AN: Well, I know what mission is next!

This one in particular was a nightmare for me. However, despite that this chapter focuses around Roxas' mission here this chapter, considering the missions afterwards, it will mainly focus on Penelope.

Auraheart: I personally loved writing the stick part of the previous chapter. I couldn't help but mention the word "stick" every few sentences. Thank you.

So, I own nothing but Penelope like usual.

Here's chapter 10!

XxXxX

Chapter 10: Two Sides

The next day, Roxas had a mission in Agrabah to eliminate a Heartless boss. So, that seems simple, right?

Well, no. Firstly, when Roxas arrived, he saw that Princess and that guy (but to make it less confusing, we know it Aladdin and Jasmine) talking about something.

And apparently "something" got away. However, it made the never-ending sandstorm clear up, so the people of the city of Agrabah could go outside again… for now.

Though the heartless needed to be kept an eye on of course. Waiting until they left, Roxas finally was able to step away from his hiding…

…However, he was greeted by Heartless, which he defeated until he got to the new area, Sandswept Ruins. This particular area, implied by the title, seemed to be a ruin of a temple or possibly an older city, mostly buried by sand, yet sand still fell down like in hourglass in some areas.

Roxas came in and looked around, only to see something moving around in the sand. It moved up, revealing its face, its body similar to gears with its movement. This was the Antlion Heartless he had to fight.

He went for the Heartless and attacked it, though he had to chase it in order to actually attack it, which made the first phase of the battle infuriating.

In fact, when Roxas actually finished the first phase, which he didn't even realize that there were phases at first, it became a nightmare when the Antlion Heartless went into hurricane mode, making everything worse as it became a game of tennis, but with exploding boxes to replace Tennis Balls.

And at some point, he finally defeated the Heartless, and upon coming back into town, he had to hide again when he saw Aladdin and Jasmine. From listening to their conversation, what he found out was that the Heartless amount had lowered, and now there were less Heartless to deal with.

Which was especially good for town now as it was far more possible to make repairs without destruction again.

Then, when Roxas headed to Twilight Town for ice cream at the Clock Tower, he met up with Axel and Xion and they had Ice Cream.

XxXxX

Penelope decided she'd actually go and do her missions today. Mainly because she wasn't going to let Riku constantly keep and eye on her and prevent her from doing anything.

As she opened a Corridor of Light (which still upset her as she still couldn't open a Corridor of Darkness properly, still because of Zia's influence), Riku stopped her.

"Hm? Are you leaving already?" He asked her upon approaching her. Penelope could hear the surprise and disappointment in his voice.

Penelope didn't speak to Riku. She only nodded. "Yes. I'm going solo today with my mission today. I don't need you to babysit me." She explained, and then stepped into her bright corridor which vanished upon her entrance.

Riku rubbed his eyes for a moment. "…I really need to teach her how to open a dark corridor. The light from the corridors she opens are painfully bright."

XxXxX

(Olympus Coliseum)

Penelope entered in Olympus Coliseum, fixing her hair. She took a deep breath and smiled.

"It's been awhile, Olympus Coliseum. How have you been?" She asked, recognizing its familiar statues, its entry door, and the light filling this place. And how she tried to explain its back-story and connection to Greek mythology, but Sora and the other two didn't listen to her.

Penelope decided to come into the lobby, hoping to see Phil or Hercules there. She didn't see Hercules, but she saw Phil.

"Hiya, Phil. How's it going?" Phil was startled before turning around to see Penelope.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Phil asked her. Penelope nodded and smiled at the Satyr.

"Yeah. I've noticed I never asked you something. When you dubbed Sora and the other two Junior Heroes, you said something about me having the potential to being a true hero, and also why I could enter the games because of that potential." She explained to Phil, seeming rather concerned about it.

Phil had to recall that short conversation between her and himself and he remembered at some point. "Right. I don't know why, but you have tons of potential within you. You're capable of handling powerful foes, like when you went in and helped handle Cerberus."

"That makes sense. I mean, I never came back and mentioned the news to you?"

Phil seemed confused at first before Penelope explained that she found out she was the Guardian of Light and Darkness around the end of her last journey, and he was shocked.

"Besides that, is there anything I can do to help?"

Phil shrugged. "Not that I know of. There is going to be a tournament coming up, so you could start training."

Penelope raised an eyebrow, pretty surprised that Phil would even allow her to enter in a tournament. "…But Phil? I thought I was a Junior Hero."

He simply shook his head before leading her into her training, which consisted of fighting Heartless, knocking barrels around to rid of Heartless, and a few other exercises and Penelope was done for the day.

"You've gotten really good with that sword of yours." Phil pointed out. Penelope seemed surprised, though she simply thanked him before her departure back to the Old Mansion, despite she could've done her other missions to get them all done, but she felt too exhausted to do anything.

The first person to greet her was DiZ. "So Penelope."

"What, old man? Are you going to nag me?"

DiZ proceeded to glare and shake her head at her. "No. Did you get your work done?"

"Yes. There's nothing suspicious going on at Olympus Coliseum at the moment. What I know is that a tournament is coming up, so I'll need to make a further investigation into it in case the Organization gets involved." Penelope told DiZ, and before he could ask status on any of her other missions, she went up to the Library to read something.

XxXxX

(The next day)

Penelope planned to sleep in the next day, but she felt someone shake her. "Mm… Give me a few minutes and I'll get up." The person shook her a bit harder.

"…A few more minutes, please."

The person proceeded to softly tell her, "Sorry Pen. I'm not letting you get away with that excuse." The one voice Penelope didn't want to hear when she woke up. She opened her eyes, she swung, but he caught her hand.

"And you said you needed a few more minutes." Penelope huffed.

"Ugh… what do you want now? Can't I sleep?"

"DiZ told me he can't trust you going on missions solo yet. So, we're paired up again." Penelope sat up and yawned, covering her mouth and staring at Riku though he couldn't necessarily see her. "Riku, do you really think this is April fool's?"

"No. I'm serious." Penelope didn't seem relatively happy about this, though Riku could tell she wasn't.

"I'm not going to sit around all day, Riku." She stated, though he smiled at her.

"Why are you…?"

"We're fighting off some Heartless today, and some other stuff, not just sitting around." He told her. Penelope wasn't leaving her spot, so, she was swiftly pulled out of bed and pulled up to stand onto her feet.

"Since you're forcing me to work with you today, can I at least get ready first? I'm a mess." Riku sighed and nodded.

XxXxX

(Beast's Castle)

Penelope knew she had to get her A-Game on. Why exactly?

Well… though the why was fairly obvious, she wasn't going to let Riku boss her around. She also began to pick up on something around him.

It wasn't as obvious as Sora's crush on Kairi, but Penelope noticed Riku had affection for her. She should've figured it out a while ago, really, like how he was around her during their first adventure.

And how he didn't really mean that if Kairi and Penelope were lost, he'd save Kairi first cause Penelope "wasn't as worth saving" than her, though it still really hurt when he said that to her.

Of course, it made her seem like a terrible person, but if she was able to toy with his feelings, maybe, just maybe, she could take advantage of him and sneak off to do her more enjoyable missions without him.

Like the ones in Neverland. She really just wanted to go back to Neverland and soar like a bird. That was all she wanted right now, even if she could glide around now. So, as she and Riku were checking around the halls, Penelope played her move.

"Hey Riku?"

As they continued to walk, Riku responded to her. "Is something wrong?"

"No… Its just…" Riku was surprised to feel Penelope suddenly take his hand, and he froze up, stopping in his tracks.

"Huh? Wait, what are you doing? Don't I usually…" Penelope shushed him. On the inside, she knew it was working, especially as he was beginning to act up.

"Mm? Is something wrong Riku? Did I do something wrong?"

"N-no… How about we keep walking?" Riku pulled his hand away from Penelope, though she noticed his face was red, likely from being flustered about what she just did and Penelope giggled.

Though Heartless appeared in front of them, and the two got in their fighting stances. As they fought off Heartless before eventually finishing, Penelope tried another strategy.

"Wow Riku! You've gotten good at fighting."

"I have? Thanks. I haven't really seen you fight before."

"Dude, you have a blindfold on. When did you decide to wear that thing again?" Riku didn't reply to her, though he felt happy she noticed.

They continued walking, and so far, Penelope's plan was working. After continuously doing various things to manipulate Riku's feelings for her, she knew he was at the point where he was thinking this was a dream come true (though it was hard to tell because of his blindfold).

So, she could finish the last step. "Hey Riku… Is it alright if I go?" She softly asked him.

She could tell that her plan had worked when he nodded and simply answered, "Yes."

Penelope, with a triumphant smirk on her face, thanked Riku before she opened up a half-corridor of darkness, but half-corridor of light, so it looked grey. Penelope sighed. At least she was starting to get it down. So, she went through her corridor, off to Neverland.

At first, Riku was unaware of what he just let Penelope do before it hit him and that she knew he liked him and she used that against him.

Saying nothing, in a rush, Riku closed the Corridor of Darkness he had set before and opened up a new one in a rush and went after the mischievous and conniving brunette, hoping he'd catch her before he'd be unable to find her.

XxXxX

A/N: Now that I think about it, I won't really need to skip over many missions considering I already covered a few days.

Though it really depends. Except when the issue with Riku hits, there's going to be some social tension between him and Penelope.

You'll see what I mean when I get to it.

So, like usual, please review if you'd like, I'd prefer if you didn't flame, and please tell me how I can improve.

If this chapter seemed fairly rushed, I'm sorry. It took longer than needed to write.

I will see you all in chapter 11!

Ciao!