Kyle's eyes flashed open. He flailed his arms around in a blind stupor, trying to find his senses. He waved his hand in front of his face, but all he could see was an endless veil of blackness, covered with flashing white lights. Only silence, darkness, and emptiness surrounded him, making him once again feel quite alone. The memories of losing everything that had made him feel right in the world, his family, flooded back again, breaking the psychological barrier he had put up to protect himself. He had unknowingly imprisoned his consciousness in quite a secure psychological fortress over time. Slowly, being around others was breaching those walls. Whether this was good or bad he would have to wait to find out.

He stumbled to his feet, but without a sense of balance he fell flat on his face again. Suddenly he felt a presence over him. He looked up, and an image of pure fear was imprinted upon the blackness pulled over his eyes. Psuedo stood there, towering over him, in al his unholy glory. He snarled a vicious smile that could curdle milk. "Seems as if Miss Sleeping Beauty has awoke. It's about time, too."

He slowly descended the void of blackness, as if descending an invisible set of stairs, until he was right before him. Kyle could smell the pungent odor of his being and had to turn away slightly to avoid throwing up right then and there. He looked directly into Psuedo's piercing eyes. "What the hell do you want you no-good piece of..." Psuedo held out his index finger and lay it over Kyle's mouth, preventing him from uttering any words he may regret later on.

"Shush, now... let's not be too hasty. There is no need for such words. After all, the war is over."

Kyle's jaw dropped and he stumbled backward. Psuedo sneered again. "Yes, that's right. While all your friends were putting up a valiant effort to thwart my plans of global destruction and universal domination, you were lying here taking a nap. Boy, they could have used your help. In fact, if you had shown up, there might have actually been a chance for victory. It was down to just me and your good buddy Multex. We were neck and neck, both of equal strength and equal stamina. We were both just about spent when I mentioned to him 'Where is your dear friend Kyle in all of this?' With that, he stopped his attack and thought about my question. He realized that you had betrayed him, had been a spy all along and had been feeding me with information regarding their progress and positions. 'How do you think I planned all those surprise attacks?' I asked him. That's when I won the battle. He realized how vain it was to go on, and admitted defeat."

Kyle yelled in fury and charged Psuedo. Psuedo held out a hand and knocked the mortal human back onto the ground, grinning like the fool he was. "You lying sack of puke!! I would never betray my friends!!"

Psuedo smiled again. "Of course you wouldn't, dear boy... but how would they know? So you see, there is no need to resist me anymore, seeing as how everyone that opposes me is dead or dying. Unless... you'd prefer to join them?" He pulled a sword from a sheath at his side and placed the tip right against Kyle's jugular, putting pressure on the blade lightly until it produced a trickle of blood running down Kyle's neck.

Kyle gulped and fell on his hands and knees. "What about... Koi?" Oh, she joined me as well. She, was one of the last surviving at the end, and knew that the sensible thing to do was to live, and to do that she had to join me."

Psuedo waved a hand through the blackness, and an image of Koi, Kyle's love, appeared in the distance. "Kyle, please! I need you! Join Psuedo so that we can once again be together!"

She disappeared and appeared right next to him. Draping her hands around his neck, she leaned against him and whispered in his ear. "Ever since that kiss underwater, I can't stop thinking about you, Kyle... I need to be with you forever... please, be with me..."

The image faded, and Psuedo remained standing over Kyle. "Well, what will it be? Waste your life for a bunch of pathetic losers or join me and take a seat at the side of the most powerful being ever to exist?"

Kyle sighed, knowing it would be futile to surrender so easily. After all, even if all his friends were dead, that would mean it would be up to him to end the job they had failed to. And that meant he'd have to live. Kyle pushed the blade away from his neck and down away from him. He stepped forward, next to Psuedo. Psuedo's grin widened almost twice in size. "Excellent, I knew you were the smarter of the bunch. You and I will make a great team together..." Psuedo put an arm around Kyle's shoulder and they walked through the void as he told Kyle what awaited him in the future...