Part I: Reguba

Darkness… all was darkness.

It seemed that the sun had not shown it's face for days… the sky ruled by the looming banks of black, flickering clouds.

All was darkness.

Throughout the twilight rooms, gloom and despair seemed to reign supreme, pushing their apathy into every corner, every nook and cranny, extracting any source of sanity-saving light, and covering it with a blanket of blackness.

Rescue Ranger Headquarters had never been so dismal. The storm front that raged over New York City had sat stationary for nearly a week now, and showed no intention of removing itself anytime soon. If anything, the roaring weather system seemed to be intensifying, sending torrents of rain, thunder and lighting down upon the hapless metropolis, the likes of which hadn't been seen before in the lifetime of most. It was as if nature had taken leave of it's own natural laws, drawing a battle line around this teeming mass of life, hurling the full extent of it's might down at once.

Within these dreary, despairing environs, the heroes of the city's small community waited for the storm's fury to abate. The conditions were beginning to wear on even the brightest of spirits, and each Ranger sought out something, anything to pass the time.

Chip, as usual, pursued criminals across the pages of time alongside the great Sureluck Jones, his mind's eye fastened upon the goal, ever vigilant for the clue that might solve his hero's case.

Gadget, as was common, retreated to her workshop, keeping the dim space brightly lit with lamps, candles, and flashlights, doing her best to drive the clouds out of their hiding places. There was no place in the exuberant life of this mouse for the gloomy shadows that seemed to pervade every crack and root within the tree's walls.

Reguba and Tammy, the two young lovebirds, did the expected thing… they spent their off time with each other. The rest of the team watched and took heart, seeing the lackluster conditions take no effect on their young friends' resolve, and their devotion to each other. Gadget summed the situation up admirably: "Love really does conquer all."

And so the days continued, the windows rattling as floods of rain battered against them, streaming unchecked down the sides of the Ranger tree. Gadget, Tammy and Sparky began to run a tedious race with the weather, doing their best to maintain the equipment that couldn't be brought indoors, such as the Rangerplane and Rangerwing. Both had multiple repairs that would have to be made to bring them back to airworthiness, and the blonde mouse technician wanted to avoid any further damage. Easier said than done.

"Does it seem to you," she asked, on the fourth evening, "that this whole thing seems to be getting worse, instead of better?"

Sparky glanced over the rim of his coffee cup, his eyes questioning as his thoughts gathered. "How d'you mean?"

"I mean the rain, the thunderstorms… the whole bit. We've never been hit with anything like this. At least, not in the time that I can remember."

"Remoinds me o' the monsoon season we used t'see down undah… 'cept we saw that every three months, give 'r take." Monty pulled the collar of his raincoat close around his neck, shivering as he carried a fresh coffee pot into the hangar. "Croikeys, it's gettin' colder, too!"

Tammy held up her cup for a refill, snuggling deep into the woolly scarf that wound roundabout her neck. "Gadge is right… it's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. It's like a wet winter… but nothing ever freezes! Honestly, it should be snowing right now."

"Sure seems like it." Gadget gazed up at the sky, straining her blue eyes to see anything through the murky depths, anything that might have changed since this entire deluge began. "Guys… does it look like it's getting even darker to you?"

The prediction proved to be true… incredibly true. As night fell, the stars themselves winked out under the oppressive force of blackness that spread across the horizon. Even the lights of the city seemed misty, pushed back under the force of the darkness. The air was electric, seeming to carry a hint of something… dangerous.

The Rangers began, one by one, to retire to bed, the atmosphere too depressing to endure for another moment of this day. One, however, stood a lonely vigil, his stare attempting to penetrate through the layers of dark fog that wrapped like a coiling snake around headquarters. Nothing was visible through the living room's bay window, save for the tiny, barely visible twinkle of the landing lights atop the Empire State Building, among some few others.

"What lies beyond this night?" Reguba asked the question aloud, unintentionally. Something was stirring within the recesses of his mind… the small, instinctual voice that screamed in the silence.

Danger!

"But from what?"

He knew not. The Redwall warrior knew only that every instinct within him was alarmed, ringing bells of warning deep into the farthest regions of his being. Something was coming… something… and the not knowing was the worst part.

"What do we face?"

"Did you say something, Reg?"

He looked up, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, in spite of the conditions; the sight of Tammy always did that to him. The squirrel held out one arm, beckoning the younger Ranger to him. He reveled in the warm feeling that coursed through his veins, as she settled easily into the embrace.

"There's not much to see."

"I know that… but I can't help it, Tamara. Something is wrong."

She sat up, looking deeply into his eyes, somewhat startled. "Reguba… what is it? You never call me Tamara, unless there's some kind of life or death thing going on."

"There may be, my dear. There may yet be. I do not know."

She eased back into his arms, resting her head softly against the ruff of fur that ringed his chest. "You're scaring me."

"I'm sorry. It's just what I feel, Tam. Every warrior's instinct that I have is ringing alarm bells, like the firehouses of a hundred New Yorks. I don't know what's coming… just that it is."

She scooted closer, raising worried eyes to meet his own. "Promise you'll protect me, whatever it is?"

Reguba's heart nearly broke. The look in those eyes was that of fear… coupled with a trust that was given to few. Tammy didn't scare easily… but she knew that when her guy said to worry, you worried. "I promise, love. I promise."

As the night passed, the storm pounded Central Park even harder, as if trying to beat this unassuming plot of forested land into any kind of submission. Every creature within the tree burrowed deeper into his or her bed, some even resorting to earplugs, trying desperately to block out the sound of the rolling thunder, and the cascading sheets of rain. Reguba's silent guard went on, his eyes searching for any glimpse of a break in the pattern.

The squirrel warrior need not have turned his gaze outward. It was within the tree itself that the coming horror would be revealed.

The movement nearly escaped him, at the start: a small, whispering step, rustling through the elongated shadows. A gentle breeze moved by, slightly raising the hackles at the back of his neck.

"Who goes?" The question fell unanswered. From the corner of his eye, he caught another fleeting glimpse of… something. "Show yourself, if you be friend or foe!"

He felt the terrifying, icy realization… the feeling of being watched. From the darkness, eyes began to glow, surrounding him, pushing him back toward the window.

"What are you?! Answer me, villain!"

Dark shapes took form… dim, mangled outlines, walking structures that seemed to suck the very atoms of the light into themselves. Long, misshapen fingers reached for his arms, the cold grips burning through the very fur.

A guttural, rafter shaking roar ripped from his throat, rattling everything within earshot: the battle cry of the clan of Reguba.

Pools of black spread across the floor itself, like bottomless chasms between the highest mountains. The solitary Ranger felt his feet sinking, felt the pull of the void almost as if it were a viscous liquid… sucking him under, bit by bit.

"Reguba!" Tammy raced through the doorway, clad in her nightgown and wielding a thick pencil as if it were a club. "Let him go!" Her first swing missed it's target, but the second made contact, thumping solidly against one of the… creatures. It turned back toward her, it's glowing eyes almost seeming to exhibit an aloof sadness, as it knocked her back against a nearby wall.

Rage burned within Reguba like fire, as he saw Tammy fall back. He struggled with every ounce of his strength, fighting the icy hold that threatened to drag him under. One word escaped his lungs, echoing throughout the tree like the thunder that crashed without.

"Redwaaaaaaaaaaallll!"

The ages old rallying call filled the silence, as his struggles weakened, and his head vanished beneath the rippling, purplish black waves. As the creatures returned the way they had come, and the pools began to shrink, a low, long chuckle sounded, as if from a great distance.

The Heartless had done their work.

Part II: Nathaniel

It was a dark and stormy night... the words played through the mind of the human-turned-squirrel as he stared out a window into blackness. Nathaniel Pike sighed softly, leaning against the window frame, trying to pin down just what it was that was nagging at the very edge of his awareness... an awareness that had been diminished as a result of the loss of his magic. "Sounds like the beginning of one of Chip's Sureluck Jones books," he thought, unaware that he'd also said it aloud.

"What does?" Tammy was standing in the doorway, dressed in a simple nightshirt. "Sorry if I'm botherin' you, Nate; I couldn't sleep, I saw the light on, and I know Dale's downstairs watchin' horror movies with Fox, so..."

Nathaniel smiled and beckoned her in by opening his arms, which she soon cuddled into. "Tam, you can bother me whenever you want." He lightly kissed her forehead. "It's this storm... I don't know; something about it just... feels unnatural..."

"Like the fact that Manhattan... especially Central Park... has been getting pounded by it for three days and it's been bright and sunny in Brooklyn?" Tammy gave him a playful, sarcastic smirk. "Seems perfectly natural to me..."

He replied with a soft chuckle, then shook his head. "It's more than that, though. I can't shake the feeling that I could pin it down if I could still use magic, but... hmm?" A slight movement drew his gaze to a corner of the room.

Tammy's eyes turned in the direction of what had caught her love's attention, and widened at what met them. Two yellow lights, like eyes, had appeared in the shadow. With them slowly emerged a... something. It had a distorted human shape, two antennae whipping about the top of its head, and was even more black than the storm-filled night beyond the window. It was soon joined by a second creature just like itself, then a third, then a fourth.

"Tam, look out!" Nathaniel pushed her aside as the peculiar quartet lunged at the squirrel pair in unison. The former sorcerer was struck hard, his assailants pushing him back into what looked like a puddle of blackness that had formed from another shadow in the room.

"NATE!" Before Tammy could react, the puddle, the strange creatures, and their captive were gone, vanishing as if they'd never existed.

A low rumble of thunder echoed from outside the window...

"Ohh man, someone get the license of that truck and call the Rescue Rangers." The silliness of the thought was readily evident. "Wait a minute… I am one." Reguba Furblade was confused… a condition the squirrel warrior detested. Having ready command of his surroundings was something he prided himself on, and that was most certainly not the case at the moment.

For the one thing, he couldn't see. The room was darker, blacker even than the shadows that had dragged him here. Memories began to piece themselves together as the fog cleared from his brain, bringing his circumstances into sharp detail.

"Tammy," he whispered, as cold fear struck his heart. What had the creatures done with her, or the rest of the Rangers? Had they come for him alone?

"Questions, questions, and all without answers."

He whirled, his eyes searching the impenetrable darkness. "Show yourself!"

"All in good time, my friend… all in good time. I hope you find the accommodations… satisfactory."

"The accommodation that I will find satisfactory will be to pummel you into submission!"

A wry chuckle made it's way through the inky space. "Not likely, brave one; not likely. See you soon."

His instincts told him that the speaker had gone. Reguba sat down hard in a corner, his head in his hands. What could he do, without sight or weapon? "Think like Gadget," he muttered. "She can break out of a prison with the greatest of ease. What would she do?" Unfortunately, nothing was immediately forthcoming. He sighed, leaning his head back against the cold stones.

Everything seemed to be cold here... cold, and dark. What manner of creature could long subsist in such an environment? "More questions," he groaned. What was it that Chip had always quoted from his books? "Never theorize without data... but how to find it?"

"That's the difficult task, isn't it?" the voice spoke again.

Reguba's fur bristled. "Will you please STOP doing that?!"

That same maddening chuckle. "I seem to have struck a nerve, fearless one. Your captor would be most pleased."

"Just who is my captor? Can you at least tell me that, 'invisible one'?"

"The warrior has wit! I am impressed."

"The 'warrior' has a lot more than that, given the opportunity."

He could almost feel a smug smile coming from the darkness. "I'm sure." A dim bubble appeared before him, a faint picture displayed within. In a nondescript room, with nondescript furnishings, another squirrel worked feverishly at some task, an evil leer on his face.

A deep rumble sounded within Reguba's chest. "What is his name?"

After a silent moment, there was a single response. "Nathaniel."

Within the room that Reguba had witnessed, the scene was actually quite different. A great, arching fireplace reached the ceiling, it's hearth throwing forth eerie shadows as the logs within crackled and snapped. A dark cloud bled through the air, and a hooded figure stepped out, bowing as it did so. "The task has been accomplished, my lady."

A tall, plush chair sat before the fire, bearing a squirrel… only not the one that the prisoner had seen. A hood covered her face also, showing only a void space beneath the folds of material. She raised her hand. "Well done, Chrysanthemum. You are dismissed."

"Thank you, my lady." As the door closed behind the lackey, another blot of darkness filled the room, giving up a figure that seemed to exude fear from it's very core.

The newcomer, a tall, black haired, pale mouse, was dressed in dark, flowing robes, and carried a heavy staff that she bore with the regality of a sceptre. "Is the plan moving according to schedule?"

"It is."

"Excellent, you have made progress."

"Yes. It will not be easy to turn them, however; their hearts are the strongest I have yet encountered."

"You will not be defeated. You know the price of failure."

The figure in the armchair leaped to her feet, eyes boring out from under the hood like flaming blue coals. "Do not think to threaten me, Malificent! I may have allied myself with you… but the Heartless of this realm obey my command."

The mouse put on a fierce expression. "Silence! I came here in this wretched form for a report, not a rebellious tongue from an insolent whelp! You will do as I have ordered."

The eyes still burned with resentment. "As you wish."

"Good. Now then, to other matters. There is the issue of an… uprising, within your realm."

The hand waved again. "The Heartless are taking care of it."

"So it would seem... but are you certain?"

The hooded squirrel sighed and pushed the fabric back and away from her face. Her crimson tresses glinted in the firelight. "Believe me, I have seen to it, and if the Heartless can't deal with the leader of this group… then I'll do it personally."

"See that you do. I must go; there are others to see, and more things that must be set in motion. You know what you must do."

"Yes, Malificent."

As the aforementioned villain disappeared, the lone squirrel collapsed back into her seat, staring into the flames. "There will come a reckoning, between that one and me… but first, the task."

"I hate things that have mechanical parts." Reguba rocked back onto his heels, surveying his handiwork. His eyes had adjusted somewhat to the near total darkness, and he could just make out the dim outline of the door's hinges. His nails were torn and ragged, and several had been completely mangled as he went about his work with a stoic will. One more hinge remained… and he would be freed.

Moments later, the door collapsed into the corridor, and Reguba rolled out, coming up into a fighting stance. Surprisingly, no enemies readily presented themselves. "Odd… but don't look a gift horse in the mouth, I suppose." He grabbed a torch from the wall, and took off at a run through the lightless hallway, making for the heavy, oaken doors that were set into the stone wall at the end. Freedom at last. Now, someone was going to answer some very, very stiff questions.

As he made his escape, an evil laugh escaped into the seemingly empty atmosphere. "Everything is going according to plan."

Nathaniel sat up slowly, rubbing the back of his head where it had hit the stone floor he now sat on... at least, it felt like stone. "Ohhh... note to self: gravity works." He opened his eyes, then blinked a few times to assure himself that his eyes were indeed open; his surroundings were so dark that open or closed really seemed to make no difference.

"Lovely," he said with a sigh. "I could use a Light spell about now, though I'd settle for a match."

"So why don't you cast one?" The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. The squirrel started, jumping to his feet and looking around, not that this did much good. "Surely you've felt the change, Nathaniel... yes, I know who you are. This realm works differently from yours; try for yourself."

He closed his eyes, balling his left paw into a fist and focusing. "Lumos," he whispered, then felt the raw energy surge from his heart, down through his arm and into his fist. Opening his eyes just slightly, he saw that the spell had indeed worked; his left fist was enveloped in a soft white glow. What disturbed him, however, was that he also saw that he was alone. The room he was in was reminiscent of a medieval dungeon cell. "Okay, where'd she go?"

"I'm still here," the voice replied, still seemingly from all around. "Your heart is here, as well."

"TAMMY?!" The squirrel was now frantic. "How? Where...?"

An image formed in the empty air before him. It was an image of a male squirrel, carrying a torch and walking down a stone corridor with an evil sneer across his features. "This is Reguba. He is the reason you are here. If you wish to know more, I suggest you find him." The image faded, and with it, the sense of another presence that Nathaniel had felt when the voice first spoke.

"Guess I'm on my own," he thought aloud, then set about examining the door. It was heavy wood, bolted tightly from the outside, with steel hinges at the top and bottom of one side. "Hmm... I wonder..." He took a few steps back, sifting through his mind for the correct pronunciation of the spell he had planned. "Brachion!" he yelled, thrusting his right paw toward the door and feeling the surge of energy once more course from his heart, along his arm, and out his outstretched palm.

The door showed no visible signs of change, but Nathaniel expected this. "Here goes nothing." He then lunged at the door, hitting it solidly with his shoulder. Both the hinges and the bolt outside shattered with the impact, as if they'd been made of crystal, and dumped both door and magician on the floor outside. Nathaniel gave a satisfied nod; as he'd hoped, his Brittleblade spell worked on all metal, not just weapons.

Re-casting his Light spell (the impact had cancelled it), the squirrel found himself in a hallway very similar to the one he'd seen in the image. "Now to find this Reguba, or at least a way out," he muttered, proceeding up the hallway toward a large set of double doors.

Not far away, in a quiet throne room, a single figure in a hooded cloak appeared seemingly from the air itself. The figure bowed deeply toward the throne before it spoke. "The second one has freed himself, milady."

The squirrel seated upon the throne, still touchy after her encounter with Malificent, growled as her gaze fell on the messenger. "You dare disrupt my solitude to tell me something I already know?" Her tone of voice was calm, but as menacing as her stare. "Get out of my sight before I feed you to the Heartless... one limb at a time."

As the messenger made a hasty exit, the squirrel returned her attention to the flames before her, absently twirling a few strands of crimson hair around her finger. "This is working perfectly," she chuckled to herself. "Why expend Heartless or kill them myself when I can get them to kill each other?" She considered the matter for a moment, watching the two images in the flames. An evil grin played across her features. "Perhaps I'll keep the survivor... I wouldn't mind having a pet..."

"What manner of place is this?" Reguba wandered slowly along the long, empty corridor that had presented itself. On either side of him, rodent-sized suits of armor lined the walls, some with great lances and swords, others bearing ancient standards that seemed familiar… yet not. "It's as if I have been here before… yet I cannot place the name of this fortress… nor can I remember when I was in such a dismal environ."

He held his torch high aloft as he walked past the silent sentinels, peering closely at the flags and symbols that they bore. All had faded and discolored with age… or was it from the sense of death and darkness that seemed to pervade every corner of this place? Everything within the confines that he had so far seen seemed to be in a perpetual state of decay… locked in a demeanor of gloom and ruin that he could not explain. "It is almost as if…as if this castle was rotting from the time of it's construction. I'm no engineer… Gadget would know." Reguba realized suddenly that he was talking to himself, and how dangerous detection could be at the moment. He proceeded along his route stoically, putting his back close to one of the walls, while keeping a sharp eye behind him often.

The hallway seemed endless. The number of huge, curving doors that he passed were innumerable. The farther the squirrel warrior walked, the more he felt that he should know this place… that he should know it well.

The long expanse, as it turned out, was not endless, coming to an abrupt stop and offering one of two choices: turn left, or right. Reguba racked his brain for the image that he had seen in his cell. "If I've taken the correct route, and located all the correct landmarks that I saw, then right is the way I want to go." The set of heavy, wooden doors creaked ominously as he exerted the strength of his powerfully sculpted shoulders against them.

The view on the other side was no more cheerful than the ones that had shown themselves to his sight so far. Another corridor, a great hall with tapestries hanging from the rafters, ancient images that could have been as old as the time of Martin the Warrior… and probably were. "As much as I would dearly love to explore," he whispered to himself, "I must remember that I am first and foremost a Rescue Ranger… and I must find out what has become of the others!"

In a room not far away, the proprietress of this dark and foreboding structure gazed into a screen, watching as Reguba crept through the deathly quiet rooms, stealing along, exerting all of the skill and cunning that he had learned from his father as a boy. She chuckled softly, almost admiring the ability of this handsome specimen. She'd determined not to waste Heartless on these… entertainments, but her curiosity was becoming overpowering. "He would make a fine trophy," she said craftily, "but first… let us see how he handles himself… in a situation". She snapped her fingers, and an instant later, a group of the black creatures stood before her, their near-mindless eyes searching her face for instruction.

"You see your target?"

The 'leader' of the group, an armored Heartless that was roughly gopher-sized, bobbed it's head emphatically.

"Then go! Put him to the test, but remember, he must survive… for now." She was still laughing as the creatures vanished through the doorway, blending with the darkness that loomed outside her place of solitude. "Now we shall see just what you're made of, my finely toned friend."

Reguba glanced around, and scratched his head in puzzlement. "I am now, I admit, confused. The last time I got this lost was in the grain cellars back home, as a child." Ever since passing the last door, he had wandered aimlessly, without ever seeing another doorway or passage. Only more medieval décor, and more gray, weathered Classical columns, supporting a roof that was frescoed with even more dismally painted scenes.

Something about his new surroundings set the squirrel's teeth on edge. Shadows lurked everywhere, and from them, he felt as if… as if he was being watched. The feeling was not pleasant, by any stretch of the imagination. Somewhere, among all of this ancient weaponry and art, someone was hiding. Every sense in his body declared it, to the point that the fur at the back of his neck was standing on end.

As quietly as possible, Reguba reached upward, quickly unsheathing one of the antiquated swords that the armor suits carried. The blade was dull from the centuries, faded to a bland gray, rather than the bright silver that should have been. Still, it was better than no weapon at all. He wrapped his hands around the hilt, testing the balance and heft, and finding it satisfactory. "Someone needs a good lesson in maintenance," he muttered, doing an experimental swipe in the air, listening to the scarred metal humming as it sliced through the dark atmosphere.

He wasn't actually expecting to hit anything. One of the shadows around him abruptly evaporated, as the sword bit through it, and then they were upon him: a horde of dark, frightening beasts, eyes glowing yellow, just as the creatures which had brought him to this desolate place.

Most normal people would have run at this point… but there was no backup in Reguba of Redwall. He held his weapon above his head, blade out, and ready for battle. "Who will be the first to taste steel?" he thundered, looking back and forth at the growing mass of blackness.

The entire group charged as one. "Hmm… perhaps this will get interesting, after all!" The old battle-blade performed better than he had expected, twirling and chopping like lightning in his experienced hands. The shadowy ones began vanishing in clouds of blackened smoke as he smashed through them, lashing out wherever movement could be seen. The largest of the Heartless, the armored leader, stepped in front of him, as if issuing a challenge.

"If it's destruction you are after, friend, then I'm happy to oblige!" The warrior brought his sword down in a furious chop, that should have cleaved the monster in twain. Instead, it held out it's 'hand', and a stream of darkness shattered the old blade like brittle ice. Reguba struck out with the jagged, broken hilt, catching the leader a good hit as he vaulted backward, making toward a nearby column at a dead run. "I was right… this has definitely gotten interesting!"

The mistress of the fortress watched her screen intently, a cruel grin forming on her lips. "It seems he handles himself quite well," she thought aloud. "Let's see how my other... guest... is faring." She waved a hand absently, and the image on the screen blurred, focusing now on another section of corridor, not far away, and another male squirrel, this one with a glowing right paw, who seemed to be listening intently to something.

Her grin widened. "Oh, this is going to get good sooner than I'd hoped..." Before she could see what happened next, another hooded figure appeared in the chamber.

"Forgive my intrusion, milady," the figure spoke nervously, bowing deeply, "but the guards have just brought in the leader of the uprising." The figure cringed visibly, expecting some hasty, and rather brutal, reprimand.

The squirrel woman he addressed, however, simply sighed. "Bother; even when she's my prisoner, she goes and spoils my fun." She then addressed the hooded figure. "Have her taken to the executioner's chamber... and ready the Speaking Mirror; I wish to address her myself before she dies."

Nathaniel stood still, straining his ears to catch the sounds coming up the hallway... the sounds of a battle, he guessed. "I really should focus on the task at hand," he thought, then shook his head. "I'm a Rescue Ranger; if someone is in need of aid, I should provide it." He then set off back up the hall, towards the sound.

Reaching his destination proved a bit more difficult than he'd anticipated. Several of the shadow creatures that had attacked him and Tammy back at Ranger HQ appeared out of the shadows before him, blocking his path. One of them lunged, and he raised his right arm to block, but a bit too late; his fist, the one that was currently the focus of his Light spell, caught the creature squarely in the side of the head... and the beast vanished into wisps of black smoke.

"It couldn't be that easy... could it?" He swung a left at another of the creatures; it struck solidly, but seemed to do the creature no harm. He again attacked, this time with the Light-enhanced right, and the creature followed its comrade into oblivion. "Huh... live and learn," he thought as he fended off another attack. Casting a second Light spell on his left hand, the sorcerer quickly dispatched what remained of the living barricade and continued on.

Further down the hall, Nathaniel found the source of the sounds he'd been following: an armored creature facing off against what looked like a squirrel. He couldn't tell for certain, as the armored one blocked the view of his opponent. He was wondering for a second which one he should aid when the armored creature spared a look over its shoulder at him; it had the same yellow eyes as the shadow creatures. "Impervium!" Nathaniel was barely able to cast his Shield spell before the armored Heartless struck him with a backhand; the blow would easily have at the very least crushed several of the squirrel's bones had he been a split-second slower.

"Brachion!" The wizard thrust his paw toward his opponent, palm out, but again, no visible effect. Nathaniel had felt the magic work however, and called to the other squirrel as the armor regarded him oddly. "Strike now! The creature's weakened!"

"Redwaaalllll!!" The battle cry resounded through the corridor as the armor's original opponent lunged at it from the side. As Nathaniel had expected, the blow shattered the armor creature as if it were made of glass. Nathaniel's eyes widened as he got his first good look at the warrior he had just assisted, then narrowed slightly as a single word escaped his lips, nearly in a growl. "Reguba..."

The squirrel's own name rung in his ears like a clap of thunder. "How…" It was then that he realized whom it was who had just arrived before him. The face leaped out clearly, from the images that were recorded in the recesses of his mind. "Nathaniel," he spat, easing back into a battle stance.

The magic wielder stepped back slightly, taking on a defensive posture and ensuring that his shield spell was still active. "Your own monsters are turning on you now, huh? Where's Tammy?"

" 'My' monsters? What foolishness do you speak, mage? Do not attempt to shift the blame for this foul place from your own door!"

"My own... wait a minute..." Nathaniel lowered his guard just slightly, still braced to fend off an attack. The warrior's words were already nagging at something in the back of his mind. "Facto," he whispered under his breath, then addressed Reguba. "Let me guess... some mysterious female voice showed you an image depicting me as the villain of this scenario, correct?"

"You would be correct, my treacherous friend. It is you that I have pursued through the recesses of this dungeon, seeking the answers to this enigma… and how is it that you know Tammy? Where is she, varlet?!"

The squirrel spellcaster nodded; his Truthfinder spell indicated no lie from his new acquaintance. "I'm starting to suspect that you and I have at least one thing in common... that neither of us are from this world. Consider this: if I knew where Tammy is, why would I ask you?"

"How should I know? You are the criminal mastermind, not me."

"Are you so certain? Do you always take the word of a mysterious stranger without looking at the facts?"

"Normally, I would not theorize without data, as Gadget has taught me well. In this case, however, the 'mysterious stranger', as you call her, is all that I had to go on."

"GADGET?!" The wizard's eyes widened. "Don't tell me she's caught up in this mess, too..."

Reguba finally lowered his guard, regarding the other squirrel curiously. "It would appear that we have more than one acquaintance in common. As Monty would say, 'a right bonza puzzler'."

" 'Too roight'," Nathaniel couldn't resist a slight grin, but it faded quickly. "I guess it never occurred to me that the Rangers would exist in other worlds; I'm presuming you're one of them in yours..."

"Other worlds?" The Redwall warrior began to look even more puzzled. "I will have to take your word for that... as for the Rangers, I am proud to be among their number."

"As am I," the wizard said with a nod. "I'm going to presume also that you were attacked by strange shadow creatures and brought here, just as I was. The question now is, if one of us didn't drag the other one here, who did... and why?"

"The situation does beg that question. I can think of no enemy of my Rangers who would be possessed of such an ability." He looked around at the surroundings, and shivered involuntarily. "It is peculiar... I feel so much that I have been here before."

"The only one of mine who would have the power no longer has the opportunity," Nathaniel shuddered. "Sorry... bad memory of a family problem..." Further conversation was cut off by sounds coming from further down the hall. They could both hear metal clanking... and a voice, familiar to them both, but distorted somehow.

Reguba turned on his heel, eyes widened in shock. "Bink..." he whispered. "It can't be."

"This crazy plan of yours won't work," the voice said. It was followed by a second voice, even more familiar yet a bit more distorted. "It already has; I don't doubt that even now, the two champions I brought here are trying to tear each other's throats out... as for you, you of all people should know that no one crosses Tamara Maplefield and gets away with it."

"Maplefield?" Nathaniel looked at Reguba curiously. "I thought their last name was Bushtail..."

"You mean Hazelnut, do you not?" he asked in return. After a moment, he shrugged. "It matters not. It would appear that they have been apprehended as we have!" This brought a consideration to the British squirrel's mind. "What manner of mind-control techniques must they be using, in order to get Tammy to assist them?"

"I'm not so sure it is mind-control..." Setting aside his own misgivings about the conversation they'd just heard, Nathaniel made his way down the hallway, Reguba close beside him.

Carefully approaching the open door that the voices had come from, the pair found a rather grisly sight: a blonde female squirrel, her wrists tied behind her back, was being held down over a block by two rats in armor. A third stood nearby with a cruel smirk, while a hooded fourth brandished a nasty-looking axe.

"Bianca Maplefield," the bystander said coldly, "you are hereby found guilty of treason; the sentence is death".

"Bianca... good Lord," Nathaniel whispered. "That is Bink!"

"Not for long," Reguba said quietly. "Stand ready to make good our escape."

"Consider it done," the mage nodded. "I've got a surprise in store for the executioner, too..."

Years of training began to replay themselves within his mind, strategies and possibilities all coming together in an even, cool state of mind. This was going to be fun. "REDWAALLLL!" The battle cry split the air, bringing shocked expressions from the guards who stood around. Rats went flying like ninepins as the mass of the tall, brick-built squirrel plowed through them. Reguba grabbed the executioner's battleaxe, swinging the yelping rodent in a wide circle, demolishing the other two with their grim companion's own mass. "Now, Nathaniel!" he bellowed, grabbing Bink and swinging her over his shoulder.

"Convera!" Nathaniel yelled, placing one paw on the wall behind him. Beneath his paw, a swirling vortex of colors slowly spread along the wall, until it was large enough for the squirrels to pass through. "This way, it's a portal to the nearest forest; it'll close as soon as I go through it." He stood beside the portal, readying another spell as Reguba and his rather unceremonious passenger dove through the vortex. He then dove in after them.

True to Nathaniel's word, the trio now found themselves in the middle of a dense wood. "My thanks," Bink said with a small grin; she was indeed older than either of the other two thought she should be. "I presume you are the champions my sister brought here?"

"That we are, my lady," Reguba said, bowing politely at the waist. "Though you may not know me, I am Reguba, Warrior of Redwall, lately connected with the Rescue Rangers." He eyed her curiously. "You have grown since I saw you last, Bink."

"Bink? I haven't been called that since I was an infant," the squirrel girl raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Neither of us have ever laid eyes on her before, Reguba; she's this world's version of the child we both know," Nathaniel explained. He then nodded to their rescuee. "My name is Nathaniel; it's a pleasure to meet you, Bin... I mean Bianca."

Reguba sighed. "This is going to take a bit of getting used to. Gadget is usually the technically-minded one... I am hopelessly out of my element with this talk of multiple worlds." He gave their new companion a smile. "As for your name... the last time that I saw you, at any place or world, I was bouncing you upon my knee. How things change."

Nathaniel gave a dry chuckle. "I would say you grow accustomed to it after a while, but I make a habit of being honest."

"This area isn't safe," Bianca told them, having gotten her bearings. "Follow me." She led them deep into the forest, eventually coming upon a small encampment. "This is the resistance's main camp; we're safe enough here from Tamara's monsters... at least for now."

"Tamara's monsters?" Reguba took her by the arm, turning her back to face him. "Are you saying that Tammy created these... monstrosities?!" He shook his head. "I thought it impossible that such darkness could exist in a heart so pure."

Bianca shook her head slowly. "Created them, no... Malificent hasn't given her that much power yet... but she does command them. The Heartless are the main reason she's been able to force her tyrannical reign on this land for the past two years."

"Malificent? Heartless? What are you talking about?" asked Nathaniel.

"Malificent is the otherworld witch that Tamara's working with," Bianca informed the pair. "She sent the Heartless to bring the two of you here because you both share a bond with her... at least a version of her, and judging by your comment, a much better version. Her intention is quite simple: get one of you to kill the other, and enslave the survivor."

The expression on both faces was one of horror. "Enslave the survivor?" the bushy-tailed warrior croaked. "Why have the Rangers done nothing to halt this chain of events?"

The young woman bowed her head sadly. "They tried... I think she keeps what's left of them in a trophy room in her palace."

Nathaniel stared at her in disbelief. " 'What's left of...' you mean she killed them?!"

Bianca nodded. "All but Trienne; Tamara keeps her essence... her heart... in a glass jar beside her throne."

"Trienne?" Reguba asked. "I do not recall any Ranger of my team by that name. Nathaniel?"

As Nathaniel shook his head, Bianca looked at both of them skeptically. "Trienne Hacqurenche? One of the team's founders?"

"Hacquere..." Nathaniel's eyes widened as the realization hit him; his voice was barely above a whisper as he said a single word to Reguba. "Gadget..."

Bianca stepped back at the explosion of Gaelic invective that erupted from the larger squirrel. "It cannot be," he said, putting his face in his hands. "I knew that there was jealousy... but of this level?" He looked up, his visage a mask of rage and hurt. "I realize that we have only just met, friend Nathaniel, but I cannot accomplish this task alone. I must ask your help, to rescue my friend."

"Our friend," the sorcerer corrected. He then sighed. "I have fought against my own brother... more than once. Bearing that in mind will give weight to my saying that we may face the hardest task ever put before either of us. Tammy must be stopped, one way... or another. We appear to be the only living Rangers in this world; we're the only ones who can."

Reguba nodded, turning back Bianca. "Any help that your people can give us will be of the greatest appreciation. If more is needed, however, I will go to my people, at the Abbey of Redwall. Some kin of Martin the Warrior must yet live. We may even be nearby the place... for if not for the darkness, I would say that we were on the southern coast of Mossflower."

"You do come from a different world," Bianca said quietly. "My people will give you what aid we can, but you will find no friend at Redwall... we just left it."

His knees buckled beneath him, and Reguba sat down hard in the dust. "I... I saw it, yet I could not believe it. Great Hall... Cavern Hole... the cellars... they were all there... but twisted so perversely... I was lost in my own home. That must mean... the sword!" He regained his feet and took Bianca by the shoulders. "Does she possess the sword?! It must not have fallen into evil hands!"

"The Keyblade," she replied, "the weapon once wielded by Martin the Just against the darkness". She nodded. "It is within the fortress, but Tamara doesn't know where; Trienne disguised it and hid it somewhere... I'm afraid I don't know where; that is why Tamara keeps her heart, instead of simply killing her like the others."

"At my home, Martin's sword was just that, a sword," he replied, "but it was also a symbol. Martin's weapon seems to have been far more powerful here". He looked thoughtful. "If we can re-enter the fortress and locate the blade, then we may have a chance of putting an end to this evil, but our mission will be twofold, for the Sword of Martin can be wielded by another... but only most effectively in the hands of his heir."

"Trienne said something about 'the blood of Redwall will know the Keyblade for what it is', but I'm not sure what she meant," Bianca told him. "She had a habit of speaking in riddles. Whatever you plan to do, though, it won't do you much good to try it on empty stomachs and no rest." She then turned to the small cluster of observers that had gathered. "Oi! Bring food and water, you lot! And clear a pair of cots! We've work to do come morning!"

Nathaniel looked thoughtful as the bystanders scurried about. "You referred to the Abbey of Redwall as 'your people'; do you think what Bianca said may have referred to you?"

"I can think of no other explanation. I was born at the Abbey, and there I lived, until I crossed the Pond to join the Rangers... and to be with Tammy. The first time that I ever met Gadget and the Rangers was the day on which the Abbess identified her as Martin's heir. When I left, to follow the others, Abbess Brantalis said to me... 'the blood of Redwall runs within your veins. Always remember.'"

Despite his realization that he wasn't actually referring to the same person, Nathaniel had to fight back a twinge of jealousy when the warrior mentioned Tammy. He sighed quietly as they were seated at a rough table, cups of water and bowls of some sort of stew placed before them both. "Getting back into there isn't going to be easy," he said finally. "I could probably cast my Gateway spell on a big enough tree, but I have to be able to get a good mental picture of the destination... which would mean we'd end up back in the dungeon."

"And without Martin's blade, we have no conventional weapon that will stand up to the shadow creatures... these... Heartless. Our wits will be our greatest asset. I do believe, though, that we should be careful to avoid the one called Malificent. I have a greatly disturbed feeling about her... something that I cannot explain."

"With the Heartless, as that seems to be their proper name, I've found that a simple Light spell cast on each fist is quite effective," Nathaniel grinned. "I'm afraid, however, that that only helps one of us; we have to make finding that blade our first priority once we're in. As for this Malificent, I'm inclined to agree; just the name sends a chill down my spine..."

"As it does mine. Fortunately, it does appear that Tamara's... I will not disgrace my Tammy by calling this villainess by that name... that Tamara's influence does not reach to the outer borders of Mossflower. We should be able to circle the forest and approach from the south side undetected, if this Redwall is at all like unto mine. We shall use the wood as cover, and enter through the cellars, at the base of the southwest wall. There is a small, sealed entrance there... a friar's hole, or some such thing, the historians say. If it is there, then our plan should begin to work with no problems." He cringed as the realization of what he had just said set in. "Ahh... did I say that?"

"Unfortunately, you did," Nathaniel replied with a dubious look.

Bianca had been off making plans with her people while the pair had been talking. She approached as they finished this last exchange. "Come daybreak, my people will start a ruckus near the northern border, to draw most of Redwall's attention that direction. We managed to learn of a hidden entrance in the southern wall; that'll probably be your best way in. Nightshade!" As the squirrel beckoned, an all-too-familiar looking pink bat in simple leathers approached the table. "Reguba, Nathaniel, this is Nightshade, one of our scouts; she'll lead you to the hidden entrance."

Nightshade nodded to them both. "If your goal is to bring down Tamara the Cruel and avenge the Rangers, then I shall do all in my power to aid you," she told them, her voice full of conviction. "One of them... was my beloved..."

"AAAHHHH!"

The scream from within Lady Tamara's throne room was bloodcurdling, sending chills through the guards who stood watch at the great carved doors. They turned their eyes away as a small, dark creature shuffled out past them, and then watched as the Heartless made it's way toward the open air. "Didn't think she'd do that ta Cap'n Waterfur," one whispered.

"You know Her 'ighness… unpredictable these days, she is."

"Aye. Best ta keep on 'er good side, eh, mate?"

"Uh-huh, I'd say."

Inside, the red-haired squirrel sank back in her seat, fingers steepled as she considered the walls of her chamber. "I'm surrounded by blundering fools," she muttered darkly, sighing as she closed her eyes. Something wouldn't let her keep them closed. Tamara made a sound of disgust, and forced her lids to lift once more. "You again," she growled.

The tapestry always mocked her. Many of the captains had advised her to simply be rid of the accursed thing… but something held her back. A premonition, perhaps? She didn't know; all she knew was that now, as on many other occasions, the fearsome features of Martin the Warrior stared down at her, from the picture that had hung on this wall since Great Hall was built.

Ah yes, Great Hall, the former meeting place made a grand chamber for the self-appointed Queen of Mossflower. The abbey itself had been ridiculously easy to conquer… almost too easy; it had presented no challenge. Without their precious champion, the creatures that had inhabited this ancient place had had no will to fight… no will to resist. The fact that Martin's weakling offspring had arrived on the scene in the company of the Rescue Rangers had made their destruction even more sweet.

The eyes of the Warrior bored into her, watching her every move from the prehistoric weaving. "You disapprove of me, great one? I consider that a high praise." No answer was forthcoming, and she chuckled at her own wit. Her humor was lifting, somewhat… the loss of her rebellious prisoner had been atoned for by her previous Captain of Knights, and there was always one other thing that she could count on, to bring a bit of pleasure to her bland existence.

The corner of the dark, foreboding room was occupied by a tall, cylinder-shaped tube of crystal. The interior glowed with a cold, blue light, bathing it's occupant's features in an almost water-like, rippling aura. "Ahh, my old friend," Tamara sighed, strolling over to the contrivance. "Would that you were still here, to provide some distraction for my dismal life of rule."

The lovely, blonde mouse within the chamber did not stir, her eyes gently closed, pale fur cast even paler by the cold roundabout her. The squirrel wiped away some of the frost from the outer glass, giving her a better view. "You always had all the answers, Trienne… all of the technical jargon, the mechanical mumbo-jumbo, and you had him… that delicious specimen, that should have willingly been mine. Still, even from the icy slumber where I have placed you, you defy me; Martin's blade eludes my grasp!" A light flickered at the corner of Tamara's field of vision. On a small table by her throne, a crystal container was lit with a soft radiance… a tiny flame that pushed back the cold darkness from it's own small part of the room. The light pulsed and danced, in an almost… merry fashion.

The dark queen's face pinched with anger. "You laugh at me? You dare!" She struggled to gain her composure, to force her rage back into her black heart. "So be it. The day will soon come that I will no longer so value you as a trophy, dearest Trienne, and on that day… I will truly destroy you… and all that your pathetic, foolish friends stood for."

The door slammed as she stormed into the darkened hallway, leaving the small ball of luminescence to itself. It bobbed slowly in it's prison, seeming to look almost longingly toward the body that was imprisoned in that lonely corner. If one listened closely, a tiny voice seemed to form out of the air that surrounded the small vessel.

Our secret lies safe, Sir Martin. Safe… for all time, if need be.

Though he lay still, Nathaniel was wide awake. The cots that had been provided for Reguba and himself, though crude, were quite comfortable, and the tent the two shared was spacious enough. It wasn't even his impromptu roommate's snoring that caused sleep to elude the human-turned-squirrel. He sighed quietly as he swung his legs over the side of the cot and stood. "Maybe some night air will help clear my head," he thought, and stepped out of the tent.

The night was quiet, with a very slight chill. The occasional sound of a cricket reminded him of camping as a child with his parents and brother; the hushed conversations of a pair of nearby sentries dispelled the illusion, though. He felt a presence, familiar yet not, a moment before he heard the gentle rustling of leather wings behind him. "Shouldn't you be in bed?" he said, somewhat playfully. "Big day tomorrow and all..."

"I'm a bat; I'm nocturnal," Nightshade replied with a small grin as he turned to face her. "I'll come back here and rest after I lead you and your friend to Redwall's hidden entrance. You, however, Mister Nathaniel, cannot say the same..."

The wizard sighed. "I know... I just can't sleep; a lot on my mind..."

The bat nodded knowingly. "Battle anxiety; it gets to all of us. You just..."

"I wish it was that simple, Foxgl... sorry, Nightshade," Nathaniel interrupted. "I just... I'm not sure I can go through with this." He sat down on a fallen log, "I don't know how much Bianca has told you about us..."

"She said you and Reguba are from a different world," Nightshade informed him, sitting down beside him, "and that your world is similar to ours in some ways, but very different in others".

The squirrel nodded. "To give you an idea of where my head is right now, imagine, if you can, knowing that the sunrise will bring you into a battle against Dale... or whatever his name was in this world..."

"You're in love with the Tamara of your world..." she said softly.

Another nod. "As is Reguba... different worlds, fortunately. How can I fight someone who has the face, the voice, the... everything... of the woman I love?"

A chiropteran wing rested on the squirrel's shoulder. "There is one thing our Tamara doesn't have of that woman: her personality, else I doubt you would love her so. If Dale had committed the atrocities Tamara has, I would have no choice but to stand against him, love or not... it is what would be right." She brushed Nathaniel's long dark hair aside, looking into his eyes. "I've no doubt your Tamara would agree."

"I know she would," he said quietly. "That's about the only thing that's helping." He gave the bat beside him a soft smile, resting a paw on her wing. "Thank you, Nightshade; you are as kind and true as Foxglove..." She tilted her head to the side curiously. "... your counterpart in my world."

Nightshade chuckled lightly. "Then I'm sure this Foxglove would tell you again to go get some rest; you're going to need it..."

Images flashed by... images of the past... near and distant. Thunder rolled, as masses of dark, forbidding clouds roiled around the scenes that continued to march to the beat of some unknown drum. In the dreams of Reguba the Warrior, the scenes were anything but peaceful.

Help me!

His horrified gaze was locked in time and place, as the maddened eyes of Lawainie Lait gleamed with the flames of vengeance, the energies flowing from Professor Nimnul's stolen FOGIE device devouring a screaming, struggling Gadget. The picture dissolved, giving way to the sight of a countless army surrounding the Abbey of Redwall, an imminent defeat looming as the Rescue Rangers struggled to save one of their own.

Flash forward.

Help me!

The agonized scream of Tammy Hazelnut rang in his ears, her terrified eyes staring into his as she fell from the seventh story ledge, dropped from the hands of the gangster, Knuckles Ironpaw. He reached for her, stretching as far as his arms would allow, fighting against his own muscles, reaching for that extra inch that would put him within reach of her flailing hands. Her fingers slipped through his like water, her cries muffling as she vanished within the billowing, black horizon.

The scene dissolved once again, replaced by a medieval throne room. A familiar, red haired figure knelt before the raised chair, a crown placed upon her head by a dark, evil looking mouse. "Arise, Tamara, ruler supreme of Mossflower..."

HELP ME!

The frightened wails of a child filled his mind, as little Bink vanished along a long, twisting hallway, flailing over the shoulder of a hulking, long-tailed rat. The walls of the hall faded to transparency as he ran, the mists giving glimpses of frights long past, of dangers faced... and the threat of near death as it touched friends and family. Their cries continued to assault his senses, battering against his heart as he continued to run through the seemingly endless hall... running... running after the little girl that he called sister, running, as the screams became deafening.

HELP US!!

The hallway exploded into nothingness, and Reguba found himself suddenly in a battle that he had never seen coming. The Sword of Martin flashed in his hands, ringing off of the staff in the hands of his opponent. The hood that covered the other warrior's face flew back, revealing Tammy's grinning, shadowed features. She raised the long weapon over her head.

Strike, champion of Redwall! Strike, if you dare!

The staff rushed down toward him, and the cold eyes lit with a blue fire that he knew well, but they held none of the love and affection that he knew... only an icy, murderous contempt. Her laugh echoed through the invisible corridors, as her blade neared to strike.

"NOOOOOOO!" The tent shook with the force of Reguba's roar as it tore from his throat, his hard-toned body coming to a full sitting position on the small cot, eyes wide-open, yet nearly unseeing. Icy sweat ran from his forehead as his breathing raced, and his heart hammered. It had been so real. So real...

Nathaniel started slightly as he entered; he was somewhat lost in his own thoughts, and certainly wasn't expecting such a welcome. He regarded the Redwall warrior with concern. "You okay, Reguba?"

As Nathaniel neared him, the bigger squirrel struck out with one fist, flailing blindly, sending his companion reeling backward over the other cot. Reguba sat down hard in the middle of the hard packed, dirt floor, his shocked senses only vaguely beginning to return to him. "Help them..." he whispered. "Have to help them..."

Picking himself up, the wizard returned to his new friend's side, resting a paw on his shoulder and whispering under his breath, "Claritum". Feeling the energies of his Clearmind spell pass through his own form into Reguba's, he tried again. "Easy, friend; you were dreaming, apparently..."

Reguba blinked, shaking his head. "N... Nathaniel? I... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to do that."

"I would hope not," he replied, patting the other squirrel on the shoulder. "That must have been some nightmare..."

He gazed down at his hands, which were still shaking. "You don't know the half of it," he replied. "The things I saw... I thought I feared nothing, Nathaniel. What a fool I was."

"To fear nothing is to care for nothing," the sorcerer told him. "I suspect I already know you better than that."

"It would appear that you do. I... I saw Tammy, Nathaniel, clothed in the darkness of this world, battling me with every ounce of strength she possessed... screaming for me to strike. How could I strike down the woman I love? I could do nothing but watch, as she... as she overtook me."

Nathaniel nodded knowingly. "Odd, I just had this very conversation with Nightshade..."

The warrior squirrel looked up, an odd expression on his face. "You...?" He realized what had been said in an instant. Much contrary to the expected reaction... he started laughing. "We are kindred spirits, you and I... in more ways than the first, it would seem."

The wizard couldn't help but chuckle. "Kindred spirits with very different pasts, it seems." He sighed quietly, regarding the warrior seated across from him. "I wonder if we'll ever meet each other's counterparts when we finally get home... I doubt you'd recognize mine, though."

"Perhaps not, but who knows?" He dusted himself off, and got to his feet. "I suppose I should get back to sleep, and let you do the same. I believe... I believe I have faced my demons, at least for now."

"Agreed." Nathaniel ran his fingers through his hair as he stretched, then laid back on his cot. "I'll tell you what Nightshade told me, if you think it might help..."

"What, pray tell, did that wise denizen of the air impart to you?"

"I'm sort of paraphrasing, but essentially, even though this Tamara seems to have every feature of the young woman... women... we love, there is one part that is very different: the heart, the part that truly matters."

Reguba's eyes flickered in the dim light. "Aye," he agreed. "Therein lies the problem... her heart. It would seem, by observation... that she has none."

"From what we've already seen, it would seem so," Nathaniel said with a slight nod. "To that question, though, the answer will come with the sunrise..."

Another nod. "And with that, my friend, I will bid you good night... or good morrow," Reguba chuckled. "I suspect the midnight hour has long since passed. Rest well, Nathaniel."

The following morning, Lady Tamara lounged in her throne, enjoying an early breakfast, when a guard hastily entered the room. "Forgive me, milady, but our scouts have reported a rebel force heading toward our northern gate."

The matriarch scoffed, waving a hand absently. "One of Bianca's hit-and-run raids; nothing the guards can't handle..."

"Begging your pardon, Highness," the guard interrupted, "but the reports have the group too large for a raiding party; they look ready for a full assault".

The squirrel sat up slightly, her face an image of mild surprise. "So, my dear sister has mustered her courage that much, eh? Very well, unleash the Heartless; crush those insurgent fools once and for all."

"As you will, Highness," the guard said with a nod. "Do you wish prisoners to be interrogated in the field or tortured first?"

A sneer crept into Tamara's features. "When did I say anything about prisoners?"

Nightshade fluttered down from a high branch to where Reguba and Nathaniel stood waiting, within easy view of Redwall's southern wall. "Our people are almost to the gate... and there's a mess of Heartless coming out to meet them..." She looked toward the north. "Sleep can wait; I've got to help them..."

The pair watched their guide fly off, then Nathaniel looked to Reguba. "Well, you know this place better than I do; shall we?"

"I see no reason why not. Onward, stout of heart! For victory!" The warrior squirrel took off down the hill at a gallop, dodging behind cover as he found it, making his way quickly to the massive red sandstone wall. "Nathaniel, help me, quickly! The entrance should be here... there is a certain block which must be shifted just so."

The wizard started examining the wall carefully. "I trust you have some idea of how to find it?"

"Let me see... according to the texts left by Martin, it should be... three blocks down... four to the right... three up... there!" The larger of the two, Reguba put his rippling shoulders to the stone, pushing with all his might. "This... is.. the one!"

"Titan," Nathaniel whispered, then added his own (now magically enhanced) strength to Reguba's, shifting the block inward. Several other stones to their right then slid aside, revealing a hidden doorway. "That was easy enough; shame that spell only lasts a few seconds. Lumos twain." Casting his Light spell on both fists, the mage cautiously peeked inside; finding no immediate resistance, he carefully stepped in. "Okay, where to?"

"This way. Ah ah," Reguba cautioned, putting a hand on his ally's arm. "No more of that. I'll handle this one." Taking a torch down from an ancient wall bracket, he removed tinder and flint from a compartment below the receptacle, and put them to the dry wood. A bright, flaming glow spread through the antiquarian tunnel, chasing the shadows from the dank, dismal corners. "Make a right turn here, this passage. If I'm not mistaken, we should be beneath the brewing cellars."

Nathaniel clapped his hands together, canceling the spell, then followed the warrior carefully. "First off, we need to find this Keyblade. If Trienne is indeed this world's Gadget, she'd hide it somewhere that was so obvious, you wouldn't even think to look there..."

"Very true. My world's Gadget would hide it in a place devoid of anything mechanical... t'would be the last place anyone would expect of her. Then again, she might hide it in the workshop, just due to the fact that no one would think that she would hide it there, or else... great shades of Mossflower, now I sound like her!"

"Her rambling is somewhat contagious, isn't it?" the wizard chuckled. He shuddered slightly at the dank, dismal surroundings. "You actually grew up in a place like this?"

Reguba shook his head. "My Redwall was nothing like this. In my world, the Father Abbot allowed no shutters, no window curtains, unless in time of battle when they were needed for protection. My home was always bathed in the radiance of light, whether from the sun by day, or torch by night. This place is no more Redwall than the Empire State Building. It's life has departed."

"I guess growing up in New York's suburbia gives you a different take on things," Nathaniel sighed. "Just being surrounded by this much stone makes me uneasy, even if it were well lit." The pair now found themselves in a widened hall; surrounding them were several glass cases holding various objects. Nathaniel felt himself drawn to the one to their immediate left; within, he found a simple leather jerkin, dyed bright red with something of a yellow flower pattern. "Dale..."

"Nathaniel, what...?" The warrior's eyes fell upon the contents of the case, and his gaze hardened. He stepped back, and bumped into another case. Within, there was a simple leather jacket, it's collar trimmed in wool. Hanging above it, an old, battered felt hat hung on an upright rod, in the manner of a trophy. "No." Reguba stared at the floor, and then clutched his face in his hands. He threw back his head, letting out a roar of pain and retribution so loud that the glass within the surrounding cases shattered.

The human-turned-squirrel threw his arms in front of his face, shielding himself from the flying glass. He stumbled backwards, accidentally knocking into Reguba and causing them both to fall into the case holding the leather jacket and spilling jacket and hat to the floor. "Hello, what's this?" A small scrap of paper had fallen out of the hat; Nathaniel picked it up and read aloud. " 'The right knight, two squared toward the Great Hall, holds the key'... I think we just found our clue."

"You may be correct... and my apologies, friend. The bloodwrath becomes harder and harder to control the farther I go into this murderous dungeon."

"Quite all right; it seems to have worked to our advantage, since neither of us would've even considered breaking one of these cases open." He regarded the scrap of paper he now held. "Any thoughts on what it means, though?"

"The right knight... two squared toward the Great Hall... great scots... the clever little devil!"

"Let's see if I can translate Gadgetese as well as you seem to have," Nathaniel said with a smirk. "I'm going to hazard a guess that there's a passageway leading to this Great Hall, with suits of armor on both sides... two squared is four... the fourth one on the right heading towards the hall has the Keyblade?"

"Not quite so simple as all that, Nathaniel. The passageway to Great Hall, at least on my world, is lined with four suits of armor... those of the great Knights of Redwall. Then, beneath the entrance arch, there lies the fifth suit, two-squared beyond the others. Gadget has done what I myself would have, and hidden the Keyblade within the one place that this Tamara, superstitious as she must be, would dare not molest... the armor of Martin the Warrior."

Nathaniel considered this a moment. "Plus, it fits what we'd figured from the start; putting Martin's sword with his armor is too obvious," a devious grin formed on the wizard's face. "Note to self: never challenge Gadget to a riddle game." He stuffed the scrap in his pocket and turned to Reguba. "So, how do we get to the Great Hall from here?"

The warrior thought for a moment, trying to compose a picture in his mind. "It has been a great many days since last I walked these floors," he sighed, "but I believe I know the way. Follow me; we must take the hallway to the right, and follow it through Cavern Hole, the old meeting place. Great Hall lies beyond."

"Lead on."

Reguba crouched lower, compacting his muscular frame into a slimmer, less visible stance. He crept swiftly through the corridors, with such stealth that Nathaniel had difficulty hearing the padding of his feet, even though he trotted directly behind him. The bigger squirrel pointed silently to the tattered, ancient banners and tapestries as they passed by. "The standards of the great warrior clans of Mossflower. Redwall's greatest heroes were born to these... and apparently, here they have died for them."

"Presuming they held the same meaning here," Nathaniel noted. "Consider how much we have already seen that is very different from what either of us is familiar with... Bianca's age, Tamara's personality... there's no telling, really."

"This is true. What they may stand for here... I am not sure if I wish to know, for I see my own family's banner among these silent remnant... the clan of Reguba, squirrel-warriors of Mossflower. Whatever these pitiful tatters may represent... I mean to return honor to that one, Nathaniel. I owe it to those who have come before me. It matters not that this is not my world. My responsibility spans that boundary... and I will uphold it, by knocking this false Tamara from her pedestal. She mocks everything that I... that we... stand true for."

"Family loyalty is not exactly very high in my personal regard," the wizard replied. "If you'd ever met my brother, you'd understand why. However, I agree wholeheartedly with your last point; this Tamara will fall... if for no other reason than for her very existence sullying the name she bears." The pair had made their way some distance, now coming upon what perhaps had once been an opulent hallway. More banners... tattered remnants of what they'd once been... hung from the high walls, some reaching from the floor to the vaulted ceiling far overhead.

Something seemed to bother Nathaniel. "Does it seem odd that we've encountered no resistance at all?"

"I noticed it before you did. Something about this place raises my hackles... and I cannot shake the feeling. The enemy is about... but where?"

"Better question: why have they taken no action?" Sorting through his mind, Nathaniel decided on a small assortment of spells that would perhaps become useful if the need arose, quietly following in the footsteps of the Redwallian warrior.

The hallway began to widen, reaching it's zenith at a wide, dual-arched entryway. On either side, two suits of armor stood, four in all. Reguba spoke reverently. "The armor of the great Knights of Redwall: Chestnutt the Wise... Whitefur the Fair... Armidillon of Loamhedge... Stonepaw of Salamandastron. On my world, these armaments were forged of ores no longer known to any creature living."

Nathaniel took in the scene, analyzing the surroundings quickly and finding something wrong almost immediately; Chip had taught him well. "I thought you said there were five suits of armor?"

"So I did, and now I see as you do. Something is awry here." He examined an empty niche in the wall carefully. "I had thought that she would not dare disturb Martin's arms... perhaps I have been too kind." Reguba continued to probe into the indentation in the stone, stepping behind where the armor should have stood. "Hello... what have we here?" Inscribed in the red sandstone were words, in a familiar, spidery script. "Though we see through a glass darkly... the path is crystal clear. The standard of the warrior... at your command a way shall clear. Through the darkness bravely plunge, until light's new respite... then look for him where the key should lie... the key that supports the heights."

The mage mulled the words over in his mind, then scratched his head, looking to Reguba. "Definitely never getting into a riddle game with Gadget..."

"Fortunately for me, this Gadget speaks in old, Redwallian English; I see the inflections. Now then, I believe I understand her meaning for the first part... look for a mirror in this hall, a large one."

Nathaniel scanned the room once more, at first finding nothing... then regarded the warrior with a smirk. "Is that big enough?" he said, pointing up; nearly half of the ceiling was covered by a large mirror, apparently designed to enhance the lighting of the hall.

Reguba shook his head. "Too large... meant to deceive. What we are looking for will be elsewhere." He let his gaze drift over the walls. "Aha." In a dimly lit corner, a floor length mirror, just tall enough for a mouse, stood among the dusty tapestries. "So, Dawson, what do you observe?" he inquired with a chuckle, gesturing in it's direction.

"Well, Basil, clearly what we have here is a looking glass..." Nathaniel kidded as he wiped layers of dust and disuse from the surface, then raised an eyebrow. "... and I've somehow become a vampire... there's no reflection."

"Though we see through a glass darkly."

Wheels began turning in the sorcerer's mind. "The standard of the warrior... which of these tapestries is Martin's crest?"

Reguba looked upward. "There." From the ceiling, a large banner hung limp in the silent, stale air, bearing the stylized letter 'M'. "Help me turn the mirror up to face it."

After some effort, the squirrels managed to coerce the rusted hinges of the mirror's stand enough to angle it toward the tapestry. "Okay, next part of the riddle," Nathaniel thought aloud, "through darkness bravely plunge..."

Reguba followed the mirror's angle, noting the glint of light that bounced from it. "It's showing us where to go," he remarked. "We must climb upward. There must be a passageway entrance up on the ledges, where this light points."

Nathaniel examined the wall carefully. "That's going to be easier said than done. This wall is fairly smooth; what pawholds there are are few and far between..."

The warrior made a short sound of rumbling laughter in his throat. "Watch a pro, my friend." With that, he leaped at the wall, scurrying up the semi-smooth stones like an eel up a coral reef. "Care to join me?"

The wizard inwardly smacked himself, then started making his way up behind the warrior. "You have to recall, I've only been a squirrel three years..."

"Only been a... never mind, I'm sure I don't want to know."

"It's kind of a long story," Nathaniel told him, pulling himself up onto the ledge Reguba was now standing on. "If we survive this, I'll give you the basics of it."

"Very well. I don't know about you, but I plan to live to a ripe old age, so I am sure we will have plenty of time to discuss the issue." He reached for the next ledge, spying a small stone that was earmarked with a crest. "Watch yourself... could be a booby trap."

The wizard glanced down, checking the angle of the reflection from the mirror. "Could also be what we're looking for... try it, but carefully."

"Me? Why should I be the guinea pig? Remember, I wanted to have an extended lifetime!"

"You're bigger, you're stronger, you're faster... need any more reasons?"

"You forgot better looking."

"No, that was a deliberate omission resulting from lack of accuracy... like smarter..."

"Remind me to kill you if we get out of this," Reguba gritted out, straining to reach as he pressed the small stone inward.

"Reminder forgotten," the wizard smirked, watching expectantly. Above the two squirrels, a section of the wall seemed to unhinge, sliding noisily behind the other stones and leaving a gap of about a shoulder's width. Within was a narrow passage, with ancient, dusty torches lining the walls. "Told'ja so," Nathaniel said with a wink, pulling down one of the torches and lighting it.

"Well, you did claim to be the smart one. Helloo... what have we here?" As Nathaniel lit the first torch, the rest of the ones lining the passage sprang to life, casting an eerie glow over the ancient masonry. "Hmm... it would appear that someone has been expected for quite some time."

"Light's new respite," the wizard said as much to himself as to Reguba, slowly heading down the corridor. "Look for him where the key should lie..."

"Where the key should lie..." the bigger squirrel mused, looking around them. The passageway was coming to an end, in a large, circular court, layered with the dust and cobwebs of the ages. "Gadget certainly likes her riddles... perhaps a bit too much."

"No argument there..." Nathaniel grumbled, then had a thought. "The key that supports the heights... check the rafters."

Reguba looked up, and a grin lit his face. "Of course! The key that supports the heights... where the key should lie... don't you see? This room is spherical! It requires a 'key' stone, which is where we'll find our next clue."

"Loverly... I knew I should've been an engineer..."

With a grace that belied his muscular size, Reguba quickly shimmied up the wall, clutching at the small cracks and handholds between the massive red sandstone blocks. The keystone, the center of this last clue, sat at the center of the room's wide, medieval arch. "Just have to... reach... across," he said, stretching out his hand as he clutched to his grip. At his touch, the great stone shuddered slightly, and moved. Down in the middle of the room, a panel at the center of the floor slid open, revealing a flight of stairs that proceeded downward. "Oh for the love of walnuts... up, down, why didn't she make up her mind?"

"Because if she did, she wouldn't be Gadget," the wizard smirked. "You know that as well as..." He shuddered, a slight grin playing at his features. "We're getting close..."

"Do you sense something that I do not?"

He nodded. "There's a very strong source of magical energy nearby. It isn't like the feeling that permeates this place; it's... pure... clean... it's gotta be the blade." He started down the stairwell, still alert for any sign of trouble.

The stairs wound down into a dark, wide space, which had the feeling of... of... "A tomb," Reguba breathed, indicating a space near the far wall. There, beneath a keyhole shaped stone, lay a rectangular stone box, with the image of a stylized key engraved upon it's top.

Nathaniel rested his paws on the outside of the box, closing his eyes. He smiled as the energies flowed into his form. He then stepped aside, turning to his companion. "Reguba, I believe you should do the honors."

The warrior placed his hands gently at either end of the heavy lid, closing his eyes. "Forgive me for disturbing your rest, great one," he whispered. Pitting all of his formidable strength against the stone, he lifted, gritting his teeth at the strain. With a creak, a groan, and a final, agonized shriek, the ancient receptacle opened. Within lay a wonder to behold: Martin the Warrior lay entombed in his armor, which shone as brightly silver as the day that it had been forged. He was big, for a mouse; standing nearly as tall as Reguba, and just as broad at the shoulder. His hands were folded across his breastplate, clasped around the hilt of... "The key!" Reguba exclaimed.

Nathaniel bowed his head reverently. "We ask your forgiveness, noble one, but the shadows threaten, and your weapon is needed once more." He paused for a moment, then looked to the warrior. "I believe he's waiting for you..."

His hands shaking, not out of fear but awe, Reguba reached out. As he touched Martin's armored hands, they seemed to relax of their own volition, releasing the Keyblade easily into the squirrel's own unsteady grip. As he lifted the sword out of the centuries-old sarcophagus, a small, rolled parchment was revealed, lying atop Martin's breastplate, where his hands had previously been crossed. Curiously, Reguba propped the sword against the coffin, and open the small, ancient paper. His eyes widened, and he handed the antiquarian note to Nathaniel. Written in an archaic, spidery script, were six words.

Wield it well, son of Reguba.

Nathaniel saw the words as the parchment was handed to him, but this wasn't what he found odd. The moment the note passed from Reguba's paw to his, the words changed, still in the same, flowing script. "Okay, this is a new one, even for me..." he muttered, holding up the parchment for Reguba to see.

Form of choice, not birth... Gifts sacrificed, restored... Go now and aid well... The wielder of the sword.

Reguba raised his eyes from the still form. "Methinks we have been gifted with a guardian angel."

"Indeed," he rolled the parchment carefully and slipped it into a pocket. "Now, my friend, we have a false queen to dethrone... and a beloved name to restore honor to."

Tamara gazed into her Speaking Mirror, her expression one of someone asking a question she expected to already know the answer to. "So, have my Heartless wiped out the rebels yet?"

The captain of the guard, whose image currently appeared in the mirror, fidgeted nervously. "Well, Highness, they have taken heavy losses..."

The squirrel's eyebrow raised slightly, her gaze turning even colder than normal. "But?"

The image in the mirror visibly cringed at his mistress's tone. "So have we... and the rebels are advancing..."

Tamara's tone was barely more than a snarl. "You mean to tell me you simpletons are being beaten by that rabble?! Must I do everything myself?!"

"You have far more immediate concerns, Your Highness," Nathaniel spat the last two words as he and Reguba stood defiantly in the doorway of the throne room.

Tamara turned slowly, a jagged grin spreading across her features. Reguba now understood what Chip meant when speaking of Lawainie... a warped, cracked mirror image. "So... my two champions, you have decided to return to me," she purred, sashaying down from her throne, painting her face with a demure smile. "I had planned that only one of you would emerge from this contest."

The Redwall warrior growled deep in his chest. "Do not presume that your appearance will stay our hands, woman. You have destroyed the dignity of my home... and blackened the honor of one we both hold dear. Now comes the time that you must pay for your black deeds!"

Her smile only widened, her eyelids drooping seductively. "You know, I do so love a forceful man. Forceful... and powerful; the two of you have proven quite well to have both of these qualities..."

"If that was an attempt at flattery, witch, it didn't work." Nathaniel's eyes were focused on hers, watching for a sign that she would strike as his mind prepared the necessary defensive spells. "In your attempt to further subjugate these people, you have succeeded only in bringing about your own reckoning."

The smiles and laughter began to darken, a cold fury building in the expression of the evil queen. "You know nothing of reckonings, fool! The two of you have come thus far only by the amusement it has provided me. Now, it is time, high time... that you die." She waved a hand, and seemingly from nowhere a party of Heartless erupted into existence in a black cloud, swaying and dodging to some strange rhythm known only to their ears.

Reguba glanced as his companion, shrugging. "Ah, well... I needed a bit of sparring practice, anyway. Shall we?"

"Lumos twain." The squirrel magician's fists lit with a soft white glow as he glanced back, smirking. "We shall." He then slammed his fist into the head of the nearest Heartless, which dissipated immediately. Reguba swung out with one arm toward the Heartless nearest toward him, which evaporated immediately as Martin's Keyblade materialized in his hand.

Somewhere, at the back of Tamara's mind, an unfamiliar emotion began to take root… an emotion that she had long since denied, pushing it's influence to the far reaches of her consciousness. Fear. "The sword," she whispered, eyes widening as the squirrel warrior plowed into the Heartless, his ancient weapon leaving trails of blackened vapor in it's wake as he made short work of the creatures that pursued him.

He grinned at his companion. "I'm almost done with mine... how are you coming with yours?"

"Quite well, actually..." Nathaniel seemed to actually be enjoying himself, his glowing fists dispatching one creature after another. One Heartless tried to slip up behind him, but a spinning backhand made short work of the beast. "I must remember to thank Monty for the boxing tips when I get home."

"What makes you think you'll be leaving here alive?" Tamara began chanting in a deep, guttural language, a glowing orb appearing in the space between her hands.

The two champions looked at each other nervously. Reguba observed the phenomenon for several seconds, and then glanced back. "It would appear that we have developed a problem!" Taking a running start, he dove behind a nearby table as the ball of energy splintered several of the wall's sandstone blocks above him. Reaching out, he grabbed Nathaniel, jerking him down to cover. "I have a plan, my friend, but it will take both of us to make it work." He pointed to the upright, crystal chamber in the corner. "Tamara's energy is based upon her stolen hearts. If we can return a certain of those hearts to it's owner..." He indicated the crystal jar that sat by Tamara's throne. "I believe you catch my meaning."

"Indeed," Nathaniel nodded. "You have an idea in mind of how to do it, or are we winging it?"

The warrior shrugged. "I don't know, I'm making this up as I go!"

Nathaniel ducked as another energy ball exploded near their heads, then looked at the warrior with a grin. "I might have an idea... how good are you at baseball?"

The light of battle glowed in Reguba's eyes. "I'm a tolerable shot with a bat... you lead, I'll follow."

"Try to hit the chamber." He then stood and flung the table aside, glaring at their adversary. "Okay, Tamara, let's see what you've really got!"

"What I've got is your death warrant, fool!" As she flung the next energy ball at him, he glanced to Reguba at his side, readying the spell for his part of this plan.

Reguba tensed, ready to leap into action at a second's notice. "I hope whatever you're planning works!"

"Two words, Reguba: batter up!"

Reguba held Martin's blade at the ready, focusing in, 'keeping his eye on the ball', as Chip had once said. The glowing ball grew nearer by the second, and in a flash, the larger squirrel struck. The Keyblade reversed the energy's direction like lighting, driving it backward toward the aggressor. Tamara dove to the floor with a screech, huddling to avoid the rampaging sphere of power. As the sphere passed her, heading for its true target, Nathaniel thrust his arm forward, palm out, toward a different direction... namely, the throne. "Kinetios!" The crystal jar near the throne wobbled slightly, then flew from its perch with a wave of Nathaniel's arm, striking the chamber holding Trienne's immobile form just as the ball of energy struck.

A sudden flash of insight brought Tamara immediately to awareness of her error. "NO!" She leaped into the air, trying desperately to recover the flying crystal container as it flew toward it's destination. She collapsed to the ground, and began to scramble away as quickly as her feet would allow.

The room exploded with a blinding, intensely white light as the energy and the jar impacted with their target, sending shards of crystal flying to the corners of the room. A voice that all present knew rang out clear and true. "Success at last, good champions! Bravo!"

As the light subsided, a blonde, beautiful mouse stood amid the ruins of the upright vessel, her light blue gown falling gracefully around her as the last flakes of ice melted away from her. The wizard bowed his head slightly, smiling warmly. "Welcome back, Trienne..." The warmth in his countenance faded as he turned back to Tamara.

Reguba bowed at the waist, in the Redwallian gesture of great respect. He turned the Keyblade's hilt toward Trienne, offering it openly. "Your weapon, heir of Martin; only in your hands may it achieve the greatest victory."

Trienne Hacqurenche smiled at the two champions. "Thank you, son of Reguba; thank you both, for I could never have freed myself alone." As she wrapped a slender hand around the Keyblade's hilt, however, the room suddenly grew dark, a strong, howling wind blowing through it seemingly from nowhere.

Tamara cringed as a booming voice resounded through the room. "You bungling little fool! I give you one simple task, and you can't even accomplish that!" A pool of absolute blackness formed in the room, and from it strode a tall, pale, black-haired mouse, her eyes burning as she pointed the staff in her hands at the fallen queen.

"Malificent, wait, I can AAAIIIEEEEEE!" Tamara never had a chance to finish her plea, as a gout of green flame shot forth from the end of the staff and engulfed the hapless squirrel, her scream of agony echoing as her form was consumed by the fire.

Nathaniel stared in horror, muttering under his breath. "As an old friend of mine would say, this is so not good..."

In the fading smoke and vapor of defeated Heartless, Trienne Marielle de Hacqurenche stood tall, her finely boned hands wrapped securely around the hilt of the Keyblade of Martin. Reguba stood beside her, hands outstretched in a posture of defense. "Can we not be dealt a winning hand, for once?!"

The tall, raven haired mouse grinned evilly, resting her sceptre on the floor as Tamara collapsed before her, shaking violently as smoke poured from her smoldering garments. "Ah, son of Reguba... one of Redwall's finest warriors, in another time and place... and Nathaniel as well... two such fine specimens. I can see why my misguided underling was impressed by you."

The squirrel warrior glanced over at Trienne, who had been silent up to this point. "Is flattery always the accepted weapon here?"

"For some. Ones such as this use any weapon that is convenient, so long as it accomplishes zere goal. Is zat not correct, Malificent?" she asked, her soft French accent dripping with contempt.

"How ironic," Malificent chuckled. "One of the few occasions that I opt for honesty, and it's taken as simple flattery. You do realize, of course, that the three of you have no hope of defeating me."

"Auros," Nathaniel muttered under his breath, then stepped in front of his two companions. "Just because you believe we have no hope doesn't mean that we don't."

Trienne's lilting voice, while so similar to those of the Gadgets that Reguba and Nathaniel both knew, carried an authority and steel that commanded attention and respect. "Hope is forever, Malificent; forever and unending. Only those who choose ze path of evil do not possess it. You have pulled ze strings of power here for too long. You have sent your lackeys to enslave ze good people of Mossflower, to imprison me... and your minions have destroyed my friends," she growled, nearly choking on the words. The Keyblade rose in an en garde position, it's tip beginning to glow dangerously. "Alone and weakened, I was unable to defeat you, but with such champions at my back, and the sword of my fathers in zese hands... it is you who has no hope."

Reguba's warrior's blood began to rise as the mouse's powerful words washed over him, his hackles bristling as the scent of battle found its way to him. He watched in readiness, as Trienne's deep blue eyes seemed to shine even brighter with the blade's energy. "No hope of continuing the darkness that has bound this land for too long. Your time ends here."

"We shall see..." Malificent lowered her staff, releasing the green flames that had destroyed Tamara at the three heroes. Nathaniel stepped forward further, taking the entirety of the blast himself. "Ah, self-sacrifice," the mouse witch smirked. "Ever the mark of the hero; too bad it was... eh?"

Nathaniel still stood where he had been, unharmed, and now surrounded by a white glow. "My turn. Aurum delugia!" He thrust both hands forward, and a spout of water surged forth, knocking Malificent back. Reguba and Trienne both noted that the white glow diminished somewhat. "Hope you two have a plan; I'm not sure how long I can keep throwing her own power back at her..."

The blonde mouse smiled, her face taking on a determined expression. "You are asking me if I have a plan?"

Reguba chuckled. "That was rather redundant, I suppose."

She nodded, raising Martin's blade high, and with a cry that rattled the room's low windows, charged the witch. Malificent's eyes widened, and she brought her staff quickly to bear, releasing a great flood of green, flaming energy. Trienne swung the Keyblade expertly from one hand to the other, performing sword twirls and tosses that Reguba could only hope to achieve, each move deflecting a blast of energy from the sword's shining, keen edge.

The warrior of Redwall made a sound of awe in his throat. "By thunder, I'll not be left out of this!" Grabbing an ancient claymore from it's resting place on one of the wall's many shields, he swung into action right behind this world's remaining Ranger, striking steel against sceptre.

Nathaniel dove this way and that, letting the fire blasts deflected by Trienne strike his Aura Field spell, then used the excess energy to launch another torrent at Malificent. "We need a way to send her back where she came from... and keep her there!"

As the brave mouse struck the Keyblade against Malificent's sceptre, Reguba noted that the keen blade had begun to scar the enemy's weapon, even going so far as to leave wide pockmarks in it's wake. "Nathaniel, I think I may have something. Direct your fire here!" He indicated the stone-tipped staff's scarred shaft as the witch parried another series of blows. "Strike there! If the sceptre can be broken, she will become powerless!"

"Here's hoping," the squirrel wizard muttered, focusing intently on the damaged section of the witch's sceptre. "Aurum delugia maximos!" A narrow, focused geyser shot forth from Nathaniel's hands like a cannon, striking the weakened section and snapping the sceptre like a twig. He then slumped to his knees, the Aura Field winking out of existence and a considerable portion of his own energy spent. "That's all I've got, you guys; finish her!"

The bigger squirrel rumbled deep in his chest. "You don't have to tell me twice!" Diving into the fray, he wove his sword in circles, driving Malificent back, further and further toward the chamber from which Trienne had been released.

"FOOLS! None can defeat power such as that of Malificent!" She threw her hands up into the air, dark pools appearing around her, from which emerged Heartless after Heartless.

Looking about wildly, Trienne called out, "Reguba! Deal with ze dark ones! Malificent is mine!"

"At once, my lady!" The warrior's spinning weapon tore through the dark forms of the Heartless like a streak of chain lightning, reducing them to smoking ooze as it passed. Behind him, the Keyblade continued to hiss through the air, threatening the dark mouse, pushing her farther against the wall.

For once in her evil existence, Malificent was losing a battle. "T-Trienne! My dear, can we not come to some sort of arrangement? After all, we are two civilized ones, both powerful, and..."

"Stop talking."

"What?!"

"I said, stop talking. Your subtleties and false tongue can protect you no longer, evil one."

Malificent found herself standing against the back of the broken crystal chamber, her boots crunching on the broken shards. "You cannot defeat me. None have ever defeated me!"

Trienne's eyes flashed angrily. "We have." She lifted the Keyblade, pointing it's keen edge at a straight angle at chest level. The ancient sword began to glow, the intensity of it's brightness growing until the light filling the room was nearly blinding. Before Malificent, a glowing aperture appeared, in the classic shape of a keyhole. The dark haired mousette's eyes flew open wide.

"NOOOO!" A beam of pure light shot from Martin's sword, driving deep into the keyhole's depths. Throughout the room, a deep, rumbling sound emanated from the walls... the sound of a lock's tumblers, clacking into place. Immediately, the summoned Heartless vanished, as if they had never been. Malificent's eyes blazed with fury as she herself began to fade, as if only an image. "I will find a way to make you pay for this... all three of you... count on it!" Her words echoed in the chamber, the only remaining testament that she had been there at all.

Nathaniel tried to lift himself back to his feet, managing to get as far as one knee. "Well, that was fun..."

"Indeed," Trienne gasped, leaning heavily on the Keyblade to support herself. "I... I'm not sure where I found the... the strength, after my long confine..."

Her eyes rolled back, and Reguba slid into place just in time to catch her in his arms, as she collapsed into unconsciousness. "Well, I always did play the dashing hero, when there be a damsel in distress about!"

The wizard resigned himself to his current fate and slid down into a sitting position. "Now we only have one problem..." Before he could finish, Bianca, Nightshade, and several of the resistance fighters burst into the room.

"We did it!" the squirrel maiden called triumphantly. "The Heartless are gone, and the soldiers are routed! We..." she stopped short as her eyes fell upon Trienne's prone form. "Oh, no... is she...?"

"Exhausted and unconscious, but otherwise intact," Nathaniel told her with a small grin, though it quickly faded. "I fear the same cannot be said for your sister..."

Bianca simply nodded. "My sister died the day she traded her soul to Malificent for power; maybe now she can rest in peace."

As Bianca spoke, a deep tremor shook the ancient abbey. As the walls shook, darkness seemed to melt away from them. Cobwebs and dust dissolved away, leaving bright, gleaming woodwork in their place. The ancient, hanging tapestries traded away their tatters, weaving themselves together once more into colorful, vibrant banners. A hush fell over the group as the process continued, pushing away the long ingrained effects of the Heartless.

Reguba looked on, tears flowing freely from his eyes. "Redwall is renewing itself."

"It is indeed," Nightshade smiled, sliding a wing under Nathaniel's arm and helping him to his feet, "thanks to the two of you."

The wizard smiled as he watched the old abbey come back to life. "Seems the only thing left is the problem I started to mention a moment ago: figuring out how we get home."

Trienne's voice rasped softly into the silence. "I think... I have a way... zat should work."

Nathaniel swallowed audibly, glancing at Reguba. "Please tell me she didn't say 'should'..."

The warrior looked ready to fall into a faint himself. "Yes... I'm afraid she did. Ah well... at least she didn't say..."

The inventor broke back in, thinking out loud as her faculties began to return. "Yes... yes, zat should work! By routing a signal from here through ze keyhole, I should be able to send you home with no problems!"

"We're dead," Nathaniel muttered, chuckling, then turned to the bat at his side as well as the blonde squirrel nearby. "Bianca, Nightshade, it's been an honor meeting you both, though I hope you'll understand why I say I hope we don't meet again."

Bianca blushed slightly and Nightshade giggled. "Perfectly understandable, under the circumstances," the bat told him. "Good journey to you both, and thank you... for everything."

Reguba bowed at the waist to Trienne, and then turned to Bianca. His face held a soft expression... almost fatherly. "It is good to see that you have grown into a talented warriormaid, little one. My Tamara would be proud of you... as am I." He put his arms around her briefly, and kissed the younger squirrel gently on the forehead. "Live well... Bink," he smiled. "Live well... and rebuild this place to the greatness that it was."

Bianca blushed even more. "You know, I always hated that nickname..." she then smiled and hugged the warrior. "Both of you take care; I've no doubt that your Tamaras would be very proud of you, as well."

Nathaniel stepped away from Nightshade, giving her shoulders a squeeze before he did so, then stepped up to Trienne. "I, for one, will be very happy to get back to mine..."

Reguba chuckled softly. "You know, I just had a somewhat wild thought. If Trienne can manage the feat... how'd you like to trade off for a few days? I'd love to see if Tammy's as inept in the kitchen in your universe as she is in mine." He smirked, anticipating the other squirrel's reaction.

The wizard chuckled at the thought, then shook his head. "I'd rather not be on the business end of a plunger harpoon, thanks just the same. However, I will say this much: there's a reason Monty does most of the cooking,"

"Quick question... does yours try to make that reprehensible walnut soufflé she learned from her mother? By Martin's blade, if I have to endure that once more, I do believe I'll threaten to call for Chinese!"

"Try is the operative word... I'd never seen Dale run away from food that fast in my life!"

"I suppose it's good to see that some things never change," the warrior laughed. "At least your Tammy doesn't ask you to let her practice giving shots upon your person! Her medical degree is getting hazardous to our health," he snickered.

"Don't be so certain on that count," Nathaniel laughed. "I'm starting to think people with full body tattoos have been stuck with needles less often than I have." He rubbed his arm to accentuate his point. "To be honest, I actually lied about being sick for a full week just to avoid the possibility..."

"My apologies, mes amis, but I believe we do have a rather pressing matter to attend?" Trienne cut in, hands on her hips in a no-nonsense, but good-natured stance.

"You know," Reguba mused, "it's a pity one of us can't take her back with us. I could get used to hearing Gadget speak French."

"Silence eez golden, my silver-tongued knave. Now follow me; we will need to go to my old laboratory."

"Lead on, mademoiselle," Nathaniel nodded, then whispered as an aside to Reguba, "not like either of ours couldn't learn it in a day or two if she wanted to, y'know..."

"Why, thank you, kind sir," Trienne giggled, never turning as she proceeded down one of the long hallways. "It eez good to know that one is appreciated for her... shall we say... intelligence quotient."

Reguba shook his head, looking sideways at Nathaniel. "All this time, and I still forget about those ears."

The wizard's ears flattened against his head. "Meep... you and me both..."

The inventor led the two on a winding journey into the depths of the ancient stone fortress, which was beginning to look more and more alive by the moment, as Tamara's dark influences bled away into a brightening atmosphere. "I do hope the two of you will excuse ze mess," she apologized. "I have not exactly been here to, how you say... tidy up." The lab was a wreck, half-destroyed equipment strewn to the far corners of the room. Trienne herself, however, seemed unworried. "I am sure that I should be able to send the two of you back, once I have rebuilt a bit of my work."

Looking around, Nathaniel chuckled. "Actually, it looks more organized than my Gadget's..." He then turned to Reguba with a worried look. "She said 'should' again..."

"Gadg... Trienne, are you sure you're up to this? You did just come out of a fight for your life, after all."

She waved her hand, already buried to the waist in a disassembled console. "Please, please... Gadget is fine; do not trouble yourselves. It eez a literal translation of my name, after all. As for my intellectual acuity at the moment... it will have to do."

"Well, we really don't want you to over-exert yourself..." Nathaniel was clearly as concerned about himself and Reguba as the mouse before them. "We've been here this long; it wouldn't hurt to stay a while longer while you recover..."

"Nonsense! I will have you home as soon as ze particle flux generator is operating once again... I think." She appeared to pause for a moment, most likely running calculations in her head, before diving back into the machinery.

Reguba shrugged helplessly. "Do not look at me, friend. There's only one person who can get through to Gadget when she is on one of these kicks... and I'm not sure we could locate him at the moment."

"If he's even alive," Nathaniel agreed with a sigh. "Guess we'll just have to hope at least one thing is different here... namely, the Hackwrench curse."

"Somebody say something 'bout a curse?" a voice asked from the doorway. "I sure feel like I got hit with one... or at least a size thirteen socket wrench." Standing in the open entryway, a chipmunk rubbed his head ruefully, pulling his tattered and ratty bomber jacket close around him. "And what happened to my hat?"

"CHIP?!" Nathaniel stared at the chipmunk dumbfounded. "But... the trophy room... we thought..." His gaze flashed from one occupant of the room to the next in rapid succession.

The leader of the Rangers stared at the tall squirrel oddly. "I... I don't know you... yet I feel that I do. Maybe it's just an after-effect from being in the darkness for so long... being trapped there... I'm still a little foggy."

"It's a long story," Nathaniel told him, giving Reguba a quick wink. "As for your hat, I believe you'll find it three rooms down from the main audience hall."

"Thanks, I..." He looked over the piles of metal and tools, to the pair of legs that stuck out from under a large machine. "Trienne!" he yelled. "Trienne, is that you?!"

The effect was akin to a match striking gunpowder. "Chip? CHIP!!" she yelled, shooting to her feet like a rubber band snapping into shape. The mouse threw her arms around him, kissing the chipmunk several times, and half-crying in rapid French.

"Tri, come on... for pete's sake, translate!" Chip yelled, laughing at her antics.

"I thought zat I would never see you again," she sniffed.

He grinned. "You should know by now that I'm harder to kill than that."

Reguba gave Nathaniel a knowing look. "It would appear that for better or worse, some things do not change, no matter what the universe."

The wizard smiled, recalling the reaction of a certain squirrel upon his own apparent return from the dead. "Thank goodness," he said simply.

"Anyway, that's the long and short of it," Chip said, running a finger around the edge of his weatherworn hat, which he'd retrieved from the Trophy Room. "When Tamara took over, she engaged us in a running battle... picked us off one at a time, the little devil. I don't know what became of Monty, or Dale, or Zipper... but she had a special torment in store for me. She made me a Heartless captain."

"Clever strategy," said Nathaniel with a nod. "No offense, but she probably would've been better off killing you; that way, there'd be no chance of you coming back."

"True... but strange as it may sound, speaking of her... I think she still cared for me, in a way. As a Heartless, I was always at her beck and call. It was like being in a waking nightmare, being able to see what was happening... but never touch it, and with Trienne frozen and imprisoned... it was hard to muster a will to fight back."

"I can see how that would put a damper on one's spirit. I'd hate to think what..." The wizard's voice trailed off, his mind sidetracking to another time and place.

Reguba shuddered involuntarily. "It makes one wonder how she avoided destroying herself, bandying such energies about so carelessly. But at any rate... how comes the progress, my lady?"

Trienne's eyes were drawn and weary as she made yet another minute adjustment to the delicate machinery with which she was working. The tool in her hands slipped, causing her to bark her knuckles against bare metal. A stream of hissing, growling French poured forth as she shook her hand, and then stuck the offending fingers in her mouth.

"I see your temperament's improved with captivity," Chip joked. He quickly wilted under the withering stare she returned.

"I suggest you curb your humorous nature, if you want to avoid sleeping on ze couch... as soon as we have one again."

His face turned worried as he glanced at the two squirrels. "I guess you're right... some things never do change!"

Nathaniel was blushing slightly, knowing enough French to catch most of Trienne's tirade. He grinned at Chip. "Admit it: you wouldn't change her for the world."

"Come to think of it... you're right, I wouldn't," he murmured, nuzzling gently against her cheek.

The mousette giggled slightly, the smile changing her entire appearance. "Really, Chip, I aczept your apology, but I'm working!"

"Well, when this is all finally over, you're going to take a vacation. I insist! We can finally go and look at the tree in New York... you know, where we were considering moving the Rangers."

These words confirmed the theory in Reguba's mind. While the parallel worlds seemed to mirror his own, some things were indeed different, although not enough to make any significant difference.

"Wellll... perhaps," she brightened, turning one last screw into place. "There! Eet is finished! If you please, my two warriors, bring me zat AA size battery from ze workbench."

Nathaniel hefted the cell in both arms and carried it to her. "Just do us both one small favor, Trienne," he said with a wink to Reguba. "Don't say this 'should work with no problems'..."

She looked puzzled. "But it should work with no problems... why would I say anything but zat? Anyway, we will be ready to begin in a moment." As she plied the control board that was installed atop the small machine, a glowing, swirling portal began to emerge at the center of the room. Colors and images seemed to blur into an indistinct, coalescing mass within it's confines, as the pathways to a thousand worlds merged and parted, in a infinite number of possibilities. "Now, to bring things to zeir proper place..." she muttered, raising the Keyblade. A beam of bright light shot from its tip, and the sound of a turning lock once again filled the room. Within the portal, the Ranger Headquarters that was familiar to Reguba came slowly into focus, even as Nathaniel's world came into view alongside it.

The wizard grinned, then extended a paw to the warrior. "Good journey, Reguba; it's been... interesting..." After a thought, he added, "Take care of Tammy for me."

The larger squirrel gripped the proffered handshake firmly. "I intend to, my friend; believe me, I intend to. If you're ever at Redwall in your universe... drop by. I'm sure I'll be there, in one form or another."

"Consider it done," Nathaniel nodded. "I'd say feel free to look me up in your world, but you'd be looking for a human." Before Reguba could question this statement, he turned to Trienne. "Okay, Trienne, send us home."

She nodded, adding several words in French. "Excuse me?" Reguba asked.

"Pardonez-moi," she blushed. "I zaid, roger wilbury."

"Ah. Now Nathaniel, about this human business..." Before he could complete his question, the portal's effects drew them in, whisking each squirrel farther and farther away, toward their own homes. Sighing, Reguba threw a stiff salute to his newfound friend, as he disappeared into the mists. Nathaniel returned the salute, then turned his eyes forward... towards home.

Back in the laboratory, the portal faded into a few small sparks, and then winked out of existence as Trienne slowly slid the controls downward. Linking an arm through Chip's, she grinned. "Many such journeys are possible... let me be your gateway."

He chuckled softly. "Girl, life with you isn't just a journey... it's an adventure."

Epilogue: Nathaniel

The Rangers searched the room frantically, hoping to find any sign of where their missing comrade had gone. From nowhere, in the very corner into which Nathaniel had disappeared, a swirling, glowing portal began to form. It reached its full size in moments, unceremoniously dumping the missing squirrel into the middle of the room before winking back out of existence.

"NATE!" cried Tammy, tackling the former wizard where he lay.

"What happened?" Chip asked, tipping his hat back just enough to scratch his head.

Nathaniel held his beloved close, nuzzling her cheek, then grinned at Chip. "It's kind of a long story..."

"Couldn't be that long, mate," Monty put in. "You've only been gone about ten minutes."

"That's part of why it's a long story."

"Hey, guys, look," Gadget's attention turned to the window. "The storm's breaking."

A few days later, things had settled back to normality... or as close to it as things got for the Rescue Rangers. A routine investigation brought them into a small animal antique store, where a large, well-built squirrel greeted them with a smile from behind the counter. "Good day... say, aren't you the Rescue Rangers?"

"The same," Chip said with a tip of his hat. "Are you the owner of this shop?"

"That I am," the squirrel replied, bowing with a flourish. "Reguba Furblade, at your service."

Before any of the other Rangers could react, Nathaniel groaned ruefully, laying a paw over his eyes. "Oh no... not again..."

Epilogue: Reguba

"Chip, we have to find him! We just have to! I don't know what I'll..."

"Tammy, just calm down. Reg never strays very far from the tree, especially when you're home. He's gotta be around here somewhere."

"But I told you! There were these black, shadow-type things, and they dragged him through this portal that they made, and..."

Chip gently placed an arm around the chattering squirrelmaid's shoulders. "Now, Tammy, you and I both know that it's three o'clock in the morning. You're tired. I'm tired. Everybody's tired. Whatever you saw was probably your imagination getting together with your sleep-deprived mind."

Tammy stood with her fists on her hips, her hair hanging unbound around her face. "Chip Maplewood, I am not making this up, and I did not imagine it. Now if you don't start looking for clues or whatever you like to do, and do it quick, I'm going to wake up Gadget... and you know how well she likes being woken up, especially since Mariel finally got out of her restless stage."

"All right, all right! Geez, you don't have to wield threats like that!" Muttering to himself, the chipmunk pulled a magnifying glass out of a nearby desk drawer, running it over the exposed beams and knotholes that made up the living room wall. "Tam, I'm telling you, any minute Reguba will most likely come walking through the front door, fresh from a late-night trip to the supermarket or something, and when he does, maybe we can all put this thing to bed, and then put ourselves to bed! I swear, you're getting as bad as Dale after a twenty-four hour monster movie mara..."

FWWOOOOSHH!

Before the astonished eyes of the Rangers that happened to be awake, a blindingly bright pool of light formed in the ceiling above, casting an eerie, watery glow over the entirety of the room. The effect was like throwing a bucket of ice water over the Rangers' leader, who simply stood still, frozen in mid sentence as the portal widened.

"Gangwaaaaayyyyyy!" The cry split the air as Reguba was dumped unceremoniously out onto the living room floor, rolling several times before coming to a stop against his favorite armchair. Tammy literally leaped onto him, showering the dizzy warrior with kisses and lightning-fast, chattering welcomes.

"Tam... Tam, come on, I'm fine! I'm fine, trust me, just let me get up!"

Chip still stood still in his tracks, staring. "Reg... do I want to ask what just happened?"

He grinned, pulling Tammy close as he got to his feet. "It's a long story, Chip... a very long story, and coming home is a fitting epilogue to it... very fitting, indeed."

"So you were actually in another world? Like ours, but all... weird, and stuff?" Tammy had been asking questions frequently, as the young couple walked the upper branches of the tree in the moonlight.

"Aye... very much like ours... but very different; very, very different."

"And I was a bad guy? Er, girl, I mean."

"Very bad," he chuckled. "Fat Cat's got nothing on Tamara of Mossflower."

She laughed. "A royal title... now there's something I always dreamed about as a little girl. I never wanted to get it that way, though."

"I'm glad to hear that. My waking nightmare in that place was the thought of having to fight you... well, her, I mean."

"So what happened to her?"

He sighed. "She was... destroyed, by her own lust for power. While she was possessed of your stunning beauty and your golden voice... her heart was as blackened as a tree, after a fire has swept the forest. There was no love there... only a desire for wealth and rule. She was more like Rat Capone than she was like you."

Tammy looked up at the stars, the soft light twinkling in her eyes. "She wanted you to join her... did you think about it?"

Reguba took her in his arms, tilting her head upward towards him. "Not for a single second, dear one. While I might have spent many long, false years under her charms... look at what I would have missed, just in this simple moment."

She smiled, leaning up on tiptoe to return his embrace. "Right answer."