A/N: Sorry for not updating in a long time. Again, another long chapter. Plus the one after this is a Christmas Special which doesn't stray off the main story much. That one is long too. Plus you might be saying wtf about the elf. I wouldn't blame you. Anyway, enjoy getting through both chapters in a day, might even take you two.

CHAPTER 11

:Desperate Measures:

Payge stood outside Demyx's room, wringing her hair. There was a small puddle of water next to her already from wringing two minutes straight. She suppose it was one of the consequences for having a childish, but fun, water fight. She had thought it would be fair if they restricted themselves to only water balloons and no weapons. However, it had turned out Demyx had other tricks up his sleeve. His water wave flooded one hallway. She had wanted to mop it up but Demyx had her waiting for him to change his clothes. He had other plans in mind.

The door opened and Payge saw Demyx in a fresh cloak. His blonde hair still had water droplets in it. "So what do we do now?" she asked.

Demyx became suddenly serious. "I want to infiltrate Thrash's headquarters."

"Um, it actually belongs to Artemis."

"It's hard to remember when Thrash seems to be the bigger threat, calling all the shots the way he is."

"True," Payge agreed. "We hardly seen Artemis in the lab like Thrash is. Bane used to be in the lab too."

Demyx raised an eyebrow. "Him and Bane in the same room together?"

"Uh huh."

Demyx did not know what to say to Payge about the idea. He couldn't see Bane and Thrash, side by side, getting along, working together in peace and harmony. If he ever saw that, it would ring an alarm in his head that something was wrong. Very wrong. "Um, if you say so."

"It's a long story. Anyway, you really want to try to sneak inside?"

Demyx nodded. "We could find out what they're truly up to, what their goals are. 'They' meaning Artemis and Thrash . . . do you want to come?"

"If you want me, too," Payge said looking at the floor. "Then again, I wasn't sure how you were going to get there without direction."

Riku was looking for Axel and Alana. He was getting use to the idea of seeing them again, Axel with his smirk and Alana without aging a day. He figured that he could adjust during the mission that the king had just asked them to do. They had to go to Wonderland because Sora was handling business elsewhere, Transverse Town to be specific. Riku walked outside and saw the two in the garden.

Axel was moving forward, swinging his chakram at Alana. Alana was backing up, dodging with each step. "You're doing better than this morning, Alana! But how long can you keep this up?!"

At that moment, Alana stumbled backward. Riku didn't know how but Axel was behind Alana and caught her. Carefully he eased her to the ground. "That was very smooth of you," axel said. Alana shot him a glare but the redhead ignored and kissed her on the forehead. When Riku saw Axel was about to kiss Alana on the lips, he loudly cleared his throat because he didn't want to be caught staring. The two looked at him.

Alana quickly stood. "You need something, Riku?" she asked, trying to brush off what had just happened.

"The King wants us to go to Wonderland. We need to seal the keyhole before there's a Heartless Invasion."

Radiant Garden . . .

Demyx and Payge stood on a cliff, glancing down a chasm. Demyx was glad it was a large one because the sunlight reached the bottom. "It's here?" Demyx asked, preparing to go down. He could have teleported but he figured it would be more fun climbing down. Plus, there was no real reason to rush.

Payge nodded, already climbing over the edge. She had never climbed down before; she had always warped herself to the entrance. Now she saw how high above the ground she was.

Demyx noticed her slight apprehension and asked, "You want to go through a portal instead?"

"I'm okay," she told him, her brown eyes only on the rocky wall in below them. She took a deep breath and carefully descended down the side. Demyx started a second later. Suddenly she heard voices and stopped to glance down. She almost freaked out when she saw the drop but Demyx calmed her down. She relaxed a little though her hands didn't. She slowly looked down and saw Gear, Zees, and another.

"This is stupid," Zees's voice echoed. "Why doesn't he go do it?"

"Because," Gear said, "Thrash has other work to do. He doesn't have time to waste looking for materials for his new invention."

"What is it suppose to do?" The new girl asked.

"Who knows?" Zees said. "Maybe it's for Riku. I eavesdropped on one of his conversations with Artemis."

"And you didn't get caught?" Gear inquired.

"I did. Just that Thrash didn't care. And tell my why Bane can stay?"

"Because Bane doesn't care what Thrash tells her," Gear replied.

"Doesn't Bane hate him?" The girl asked.

"I don't know. They use to get along till . . ." Their voices disappeared as they got further away.

Demyx let out a groan. "Oh, why are Thrash and Bane still inside? They'll murder us."

"Don't worry about it," Payge said. "If we do everything fine, then we'll be-!" Payge lost her footing and fell off the cliff. Demyx, due to some quick thinking, opened up a portal and made another by the ground. Payge fell through the first one like he had planned. She came out of the second one and safely hit the ground. Demyx made a portal for himself and appeared next to her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm alright." She stood and walked over to the entrance, still shaken up. "I, um, need a code," she told herself to get her mind off the fall. I hope they didn't change it. She inputted something into the keypad next to the door. Immediately it read 'access denied'. She tried another one but it didn't work. She looked back at Demyx. "What do we do now?"

"What's Artemis's favorite color?"

Payge giggled. "I don't think anyone knows that."

"His birthday?"

"He never told us." Payge turned around and entered another code. This time the door opened.

"What did you-"

"Bane's birthday. The last password was mine."

"Why'd they made it so easy?" Demyx asked. Payge shrugged.

They walked inside and started down the hallway. The interiour contrasted greatly with the rocky outside. The floors were tiled and there were lights every foot on the ceiling. Demyx scanned around the hallway eyeing each door, expecting something to jump out. "We're going to the lab?"

"I'm pretty sure that's where everything is." She stopped by a door and took a deep breath. "This should be it. I hope no one is in here." She turned the knob and pushed the door in. There were fluorescent lights, giving the room a blue tint and many vials placed on racks. The racks were arranged in rows, making the room seem very organized. "Um, I don't think this is the lab."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Payge heard the footsteps and grabbed Demyx's gloved hand. "Someone's coming," she said as she yanked him into the room. Quickly, but, silently, she closed the door. She pressed her ear to the metal and listened. "That was close," she whispered. Payge turned around and saw Demyx studying the vials. He picked one up and read the label out loud.

"Test Subject 18 - Success - Warp." Demyx held it up to the light. "Is this a blood sample?" He couldn't tell because it was too dark to be blood. Then again . . . He thought about Renegade, the person that Thrash had mercilessly killed. Another reason not to deal with the guy.

Payge looked around the room and picked up another vial. The liquid inside was a shimmering white with tints of black. To make matters worst, it glowed as if it was radioactive. It almost made Payge but it down. However, she held it longer to read the label. "Giant Body?" She put the vial and picked up another one. "Are these Heartless serums?"

"Is this how they've been . . ." Demyx's voice trailed off when he saw the label on the one Payge was holding: Search Ghost. His eyebrows popped up when Payge pocketed it. "You're not going to-"

Payge shook her head. "It just might come in handy." She moved to a different part of the room and found papers scatted all over a table. She picked one up. " 'It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is. I shall conduct the following experiments: extract the darkness from a person's heart, cultivate darkness in a pure heart, both suppress and amplify the darkness within . . .' "

Demyx walked over and picked up the other papers. "These are the Ansem Reports."

"Bane, will it kill you to shut up?" Thrash muttered, his golden eyes on the girl.

She gritted her teeth, revealing her pointy canines. "No. Not after when you didn't listen to me. I told you I didn't want to be included in any of your experiments." She was referring to what had happened a couple of days ago.

"And I said some time before that you didn't have a choice." His eyes narrowed when Bane approached him. He stood and Bane suddenly halted. Thrash decided to close the distance between them. His gaze was cast downward. He supposed him being five inches taller was an intimidation factor for the determination she had was gone off her face. However, he didn't want it to disappear; he wanted to provoke her, rile her up, make her angry. "You're not backing down, are you Monkey Girl?"

It was a deliberate insult to her obvious Heartless characteristics, something that had been bothering Bane for as long as she could remember. And he knew it. She clenched her fists. "You're such a jackass!"

"And you're a bitch." Like he had expected her to, she tried to slap him. Without difficulty, he caught her hand. "Your movements are predictable," he said, squeezing her wrist.

Bane felt the jab of pain and tried to kick him. Thrash dropped her wrist to block, already knowing her strength. He then pulled her closer and punched her in the stomach. She doubled over and Thrash turned his back on her. "You really can be such a stupid—!" He heard movement and turned around. Before he could react, Bane tackled him on the ground. Her hands had his wrists while her legs were on either side of his.

"What are you going to accomplish from this?" Thrash asked, his voice impassive now.

"I'll, I'll . . ." Bane didn't know what to say. She hadn't thought that far. Apparently there was nothing more she could do in this pin. She could try to punch him but, now that he was irritated, he would attack her with his claws. Between a Wight Knight and a Powerwild, she didn't know which one was better to be.

The door opened and Artemis came inside. He stared at them for a good second before he stated, "I need to talk to Dimitri. Bane, leave the room."

Bane growled and got off Thrash. She walked around Artemis instead of doing ramming into him, something she really wanted to do.

"Tiffany."

Bane stopped at the sound of her real name and turned around. Thrash was standing there, brushing himself off and getting the wrinkles out of his suit. Bane swayed on the spot, knowing Artemis was waiting for the transaction to take place. "What is it?"

"Nothing really," Thrash said nonchalantly. "Just that you shouldn't be acting so reckless. Bad things could happen whether you plan it or not."

"Is that a threat?!" She was heading toward him when Artemis stepped in her way.

"Bane, just leave," Artemis said. "I don't have time for your childish games."

Bane, feeling there was nothing she could do, left the room.

Riku had just taken them into Wonderland's Lotus Forest when they were surrounded by one hundred Heartless, possibly more. Riku summoned his keyblade and Axel summoned his chakram. The guys looked back at Alana. "Well," Axel smirked, "What are you going to do?"

Alana looked at her hand. After a few seconds it glowed. "What do you think?"

Riku grinned and looked away, his eyes landing on a Heartless jumping at him. He held his stance and slashed at the creature. It dissipated and a heart was released. Before any more could close in on them, he ran into the crowd and started swinging his keyblade around. Axel took off in the opposite direction and threw his flaming chakram into the pack. He grinned and created a moving firewall.

Alana turned around and saw the Neoshadows behind her. Swiftly, she reached inside of one and crushed its heart. The creature immediately dispersed into tiny particles before evaporating. A Neoshadow jumped in the air, became as flat as a disk and starting spinning toward her. Alana ducked out of the way. The Neoshadow stopped spinning in midair, its yellow eyes on her. Alana waited for it come back down.

"Alana! Behind you!"

Before she could see, she felt something cut her arm and saw a flash of black at the corner of her eye. At her time of distraction, the Heartless in the air came back down toward her. Alana braced herself for impact.

Riku leaped up and cut through the Neoshadow. Axel quickly threw his chakram at the Heartless that had cut Alana. Axel landed next to her and smirked. "What would you do without me?" Alana pulled Axel aside and passed her hand through a Heartless, crushing its heart.

"Don't get overconfident," Alana muttered. She looked behind her and saw Riku had joined them. "How long do you think this would take?"

"Hopefully not long," Riku said.

"I can do this all day," Axel said.

The fight did not take all day like Axel had hoped. Only forty minutes had passed when Riku slew the last Heartless. Axel was hunched over, breathing heavily. He glanced at Alana, who was on her knees. She lost her balance but caught herself with her hands. Axel raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

"I'm great," she muttered.

Riku found that it was not easy catching his breath. He glanced and saw that Axel was sitting on the ground. "Axel, you want to stay here with Alana? I need to find that keyhole and seal it." Riku turned around and saw a man walking out from behind a tree.

"I can't let you do that," the guy said with an uneasy grin. "I have to protect it so Artemis will give me the cure. Even without an army to support me I'll defend it."

"Army?" Axel repeated. "You sent those Heartless after us?"

"I had no choice. I don't want to be like the others." He moved closer but the stopped and gripped his sides. He fell onto the floor and writhed in pain. "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"

Alana's eyes opened wide when he saw that his skin was changing colors and that his body was stretching and elongating. The man's pupil disappeared in a vast sea of yellow. He became twice his height when his screams subsided. He stood up, now looking more like a Heartless than a creature. His skin turned black and yellow rings appeared on his head and body. Suddenly two sticks appeared in his deformed hands.

Riku stared at the Heartless. "A Trickmaster?"

Demyx was studying the Ansem Reports when he heard a door opened and shut. "Payge?"

"Yeah?" Her voice came from the other side of the room.

"Never mind," he replied, walking along the aisles to find the door. He start he saw a movement behind something and ran around the corner. Before he could see the person, an arm came flying into his face. He fell backward, landing painfully on his back. He looked up and saw Bane. He grinned sheepishly. "Hello?"

Bane attempted to punch him in his face and Demyx rolled out of the way. He got on his feet and started to back away.

"Don't be mad, we were just about to leave," Demyx said. He was about to add something when she jumped up and tried to deliver a double kick. He quickly blocked it and pushed her away. She landed on her feet. Then she charged again and kicked high. Demyx moved out of the way. Bane twisted her body in the air and kicked his side. He flew into a rack of vials.

Payge appeared from behind a rack and saw Demyx on the ground. "Demyx!" She was about to run to him but Bane cut her off. She was sure Bane was going to kick but Bane caught her off guard with a blow to the stomach.

Demyx got up and rammed into Bane. The blue-haired girl stumbled and nearly lost her balance. Demyx got his sitar out, ready for the challenge. "Alright, Payge?"

"Yes, thank you," she said, holding her stomach. Her brown eyes landed on Bane. Her eyes widened when Bane leaped forward. Demyx stepped in front and with a strum of his sitar, he struck her with a blast of water.

Bane expected to be slammed into the wall at full force but she found herself against something soft. She heard a single statement: "You truly are a foolish woman." Bane looked over her shoulder and saw that it was Thrash who had caught her.

Demyx held his ground, feeling Payge's presence by him. This time, he wasn't going to run away. He wanted to prove to Payge he was strong and reliable. Not only that, but that he was brave, too. So it was natural that he wasn't prepared for when Thrash said, "Run along."

"What?" Demyx said.

"I suppose this is the part you run away, right?"

Demyx narrowed his eyes. "I'm not running away this time."

"Look. I'm in a generous mood today. So you can escape and try to figure out with your lack of intelligence what I'm up to. As of right now, you're not a threat nor of importance. Of course we could fight but it won't end well for Payge."

Demyx's glare darkened at the threat. He made a portal. "Payge, go through."

"You're not going to-"

"I won't. I'll come right after you." Payge nodded and walked into it. Just as he promised, as much as he didn't want to, he walked through and the portal disappeared.

King Mickey paced in the library as he thought about Riku's report. "How can this be possible? I thought that Trickmasters were rare and nearly impossible to find. How did they get that technology?"

Riku shrugged. "I wish I knew. It would make things easier. Imagine if there were more of them in the other worlds. Sora might need help."

Mickey nodded in agreement. "Maybe you, Axel and Alana should check up on him."

"I think it might just be me this time. Axel and Alana probably have other plans."

A/N: Yep. Riku sets the stage for the next chapter. Did you realize that Chapters 9-11 take place in a day? I just noticed. Anyway, thanks to halfdemon-kai for reviewing last chapter. Christmas cookie to you. Since I'm not going to put an Author's Note in the next chapter because it's longer than this o ne: Happy Holidays!