The Sanctuary of The Temple

Roxas sighed, enjoying the feeling of the wind brushing against his skin as he stared at the structure before him. It was a very interesting sight to him. The temple's design was one that spoke of much older times, similar to buildings Roxas had seen in much more primitive and cultural worlds like the Land of Dragons, yet it was well maintained. You'd think that it was a young building looking at it from Roxas' point of view.

Looking around the area, Roxas found what Raimundo had said to be true. The temple was the only structure for miles, isolated from the rest of humanity. Yet instead of giving it a lonely feeling, the temple seemed to have a warm and peaceful air to it, welcoming anyone who approached.

I can see why the others chose to send me here. Roxas thought, letting a small grin cross his face as he started towards the stairs to the entrance. Nothing around here seems to give off any hostile nature. Of course, I won't know for sure until I see all of the temple monks, but I think this will prove to be a very accepting place.

"Roxas!" An excited voice called, pulling the blonde from his thoughts. Looking up, Roxas felt his grin grow as a happy Raimundo Pedrosa dropped from the sky. "About time you got here. We have everything set up for you. I even managed to convince Master Fung to give us a few days off training, so now I can use all the time you're here to teach you how to be lazy."

"You do still have to do chores Raimundo." Rai groaned as the duo came to the top of the stairs and found themselves standing before Master Fung. A little behind him, the other Xiaolin Dragons walked up, each with a grin directed at Roxas. "But lets not worry about that now. Welcome Roxas, it is a pleasure to finally meet you."

"It's an honour to meet you as well Master Fung." Roxas responded, bowing his head slightly. "And thank you for letting me come here."

"You are quite welcome, young one." Master Fung replied, amazing Roxas with the amount of warmth and respect the wise man's eyes directed towards him. No one outside the Valour Guardians, not even Gohan's kind-hearted, and somewhat childish, father, had ever looked at him like that.

Seeing the boy's face and knowing that he wasn't going to responded at that point, Master Fung waved his hand towards the temple door. "Raimundo will show you to your room. By the time you have placed your stuff away, we shall have dinner ready. I shall see you there." With that, the wise man walked back towards the temple, leaving Roxas struggling not to cry again, though this time it was in gratitude. The man had never met Roxas before and knew where he came from, yet he still treated him with kindness. Roxas had expected that, at best, the elder monks would simply ignore him. Yet here was the temple master accepting him with kindness the moment that they met. The only other people to treat him like that when they met were Namine and Gohan, and even they were wary of him for the first few minutes.

"Why are his eyes watering? Did he get hurt on his last mission?" Omi asked, bringing Roxas back to the present.

"Not now Omi." Kimiko replied quietly. "I'll tell you why later."

"You know Kimiko?" Omi exclaimed, a little too loudly. "But how could you possibly know what's wrong with him? You have never talked to him."

"Omi, he's standing right here." Raimundo growled irritably.

"Yeah, so?" Omi asked, not understanding the problem.

Rai sighed and turned back to Roxas with an apologetic look while Kimiko hit Omi in the head. "Sorry about him Rox. Come on, lets head in. you're lucky, you actually get a bed room. And a mattress!"

Roxas grinned in amusement as Raimundo started ranting once again about his less then desired sleeping conditions and followed the wind wielder inside.


Dinner proved to be an interesting affair for Roxas. The young monks' arms reached all over the table, grabbing whatever they felt like eating and in some cases batting arms away from their own plates. Roxas, who had always just prepared a plate for himself and ignored everything else on the table, couldn't take his eyes off the unpredictable, and sometimes violent, disarray.

"Omi, that's my stake."

"But Clay, I want one. You have four others."

"Omi, if you don't put down the rice bowel, I'm going to hurt you."

"Rai, would you pass a partner the ketchup?"

"That depends, am I gonna end up wearing it again?"

"Oh come on, one bottle explodes on ya and I hear about it for life."

"Hey, you don't wanna know where ketchup ended up."

"Kimiko, my book says that I should ask you for a cup of tea- OW!"

"The next time you do or say anything involving your 'ancient guide to females', I'll knock YOU back into ancient times." Kimiko yelled, towering over Omi's fallen body as he shook where he lay on the ground, holding a red fist mark on his head. "It's called ancient for a reason you numbskull."

"Is this normal?" Roxas asked Rai perplexedly, not sure whether to be amused or worried.

"For the rest of the world? Not a chance. For us? It's a daily event." Raimundo responded with a grin, taking a sip of water.

"This is almost as weird as watching Goku eat his weight ten times over while Chichi nags before the average person eats even one plate."

"Yeah well, the Possibles are the only people associated with the Guardians that could possibly be considered all normal. And even they have the twins." Rai shrugged before going back to his food. "Just eat and try to ignore us. The only things you might need to worry about are flying cups and exploding sauce bottles."

"Rai!" Clay exclaimed exasperatedly, unconsciously squeezing the bottle in his hand. Right on queue, ketchup exploded out towards Roxas. Seeing it coming, Rai whipped his hands out and blew it away and right to where Omi was just getting up.

"AAHH! I'm being attacked. AGAIN!" Omi cried, rubbing his eyes desperately, trying to clear his vision.

"Sorry about that partner." Clay said sheepishly, putting the bottle down.

"Ok, I stand corrected." Roxas muttered quietly, only Rai hearing him. "This is the weirdest meal I've ever attended." Raimundo could only chuckle in response.


After doing the dishes, the monks spent the rest of the night teaching Roxas how to play poker. It proved to be very amusing for Roxas. He grinned more then once when Clay got confused as to which version they were playing and actually laughed as Omi repeatedly screamed 'go fish' when the others would place their cards down.

"Wow, I've never heard laugh before. It's usually just a chuckle at the best of times." Rai comment with a grin. Roxas just blushed in response and looked back down at his cards with a grin of his own.

So this is what real fun is. Now I know why Namine always goes off painting, if it gives her the same feeling. Turning his attention back to the others, his grin grew into a smirk and he laid out his cards.

"Royal flush, right?"


"So I take it you enjoyed yourself tonight?" Kimiko stated more then asked, smiling at the Keybearer as she led him back to his room.

"Yeah. This group is definitely different from the ones I've joined before. Hanging out with you guys is without a doubt a fun and amusing experience." Roxas replied before yawning.

"Good, I'd hate it if someone thought we were boring." Kimiko said happily, stopping in front of his door. "Well, we've taught you a card game. Tomorrow, I'll teach how to play Goo Zombies. It's a video game" She added, seeing him looking confused.

"Oh, ok. Well, goodnight." Roxas closed the door as Kimiko turned back towards her quarters and leaned back on it, sighing happily. It was rare that he felt happiness like this, the last time being when they destroyed the Organisation. The others always kept him in the conversations they had on the satellite, but they couldn't really do too much while on monitor duty and before this, Roxas only ever left the satellite when an alert was sounded.

"Now I know what I've been missing." He said softly, changing into sleep pants and a black singlet before climbing into bed. One last thought crossed his mind as his mind began shutting down and sleep fell upon him. I am so going to lower my working hours.


The next day, the only time Roxas didn't smile was when he was too busy looking curious. The monks were determined to show him everything they enjoyed in one day. For most, it would have been annoying to have so many people wanting to do things with you at once, but Roxas smiled with joy at the prospect. Straight after breakfast, Omi challenged Roxas to a match, only for Raimundo to pull the blonde away with one hand, a soccer ball held in the other.

"You kick the ball with the side of your foot. Dribbling the ball is when you give it light kicks, just to move it a few inches ahead of you. The objective of the game is to kick the ball into the opponent's net. Oh yeah, and unless you're the goal keeper, you can't touch the ball with your hands. But your head and chest are fine."

"I usually only use my feet for manoeuvring." Roxas muttered. "This might be a bit difficult."

"Don't worry, we'll go slow. Besides, with the way you move and angle your feet, dodging and leaping up every solid surface imaginable, you should do fine. Here, you can even look at your feet." Raimundo replied confidently, passing the ball to Roxas.

The two spent the next couple of hours passing the ball to each other and Rai showing Roxas moves he frequently used, before they played a small game.

"Looks like I'm going to score again Roxas." Raimundo called happily, charging down the field with the ball. Just as he was about to shoot, a blonde blur crossed his path, kicking the ball off to the side and forcing Raimundo to either jump or fall over. Landing back on his feet, Rai turned just in time to see Roxas jump back up to his feet and take off to the other end of the field with the ball. "Hey, get back here blondy."

"Not a chance monk." Roxas shouted back aiming the ball up to the approaching net. Noticing Rai approaching, Roxas kicked the ball as hard as he could just before Raimundo tried to tackle him and knocked it right into the middle of the net. "I SCORED." Roxas cheered happily, throwing his arms into the air.

"Nice shot Rox." Raimundo complimented, patting the excited blond on the back before smirking cockily. "But lets see if you can do it again."

Roxas smirked right back

Roxas smirked right back "You're on."


"Ok, now slash the red ones and jump over the blue ones." Kimiko advised, looking over Roxas' shoulder. Roxas' tongue stuck out of the side of his mouth as he followed her orders, making his character sash at one zombie before making it jump and run away from another. "See, it's not that hard."

"No, it's not. It's actually surprisingly easy." Roxas replied happily. His natural fighting instincts were making fighting the electronic enemies simple. The only trick was remembering what button did what. Roxas gave one more slash and congratulatory music sounded.

"Wow, you beat level three easily. I don't think you'll find many video games difficult." Kimiko said with a smile.

"If you are done on that field of battle, then join me on mine." Both teens looked up from the flashing 'You Win' on the screen to find Omi standing before them, his arms up, ready to strike.

"Omi, why are you so determined to fight Roxas." Kimiko asked exasperatedly. "He didn't come here for training, from what Rai says, he does enough of that as it is."

"Yes, and that is part of why I want to fight him." Omi responded, not taking his eyes off Roxas' frowning face. "He is a great fighter and a Valour Guardian. I want to prove that I am as strong as any one of them. That if I was there, I would have defeated every member of Organisation 13."

Roxas eyes darkened at that. The tone Omi was using associated Roxas with the Organisation. While it was true that he was once a part of it, he wasn't ever like them and never did anything wrong by anyone's sense of morality.

However, before anything could come of it, Clay jumped down from the tree, catching everyone by surprise.

"Sorry partner, but I promised to show Roxas how to ride a horse now." Clay said happily. Grabbing Roxas' arm, he lead him off towards the horses while his three companions were still getting over the shock of him dropping by them, effectively stopping any arguments between the naive cheese ball and the fuming Keybearer, leaving Kimiko to knock some sense into Omi.

"Omi didn't mean for that to sound insulting partner. He's just jealous of Rai being in the Valour Guardians and wants to prove that he's the best fighter out there. What better way is there of doing that then to challenge someone as tough as the people who caused the Guardians to form in the first place?" Clay said soothingly, trying to calm his fellow blond down.

"I know, Rai's mentioned more then once that Omi's tactless, and that he just wanted to fight me but-"

"What he said and how he said it hit a repeatedly brutalised soft spot." Clay finished, nodding his head sympathetically. "Well don't worry, Kimiko we'll shut him up." Now lets ride." He finished, opening a stall door and leading out two saddled horses. Roxas, having not seen much animal life in person before, stared at the majestic beasts in wonderment. For the rest of the afternoon, Clay and Roxas rode around the fields outside the castle walls, Roxas quickly mastering all of the basics as Clay told him of them. By the time the sun was getting ready to set, the two were galloping, their laughter echoing throughout the air.


After putting the horses away, Roxas searched the temple for Raimundo. He hadn't seen his friend since they'd left the soccer field and he wanted the wind-walker's opinion on all of the recreational activities and listen to the cds Rai had promised to show him.

A flash of light caught his attention from around a corner, followed by voices he didn't recognise. Curious, he stepped into a small room, containing only a table and chair supporting a laptop and a laughing Kimiko respectively.

"What's so funny?" Roxas asked, stepping into the room and up to the temple's only girl.

"It's a show I used to watch all the time back home." She answered, moving slightly to let him see the screen. He couldn't understand what the characters were saying, seeing as it was in Japanese, but he still chuckled when one character angered another into hitting him with a mallet and sent him spiralling into the sky.

"Making violence funny. That probably isn't a good thing." Roxas commented, though the grin never left his face.

"Yeah, but who cares, humour is humour. Let parents deal with teaching the kids that knocking someone into the stratosphere isn't nice." Kimiko replied, turning to Roxas and missing the news update logo that came onto the screen.

However, as the man spoke, her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and her head snapped back in time to see a video clip of the battle at Boston. The news reporter continued to speak as Roxas was displayed knocking Jack's head through the wall and even though he had no idea what the reporter was saying, his tone made it clear as day to Roxas that they were once again discussing how he shouldn't be allowed to live.

His heart sank even lower as the reporter introduced other people who also expressing hate-filled rants as a picture of him sat in the background. Feeling his eyes going watery again, Roxas took off just as Kimiko shut the site down.

"Roxas, wait!" She called, worry evident in her voice. However, Roxas just kept running right out of her sight. "Oh man, this is really bad. I gotta find Rai." Kimiko muttered worriedly and dashed off to find the wind wielder, cursing the idiocy and cruelty of people the whole way.


A panicky Raimundo searched high and low throughout the entire temple, desperate to find his friend. Kimiko told him what happened and he had to fix it. He wasn't sure how he'd do it, but he would.

The problem is I have to find him first. Rai growled, picking up his pace. Giving up on the inside of the temple, he shot out into the courtyard, scanning every rock, tree and any flat or vertical surface he could find.

"Come and Rox, where did you… aha!" Rai cheered, looking up at the temple vault. There, sitting on top, wrapped into a ball, was Roxas, staring sadly into the starry sky. Wasting no time, Raimundo gathered the wind and flew straight to his team mate and friend, landing beside him and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Kimiko told you what happened?" Roxas asked numbly, his eyes never leaving the sky. He already knew the answer.

"Yeah. How are you?" Rai asked softly.

"Oh, I'm fine. I just got told I shouldn't exist in another language. How many people get two hear 'I hate you, go and die somewhere' in like fifty different languages if they want to?" He asked sarcastically. But there was no aggression in his words, only bitterness.

"Eu não odeio você. você é um dos melhores amigos que eu já tive. How many people get people calling them one of their best friends in multiple languages?" Rai responded, smiling warmly before his expression turned serious. "Roxas, stop looking at this situation on a global scale. Actually, stop worrying about it period."

"Huh?" Roxas cried, his head whipping to face Raimundo, his eyes wide with shock.

"You care too much about the opinions of complete strangers and as a result, you're miserable." Raimundo explained, making sure the warmth and concern he felt for his friend stayed in his eyes. "Yes, it's painful knowing that the world is against you, but you would be so much happier if you just focused on and cared about the opinions of people that matter."

"And who exactly are the people that matter?" Roxas asked, not understanding. He'd always gone be the principle that everyone matters.

"The people that matter to YOU are the people you call your friends and family." Raimundo answered. "The opinions of total strangers shouldn't mean anything to you. Those of us who know you have seen that you aren't a heartless monster, that you're kind. That's all that really matters."

"Maybe." Roxas just leaned in as Rai pulled him into a one armed hug and stared back up at the sky. His sadness wasn't entirely gone, but it did feel good to know he was with such a kind person. Who knew Rai could be this deep and reassuring?


Deep in the eerie, green realm of the Ghost zone a giant, medieval castle floated menacingly, for all eyes to see. Little more then the green glow of the realm and a bunch of floating rocks surrounded the dark, ominous structure for only the bravest or stupidest ghosts would dare go near it. For deep within resided two of the most evil and feared ghosts of all time.

One of these ectoplasmic titans, one of the two most powerful ghosts ever to exist, was sealed within the coffin of eternal sleep, something every ghost, ghost hunter and citizen of Amity Park was thankful for. The other however, was far from contained, remaining where he was only because he'd chosen to.

On the giant throne sat a ghostly knight. He wore black and dull grey armour. His face was completely hidden within his mask, only his glowing, malice filled eyes shining through the solid darkness where his face should have been. Purple flames shot out of the back of his head and halfway down his legs. At his side rest a glowing, green sword. The weapon gave off waves of malice on it's own, as great as those that came from it's master, and sent shivers of pure terror through anyone who came near it.

"What is it with the mortal realm? Fear is decreasing." The figure growled, his clenching fists cracking his armrests. Waving his hand, he summoned an image of the mortal world on the far wall, searching for his answer. A minute later, the armrests shattered completely as a roar of rage echoed through the entire castle. "Of course. Them." The image continuously flickered from one fight to the next, each time showing the guardians fighting the dark forces. "Those adolescent brats continuously take down the worlds most dangerous threats and as a result, the people lose the fear they held, both because of those evil doers and because the kids are proving their ability to take on the rest. Typical, I should have known. Every time heroes rise and gather, fear fades. Therefore my power fades. It's time to remove them as a factor and bring fear back, more powerful then every before." Letting loose a malicious laugh, the Fright Knight enshrouded himself in his flame cape and shot off in a flash of purple. "Beware Valour Guardians. You are about to be consumed by fear."