"Tobias..."

"Tobias..."

"Tobias!" The young man felt something slap the back of his head and jolted upright to the laughter of some and the grumbles of others. He exhaled as he looked behind him and saw Dilan smirking while holding his lance over his shoulder,

"Forgive me Master Ansem..."

"Sleep deprivation is no excuse for disrespect my pupil."

"This is a trivial matter Xehanort." Ansem stated to his foremost apprentice, "The lad has likely been working for many hours on his proposal."

"Sure he has..."

"Lea."

"I'm just anxious for this big presentation."

"Me too!"

"Kairi dear..." The red-haired girl's grandmother said to calm the excited little girl, "There really is no need for us to be here Master Ansem."

"My dear Kaiyou, as former representative of the watchman committee, it is my honor to have you here."

"Thank you kind Ansem." The old woman replied, "Now this old woman will hush up and let the young man give his presentation."

"Old? Could've fooled me." Tobias complemented with a smile. He took a breath and stepped up to the podium, "Alright, to begin, let us rewind back to a few months ago. Using footage donated by the watchman committee, I will begin with what I believe to be the root of our problems."

"If most of you will recall, our Garden was attacked by a swarm of creatures known as the unversed." As Tobias explained an overhead projector displayed images of various dark blue creatures that made Kairi murmur in fright, "Interviews confirm that these creatures were born from the negative emotions such as fear or anger and attacked many residents."

"But soon after they appeared, they died out all at the same moment." After he spoke, a video revealed an unversed chasing down a crowd before abruptly falling over and fading into darkness, "Which we are still trying to determine."

"A point worth attempting, but it seems moot." Xehanort said while sitting next to Ansem, "It appears that the unversed had a main hub of negative emotion from which they were drawn. Once that hub was destroyed, however it was destroyed, the unversed ceased to be."

"That is true Master Xehanort." Tobias agreed, "But we still don't if everything they left behind is gone. Because soon after they vanished, a new threat reemerged...the threat that we now face today."

"Oh this is all so heavy..." Old Kaiyou lamented as she motioned her granddaughter over to her, "Kairi dear, the rest of this presentation will be somewhat dull...Ienzo, do you mind going to the lobby with Kairi?"

"I would be happy to." The youngest apprentice agreed, "If Master Ansem and Tobias don't mind..."

"Go on Ienzo, I will inform you of what you missed later." Ansem stated, the rest of the attendants waited for Ienzo to guide Kairi out of the hall by her hand, "Continue Tobias."

"Of course." Tobias replied as he directed the attendant's attention to the footage that was starting on the wall projector, "This my friends, is the only recording that our surveillance system has picked up regarding this new threat. What you are about to see will disturb the faint of heart..." With that Tobias stepped down from the podium and took his seat next to an anxious Lea and an oddly chipper Braig.

As the footage began, a young woman walked down the street somewhere close to the market district. The footage read that this took place at 8 pm which meant that she was coming home from work at a diner. Having already seen the footage, Tobias braced himself for what was about to happen as the shadows in the street grew.

Then a distorted black humanoid ozzed out of the shadows and silently crept up on the young woman. Ansem closed his eyes and exhaled as the creature leapt out of the shadows.

"Goodness gracious..." Kaiyou gasped as the creature dig it's claws into the woman's arms and dragged her out of the cameras view. Several minutes passed before the creature stalked out into the street dragging the wimpering woman by her bloodied leg. Her chest displayed a gashing wound from which poured blood and a black substance as the creature turned back and licked the woman's neck. It seemingly smiled as it sunk back into the receding darkness, leaving the poor woman to bleed to death in shock.

"We don't what it is at the moment, but various attacks of this nature or worse can be traced back to mere days after the unversed vanished without a trace." Tobias stated as the footage ended, "Their hub may be gone, but the negative emotion left behind has given birth to these black creatures that we'll call heartless or stalker, whichever you prefer."

"As a result or correlation with these creatures, our world is experience an rising influx of darkness within our residents, especially those who have encountered or were attacked by these creatures." The young pupil further explained as he went back to the podium, "While Master Xehanort conducts his hypothesis into understanding the stalkers and finding their weakness, I would propose my own project to work in collaboration."

"The creation of the Hallow Bastion Restoration Committee. The purpose of the committee will be to monitor and repress the darkness of residents to healthy levels. We will do this by fighting the stalkers, providing protection and morale support to recovering victims, and experiment with ways to enhance the light with the heart to protect against future attacks and aid the afflicted victims of these attacks. It is the same principle as finding a cure for a disease or a virus. First you find a way to minimize the symptoms and effects that these attacks and in extension the darkness has on current and future victims. At the same time, we need to know how it moves and lives."

"Bold..." Braig thought out loud while he sat back in his chair in a very relaxed manner, "I'm all for it. Probably sleep a lot better knowing that someone's guarding our backs."

"This seems...like an unnecessary division of resources." Dilan started with his arms crossed.

"On the other hand, with two groups working on two halves of the same problem..." Aeleaus countered as he stood in front of the door.0

"Interesting at the very least..." Even said boredly as if he was watching a child's play, which surprised Tobias the least.

"So why not folks?" Lea asked the audience after standing up, "Right? You know you wanna say yes-"

"Lea!" The spiky-red head flinched when Tobias yelled at him and looked back to his friend with an apologetic shrug and smirk, "You're not helping."

"Very well, thank you for your proposal Tobias." Ansem complemented, "I believe that this committee in joint effort with the research of Xehanort should suffice in discovering a way to defend from these dark creatures."

"Is there anything further Master Ansem?"

"No, that will be all for today." Ansem stood up to dismiss the meeting, "Tobias and Xehanort, I would like to see the two of you in my study later today."

"Of course Master Ansem." Xehanort agreed while he moved to stand behind his master, giving a quick glance to Tobias as he did.

"In due time sir, I would like a word with my friends."

"Very well." Ansem agreed, "But do not tarry."

"Understood." Tobias replied as he stepped out of the room with Lea following behind him. Once they were in the hallway, the young man relaxed his back and placed his arms behind his back, "How was it? Don't lie either, Leia."

"The name's Lea, got it memorized yet?" Lea asked while pointing to his head, "Anyway, it was a bit rough around the edges but the ladies were distracted by something."

"Your stupid hair cut?"

"No. Your amazingly exotic and handsome looks. We should've had more men in here..."

"Whatever..." Tobias brushed off his trouble-maker friend and straightened up when a nice old lady opened the door into the main hall for him, "Thank you for coming ma'am."

"It was no trouble young man." Old Kaiyou just gave her usual gentle smile, "But do be careful dear..."

"What? I haven't started anything yet."

"I know young men like you, it doesn't take long for you to start something." Lea nervously chuckled and Tobias whistled as Kaiyou's little granddaughter ran over to to her grandmother, "There you are Kairi, thank you for watching her Ienzo."

"It was my pleasure." Ienzo gave a short bow before addressing his co-worker's pupil, "Your choice of media was certainly unsettling Tobias."

"It was what it was. In any case, Ansem approved of my proposal." The young man replied though he wondered if Ienzo had seen the video before or had never even left the meeting in the first place, "You're welcome to join it as chaperone."

"I see no reason why I shouldn't." Ienzo answered, "What about the rest of your team?"

"One member is out recruiting and..."

"Lea and Isa said that they are more than happy to help." Kaiyou said as she turned to the boys with a gentle smile, "Aren't you boys?"

"Yeah...just tell me to jump..." Lea answered having caught the elderly woman's hint as Tobias smirked.

"Very well." Isa gave in with a chuckle, "Hard to believe that all we had to do was get a job to get in here.'

"Indeed." Tobias gave the teens a pat on their shoulders as he went down the hall, "I'm going to talk with Ansem, see you guys at the usual place?"

"Sure." Lea said as he waved to his friend, "See ya later kid."

"Look whose talking?"

"Bye!"

"Bye Kairi." Tobias waved to the red haired girl as he went back into the hallway and made his way to Master Ansem's study...

Author's Notes:

Not much to say here except...read, review and enjoy!