Jade, and Bianca.
• Dark Is Evil:
  • The Darkness Proxy, of course. And also the Cragmites, given they are confirmed to be the Heartless in Ratchet's universe, and are also weak against Keyblades.
  • Penelope is also noted to have a strong amount of darkness in her heart, reaching the point where several Heartless spawn to aid her when Sora confronts her in Act Two.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Some of the heroic characters, such as Jak, also fight using darkness.
• Dead Guy on Display: Sora is displayed to the pantheon through television as being captured by the Proxy and Courtney Gears. She's recording his eventual death from vomiting. Thanks to Donald and Goofy, everyone instead sees him rescued and Gears exposed as a traitor.
• Demoted to Dragon: Courtney Gears started off as the main antagonist before focus shifts back to Alternate!Gentaro in Chapter 10. However, Chapter 18 reveals that Gears was The Woman Behind The Man.
• Disney Villain Death: Gears suffers this in Chapter 16.
• Doomed by Canon:
  • The Kamen Rider Club's attempt to infiltrate the asylum will pretty much fail (despite their efforts to go in it).
  • Ruby takes an instant liking to Tron because he's a program with a soul (thanks to his friendship with Sora), and he reminds her of Penny Polendina. Tron is corrupted not long after they met, and worse, Penny is accidently killed by Pyrrha (who's eventually killed herself) in Volume 3.
  • The cooperation of the Magical Girls Sisterhood, shown when some of them help fend off the Cragmites is doomed to go down the drain come the following week, since The White has already started to make their move.
• Downer Ending: See Foregone Conclusion.
• Dragon Ascendant Courtney Gears. She was The Dragon to Dr. Nefarious in her debut; here, she's become the Big Bad.
• Dragon with an Agenda:
  • Courtney Gears has one. While she's the Big Bad here, she is actually carrying out the goal of Dr. Nefarious, which is to kill all organic life forms, and is using the Proxy to achieve this. She's just playing along with the hunt for the Princesses of Heart, hoping to gain control of the Heartless for Nefarious, though she did want revenge against Cinderella. When learning that Sora, the one who saved them the first time around, is unwell, she took sadistic pleasure in torturing him.
  • Penelope was recently kicked out of the GUAG, and accepted an offer from Clu to be his spy for the outside world. However, being The Unfettered, Penelope's intents of making a profit though weapon dealings and overthrowing the Main House means she's more interested in stealing Clu's blueprints and selling them to other villains, having no interest in "perfecting" the pantheon. When Clu decides to side with Tron over the ongoing asylum issue, Penelope betrays them both to Courtney Gears, thinking Clu has outlived his usefulness.
• Dramatic Unmask: The identity of the Unknown Thief is revealed during the second raid on the PWF. It's Nora Valkyrie. The Nora we've been seeing is really Kairi in a hologuise.
• Electric Torture: Gears uses a discharge from her eyes to knock Sora unconscious when she captures him in Act Three.
  Gears: [to her boss] I have a present for you, snoggy woggums.
• Epic Fail: Sora's attempts to restore the TV stations of the Pantheon following Penelope's transmission ended in him accidently playing episodes of Elmo's World, which a few deities have commented as being worse than the gutting video from the previous week.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good
  • Alternate!Gentaro, regardless of his actions in this story and the others in the "Project: Alternate!Gentaro" storyline, can never fully break the spirit of the Pantheon and her deities residing within.
  • Once again, Penelope is unable to grasp True Companions, this time being Sora, Donald, and Goofy. When pointed out how her failure to understand other peoples' feelings was the cause of her downfall, an envious Penelope attacks the trio, who defeat her with ease. She doesn't learn her lesson.
  • Courtney Gears, out of her own genocidal hatred towards organic life forms, believes that The Power of Friendship is weak, and that "friendship" leads to nothing but ruin and hatred.
    Gears: The power of the friendship between Sora, Donald, and Goofy! So feeble, compared to what I'm going to do to you!
    Sora: Let's see if you can fight better than you can sing!
• Evil-Detecting Dog: When a monkey befriended Edward, Ein was very hostile towards it. That's because he knows that the monkey is really under Draven's control.
• Evil Is Hammy: The Darkness Proxy is a lot of things—subtle is not one of them.
• Evil vs. Evil: The subplot with Clu against the proxy. It won't be the last time this happens.
• Extreme Omnivore: The trigger for the Food Fight in the second act is Mitsuzane being framed by the proxy for eating everything in the pantheon. And that includes Jabba the Hutt's maggots and the entire chocolate room in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.
• Eyepatch of Power / Blindfolded Vision: The mask Sora wears over his right eye in his Halloween Town form helps him keep in control after he becomes ill with cholera, since half of his vision is blocked. Sora was also willing to wear a blindfold inside Space Paranoids to avoid getting seizures from the Tron Lines, but got kidnapped before he could zap himself inside.
  • Ruby is given a blindfold to wear inside the computer should the Tron Lines inside make her dizzy. She faints from the lines, and decides to put it on, even though she'll have to resort to sound and vibration to fight. She lampshades her sudden handicap, though by the events of "Diamond Adventure! The Dark Mystery", she had gotten used to the lights.
  Ruby: Stupid eye coverers. How did Riku even put up with this?
  Tron: Maybe you should ask him yourself if you see him.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Gears tried to use her good looks to her advantage, but the testimonies of Ratchet and Clank (and Aqua) made her true evil nature well-known among the pantheon. Some deities were convinced that she can one day pull a Heel–Face Turn, but the captures of the Princesses of Heart, and her kidnapping and torturing Sora convinced them otherwise.
• Feed It with Fire: It is revealed that Gears had tried to kidnap Nora during Act Two, but couldn't stun her because of Nora's Semblance, which powers her up whenever she is hit by electricity (which is also a No-Sell to her).
• Fighting Your Friend: It looks like Sora will be fighting Rinzler again (as the other option is becoming corrupted himself), but nope! He attacks the one who corrupted him, instead.
• Final Boss: Emperor Percival Tachyon is summoned in the climax, and is fought by the heroes.
• Fisticuff-Provoking Comment: Riku punches Penelope when she tries to downplay her role in the rise of the Proxy.
• Flashback: When Tron is corrupted, a helpless Ruby is also forced to relive Penny's death through terrifying flashbacks.
• Food Fight: One of this is the main focus of Act 2.
• Foregone Conclusion: The Proxy will not be defeated here, Penelope escapes to profit from Homura's usurpation, Courtney Gears will set her plans in motion, and both Sora and Jak are Doomed by Canon.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The Thief isn't clumsy or threatening compared to how she was in Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, and has great interest in Sora. These are hints on her being Nora rather than Angela.
  • Nora makes a mention on how silly these rampages have been after the Slamwitch incident, and would love to see a real challenge one day. Cue the Iron Giant just a week later.
  • Absol appears as a cameo in Act Three, when she appears outside the Proxy's Castle as a sign of bad things to come for the pantheon. Only Jak sees her, however.
  • Donald Duck burns a Courtney Gears musical lunchbox out of his hatred towards her. Gears and her dancers would get killed by a firebomb in "The Friendship Asylum".
  • Sora is aware that the Cragmites are Heartless that originate in the universe where Ratchet and Clank come from, and were implied to have been created as a result of the Keyblade War. This foreshadows a plot point regarding Maleficent in Rainbow Rivalries.
• For the Evulz: Gears' motivation to publicly torture Sora and break Ruby's heart: sadism.
• Frame-Up:
  • Gears corrupts Tron in front of Ruby to make it look like Clu is in alliance with the proxy, but Ruby is convinced that Tron was murdered instead, given Penny's death.
  • Kamen Rider Decade also takes on the forms of Xaldin and Ghetsis to make it look like they are in league with the proxy. However, their names are cleared by the end.
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Sora is seen in his Halloween Town outfit in Act Three, having triggered the forms to apply while in the middle of a Mushroom Samba. The outfit does not affect his behavior, but several gods treat him, Donald, and Goofy (who are also transformed) differently, either with fear or with hostile, when they see the trio.
  • Mummy: Donald Duck's Halloween Town form.
  • Frankenstein's Monster: Goofy's Halloween Town form.
• From Bad to Worse:
  • After successfully gathering the Seven Hearts of Pure Light, the Proxy use them to bring up a miniature Door to Darkness and summon the Cragmites.
  • The third act is not kind to Sora due to his illness. He starts off just a bit dizzy, but eventually starts vomiting due to the stress of running around the pantheon with a comatose Edward. He fights the Cragmites, but they overpower him, forcing Sora to use Trinity Limit to defeat them at the cost of all his energy. Then he is kidnapped, bound and gagged, and is exposed to very bright Tron Lines that ultimately cause his health to fail and sends him into shock.
• Game-Breaking Injury: As mentioned several times here, Sora cannot directly fight the proxy and save Kairi after the Slamwitch rendered him ill and weak against Tron Lines, and falling into a Mushroom Samba.
• The Ghost: Murray Hippo in this tale. Sora mentions to Carmelita Fox that Kairi is safe and that if the proxy were to kidnap her, "The Murray" would quickly deal with them.
  • Same with Elena, who gets one or two references due to the fact that she's suffering a Heroic BSoD over her friend's turn into darkness.
  • Xerneas and Yveltal are mentioned by Tron in his warning lecture to Ruby, mentioning their entities as the beings of life and destruction makes them valuable targets of the Darkness Proxy; Geomancy can inflict a Fate Worse than Death, and Oblivion Wing turns victims into stone. Not to mention what Lysandre tried to do with them.
  • When the proxy summon the Cragmites, Donald mentions Emperor Percival Tachyon, and implies that he is the real ringleader behind the proxy. Tachyon is the Final Boss of the tale.
  • Rey Mysterio is mentioned in Act 2 by the Aquabats! (who owe money for the luchador for accidentally destroying his sword collection) and note that he's currently in some underground Aztec temple.
  • Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long all get mentioned by Ruby at separate times, but none of them appear. Originally, Blake and Yang were suppose to go into Space Paranoids alongside Ruby, but they were written out because of their fates in Volume 3 (Blake ran away, and Yang lost her arm).
• Good Is Not Soft: Cinderella, upon escaping the asylum, has several crows peck out the eyes of Courtney Gears' two dancers in retaliation for her kidnapping.
• Gone Horribly Right: The Princesses of Heart summoning Tachyon, who quickly overpowers the Proxy and tries to destroy the Pantheon with his Cragmite army.
• Gross-Out Episode: Starting with Chapter 11, the plot takes a level in grossness, with Gramma Stuffum and her food minions, partially the Slamwitch, being a noticeable example.
• Guest-Star Party Member:
  • Sora's heist on the PWF has him, Donald, and Goofy joined by Kyoko Sakura and Ein at separate moments.
  • Clank joins Sora for one battle against the Cragmites after the proxy succeeded in getting Kairi's heart.
  • When Ruby Rose enters Space Paranoids, Tron joins her as a party member.
  • For a brief moment, Kairi was a guest character of Team JNPR. Naturally, Ren and Nora speak about if they were Team JNKR (Junker) or Team KRNJ (Cringe) during the team-up.
• Guilt by Association Gag: Because Penelope unwittingly helped the proxy with ruining Mitsuzane's reputation, she's treated with hostility by everyone else.
• Handicapped Badass: Sora fights Courtney Gears while in an ill state and ready to vomit at any minute, and with vision in one eye blocked by his mask. He doesn't give in to his disease until Gears is defeated.
• Hate at First Sight: Sora and Riku both meet Penelope for the first time in the tale, and both of them attack her right away. Justified, as they're allies with the Cooper Gang, and she just confessed to broadcasting the gutting video that started the while mess.
• The Heartless: The proxy has consuming the hearts of everyone in the pantheon as a goal, and decide to open the Door to Darkness to bring the Heartless in. They were brought in, alright. Just not the Heartless that we're used to.
• Heroic BSoD: The fact that Riku has been left critically ill from the Food Fight, and Kairi is being persecuted by the Proxy, has left Sora in a state of sadness, blaming himself for not doing enough to stop the proxy, especially after learning about Edward's fate.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Edward allows herself to be captured to save Aurora after they were lured into a trap by Draven's robotic monkey. The proxy mistook her for Kairi because of her appearance, and placed her in stasis alongside Snow White.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: The Running Gag where The Doctor never sees Sora outside the latter's Halloween Town form is introduced here. Ten hears Sora crash into a bar, but only finds an unconscious Riku on the ground. He sees Sora the following day, but by then, the Keybearer is transformed.
• Hidden Depths: Daxter is surprisingly quick to pick up on the thief's charade, and is the first to notice Nora being out-of character. This contrasts with short-tempered Donald, and naïve Clank.
• History Repeats: The battle between Sora and Rinzler is almost repeated because of the actions of Courtney Gears; she even offers to release Rinzler in exchange for Sora becoming corrupted, just like Clu did in the first battle when he demands the Keyblade. Instead, Sora attacks Gears in anger, determined not to allow history to repeat.
  • The events around this are identical to Ratchet's battle with Gears. Sora, like Skidd McMarxx, was kidnapped by Gears, with a duo (in this case Donald and Goofy) following her into her lair, where her victim is found in a horrid state (Skidd was turned into a robot, while Sora was dying from his illness after Gears brightened her temple).
  • Once again, a group of villains go after the Princesses of Heart, but unlike the first time, everyone knew what was going on, and worked hard to make sure that they are not used for evil reasons. They fail, and the Cragmites are summoned from a mini Door to Darkness.
  • Again, the Cragmites are freed from their dimension prison and attack everyone out of spite.
• Homage: The tale shares its core plot with one of the major plots in Kingdom Hearts, while also playing a lot of shout outs towards Ratchet & Clank.
• Hostage Situation: Courtney Gears takes an unwell Sora as her hostage towards the end of the tale. Though rather than use him as a negotiation chip, she instead intends to send him into The Grid to die at the hands of Rinzler. She's foiled by the combined work of Donald, Goofy, and Carmelita.
• HP to One: Sora is reduced to just 1HP when he uses up all of his MP to use Trinity Limit against the Cragmites. Before MP Charge finishes to allow the use of Curaga, Courtney Gears attacks him to knock him out and kidnap him.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Gender inverted with Sora, who is captured by Courtney Gears in Act Three, and she acts... strange around him despite her hatred of organic life forms.
• Involuntary Shapeshifting: Sora is stuck in his Halloween Town form throughout Act Three. Same goes for Donald, Goofy, and Kyoko. This surprises all four of them, as they never transformed outside of HT before.
• It's All My Fault: Ruby is seriously traumatized when she witnesses Tron get captured by Courtney Gears, especially as she was just getting to view him as a friend as he reminds her of Penny Polendina. Ruby spends the rest of the tale, and most of the next thinking Tron was killed, and blames herself for letting this happen, which also shows how she is still badly effected by Penny's own death.
  • It's subtle, but Pinkie Pie somewhat blames herself for the creation of the Darkness Proxy.
  • Naturally, Sora blames himself for becoming ill and being forced to the sidelines as Kairi is captured by the Darkness Proxy to summon Tachyon and the Cragmites. This is part of the reason why he, or rather his possessed self, is a revenged-obsessed Anti-Villain in the next tale.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Gears opts to leave Sora gagged after learning that he is ill and may vomit at any moment. To hasten his eventual demise, she even brightens up the lights in her lair.
  • Among those who were brainwashed into attacking Mitsuzane in Act One was an entire flock of Swablu and Altaria.
  • The proxy steal all the food in the pantheon, and frame Mitsuzane for the theft, causing a riot that lead to the summoning of the Slamwitch. It's implied that the proxy wanted to create a Slamwitch army with the stolen food, explaining why Donald was later forced to burn the food.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Gears waits until Sora uses Trinity Limit to attack and kidnap him. And upon realizing he is ill, she gags him and tries to induce vomiting out of sadism.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Kairi being a Princess of Heart, Jak being Prince Mar and Daxter being a Precursor, Rinzler's true identity, and the deaths of Pyrrha and Penny are openly spoken in this tale.
• Light Is Not Good: Courtney Gears' temple, based on her battle field in her origin game, is light (and pink) themed, which does not mix with Sora's vampire outfit during their battle in the climax. The lights even worsened his illness, and he would've died had Donald and Goofy not rescued him.
• Like Brother and Sister: Radical Ed describes Sora as being like an older brother, despite the two having just met. Oddly, Ed never asks on why Sora was in her temple in the first place (he just rescued her from the proxy and erased her memories).
• Limit Break: Donald and Goofy perform their limits at various points in Act Three. Duck Flare was used against Humongous and some crystal minions, while Knocksmash was used against Courtney Gears. Donald is eventually forced to use Zettaflare against Tachyon if it means sending him back to his prison dimension, which knocks them both out.
• Little "No": From the House of Technology, Sora can only mutter a small "no" when he realizes that Kairi was captured, and has unwillingly helped summon the Cragmites.
• Magic Wand: The Wand of Dianthus in Jack's care...and a very powerful one at that. So powerful that it's the only thing that could (temporarily) stop the Darkness Proxy at the end of the story.
• Meaningful Echo: Alternate!Gentaro meets Jack and taunts the boy by saying, "You're just a kid, what can you do to stop me?" Come the end of the story before Jack uses the Wand of Dianthus...
  Jack: I'm just a kid and THIS IS WHAT I CAN DO TO STOP YOU!!!
  • And then, "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!!", which is said by Nora twice in Act Three; first, when she cameoed in Count 15, and later, when she easily defeated four of the Darkness Proxy in their own castle in Count 17.
• Merchandise-Driven: In-universe. A lot of merchandise related to Courtney Gears is confiscated by Carmelita Fox following the kidnapping of Cinderella, due to Satoko pinning her as a suspect. Among these includes some albums and a lunchbox, which Donald quickly burns out of spite.
• Mistaken Confession: Penelope hijacks the transmitters in the House of Theater to tell the pantheon that her helping the proxy was an accident. She only confirms her involvement before Sora, Donald and Goofy (all friends of Bentley) budge in and attack her.
• Mistaken Identity:
  • The proxy mistook Edward for Kairi because of her being a 14-year-old tomboyish red-haired girl in a white shirt, like how Kairi was at age 14.
  • Ruby's Tron Lines are red despite her being in the GUAG. Naturally, she's mistaken for being in league with the Master Control Program, and even after Tron proves her innocence, the other programs remain suspicious of her motivations.
• Musical Episode:
  • One of the few tales to be music-oriented. Featured songs include "Hello, Little Girl", "The Headless Waltz", "Fashion Zombies", and "Grandma Stuffum's Food Song/Slamwitch. Lyrics from "Leaving Tonight" show when Matt Hardy and some of the wrestlers search through the Proxy's temple and "Still Alive" during a montage of gods prior to the start of Muse Hysteria.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The battle with Courtney Gears is very identical to her boss battle in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, with the only differences being the combatants (Sora, Donald and Goofy instead of Ratchet) the destruction of her cages through Goofy's Knocksmash, and the lack of the backup dancers.
    • Heck, the prelude to the battle is homages to three different battles in both franchises. Gears' lines to a Bound and Gagged Sora are similar to what Clu says before the battle with Rinzler in Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], and she attacks him as well as what happens after said battle. When she is confronted by his friends, Donald yells "Come out! You can't run!", the exact same words he said to Ursula before the first boss battle with her in the original game. And when the battle is about to begin, Sora says the exact same Pre Ass Kicking One Liner that Ratchet used in his battle against her ("Let's see if you can fight better than you can sing!").
  • Sora points out that the inside of the Slamwitch smells like the food found at Captain Qwark's fan gatherings. In Ratchet: Deadlocked, Qwark left some custard from said meetings when Ratchet was a no-show to three of them.
  • Donald Duck even shows his skills with technology when he takes control of Humongous. However, it explodes before he could really take a level in badass.
  • In Chapter 16, Ruby makes a mention on how someone keeps on sending Weiss poisoned apples.
  • When they are kept in stasis, the position of the Princesses of Heart are exactly the same as in the first Kingdom Hearts game. Going towards the back of the room are Snow White, Alice, and Belle to the left, and Jasmine, Cinderella, and Aurora to the right (with Edward temporary in Aurora's spot). Kairi isn't placed in the middle this time, however.
  • Voltaire notes to Artix that his shoe's untied. Where Artix comes from, every single Paladin has fallen for that trick (Artix is no exception).
  • The Disney deities, and Daxter, tend to call Courtney Gears a "glitch" out of disrespect towards her. In Wreck-It Ralph, King Candy, aka, Turbo uses the exact same insult on Vanellope. However, we never see any character from their film encounter Gears or speak about her.
  • There are plenty of references to the Aquabats! Mythos. The intro to Chapter 3 begins as "Somewhere, in the House of Music...", and MC Batcommander notes that the Aquabats! like to celebrate "Pizza Friday" in Chapter 12 (the name of one of their songs) while Eaglebones and Ricky Fitness don't see what the big deal is (because the two became part of the band after the Aquabats! left their Ska days behind them).
  • Yugi plays around with a monkey robot and mentally notes to kick Noah's ass for the Virtual World arc—Tristan's mind was placed inside a monkey robot in the anime.
  • Kyoko's Halloween Town form is the outfit she wears in the "A Magical Girl Troupe for a Day" storyline in Magia Record.

N - Z

• Nice Mean And In Between: Clank is nice and naïve. Donald is mean because of his legendary short-temper. Daxter is in-between, and also savvy.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Apparently, Sora had promised Team JNPR he'd find something for them. The next tale hints that he's looking for Pyrrha's Summon Gem.
  • It is only an offhand remark, but Sora once fell ill after he ate sushi that was intended for Murray.
  • Whatever happened between The Aquabats! and Big Time Rush's hockey game on the previous Friday the 13th that ended up with them destroying Rey Mysterio's prized sword collection and had the luchador chasing after the two bands in a go-kart armed with a Blue Shell in retaliation.
  • It is mentioned that Blake Belladonna was once forced to take part in a Light Cycle match in The Grid. We don't get much details on what happened, but we know that she escaped. Tron even mentions her, implying a prior meeting.
  • Daxter and Donald mention at separate moments that this isn't the first time Cragmites have gotten into the pantheon. Both outright state that Emperor Tachyon had tried to destroy the pantheon with the Cragmites, but they were defeated and banished by the Princesses of Heart.
• No One Could Survive That!: The Darkness Proxy are shown to be fine despite their temple being destroyed into crystal shards in Act 3. They're still susceptible to being blown back to the asylum though.
• Not Me This Time:
  • As soon as Cinderella is captured early in Act One, the entire pantheon imminently blames her evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine, for the kidnapping and for being allies with the proxy. It doesn't help that Courtney Gears is one of her allies.
  • Penelope is accused of working with the proxy, and the second she confesses to her accidental broadcast, Sora busts in and ambushes her. Neither he or his friends ever believe she's innocent.
• Note to Self: Yugi makes a mental note to beat Noah up for the shit Noah did during the Virtual Reality Arc.
• Offscreen Crash: Near the end of Act Two, an unconscious Riku ends up crashing into a bar inside the House of Theater's railway station when Sora faints from fatigue. We only hear the crash because we're at a completely random scene with Shakespeare and the Tenth Doctor (who doesn't see Sora).
• Oh, Crap!: Many, many times.
  • Matt Hardy gets into this when he finds that someone summoned Jeff's other persona, his Anti-Christ form.
  • While waking up to find himself in vampire garb surprised Sora, especially since neither he nor Donald casted the transformation spell, he's more shocked over how the spell affected other people, including the Cooper Gang and Kyoko Sakura.
  • Donald and Goofy get this reaction when they realize that Sora's life may be in danger from being exposed to the pink Tron Lines all over Gears' temple, after one of them falls dizzy.
  • Daxter gives out a Big "NO!" when Kairi loses her heart. He gives out an even bigger "No" when a Door to Darkness appears and allows the Cragmites to invade the pantheon.
  • The Darkness Proxy have this look when they see Nora reveal herself as the Unknown Thief.
    Willow!Jeff: You....you're....fuck.
  • They later have one when Jack and Annie hurl them back to the asylum.
• One-Hit Kill: Since the Cragmites are Heartless originating from Ratchet's universe, they're weak against the Keyblade. It only takes one swing for Sora to kill them, and it is implied that if he was well, he'd probably slay a thousand Cragmites if it means saving Kairi from Tachyon.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Cinderella is normally The Pollyanna, but when Radical Ed warns her about the Darkness Proxy, she's on high alert and barricades the doors to her temple alongside Jaq and Gus, refusing to allow anyone, even Satoko, inside. It's heavily implied to be caused by PTSD from the Cursed Coach incident and Maleficent abducting her.
• Pass the Popcorn:
  • Uncle Howee munches on a box of popcorn as he watches Voltaire and Artix fight. Lampshaded by Crash who asks if Howee was going to share.
  • Lampshaded again by Voltaire who mutters "This is going to be good" and about to eat pizza as he sees Artix freaking out over Audino.
• People Jars: The Princesses of Heart, Edward, and Bianca are placed in these upon their capture to prevent them from escaping. Like in Kingdom Hearts, all of them are put to sleep.
• Pink Means Feminine: Gears' temple in the House of Music is almost completely pink. Goofy even mentions that Artix would have a heart attack if he ever had to put a foot into it, while Donald mentions how he's constantly dizzy from the pink Tron Lines... then remembers that Sora can't be exposed to bright lights.
• Post-Victory Collapse: The minute he defeats Courtney Gears, Sora finally succumbs to cholera, and has to be taken to the medical division for a gastric lavage.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Sora to Courtney Gears: "Let's see if you can fight better than you can sing!"
• Prequel: To The Friendship Asylum with Word of God stating that this should be read after TFA.
• Prince and Pauper: Kairi and Edward are mistaken for each other by Alternate!Gentaro, and after they realize this, they agree to keep up the charade to confuse him. To Alternate!Gentaro, Edward is the red-haired Keybearer, and Kairi is the hacker girl.
• Properly Paranoid: Artix notes that Courtney Gears is "absolutely evil" when she's mentioned in Act 2 (but it's more so because she likes pink and he's afraid of it). As it turns out, he's right on the money.
• Public Bathhouse Scene: Japanese public baths called onsen appear in Count 12, with at least one in Nature (Fire and Lightning), another in Prophecy, and a few others mentioned in other houses. Riku nearly drowns in Prophecy's onsen.
• Punny Title: The title is a play on "Mass Hysteria", which is what happens in the Pantheon upon learning that Alternate!Gentaro has obtained the Princesses of Heart.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: How Jack and Annie use the Wand of Dianthus's power.
  Jack and Annie: Send. Them (the Darkness Proxy). To. The. ASYLUM!
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Invoked. Ruby's armor in Space Paranoids is black with red Tron Lines, causing the other programs to mistake her as a villain in league with either the Master Control Program or Clu.
• Rule of Pool: Before she gets captured, every time Bianca appears, expect someone to end up drenched in water.
• Running Gag:
  • Artix monologuing to himself that ends with a question, followed by Audino going "Audino" in response.
  • Penelope's obsession with money.
• Ruptured Appendix: It's implied that Riku suffered an appendix burst after his encounter with the Slamwitch.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Cinderella is the first of the Princesses of Heart to be abducted, as by targeting her first, everyone would assume Lady Tremaine is taking revenge.
• Sacrificial Lion: The entire story starts to take a darker turn when Tron is abducted and corrupted back into Rinzler. This spirals into disaster after disaster that causes Kyubey to revive the Witch System, create XANA-Sora and Akuma Homura, and destroy Jak's heart.
• Sadist: The climax shows Courtney Gears at this trope full time, where she decides to torture an unwell Sora with his current weakness (lights) while leaving him gagged. Even after his friends reach him, she still tried to warp them into The Grid, with Rinzler waiting to cut them down.
• Samus Is a Girl:
  • The Unknown Thief is believed to be a Princess of Heart. Unlike most examples, she kept her mask on after this reveal to prevent the proxy from learning that she's Nora, who's swapped places with Kairi.
  • Komory Bat is also stated to be a female in the narration.
• Save This Person, Save the World: The main plot is to protect the Princesses of Heart from being used by the Darkness Proxy. All are captured anyway, despite the best efforts of the pantheon, and the proxy use their hearts to summon the Cragmites.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: The Kamen Rider Club raid the the asylum to prevent Alternate!Gentaro from capturing more Princesses of Heart and destroy whatever plans they have for them. Not only this fails, but the asylum is angered, and it's hinted that it wouldn't have stopped the Proxy from capturing the Princesses of Heart anyway.
• Ship Teasing: Between Ruby and Tron during the second act, despite their age differences (Ruby is 15, while Tron is 34 normal years/~1,500 Grid years). Also counts as a robosexual ship tease, as Ruby is an organic life form, and Tron is a program.
• Shout-Out:
  • Cinderella sending a murder of crows to peck out the eyes of Courtney Gears' two dancers. She did this to her stepsisters in one canon.
  • Sora spends some time guarding Edward from the proxy in her temple. Just after he leaves, he is ambushed by Courtney Gears, tied up and gagged, and taken to the House of Music to endure her rant on his failure to save his friends.
  • Jack and Annie end up getting ejected from Yayoi Kise's comic after time suddenly stopped for everyone but them.
  • Courtney Gears learns that someone in her "custody" is dying, and decides to hasten his death while gloating.
• Sickbed Slaying: Defied. Riku can take care of himself from a hospital bed when the Cragmites appear, albeit, with Komory Bat's help.
• Sick Episode: The second half of the tale is this for Riku.
• Spanner in the Works: Jack ends up saving the day since Alternate!Gentaro didn't see the boy as a threat (and he was more interested in his sister for being a potential Princess of Heart). Jack's use of the Wand of Dianthus, along with Annie, sends the Proxy back to the asylum at the end of the tale.
• Spotting the Thread: Daxter figures out that Nora is an imposter because she's unusually quiet.
• The Starscream: Courtney Gears has plans to betray the Darkness Proxy. She was unavailable at that moment because of her Disney Villain Death, so she has her dancers pull this off in her steed.
• Stuff Blowing Up: The Darkness Proxy's castle is partly destroyed in the climax after Gears' dancers betray them and rig the place with explosives, leaving everyone inside to die.
• Suddenly Speaking: Humongous only says "Who Goes" in his origin film and in "The Friendship Asylum"; here, he speaks in full sentences.
• Take That!:
  • Sora accidently plays Elmo's World while trying to restore the TV transmitter following Penelope's broadcast. Many deities responded that the gutting video with Mitsuzane was more tolerable.
  • After the Bar Brawl Food Fight, Goofy finds several boxes full of Courtney Gears merchandise, including a lunch box that Donald burns it with a Fire spell. Although there is a justification in that she's a well-known criminal mastermind and robot supremist, it also comes across as a snipe at sitcoms, films, and singers with tons of merchandise, but poor reception outside a target audience of young children or teenage girls.
• Tentacle Rope: A variation of this trope involves dark vines summoned by Eric Draven, which tie up Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ein to corrupt them, though the Unknown Thief (Nora Valkyrie) rescues them in time.
• The Usurper: Nora briefly takes over the crystal castle after defeating most of the proxy in the beginning of the climax, before losing it to Emperor Tachyon.
  Nora: I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!!
• 13 Is Unlucky: The final act occurs on Friday the 13th, which is a day where the luck of all gods is affected through a special lottery in the House of Luck and Fortune.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Gordon Ramsay has this expression upon seeing that most of the gods in the House of Food have been poisoned by the Slamwitch.
  Ramsay: Oh f— me....
• This Is Unforgivable!:
  • By the climax, Sora learns of the various crimes committed by Courtney Gears, and fights her. She only gets worse, and by the end of "The Friendship Asylum", Sora really wants to destroy her, causing Goofy to compare his rage to Jak's hatred towards Baron Praxis.
  • Ratchet and Clank both get involved with trying to stop the proxy after seeing a whole flock of Swablu and Altaria be corrupted, which they consider a sign that nobody is safe from Alternate!Gentaro's wrath.
• Those Two Guys:
  • The story subverts this for Donald and Goofy, as there have been moments with only one of them. For example, only Goofy was present in the House of Otherness after the Slamwitch's rampage. Donald gets several moments of his, such as defeating Humongous on his own.
  • Played straight with Jinx, Mog, and Grim, who are always seen together.
• Titled After the Song: Aside from the story itself, many of the chapters are named after songs.
• Too Awesome to Use: The Wand of Dianthus, which is why Annie notes to Jack to save it when she gets captured. Sure it can be used to do anything the siblings ask it to do but it has a few drawbacks: 1. It can only be used for good intentions and after all available options are taken, 2. It has a one-shot use before it can be used again (there's never a consistent time since it is used once "per mission" in Jack and Annie's series) and 3. The command can only be exactly five words so Jack and Annie have to be wise about what they can use it for. Instead of making the Darkness Proxy back to normal, the kids can only send them to the asylum to prevent any more damage.
• Too Dumb to Fool: Goofy is the only one of the group to see that Artix fears pink, though the only comment on it is how Artix would have a heart attack if he ever enters the Obani Draco replica that serves as the temple for Courtney Gears.
• Took a Level in Jerkass
  • Kairi and Nora can't keep in control of their emotions while in the thief outfit because of Angela's memories being attached to it. This is shown as many of their thoughts contradict whatever they (or Angela) say. Once she is finally able to take it off, Kairi is glad that she is no longer under partial control, while Nora says that it just feels weird to have someone else take control of you in some fashion.
  • It is heavily implied that Courtney Gears did not take her defeat at the hands of Ratchet very well, as her alliance with Dr. Nefarious left her disgraced. She's become more power hungry, allying herself with any villain with the intention of becoming The Starscream to finish off Nefarious' goals, and has attracted the Heartless, some of whom she used to bait Sora into her trap.
• Tron Lines: Ruby Rose's circuitry color is revealed to be red as opposed to cyan, like the rest of the GUAG. Naturally, the other programs mistake her as part of the GUAE, even after Tron explains to them that she's a user.
• Underestimating Badassery: Alternate!Gentaro didn't think that Jack was going to do serious damage, and focused on getting his sister instead. Heck many of the other gods don't consider Jack strong and instead have him in the sidelines for his protection. Jack and Annie show everyone up by being the only gods capable of causing damage to the proxy by sending them back to the asylum. Lampshaded by Nathan Drake later on, when he learns that the two are actually apprentices to Merlin:
  Nathan: [with sarcasm] Of course you two would be the ones with unbelievable power.
• Victimized Bystander: Early on Thursday, the Darkness Proxy become desperate to find the unknown Princess of Heart, and began to abduct random girls from around the pantheon to perform a "Princess Test" on them. This includes girls like Annie, Jade, and Radical Ed
• Villain with Good Publicity: Some deities outside the GUAE didn't realize that Courtney Gears was, deep down, a sadistic monster willing to side with any villains for her own pleasure; they just see her as a Britney Spears/Koda Kumi esque pop star who's known for more than just her singing. By the end of the next tale, her good publicity is gone, and she's a fugitive on the run.
• The Voiceless: Riku spends a good portion of the second half of the tale mute while recovering from the salmonellosis that almost claimed his life.
• Voices Are Mental: Kairi retains her own voice when posing as Nora with a hologuise, despite the fact that when Ratchet used the same device to pose as Dr. Nefarious, he was able to change his voice to match. Averted with Decade when he poses as Xaldin.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting:
  • In his corrupted state, Kamen Rider Decade has the ability to take on the forms of others, which he uses to trick his enemies. First, he takes on the form of Xaldin to kidnap Snow White, Edward, and Belle, and later takes on the form of Ghetsis to kidnap Bianca. He continues to do this in The Friendship Asylum, where he takes on the form of Seth Rollins during his battle with Murray Hippo and Tron.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: Riku ended up vomiting off-screen at the end of Act Two after accidently swallowing the "juices" inside the Slamwitch in Count 11. He eventually vomits onscreen in Count 18.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Sora, on the other hand, vomited onscreen in Counts 17 and 18, as well as offscreen in Count 13.
• Vulgar Humor: Deconstructed in-universe through the "Stuffum Syndrome", which is a serve case of food poisoning that comes from contact with Gramma Stuffum's "food". The illness provided to be fictional, with the two victims actually ill with cholera or salmonellosis.
• War for Fun and Profit: Riku reveals in a list that Penelope has been selling weapon blueprints to villains to make a profit, and that's one of the reasons why she ends up arrested. She escapes during the Slamwitch rampage to continue her dealings in the next three tales before losing all of her money to Akuma Homura in The Pantheonic Rebellion.
• We Need a Distraction: The main reason behind Gramma Stuffum's Food Fight Rock Opera, and then the Slamwitch, was because Decade wanted a distraction so that no one would stop the proxy from kidnapping Bianca (though she later escaped and got recaptured the next day) and Alice.
• We Win, Because You Didn't: The Princesses of Heart are freed, foiling the Proxy's plans, but they're still sent to the asylum.
• White-Collar Crime: Clu hired Penelope to be his eyes outside the computer, but has no idea that she's been stealing some of his blueprints and selling them to other villains such as Melkor, Snork, Gleeman Vox, Red Skull, The Corpus, Judge Doom, Louisa Ferre, Zoran Lazarević, Nikita Dragovich, The Helghast, Sundowner, or anyone else with money.
• Who Forgot The Lights?: The lights in the test lab were off when Sora and Ein went in, to prevent them from spotting the captured Princesses of Heart (and taking advantage of Sora's illness and blocked vision from his eyepatch). Ein had to guide Sora to Radical Ed by following her scent and calling him over with barks.
• Who's on First?: Artix gets into this with Audino a couple of times, not helping is that Audino is pink (which Artix has a fear of).
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Artix fears pink, as shown with his encounters with Audino.
• Wimp Fight: Minutes before the F.O.O.D.F.I.T.E, Tron and Clu try to get into contact with Carmelita at the same time. When they notice each other, they just bicker like school children before Artix tells them both to knock it off.
• With My Hands Tied: Once Sora learns that Tachyon has returned to the pantheon, he attacks Gears' backup dancers in rage and attempts to make his escape despite being bound and gagged. He only fails when Gears brightens her temple to weaken him.
• Would Hurt a Child: The Proxy has no problems having little girls tested to see if they're Princesses of Heart. Ranging from 7 (Annie), to 12 (Jade) to 14 (Ed)
  • Gears also holds no problems with letting a 16-year-old (Sora) chock to death from his own vomit because he was gagged.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: What the backup dancers attempt to do to the Darkness Proxy at the end.
• Your Days Are Numbered: By the time Ruby enters Space Paranoids, Tron is already in the early stages of a virus corruption. He even shows his disc to Ruby as proof that he'll succumb any moment now.
• You Remind Me of X: Ruby doesn't fail to point out that Tron is quite similar to Penny Polendina, including their deaths at the hands of Pyrrha and Clu (even if Penny's death was an accident compared to Tron being murdered).
• You Shall Not Pass!: A wolf Heartless called Sköll^note Hans attempts to set Alternate!Gentaro free from the asylum, but Jak and Daxter were present nearly, and defeat him to protect their friends. Unfortunatly, because the other Kamen Riders were already inside, the attempt fails.
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!:
  • Just saying that Ben Tennyson, as Rath, gutting Mitsuzane as Penelope watches in horror is an understatement. The real kicker is that half of the pantheon is waiting in line in full anger, waiting for their turn to gut him (though brainwashing is implied to be involved).
  • The tale hints that Sora, who's almost always cheerful and helping to others, is very dangerous when angered as well. Dozens of Cragmites would learn the hard way to not piss him off when he finds out that Kairi was captured.

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