Okay, so for full author's notes go to I. Write. Love's version of this story. So reviews!

clover22~
Reply from Spazzeh: Thankies for your review! ^w^ I'm glad you enjoyed it. The sad part is this is really how everyone acts in real life. xD But I'm warning you now: I think Rachell is about to yell at you for reviewing on my side of the story before hers, so I would go read hers now if I were you. O3o Trust me on this, she's quite scary.
It would probably benefit you anyway. There are some differences, so if you want to understand the story better, it may help. But I don't blame you if you skip over her reply. xD

Reply from I. Write. Love: OKAY THEN. Not ALL KH fics are trash about Sora and Riku stripping because those fics are God in the first place... (Spazzeh in background: …They are?) Yeah, that was a weird statement but whatevz. Those can be amazing stories... -hearts with daydreaming- Oh, right the review. Thanks for teh compliment, even though iSpazzeh is right! 1) I am going to say WHY'D YOU REVIEW HER'S FIRST? and 2) I am quiet scary. Especially when I'm mad. I smile evilly. EVIL SMILE, EVIL SMILE! So, yeah. Benefits will rain for you if you go read mine. And yes, Cody and I do fight like that... All. The. Time... (don't tell anyone, but I have a slight crush on him -giggles like a school girl-). Thank you for reviewing! NOW GO REVIEW MINE!

Back to Spazzeh: Yeah… Sorry 'bout her… xD Movin' on!

UGH! RACHIE! Your reply has so many grammar and spelling mistakes! . So. Much. Red. And. Green…


Chapter two:

As many times as I had already heard or thought it, it still seemed so unreal. Caught in the middle of my favorite game ever? Impossible… Not probable…? I mean, what are the odds? Some of us seemed to be coping with it better than others, though.

Rachell took a breath and opened her mouth, ready to speak her wonderful words of "wisdom", but Paul's accent broke the silence first. "You're meanin' to tell me that we're in that damn video game?" The confusion in his tone was obvious.

Cody nodded. "Yup. We're in Kingdom Hearts, as crazy as that sounds." I heard my boyfriend curse under his breath.

"Well, technically…" I corrected, "We're not in Kingdom Hearts 'cause that's a completely different world, y'know?" I mentally slapped myself for performing a "Rai". See what watching someone play that video game for too long does to me? I end up copying the character's habits, and sometimes, eventually, their entire personality if only temporarily.

"She's got a point," Rachell helped.

For the first time that day, Cody glared at us. "Shut up, smartass. So we're in the video game and we're stuck here. What are we going to do?"

I smiled devilishly as I turned to Rachell, knowing we had both thought of the same thing. We turned back to the boys and yelled, "KEYBLADES!"

Their eyes were wide. "Are you ser-"

"QUICK!" I screamed. "TO THE ARMORY! TALLY-HO!" I pumped a fist above my head at the last words, and began a march toward one of the two doorways, Rachell trailing eagerly behind.

"Uh, guys?" Paul said, causing my friend and I to return our focus to them, noticing they hadn't moved an inch. "Do ya'll know where you're goin'?"

My gaze fell to the floor in defeat. Yeah, I had no clue. "Well, we're in the Hall of Empty Melodies…" Rachell tried to defend whatever dignity remained for me. She pointed in the direction that she and I had began to jaunt. "So, that should, in theory, lead us to the very top of the castle… If I'm right."

'In theory?'; 'If I'm right?'Suddenly, letting Rachell lead or being followed by her without her questioning did not seem like a good plan.

"I don't think we should trust her gut instinct," Cody voiced my unshared opinion, pointing toward the other entrance. "She had a feeling that there was going to be a zombie invasion one day when she woke up and nearly prepared for it at school." A smile smirk danced across his lips. How had I not heard about that, I wonder? "I think we should go this way."

"You can't hold that against me!" she protested. "It started off just like in my story! Also, no one's going to follow you. You could be just as wrong as me!"

"If we're wrong, then which way do we go?"

"Up, obviously!" I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"How the hell are we going to do that?"

"Well, uh…" She was knowingly beaten.

"If anything, we need to go down," Cody stated, smugly.

I felt the need to voice my new opinion. "He's got a point, Rachie. Armories are usually in the basements of places… If my memory serves right, that's where we need to head." Of course, don't go by me. I'm only forming my theory from what I've learned from movies. I didn't bother mentioning that, though. Well, I didn't think it mattered that much…

"Fine, whatever. Lead the way, Ri-Ri," Rachell mumbled, sulking.

He was annoyed by the nickname, but decided not to comment, starting for the opposite door. Paul still hadn't moved, and Cody noticed. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"What about that guy in the hood?" My stomach churned.

"What about it?" Rachell asked.

"What if we run into him? That dark whatever led us here, right? Maybe this is where he came from."

I wished he had paid a little more attention to the game. That way he wouldn't have to bring up things that the rest of us were trying to avoid thinking about. And I had been doing pretty well, too! My gaze fell to the grey floor, while Cody and Rachell glanced at each other nervously. I wanted to get everyone's mood up before someone else could tear it down more.

"So, if we go down to the armory, we'll have weapons. Powerful, magical weapons." I did "spirit fingers" to emphasize "magical", but I hadn't realized how insane my face had grown in appearance until the others each took a step away from me. "So, let's find this place and raid it. It'd be fun, right? Adventure?" I taunted Rachell, planting the idea in her head.

"Adventure?" Success. I nodded to her. "I'm in."

Cody folded his arms over his chest. "Okay, so we're going down to the armory for powerful, magical, fun, adventurous weapons, or have I heard wrong?" The sarcasm was unnecessary. "Woo. We'll die in no time…" I saw Paul wince at the comment but encouraged them to soldier on before anyone could back out.


We stood at the door, gaping at the wonderful, magnificentness that was the weapons of the Organization members, current or previously "deceased." My friends were awed by the shiny, pointy things, while I was just shocked that I had been right about the armory being in the basement. That is, until, the circular objects caught my attention. Forgetting about my friends, I dashed for the chakrams. I gingerly took each one in my hands. Behind me I could hear Cody mumbling something about "this going to be fun", but I didn't pay any attention. I was getting too much amusement about mimicking Axel. His signature line "got it memorized?" kept nagging at me to be spoken.

"This is a bad idea waiting to happen, Cody Hatton," I heard Rachell tell him. I turned to see him practically stroking a claymore, one that I knew belonged to Saix. I rolled my eyes, continuing to listen to the conversation, but my eyes were studying the unique shape of the weapons I held. "Imagine how much shit we'd be in if you accidently ruined the castle. I'm thinking that seven Organization members could take four teenagers down easily."

I heard Paul scoff from the other side of the room. Looking over I realized what he was holding: one of my other favorite characters of all time, Luxord's cards, the Fair Game. I stared at them for a brief moment, but turned again when Rachell picked up Arpeggio, Demyx's sitar. I smiled, at her comment, "It's… It's like a dream come true…" only to have it ended so soon by Cody, who plucked the strings.

"Hmm, it's tuned," he smiled.

"Give it back!"

"If anyone should hold this, it should be me. I know how to play after all."

Actually, you're still learning, Cody, I wanted to say, but I held back. I was no better at playing than he was anyway.

Rachell stalked away, disappointed, and so, since the dispute seemed to be over, I returned my attention to Axel's weapons. I assumed that she had been looking at the available weapons, but when she threatened Cody – again – I had to turn to find out what was going on. "Give me back the sitar NOW." All our eyes widened as she aimed one of Xigbar's loaded arrow guns at him.

"Whoa. Someone's trigger happy." He threw his hands in the air, the sitar strapped to his back. "I'm just kidding, by the way," he assured.

"Then give me the sitar," she demanded. I don't know why, but I felt the need to intervene. I quickly set down the metal circles, and raced over to Rachell, slapping her arm once I was in reach. That was so stupid. She wouldn't have fired – I hoped – if I hadn't done that. It startled her, and her grip around the trigger tightened. Thankfully, Cody ducked, but not before the projectile could graze his cheek.

"Dammit that hurt…" We looked to the hole that was now in the wall. "That probably gave us away. We need to get out of here now."

Putting or dangerous toys back where they belonged, we trotted toward the door, but Rachell had suddenly stopped. "What?" Cody questioned her, following her gaze. "Holy shi-" Now my curiosity had been roused. I looked in the same direction. My jaw dropped.

Four Keyblades sat there, teasing us, begging to be held. And why not? We all strode over to them uncertainly. Rachell immediately picked two of them up, attaching the black crown and Wayfinder key chains to each one. I watched as they transformed into Roxas' well known Oathkeeper and Oblivion. As if someone were going to try and take his, Cody dove for one of the Kingdom Keys and the Heartless Keychain. He wolf whistled when it changed into Way to the Dawn.

"Oh, man, I'm gonna love this! YES. Now I feel like Riku more than I did before!" That was our Riku, for sure. Often times he didn't act like him, but most of us never really did act like the Kingdom Hearts characters we were named after. Rachell, for example, dubbed herself Roxas, and was the person who started the whole "name-my-friends-after-Kingdom-Hearts-characters." I was Xion, after being Axel for a while (she had forgotten she named me Axel and so named someone else him instead, and for a while we had two of them, until I finally caved and became Xion.) And I had named Paul after Luxord, half because he was the only one out of everyone who had any type of accent. He had no clue who we were ever talking about, but I had a feeling he would know pretty quick, if we didn't get out of that castle soon.

Only one Keyblade remained, and as much as I wanted it, I didn't want to leave Paul without any protection, since Rachell took two of the four Kingdom Keys that were there. I glanced over to Paul with the question in my face and motioned toward the key. He merely shook his head in response. I made a face, but he denied the offer again, so I decided I'd take it, and if he ever wanted it, I'd give it to him.

I looked at the remaining key chains. "I think I'll hold true to being Xion, and keep it like this," I said, not too fond of my options. Rachell put her Keyblade away, and we did the same. It was bad enough to be taking them. Did we really want to show them off in here? No. Big, fat no.

Finally on our way, Cody brought up something that I hadn't realized was nagging at the back of my brain also. "So, don't you guys find it weird we found the exact number of Keyblades we needed as well as the three key chains we needed?" It had seemed strange. The fact that there were three Keyblades and Roxas' key chains I could understand. But then why was there a fourth key and Riku's key chain?

"I'm not going to think about what sinister plans we've got forming in the Organization at the moment. I just want to get back home," Rachell complained. "Not to mention, why wouldn't Xion have a second Keyblade around?"

"Why would she need another one?" I asked, trying to think of an answer for myself. Well, Roxas had two, why not her, and she just never used it? It made some sense.

"In case hers broke…?" I liked my explanation better.

Cody sighed, and I was trying to imagine Rachell imagining a Keyblade breaking. Was it even possible for one to break? I'd hate to be the one that happened to. You're fighting and then all of a sudden CSSHHHEEE; it's bent or broken. I shook my head.

We reached the top of the stairs, and I noted that we were in Nothing's Call. Only a few more feet and we would be out of that place – hopefully – forever. Something about the white walls had always given me the creeps, even in the game. Not to mention the headache that came with the brightness. "C'mon," he said, "we should head down to the city."

"What?" I grew concerned. "There's all sorts of Heartless down there; we'll get killed!"

Oathkeeper appeared in Rachell's hand. "With these, I don't think so." Again, I kept my thoughts to myself; there was no "X" button that she could press as wildly as she did on the controller to fight, and with her coordination – yes, I'm bringing that up again – I couldn't imagine what kind of injuries she could cause, not only to herself, but to Cody, Paul, and I. Knowing her, she would just start swinging and hope she hit something.

My eye roll was ignored and we left the castle, grabbing a potion out of a chest that I held onto before doing so. After many turns down alleyways and through the city, we arrived at Memory's Skyscraper, and immediately Cody suggested that he and Rachell should reenact the fight between Riku and Roxas.

"Cody, that's stupid," Rachell countered. "They were doing inhuman flips and stuff off that skyscraper, and I am not going up there to flip and fall. You know I'm scared of heights!"

Bored, and not wanting to get involved like I had so many times before, I turned to sit on the steps of the tower, taking Paul's hand to bring him with me. Before I got within five feet, Cody began yelling again.

"Watch out!" I quickly about-faced to see a Neoshadow pop out of the ground like a daisy, and stare Rachell down. She didn't move; only stared at the twitching creature. I drew out my Keyblade, while Cody brought Rachell back into focus. "Hey, this is a bad time to space out; we're surrounded!" I hadn't realized it until he had said something. I had kept my attention on the first Heartless that had shown up.

The others who carried them, pulled out their Keyblades, and we all had our backs to each other, Paul standing in the middle without the means to protect himself. I glanced back to Rachell and Cody, who had taken up fighting stances. An image passed in front of my eyes, of me – at least, I think it was me – throwing… Something to someone…

I had no time to linger on it. I quickly tried to shake the thought away, unable to fully do so, until something tore through the skin of my forearm. I swung the blade at the monstrosity, sending it to oblivion.

Keeping close to Paul – who was trying to fight with his fists – I did my best to keep the shadows on steroids away from the both of us. Luckily, they were more focused on the Keyblade wielders than him, only coming close to him to get to me.

At last, Rachell having defeated the final Neoshadow, we could rest. I quickly looked down to my arm. Gallons of red liquid were oozing from it. I became queasy, and tugged on my jacket sleeve to pull it over it. My friends' injuries gained priority.

"Munny!" Rachell cried happily. I pulled out the bottle of potion, dabbing some of the cloth from the end of my sleeve in the green solution, and applying it to her scratched cheek. She inhaled sharply.

I quickly moved to Cody, whose arm was scratched. At least he was better off than I was. "Oh, shit, that hurts," he complained. I ignored him and strode to my boyfriend. "I'm not getting hurt here again, even if that stuff manages to heal the wounds fast."

Paul had minor cuts that lined his arms, but, again nothing serious. I knew he had had far worse before in our world.

By the time that I had finished with them, the potion bottle had been left completely empty. I sighed, knowing I should've expected it, and scolding myself for not being stingier with it. Even a mega potion only healed a party of three. Why should I have expected a regular potion to do more than that? I threw the empty glass aside, and turned to everyone else.

Rachell was laughing at Cody for the pain he was in – I was never the only one who ever did that – and earned herself an elbow to her ribcage. She led the way through the rest of the neon-lit city, only stopping to open chests – unfortunately ones that didn't hold any more potions – and to fight more shadows, with fewer scratches than the time before. We reached a back alley that was home to a swirling green portal – I was getting tired of portals in general – that we recognized.

"If memory serves right…" Cody thought a moment. "This is going to take us to the data Twilight Town." As much as I hated to admit it, we would have to get used to going by our assumptions in this place.

"I thought DiZ didn't make the portal until after Roxas was back with Sora, or whatever."

I was about to point out that we had no idea at what point in the game we had arrived (if this would follow the storyline of the game at all) but I didn't want to spoil that for them. "Sora, Donald, and Goofy were the ones who made it. To get to the World That Never Was and save Kairi… Why, I'll never freakin' know." Again, I wanted to point out the unknown time period, but I let it pass.

"Well, it's not going to hurt to try. Not to mention, if we do end up in Twilight Town, we can compete in the Struggle competition!" I should've guessed… Before anyone could comment he stepped through.

"C-Cody!" Rachell yelled after him. I took Paul's hand, feeling some resistance, but he followed anyway. We found ourselves in the Betwixt Between, and Rachell commented, "Eek. Creepier than the game…"

The brunette shrugged, said a quick "c'mon" and dashed toward the other end, ignoring the fact that we were all trying to keep our balance due to the spinning walls and ceiling confusing the heck out of us.

I noticed Rachell touch her hands to her head, but before I asked if she were okay, Cody volunteered her to go through first.

"Now why would I do that? There could be something on the other side that could kill me!"

"Yeah, but what happened to you 'being the hero'?"

Once again, she had lost. I wondered if this was being counted in that tally of theirs… "Fine, I'll go first…" She hesitated, but went through it, the rest of us following. Once our feet were on firm, not spinning ground, I sighed. "So, we weren't too late in the storyline," Rachell said, smiling at what I knew was DiZ's computer. I wanted so much to slap her. Had she just now figured that out? But that still didn't explain the portal from here to the world we were previously in…

"Yeah, but we better get out of here before DiZ shows up," I suggested, leading the way, up the stairs and into a library. I wanted to explore every inch of the mansion. Taking deep breaths to forget about this wonderful opportunity, I pushed the heavy doors open that led out to the courtyard. The first thing I noticed were the ruined pillars and the vines climbing up whatever they touched. I wondered what this place had looked like before it had been partially destroyed and converted into a hiding place for a secret lab.

The next thing that caught my attention was the old iron gate and a group of seven standing just on the other side of it. We crept closer for a better chance to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"You four are real lamers, aren't you?" a tall blonde spoke, a black beanie pressing his hair to his forehead, as he held a book high above his head, keeping it out of the reach of a spiky-haired blonde. I knew that spiky hair from anywhere. "Can't even reach the damn book."

"Seifer," a brunette with piercing green eyes spoke up. "Please give us the book back. We need to read it for the project…"

"Whatever," he said tossing the book to yet another blonde boy. "You losers go ahead and read that stupid book and lose the Struggle competition in four days. See if I care… Oh, I will though, 'cause I'll win." He turned with a smirk that just pissed me off, and motioned for two others to follow him. "Rai, Fuu; we're leaving. See ya later, lamers."

"Yeah, and don't try praying for victory, y'know? Seifer's gonna win, y'know?" I always hated how Rai ended every single freakin' sentence with 'y'know? y'know?' It had always annoyed me, y'know?

"Useless," said the short, silver-haired girl. "Intruders," Fuu said, pointing to us. I stopped breathing. Cody froze, and Rachell's eyes jumped from side to side.

"Howdy!" Paul greeted, waving. Face-palm.

"Get 'em," Seifer said, eyes filled with rage. "We don't like intruders here."

"Rumble." Again, one of the most annoying things; one worded sentences.

"Now hold on!" said the third blonde, jumping between our group and the jerks. "What the hell? You don't even know them!"

"They need to know the rules, y'know?"

"It's wrong to beat up random kids…" the girl added.

Kids?

"Yeah, what Olette said!"

"Then, would you rather me beat you up, chickenwuss?" When the blonde didn't answer, Seifer smirked. "Figured not."

"Can't we solve this without violence, or something, Hayner?" a stout brunette asked. I agreed with him!

"Go, now," Hayner spoke to the trio. "We'll take care of them."

Before stalking away, Seifer sent us all the finger, his pets following without pause. Once they were out of hearing range, Hayner turned back to our worn out group. "Who are you guys?" he questioned, studying us.

"I think you should introduce yourselves first…" Cody crossed his arms, displaying his stubbornness.

Reluctantly, he did so. "I'm Hayner. This is Olette, Pence, and Roxas." He motioned to each of them in turn. By now, I had expected Rachell to be squealing at having met her "other half" whom she was nicknamed after – I know I would've been, and I almost did just seeing Roxas in person – but, amazingly, she held back. "Now, who are you guys?"

Rachell told them our names, and Olette commented on how strange they seemed, which is less than I could say for theirs. "Where are you from?" she asked.

"Uh…" I looked to Rachell for help. "No one's heard of it." They gave us a look, but left it at that.

"Are you here for the Struggle in a few days?" Pence wanted to know. "Yeah!" Cody and Rachell cheered, simultaneously. "Damn straight!" I rolled my eyes.

"Well, not to brag, but," Hayner said, meaning to brag, "I'm pretty good. I'd hate to fight one of you."

"I'd hate for you to end up going to the hospital," Cody challenged. "When are sign-ups?"

"Now until the end of the day," Pence informed us. "You're lucky you showed up when you did. Tomorrow the prelims start, and then it would have been too late."

"Show us where the sign-ups are?" Rachell asked, seemingly uncomfortable.

He gave us a friendly smile. "Follow me."