Kingdom Hearts: Mutants of Twilight

by RogueFanKC

Set in the Misfitverse! The heroes and the Organization are stunned to see who now harnesses the Chalice of Kingdom Hearts after the bloody battles! However, it's a hollow victory when Falco and Octavia then inform the X-Men, Joes, and Misfits of a rather unpleasant secret about the Keyblades that Pluto has been keeping from them...

7. Lance the Lionheart

CHAPTER 7: Lance the Lionheart

"You have got to be kidding me," gaped Flash slowly as Toad, Trinity, and Wavedancer finished telling their guests what had gone on in less than two days at the Pit, right next to the now recovering and conscious Shipwreck and the unconscious Beach Head, now no longer wearing his ski mask, in the infirmary. Next to the Joe ranger, as a thoughtful afterthought, was a clean and fresh-from-the-dryer Sergeant Snuffles in Beach Head's arms to keep him company during his recovery in the infirmary. A gift from Daria, Quinn, and Brittany.

After the second Heartless attack, Hawk could no longer argue against the desire to keep the secret of the Keyblades and their mystical properties under wraps for much longer, especially since the Organization Thirteen were starting to become more bold and erratic with their attacks and infecting innocents in order to turn them into mindless soldiers. Plus, Hawk didn't wish to endanger anyone by remaining oblivious when they could very well be changed into Heartless specimens. However, the Epsilon Juggler knew that only certain people could be entrusted with this without having the information get any more out of hand than absolutely necessary.

Thus, only a select few were requested to meet up with the Joe leader, Pluto, the Misfits and their parents in the infirmary at the Pit several hours after the teddy bear Heartless was turned back to normal. The emergency coalition consisted of the seven original and senior members of the Justice League, Robin and Bumblebee from the Titans, Allo from the Dinosaucers, Quentin Blud and Jenny Calendar from the Ghostbusters, the Charmed Ones, Faith, Giles, Xander and Willow from the Scoobies, and the elder X-Men, Professor X, Logan, Ororo and Hank (Jake, Scott, and Jean were back watching the Institute).

After brief introductions (and the Professor was impressed at the level of brisk yet respectful professionalism among the different group-members), after warning that what would be told should not leave this room unless necessary, Althea, the Triplets, and Todd then recounted everything. With the Heartless attacks, how Shipwreck and Beach Head were infected with these strange spores inflicted by two members of the Organization, gaining strange weapons and magical abilities of water, thunder, and time, and how Althea's scepter somehow managed to "cure" her father and the ranger from their afflictions, only for their hearts to be nearly stolen by the strange beings, Falco and Octavia.

Needless to say, it was quite a story to hear, and several of the guests seemed dubious if not downright amazed.

"And you're just telling us this now, bubs?" Wolverine asked, a faint touch of harsh annoyance in his voice. Hawk shot Logan a deadpanned and tired look in return.

"To be fair, it happened so quickly and within the past two days, barely giving us a chance to rest and take this all in. And not to mention that we're not even sure if these Keyblades are even good in the first place! Not only is there the possibility that this could be a clever ruse by the Hellfire Club to trick us, but it could also be likely that these Keyblades and Aquara and Thundaga and Stopra magic can be dangerous enough in the wrong hands! It may be something that can fight the Heartless and the Order, but I don't think the kids are able to handle it."

"Gee, thank you so much for the lack of faith," drawled Quinn sardonically.

Fred then asked, "That's another reason why we contacted you guys. Have you ever heard of these things? I mean, if these are magical and everything, then maybe one of you have heard of something like this, something that's supposed to be used when things get bad. Y'know, like when Buffy got the Scythe of the Guardians in the end to fight the First at the Hellmouth."

"We thought maybe you could provide any insight, especially since we've got really powerful magic users here," Lina added, but to her disappointment, Allo, the Charmed Ones, and Willow all shook their heads.

"I'm sorry Dragonfly, but this is strange to me as well," Allo confessed, "The Dinosorcerer and Dinosorceress have never encountered such a weapon, at least not in the experiences and history I know of. And the same goes for the strange magic and the words, 'Aquara', 'Thundaga', and 'Stopra'. I can tell you that it is not any part of Reptilion magic."

"It's also not like any other magic I've encountered either," Hawkgirl said as she held up her unresponsive mace, silent and not showing any sort of reaction whatsoever, "If the N'th metal can't even detect those Keyblades, even when they've shown mystical properties, those must be powerful Talismans, more powerful than any of us can imagine."

The masked Thanagarian paused before she admitted in a hushed and awed tone of reverence, "It's like nothing I've ever seen before."

"And it's not in our Book of Shadows either, so the Keyblade doesn't originate from the laws of Wicca," Phoebe Halliwell said with an apologetic note, "And I can see General Hawk's point. Is it really safe to use the Keyblades and your newfound magic if we don't know much about them to begin with? It'll be like children playing with matches."

"But other than the magic and the Keyblades, we don't know any other weaknesses that the Heartless have," Spirit said, "They appear to be the perfect weapons sent against the Hellfire Club and the Organization Thirteen. The Heartless aren't heavily damaged by bullets and firepower, the attacks from the Misfits' mutant powers do not appear to faze it greatly, and in some instances, it even appeared to grow stronger and stronger each time we have fought it for some odd reason."

"And until then, since these…Keyblades are obvious weapons that can threaten the Thirteenth Orders goals to doom the world, then it means that your five along with your friends and family here at the Pit are gonna be in big danger and targets. Anything that proves to be a threat, the Organization assholes will gun you all down and do anything it takes to wipe you and the Joes off their radar. You can pretty much count on that," Quentin Blud added gruffly, his voice deep yet somewhat strangely haunting.

"Like hell they will," muttered Shipwreck before he winced, holding his bruised side, "I'd rather rot than let those bastards take my kids."

Allo silently gave Blind Master the evil eye, a look of blame; obviously, the two were going to argue but a look from both General Hawk and Justin gave them the grace to bite their tongues.

"And what about these pods? Were you able to find anything conclusive from your analysis of these new weapons?" Giles asked, idly rubbing his chin with one hand. Wanda then took out three plastic, corked test tubes that contained samples of the ashes of the pods that were extracted out of Beach Head and Shipwreck by Wavedancer's staff.

"We did every single test we could with the remains of those strange pods that popped out of the Heartless," Scarlet Witch recounted, "Scanning, X-rays, chromatography, chemical cataclysms, everything you can name, we did it. And we can't come up with anything new. Airtight and Trinity went over these with a fine-tooth comb and nothing. That's why we're giving these samples to you; if you can't detect anything from a scientific standpoint, maybe you can find some magical clues considering that these Heartless aren't natural."

"We'll try," Superman replied as he, Hank, and Giles each took a respective test-tube, "and we'll do our best to contact the others who might be able to provide some light on the subject. Sandra, Dr. Fate, and Dr. Strange are already trying to contact others they know of who might be able to provide anything significant about the Heartless, but I wouldn't hold my breath."

"Anything that might be helpful in identifying their weaknesses?" Hank finally asked. Wonder Woman and Piper Halliwell shook their heads.

"Sandra can't find any information about the Thirteenth Order or the Heartless from any of the archives in the citadel's libraries and the Council of Elders concluded that the Heartless aren't a part of this world to begin with, so this is definitely a new threat," Piper stated, a bit depressed.

"No one in their magical communities and societies have even heard about the Heartless to begin with either," Diana sighed, "And the kingdoms that we mentioned they came to investigate during the crises with the Nexus in San Francisco, the ones that had the same telltale energy signature of the mystical forces that blighted Supergirl, were completely devastated and sent to ruins. Each and every one of those realms was completely wiped out, no essence of life nor could anything remaining that offer a clue. They have been rendered into nothing but dust, darkness, and nothingness, a trail of destruction and extinction caused swiftly by a massive power that no one had anticipated."

"Hmph, that actually sums up the Heartless and the Organization Thirteen down to a tee," Robin commented.

"That is not a good thing then," Jenny Calendar replied, "For if the destruction of those worlds have been wiped out by the Thirteenth Order and the Heartless in the first place, then it will mean the same thing for Earth and its inhabitants if we lose the Gathering of Twilight. And I'm beginning to suspect that these Heartless transcend beyond anything our worlds have been able to contact and touch. If not even the Powers That Be have any knowledge of these creatures, then it is possible that the realm they come from is so deep and depraved that no one would dare venture there to investigate."

"In other words, this weird place called 'Kingdom Hearts', the one that Raven, Batgirl, Phoebe, and Willow have seen in their dreams a little while back," Paige Halliwell said.

"Too bad there aren't any other leads or anyone else who can shed some light on the subject," Green Lantern said, "Lord knows we could use them."

Toad and Wavedancer then came to the same idea instantly upon those words, so simple at arriving at the thought that they were slightly ashamed that they did not come up with it before.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin', yo?" Todd grinned at Althea, and the hydrokinetic nodded before the both of them held out their respective Keyblade and scepter.

"Dumbo, can you come out, please? We need some help," Althea requested gently.

"Genie? You too, yo," Todd asked hesitantly, and upon the mention, Althea's white staff and Toad's Amphibionian Keyblade began to shake and quiver madly, almost jerking back and forth like a lid upon a pot of boiling water.

Flash!

With barely enough time for the audience to widen their eyes, materializing out of thin air within a massive cloud of auras and bright stardust, the baby and innocent elephant with oversized ears landed heavily onto the infirmary floor, silent and confused, but amiable and happy nonetheless. Meanwhile the massive and gargantuan Genie emerged, twirling a bit dramatically in the air, showing off a bit. With a puff of smoke, the familiar blue apparition with the goatee and the gold manacles around his wrists materialized in front of the Misfit and loomed over him teasingly.

The Joes and Misfits' guests were stunned and astonished to say the least. Even the stoic Batman had to raise an eyebrow, admitting that he was taken aback slightly from the sight of two Disney characters.

"Hello, you reached the Genie Hotline, where our motto is if we can't make it happen, then you better hope you bought the extended warranty, refunds included! This is your local Genie speaking, how may I help you with whatever disaster or crisis you may have?" Genie drawled, eyebrows wiggling and a gigantic smile of fun-and-fancy-free on his visage.

Despite the seriousness of this, a few observers couldn't help but laugh.

"I like him; he's funny," giggled Willow, despite the stern face of Giles giving her a look to control herself.

"Wow, he's exactly like those 'Aladdin' movies," blinked Xander, chuckling, "Right down to a tee."

"Genie…could you or Dumbo help us? We need to know if you two know anything about the Keyblades or the magic or…well, where you come from and why the Heartless are attacking here," Brittany asked. To her frustration and disenchantment, Dumbo made a sorrowful hooting noise with his trunk and a whine before he shook his head as a negative, his ears flopping a bit. Genie was a little less gracious as he transformed into a replica of the robot from the "Lost In Space" TV series and replied back in a monotone, robotic voice.

"Warning…does not compute…warning…does not compute…"

"Huh?" blinked Faith, and Genie transformed back into his normal form before he explained.

"Sorry, kids," Genie said, "Can't even remember anything other than what I can do or the laws of my phonemically-cosmic powers with the itty-bitty living space. All I know is that me and the D-Man here have been given orders to follow those that wield the Key and protect him or her from the baddies. We're meant to come out whenever we're needed to do whatever it takes to stop those that want to waste the Keyblade's chosen, but other than that, sorry! I only know what I've been sent here to do."

"That's it?" blinked Ororo.

"What about Dumbo? Or even Pluto?" Roadblock asked, pointing at the dog next to him, "Does the dog ring any bells? Or how about explaining to use about the nature of the Keyblades or these magical spells?"

Genie painted a big red "X" in the air with one finger before saying contritely, "Nope, sorry. Though I gotta admit, the Pluto-guy does seem a bit déjà vu, all I know is what I'm meant to do and to what extent my new little buddies here can do magic."

"So you don't know anything other than what you're supposed to do?" Green Lantern asked, frowning and obviously disappointed.

"Nope, nothing, nada, zilch, zero, clean slate," the Genie remarked, actually detaching his head from his body and in classic cartoon humor, patted it upside down to empty the contents, only to show that his mind was completely devoid of anything, "We're sorry, but operators are unable to process your request right now on the account that - "

"We get the point, but thank you anyway," J'onn interrupted with graceful respect and politeness.

"Wait a minute," pestered Robin, "So you don't remember anything? Not even Aladdin, Princess Jasmine, all your friends?"

The Genie blinked (and Batman could see that the djinn wasn't lying in the slightest), flustered a bit before he asked dumbly, "Huh? The who?"

"Never mind," Robin groaned, rubbing his head with one hand. Professor Xavier contemplated deeply; it seemed suspiciously as if someone deliberately altered Dumbo and Genie's memories if they knew absolutely nothing about their past lives and associations…

"Does anyone else think that maybe there's a reason why we're suddenly seeing so many Disney characters when these Heartless show up?" Cover Girl pointed out, "Think about it: Pluto, Dumbo, Genie…anyone else think that there might be a pattern here?"

"It's a weird pattern if there really was a reason," Bumblebee remarked, "Other than the String Theory that perhaps in alternate realities and dimensions and what we consider fantasy and make-believe actually exists somewhere else, I'm still trying to figure out what are the reasons that Disney characters out of all possibilities are involved in this whole Heartless mess."

"It is a bit out from left field, I gotta admit, squirt," Logan muttered, "Hell, out of a whole possible list of warriors and soldiers who could be tough and mean enough to kick the Hellfire's collective asses, like when we were in the SWAT Kats' dimension, a dog, an elephant, a Genie, and God knows what else from Disney would be the last thing I'd choose."

"Perhaps it is simply a strange coincidence and nothing more," Ororo sighed, putting out that possibility. Batman just narrowed his eyes at the three aforementioned characters from his position; he didn't believe in coincidences, especially ones with freak occurrences of this nature. Genie winced before he whispered to Wanda and Lina.

"Wow…is Mr. Tall, Dark, and Anti-Social always like he's about to punch someone's lights out?" the blue spirit conversed softly with Scarlet Witch and Dragonfly. Both girls gave Genie some pitying looks.

"He's a good guy, don't get him wrong, Genie," Lina clarified, "It's just that this is how Batman is, and he's really unemotional and to-the-point when it comes to the serious issues, especially regarding the Heartless. But don't worry, he's a nice person deep down underneath."

"Deep, deep down underneath," added Wanda cheekily with a smirk.

"I'm right here, you know," growled Batman from behind.

"Well…" Daria pointed out, "On the upside, things aren't so hopeless with the Heartless now! We have a way to fight them, and it's all in our hands, the one and only Misfits!"

"Yeah, just think, yo! From now on, we'll get to deal with any Heartless that comes up from now on all over the world! How cool is that, yo? It's like we're the answers to everyone's prayers!" Toad chimed in, puffing out his chest in an attempt to appear manlier.

There was a deadpanned silence as the Justice League, adult X-Men, Robin, Bumblebee, Allo, Faith, Quentin, Jenny Calendar, Willow, Xander, and Giles looked at Althea, Todd, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany with deadpanned expressions, pursued lips, and restrained feelings of worry and impeding senses of doom.

Giles sighed as he then spoke what was on everyone else's minds.

"Ah yes, the Earth is doomed," he said with lugubrious sarcasm.

---

"Let me see if I can fully understand the reasons behind this disgrace, Luxord," growled a now dangerously-growing Superior from his throne as he and the other eleven members of the Organization looked at the gambler, Luxord, who was doing his best not to grimace and exhibit any sort of embarrassment, "Three…pre-pubescent, adolescent, childish, immature…girls? Another set of chosen from the Misfits, a new trio of Keyblade wielders, humans that now can harness the magic of time from our greatest foes…are three…little…girls? You…were defeated…by three…GIRLS?"

That last sentence had risen to the highest crescendo ever made possible by the human voice box.

Luxord looked like he was going to remain stubbornly silent out of embarrassment and discomfort, but then again, considering his state, he really couldn't have much emotion to begin with. Not to mention that the Superior was already considerably outraged and angered in front of the audience of the other hooded members of the Thirteenth Order. The bearded gambler didn't need to make his plight worse and even more unbearable by hesitating and making his leader wait impatiently and give his Liege another reason to be wrathful.

"Yes, my Lord," he answered back in a resentfully barbed yet respectful voice. There was a tense and agonizing pause as the glare from the Superior's face intensified even more, to the point of marring his entire head.

Then the Organization members, Axel and Demyx, couldn't hold it in any longer, and the both of them burst out howling with laughter.

"BWAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" the two guffawed in complete hysterics, earning a few disapproving glances for their inappropriate behavior, especially from the Superior and Luxord themselves.

"Oh shut up!" snapped Luxord, narrowing his blue eyes and having his face heat up uncomfortably underneath his cloak, "I daresay you two would not find it funny to have been violated and humiliated by those demon-girls!"

This statement just made Axel and Demyx laugh even harder, now draping awkwardly over the seats of their thrones.

"Hey, you should be grateful, Luxord! That's the most action you'll ever be getting in this lifetime! I would think you'd be flattered at being manhandled by three girls! Bwah hah hah hah!" Demyx chortled in between gasps and chortles.

Axel then couldn't help but snidely joke, "Aw, come on, Demyx! Let's give Luxord a little credit! So he got his butt kicked by three mutant psychotic girls! It's not as bad as it seems! There's worse embarrassing fates and defeats…and unfortunately, I can't think up of one that beats this low point!"

This set off another round of laughter from the miscreants.

"I'm warning you two…" growled Luxord, his eyes now shining with absolute fury, his gloved hands clenched.

"Too bad he can't leave the Organization," Demyx howled, rubbing salt in Luxord's wounds for all it was worth, "I can imagine him being more comfortable playing dollies with Trinity and dressing up in pigtails and a play-skirt to have a tea party with them and their stuffed animals!"

"Yeah, Luxord would be a good transvestite! Or better yet, we can dress him in one of those little boy sailor suits and give him a lolly!" Axel cackled. Luxord absolutely had enough as he then drew out two more gigantic cards in his hands, ready to use the razor-sharp weapons as swords to decapitate and cause severe bodily harm, seething.

"And I can picture your respective heads rolling on the floor when I am through with you presumptuous, arrogant - "

"Enough!" yelled the Superior, now raising a hand up to cease the quarrelling between the three men, "We have more pressing issues at hand with the unexpected arrival and blessings of new wielders of the Keyblades and the magic of the Elementa Kingdoms."

"If we only had an idea of where the Talismans are," Marluxia intoned, "Are you sure Falco and Octavia have no idea of where they reside in and are simply acting a farce to throw us off on the wrong track?"

Xaldin shook his head as he said, "No, the Oracle has not given us anything that may prove otherwise, and all scrying attempts in their minds have shown that they have absolutely no clue. They are as oblivious and ignorant in their locations as we are. The downside is that it would take months, perhaps years, before we can have the Oracle locate the ones who bear the Talismans in their hearts."

"I have already alerted the members of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club of these recent events, my Liege," Zexion stated, "Should I perhaps send Blackheart and Galatea to attack and destroy the Pit?"

"No, I have a better idea…" the number one member of the cult declared before he turned to one of his cohorts.

"Saïx…" commanded the leader, and immediately, one of the robed men of the Thirteenth Order rose from his throne before removing his hood, revealing a long, silver mane of meticulously straight hair, pointed ears life an elf from the Lord of the Rings series, and narrowed, malicious yellow eyes. But the most discerning and noticeable thing about Saïx was that his entire face was marred with an "X"-shaped scare crisscrossing over his nose and between his eyes, obviously a testament to a wound gained from a battle long ago. But there was no discomfort or grim reminder from the man; his face was pure, emotionless calm.

"Go to the Pit with two spores and chose another set of victims for the Infection," the Superior intoned, "The Misfits apparently have problems with one of the Hellfire Heartless pods, so two should be enough to thin their ranks so that the existing Keyblade wielders can be easily manipulated in their rage and grief to play right into our hands. However, unlike Luxord, you are free to act however you wish with these drabble. Kill one or kill as many as you like, but leave the ones that harness the Keyblades unharmed for now."

"How I've waited to hear that…" Saïx managed to say with a growing and sadistic toothy smile, like a snake, before he disappeared in a cloud of darkness.

---

Several days after the Heartless attack and the pod-infection of Beach Head, the Misfits were doing their early morning training over the obstacle courses, complete with the wall-climbing, crawling underneath barbed wire, and tire-hopping. Lance was about to use a tremor to knock down one of the targets when suddenly, his brain felt as if someone had taken a sledgehammer and split his skull right down the center before filling it with hot, molten lead.

The pain was completely and mind-numbingly raw and excruciating as Lance fell to his knees, and he was dimly aware of people yelping and screaming all around him, the ground now quaking and fluctuating madly in response to his powers running amuck from the reactions to his senses and body. There was a sudden coppery taste in his mouth as blood started to dribble out of his mouth and from one nostril before his arms and body began jerking wildly, a sign of an epileptic seizure.

"Lance!" he could hear Wanda distantly screaming before he fell against the hard ground and blacked out…

He was vaguely aware of blurred and incomprehensible words being spoken all around him in a sea of foggy gray, and it was sort of a pleasant feeling, to float around in nothingness like that, the numbness and having absolutely no pain. It was peaceful too…

"I thought he was supposed to get better, Lifeline."

"He'd still be subject to attacks. Just because they happen less frequently does not mean that he would be absolutely cured from the experiments that Magneto did to his DNA."

"Does he always suffer from these attacks and seizures?"

"Are you kidding, yo? You should have seen it when Lance was first found by G.I. Joe! He had attacks nearly every day until Lifeline and Airtight could figure out a way to lessen the whack-job Magneto did to his genes!"

"Uh…" groaned Lance before the misty gray fog cleared, the pressure squeezing all around his brain and making his skull throb excruciatingly before he found himself being looked at by a group of the weirdest people he had ever seen and witnessed, with the closest being a strong-faced Native American, complete with a feathered headband, stroking his hair in a comforting yet alien gesture. Then Lance yelped as he laid eyes on Lina and Xi, taken aback from their remarkable and unnaturally frightening features.

"Aaah! Who…who the hell are you?" Lance cried out as he tried to sit upright, but that movement cost him dearly as another spike of pain shot up his spinal column and woozy, Lance feel backwards into the pillow, feeling like he was going to throw up. The Native American soldier looked pained as Lina and Xi looked at the other Misfits worriedly. The man gripped Lance's hand firmly, bringing Lance back to his senses.

"Lance, calm down," he ordered softly, "It is simply Lina and Xi, fellow mutants such as yourself. They mean you no harm."

"Who…who are you?" Lance blurted out, panting to ease the screaming of his brain and muscles as well as lessen the urge to vomit, his brow now sweating. The Joe's face fell, pained; though he expected it, it still hurt. A medic, dressed in red and black, came slowly and laid a cool compress on Lance's forehead to dull the migraine ringing inside his skull.

"Lance, you had another seizure, and temporary memory loss is expected afterwards during the recovery, but try to remember hard, all right? You're at a military base known as the Pit, which houses the unit known as G.I. Joe. Do you remember anything yet? Is it all coming back?"

"Pluto…" croaked Lance weakly. Everyone stopped and blinked, confused at the choice of Avalanche's first choice of a name upon regaining consciousness before a bark behind them made the teens and adults turn around. There, unnoticed by everyone, was the golden hound, his tail thumping softly against the checkered floor, looking at Lance with a mixture of emotions.

"I'm not sure whether to be relieved or insulted," Spirit commented wryly, but still relieved nonetheless that they got Lance into stable condition in time before the seizures got even worse.

Later that night, Lance was alone and slowly recuperating from his bout with near-death, his feelings running a gamut of resentment, bitterness, fear, and frustration, his back and rear-end now sore from the bedsores of lying in the infirmary bed for so long. He felt a shudder run through his body, and knowing it was an aftershock of his previous seizure, Lance just gritted his teeth and breathed in and out heavily through his nose, forcing down the urge to vomit until the nausea subsided. So far, he emptied his stomach three times and yet he still felt horrendously and intolerably sick.

He was weary and yet he couldn't sleep, his nervousness taking a toll on his nerves and peace of mind. He had bits of his memory flashing back, but all he could fully recollect was the fact that he was in this state because of that damned Magneto and his genetic experimentations on him during his training in the Brotherhood-era, recalling how the mutant tyrant left him nearly dead in the desert. He didn't even recall who found him, who else stayed with him in the Brotherhood, or who were the Joes who even discovered him and saved him from certain death. The medic in red told him that he'd gain his memory back in a day or two, but still, the lost feeling of helplessness that resulted from this personal hell was nothing short of unbearable.

Lance was then startled out of his reverie of dark thoughts when he felt something furry and prickly nudge and press against his hand, and Lance looked to his right to see a pair of familiar, wide, innocent eyes and a golden, floppy-eared head. Pluto whimpered a bit in worry before he rubbed affectionately against Lance's hand.

Lance managed to offer a rueful smile as he murmured, scratching Pluto's muzzle, "I guess I could use the company, Pluto, since I'm still having trouble remembering who's who and you're the only one here."

Pluto made a content dog-groan, enjoying the touch of the teenager's fingers hitting that spot behind his ear, causing him to thump his hid leg up and down against the floor rhythmically. Lance remained silent a bit before he then, though he had no reason why exactly, he started baring his soul out.

"I hate this."

Pluto just looked at the bed-ridden geokinetic and listened silently, showing pity. Though it was a one-sided conversation, Lance hardly cared as he continued speaking with faint traces of anger and sadness.

"I hate being helpless."

Pluto made a soft whine of affection from his throat.

"I wish I…I wish I was never cursed with this to begin with, the fact that my genes have gone through wear and tear thanks to all those genetic experiments Magneto did to me, that my body has its periods of breaking down at risk to my life, and that this is almost too much to handle for the rest of my life, knowing that I'm…I'm handicapped by this."

Lance's voice was distant yet hoarse, the resentment constricting his throat, a tight ball of grief, but remarkably, he still continued stroking Pluto's chin therapeutically.

"It's so unbearable sometimes…and it never gets any easier. It sucks…"

Pluto then actually got up on his hind legs and leaned over the bed, managing to rise up to that his muzzle was level with Lance's astonished face before Pluto licked Lance's cheek affectionately. Lance sputtered but managed to laugh, and for one instant, he managed to forget the fact that he was suffering alone in the infirmary.

"Hmph, it's so funny," Lance murmured as he scratched Pluto behind his left ear, "You haven't been here for so long, and yet you already feel like you're part of the family. I don't even know you very well, and yet I feel…safe and happy around you. Only wish I knew where you came from and why you're here with us instead of where you belong."

Pluto just gave a secretive smile, but then another voice rang out.

"Hey, so here's my favorite and only little patient, fresh from the mental hospital! I'd normally ask if they gave you a lobotomy, but knowing you and your little head, it wouldn't have done you much good anyway."

Lance blinked before he looked around, asking, "Pietro?"

Suddenly, a brown and furry little head popped up like a demented jack-in-the-box at the foot of Lance's bed, startling the adolescent with a yelp before he groaned to himself in aggravation, recognizing the face.

"Surprise! Miss me, Lancey-poo?"

"Oh no…not you!" Lance wailed. Pluto cocked his head at the figure of the Coyote who was now exuberantly pestering Lance in his mind, and upon seeing this, Lance blinked.

"Wait a minute…Pluto? You can see the Coyote? The one I'm hallucinating about? You can see him too?"

Pluto barked an affirmative noise, and the Coyote cackled wickedly as he zoomed over to the hound and draped a paw around the canine's shoulders.

"Hiya, fellow dog-crusader and canine-extraordinaire! Name's Coyote, Lance's guardian spirit and friend and all-around consultant for all those times our little Earth-Shaker here does something stupid or needs some advice. And I also do a little torture on the side! But seriously, why do all the chit-chat with you in a dingy atmosphere as this piece of hovel? I'll have my people contact your people and I'll be eager to trade some more of Lance's embarrassing stories over a rawhide bone or two!"

Pluto, despite himself, couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh great!" groaned Lance to himself, nearly wailing, "Just perfect! Of course Pluto and the Coyote would get along with each other? What better way to completely make my life an even more of a living hell? Another notch in the Great-Circle-Of-Crap is complete!"

Pluto chuckled as best as he humanly could before he made a grunting noise at Coyote, rolling his eyes playfully and mischievously. Coyote wiped his eyes as he finished laughing, saying, "Trust me, sometimes, Lancey-Boy's even worse! But on the upper hand, he's just so much fun to make fun off!"

"I pray for the day when karma comes back to bite you back on your furry, tailed ass!" Lance snapped back at his imaginary friend, ignoring Pluto.

"Ooh, sounds kinky! Should I get the handcuffs, whips, and blindfolds too while we're waiting?" drawled the Coyote, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Get out, or I swear the minute I get better, I'm getting the nearest chainsaw and going psycho on your butt!" Lance snapped, and Coyote sniffed before winking outlandishly at the mutant before vanishing into thin air. Pluto didn't say anything (by default, of course), but he remained by the mutant's side, resting his head against the clean sheets and bedside.

"So…as long as you're here…hey! You wanna talk about Kitty, my ex-girlfriend?" Lance asked, brightening as he suddenly got a brilliant idea of how to pass the time with his only visitor. On cue, Pluto raised one eyebrow and made an odd noise before he turned around and scampered out the door as fast as his paws could take him. Lance's eyes widened in surprise before he gave the departing dog a dirty look. Unbelievable! Not even Pluto, a dog, wanted to stick around to listen to him rant about Kitty Pryde.

"Hey! Thanks a lot, you dumb mutt!" snapped Lance, griping, before moping and resting back into his bed. Still he shouldn't be too surprised; hardly anyone on the Pit was willing to tolerate another session about the X-Girl for several hours, so Pluto was simply using his common sense to avoid the torment.

Sometime after three in the morning, Lance managed to finally drift off to an uncomfortable but stable sleep, and had he been awake, he would have heard the door to the infirmary creak open before the four-legged, golden animal silently padded his way across the clean and disinfected floor. Pluto just looked at Lance with compassion in his eyes for several seconds before he hunched back and leapt onto the bed and sheets. Though a large canine, Lance hardly stirred, the dog's footsteps as gentle as a falling leaf. And panting affectionately, Pluto managed to awkwardly walk in a circle three times around the bed before settling down next to Lance and rested his head against the teenager's thigh.

And a half-hour later, when Lifeline went in to check on his three patients, he was taken aback to see the head of Pluto pop up defensively and inquisitively from Lance's bed upon the entrance. Though common sense told the Joe medic that animals and pets were not supposed to be allowed in the infirmary for sanitary reasons, Edwin just chuckled at the sight of Pluto protectively staying by Lance's side. Pluto gave the canine-equivalent of a smile as he cocked his head at the doctor.

"I suppose just this once, Pluto…" murmured Lifeline as he patted the dog on the head before checking Beach Head's vital signs. Pluto gave a playful and friendly growl before he dozed off next to Avalanche.

---

"Feeling better, son?" Spirit asked Lance later the next morning. The Misfits were already done training and their exercise regimen, and considering that it was the weekend, the other Misfit handlers decided that some rest and free-time would be good for the kids. As a result, most of them were either lounging around the Manor and relaxing or playing pranks (Pietro and the Triplets handiwork, of course). But thankful for the free time, Spirit took the advantage to use the opportunity to visit Avalanche, and Lance managed to gain back most of his memory when he woke up. Lifeline was getting ready to discharge Shipwreck after seeing that he had completely recovered from his ordeal with the Heartless pod. Beach Head, on the other hand, was being kept in the infirmary for one more day, and of course, the ranger wasn't the least bit pleased.

"Yeah, I am. It's still depressing though that I had to go through all that again, losing my memory and having convulsions…" Lance said, closing his eyes in comfort as the Native American Joe affectionately tussled Lance's hair.

"Be sure to take it easy, all right, Shipwreck?" Lifeline warned cautiously.

The sailor, in his typical goofy and reckless personality, just waved off the fears and concerns from his friend as he finished buttoning his shirt and scoffed, "Ah, I'm all right. Those Thirteenth Order landlubbers couldn't keep a good sailor down even if they had a hundred Heartless to use on me!"

"Is that so?" a voice then rang before each and every one of the residents in the infirmary got a sudden chill as a portal of darkness emerged from the middle of the room, and before anyone knew what was happening, two small ovals flew out, with one heading directly towards Shipwreck and actually attempting to touch Hector.

Then to Saïx's surprise, the spore was met with a backlash of white radiance as Shipwreck's body

"Huh? What…gives?" stammered Shipwreck, seeing that the pod Saïx cast on him couldn't even touch his body. To his bewilderment and shock, it was as if the gray, nascent experiment was being barricaded out with a field of something sturdy and powerful originating from Shipwreck's soul. Undefeated, the pod then flew backwards before it selected the next victim of its own accord, which unfortunately happened to be Beach Head.

"Oh God," gasped Lifeline as the ranger screamed when the pod entered Wayne and began to burrow into the Joe ranger, this time unhindered in its efforts unlike its previous attempt to infect Shipwreck for a second time.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Oh God, my life just continues to suck!" Beach Head bellowed in pain and torment before he began the metamorphosis.

"What in the name of the Great Spirit?" gasped the Joe before he looked to the right to see the now-infamous block cloak and hood emerging rather

"I was going to waste the Heartless pod on your invalid son, but I think you would be a much more adequate and powerful host to suit our needs," Saïx intoned in a flat voice as he then idly tossed the second pod towards the Native American…

"No!" was the last thing Spirit heard Lance screaming before it all went dark…

---

"Another Heartless?" Blind Master exclaimed as the Misfits and their parents rushed over to the infirmary where the battle began, the medical sanatorium and wing now desecrated with a missing wall and supplies strewn everywhere with the shattered glass and concrete. And this time, to everyone's dread, there were two Heartless.

"Hey, I recognize that one!" Low Light said, pausing in between shots with his rifle, and indeed, one of the Heartless was the familiar teddy-bear like the one Trinity had battled before several days ago.

"Damn it to hell!" cursed Roadblock, "It's Beach Head!"

"Yeah, but who's the other one?" Dragonfly gasped as she pointed to the second enemy that was howling and screeching in high-pitched wails, easily piercing enough to send uncomfortable shivers down anyone's spines and nerves. It was an upright, gigantic humanoid eagle, complete with a white, feathered head and a muscular body of a man, covered with a sheen plumage of brown and black and wearing light-brown, leather armor that was remarkably similar in design to the American Indians, right down to actual leggings and moccasins. On its back were two gigantic black wings, each displaying the symbol of the Heartless and easily making its wingspan as large as several buses, powerfully beating the air all around and making short yet intense gusts of winds. Yet the eyes were actually the most disturbing for they were blood-red with black pupils, narrowed and scrutinizing the same way a bird of prey analyzes a field before spotting a rabbit or a mouse to swoop and mangle to death. Upon spotting the Misfits, the eagle opened its hard, yellow beak and screamed, the entire headquarters of G.I. Joe feeling the vibrations of the ear-shattering squeal. To everyone's alarm, the air rippled before a powerful wave of compressed air came rushing directly towards them, rivaling the sonic booms of those created by a nuclear bomb.

"Genie, help us out!" Toad yelled as he summoned his Keyblade, and with a flash, the Genie created a magical shield to protect the Misfits as the sound waves from the Heartless' attack destroyed a few buildings nearby instead, reducing them to rubble (but thankfully, no one was hurt).

"Nice save!" Blob said thankfully at Genie before Scarlet Witch hurled a hex-bolt at the eagle in front of her right at the same time the Triplets joined hands and sent a devastating bolt of white, psychic lightning. Unfortunately…

"HUH?" yelled a confused Wild Bill as the eagle began to glow and enlarge, swelling in size and proportion significantly, "What in tarnation? That bird's getting bigger all of a sudden!"

"Hey, and it's energy readings are going through the meters!" Brittany pointed out as they analyzed the eagle through the scanners they were given, "That's weird! This only happened before, usually around when - "

Trinity all gasped collectively as it then clicked in their minds, and Daria contacted each and every Joe and Misfit on her communicator.

"Everyone, don't use your mutant powers on the Heartless! Repeat: don't use your mutant powers on the Heartless! It just makes it stronger!"

This took everyone hearing this by surprise, and even Roadblock had to blink as he responded back with a flabbergasted, "Huh? Say what?"

"Don't use your mutant powers on it! Our scanners found out why the Heartless are getting stronger and bigger! They absorb energy from mutant attacks! That explains why bullets and missiles don't make the Heartless like a Glo-Worm reject, but Wanda's hex bolts and our psychic lightning do! These Heartless get stronger each time a mutant uses their powers on them! They absorb mutant energy! That's why the Organization keeps sending them to us! They're Heartless versions of Sentinels, except they get stronger if they get hit by any energy from the X-Gene! That's how come our magic hurts them but not our mutant powers!"

"Yow, not good…" murmured Scarlet Witch, blinking. This statement pretty much meant then that she was helpless in one aspect along with the rest of her teammates. Xi then fell to a different tactic automatically.

"That doesn't mean we still can't damage these things with indirect attacks!" the green lizard cried out in battle-excitement as he expertly reached into the pouch strapped around his waist with both of his hands before impressively flicking out a row of steel shuriken in one and a set of curare-laced plastic-explosive darts in the other. The eagle Heartless shrieked in pain as the shrapnel and explosive darts embedded into its face.

"Good idea, Xi! Let's let these overblown, cow-tippin' jerks have it!" Fred roared as he managed to grab an extremely heavy and damaged I-beam that consisted of steel and had to weigh at least several hundred pounds. With a mighty heave, Blob flung it against the backs of Beach Head and Spirit.

"Don't hurt him!" Lance was heard yelling, limping alongside Shipwreck and Lifeline as the two Joes supported the teen, still wearing his boxers and a hospital gown on top, "Don't hurt him! That's Spirit and Beach Head! One of those Organization creeps infected them in the infirmary!"

"Shoot, he's right! It is Spirit!" Quinn exclaimed as she used her scanner, displaying the unconscious form of the Joe for everyone to see, the soldier drifting in the air and encased in a web of dark aura from the Heartless spore inside him.

"Yow! We can't kill them then! We have to turn them back to their old selves!" Leatherneck hollered as he did his best to avoid another blast of the sonic boom that the eagle Heartless that was once Spirit created again to incapacitate the Joes.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" Wavedancer called out, pointing her scepter at the two Heartless and deciding to jump right to the punch without any thought or hesitation. Saving Spirit and Beach Head were the utmost priority. But with a flash of the ten crests and the pillar of light caused by the three symbols, the Heartless faltered a bit backwards before they glared murderously at Wavedancer and charged.

"Ack! Oh by Reptilion, it didn't work!" yelped Whitelighter as he orbed away from a particularly nasty claw-spear from the teddy bear Heartless before it could impale him.

"Huh? What gives? Genie, I thought the scepter was supposed to cure them from the Heartless!" Xi protested. But Quinn answered it as she looked through the scanner.

"I think they weren't weak enough!" the Triplet sister cried out on her communicator, "Wavedancer, both of them still are uber-strong, too strong for you to just simply snatch the pods out of their bodies and heal them! Their energy readings are through the roof! I think you need to weaken them enough, and then you can change them!"

"Oh, just perfect!" cursed Wavedancer as she avoided another sonic scream sent by Spirit, "Life is never easy, is it?"

"What gives? I thought this magic is supposed to be powerful! What's the whole point of having these stupid gifts if they have limits and require certain things before they actually work? You don't see the whole magic-has-limits rule in TV shows or comic books!" snapped Pietro accusingly at the Genie who glared back at the mutant speedster.

"Life is hard, smart-mouth," Genie shot back tartly, giving the albino teen a glower.

Scarlet Witch, despite the war-zone chaos, couldn't help but pause and cry out in exasperated glee, "Thank you! Lord knows how many times I need to tell my brother off! But having Genie do it is a new one!"

Blind Master then decided to at least try to weaken the two Heartless as he drew out his steel katana from its sheath. But before he could get close, Spirit caught the ninja in the air and slammed him to the ground, pinning Gabriel and nearly crushing him.

"Oh geez, yo!" groaned Toad, wincing as he hefted the green Keyblade in his hands, "Spirit, if we get you back to normal, please don't ground me for the next hundred years for what I'm gonna do!"

Slash!

The eagle Heartless arched back and howled in agony as Toad brought down his Keyblade on the arm of his enemy, and like a hot knife through butter, the feathered arm was completely cleaved off, the limb now lying uselessly in a pool of black blood and the experiment now seriously handicapped.

"I got him!" yelled Justin as he orbed in and grabbed the injured Blind Master from the ground and teleported away with Gabriel in tow from Spirit before the Heartless could hurt the ninja any further.

Lance was absolutely livid as he grabbed Todd by the collar of his uniform and snarled, froth and spittle at the corners of his mouth, "Toad, so help me, if my Dad loses his arm when he turns back to normal, I'm going to bury you alive after jamming that Keyblade of yours down your throat!"

Dragonfly then tried to lead the exhausted Lance away, saying, "Lance, you're still recovering from your attack! You have to go and rest, stay safe!"

But Lance roughly shoved the insect girl aside, snapping, "Screw this! You think I'm just going to stand around and not help my Dad? I still owe him after everything he did to sacrifice for me by taking me in! I'm not leaving him, just like he wouldn't for me! I'm fighting too!"

Unfortunately, at that moment, Lance felt sick before he fell to his knees and coughed up blood, feeling another side-effect from the aftermath of his attacks. Dragonfly bit her tongue before she tried again to reason with her friend rationally.

"Lance, there's no point fighting bravely if it means that you'll die quickly," Lina begged.

"Either way, I'd die if anything happens to Dad," coughed Lance, spitting out blood, "Oh God, I feel so sick…"

Pluto was touched. Even if it meant great cost to his own life, even if it meant endangering himself, even though he was certainly in no condition to go out and fight and risk causing another attack and seizure…Lance was willing to do anything to save Spirit. The mutant obviously owed a great debt of gratitude and affection for the Native American Joe, one that was both formed from honor and growing love.

Pluto then knew that Lance had a courageous heart, and smiling, Pluto's eyes began to glow as his pupils turned from black to a rich chocolate brown, glittering like stars.

"Uh…oh God, if I'm gonna die, please…just let me save my Dad first…" Lance groaned to himself in a pleading prayer, but because he was so dizzy and innervated, he didn't notice that his forehead was glowing in a brilliant shade of brown, like the color of the purest and freshest earth, unpolluted and untainted. But Low Light did as he tried to help Lance up from his sprawled position on the ground.

"Holy shit!" the sniper gasped as he stared at the glowing symbol that was now on Lance's forehead, amid his bangs. It consisted of a brown orb with two marks surrounding it, one at the bottom of the circle and one at the right side, an equilateral diamond at the two o' clock position. The mark at the bottom of the sigil consisted of an arc, symbolizing a ground-line of some sort, and the right side of the line expanded a bit, forming a flat mouth end.

"Who…who are you?" Lance murmured, his eyes glazed. The sniper blinked.

"It's me, Avalanche, Low Light! One of your guardians from G.I. Joe!" Cooper protested.

But Lance wasn't talking to Low Light; he was talking to the voice in his head.

"Who are you?" Lance said wearily again, his voice almost thick and slow with dizziness and fatigue.

Someone who can help you save your Dad…

"Can't you choose someone else…or maybe help cure me? I…I can't live with being like this," pleaded Lance, almost begging and desperate. There was a touch of sorrow and pity in the voice as it clarified to the mutant.

Lance, I'm sorry, but I can't help you with this. I can't heal you because it is not my responsibility and I don't think I can. I'm not that powerful. And I don't want to choose someone else; I want to bless you with this gift. But the question is whether or not you want it. I can't force you to accept this is you're not willing…

"I'll do anything. I'll give up my life. Just save him, please!" begged Lance, and the voice became a bit stern but compassionate nonetheless.

I don't work that way, Avalanche…at least not if it can be helped. And the Kingdom of Gaia should be enough to give you enough strength.

Lance then could feel it, a calm feeling that was unlike anything he could ever have comprehended before in his entire life. He felt as if his mind and body were expanding, becoming not only one with the ground beneath his hands and feet but actually sensing as if he was the entire planet itself. It was almost experiencing like he was a god of some sort, the various rocks, tress, and remnants of the dead organisms each having a miniscule soul and spirit connecting directly to his, their auras slowly building and gathering inside, making him feel better, warmer, and safer bit by bit.

With that, Lance went down on his knees and slammed both of his palms flat against the ground, and for once, unlike each time he utilized his seismokinesis, his eyes maintained their brown, bloodshot pupils.

"GAIA…EARTHQUAKE FORCE RUSH!" Lance yelled.

Like magic, an actual fault-line formed directly in a straight path directly towards Spirit and Beach Head, stemming from the Misfit himself as he summoned all the magic he could directly with his newfound connection to the Earth. The ground then shook, but remarkably, it didn't throw any of the buildings or the nearby Joes and mutants nearby, their feet still planted firmly on calm, stable ground. All of a sudden and out of the blue, the humongous crack in the dirt began to glow, emitting a smoldering blaze of yellow from the depths of the planet itself, spreading like a wave of wildfire as it headed directly towards the two Heartless as the tremors and shaking intensified more than ten-fold, collapsing the ground underneath the two opponents in a partial landslide. Trapped, the Heartless could only both howl with cheated helplessness as the light formed all around the earth touching the servants of darkness before a gigantic and ground-shattering eruption of energy from the crevice and right directly underneath.

KABOOOM!

The eagle and the bear found themselves caught in a pillar of fire and life energy of the Earth itself, consuming them and destroying their bodies bit by bit as the scorching and baking essence of the Gaia forces enveloped them before fading away, leaving the two monsters of the Organization weakened and severely battered. And it wasn't over yet…

"Hey, what the heck?" gasped Lance as an orb of brown light formed in front of him.

"Whoa! You got a Keyblade, yo!" Toad gasped at Lance.

And indeed, it was true. As the blaze in front of Avalanche faded, it revealed a s truly stunning weapon, perhaps more intricately designed than Toad or Trinity's. Like its predecessors, it was fashioned similar to a sword except that the blade part consisted of the rod and head of a key. But it was also a bit different as well. The key was gray-colored metal, like pewter, with the mouth of the key actually shaped like a roaring lion's head, wonderfully carved down to the shaggy mane and the teeth in the yawning mouth. But additionally, the entire key and blade portion of the weapon was completely encased with a block of brown quartz, the crystallized rock shaped and carved exactly like a sharp blade, giving the outside appearance of an actual, gigantic broadsword. And the edges and tips of the quartz were razor sharp. The cross-guard of the Keyblade was in the shape of a trapezoid, almost like the outline of a bell, and it was entirely made out of shiny, unvarnished copper. And hanging from the spherical pommel of brass at the bottom was a brass keychain, and at the end was a carved, metal sigil of another roaring lion's head against an entwined heart. Yet the entire Keyblade was huge; from one end to another, it was taller than Lance, but as light as a feather.

Summon him…

"Huh? Summon who?" Lance asked the voice.

One of the members of my court, the most loyal friend you can ask for. He is with you right now, though your Keyblade. Summon Simba through the Steel Quartz Keyblade…

Steel Quartz. Well, no one could say that it wasn't an appropriate name for his new gift as Lance did his best to shakily stand on his two feet.

"Give me strength!" yelled Lance as he raised his Keyblade up in the air, and to his surprise, several flowing streams of light erupted from the dirt and ground all around the geokinetic and swirled in circular motions around the teenager before they were amplified upon the strength of the Steel Quartz Keyblade in Lance's hands. Lance, as if not acting out of his own accord, felt his body fluidly move before he drew back the Keyblade and plunged it forward before twisting it in the counter-clockwise direction, as if he was locking something. On cue, the streams of energy gathered around the tip of the quartz point, forming a sphere and raising the blade above his head, Lance pointed the weapon to the skies above. Instantly, the skies parted, bringing a stream of light, like a rising sun, before, to everyone's amazement, a large furry form emerged from the clouds and landed heavily next to Lance, stunning the mutant.

The fur was a deep orange, darker than Pluto's pelt and sparkling with dust from the sky, but it had a red, shaggy, unkempt mane of fur surrounding its head, soft and fluffy like goose down. The animal was powerfully strong, a broad frame and thickly muscled limbs quivering with anxiety and battle-eagerness, along with a square, whiskered jaw and a white muzzle full of teeth and wicked claws. And Lance then realized who his ally was supposed to be.

"Holy shit," Lance breathed, "You're a lion!"

And with that, Simba tossed back his head, his amber-and-brown colored eyes full of protective courage and determination, before he opened his gaping jaws and roared underneath the fading beams of sunlight bathing him and Avalanche. The bellow of the King of Beasts made everyone literally stop and stare.

"Whoa, Lance has a summon now?" gasped Wavedancer as Dumbo managed to snatch Quick Kick and Wet Suit from the air with his trunk before bear Heartless could claw at them. The single deep and reverberating roar then literally caused the eagle and the bear Heartless to stop and snarl viciously at the newcomer, sensing another direct threat, a formidable challenge by instinct. Now abandoning everything else, Spirit and Beach Head now focused their complete and undivided attention on Lance and Simba.

"Lance, you moron! Get out of there!" Quicksilver yelled, but it was too late as the dark eagle opened its beak and sent another spine-shivering and earth-shattering scream, and like clockwork, the air in front rippled under the intense, cold-hearted cries of the damned before another peal of rushing air came directly towards the lion and the geokinetic, an unstoppable, devastating, and crushing sonic boom. Lance then turned to Simba.

"I hope you know what you're doing cause I sure as hell don't!" Avalanche protested, but Simba gave him a calm look of brave boldness, rumbling in his throat but giving a single nod with his head, an indication that Lance should trust him. Feeling like he was about to run up to bat in a baseball game with a toothpick, Lance readied his Keyblade.

"OK, let's do this! Together!" he exclaimed, resigned to whatever his fate would be. And right before the crushing sound wave was about to hit them, Lance raised his Keyblade in the air and Simba tossed back his head, and for a glorious, beautiful, and spectacular moment, both the lion and the mutant teenager flashed an earthly brown aura before they struck.

"Proud Roar!" yelled Avalanche as the Steel Quartz Keyblade in his hands flashed and Simba let loose a deafening, deep bellow from his soul, and at once, another sonic boom was created, the air now swirling all around the two in a protective barrier of energy and wind, canceling out Spirit's attack immediately. And to everyone's surprise, both Beach Head and Spirit were engulfed with the same brown conflagration before they both howled, falling to their knees, as Simba's calling ravaged through their senses and bodies, causing an unbelievable amount of pain to the two Heartless. With a crack, the eagle's feathers completely molted along with his leather armor cracking to pieces, dropping to the floor, and Beach Head was convulsing madly, disoriented and stunned. Quinn gasped as she looked at her scanner to see that both of the Heartless were significantly weakened, enough for Althea to try again.

"Wavedancer!" Quinn called on her communicator, "It worked! Whatever Lance did, the Heartless are weak enough! Hurry, now you can change them back to Spirit and Beach Head!"

Althea, though incredibly fatigued and only hand enough strength to rise on one knee, managed to point her staff at both of the experiments of darkness and yelled as best as she could, "Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!"

There was a final and tormented howl as the all ten colorful symbols of the scepter engulfed the two Heartless before trapping them both in a gigantic column of translucent, white light…

FLASH!

"It worked! Well I'll be damned! Lance saved Spirit and Beach Head!" gasped Roadblock as the two familiar Joes toppled back to the soft ground, now free and cured from their infection with the Heartless pods. On cue, the two spores Saïx infected the ranger and the tracker with popped out of their bodies before disintegrating into ashes and a plume of black smoke along with two familiar, twinkling objects not too far off…

"Their hearts!" gasped Daria as she went over to pick up the one closest to Beach Head. Lance was about to go recover his adoptive father's when a voice from above startled everyone, and Simba growled menacingly from his throat, his deep purrs now bloodthirsty and murderous.

"I'm surprised you have access to such powerful magic," Saïx remarked as he revealed himself with his hood off, displaying his scarred face for all to see, as he teleported and hovered above in the air.

"You looking for a fight, you bastard? Cause I'm still strong enough to take you down for what you did to my Dad, you coward! And I have a Keyblade and a powerful friend now, so you don't scare me!" Avalanche snarled.

"Hmph, this is the part when I die of laughter. You think your mere lion can stop me, little Earth-Shaker?" Saïx said stoically before he sadistically grinned and summoned his trademark weapon that defined his status in the Organization. It was a gigantic and wince-worthy, broad claymore sword, silver and so meticulously polished that it sparkled and gleamed under the sunlight. But unlike most swords, this one was particularly daunting. The weapon had a traditional cross-guard and pommel, like any normal sword, with the pommel being a pointed spear-head and the guard above the handle curved upwards and was yellow-colored, like a crescent moon. But the entire blade was edged on both sides and jagged in a symmetrical pattern. And on the end of the sword was no typical point but a yellow, razor-sharp, four-pointed star surrounded by a spiked, blue arc of metal like a halo.

And from the way he expertly twirled and hefted the weapon, it was quite clear that he knew how to utilize and kill with such a deadly tool. Saïx's face betrayed no emotion as he gripped the handle of his claymore so that the blade pointed downwards.

"Let us see if you can truly know how to wield that Keyblade of yours, little Avalanche," Saïx sneered as he was about to swoop down, but before anyone could move, a blurry stream of silver rushed directly towards him from the skies above, roaring with deadly swiftness and the intensities of a devastating tornado.

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!" cried out Falco, looking remarkably like a hawk descending down upon its prey with talons outstretched. Saïx managed to block the kick to his head with his sword, and Falco simply struck the flat side of the metal blade before flipping backwards and landing on the ground in a martial arts defensive posture.

"Hey, he's fighting that Organization guy?" blinked Blob.

"I don't get it! He's not working for the Organization? Even if he's after hearts?" Dragonfly murmured in confusion.

"He may be their enemy too, then," Blind Master remarked.

"Well, aren't you gonna try and get me?" Falco retorted impatiently, goading the silver-haired man in front of him, but Saïx just narrowed his eyes.

"Another time…" he drawled as he disappeared, retreating.

"Lance, get Spirit's heart!" Althea yelled, coming to her senses.

"I don't think so, cripple!" a voice shot back sardonically before Falco swooped down from the skies and grabbed Spirit's heart from Lance before the mutant teen could react, brutally shoving his down as he rushed past. Lance furiously looked up from his sprawled position to see the smug bird-humanoid casually flipping the heart with one hand in the air, tossing it to himself, as he scrutinized it with a beady eye.

"Give my Dad's heart back, you asshole!" Lance roared with a fury and animalistic instinct that he never knew existed before inside him. Falco just surveyed the sudden formation of the soldiers and the mutants surrounding him before he finished probing the heart crystal, sighing in dissatisfaction and displeasure.

"Don't bother," Falco retorted dryly, "Save your speech. Your Spirit's heart is useless. It's no Talisman."

"And you honestly think that's going to buy you a cease-fire, you son of a bitch?" growled Low Light, his sniper scope aimed directly at the no-reaction zone above the falcon's quirked left eyebrow.

"I suggest you surrender and give us back that heart," Roadblock versed in a hard voice, his machine-gun pointed at the Cornerian pilot, "Or else from this world you will messily and violently depart. And afterwards, you and your friend had better explain on what you know about this Organization, and maybe then we'll decide if you're good or not based on your Heartless information."

"You better talk, Falcon!" threatened Wanda.

"Falco," snapped back the bird bitingly and with venomous acid as he glared at Scarlet Witch, "My name's Falco, Ms. Bitch-of-the-Year, so get it right."

"In a few seconds, you name's gonna be Dead-Duck," growled Wanda, her hands now crackling menacingly with chaos energy as she was about to blast him, her scowling face now almost as red as her uniform. But Falco apparently wasn't keen on planning to be an army prisoner as Octavia then struck from behind.

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!"

"Damn it!" Wavedancer cursed as she and a good portion of the crowd turned to see a rushing wall of water that towered over them by at least ten feet rushing directly towards their positions. Meanwhile, the rest of the Joes and Misfits were prepared to tackle the avian to the ground, fully aware that this was nothing more than a well-placed distraction for him to make an escape. But Falco then used another tactic…

"Catch, you chumps!" he called out rather mockingly as he tossed the heart crystal in his wings as high as he could into the air, the sunlight catching it for the few precious seconds it defied gravity.

"No!" yelled Lance as he leapt after it, and though he crashed painfully to the floor, the mutant managed to grab it. Falco mentally scoffed; that was so predictable…

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!" the pilot roared before he tore through the air with his magical attack and broke through the lines trying to grab him.

"Yeow!" Pietro yelled, getting winged.

Xi gasped, "Hey! He didn't need to wait and recharge his magic!"

Yet before the pilot could make his getaway, with a yelp, the alien found himself being grabbed roughly from behind and felt his arms being pinned to his sides like a vise and dangling above the ground so he was unable to gain any traction to fight.

"You're not going anywhere, Falco," Superman intoned severely in his baritone voice as he kept the struggling bird pinned in a fierce bear-hug from behind, nearly crushing him as the other members of the Justice League along with the Scoobies, Faith, Xander, Willow, and Wood rushed from the sidelines to help the Misfits and the Joes deal with Octavia.

"Wanna bet?" snarled Falco, and to the Kryptonian's surprise, the bird was engulfed with fire, getting hotter and hotter before there was a fierce burst of flame and the alien rocketed out of Superman's arms in the form of a firebird with enough force to knock down a steel, two-ton tank, burning Superman a bit. And with that, Falco tore off in the sky along with Octavia, narrowly missing the occasional gunfire and energy blast before they vanished out of sight.

"Are you all right?" Wonder Woman asked as she helped the singed and charred Superman, his uniform noticeably damaged.

"I'll live…but that bird won't the next time I get my hands on him," muttered Superman.

"So, who's the lion?" asked the Flash as he and his allies ambled up to the Misfits and Joes.

"Simba…" Lance whispered. Everyone turned to their friend who was now walking and limping slowly towards the gigantic lion before kneeling in front of the cat's face, allowing themselves to stare into each other's eyes.

"Huh?" blinked Pietro, now utterly stumped.

Lance smiled as he clarified louder, "The lion…his name is Simba."

"From 'The Lion King' movie?" queried a now thoroughly stunned and flabbergasted Sci-Fi as he stared at the strange lion that helped them. Simba was now sniffing the mutant teenager in front of him after spotting that Lance was still holding the Keyblade in his hand, his wet pink nose gently pressing against his free hand and neck. Shipwreck and a few of the other Joes became slightly wary and increasingly worried.

"Lance, kid, get back," warned the sailor of G.I. Joe, "We don't know if the lion's…friendly?"

The bearded Delgado uttered this last word with shock before he and the others watched with touched amusement before Simba then gave a playful growl, his ember eyes lightning up, before he gently tackled Lance to the ground and began nuzzling against the mutant's face, purring. It was clear that Simba would never harm Avalanche. Lance, despite his bruises, was chuckling as he tried to push the heavy feline off him.

"Ack! Simba, quit it! That tickles!" Lance sputtered amid the giggling and stifled laughter from the crowd observing this, the lion's fur and tongue scratching his cheeks.

"Wow, Lancey…" cackled Quicksilver, "You're getting more action from Leomon and Simba than you ever did with - "

He then suddenly trailed off as Wanda took Spirit's crossbow from the ground and pointed the mouth underneath her brother's chin, her face dark and her mouth baring her teeth.

"I dare you to finish that sentence, Pietro…" she warned, "My trigger-finger is getting itchy."

"I'll be good," Pietro chuckled meekly, holding up his hands in a submissive manner.

Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, the crystals in Lance and Daria's hands began to glow before they rose a bit in the air, levitating of their own free will and surrounded in a sphere of celestial and heavenly aura.

"Hey, look at their hearts!" the Flash remarked suddenly, and indeed, to everyone's amazement, as Beach Head and Spirit's pink, crystallized hearts floated and descended back to their chests, with a growing yet gentle luminescence, two miniature keyholes formed in the very center where the auras vanished into the Joes' bodies.

"A…keyhole?" Hawkgirl queried. This was certainly a new sight for the Thanagarian.

"Just like with Daddy's!" gasped Daria, Quinn, and Brittany in unison, recalling when Shipwreck was turned into the pirate-Heartless. But that wasn't then end. Now this time, Lance felt a strange vibration in his arm, and he looked down to see that his Keyblade was glower with a brown illumination, faint but evident. With a wild motion, the Keyblade jerked Lance's arm straight out, as if it was alive, the quartz blade now pointing directly at the prone, unconscious figures of Spirit and Beach Head. Before anyone could react, the head on the key inside the quarts started to glow a separate orb with brown light before two jets of energy shot out from the Keyblade and directly into the keyholes, scoring direct bulls-eye. With a loud clicking noise, the keyholes of light disintegrated and faded away, a trial of lights flying upwards to the sky.

"Okaaayyy, what just happened?" blinked the Joe, Cross-Country.

Martian Manhunter answered back in his deep, calm voice, saying, "I think Avalanche's Keyblade has an effect on those who regain back their hearts, similar to the actions of Althea's scepter had on Shipwreck when the Heartless pod in him was exorcised. If one loses his or her respective heart - "

"Keep it short, Green Giant," Quicksilver said automatically with impatient rudeness, already bored with the droning explanation, and Scarlet Witch, Batman and Hawkgirl all glared at the mutant speedster a look that told him to shut the hell up. Wood then summed it up gracefully.

"I think he's saying that Lance's weapon sealed Spirit and Beach Head's hearts when those locks appeared, like what Althea did to Shipwreck," the African-American Watcher stated.

"In other words…a Keyblade can lock a person's heart?" Duke asked, blinking.

"Makes sense," Cover Girl admitted, "A Key-blade and a key-hole…"

"Well, looks like things are good now, so see ya!" Genie grinned as he and Dumbo vanished back into Althea and Todd's weapons, the fight now over. But remarkably, the lion remained, rumbling and standing regally amongst the heroes, his head held high like a prince.

"Hey…" remarked Faith, "Doesn't anyone else kind Simba kind of odd from the others? He's not disappearing or nothing. He's not goin' away back into the Keyblades like Genie and Dumbo do."

"I guess he must be different in that aspect and that he can come and go when he pleases, not just when he's needed," mused Blind Master.

"Hey, he's the Lion King, he got the right to strut and follow his own rules," Xander chipped in, smiling, "Wow, and my parents said that nothing important could be learned from watching cartoons."

"Hey, wait a cotton-picking minute!" cried out a familiar voice inside Lance's head as another furry form popped out of nowhere.

"Oh no, not him again…" groaned Lance, rolling his eyes, much to the confusion of everyone else in the audience as the Coyote marched right up to Simba, outraged and insulted.

"Hey, move it, your Majesty!" the Coyote snapped sarcastically, taking care to add extra venom to the disdainful use of the royal term, unseen by all except the mutant earth-shaker, "Let's get one thing straight, flea-farm! I'm the only one who can guide and pester Lancey-poo here, and there's not enough room for both of us! So you get back into whatever - !"

Yet with a snarl, Simba growled at the Coyote, showing every one of his sharp fangs, and to Lance's surprise, he could hear Simba's voice in his head, snapping at the Coyote spirit, Leave Lance alone!

With a yelp, the Coyote whimpered and ran behind the audience, his tail in between his legs, peeking out fearfully from the sea of bodies shielding him from sight (not that anyone else but Simba could see what Avalanche was hallucinating about).

"Wha - ? Hey…you can see me?" the Coyote protested, astonished, and Simba growled, staring directly at the spiritual annoyance before he clearly voiced lucidly for both the Coyote and Lance to be made aware.

Yes, and let me warn you right now: I will guard and help Lance and his family with everything I have, and if you so much as even crack an ill-suited joke at him, I will rip you to shreds. He's under my protection, in the name of the King. Do you have a problem with that? I will treat you with respect if you leave Lance alone and honor him like any decent being, but cross that line, and I'll hunt you down. Are we clear?

"Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnccccccceeee!" the Coyote pleaded, sounding more and more like a very annoying, temper-tantrum-giving Pietro, "Make Simba stop! He's picking on me!"

"Hmmmm…the Coyote is scared of the lion?" Lance grinned at last, feeling incredibly smug, "I'm beginning to like Simba more and more already…"

"Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnncccccceeee!" whined the Coyote, cowering in front of the defensive and cagey Simba who was still snarling at him, "Call him off! This isn't funny anymore!"

"The Coyote?" asked Lina at Fred and Pietro, raising an eyebrow, "He's seeing the Coyote in addition to have the Disney characters Pluto and Simba here at the Pit too? And Simba can actually see Lance's figment of his imagination in his head?"

"Lance has taken weirdness to the next level," moaned Fred, rolling his eyes, "If Freud were here, his brain would have a nervous breakdown the instant he sees what goes on in Avalanche's head."

"It doesn't surprise me," admitted Pietro, shrugging noncommittally as Lance played more with Simba to the amusement of the crowds observing this, "I always said Rock-Boy here's going to be the first one to crack out of all of us. Just didn't think it would be in this way with Disney characters."

Meanwhile, a bit far off in the distance, out of sight and detection from any of the soldiers or the Joes' security systems, a pair of deep, blue eyes calmly analyzed the scene before him before he chuckled to himself, satisfied. Though he wouldn't have hesitated to coming to the Joes and Misfits' collective aides should Saïx had struck the first blow, he was infinitely glad that it was handled without his assistance.

"Hmph…I always knew there was a reason I called you 'Lionheart', kid," Leomon muttered to himself, his arms crossed over his chest and he eyes closed, contemplating. Another chosen one who could summon the forces of the Gaia Kingdom. Who knew?

Still, Leomon warily looked over the area in the distance where Falco and Octavia had disappeared to. He was no fool in how the Joes, Misfits and X-Men would react when they learned his secrets…and his relationship with the Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark. And he knew how much more hostile things would get between himself and Falco and Octavia when they reached the critical point in his mission, especially now that Leomon made his choice on who to side with should the Heartless and those who allied with them became overwhelming.

Before he left, Leomon took one last fleeting glimpse over the scene at the Pit before vanishing through another rip in space and time, feeling his jaw clench with guilt. He then whispered in a prayer, "Your Majesty…please…forgive me for what I will have to do…"

---

"Experiments 237 and 238 have failed, my Superior…" Saïx immediately reported as he teleported in the Organization's headquarters, calmly striding in through the portal of darkness he had summoned.

"And another one of those pathetic Misfits now harnesses another Keyblade!" snapped Larxene, her hair contrasting against her glittering, angry eyes and her flushed face before she drawled sarcastically, "Nice work, Saïx! We now have more and more of the mutants who know not only the King's magic, but there's more than one Keyblade to deal with!"

"It is troubling," admitted Xaldin, "This has never happened before. One or two chosen ones, perhaps. But now three, if we count those Delgado Triplets as one functioning unit, Keyblades reside on Earth. Yes, it will help us in our secret goals to harness Kingdom Hearts and it is a positive sign that the Gathering is to be on this planet, but with too many ones chosen to wield different Keyblades, we could be facing a possible army of them, exactly like the Keyblade War at the last Gathering!"

"Though likely, I'd doubt it, Xaldin," Xigbar scoffed, "This pitiful mud-ball is hardly a breeding ground for a bunch of losers with pure hearts. It's hardly 'pure' to start with…"

"There is also something else troubling, my Superior," Saïx continued on, droning in an unemotional and stony voice, "The Joe sailor…Shipwreck, I believe he is named…he was immune to the second attempt at infection. Unlike the soldier, Beach Head, that Luxord had infected earlier, Shipwreck was resistant. The Heartless spores that Hamilton had bequeathed to me could not even touch him and his heart."

There was a stunned silence as the other members looked at the scarred comrade before turned to their leader who was contemplating and in deep, silent thought before he answered back in his deep voice.

"It seems that the Misfits and Joes may have inadvertently discovered a weakness to the spores of the Hellfire Heartless," the hooded man announced at last.

"And apparently, their friends from the Justice League and the Slayers have shown up at the Pit during the attack. Frankly, I'm surprised that they found time out of their busy schedules of fighting the lesser evils of this planet to immediately come to the mutants' aides upon a moment's notice," Saïx added.

"Then we'll have to make sure that they do not interfere with the next victim we choose for the Infection," the Superior clarified before he turned to the blond Larxene and gave her an order.

"Hamilton will take one to two days before he and the resources from Cadmus can provide us another Heartless pod. This time, we shall make absolutely sure that the fools, Falco and Octavia, along with the Misfits and Joes' allies will not come to interfere in your mission. Go and await for the next pod before choosing another person to infect. If anything, this little test will see just how well these Keyblades can assist us and the Hellfire Club. Just…don't break them if it can be helped."

"Do I detect a soft spot?" Larxene asked as she stepped fully into the light radiating from the fountain of the Oracle. Her black and silver-studded cloak oddly contrasted against her blue eyes and pale skin, almost a sickly white, and the only thing natural on her face was the blush of pink in her cheeks. She was pretty, with her shoulder-length blond hair slicked back and hugging the base of her head and two tendrils of hair sticking out backwards like a pair of insect antennae.

"Remember: those Keyblades will ultimately work within our favor after we finish seeing the full effectiveness of the Heartless pod experiments in time for the Harvest, Larxene," Vexen piped up.

"I'm not dumb. I'm not going to break those wimps…I'll just play with them a bit," the girl said coyly before she disappeared.

Auhtor's Notes: Yep, hope you enjoyed this chapter, folks! And yes, Simba was one of the coolest summons and partners in the Kingdom Hearts games, a fan-favorite! Next week, we will see more and more questions revealed about the matters with the Heartless and the keyholes as Larxene invades the Pit during the high tensions and Xi's personal journey in the next chapter, "Deer-est Xi"! Until next Friday, read and review! Constructive criticism welcome!