Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with some exceptions. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy

The Twilight Will

By Demonabyss

Chapter 21: Day 394: From the City to the Country

It was on the late afternoon when the Chaos Corridor opened. The swirling vortex went unnoticed as Roxas tumbled out, still not used to the difference between them and normal Darkness Corridors. He stood up and looked around the area he had landed in this time. It was a lush forest with a dirt path leading to a nearby clearing. Already he would tell the difference from Jak and Daxter's world as the air here was much cleaner. Looking around he saw some dirt roads splitting off and going in several directions. One main road down the middle of this canyon like place with a diverging road going up towards the top of a cliff, most likely to a settlement of some kind, and another going through some kind of gate and into … a stone wall? Weird. There were also two large wood pillars standing on the side of road near a waterfall and pond, close to where he had landed. Between the pillars was a rope that hung long, massive scrolls. The scrolls, when lined up next to each other, depicted a white horse with odd extensions and red highlights. On its back was a saddle with what looked like a hand fan. In any case, he saw a road sign in the middle of the intersection and decided to start there. As the Cheshire Cat said; when knowing where you're going is preferable to being lost, ask.

Deciding to try out his new toy, he opened the computer and started to press on the touch screen. Immediately the Compass, which is what he decided to call the thing given what it was supposed to do, came to life. Pointing it at the sign, the machine immediately scanned and translated it. The arrow pointing to his right said Agata Forest, the one pointing to the odd wooden gate said Sasa Sanctuary, and the one to the left said City Checkpoint. Considering one road went to a forest and the other went into a wall, Roxas turned left to head for the Checkpoint.

He entered another area, more open than the one behind him. However, as soon as he did, he felt the Chaos Tear flare up. Quickly pulling it out, he saw that the Darkness Gem was blazing, almost forming a small pillar on the piece of jewelry. On the center tear he saw an emblem that he recognized instantly. He had seen it many times on his missions for the Organization. It was the emblem for the Heartless. His fears were confirmed when he heard a woman's scream nearby. 'Time to go to work,' he thought as he summoned Two Becomes One and Rejection of Fate.

Running forward he came to a large camp area with what looked like a small restaurant to the side of the road along with a number of tents and camp sites. On the far side was a cliff with a massive drawbridge pulled up on the other side. There were also two large statues that were on fire in the shape of a bird. He could see a group of people being backed into the side of the canyon by a type of Heartless that Roxas had never seen before. They stood upright, were human shaped, and were about one and a half times as tall as the standard Soldier Heartless. They wore sandals, a long purple battle skirt, gray colored robes, a blood-red sash tied around their waist, and a flat, cone-like hat on their heads with eye markings similar to what he had seen on other Heartless. They had the Heartless emblem on their chests and carried long spear with the Heartless emblem being the blade.

Reacting quickly he dashed forward, causing the Heartless to turn their attention towards him. They had no mouths, but their yellow eyes narrowed at the sight of the Keyblades. Forgetting their prey, they went and attacked the greater Nobody. Roxas countered by flaring Two Become One and unleashing a wave of Chaos Blades at them, taking out the first line and heavily damaging the ones behind. He engaged the Heartless and already he could tell they were different then other Heartless he had faced. Most others he had faced, bar larger ones, were usually pretty mindless and reacted like instinct driven animals at best. These ones however were acting differently.

As he slashed and blocked, he noticed that they were attacking together in patterns, trying to cut off escape routes and to attack him from behind while he was occupied with others. Some were using their spears to try and hold his weapons in place to essentially disarm him. In short, these … Spearmen were using teamwork, something Heartless simply didn't do, not to this level any way. Deciding to end this quickly, he summoned his Light Shields and used the beams to tear through them at a distance. In short order they were all dispelled, their imprisoned hearts floating up into the sky before fading away.

Banishing his Keyblades, he turned to look at the people who had been attacked, now staring at him in shock and awe at his power. The first to speak was a small girl in a light orange kimono with light green trim with short black hair. "Thank you mister for getting rid of those demons," she said breaking the silence. Roxas pulled down his hood, showing his face and calming some of the people who hadn't been able to see it before.

An older girl in a similar kimono who with a large hat on her head and bearing a resemblance to the smaller girl came up and gave a small bow to Roxas. "Yes, thank you for aiding us stranger. Those demons are getting bolder every day, making it dangerous to travel. We are indebted to you," she with utmost politeness.

"Then maybe you can help me by telling me where I am and what's going on here." His stomach rumbled and he gave a lopsided grin. "I could also do with some food if you have some to spare," he asked them.

An old woman came up from behind the two girls with a chuckle. "Don't worry about that young man. For what you did, I'm sure we can spare a few dumplings and some tea."

Soon they were sitting at the small tea shop that was located next to the checkpoint. While Roxas didn't really care for the tea, he did like the dumplings as he turned to the two girls. "My name's Roxas. So can you tell me what's going on here?"

The older girl spoke, sipping tea slowly as she did. "My name is Camille and this is my sister Camellia. We've been traveling across the country, following the path of sacred trees planted by our ancestors to try and discover our roots. However, travel has been difficult since about a couple weeks ago." The older sister shuddered for a moment before continuing. "It seems that the monster Orochi was released, causing demons all over to become active."

The blonde boy raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What is an Orochi?"

The girl took another sip of tea to calm herself before speaking. "Orochi was a massive eight-headed serpent, as big as a small mountain with terrible power. A hundred years ago, he was slain and sealed by the warrior Nagi into the Moon Cave, which lies to the far northeast of here. However, Orochi was released when the sword Tsukuyami was removed. The result was that demons everywhere became awake. Though according to rumor, Nagi's descendent Susanoo defeated Orochi. Other demons have also appeared but were later killed. A massive spider in Agata forest and a fire demon known as Crimson Helm in Kusa Village just east of here."

The greater Nobody was silent for a moment before asking his next question. "What about those creatures that were attacking you when I arrived? What do you know about them?"

It was another traveler who spoke up this time, a man in a blue tunic who was sitting nearby. "Those demons are new. No-one has seen them before nor does anyone recognize the emblem they bear. Since the roar that heralded Orochi's return, they have begun appearing. Just a few appeared at first, small creatures, bearing no emblem, then larger ones in strange armor and most recently those Spearmen. They all appeared heavily around Sei-An City, but not in the city itself. This is the furthest they been seen from the city."

The Keyblade user frowned. That didn't make sense. Heartless tended to gravitate towards places with a lot of people, with a lot of hearts to consume. Why would they attack travelers around the city, but not in the city itself? He turned to Camille, "What about the city itself? Any rumors about that?" he asked concerned.

The tea customer sighed before speaking. "At the moment there are only rumors. Not even the checkpoint guards know why the drawbridge has been raised. Personally I think something fishy is going on. One rumor I heard is that there's some mysterious illness blanketing the city. It came around about the same time the bridge was raised."

Another man spoke up, this one was rather stout and in an odd uniform with a bow. "You know the phoenix statues here?" he said pointing to the twin birds on fire standing where the bridge would be if it were lowered. "Normally they protect the checkpoint with sacred flames that drive away evil demons. However, they were out until recently. There's also the rumor that a massive curse zone that happened so close to the Kamiki Festival that's held each year. What bothers me though are those black demons. The sacred flames should have kept them away, but they didn't. It might be the 100-year curse!"

Roxas shook his head. "No, I don't think so. Those creatures were called Heartless and their not evil … not really."

All the travelers camping in the area looked at him curiously. Camille voiced the question they were all thinking. "You know those demons?"

"Not demons, Heartless," he said almost automatically. He then started speaking, remembering his lessons from his first few weeks with the Organization. "Heartless are creatures born of pure Darkness. There are two kinds, Pureblood and Emblem. Pureblood Heartless bare no emblem and formed from Darkness itself. Emblem Heartless are formed when a living being's heart is consumed by Darkness. Heartless are not evil by nature, just …" he paused trying to find the right word to describe the creatures. Even after hunting them for a more than a year, he still wasn't sure what he thought of them. "… feral. They act on pure emotion and instinct. They can't plan or coordinate in a big way, not without someone … or something directing them."

The old woman, Mrs. Pine, who owned the tea shop, got it first. "You think these … Heartless are being controlled by a demon? Using them to go where they can't?" she voiced what many were now thinking. Some were shaking at the idea. People relied on talismans and prayers to keep demons away, but if those demons now had servants that could go past those protections … many didn't want to think about it.

The blonde nodded solemnly. "It would make sense. You said those flames ward away demons, but the Heartless aren't demons. They just do what their instincts tell them. It would also explain how they fought and their actions around the city. Heartless always appear in areas with lots of people, lots of hearts for them to seek out. For them to avoid going into the city along with this weird mist, yeah I think someone or something is the using them. How do I get to Sei-An City?" he asked.

The portly guard sighed. "You would simply have to follow the coastline to where the port is to get there. But you can't, not with the Great Drawbridge pulled up. The only way it will be lowered is if Queen Himiko gives the order."

Roxas just smirked. "Not a problem for me. I'll get across and head to city," he said while getting up. "Well, thanks for the food and tea. I'll head towards the city and see what can be done," he said as he turned towards the checkpoint on the other side of the ravine. Gauging the distance, he started to run towards the edge and when he got there he jumped, much to the traveler's shock. The instant he was air born he used his glide ability as well as summoning his Light wings. A few beats of the wings and he made it to the other side with no problem. Standing on the checkpoint building on the other side, he turned and waved at the people, most of which were still stunned at what they had seen. Turning away he continued onward. If he had stayed a few more moments, he would have seen a strange white wolf with red markings enter the checkpoint on the other side of the ravine.

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The greater Nobody entered the coast and was both amazed and shocked at what he was seeing. While he had seen a coast line before on Jak and Daxter's world, this one was far less rocky and more like what you would see near a resort. To his right was what looked like a small graveyard with a large bell and steps leading to a temple of some kind in a style he had never seen before. Over all it was a beautiful sight … except there was one problem. 'Looks like I finally got to the beach, too bad it's ruined by that … Darkness?' he thought as he walked forward cautiously, absently bringing out the Chaos Tear and the Compass as he did.

What was in front of him was this massive Dark energy field that was covering nearly all of the area. Everything caught in the field looked deadened, darkened, and far less vibrant than it should be. Even the area that only around the field and not in it was affected, shrouding the area, darkening the sky and blackening the water. The energy field, what he assumed to be the curse zone that the travelers had mentioned before, seemed almost alive in a sense. Roxas could clearly see the border where the zone ended, though there were extensions, like a slow moving sludge along the edge, showing that the zone was slowly increasing in size. The Tear sparked to life, the Dark Gem flaring but the Light and Void gems were also faintly glowing, showing that whatever was in front of him was NOT pure Darkness. It was also flashing several strange characters or glyphs that the blonde didn't understand. Channeling some power into the machine on his arm, he gave a vocal command. "Compass, uh … what is this field thing and what do these symbols mean?" he asked unsure if the device would respond.

Apparently it did and replied back in a female voice with a metallic tone to it. [Designation acquired. Set as "Compass". Analyzing energy field. Energy field is composed of Darkness diluted to 13% with varying density and unknown added elements. Source of energy field is unknown.] It stopped for a moment before starting again, this time the screen showing the same symbols as what the Tear of Chaos had been flashing a moment before. [Translating. Character translation complete.] It said as it displayed the meanings for each character. Roxas frowned at what he was reading. Darkness, curse, hatred, and misfortune. Whoever or whatever had set this up was not friendly.

"Compass, how far does this … cursed zone go?" he asked as he slowly approached the border. Cautiously he placed his hand inside. Immediately he could feel the curse zone react, trying to corrupt him but completely unable to do so. He had lived in the World that Never Was, fought Heartless the very embodiment of true Darkness on a regular basis, and even traveled through Darkness as often as people walked to their jobs. With the Darkness in the cursed zone being diluted and completely unable to affect him even if it wasn't, the overall effect of the zone was reduced significantly. Still, there was something to it. It was like placing his hand through water, though only slightly less thick and with a strange tingling sensation, most like the "unknown elements" trying to corrupt him and failing.

The Compass chimed again. [Analysis complete. Displaying local area affected by energy field designated as "curse zone" with varying densities.] The screen now showed just how large the field in front of him was, reaching out quite a distance from the shore and inland as well. However, there were two things that bothered the Nobody. The first was while the zone easily stretched towards the city; it only went around it and did not cover it like it did the rest of the land. The second was that nearby the edge of the zone was much less dense, as if something was trying to hold the curse zone back. Before he could investigate however, a thunderous explosion rang throughout the area.

Turning quickly and pulling his hood up, Roxas ran back towards the checkpoint, Keyblades blazing for a fight. When he got there he was stunned. The entire checkpoint had been leveled, nothing but smoking ruins of the government buildings that had been there just minutes before. The only thing left was the bridge itself which was now lowered to allow anyone to pass. There were also small patches of Darkness, similar to the cursed zone but on a much smaller scale, litter around what was left of the checkpoint. Roxas quickly scanned the area for the cause. He knew the Heartless didn't do this as they only sought to collect hearts. Large scale damage like this was not something they would normally do. 'But whoever or whatever is controlling them might. The question is; why would they want the bridge lowered? All it did was allowing people to escape from the cursed zone and the Heartless,' he thought to himself as he carefully went forward. He noticed one of the guards from before running towards him. But was unable to say anything as the slender man with a gold archery bow ran right past him. Shaking his head, Roxas turned around to find a strange sight.

It was a wolf, a large white wolf. Despite never seeing a wolf before in his short life, Roxas knew this was no ordinary animal. For one thing it didn't make sense for a white wolf to live in a forested area like this, the coloring was wrong, so this creature was not native to this place. Another thing was that it had strange, feather like extensions and bright red markings, much like that horse picture he had seen before on the hanging scrolls. Last but not least, this wolf had a strange disk floating just above its back with tendrils of crimson, fiery energy whipping around it as it spun.

Immediately the Tear of Chaos reacted. Pulling it out, the Light gem flared brightly with the Void gem also glowing, though nowhere near as much. The Darkness gem was lifeless and the tear itself showed the image of … a circle? It was a red circle that looked to be on fire with another of those characters on it. Quickly translated it meant shine, meaning this circle was a shining ball of fire? Was this supposed to be the sun or something? Whatever this creature was it was not a Heartless nor was it a normal creature. Deciding to be cautious, he slowly walked towards the creature, Two Become One and Rejection of Fate still in his hands.

On the other end of the clearing, the sun goddess Amaterasu Okami stared at the strange boy in front of her, at least he looked like a boy. Obviously he had come due to the explosion, but where he had come from was another matter. His clothes pegged him as a foreigner as no one wore a black coat like that and those swords were powerful. She could sense from here that they were not normal and could possibly be on par with any one of her Divine Instruments. The most disconcerting thing about the approaching young man was that he had no real smell. Oh there were smells on him, mostly of metal and chemicals that she didn't recognize that he most likely came into contact with, but there was no scent coming off of the boy himself. The sun goddess also couldn't sense anything substantial where the boy stood, almost like a moving dead zone lacking any kind of real filler. It was as if the boy both was and wasn't there at the same time, making his aura hard to read. He wasn't a spirit, he was too solid looking for that and certainly didn't feel like one. He also wasn't a demon, again the aura wasn't there. To put it simply, this boy was something new. However, before either could make a move or say anything, the Poncle on her head decided to make himself known.

"Hey kid, you okay? You didn't get caught in the blast did ya?" a small green ball yelled at Roxas, startling him. He lowered his Keyblades as he approached but still kept them ready. He looked down to see … a bug? No, it was a small person, just like that fairy he had met in Neverland. This one was vastly different however as before it had been a small glowing girl with wings who had never said anything while this one looked like a small samurai with a beetle like hat.

Raising an eyebrow under his hood, Roxas looked down at the sprite. "No, I was at the coast when I heard it. What happened?" he asked as he kneeled down to the wolf's level as it approached with the bouncing ball. He dismissed Two Becomes One to pet the wolf who was now sitting nicely in front of him.

The small person chuckled nervously before answering. "Well that was kinda our fault. We need to get to Sei-An City and the only way to do that was to lower the bridge. The guard with the bow said they would lower it if he shot a flaming arrow, so we lit one of his arrows on fire while he was practicing. Unfortunately it landed in the powder storage area and the whole place went up," the small bouncing ball explained. Roxas nodded in understanding and was about to ask another question when the Chaos Tear flared up. Taking it out quickly he saw the Darkness gem flare intensely and the symbol of the Heartless appeared.

The greater Nobody quickly stood up, summoning Two Become One searching for their attacker. The wolf also took up an aggressive posture, sensing something as well. Both looked around, but didn't see anything. 'Where is it? The Tear wouldn't react like that unless the Heartless was near. So where … oh crap,' he thought as he realized what it was they were facing. His thoughts were confirmed when he saw two glowing eyes. "GET DOWN!" he yelled as he ducked under the twin laser beams. Both he and the wolf turned towards the source to see their real enemy appear. It stood nearly twice as tall as Roxas with dark green skin and black strips, hunched over with five spikes on its backs, with three clawed feet and hands, a large horn on its snout, and a long tail that was curled around in the a spiral like swirl. Roxas had seen this type of Heartless before, even read about this specific one, but never actually faced it before. "Great, a Stealth Sneak," he muttered to himself.

However, the tiny bouncing person with the beetle hat heard him. "Stealth Sneak, kid you know what that thing is?" he said in a surprised voice as it spoke from on top of the wolf's head.

"Explanations later, right now we have to take that thing out!" he yelled as he dashed at the large Heartless. The chameleon like creature swiped with its claws at Roxas. The Keyblade wielder dodged to the side and slashed at the creature's side. The Stealth Sneak screeched in rage and spun around with its tail, knocking him away before he could block. Roxas flew through the air and landed hard into a tree, dizzied from the strike.

Amaterasu growled and dashed forward at the unknown demon. Seeing her coming, it lashed out with its whip like tongue. She dodged to the side and got in close, the divine instrument on her back changed from the reflector to a large royal blue color sword with a ring of holy energy around the hilt, Tsumugari. The holy weapon cut into the strange creature, causing it to scream again and jump up into the trees and fading away. The sun goddess quickly ran to the downed boy with the strange swords. He stood up and was looking around wildly. Issun spoke up at that point. "You okay kid? The thing is gone now," he tried to sooth the boy. However, she could see he was not convinced.

"No it's not. That's the problem with this thing, it turns invisible and attacks when you're not looking," he quickly said before pushing the white wolf out of the way as the Heartless' tongue lashed out again. Thinking quickly, Roxas took Rejection of Fate and stabbed the Stealth Sneak's tongue and the tree, effectively pinning it there. On the other end the Heartless became visible as it tried to retract its tongue and instead pulled itself and slammed into the tree horn first, getting that stuck as well.

Charging Two Become One as much as possible, he unleashed a massive wave of Chaos Blades at the pinned Heartless. As he did, something weird happened. The fire from the sacred phoenix statues on the other side of the bridge flared and jumped across to Roxas' blade just as he slashed. The result was a massive tsunami of Light, Darkness, Nothingness, and fire hitting the Stealth Sneak at point blank range. The thing screamed in pain as it dissolved into Darkness before fading away, the heart it had contained floating upwards into the sky before it too faded.

With the threat gone, he turned to wolf that was now approaching calmly. Once again the small bouncing person spoke up. "That was some attack kid, what's your name?"

Looking down at the bouncing ball with a raised eyebrow he replied evenly, "Roxas. And you are?"

The little man in the beetle hat seemed to swell with pride as he spoke. "I'm Issun, the wandering artist and this here is the great sun goddess Amaterasu," he said as the wolf barked, tail wagging happily.

Roxas raised an eyebrow skeptically. While he had seen his fair share of strange things, a goddess in the form of an animal was a little much. Then again, he wouldn't have believed Daxter was anything more than an annoying rodent before he saw him transform back into his original form by that old Precursor, so who was he to judge? He shook his head before turning to head back towards the coast. "Well nice meeting you, but I need to get to Sei-An city and there's a massive curse zone in my way that I have to get around," he said as he turned to leave.

Issun bounced on top of the wolf's head as she made to follow him. "A curse zone, we can take care of that no problem." He only got a skeptical look from the boy. "Trust me; you'll see some of Ammy's real power then. Besides, we're heading to the city too." Roxas only shrugged, figuring he had nothing to lose.

The strange trio made their way to the coast. As soon as they got there, Issun start to bounce on Ammy's head, shocked at the size of the curse zone he was seeing. "What the hell is going on here? Orochi's stupid cursed zone spread all the way here? This past the check point and besides, we already killed that sneaky serpent!"

Roxas cut in, adding his findings. "I don't think this was created by Orochi. Someone or something else is maintaining this, especially since the curse zone surrounds Sei-A city but doesn't go into it. I think it's the same being that is controlling the Heartless, like that Stealth Sneak we fought earlier."

Ammy turned towards the boy with a questioning look, if a wolf could have such a look. Issun voiced her question. "Stealth Sneak, that's the second time you mentioned that and what is a Heartless?" Roxas then explained again about Heartless, the different kinds, and their normal behavior. "That Stealth Sneak was probably sent to keep the bridge up, cutting off the coast from everywhere else and that's what worries me. Heartless don't use tactics like that, or at all for that matter. They follow their instincts only as far as I know. The only reason they would act like this would mean someone or something is controlling them." A thought then crossed his mind as they made their way down a path that was on the side of the mountain where the shrine was located. "Have either of you encountered Heartless before?" he asked curiously.

Issun shook his head, though it was a little hard to see due to his size. "Nope. We didn't encounter any of them in the eastern part of Nippon and that lizard thing was the first one we've ever met up with."

The greater Nobody nodded. "Then that just supports the idea that someone on the coast is controlling them and probably created this curse zone as well. We'll probably find out more once we reach the city, assuming we can get there," he said a little dejectedly as they came to the end of the trail, a large rock wall with a crack in it. "Well this is as far as we go."

"Not quite," the diminutive artist said with a grin in his voice. "Ammy, you know what to do." The wolf barked in response and right before Roxas' eyes, a circle with a line sticking out through the top appeared in what looked like black ink in mid air for a split second before a large paper covered ball with a burning fuse. He backed up as the Cherry Bomb went off, taking out the stone wall. On the other side they found a small pond as well as a cave stretching up and outward.

"How did you do that?" Roxas asked curiously. While he had seen some strange things, making a bomb appear out of thin air was new to him.

"That was the Celestial Brush," Issun explained. "It's a special technique that allows gods and those trained in it to manipulate the world around them. What you just saw was the Cherry Bomb."

Looking through the cave, Roxas opened Compass and scanned the area. "There's something up there that's trying to hold back the curse zone, but it's weak. I'm gonna go scout it out," he said before jumping up and making his way through the cave before Issun or Ammy could protest.

Roxas exited the cave at a higher elevation, passing by a couple dried up ponds before getting to the top. At the top of the small mountain was another dried up pond with what looked like a withered plant of some kind in the center of it. Looking at Compass, he was surprised to find that the withered plant was what was trying to keep back the curse zone. The greater Nobody approached and kneeled down next to it, examining the thing. "What is this thing? How can a plant hold back Darkness, even diluted Darkness like this?" he wondered out loud to himself. However, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of … rushing water?

Turning quickly he saw the pond around him fill up with water. The source was a … flow of water for lack of a better description. It was coming up from below the plateau and into the pond, as if being pumped through a pipe minus the pipe itself. Standing next to the flow was Amaterasu with her tail wagging as the pond quickly filled with water. Before he could voice his confusion, the plant in front of him reacted. It started to gather energy and began to grow rapidly. Jumping away, Roxas watched in awe as the shriveled plant grew to a good sized tree with a distinct spiral trunk. However, while it did look much healthier than it was a moment ago, it lacked any leaves, fruit, blossoms, or any other vegetation. Checking Compass, he found that the plant's energy had increased, but not enough to push back the curse zone. He turned to the wolf who was now sitting with her tail wagging happily. "Well, that certainly helped, but the curse zone isn't going anywhere," he stated simply.

Issun made himself known again. "Just you wait kid. Okay furball, show him some real brushwork," he cried out. The Nobody turned to see a circle of ink flash around the tree before it became enveloped in pink floral energy. It reminding him of Marluxia's power but this had a strange aura to it. It felt comforting and protective rather than deceptive and poisonous. As the energy wrapped around the tree, it became covered in light pink blossoms, bringing it to full life. It was truly beautiful, but that did not prepare him for what happened next. The newly revived Guardian Sapling started to glow as it gathered energy into itself. Before he could question what was happening, the Sapling released the energy.

A massive wave of power exploded from the tree in all directions, causing flowers to bloom on the land, water to turn from grey to pure, and banishing the curse zone. Trees and animals appeared where there had been none; the entire coast was being transformed. Though he didn't see it, the Chaos Tear reacted, all three gems blazing as the curse zone was dispelled. In seconds the entire area was transformed into a beautiful coastline with pink flower petals drifting in the breeze and the smell of peach blossoms everywhere. Roxas stared in shock at the transformation resulting from the shockwave. The entire area had been transformed. Shaking his head he brought out Compass and scanned the area. The results shocked him even more. The curse zone was completely gone with only a few very small patches here and there along the coast. This was insane! He turned to see Amaterasu sitting with what he guessed was a smug look on her face if a wolf could ever have one. After a moment, Roxas found his voice, "Okay, I'm starting to believe you about the goddess thing."

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Far away from the Nobody, the wolf, and Poncle stood two people watching carefully as the group made their way towards the temple to stay for the night. A man and a woman; both looking normal enough except that their clothes did not match those of the locals at all. Unlike those of Nippon who wore mostly robes, tunics, and such, these two were dressed drastically different. The man was dressed in a fine suit with dark brown pants, a light tan overcoat, a dark tan vest underneath, white collar shirt, and blue tie. The woman was dressed identically with the only real difference was that she had an ankle length dark brown dress. Both the man and woman had red hair and blue eyes as they watched the strange group. "Well sister," the man said calmly, "it looks like he's definately the source of the anomaly."

The woman nodded. "Indeed brother. Who would have thought that boy would cause such a reaction when he created those Chaos Corridors? Still, I don't think he'll make any real difference here," she stated quite calmly.

The man shook his head. "On the contrary, I think he will. He certainly did so in the last two worlds he entered."

"He didn't change the final outcome. Alice still regained her sanity and Jak and that orange rodent still saved their world," she countered.

"Oh but he did. Not completely of course; but enough where he did cause the end result to be different than what would have happened normally. The Red Queen and Damas were not killed, changing the course of things dramatically from then on out. In any case we will just have to see how this story ends," the man said calmly.

A third voice however broke in before the woman could respond. "Still observing I see. Will you be revealing yourselves to him soon?" a calm voice said with a large twisted grin.

The woman sniffed disdainfully at the Cheshire Cat as she answered his question. "No we will not feline. As my brother said we will wait and see how his story goes," she said primly, not liking the demonic cat at all.

Cheshire seemed to give the feline equivalent of a shrug as he turned to fade away into mist. "As you wish. Just remember, you two came in at the middle of his story and have been simply skimming it as it has progressed. Missing the start and skipping many of the details; only concentrating on the major events. I would think as scientists you would know that details are vitally important and you will not detect them by simply observing from a distance, but that is your decision. Just remember that with Chaos involved, a coin has an equal chance to land on its heads, its tails, OR its edge," he said before vanishing completely into dark mist.

The man frowned for a moment before speaking again. "I'm starting to understand why Mr. DeWitt was so upset with us whenever we spoke with him," he said calmly, though a little perturbed by the Cat's exit.

"Indeed," the woman agreed silently, frowning at where demonic feline had once been. In the blink of an eye without light or sound, they too were gone from the area.

Journal Entry Day 394

Appearances:

This has been a long day. Going from the sand city of Spargus to this country side was quite a change as well as meeting Issun and Amaterasu. I'm currently in a temple where we're staying for the night before heading to Sei-An City. Never thought a wolf would be a goddess. Then again, I never thought a bunch of orange rodents would be gods either.

The Heartless in this world worry me. According to what Vexen told me long ago, Heartless only act on their instinct. For them to be organized means someone or something is controlling them. From what the locals said it's most likely these demons. But I don't know why. How did they gain control? What is the point? What is their goal? I know it has something to do with the city. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

AN: Sorry this took so long, but writing an introductory chapter for a new world is not easy. Also, someone asked me what the Dual Stance move is. If you go to Youtube and look up Roxas Boss fight from KHII Final mix you should see it. It's what happens if you don't do the reaction command in time and instead get hit.

AN Current World: Okami (Videogame by Clover)