Notes: Well, that wasn't quite the reaction I thought I'd get from that lazy bum comment…

Seriously, I was thinking more along the lines of an e-mail account full of flames. Maybe I should have said that earlier?

Me: Alright, Nihlus, say it!

Nihlus: …It

Me: Very funny…you're hilarious.

Nihlus: No, that's Shadow's job. If you're trying to make this conversation funny get him in here.

Me: Whatever, just say the disclaimer or I'll keep doing this to you for the rest of the story.

Nihlus: (sighs) Fine. My "boss" here (meaning Blackrogue123 and not me) doesn't own anything or anyone but the stuff he comes up with…which, sadly, includes me.

Me: Now that wasn't so hard, was it?

Nihlus: Why can't you just annoy Sora and Kairi or something?

Me: I will…eventually, but stop whining. I know exactly how I can embarrass you in front of all of my readers…

Nihlus: Don't even think about!

Me: Too late! I already did!


Riku, Donald and Goofy all quickly jerked back from the door as they heard Terra turn around. Riku leaned against the wall while Donald and Goofy tried to look as though they had been talking to each other, all in an effort to make sure that neither Terra nor the king would suspect that they had been listening. They hadn't actually been able to hear the conversation between Terra and Mickey, but they were able to tell that it was very important and that they were being left out of the loop. Riku watched as Terra walked through the door and gave a mental sigh of relief when he showed no signs of realizing what Riku, Donald, and Goofy had done. "I apologize for the secrecy, but it was…necessary,"

"Sure…" Riku answered in a tone that clearly showed his irritation at being left in the dark.

"We're going to Halloween Town; I need to recover several artifacts that may prove to be instrumental in eliminating the threat Nihlus poses to the worlds."

"WHAT!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed. "You aren't trying to kill him, are ya'?" Goofy asked concernedly. Although he wasn't exactly fond of Nihlus, he had tried to take Sora's heart after all, he did think that killing him was drastic and morally wrong. Terra shook his head.

"No, believe it's the creature that had bonded itself to him is the real threat. I don't know much about the nature of their bond, or the dark champions themselves for that matter, but the ruins I intend to search may hold the answers we need." Riku crossed his arms in thought when Terra finished his reply. He had to admit he did feel kind of sorry for Nihlus, not enough to really like him but enough to make him not want to kill the dark champion on sight.

"Great, so, what do we do with Nihlus, Ven, and Aqua in the mean time?" Terra mentally braced himself for the outraged reply he knew would come about from his answer.

"I intend to bring them with us." Terra winced as he was met with a barrage of "WHAT!", "ARE YOU CRAZY?!", and "THAT'S STUPID!". "Yes, I know it's possible that he may try to kill Sora or turn him into a heartless, but we may as well try to keep an eye on him, if only to prevent him from ambushing Sora."

Riku huffed loudly, but didn't say anything. Although he was certain that they were all more than a match for Nihlus in a stand up fight, Nihlus had proved that he was full of surprises. The first two battles proved it, he had surprised them and nearly tore them apart in both. "Fine, but if anyone gets hurt…" Riku warned Terra angrily. The adaptability of Nihlus's powers would make it extremely difficult to predict what he was going to do next in a fight.

"I swear, I will do all I can to protect your friends," Terra answered solemnly. Whenever Terra made a promise he would sooner die than not fulfill it. "For now, we have more pressing issues. Donald and Goofy, do you intend to come with us? We may need to blend in with the locals, and I am not sure if we will be able to make Halloween costumes without the use of your magic, Donald." Donald and Goofy exchanged looks, first with each other and then with Riku.

"Gwarsh, I'm not sure," Goofy said uncertainly, "what if the king needs us?"

"Yeah, we can't just leave the king!" Donald exclaimed, agreeing with Goofy. "Maybe I could just give you guys Halloween costumes before you leave?" Terra nodded his head in acceptance of Donald's idea. "Then what are we waiting here for, let's go!" Riku, Terra, and Goofy simply shrugged and followed the enthusiastic magician as he led them back to Merlin's house.


"Oh, well that explains a lot!" Ven commented at the end Sora and Nihlus's combined explanation of basically everything that had happened up until the present moment. "Great, so now that we have all that sorted out, what's next?" An uncomfortable and rather awkward silence fell over the entire group.

"Well, I suppose we have to fix the whole "imbalance" problem now," Shadow said aloud for all to hear. Almost immediately Kairi's keyblade, followed closely by Sora's, was placed against a rather surprised Nihlus's neck. "Holy kingdom hearts, batman!" Shadow exclaimed at the treatment Nihlus was receiving because of his offhand comment.

"Don't even think about!" Kairi hissed as she pressed her keyblade even harder against Nihlus's neck, ignoring his clear discomfort at the keyblade's mere touch.

'Shadow…' Nihlus telepathically said in a dangerous tone. 'You better have a way to get me out of this mess…one that won't involve hurting anyone or summoning heartless."

'Alright, alright, I'm sorry!' came Shadow's apologetic reply. 'I was just trying to be honest with them! Sheesh, I though they were supposed to have a sense of honor!'

Meanwhile, Aqua and Ven had stepped up beside Nihlus in an attempt to protect him, while Roxas and Namine watched the spectacle, neither of them was sure just who's side to pick. "Hey, you can't just go around threatening our friend like that!" Ven huffed, "he may be a pain in the rear at time, but he's OUR pain in the rear!"

"Oh thanks a lot, Ven," Nihlus commented sarcastically, "You have no idea how good it feels to know that after I was nearly killed by a chaser, my friends consider me a pain in the a-."

"Look, we just want to go back home, right guys?" Aqua asked, conveniently interrupting Nihlus before he could finish his remark. Suddenly, Nihlus's eyes widened noticeably.

"W-what, go back?" he asked taking a subconscious step away from Sora and Kairi, who in turn simply removed their keyblades from his neck and instead pointed them at him, their guards still up. "I-I can't just go back!" Nihlus exclaimed. His tone of voice was impossible to read, no one could tell whether he was scared, angry, or both.

A "Huh?" escaped Aqua's lips as she turned to face Nihlus directly. "Nihlus, why don't you want to go home?" Suddenly all the emotions Nihlus had been suppressing, up until now, seemed to explode out of him.

"Why don't I want to go home?!" he asked, with a hint of mockery, "I'll tell you why, it's because of this!" he exclaimed turning his right hand into a heartless claw. "And this, and this, and this!" he continued, practically yelling. His trademark tentacles burst from his back while both arms began to become covered in darkness. Also, the boots he wore to complement his armor suddenly developed claws at their toes as well. His display caused everyone to jump back away from him, Aqua, Ven, Roxas, and Namine did so out of shock, as they had never actually seen Nihlus's power in action, while Sora and Kairi did so to prepare for a battle. "I'm not like them," Nihlus said bitterly, pointing to Sora and Kairi, "I can't just come out of the blue after a year and say "Hey everyone, I can make weapons out of thin air and order the creatures that have been trying to take your hearts for the last two centuries!". Nihlus's eyes were glowing noticeably at his rampant display of all his suppressed emotions. "They…they can hide their powers," Nihlus continued, finally calming down, "But I can't. Shadow and I are bonded for life; it would only take one lost temper…"

Nihlus let his point hang in the air as he moved back against the wall in an attempt to steady himself, he seemed about to cry. Sora and Kairi exchanged looks and then unsumonned their keyblades. Although, they knew that Nihlus got more powerful as his emotions got more intense, he looked about as threatening as a shadow heartless that had been beaten to within an inch of it's life by Sephiroth. (A/N talk about overkill, eh?)

"I…never thought about what I would do if I ever managed to restore the balance and saved you two," he said addressing Aqua and Ven, as he sank to the ground. "Heh, I wonder how they would react if they ever saw this?" Nihlus asked himself as one of the tentacles he had grown out of his back lowered itself to his eyelevel.

"Nihlus, I…" Ven started, only to stop, for he had no idea what words could comfort his friend. He too had shared Aqua's idea of just going home and returning to how things were back before they were kidnapped, but now he saw that it would be far harder than he and Aqua had originally thought it was going to be. After all, having golden eyes and a symbiotic relationship with a being of darkness was one thing, growing tentacles and claws was a completely different matter all together. Nihlus simply took a deep breathe and allowed all the things he had summoned to retract back into his body once more.

"I'm…alright now," he said as he got up, "I'm sorry for laying all my problems out in front of you, I just…have trouble containing my emotions sometimes." Roxas raised an eyebrow and muttered a sarcastic remark too low for anyone but Namine to hear since she was standing right next to him. Namine immediately elbowed him in the side and began to hiss something to Roxas. Ignoring the squabble their nobodies were having, Sora and Kairi turned to face each other.

"You know, Nihlus did raise a good point," Sora admitted, "What do you think would happen if we told our parents about everything that's happened?" Kairi looked down in thought. The whole "master(s) of the keyblade(s)" thing was a somewhat controversial issue between her, Sora, and Riku. While they all felt bad about leaving their families out in the dark, there was simply no way to tell how they would react.

"I really don't know, Sora,"

"Hm, I guess we'll never know…" Sora said reluctantly. As much as he wanted to come clean, telling his parents that he had been running around saving the worlds was probably not a good idea. Suddenly the door opened breaking up any more thoughts on what had just transpired. Through the door came Donald, Goofy, Riku and Terra..

"Hiya, everyone!" Goofy exclaimed with his usual cheerfulness, "We're going to Halloween town!" At this everyone snapped to attention.

"Yes, there are several ruins, located on various worlds, that I believe may hold the answer to this whole…predicament," Terra said, using predicament for lack of better word.

"Wait, do you mean a way to restore the balance that won't involve killing Sora?" Nihlus asked anxiously. Regardless of what the others thought about him, he really didn't want to hurt Sora, or anyone else who didn't have it coming for that matter.

Terra turned to face Nihlus before he answered. "Yes, if I can find what I'm looking for, no one will die." Despite the absurdity of the idea, Nihlus was actually filled with happiness at the idea of being around a group of keyblade wielders who could take him down in a heartbeat if they wanted to.

"What are we waiting for let's go!" he cried out eagerly, heading for the door. Donald raised his hand in order to block Nihlus from running out before everyone else.

"Wait, you can't go there like that!" the magician yelled, "You need to be in a Halloween costume, or you'll look like a freak there!" Nihlus rolled his eyes and transformed his armor into what resembled a grim reaper costume. It was basically a black coat that looked old and worn with hood that hid all of Nihlus's features except for his now-glowing eyes. The transformation startled Roxas and Namine so much that they stopped arguing over whether or not Roxas's remark was called for. Nihlus then shot Donald a look that said "happy now?" from underneath his hood.

"Ah, well I'll just get everyone else's costumes ready!"


Meanwhile, in an as of yet unknown location…

Rombax grunted as the twilight thorn he had been training with fell to the ground utterly spent. "Come one, I was just getting warmed up!" he demanded. The only response he got was the twilight thorn fading away in order to recover from it's injuries. "Damn thing can't take hit!" Rombax then proceeded to stomp around the arena like room he was in, in order to vent his frustration. "Why can't I ever find someone worth fighting!" he yelled to himself, throwing his fists into the air. Rombax still wore the same gray robe with the hood that concealed his feature, however when he threw his fists into the air a pair of clawed metal gauntlets with runes on them became visible. "The only guys I can think of are Kinjex and-!"

Before Rombax could finish his statement, and reveal what his leader's name was, he was suddenly cut off by a familiar voice. "If you're looking for a worthy opponent, why don't you go look for Xamic?" Rombax spun around to see his leader, flanked by Kinjex.

"Are you insane?! It takes weeks to find that guy and he...whatever he is, he's not human. Nothing as strong as him could be possibly human." The leader raised his eyebrows underneath his hood.

"Yes, if I recall correctly he beat you to within an inch of your life with just a small fraction of his strength." Rombax growled with indignation, though he knew that his leader was correct. Xamic was unlike any nobody that he had ever met. He seemed to just drift from world to world searching for something or someone, and despite the fact that he had enough raw power to accomplish basically anything, he didn't seem to have any inclination to use it except when someone tried to attack him.

"That guy had more issues than that Nihlus kid," Rambox stated as he stubbornly crossed his arms.

"Indeed…but Kinjex and I did not come here to talk about him." At this the leader made a hand gesture at Kinjex. The silent nobody nodded and pulled out a prism shaped crystal from underneath his robe. It was roughly the size of his entire hand. He seemed to concentrate for a few moments before an image of what appeared to be a fort made out of stone appeared on it. It overlooked an ocean and had cannons lining it walls. Also, soldiers in red jackets holding muskets seemed to be patrolling it's walls. "This world is called Port Royal," The leader explained as Rombax looked at the crystal.

"Yeah so? I thought you said that we were going to try to find some new members while the keyblade masters were busy falling into your trap? Seriously we could use some new blood around here. It's just you, me, and Kinjex!"

At this Kinjex's head seemed to jerk up. "…Reniex…" Rombax tilted his head sideways in confusion before he caught on to Kinjex's meaning.

"What? She doesn't count; she doesn't even look like a human!" Kinjex didn't seem to take Rombax's dismissal of Reniex very well as his left hand suddenly seemed to catch on fire while his right hand began to cackle with electricity. "Oh, I am so going to enjoy this!" Rombax said as he took a battle stance. Kinjex's crystal floated behind him while the runes on Rombax's gauntlets began to glow red. Suddenly a katana was thrust in between the two before they could actually clash.

"Enough bickering!" the leader barked, prompting both Kinjex and Rombax to back down. "Rombax, you shouldn't discount nobodies who can't take human form! Kinjex, you must be more tolerant of Rombax's opinions!" Rombax let out a "hmph" while Kinjex simply nodded. "Now, as Kinjex here already knows, I sent Reniex to ascertain the validity of several very interesting rumors I heard when I last visited that world. Apparently there's an immortal nobody there by the name of Davy Jones…


"Great, so what now?" Ven asked as he crossed his arms. They had finally managed to get underway after getting their costumes taken care of. Kairi was dressed in a black witch costume that had an oversized hat, Ven was wearing a bizarre zombie-pirate outfit that reminded Sora of a pirate-heartless, Sora was in his normal Halloween outfit, a vampire with a pumpkin eye patch-like thing over his left eye, Riku was dressed as a wraith wearing a black patchwork set of robes that proved surprisingly comfortable, and Aqua was dressed as a ghost that wore an organization-style cloak. (she nearly killed Donald when her first costume, a vampiress, had a skirt, which she said would make her look like a "sissy, wimpy, whiny, damsel in distress") Roxas and Namine, being Sora and Kairi's nobodies, were dressed as a vampire and witch respectively, however Roxas's costume was more realistic in the fact that it was simply the stereotypical vampire cape place over a T-shirt and shorts. Namine's costume was similar to Kairi's, however it was white instead of black.

As for Terra, they had just repaired the dents in his helmet and put it on, giving him the appearance of an undead knight. Right now, they were all on the bridge of the gummi ship that Nihlus had sent them when he was still trying to take Sora's heart. They had just finished storing their normal clothes away in the rather spacious cargo hold.

"Seriously, guys, I don't think any of us want to stand around here doing nothing for the entire trip!" Ven complained. He was met with a chorus of grunts of irritation.

"Ven, what is it with you?" Aqua exclaimed, irritated at her friend's impatience, "I don't want to sit around all day either, but you don't see me whining!" Ven muttered to himself but didn't make a smart remark back at Aqua; he knew that it would just get him a knock upside the head. He simply glanced around at what everyone else was doing. Sora and Kairi were talking about their adventures while Riku just seemed to listen, Terra was piloting the ship, Nihlus was standing in a corner by himself, not counting Shadow, and Namine seemed to be drawing while Roxas watched in curiosity.

"Say, Nihlus," Aqua said slyly, it was velar that an idea had just popped into her head.

"Yes, Aqua?" Nihlus replied nervously, although Aqua rarely came up with pranks or jokes, the time she did were rarely pleasant for anyone at the butt of them.

"Oh calm down would you!" she exclaimed as she picked up on Nihlus's nervousness "It's not anything bad! I was just wandering if, you know, since you spent year and a half training and all, if you could help me do some combat practice." Nihlus raised an eyebrow in surprise at Aqua's request, but quickly shook the stupid expression on his face off, and nodded in reply. "Great, let's go!" Aqua then dashed off enthusiastically toward the cargo hold, the only place on the ship big enough to have a mock battle. Nihlus, for once, actually grinned to himself.

'Heh, with Aqua around, life's never boring!' he thought as he began to sprint in order to catch up to his blue-haired friend.

"You know, Sora, I could use some practice too," Kairi said with a grin "I have to get just as good as you and Riku!" Sora was somewhat surprised at Kairi's enthusiasm but quickly returned her grin and dashed off with her to join Nihlus and Aqua in training.

"Well, this should be worth seeing," Riku commented to himself as he began to walk in the direction of the now incredibly popular cargo hold. Roxas and Namine barely shot any of this a second glance as their attention was focused on Namine's drawing.

"I think it's coming along great!" Roxas exclaimed, complimenting Namine's drawing abilities.

"Oh, uh, thanks Roxas," she replied, a light blush appearing on her face, "I've been working on it really hard." Thankfully, for the sake of Namine's dignity, the angle Roxas tood at made it impossible for him to see her blush.

"Yeah, I'll bet! Hey, Terra, could you tell us when we get there?" Terra simply nodded in response to Raxos's request. It would be about an hour before they reached Halloween Town, so everyone would have time to do whatever it was that they needed to get done.


"So where's this Davy Jones guy supposed to be anyway?" Rombax asked as he, Kinjex and the leader walked down a forest path that would lead them to the fort that they had seen through Kinjex's crystal. Their ship was pure white and shaped like a V, with a cockpit that had more than enough room for the three nobodies at the base of the V. They had landed it in a clearing and activated it's cloaking device in order to keep their presence a secret. In addition, they had also come at night in order to minimize any potential contact with the locals that would most likely be inevitable.

"I don't know where his current location is," the leader admitted "However, for now, let's focus on meeting up with Reniex." Suddenly, the three heard a sound not unlike the wind rustling a few leaves.

"…Reniex…" Kinjex said to himself as he looked around somewhat eagerly, it was clear he was doing so from the movements of his hood. Out of seemingly nowhere, an unusual nobody landed in front of Kinjex, Rombax, and the as-of-yet unnamed leader. It actually had a distinctly feminine outline, wore a flexible and light looking suit of armor that resembled a knight's, and wore a helm that covered it's mouth and everything up from the fore head, leaving two blue, crystal like eyes exposed. It was one of the few nobodies that actually looked vaguely human.

"General…" Reniex said in a voice that sounded like the wind itself, as she made a bow of courtesy to the leader, who returned her bow with a nod.

"Reniex, I trust your aerial reconnaissance was very helpful, through Kinjex's crystal we were able to see the entire town." Reniex nodded at the leader's praise and then turned to Kinjex.

'Kinjex…it's good to see you.' Reniex greeted, using Kinjex's unique ability, the ability to telepathically communicate and connect with any other nobody.

'I'm happy to see you too, Reniex.' Kinjex always found it easier for him to talk with Reniex than anyone else he knew, including the General and Rombax.

"Hey, if you're going to have a conversation, at least do it out loud!" Rombax demanded irritably, he hated being left out of anything. Reniex and Kinjex exchanged one last look and then turned to their leader.

"Since we have no idea where this Davy Jones is, we will have to look around this world. I have heard that he tries to trick the dead and dying sailors into serving him, so we had best start there. We can use the ship's scanners in order to find a wrecked ship…or just find a ship and make it a wrecked ship for Davy Jones to visit…"


Well, it wasn't an action packed chapter, but I hope you like it! I promise the next two chapters will have action for all you action lovers! There are some issues I need your help with, though. Was I going overboard with Nihlus's outburst? My goal is to make him a dark and twisted version of Sora, not an overly emotional whiner. Secondly, I'm somewhat torn on what world to have Sora and co. visit next. Do you guys want to see my version of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 first, or do you want them to visit the world Nihlus, Aqua, and Ven came from? Either way, they wont be directly encountering the four nobodies anytime soon…