Hello, my fellow fans and readers! Welcome to the 9th chapter of Shattered Memories, where we arrive in our new world. What is it? Well, here's a hint: My favorite Christmas special, as well as a Halloween special in one.

Chapter 9: A Town about Halloween? Sweet!

A dark portal appears in a set of woods with dead trees. Exiting out, Atlas and Riku walked as they looked around.

"How dead this place is." Atlas commented as the portal disappears.

"Whoa, you look different." Riku said.

Atlas turns to Riku to also see him looking different, "So do you."

Atlas now has a gray hoodie, jet black hair, dark red eyes with slit pupils, his belt is a dull blue, his pants changed to bloody crimson, and his gloves is black. He also gained two black, mid-small feathered wings on his back and his golden chakram became darker in color.

Riku has a darker tone to his hair color, skin is paler, the glove on his left hand is darker, his pants are midnight blue, the vest is dark grey with dark yellow, his shoes are grey, and his eyes are darker.

"At least I don't have wings." Riku remarked.

"Huh, true." Atlas said as he sees the wings on his back. "So, where are we?"

"I... don't remember. Let's get out of this forest first." Riku answered.

"OK. Wait, here." Riku said, reaching into his pocket and tosses something to Atlas.

Atlas caught it and looked at it. It was a keychain that has teal-colored chain links and the token is the golden Olympus Stone.

"A keychain?" Atlas asked.

"Phil gave it to me after we finished the first round. I gave it to you because I'm not gonna have much use for it anyways." Riku answered.

"Oh. Thanks." Atlas then summoned Spellbinder and took off its keychain and puts it in his pocket, to then connect the new keychain to the hilt. A burst of light later, a new keyblade appears.

(Atlas obtained: Mark of a Hero)

"Sweet." Atlas commented before dismissing his keyblade.

The two then headed out of the forest and walks by a couple of tombstones before arriving at an entrance of a town. There, they see a scarecrow with a jack-o-lantern for a head, as well as a sign on top of him saying...

"Halloween Town?" Atlas repeated.

(World 4: Halloween Town)

"I'm guessing this world has something to do with holidays. That's awesome." Atlas said.

"Huh, I said something similar." Riku said to himself.

"Snap out of it already!" A female voice yelled from somewhere in the town.

"That voice... very familiar." Atlas thought as he and Riku ran towards where the voice came from.

(5 mins earlier)

A teenage girl exited out of a lab, wearing a black and red bat clip in her hair that was in a loose ponytail, red bat wings hanging off the shoulders of her cloak, grey spiderweb leggings, a black ruffled combat skirt, a dark grey shirt with long loose sleeves and a spider necklace.

"Where is she?" The girl said to herself as she walked down stairs that lead to the town square. She then saw another girl walking through the entrance of the town, who she recognizes.

"Huh, there she is." The girl said to herself again as she walked over.

As she walked over, she noticed the girl's appearance. She has clothes that look like they were torn a bit, as well as some patches on her body like a stuffed doll. Other that that, she had a black sweater, black jeans, has black hair and her eyes were bloody red. What was strange is that, her expression was just dead angry and has a strange symbol on her chest that resembles a heart.

"Kyla, you all right?" The girl asked the other, who is now known as Kyla.

Kyla didn't respond, just stood there as a wispy black aura faintly surrounded her.

"Kyla?" The girl asked again, walking a bit closer cautiously.

Kyla again didn't respond. Well, not immediately. She looked at the girl with her dead angry eyes, which made her stop in her tracks. Suddenly, in a flash of dark flames around her hand, a blade that looked like a key appears. The girl was silent as she started to back away and Kyla started walking towards her.

"That's a good one, Kyla. Very funny." The girl said a bit nervously, thinking it was a joke.

However, Kyla didn't respond, just kept walking until she jumped at her. The girl narrowly escaped the attack as she jumped out of the way of Kyla's downward strike.

"Kyla, stop! This ain't funny anymore!" The girl called out to her.

Kyla then ran at her and swung a couple of times, the girl narrowly dodging them. She then jumped away from Kyla, "It's me, Pep! Talk to me!" The girl, now known as Pep, called out once more.

Kyla jumped at her again, only to be knocked back by a sudden gust of wind. She landed on her feet as a mysterious man in a black coat with a hood to cover his face appears facing her in front of Pep. He then also summons a blade shaped like a key in both of his hands. However, he moved his left hand back a bit to give the weapon to Pep.

"Take it, you'll need it." The man simply said.

Pep was a bit hesitant, but grabbed it and held the handle in her hands.

"Your friend is being controlled by the darkness. She needs to be woken up." The man explained while watching Kyla.

"OK." Pep simply said, getting ready to battle.

(Boss Battle 9: Corrupted Kyla)

(Battle Theme: Tension Rising - Kingdom Hearts 2 OST)

Kyla then charged at the two in a zigzag pattern and swung at the man, who simply blocked it and countered with an Aero gust, blowing her back. He then followed it up with charging at her and delivered a midair side kick, knocking Kyla out of the air. However, she landed on her feet and fired a Double Dark Fire attack, the two fireballs going past the man and at Pep. He then quickly dashed towards her and deflected the fireballs.

While he deflected them, Pep ran around the town square to then come at Kyla from the side. She swung down, only for Kyla to block it. She then backed away and jumped at her, delivering a diagonal slash. Kyla simply sidestepped it and countered with an upper slash, hitting Pep and knocking her back. She got flown back and hits her back against the wall.

"Ow." Pep simply said, getting up to her feet.

Kyla was about to dash at her while she getting up, only to be stopped by a sudden aerial wall of dark magic coming at her left side. She jumped back as the attack quickly faded and the man quickly went over to Pep and helped her up.

"You all right?" The man asked as he facing Kyla.

"Yeah, I'll live." Pep answered as she picked up her weapon.

Kyla got ready to attack again, "Snap out of it already!" Pep yelled, running at her.

Kyla just ran at her as well and the two swung, colliding as the two blades connected. The two were in a power struggle before Kyla pushed Pep off, making her stumble a bit. Kyla then fired a Dark Fireball point blank, hitting Pep in the stomach and making her fly back. The man caught her in his arms before she hits the wall to then see two familiar faces run from the entrance.

"Them again?" The man said to himself as the two quickly went over to the battle.

Riku summoned his keyblade as he faced Kyla and Atlas went over to the man.

"She all right?" Atlas asked him.

"She will be. Here." The man then handed Pep over to Atlas, who held her in his arms bridal style as the man pointed his keyblade up.

"Heal." The man said, the tip of his keyblade glowing with a green aura as the same green aura surrounded Pep, healing her. Pep opened her eyes to see the two, "That one hurt." She said.

Atlas then puts her back on her feet, "How ya feel?" He asked.

"Fine now." She answered.

Riku appears near him, "You guys done? We got a battle right now."

The three looks at Kyla as the two summoned their keyblades, Pep being a little in awe as Atlas sees her keyblade on the ground. He then picks it up and hands it to her, "Here." He said, her taking it.

"Thanks." She said as the four got ready to continue.

"Wake her up, she's not herself." The man simply said.

"Right. But first, we gotta weaken her a bit." Riku pointed out.

Riku and the man went in separate directions, one left and one right after Kyla. Pep and Atlas came at her from the front, Atlas jumped up to swing down and Pep swings horizontally. Kyla simply stepped back to avoid Pep's swing and blocked Atlas' attack. Pep then followed it up with an upper slash, making Kyla jump back. Atlas landed on his feet and fired a Double Fire and Double Blizzard at her. She got hit by the fireballs and one of the icicles, but deflected the rest. Riku then appeared at her right and fired a couple of Dark Firagas while the man appeared at her left and fired a Dark Thundaga. She got damaged by the Dark Thundaga, but managed to dodge most of the Dark Firagas, except the last two.

"Let's see if this works now." Riku then pointed his keyblade at her and the tip started to glow with light. Then, a thin beam of light came from his keyblade and managed to hit the symbol on Kyla's chest, making her yell in pain for a moment. The beam dissipated as a burst of light came from Kyla, the symbol disappearing as well as the dark aura around her. Her dead angry expression changed to one of relief as she fell on her knees and her keyblade disappears.

(End music)

The four desummoned their keyblades, well three did, Pep's disappeared on its own. The four then walked over to her and Pep kneels down next to her.

"You all right, Kyla?" Pep asked.

"... My head hurts." Kyla simply answered.

"Here." The man then pointed his keyblade up and used Cure, healing her headache.

"Thanks." Kyla said, looking up at him.

The man simply nodded and handed Atlas something in his hand, "Here."

Atlas took it and suddenly learned a new spell.

(Atlas learned: Cure)

"Thanks." Atlas said.

The man then started to walk off, summoning a dark portal a few feet away from himself.

"Wait, who are you?" Riku questioned.

"A man who walks his own path. For now, just call me Mystery." The man simply answered as he disappears into the portal, the portal disappearing right after.

"OK." Atlas simply said.

Kyla simply stared at him, who stared back. "What?"

"Atlas?" Kyla asked, which made Pep look at him.

"Yes. And you are?" Atlas said.

Suddenly, Pep jumped up and hugged him. "Atlas!"

Atlas was caught off guard, but hugged back. "Uh, OK."

Pep stopped hugging him, "It's us, Pep and Kyla!" She said, putting her hands on her hips.

Atlas crosses his arms and thinks about it for a minute, "Sorry, I can't remember. But, it does ring a bell."

Pep was shocked, "Huh!? You can't remember!? Gee, thanks a lot."

"Well, he's right." Riku said.

"What do you mean?" Kyla asked, getting up to her feet.

"He may not remember, but it doesn't mean the memories of you two are gone. It just can't be accessed in a way. It may take some time before he finally remembers." Riku answered.

"That would also explain why it rings a bell to me as well." Atlas added.

"Well, that's a little bit of good news. But at least, we're back together again." Pep said.

"Reminds me of when I reunited with Sora and Kairi." Riku thought.

"You three must be new." The four turned their heads towards the voice to see a tall, skinny skeleton wearing a black suit.

"Hey, Jack." Riku said, walking over.

"Riku, it's been awhile. Who are your new friends?" Jack asked.

"I'm Atlas, and this is Pep and Kyla." Atlas answered, pointing at who's who.

"Well, nice to meet you three. I'm Jack Skellington." Jack introduced himself.

Done! So, we arrive in Halloween Town and Atlas reunited with Pep and Kyla, but not before fighting a corrupted Kyla. We also know a little more about the mysterious man, who now wants to be called Mystery, and got to meet Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King.

Also in case you're wondering what keyblades Pep and Kyla used:

Kyla - Pumpkinhead

Pep - Two Become One

Atlas also learned the Cure spell and obtained a new keyblade.

So until next time, I'll see you in the next chapter, buh bye!