Chapter 1: A New Enemy in Radiant Garden?

For conveniences sake, I took the previous Chapter 1 and merged it with this one for clarification and length purposes.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the series listed in this fanfic.

--

"Hey, Damn Strawberry! Down in front! I can't see the scenery!"

Ichigo growled at Hiruma's comment before regaining his composure. " If you're going to crow at the sunrise, there's an electric light over there you can use." Both got in each others faces and bickered about absolutely nothing.

Zero sighed while Lavi turned the page of a book that Yen Sid had lent him. It had been an hour since they left Yen Sid's tower and those two had done nothing but fight continuously. Even Sora was contemplating hitting the autopilot button on the dashboard and then making the two shut up forcibly.

"Got a problem, Strawberry?" sneered Hiruma. Ichigo scowled at him. " Yeah, I've got a problem. It's two inches taller than me* and is a royal pain in the ass!" " QUIET!!" yelled Lavi, slamming his book shut and hitting them both on the head with his hammer. " God! You two have been bickering since you've met and frankly we're getting tired of it! Form a truce and get along even if it's only for a little while!"

After his outburst, Lavi slumped back in his chair and opened his book again. Zero perked up with a sudden thought. " How about this? Hiruma, you stop calling everyone you meet rude nicknames and in return, Ichigo will stop throwing heavy objects at your head for five worlds. After five worlds you two can resume your grudge match. Okay?" Ichigo calmed down and held out his hand. " I can live with that. Truce?"

Hiruma snarled softly, but he knew full well that Zero was going to harass him endlessly; he seemed like the type to do so. " Fine. For now, I'll play along. Five worlds, remember that, straw-ah, Ichigo." Hiruma extended his hand as well and the two shook hands. Riku, happy that that matter was finally settled, lounged on a chair and stared out one of the windows. Kairi, leaning on Sora's chair suddenly began pointing at a world in the distance. " Look guys! A world!"

All of the group crowded the window, trying to look at the world they were approaching. " I think it's, umf, Radiant, get OFF me, Garden." groaned Sora as he pushed Ichigos' arm out of his face.

"Don't you mean Hollow Bastion?" Riku stated. " That is the town's true name." remarked Sora.

"Let's go say hello to everyone." Kairi reached out and tapped the autopilot which was designed to go to the nearest world in the local vicinity.

-Radiant Garden-

"It's kinda nice to be back." commented Sora as they walked through the streets of Radiant Garden.

"Yeah, minus the Heartless." Riku teased. Sora took the group on a small tour, showing them the construction site, the main plaza, the Bailey, and the Crystal Fissure. After he was done, he led them to Merlin's house which Hiruma described it as an "inventor's paradise." Zero couldn't help but agree with him. " Merlin? Are you home?" Sora called as he opened the door.

"The door wouldn't be unlocked if he wasn't." remarked Ichigo sarcastically. Merlin appeared right next to Lavi in a puff of smoke. "Someone call me?" Lavi jumped away from him and landed on a pile of books that fell over. Quickly apologizing, Lavi bent over to pick up some of the books when a hand reached out from under the pile.

" You dropped this, kid." The hand held a book out to Lavi. " Cid?" asked Sora. Cid rose from the pile of books. " At your service, Sora. What do you need today? Don't tell me you want me to work on my day off?" Sora smiled. " Actually, we're here to visit Merlin today. Where's Leon and Yuffie?" " Out at the Bailey." Cid answered. Merlin turned to Sora. " Now, what did you come see me for, Sora?" Riku waved a hand towards the new members of the group. " They should learn how to use magic at least. Can you help them with that?"

Merlin stroked his beard thoughtfully before answering. " I can show them, but whether or not they master it is up to them. Not everyone can learn magic, mind you. Well then, we should get to practice, shouldn't we?" Merlin clapped his hands together and the four of them were transported to a room full of chairs and cupboards. Sora, Riku, and Kairi stayed behind to talk with Cid.

Now then, Let's get started." Merlin held out his hand and a small ball of flames appeared, hovering just above his palm. " This is the Fire spell. Rather simple, you just have to have control of the direction of the flame." Zero attempted to cast Fire, but only succeeded in blowing himself up. Lavi took a shot at it, but the results were the same. Ichigo stood there, completely confused, while Hiruma did nothing.

"Hey, Hiruma! How about actually DOING something?!" gasped Lavi, beating out Zero's last failed attempt. "Actually, you two have been casting fire the whole time. It's just that neither of you have learned how to aim." replied Hiruma.

Lavi and Zero exchanged glances with each other. " Can YOU do it?" asked Zero. Hiruma walked near one of the cupboards and cast Fire. A fireball materialized in his palm and he threw it at the cupboard, setting it ablaze. Ichigo scoffed in the corner, still confused. Hiruma drew back his arm. " Any questions?"

"Well done, lad! Well done!" cheered Merlin. Hiruma shot a smirk at Ichigo, who in turn scowled. Zero tried again and managed to not set himself on fire, but didn't hit any targets. Ichigo made an attempt and actually produced a flame. The flame was misguided however, and Lavi was suddenly thankful for fireproof uniforms.

The four continued to practice; Ichigo,Lavi,and Zero moved on to practicing Blizzard while Hiruma played around with Thunder. Hiruma seemed rather adept at magic as Merlin pointed out; He mastered most of the spells faster than the others. Ichigo, on the other hand, managed to master the same spells, but much more slowly.

An hour later, Sora and Riku came to check on them. Riku walked over to Merlin "How are they doing?" Merlin thoughtfully stroked his beard. " They've learned the basics, I trust you'll teach them the rest?" Riku nodded while Sora walked over to Lavi. " How are you guys doing?"

Lavi lifted his head and stretched his shoulders. " Fine. Where's Kairi?" Sora pointed outside. " Still talking with Cid." Ichigo leaned against a cupboard. " I'm going stir-crazy in here, is the training over?"

Sora laughed. " Yeah, I think that's enough. Thanks, Merlin. We're going to go talk with Cid now." Merlin waved briskly and the group left.

Cid and Kairi were so engrossed in their discussion that they didn't hear Sora and the other approaching. Zero walked over to Kairi and tapped her shoulder. " Um, excuse me." Kairi jumped slightly. " Oh! Hi, Zero. Back from training?" Zero nodded and sat down on a chair. Cid scratched his head. " So, Kairi, as I was saying, Tron was telling me about an error in the system that he found about a day ago, so now we're trying to fix it and-"

Cid's sentence was cut short as Tifa burst through the front door gasping loudly. Sora immediately stood up from where he was sitting. " Tifa! What's wrong?" Tifa continued to wheeze as she pointed a finger out the door she came through. " Postern...Leon...Heartless...person in black..." She took a few seconds to catch her breath before speaking again. " Leon is trapped at the Postern by a Large Heartless and a person dressed in black! Please, come with me and help save Leon!"

--

Zero raced out the door without a moment's thought before sheepishly coming back to ask where the Postern was again. Sora raced out the door with him, closely followed by Lavi and Ichigo. Hiruma hung back long enough for to help Tifa into a chair to rest. About to bolt out the door after Sora, he was stopped by Cid.

"What do you want?! Don't you want us to save your friend?!" he snarled. Cid gave him a cell phone.

"Here. Tron told me to give it to one of you." Hiruma, pissed that he wasn't able to leave, snatched the phone from him. "What does it do?"

A voice came from the phone, almost causing Hiruma to drop it. " I can communicate with you through the phone, call me if you need something."replied Cid. Cid had an earpiece on and he smirked slightly. Hiruma sighed as he turned to Cid. " Your little interruption caused me to lose track of the group. Thankfully, I know the way to the Postern. Good-bye." He then bolted out the door and disappeared from Cid's view.

Once Hiruma was gone, Cid closed the door and turned to where Tifa was resting. " Tifa, if you wait a few minutes to fully catch your breath, you can-" Cid stopped short when he saw the empty chair. He whirled to look at the door before shrugging. Tifa had probably raced after them when he wasn't looking. Sighing he went to find Kairi, who had stayed behind, and continue telling her about the computer problem.

--

Zero whined quietly to himself as he wandered the open areas of the Bailey. Sora and the others had gotten ahead of him and had left him behind. Thinking that they had taken a shortcut, he ran down a path and got lost. Heartless weren't helping the situation either, he was only getting more disoriented. Stopping by the remains of a crane, he called out to the open air. " Sora? Riku? Lavi? Ichigo? Hiruma? Where are you? Can anybody hear me?" Disheartened, he sat down on the ground and whimpered slightly.

"Over here. Over here."

Jumping, Zero circled a crane in an attempt to find the owner of the voice.

"This way, This way. You'll never help them if you stay here." came the voice from further ahead.

Against his better instincts, Zero followed the voice. " Who are you?" Zero asked. " I mean, if you can tell me." silence greeted him for several minutes and Zero thought the voice had deserted him in spite.

" I don't have a name..." was the eventual reply.

Zero tilted his head with a smile. " Oh, come on. Everyone who is born has some kind of name. What do you friends call you?" The return of silence made Zero question if his guide was angry or just thinking. His answer came when the voice called back to him, only quieter. " What are 'friends'? I don't understand..."

Zero looked in the direction that the voice was leading him in utter confusion. " Friends are people who share the same likes as you do and you like to have fun with them." Almost instantly, Zero half expected him to ask what fun was. The question never came. " We're almost there. Head down the side of this machine and you'll be in front of the Postern. Good-bye."

Zero clambered up the side of the machine. " Even though you say don't have a name, my name is Zero. Thank you, and may you remember your name real soon!" he then slid down the side of the machine into the area below.

A figure perched on one of the nearby machines, watching Zero slide down the machinery. " Good-bye, Zero."

--

A shadow clutched helplessly at the ground as Hiruma forcibly dragged it over to Sora. " Let's try this,"he said, before chucking the shadow into the air. The shadow disappeared on a seemingly invisible wall. Hiruma had caught up to Sora, Lavi, and Ichigo, but all of them found that they couldn't enter the Postern.

Riku came out from behind a crane with a fist-sized rock and threw it at where the wall was. It landed harmlessly on the ground several feet away. " I guess lifeless objects can pass through." he then sidled away, looking for a larger rock.

Hiruma rapped his hand against the wall. " Lifeless? That means Ichigo can walk through. Go on, Re-dead."

Ichigo grabbed Hiruma by the arm and hurled him into the wall with destructive force. He slightly regretted telling them that Soul Reapers were practically dead.

"Nope. Not even Hiruma can get through those walls. They're definitely solid."

Hiruma slid down the wall and rubbed his nose while cursing quietly. Turning, Ichigo's eye's widened at the sight of Lavi's hammer, which had quadrupled in size. Lavi raised the hammer over his head. " Duck!" Everyone ducked as Lavi swung his hammer with devastating force into the wall, creating shockwaves. Riku lifted his head up from his rock search to determine the source of the loud crash.

Lavi had dropped his hammer and was wobbling about like a person who was using a jackhammer improperly. " W-w-w-well, w-w-wasn't th-that an interesting e-ex-experience? Ow-ow-w..." Amidst Hiruma's peals of laughter, Zero slid down next to him. " What's going on? Why is everybody standing around like this? What's wrong with you, Lavi?"

In between chuckles, Hiruma explained the current situation. Pissed, Ichigo charged at the wall, Zangetsu drawn, and rammed it a full speed. A small cut appeared and then vanished. Sora rubbed his eyes and stared at the wall. " Do that again, Ichigo." Rather than gather momentum for an encore impact, Ichigo opted for slicing at the wall. A larger cut appeared on the wall.

"Did you guys see that? A hole was there, if only for a minute." remarked Zero, putting his hands on the wall. Ichigo slashed at the wall again, and again the cut appeared. " That is weird. Think it's a clue to getting in?" asked Ichigo as he turned to Sora. Sora nodded eagerly as Riku surfaced right beside him, startling him.

" I found a Keyhole!" crowed Riku proudly.

Sora twisted his neck trying to get a better look at the rock that was propped up against the side of the barrier. A hole in the shape of a keyhole was apparent on the rock, Sora drew his keyblade and undid the lock. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Riku ventured forward and touched a pipe that had been protected by the barrier.

" I guess we can go in now. Come on, everyone, we don't have a minute to waste!"

Heeding Riku's words, Sora and the others headed for the Postern.

At the entrance to Ansem's chambers, Sora paused to catch his breath. Heartless had been populating the lower levels of the Postern and weren't fond of intruders. A fight had erupted and it turned into a free-for-all brawl when some really large heartless began appearing.

"This Leon guy had better thank us when we save him or I'm throwing him to the shadows." grumbled Ichigo, propping himself against his sword. Hiruma grunted in agreement and Zero nodded his head. Riku came back from his little trip in scouting ahead. " It's all clear, not a single Heartless. Hey, where's Lavi?"

All of them looked around. Lavi had vanished into thin air. Sora waved his arm warily. " He's probably lost."

--

Truth be told, Lavi was very lost. He had turned a corner during one of their battles and had gotten lost. "This is just great. Lost in the middle of Heartless haven." he moaned, crushing a shadow underfoot.

"HELLFIRE!" at his call, his hammer generated intense flames in the shape of a snake which engulfed and destroyed several Heartless. He rounded several corners until eventually considering smashing everything in sight until he found his bearings.

" No, Lavi. Calm down. Nothing is going to be solved by just smashing everything. There has got to be some kind of map or landmark around here that I can use..." he quietly told himself. Deep in his thoughts, Lavi continued to walk through the Postern until he came upon a room that appeared to have once been someone's study.

" Wonder what was studied in this place..." he thought as he picked up some of the papers scattered all over the ground. Dropping the papers, he held his hammer menacingly as a figure entered the room from an unseen door.

The man glared at him, eyes hazed over with malice. "Uh, sir? Is there a problem?" Lavi asked as he instinctively backed up and out of the room. The man reached behind him and drew a sword that was very large. Not as large as Ichigo's sword, but still impressive. Another impressive quality of the blade was that the handle bore a strong resemblance to a gun.

"Whoa!" yelped Lavi as the man swung at him wildly. There were no human action or intent behind that swing; It felt like a robot was just following his master's orders.

"Can't fight in here, Sora and the others might find a clue in here. No choice, gotta lead him into that clearing that I found a while back. There I might be able to stop this guy." thought Lavi as he ducked another swipe and reversed directions, heading back through the way he came.

"Come back here and DIE quietly, Lavi." drawled the man, voice not wavering from a monotone pitch.

"Not a chance! And how do you know my name?!"

" I know all of your friends names. They sicken me. They will die after I'm through with you. Now hurry up and DIE!" drawing the sword inwards, the man charged forward in a jousting charge. Lavi rounded a sudden corner sharply, dodging the attack. He smirked slightly as the man's sword got stuck in the wall behind him.

Lavi darted around yet another corner and collided with Ichigo, both them falling to the ground in a tangled heap.

"Hey! Ouch, Lavi! Where have you been?!"

" Never mind where I've been! We gotta go now! The guy behind me wants all of us dead!"

The two untangled themselves and then retreated back further along the path. Meeting Zero en route, the three raced back to where Sora, Riku and Hiruma waited.

Stopping, Lavi wheezed and pointed back the way they came. " Crazy psycho with a blade with a gun handle!" Sora lifted his eyebrows and eyed Lavi curiously. " A blade with a gun handle?"

The man finally caught up with them, and brandished his sword once more as Sora's mouth hung open in amazement. "Leon?"

--

Leon charged again but Sora blocked with his Keyblade and forced him back. " Leon! What's the matter with you?!" Riku sighed as he drew his Keyblade. " Sora, you need to differentiate between anger and mind control." Sora grunted as Leon swung harder and forced him away again.

This being a two-on-one fight, Leon was at a clear disadvantage until he increased the sword's size and attacked more aggressively, pinning both Sora and Riku in a corner. He had also brought a small horde of Heartless with him, preventing any rescue attempts by both Ichigo and Zero. Lavi was too exhausted from running at top speed through the maze like structure to even consider helping the ongoing fight between Leon and the others; The Heartless were all he could manage at the moment.

Sora yelped in pain as Leon withdrew from a sword attack and opted for kicking him painfully in the ribs. Riku swung his Keyblade forward and prevented Leon from trying to deal Sora a painful injury but received a nasty punch to the jaw for his interference.

" INCOMING!!!"

Hiruma came hurtling from god-knows-where and planted both feet in the side of Leon's head, landing with grace as he glanced around the room suspiciously.

"Where the HELL have you been?!" snarled Ichigo.

" Evading that!" he remarked, running down another open corridor as Tifa rushed after him, her punches barely missing vital parts.

Ichigo stood up again and glared at the Heartless that seemed to just keep coming. " Getsuga Tensho!"

A high concentrated slash tore through the walls and eliminated nearly everything in it's path. The only things that survived was some pitiful shadows that had sunk into the ground prior to the attack.

" Was that Tifa just now?" asked Sora, gently nudging the fallen Leon, who had been an unfortunate collateral victim of Ichigo's attack.

Lavi stood up from his crouched position. " I guess. Wonder what the problem was with the attacks. I haven't seen any large Heartless around but I did find a study room that might hold some clues."

Sora shrugged. " That was Ansem's study. We've been there a few times when we visit this place."

Riku looked slightly heavenward. " Haven't really been in there myself. I'd like to go see it. Lavi, can you show the way?"

Lavi stared at him in disgust. " Do you even have the faintest idea as to how many times I got lost?! I couldn't find that room again unless it was right in front of me!"

Sora pointed behind him. " It's down that hall."

Lavi felt very stupid as he followed Riku to the study, Zero tagging at his heels.

Hiruma finally returned from his wild escape and leaned himself against a nearby wall, laughing at Ichigo. Ichigo demanded to know what was going on and in response, Hiruma pointed at his head. A shadow Heartless had made itself rather comfortable upon his head and was gnawing away. Sora could resist chuckling at the fact that Ichigo hadn't noticed the offender chewing on his head and that none of the chewing seemed to bother him.

Ichigo quickly destroyed said offender and stormed past Hiruma into the hallway, muttering obscenities. Hiruma lazily made his way over to Sora and crouched beside Leon, who was still unconscious. " So... This is Leon? Didn't seem like he was in much trouble to me. More like causing the damn trouble."

Sora shook his head. " And Tifa was chasing you earlier, What's going on?"

" You tell me. You know these people. I just met them."

" Thank you for your input, Hiruma."

" Doing what I can with what I've got."

"... You live for irritating others, don't you?"

" It passes the time during classes."

"ah."

Hiruma turned Leon onto his back and examined him. " Did Leon always have this mark on his back?"

Sora looked at Leon as well. A complex pattern could be seen on his back as if it had always been there and was a simple fact of life. " No."

" I put that there. And unless you just die peacefully with no fuss, it'll stay there. Forever." sneered a malicious voice.

Whirling around, Sora and Hiruma came face to face with Lavi, sitting on a damaged pipe while smiling crookedly. His green eye shone under a mass of jet-black hair and glinted in the faint light overhead. Doing a double-take, both of them realized that this Lavi wasn't the one that they were traveling with.

Sora summoned his Keyblade and growled at the Lavi look-alike. " You're not Lavi! Who are you?"

At the mention of "Lavi" the look-alike changed expressions from evil grin to pure hatred. In one swift movement, he was beside Hiruma, punching him into a wall before Sora could even react. Before Sora could react, the look-alike had a hand around Sora's throat and lifted him into the air.

" My name is Xavil. Don't ever forget it. Not now, not even in your grave."

End Chapter 1

0.o ...... New chapter as soon as possible! (provided I get more reviews... I, like other authors, are motivated by them ) please stay tuned!

Sorry about the cheesey OC name... not very original... but it was spur of the moment and MUST be obeyed!