Special thanks to DinoWriter23 for helping me write this chapter.
"... and then Sally thought of adding these nice vines to go along with the design of the building! It's perfect! The way they snake up the walls..." Jack chuckled as he chatted to the group while leading them through the streets of Halloween Town.
Clair flinched a bit at the word 'snake', but calmed down as she realized there wasn't one around.
"What do you think?" Jack asked Sora.
Sora gave a nod. "Yeah. It sounds like a nice touch. Really sets the spooky mood."
"Exactly what we were going for!"
As they followed the King of Halloween Town, Anne found herself humming the song that the residents were singing earlier when they had arrived. The tune was rather catchy, despite the creepiness that surrounded it.
They then walked by a field with dark purple grass, but what caught Sora's attention was a scarecrow residing in it. It had a burlap sack with button eyes and a smile stitched into it as it was placed on a wooden pole, where bits of a light brown fiber poked out of the top of the burlap sack. The scarecrow was also dressed in a black coat with a couple patches on it as two claws hung off the ends of the scarecrow's arms. Lea and Sora both paused as they looked at it. There was something rather familiar about the scarecrow...
Jack seemed to notice their gaze and looked at it as well. "Oh! I see you've found one of the old attractions. You see, I saw someone come through town, around a half a year ago, and they inspired me to create this! It definitely added some more flare to the festivities. I decided to put it aside to use again just in case."
"This person you saw... did he have a black coat? With blonde hair that spiked up?" Lea questioned, though he already had a feeling he knew exactly who the Pumpkin King spoke of.
"Why, yes! In fact, now that I think about it, he looked like you, Sora." Jack told the spiky haired teen.
Roxas. The one Jack was talking about was Roxas. Lea's face fell a bit upon remembering his friend.
Sora remembered the fate of his Nobody and let out a sigh as he gazed at the scarecrow. Roxas deserved better... he had every right to be his own person. After all the events that happened during his Mark of Mastery Exam, he felt even more terrible for Roxas once they had discovered the Organization's true plan. It made him want to try and help this Nobody, even though he was now one with Sora's heart.
Was there even a way to bring Roxas back?
"Sora?"
Jack snapped Sora out of his thoughts. "Huh? Yeah?"
"You spaced out there for a moment. Are you alright?"
Sora waved it off. "Yeah, I was just thinking... the scarecrow... its kinda familiar."
"Oh, does it resemble someone you know?"
"You could say that." Lea replied as they caught up with the rest of the group.
Aurora stayed behind the group as they resumed their trek. She then heard a voice call out, "Hey! Behind you!"
She paused for a moment, tensing a bit, before turning around just in time to see something at appeared to be a pumpkin thrown at her. Suddenly, it exploded in her face, knocking her onto her back, but not injuring her. "What the-?!"
It was then the sound of children cackling filled the air as the group turned around, seeing three small children dressed as a witch, a devil, and a skeleton, each with masks, laughing at Aurora's misfortune.
"We got her!" the shortest of the three cheered.
"You threw that?" Aurora frowned as she pushed herself up, glaring at the trio of troublemakers.
"We did!" the one dressed as a witch laughed.
Donald groaned. "Not them again!"
"Who are they?" Anne asked.
"Lock! Shock! Barrel!" Jack frowned as he approached them. The moment they saw Jack looming over them, their laughter ceased as they paled, shivering as they huddled together.
"Oh! H-Hi, Jack!"
"What have I told you three about pulling those sorts of pranks?" Jack scolded with a frown.
"W-W-We were just having fun!" Lock stammered.
"I will not have you antagonize Sora and his friends!" Jack crossed his arms. "Now, no more pranks like that from now on, understand."
"We understand!" the three chorused, but they each had their fingers crossed behind their backs before taking off.
Jack shook his head before turning to Aurora. "I'm terribly sorry about them. They just like to cause mischief."
"Nothing I can't handle." Aurora muttered, though annoyed by what had happened.
The tall, thin skeleton had the group follow him to a set of metal gates that led to a set of stairs, which led up to a crooked house. "Home, sweet home." Jack remarked happily as he started to walk up the stairs.
"Didn't Sally live with Dr. Finklestein?" Goofy questioned. Jason did a double take at the name, raising an eyebrow.
Jack looked over his shoulder. "Why, yes, but since your last visit, she's been living with me, now."
Clair blinked. "You two are dating?"
"Indeed, we are! Sally's the sweetest person I have ever known!" the Pumpkin King said. "Just wait till you meet her."
When Jack reached the door, he unlocked it and stepped inside, holding the door open for them. "Please, come in!"
The gang walked in one by one, being careful not to fall off the stairs. Anne was careful enough not to look over the edge. Once they were all inside, Jack called, "Oh, Sally! We have some guests!"
"Oh?" They then got their first look at Sally.
Those who had not seen her before were surprised to see that she had light blue skin, red hair, and had stitches all over her body. Even her dress was made of various patches. Despite her appearance, the living rag doll had a kind look in her eyes.
Still, some of the group were creeped out.
"Hi, Sally." Goofy greeted with a smile.
Sally smiled softly. "Sora, Donald, Goofy. Welcome back."
Clair and Chase looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes. They both had the same confused and slightly creeped out expressions. Jason was not sure what to think. Aurora merely rose an eyebrow.
"So... how did you two meet?" Dylan asked. "If you don't mind sharing."
Jack and Sally exchanged a look. "Dr. Finklestein created Sally, so she lived with him for a while." Jack began.
"But I wanted to see the town." Sally said. "So I kept running off. There, I saw Jack preparing for Halloween, helping making things scarier. I admired how enthusiastic he was about it, and how caring he was about the residents."
"I didn't realize how she felt about me for a while." Jack told them. "Truth be told, sometimes I felt myself growing tired of fear and terror. It was getting too routine. When the Heartless came, I thought it'd be a good idea to use them to spruce up Halloween."
"I remember that." Sora said. "The Heartless weren't acting like themselves, though."
"So we tried to make a heart to control them." Jack continued.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that idea backfired." Jason deducted.
"Yes." Jack admitted, "Yes, it did. To make matters worse, Oogie Boogie decided to attack."
"Oogie who?" Kairi asked.
"The Boogieman." Donald clarified. "We defeated him and the Heartless."
"A bit after Sora, Donald, and Goofy left, I ventured off into the woods, where i discovered a door. It led to a wonderful place so different from here. It had magic in the air, snow covering everything, presents... I discovered something called Christmas!"
"What?" Jason, Aurora, and Clair asked.
Anne looked over at them. "Don't you know what Christmas is?"
They shook their heads, much to Anne, Chase, Dylan, Sora, and Kairi's shock.
"Well, let me tell you what Christmas is." Jack said. "Each year, on December 24th, a man named Sandy Claws-"
"Santa Claus." Sora and Chase corrected.
"Right, Santa Claus, flies out and gives presents to all the good girls and boys."
Chase was shocked. "You don't have Christmas where you're from?" he asked Clair, who shook her head in reply.
Anne's jaw dropped. "You mean you don't have Christmas carols, or Christmas trees, no presents tied up in a bow...?!"
Aurora folded her arms. "Sounds like a waste of time."
"It's not a waste of time at all." Anne said, unfazed.
"Don't you have at least something similar to Christmas where you're from?" Dylan asked.
Clair thought about it. "Hmmm... not that I can think of."
Anne sighed. "You've never seen the beauty of homes light up at night?"
"Homes lighting up?" That seemed to attract Clair's attention.
"Yeah, during that time of year, people decorate their homes with Christmas lights to light up the night." Kairi explained.
"Just like Starbright!" Clair said.
Riku rose an eyebrow. "What's that?"
"It's something we do every year." Aurora said. "Give ourselves light since it's the one day of the year the sun doesn't shine."
"So, you put lights on your houses for that, then?" Chase questioned. Clair gave a nod.
"You don't have the splendid gift giving, either?" Jack inquired as he tilted his head.
"Nope. Nothing like that."
"... wow." Chase said. "Well, you've got to see how Christmas works sometimes."
Sally looked at Jack. "Jack? You were saying?"
"Hm? Oh! Right!" Jack remembered, then continued the story. "I became fascinated by Christmas, so I started to discover more about it, incorporating it into Halloween Town. When I heard about what Sandy Claws did, I thought that maybe I could do the same!"
"That sounds like a recipe for disaster." Jason remarked.
Sally let out a sigh. "It was. Jack tried to do something related to Christmas, it would turn out like Halloween."
"I thought I could take over for Sandy Claws for that year, so I asked Lock, Shock, and Barrel to bring him here to Halloween Town. I told him I'd deliver presents for him, then asked Sally to make me a suit like Sandy's to wear since she's excellent at stitching."
"I tried to warn Jack that it wasn't a good idea, that Halloween elements in Christmas didn't mix, but he was so excited..." Sally added.
"And he didn't listen, is what it sounds like." Aurora said.
"He didn't." Sally confirmed.
Jack let out a sigh this time. "I delivered the presents, but people... didn't have the reaction I had hoped for when I gave them the gifts. They even shot me down. It was there I realized that I had almost ruined Christmas. And then I had to rescue Sandy Claws from Oogie Boogie."
"I thought you said he was defeated?" Anne pointed out.
"He was, but somehow, he had come back. And Sally had been kidnapped as well. I defeated him again, and after that, Sandy Claws went out to the rest of the world to deliver the presents that were supposed to be sent. A while after that, I got back into the Christmas mood again, right when Sora, Donald, and Goofy came back."
"Right. That's when we got to visit Santa!" Sora said, then gave Riku a look. "He was REAL. I saw him with my own eyes."
"I still don't know who this Oogie Boogie is." Jason told them.
"He's basically one who liked to cause nightmares, as well as hurting people. He loved gambling, and he didn't play fair." Sally explained.
Jack gave a nod. "We went to Christmas Town because one, Sora wished to see Mr. Claws, and two, I wanted to talk to suggest some ideas for Christmas, but he was rather busy. However, somehow, Oogie Boogie had been brought back once more and kidnapped Sandy, yet again."
"How'd you stop him that time?" Clair asked.
"We had to beat him as his own game, since he was using a platform to send us towards spikes while trapping us on conveyor belts. We had to knock him off the platform several times in order to land hits on him. By the time we stopped him, bugs were leaking out of him." Sora told her.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, BUGS?!" Chase questioned with surprise.
"Oogie was basically a walking bag of bugs. Donald squashed this big one, and I think that was Oogie's main bug."
Jason thought about what he had been told.
"But he's gone for good now, right?" Anne asked.
"Oh, I hope so. He hasn't been seen since, and I'm hoping for it to stay that way." Jack told her. "But after he had been defeated, Sally had finished sewing up another Santa suit for me! But... Mr. Claws explained to me that even though it was quite tiring, it was always worth it to bring joy to others in the end. Just like how it's worth it for me to scare people silly."
Chase smirked. "Sometimes, it's good to be scared."
"Exactly!" Jack agreed. "Afterwards, I began to realize how Sally truly felt about me. I should have seen it, before. It was then I began to realize that I felt for her, too. I realized that we were simply meant to be."
Clair smiled. "Aw..."
Sora smiled as well, folding his arms behind his head.
"Ever since then, we've been together!" Jack smiled as he gently took Sally's hands in his own.
It was then they heard yipping. Anne looked up and gasped with surprise as they saw a ghost dog with a small pumpkin for a nose fly down a staircase. The ghostly dog flew around Sora, Donald, and Goofy happily.
"Hey, Zero!" Sora greeted with a grin.
Jason's eyes widened. First a flying horse. Now a ghost dog. Did every world defy logic?
Zero noticed the newcomers and tilted his head before floating over to them curiously.
"Hi?" Chase tried. The ghost dog sniffed him, then flew around him as he moved onto the others. Anne shivered as one of Zero's ears passed through her. Zero then floated by Dylan, circling around him for a moment. Clair wasn't sure exactly what to think at this. Aurora took a step back as Zero approached her, then moved over to Jason. He tilted his head once more before floating away.
"He's... interesting." Anne said.
"He's also cute. In a... strange sort of way." Kairi admitted. Out of the corner of his eye, Sora noticed a familiar outfit hanging in a closet. It was Jack's Santa outfit that Sally had stitched together for him the last time they were there. Sora cracked a smile at the sight as he looked over at the tall skeleton.
"You still have that?" he questioned with a chuckle.
"Why, of course! Sally worked so hard on it, so I kept it to remind myself of how wonderful she is."
Those words made Sora think of Kairi, prompting him to smile lightly as he and the redhead exchanged a shy smile. Jack's eye sockets then lit up. "Say, while you're all here, why don't we visit Christmas To-"
He was cut off by knocking on the door. Rather frantic knocking. "Jack! Jack, open up! It's me, the Mayor! Please, hurry!"
The Pumpkin King opened up the front door, revealing the literally two-faced Mayor. "Mr. Mayor! What brings you here?"
The Mayor's head whirled around to reveal his 'sad' face as he cried out, "Heartless! The Heartless are back!"
Anne groaned at that. "They're here, too?!"
Sora summoned his Keyblade. "We'll take care of them!" he declared before running past the Mayor and out the door. The rest of the team ran out after him, getting their weapons ready.
Jack joined them, his long lanky legs allowing him to catch up quickly. "Don't suppose you could use a hand?"
They arrived in the town square, finding several ghost-like Heartless floating around with a few other Heartless with the appearance of a mummy. The residents of Halloween Town had to go into hiding.
"Search Ghosts and Wight Knights..." Goofy gulped as he prepared his shield.
"Well, they know how to fit in with the town." Aurora said.
One of the Search Ghosts suddenly vanished in midair before suddenly appearing behind Dylan, grabbing hold of him. Dylan's sudden cry of surprise got their attention as they saw he was caught. Dylan began to feel dizzy as the Heartless lifted into the air.
"Hey!" Chase exclaimed before leaping at the Heartless from behind, forcing it to let go of his brother. Anne slashed at it quickly, knocking it back before checking on Dylan, who gasped as he recovered from his experience.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I think so." Dylan said, shaking off the dizzy feeling as he ran back into the fray.
A Wight Knight extended its arms as its claws hit Sora, who cringed as he felt the blow. Kairi then struck the Wight Knight from behind before shooting an orb of light at it.
Jack smacked a Heartless away. "You're not welcome here." the skelton told the Heartless they were facing. "Now go!" he added, baring his teeth as he made a scary face. The Heartless didn't seem fazed.
Jason punched one in the face. "He said go."
The Heartless stumbled, but then it attempted to attack him like it did to Sora before. Jason managed to get out of the way just as the claws passed him, but managed to graze his arm. He cringed, jumping away from it to avoid getting hit again as it then stumbled towards Aurora.
She ducked to avoid its extending arms before she leapt over it, striking it in the back with her Keyblade as she dealt the final blow to it.
A Search Ghost threw its claws towards Anne, who quickly leapt aside before charging at the Heartless just as it was retracting its arms. She swung her Keyblade upwards, slashing at the ghost-like Heartless.
Another Search Ghost attempted to attack Clair. She jumped to the side to avoid it as she quickly thought of a spell to use. "Thunder!" she cried out as she cast the spell, shocking the Search Ghost. The ghost twitched as it tried to move. Clair then slashed it with her Keyblade. She still wasn't used to looking like a werewolf at the moment, so she nearly stumbled as she attacked the Heartless.
Someone ended up catching her. She looked up and saw that Chase had helped her. "Tripping over your feet?" he joked lightly.
"Yeah." She admitted. One of the Wight Knights suddenly extended its arms at Chase as its claws grazed his arm. He let out a cry of surprise. Clair growled at that, then conjured a plasma bolt in her hands, or currently, her paws. She then fired it at the Heartless, destroying it as it vanished in a wisp of darkness.
"Thanks, Clair." Chase told.
She gave him a nod as she healed his injury with Cure before they leapt back into the fray.
Jack then created a fireball before throwing it like a bowling ball at a set of Wight Knights. It scattered them like bowling pins. Everyone's eyes widened at that, surprised by what the Pumpkin King did.
"Hey, nice one!" Sora called.
Lea sliced through one of the Wight Knights before they could even react. Riku shot a Dark Firaga at another, killing it.
Anne also went on the offensive. She leapt back before firing a Fire spell at the last Heartless in the area, finishing it off.
Dylan sighed when they were done. "I hate those things."
"What are the Heartless doing back here?" Jack wondered.
Suddenly, they heard a couple more screams come from distant parts of Halloween Town.
"There's more?" Anne asked. Chase groaned.
"They're all over town, apparently." Riku realized with a grim expression, then turned to the rest of the group. "If we split up, we might be able to take them out more quickly."
"Right. Donald, Goofy, and I will go this way!" Sora said as he jabbed a finger over his shoulder. Everyone then began to pick teams.
"I'll go this way with Jason and Aurora." Clair gestured towards a direction.
"Then I'll go that way with Chase and Dylan." Anne said as she nodded her head towards a path, still not looking at Aurora.
That just left Kairi and Riku, as well as Lea and Jack. "Then Kairi, Lea, and I will check out the forest." Riku announced.
Jack walked over to Sora. "Don't suppose you could use another hand, could you?"
"The more, the merrier!" Goofy told him.
"Right! Then I'll be heading with Sora this way!" Jack said as he gestured towards the path Sora pointed to before.
The groups then quickly headed off down separate paths to deal with the Heartless.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jack ran towards an area near the town square, where a few Shadows and Search Ghosts had materialized.
"Shall we?" Jack asked as he prepared to fight.
"Let's do it!" Sora exclaimed. The Keyblade wielder and the Pumpkin King charged forward with Donald and Goofy following them.
Jack grabbed Sora's arm. "Get ready!" he warned before tossing the teen into the air. Sora did a flip as he readied his Keyblade before bringing it down on an unsuspecting Search Ghost. The Heartless vanished after falling from the damage it took.
Goofy slammed his shield down onto a Shadow before it could slink back into the ground. Donald assisted his friend by freezing it with a Blizzard spell. Goofy attacked it again, spinning around this time. This was enough to destroy the Shadow.
Jack punted away a Shadow, sending it towards Sora, who sliced through it before moving onto another Search Ghost. As it vanished, he quickly moved out of the way before it could grab him and drain his health. Sora then hit it as hard as he could, keeping it up until the Heartless was destroyed and the heart was released.
Donald squawked as he felt a Search Ghost grab him before he could react. He struggled to break free as it began to sap away his health, but Goofy was quick to help, jumping upwards and ramming his shield into the Heartless's back, which freed Donald from its grasp. Donald groaned, rattling his head before he angrily shot a Thunder spell at the Heartless, stunning it long enough for Sora to slice through it.
That appeared to be the last of them. Donald looked around cautiously, just in case.
"This way, guys!" Sora told them before running towards another direction.
Meanwhile, Lea, Riku, and Kairi were currently facing against their own set of Heartless near the outside of town.
Lea made the first move with a swing of his Keyblade, knocking away a Shadow that had lunged toward him at that moment. The Shadow tumbled on the ground before crawling back up to its feet. The pyro steadied himself as the Heartless began to slither towards him, but was met by a fireball that Lea had shot at it, incinerating the Shadow.
Riku found himself squaring off against a Search Ghost.
He narrowed his eyes, shuffling back as the Heartless threw its arms at him. He barely avoided getting hit before he prepared his Dark Aura attack. He levitated into the air before suddenly vanishing, then began to teleport and hit the Search Ghost from all sides. That did the trick to defeating it.
Kairi made her move next, using what she had learned during her training and cast Blizzard, leaving a Wight Knight frozen in ice before Lea shattered it by slamming his Keyblade into it. A couple Shadows surrounded Kairi, who then spun around with her Keyblade. Her move ended up destroying both Shadows.
Riku smiled at his friend, giving a nod of approval. "Well done, Kairi!"
Lea took a step back. "Uh, you might wanna save the praises for later."
They looked ahead and saw a few more Heartless materialize. "Well... we could use a warm up." Riku said as they prepared to fight.
At this time, Chase, Dylan, and Anne had arrived in the graveyard, finding only a few Shadows there.
"Creepy monsters. Cemetery at night. Perfect Halloween setting." Chase joked.
"You actually have a point there." Anne agreed before charging at a Shadow, slamming her Keyblade into it. The Heartless recoiled, but sunk into the ground, zipping underneath her feet.
Dylan attacked it as soon as it reshaped itself. The Shadow was knocked back to Anne as she delivered the final blow to it.
Chase quickly side stepped as another Shadow tried to attack him. He then quickly jumped back and cast Thunder, shocking the Heartless as it was left twitching. Since the Shadow was unable to fight back, Dylan stabbed it with his sword, destroying it as well.
"Nice teamwork." Anne said to her friends.
They then heard slow, sarcastic clapping. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the losers."
They whirled around and to their shock, saw...
"Josh?!"
"Miss me?" the teen smirked at them. The three frowned, tensing. They noticed his appearance had changed for this world too, but something about him seemed... off.
Nash stood a few feet behind him, looking a bit unsure.
"I wasn't expecting this." Josh said. "A world where everything is about Halloween. The residence for all the spooks that supposedly come out during that time of the year."
"What are you doing here?" Dylan frowned at him.
"Why else would I be here? I was looking for you three."
"Yeah, well, we're kinda busy at the moment." Chase retorted.
Anne noticed Nash. "You seriously went to find this guy?"
The raven haired teen stayed silent. Josh, however, kept smirking. The fact that he currently had long fangs made the smirk more unnerving.
"Seriously. Stop smirking. You're creeping me out." Chase said.
Josh merely let out a dark chuckle, shaking his head. "Chase, Chase, Chase. You always find some way to amuse me with your stupidity."
Dylan narrowed his eyes at him while Anne glared. "Hey. You can be rude and snarky about me all you want." Anne said. "But don't you dare insult my friends. No one calls Chase stupid. Sure, he's always joking, but he's not stupid. And don't you even think of anything insulting to Dylan."
The bully made a mocking motion of adoration. "Aw, feeling protective about your boyfriend?"
Anne's eyes widened as she took a step back. "H-He's not my boyfriend!"
Dylan looked just as flustered.
"Really? Then you won't feel anything when I do this." Josh then blasted Dylan with an attack no one saw coming.
"DYLAN!" Chase and Anne gasped in horror as they rushed to his side. Even Nash was shocked by what Josh had done, taking a step back.
Dylan winced as he pushed himself into a sitting position. "Oh, that hurt..." he groaned.
Anne glared at Josh. "You jerk!" she spat angrily as she and Chase helped Dylan up to his feet. Josh merely smirked in reply.
"What was that for?!" Chase frowned.
"You see, I've recently gained something, and I've been wanting to test it out." Josh said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"And that would be?"
"Power. And you three are the perfect ones to practice on." Josh narrowed his eyes as he formed an orb of darkness in his hand, much to the trio's shock. Josh had dark powers now?!
Nash was disturbed hearing what his so called friend said. "Uh, Josh, maybe you shouldn't-"
Josh paid no heed to his words. "Since when did you turn into a wimp?"
"You've changed, Josh." Nash said. "You're not yourself."
"Oh, I am myself, Nash." Josh retorted as he turned back to face the three friends.
Anne glared. "How did you get those powers?"
"Remember those monsters when they attacked the school? I found what was going on quite interesting. It was amazing... I was swept into these dark clouds, then found myself in this world not too long ago. A guy in a black coat came along and showed me how to use these new powers."
"Black coat?" Chase asked, remembering their encounter with Xigbar.
"Yes. Called himself Xemnas. Left as soon as I learned what I wanted."
Anne, Chase, and Dylan's eyes widened.
"Alright, this talking's boring me. Now to see how I can destroy you." He then attacked the three of them. Anne's eyes widened in shock as she quickly summoned her Keyblade, blocking an attack from Josh, but found herself skidding back from the force of the orb Josh had thrown at them.
Josh took notice of her Keyblade. "That weapon... Where did you get that?"
"None of your business!" Anne retorted.
Chase sped towards Josh to throw a punch at the bully, punching him in the face and taking him by surprise. He threw another punch, but Josh caught it this time. "So, you're fast now?"
Chase's eyes widened as Josh punched him hard in the gut, forcing him to hunch over as he let out a groan. Josh then kicked him in the stomach, knocking him onto his back. "Not fast enough, apparently."
"Chase!" Dylan then made his move. He charged at Josh with his sword, swinging at him. Josh leaned back, avoiding it. "Really? A sword?"
Dylan realized as long as he didn't reveal its powers to Josh now, it might give them an advantage later. But if he had run into Organization XIII, why didn't they tell him about their abilities?
Anne charged at Josh, swinging at him with her own weapon, angry about her friend getting hurt. However, he dodged the swing as well. He then attacked both of them at once. The two were knocked back. Anne staggered as she regained her balance while Dylan landed on his side, but pushed himself up. At this point, Chase had gotten back to his feet as well.
He then sped off, only to run back, trying to use his speed to build up a harder punch. The brown haired teen then ran straight at Josh, hoping to land a blow on him this time. It worked this time and he decked Josh in the face.
Josh stumbled back, holding his nose. He then glared with a furious look in his eye. "You'll pay for that."
"You have to catch me first." Chase taunted. Josh swung, but Chase moved out of the way with a mischievous look on his face. "Over here." Josh tried again, but the same thing happened. "No, over here." Same try, same result. "You couldn't hit a fly on a windshield!"
Josh growled, beginning to grow irritated. "Enough!"
He blasted Chase back, who ended up slamming into a tombstone. The speedster grunted with pain as he fell on his side. "Hmph. Much better." Josh sneered.
Dylan charged at Josh, angry at him for hurting his brother. He swung his sword, trying to land a hit. Josh leaned back and jumped aside on the first couple of swipes. The next jab, however, managed to nick Josh.
The teen cringed and held his arm, seeing a cut already forming. He narrowed his eyes at him as Dylan swung his sword at the dirty blonde haired boy. Anne struck next, making him stagger back from the blow. He let out a soft groan of pain. "Alright, I've had enough of this." Josh frowned.
Dylan charged at him, preparing to attack, but Josh grabbed his arm before he could even try to swing. He then twisted Dylan's arm behind his back roughly. A snap was heard and Dylan let out a loud cry of agony, dropping his sword as he fell to his knees.
"Dyl!" Chase gasped with worry, then winced as the pain came back as he tried to get back up.
Nash's eyes widened as he took another step back in horror.
Seeing that happen to her friend made something snap in Anne. "YOU PSYCHO!" she roared as she charged head on at Josh, who merely had a look of indifference as he kicked Dylan in the back, making him fall on his stomach as he nursed his now broken arm.
Raising her Keyblade high, she brought it down on Josh.
He stumbled back, then clenched his fist as he accessed his new powers. He shot an orb of darkness at Anne, forcing her to block. This gave him an opportunity to strike.
Just as Anne was about to recover and attack, Josh beat her to the punch. He struck her in the gut before slugging her on the head. Anne collapsed onto her stomach from that, her vision blurry and her head throbbing from the blow. She groaned as she struggled to get back up.
Josh smirked. "Pathetic." he mocked as he kicked her in the stomach hard.
Growling, Anne called up on her magic. "Fire!"
Josh barely managed to dodge the fireball, but it nearly grazed his arm as it hit the stone wall behind him.
It was then Chase stumbled to his feet before he attempted to attack Josh again. The bully narrowed his eyes as he saw Chase prepare to dash.
"You know something Josh? You're nothing but a big headache." Chase said.
"Oh, I'll give you a headache." Josh threatened as Chase sped towards him. "By splitting your skull in two!"
Chase swung at Josh as he appeared in front of him, and before he could speed off, Josh kicked him in the shin, then punched him in the face. The speedy teen stumbled back, a black eye already beginning to form. To rub salt in the wound, Josh then forced him back onto the ground while his guard was down.
"Josh, stop! This is crossing the line, man!" Nash shouted, unable to watch it anymore. He finally realized what everyone was telling him was true: Josh was truly dangerous and was an absolute psychopath.
Josh frowned. "Oh, I'm not done yet. Now... who to finish off first..." he said as he scanned over the beaten up trio. His gaze fell on Anne and he smirked maliciously. "Let's start with you..."
The girl struggled to get back up, but her injuries screamed in protest. He held out his arm and prepared to attack with another sphere of dark energy, but then a rock hit him in the head. He grunted, then turned around with a glare to see Nash had thrown the rock. "What are you doing?"
Nash steeled himself as he returned the glare. "No, what the hell are YOU doing?! This is going way too far! You're talking about murder, man!"
"These three were always in my way. I say its time I finally get rid of them."
"What would your dad think?!"
Josh let out a mirthless laugh. "You think I actually care what my dad thinks?"
"What are you saying, Josh? That your family means nothing to you?"
The psychotic bully gave a cruel smile. "Bingo."
Nash clenched his fist before charging at his now former friend, determined to stop him. He couldn't stand by and let Josh do something this horrible. "I'm not gonna let you do this!"
His attempt to attack failed, though, as Josh grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground. "You're even more worthless than I thought." Josh narrowed his eyes as he squeezed his throat. "I never should have let you in my group."
The raven haired teen gagged as he started hitting Josh's arm to try and force him to let go. Josh scowled as he started to squeezed harder, choking him.
Moments ago, Clair, Jason, and Aurora had wrapped up fighting Heartless in the area they were in.
"And that takes care of that." Clair sighed as she dismissed her Keyblade.
"This is getting too easy." Jason complained, crossing his arms. "They barely put up a fight."
"Maybe next time, you'll get knocked down by the next Heartless." Aurora snarked.
Jason was about to retort when suddenly, the three heard a loud, pained scream coming from afar.
Clair's eyes widened. "Was that Dylan?"
"I think it was." Jason said.
"It sounds like they need help!" Clair told them before she ran off after the scream.
"Clair!" Jason tried to grab her, but she was already out of his reach. Jason groaned before looking at Aurora as Clair ran ahead. "Come on."
"Why?" she questioned.
"We can't just let her go off like that." Jason retorted in reply. "And you promised you'd help start working as a team with us."
Her eyes narrowed at that, but she started following Clair. Jason did as well, following the werewolf-girl to the graveyard, where they had heard the scream come from.
By the time they arrived, they all skidded to a halt as Clair's eyes widened in shock at what they saw.
Chase, Dylan, and Anne were all lying on the ground looking very beaten up, with Chase having a black eye and Dylan's arm bent at an unnatural angle. They could see Nash being strangled by someone with dirty blonde hair.
"Hey!" Jason exclaimed. The person who was doing the strangling glanced at them.
"Drop him!" Clair yelled, horrified by seeing the trio beaten badly.
He narrowed his red eyes at them. "And you are?" he asked indifferently while he kept choking Nash, who struggled to break free.
"It doesn't matter." Jason said. "If you hurt them, then we're the ones who are going to hurt you back!"
Nash coughed as his face was beginning to turn blue from lack of air. Josh scoffed before tossing him to the ground. The black haired teen coughed, retching as he could finally breath again.
"You think you're a match for me?"
Jason narrowed his eyes. "This answer your question?" He charged right at the red eyed teen. He swung his fist at him, but Josh ducked down to avoid getting hit in the face. Josh then punched Jason in the kidney. Jason hunched over, grunting as he tried to stand back up straight in time.
"Jason!" Clair called out.
"I'm fine!" he growled.
Josh smirked. "Not for long." he said as he prepared to attack, but Jason summoned his Keyblade just in time and blocked the blow. This made Josh raise an eyebrow. "You have one of those, too?"
"Yeah, what's it to you?" Jason retorted before shoving him back with his weapon.
"It's the same thing she had." Josh pointed to Anne, who was struggling to crawl over to Chase and Dylan.
"Yeah, so what?" Jason asked before he threw a punch. However, Josh had caught it, much to Jason's surprise as he tried to get his fist out of Josh's grip. Clair noticed her cousin needed help and stepped in, shooting a Plasma Bolt at Josh. The dirty blonde haired teen was sent flying back from that as he crashed into a wall with a grunt. Jason then gave Clair a glance.
"Thanks, but I had it handled." he said, even though he clearly was struggling there.
"Jason, this is no time for that nonsense. Our friends are hurt, and we need to work together if we're going to get out of this." Clair told him.
Aurora shrugged. "Well, it looks like your spell did some damage."
The three looked over at him, seeing Josh was struggling to pull himself back up to his feet, growling. He was angered that they had managed to push him back.
Jason thought about it. "You're right, Aurora. It looks like he's not so tough against magic. That could be how we beat him." He turned to the two of them. "Clair, we need you to prepare your most powerful spell. Aurora and I will keep him distracted."
"Whoa. Who said I would do that?" Aurora asked .
"Me." Jason deadpanned without missing a beat.
"Don't presume to-." Aurora started.
Clair interrupted, "Not the time to argue!"
Josh then shot a ball of dark energy at them. Jason saw it and quickly blocked with his Keyblade. Clair moved back to get to work.
"Aurora, if you want to get out of this, now is the time to be a team player." Jason told her.
Aurora let out a sigh. "... fine." she muttered, avoiding his gaze. She then summoned her Keyblade and got into a fighting stance.
Josh frowned upon seeing that she, too, had a Key shaped sword as well. "What, does everyone have one of those?" he asked sarcastically as he dusted some rubble off.
"What's the matter? You want one?" Aurora snarked back.
The darkness-wielding teenager frowned at Aurora before charging at her with a dark orb in his hand, ready to slam it into her, but she quickly weaved out of the way. She then struck a few spots on his arm. Josh held his arm, cringing. "What? What did you do to my arm?!"
"I just hit some pressure points." Aurora said with a frown.
"What?!" Josh gritted out, baring his teeth. Aurora just kicked him in reply and sent him stumbling back. He then attempted to attack her, but found it hurt to use his arm. Jason saw an opening to attack and plowed his fist into Josh's stomach, making him groan.
Clair then prepared to cast the spell. "Jason, Aurora, out of the way!"
The two quickly dove out of the way for her. She used another Plasma Bolt, and Josh couldn't move out of the way in time. He was struck by it and sent flying into a tombstone, causing some rubble to fly up.
He groaned, growling as he tried to get up, then held out his other arm as he summoned a dark corridor. "This... This isn't over..." he said to them, as well as Chase, Anne, and Dylan.
"Retreating is a sign it is." Jason replied.
Josh glared at them before he limped into the corridor of darkness, seeming to vanish into the dark clouds as the portal disappeared.
"Yeah, you'd better run..." Chase weakly groaned as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. Clair quickly went to check on him as Jason decided to check on Dylan.
"My arm..."
"Don't move." Jason told him as he knelt down. Dylan winced as he tried to do what he was told while Jason looked over it. "Not just broken. I think your shoulder blade is dislocated."
Dylan groaned hearing that, then winced as he felt it throb again.
"Chase? Are you alright?" Clair asked as she knelt by his side.
"Oh, hi, Clair... Why is there three of you?"
"You must have hit your head." she told him before she focused, casting Cure on Chase. His black eye and other bruises slowly faded as he shook his head, his vision clearing up. "Thanks..."
She gave a nod before moving onto Dylan. She grimaced a bit seeing Dylan's arm. "That guy also dislocated his shoulder." Jason informed her.
"I haven't healed anything broken before... so this might hurt a little." Clair warned.
"You could've sugarcoated it." Dylan told her.
He then braced herself as Clair prepared to use Cure again. "Heal!"
His broken arm healed itself as it shifted back into place while his shoulder blade was also healed. He grimaced at first, but then the pain vanished and his arm felt good as new. His eyes widened as he tested it out, seeing he could use it again. "Thank you..." he told her gratefully as he reached for his sword, placing it back in its sheath.
Clair nodded, though a bit exhausted from the use of her magic. "You're... you're welcome..."
Aurora noticed Anne was still trying to get up and walked over to her. "Need a hand?"
The green eyed teenager looked up at her. "Why? I'm just 'dead weight', after all, huh?" she frowned lightly, echoing Aurora's words with a wince. She was still rather hurt about what Aurora had called her back on Olympus when she nearly died.
"You get it." Aurora said, only for a plasma bolt to hit her in the back. She let out a grunt as she staggered forward, then looked back and saw Clair had shot it with a frown of disapproval.
"I could turn you into a worm." the mage-in-training threatened as she remembered one of the spells she had read about.
Aurora's back stung from the magic energy ball as she took a step back. "Threatening me with magic? You're no better than Jason." The teen growled.
"Hey!" Jason frowned.
"Are you kidding me? Did you forget about what we discussed back at Olympus?" Clair asked.
"No."
"Then you've got to work with us!"
"You've seriously gotta knock it off." Chase agreed, crossing his arms. Dylan had a look that basically said the same thing as he frowned at Aurora.
Anne nodded in agreement, even though her head was still aching. "Yeah... stop acting like that..." she said as she managed to get back on her feet... but then tripped right over Nash and landed on her face.
The black haired teen coughed as he used his elbows for support. "T... Thank you..." he told them, his voice hoarse from Josh strangling him.
Clair came over to him, kneeling down. "It's okay. You're going to be fine." she assured him.
"So you finally saw the truth about that psycho..." Dylan said as he used Jason for support to get off the ground.
"Who was that guy, anyway?" Jason questioned.
"That... That was Josh Harrington." Anne answered.
Jason rose an eyebrow. THAT Josh? The one that Anne mentioned about back in Radiant Garden?
"What's happened to him?" Nash asked.
"It must be like Riku said... he gave in to the darkness and can now utilize it..." Dylan said. "He's always been twisted, but now, he's even worse..."
"Twisted? He's completely unhinged." Chase said, making the 'cuckoo' sign. "His mind's gone. It's outta here."
"He was using me the whole time back home, wasn't he...?" Nash muttered as he looked down.
Anne nodded. "We're sorry, but... he never saw any of the guys he let hang out with him as friends. Just lackeys he could have follow him and do what he wanted." she told him.
Nash looked extremely dejected. He should have listened to them about Josh in the first place... but if he hadn't been here, then most likely one of them would have been dead by now.
Chase held his hand out to him, much to his surprise. "Hey, you can come with us." Chase offered.
"You look like you got nowhere else to go." Dylan noted, though he wasn't so sure of this himself. "And besides, you did manage to stall Josh from killing us."
Nash hesitated before he accepted Chase's hand, letting him help him up. Jason, however, was unsure of this. Clair cast Cure to heal Nash, but after, she felt that she had used up all her magic now.
"Thanks..." Nash muttered, slightly surprised.
"You're welcome." Clair replied, panting a bit.
After a moment, Chase then asked, "What do we do now, guys?"
"We should find the others. Let them know what happened." Dylan suggested.
"Sounds like a good idea." Jason agreed.
Anne staggered back up. "Let's go, then..."
However, her head was still swimming from Josh hitting her there, so she couldn't really tell where she was going as she turned around.
"Uh, there's a-" Aurora began, but Anne walked straight into a statue.
"Statue." Jason finished as Anne collapsed onto her back.
Aurora sighed, shaking her head. "We're doomed..." she muttered, then reluctantly held her hand out to her. "Come on."
Dazedly, Anne reached up. Aurora grabbed her hand and helped her off the ground. Clair made a mental note to heal Anne as soon as her magic recharged. Once she was up, they all left the graveyard behind.
