Roxas hurried down to the briefing room where Axel and Saix were waiting for him.

"Well, Roxas." said Axel "Your friend was sent on a mission to Twilight Town but never returned. So that's where we're going today."

"Okay." Roxas muttered and he followed Axel through a portal which took them to a back alley in Twilight Town.

"Where do we look?" Roxas asked.

"Xion was sent to look for a Heartless called a Veil Lizard. If we can find it, we might find Xion too."

Axel led Roxas out of the alley to the sandlot and paused when he noticed two kids talking to each other.

"A moan?" the boy questioned.

"Yes!" said the girl, "I heard a deep moan!"

"How deep in the tunnels?"

"In the center."

"You didn't see what was making it?"

"Are you kidding? I was scared! I got out of there as fast as I could!"

"Hmm, a moan…" Axel whispered. "That could be our Heartless. Let's go check it out."

Roxas followed Axel through the tunnels until they got to the center, but it was empty and silent.

"Hi!" said a strange voice.

Roxas and Axel turned around and saw a short, heavy boy with wild, dark hair walking up to them.

"You guys looking for something?"

"You could say that." said Axel. "We heard a rumor about a moan."

"A moan…" the boy repeated "Oh, you must mean that vent."

He pointed to a large vent in the upper left corner.

"When the air goes through that vent it creates a lot of echoes, so I guess it would sound like a moan. You wanna know something really creepy though?"

"What's that?" Axel asked, growing impatient and bored.

"There's this tree in the woods; they say if you touch it, the whole place starts to shake and people feel like they're being watched, even though it's deserted."

"That right?" Axel asked, now interested.

"Yeah. I haven't tried it yet, though. Well, I have to go. See ya later."

"So people are feeling some kind of presence in the woods." said Axel, turning to Roxas. "That's gotta be our Heartless. C'mon."

Axel opened a portal which took them straight to the woods and he started kicking some trees Roxas began to do the same when they heard rustling all around them.

"There!" Axel called.

He was pointing to a shadow moving toward the mansion. They ran after it and as soon as it got into the light, the Veil Lizard became visible. It was a bit taller than Axel, had dark green skin, a long tail, and stood on its back legs.

"No wonder Xion couldn't find it! It was practically invisible!"

"Where is she?" Roxas wondered.

"Probably still out looking for it." Axel guessed. "Well, let's take it out before in vanishes again."

The lizard opened its mouth and shot its tongue out at Roxas, who rolled to the left. Axel summoned his chakrams, spun them to generate intense heat and hurled them into the lizard, burning a large hole in its belly. Roxas then hurled his Keyblade into its head. It stomped toward him, staggered, and collapsed, producing another heart, which floated into the sky and vanished.

"Not bad, Roxas."

Roxas was looking all around him for Xion, and finally he saw her running over to them.

"Xion…"

She stared at him and then at Axel.

"You're awake…and…you destroyed the Heartless." she said "That's…good."

Axel introduced himself and reached out. After a moment's hesitation, Xion took his hand and shook it."

"I think you kids deserve some ice cream."

"What's ice cream?" Xion asked.

"You'll see. Roxas, take Xion to the clock tower. I'll get us some ice cream."

"Follow me, Xion." said Roxas.

So that's Xion… Axel thought as he headed toward the ice cream shop.

She looks like that girl of Sora's…weird.

When he got to the back of the shop, he opened a portal which took him to the freezer. Most of the popular flavors like chocolate and strawberry were in short supply, but there was a big box full of sea-salt, his favorite flavor. He reached in and took some as he always did, then he left. He wondered if anyone ever noticed that some was missing, probably not, as dim-witted as the folks in this town were. He took a portal to the clock tower where Roxas and Xion were waiting for him and handed them each a bar.

"I brought Roxas up here the day I met him." he said.

"Roxas brought me here to." Xion said "That was a long time ago, but I still remember."

"Ya like it here?"

"Yes."

"How about the ice cream?"

"Yes." Xion said after her first bite.

"Axel."

"What's up?"

"Am I your friend?"

"Sure." Axel said, eating his bar in one gulp. "Any friend of Roxas is a friend of mine."