DISCLAIMER: I own the Zodiac, but not KH.

Okay, this chapter was originally the begining of what will be chapter 11. I had to cut it, but I think it turns out for the better. Yeah, in a way, I didn't see these chapters turning out so long. As I add more detail, they do get longer. Like you, I sometimes dislike reading long chapters. Now I love reading long chapters in books, but on the computer is different. Look at it this way, it will hold you out until I update, which is pretty quick.

Fights are always tough to put to paper, unless you really know what you're doing. Luckily each member has their own attacks as we meet them. Libra was harder as she was my first. On to the next chapter which I think is shorter.

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Chapter 10: Praises and Preparations

After defeating Libra and recieving many praises from Donald, Goofy and Kairi, Sora turned around to face a still bewildered Jane. "Just what is going on here?" Sora asked. "I'd like to know the same thing." She started tapping her foot and waited for Sora to start explaining. He turned helplessly to Riku, who simply shrugged his shoulders. "Don't look at me."

Turk came up to Sora and sniffed him. He started jumping up and down. That's more like it! That's the Sora I know! Jane looked back at him in wonderment. She understood how excited and sure he was in this moment. "Sora, something very preculiar is happening. Don't you remember?" "Huh?"

"You were here a while ago, wanting to return to the keyhole."

"But, the keyhole's already sealed."

"You said there was trouble." Donald started to get annoyed so Kairi attempted to understand the situation. "But Sora's been with us the whole time." "Yeah!," Donald cried,"There was no trouble until we got here." Jane frowned and tried to come up with an explaination. "Tell us what happened," Riku insisted.

Jane looked up and nodded. "Right, well not too long ago, Sora came here with Tarzan. They came just in time too, because Sabor was here and was about to attack us, but Sora faught him off."

Sora folded his arms at this. The others looked at Sora, then back at Jane. "Then he went off with Tarzan to look for the keyhole. Come to think of it, he was in a hurry, and he was wearing a white outfit."
"Sounds like an imposter," Riku decided.

"And he's stiring up all kinds of trouble pretending to be Sora," said Goofy. Sora shook his head in annoyance. How many worlds will turn against me now if someone is out there being me? "Well the important thing is the trouble in this world is over." Sora spoke too soon. After he said those words, Tantar came stampeeding out of the jungle in a panic. Everyone jumped out of the way as he came by. "What was that about?" "Look!," Riku shouted and pointed Sora to the answer that was right in front of him. Tarzan stood there, but he wasn't the Tarzan they knew. He was a pale figure full of darkness as a dark auro glowed around him. He wasn't alone. A group of heartless began to spread from behind him, running in different directions of this world. Jane teared up at the sight.
"Tarzan!" She started to run to him, but Kairi held her back. "No don't!" Sora starred at the now advancing Tarzan. His jungle pal of Deep Jungle was now a heartless. "Tarzan," he whispered,"No."

He stood up, dreading the fight that was to happen. Riku tried to give Sora a nod to fight, but Sora was backing down. Tarzan was moving faster now, much faster than he ever moved before. There was even a disturbing growl coming from his throat. His empty, cold eyes were fixed on destroying the fighters in front of him. He opened his mouth to let out a wild yell of horror. He charged.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

POOF

Merlin appeared in front of them. "Merlin!" POOF! Tarzan ran head first into nothing, as Sora and company disappeared.

The stores were familiar, as well as some of the people. Merlin teleported the bunch to Traverse Town. After discovering where they were, Sora turned to Merlin. "Merlin...why, why did you-" "The king asked me to." "Huh?"

"He sensed that world was in danger, in more danger than you and your friends could handle right now. I had to transport everyone who wasn't affected by the darkness here. Sadly Jane and her, uh gorilla friend were the only ones." Jane collasped and hugged Turk.

"What do you mean!," Sora cried in anger.

"There must be something we could do." Riku said. Merlin shook his head.

"Gosh. I'm sorry Jane." Goofy and the others tried to comfort her, but it was useless as Jane started to cry. "What about Tarzan!," Sora continued. Merlin sighed. "I must get you all back to my house to discuss this with the king. He'll explain everything, but we must leave now." He walked over to Jane. "I'm sorry dear, but you must remain here. It is much more safer than Radiant Garden." Sora balled his fist.

"Stay here! Who decided that! What about the heartless!"

"There are no heartless here. This place is under heavy security measures so as to provide a temporary home to those who have lost their world to the darkness. Jane will be fine. I have my orders under the king."

"Forget the king's orders!" Everyone gasped at his sudden outburst. No one was louder than Goofy or Donald.

"SORA!" Donald yelled in anger. He was about to say more when Merlin cut him off. "Sora, believe me. I understand completely, but that is all we can do for them. For now." Merlin tried to smile in confidence, although the fear of what was occurring was coming through. Sora nodded. "Alright. I'm sorry." He turned to Jane. "Sorry Jane. Turk, but we've got to go."

She nodded and smiled. "I understand." She looked over at Riku, who walked off to join Sora and Kairi, who gave her one last pat on her back. "Wait. After all you did for me, I'd like to know your names." Riku and Kairi looked at one another and smiled. "Sorry, I'm Riku and that's Kairi." "Hi." "Pleased to meet you, although I wish it were under better circumstances." They gathered around Merlin to be taken back. Sora turned to them one last time. "Don't worry. I promise Tarzan will return back to the way he was." "I know he will." Within seconds, they were gone.

Aros was gone from Deep Jungle as well, and returning back to the mountain of his home. He landed the Night Flyer on the same ledge he left. He had to pause for a moment and review all the events that had taken place. He had succeeded in unleashing the darkest darkness from the keyhole to transform everyone into heartless versions of themselves, like Tarzan. That darkness would become part of Aries plan; Whatever that is. Tarzan became the heartless protector of that world and the heartless spread to further help Tarzan watch over it. His mission was complete. He did his part, yet Libra was unable to do hers. She had been defeated. But was she able to complete her mission? Whatever that was. Aros did not know, but he knew one thing for sure. He had gone beyond standards with Libra. "Father's going to be so proud of me." He smiled to himself and ran happily into the castle. It was a trick to reach it, because it was so well hidden. A staircase was hidden behind a cave wall. To open it, Aros pulled back a lever disguised as part of the mountain. The cave wall slid open and Aros rushed inside. He was making his way down the silver cooridoor when he noticed a few shadows on their way to their cells. They stopped and looked at Aros, who looked right back at them. There was that feeling again. That feeling of belonging, yet a feeling of loneliness coated over it. What could make him feel so weird around them? Aros tried to remember, but it was hard. He knew it was there somewhere. "Aros!"

He looked up at the sound of Aries voice. He always sounded like a cold-heart, but he had hoped he would sound a little warmer, like Virgo. He continued to move to the end of the hall. When he reached it, he looked down into Aries informal chamber and saw him standing there, with his back to him. Aros quietly made his way down the stairs and up to his father. He left quite a bit of distance between them, because Aros was sensing fury. He cowarded a bit, before he responded. "Father. I'm back. I did what you asked and I succeeded." He waited patiently for him to respond, but it was like Aries was trying to hold back his anger. He chuckled softly. "You have not succeeded. You have failed. Disappointed me after you promised me you wouldn't. What have you got to say for yourself?" Aros was stunned. How could he say that after all he did. He did everything he asked.
"But, but father, I did what you told me. I unleashed the darkness in the keyhole and I turned Tarzan into its protector. Isn't that what you wanted?" Aries remained dangerously silent. Aros decided to come forward a bit and when he did, Aries wheeled around. His sudden movement startled Aros and made him step back.

"Fool of a heartless. What do you consider the Zodiac to be? Beneath you? Surely not" Aros stayed still and allowed Aries to come right up to him. "You still don't know what it is I am referring to, so let me give you a reminder." He pushed his hand against Aros's chest, causing him to hit the ground. This brief contact of Aries' hand on his chest ignited a firey pain.

"The Zodiac is not beneath you, you will never surpass the Zodiac! If anything, you are beneath it and always will be. Nothing can change that, don't you ever forget it! I gave you life, I gave you what you needed and more. I even gave you Libra as guidance and what do you do? You turn on us. Your family." Aros couldn't understand. He trembled slightly.

"She was one of our best. Libra, was a good fighter. Now she is nothing, but a late member." This brought back what Libra had told him earlier.

"But father, I measured up to standards. I went beyond her. She said I wouldn't and you beleived her, but I proved her wrong." Aries jumped in his face.

"You proved me wrong! I thought you were on this team, but you are not. The way you left Libra to die like that, shows you think yourself better than everyone else. Maybe you wanted her to die." Aros started to panic. There were times he thought ill of her, he thought that way about everyone who mistreated him, but he couldn't believe he wanted her to die. Or did I? "Father please, I didn't know...I.." He stopped, remembering what Virgo said. Aries disliked the showing of emotions. It expressed weaknesss. He regained himself and showed courage. "Father, I am sorry. I did not know Libra was unable to complete her mission. I had trusted that she was stronger than that." Aries considered this for a moment. "Hmm. As did I. That is still no excuse. You have let me down today, but tomorrow shall be different." His red eyes lingered into Aros's eyes. "Get out of my sight, I must sort out the damage you have created."

Aries walked up to the podium while Aros stood up and made his way to the staircase. When he reached it, the Zodiac members were making their way down. He was about to try and pass them when Gemini pushed him back to make him wait. They turned up their noses at him. They glared, hissed, and stared with murder in their eyes. Sage went as far as sticking her tongue out at him. Some refused to look at him at all. Pise was the last behind the line. He socked Aros hard in the shoulder. "Way to go you little runt."

Aros ran up the stairs and ran into Virgo. He looked up at her for a moment with fear of the Zodiac in his eyes, before grabbing her in a hug for comfort. She allowed this for a few seconds, before pushing him aside as well. She looked so sad. She wanted to continue their hug and let him know everything was going to be alright, but the minute Virgo came into sight, Aries sent her a warning stare of not to bond herself with Aros. Everyone took their places in their seats and waited for Aries to stop glaring at Virgo and Aros. Virgo silently moved Aros out of the room and shut the double doors behind him. She could barely look at him. This gesture of misery was mistaken by Aros as disappointment. Aros cast his head down in shame, crushed that Virgo turned her back on him. "I should have done something." He whispered silently to himself.

"I want to thank you all for attending on a day of miserable defeat." Aros moved closer to the door at the sound of Aries voice. He was giving a eulogy for Libra. He listened and tightened his grip around the chain star necklace Virgo had given him a couple of days ago. As best he could, he tried to be apart of the funeral.

"Libra was strong and well balanced. She was always focused on her mission. Though she fell in her battle, we must not blame her, but the beings who were responsible. The beings who murdered her in the fight and the being who let her down. Who let us down."

Ther was a murmur of agreement. Aros closed his eyes, fearing the hatred that surrounded him. "I don't need to remind you who it is, but I must remind you to take it as an example of how strong our family must be. We must help one another at all cost. Libra would have wanted it that way, so let us bow our heads in a moment of silence." As the members of the Zodiac bowed their heads, Aros bowed his too, but he knew it would do no good.

The next day was busy for everyone. The Zodiac members were collected in Aries laboratory which was much larger than Virgo's. There wasn't much to see except a couple of computers and walls filled with papers on important information. Everyone was keeping track of what was happening in the other worlds. It didn't really look like a science lab as there were no beakers around for Aros to break. There was, however, a huge object at least 50 ft. tall, covered in a giant curtain that stood at the end of the lab. The power that was coming from the keyhole Aros unlocked was working its way into giant pipes in the object behind the curtain. Aros stared at it with curiosity. He was standing in the middle of the room, waiting for Aries to assigen him a new mission. While some members kept track of the dark power, others tried to locate Libra's killers. Pise followed behind Aqua, trying to tell him an unnatural force was behind it.

"Aqua, all I'm trying to tell you is the truth. This was not the act of a creature of this world. No siree. This was an act of our far away distant cousins of another plante." Aqua turned to Pise in annoyance. "Oh really? And who would that be?" "Why the aliens of course. Think about it. Do you know how many abductions have taken place? Hundreds, thousands. How do we know Libra wasn't an abductee." "Oh please, she was destroyed, vaporized." "Exactly, vaporized."

Aqua was making his way pass run-about members to Aries and stopped when he reached Aros. "Caused enough trouble for the day? Look at the mess you put us in." Pise snickered. "Of course he was going to be trouble. He's a waste of time. Come on, so I can explain my other theory." Aqua bent down to Aros and closed in on him.

"You think you're smart. You think Aries thinks you're worth something? If you were, don't you think he would have handed you a job worth taking? Like poor Libra. She fought the good fight."
"I did what I was told. It's important." Aros fumed. Aqua grinned.

"Oh yeah. She was just covering your sorry hide. Aries put her there, because he knows you're weak. If she wasn't there, we'd be celebrating your death." Aqua straightened up and walked up to Aries. Aros stood there, letting the information wash over him. Is that true? It wasn't long before Aries turned to Aros. He handed him a paper with the information of his next world on it.

"Remember what we discussed about disappointment and family." Aros nodded. As soon as Aries passed by, he turned his focus on Virgo, who was close to the mysterious object and typing on a keyboard close to it. He waited for her to look up, but she didn't. He turned to leave to the next world, but turned to look back. She was looking right at him. She tried to smile at him. Aros returned it and started to come to her, but she shook her head and turned back to the computer. He looked down and walked away.

The king had just finished explaining the reason they had to leave Tarzan's world. He believed the darkness was much darker than usual and would most likely turn anyone exposed to it into a heartless instantly, though he did not believe that's what happened to Tarzan. He admits they were sent too late to save anyone else besides Jane and her companion. Everyone was positioned in Merlin's house once again, letting the information fill them. Cid, however, was typing away on his computer. The king was hoping he'd be able to detect trouble before it became as serious as it did in Deep Jungle.

"Poor Jane," Donald sighed.

"Poor Tarzan," Kairi sighed.

Sora sat at the table in deep thought, trying hard not to become too angry with the king. He hated just sitting around waiting for trouble when trouble was already out there, somewhere. "Your majesty, do you at least have some idea of who's behind it?"

"Sorry Sora, we still don't know. All we know is that that Sora's imposter you told me about has something to do with it, but he wouldn't be acting alone."

"They never do."

Mickey's expression saddened. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like to see his friend Tarzan as a heartless. He walked quietly over to Cid.

"Anything yet?" Cid smiled.

"Actually there is!" Everyone raced over to him.

"This new radar equipment I latched into the system detects a dark object heading for a new world."

"Really!"

"Where!?"

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Alright, next chapter's a world. If you're wondering when you'll meet certain members, all I can tell you is that they'e coming along. They have their moments. And I'm sure none of them will go down as fast as Libra did.