New Recruits

Traverse Town was calm today, a change of pace from what Leon was normally used too. Normally there was some problem, or heckling from the Weasel gang or Honest John conning someone. Today though, there was actual calm. Along with Yuffe he was walking down the streets of the second district, a few people pointing at him as he passed them buy. He had been used to that from now, to them he was a leader and a protector. A heavy responsibility but one that he had shouldered heavily so far.

As the days passed the Heartless attacks on the town have become more and more aggressive it seemed. People kept disappearing and hearts kept missing. Even without the weasels the Heartless seemed to be doing the job of increasing their ranks themselves. It was just a sign that Maleficent and the growing darkness were rising and he and his Anti-Heartless resistance were running out of options.

Worse still, more and more people were coming into Traverse Town. Various people and creatures from various worlds, all coming to this one place. Thankfully the magic of the town made accommodations for them, but still it was starting to get bigger and more crowded. That also meant that more people of more...Suspicious background were coming into play into the town.

More worlds fell.

Everything now really did hinge on Sora.

A kid.

With a Keyblade.

Leon took a deep breath as he kept marching through. Yuffie stood by his side remaining quite though she continued to look at him with a worried expression. She always seemed worried about him these days. The stress of leadership and now with the growing Heartless threat and Sora, he was stressed but he would never show it.

"Quite day" Yuffie pointed out, finally speaking.

"Yeah"

Yuffie sighed, "Not going to say much are you"

"Nope"

"Of coruse your not," Yuffie muttered taking a deep breath as she stretched her arms, "So...I wonder how Sora is doing? Been a while since last we've gotten contact from him"

Silence.

"I'm sure he's fine though, the kid is growing stronger, getting tougher, I'm sure by the end of all this, he'll be able to take on Maleficent and finally stop the Heartless once and for all. At least that's what I'm betting on at least. You know, happy endings, defeating the bad guy...Getting to go back home.

More silence, but this time Leon looked to see a bit of sadness had dawned on Yuffie's face. He frowned, knowing full well the subject of home was a difficult one for her. She was so young when they had to abandoned their world, worse to be thrown into this conflict without any rhyme or reason.

Leon gently put a hand on her shoulder and smirked, "Yeah, I think he will"

"Yeah, have faith! Told yuh bro-bro"

"Mable, hush!"

Leon froze as he turned around. Hearing a sigh, he saw Dipper and Mable appear from the shadows of a nearby alley way both with guilty expressions. This wasn't the first time he had caught the two Pines twins trying to sneak around when they were on patrol. Like usual Dipper was holding his journal, while Mable a grappling hook.

"Trying to find out secret base again" Leon asked looking at them sternly.

"Come on Leon, let us join!" Dipper moaned

"No"

"You let Huey, Duey, Louie and Webby join" Dipper argued.

"I have my reasons, plus Scrooge said yes"

Yuffie chuckled, "Man, wish my parents let me do wild stuff when I was their age. Granted most of the time I spent with teachers tell me to...Focus and Feel one with my energy and other stuff that would make me a great Ninja"

"Oh come on Leon, I have a lot to offer here" Dipper said waving his arms frantically, "I've fought bad guys, my Grunkle Ford was a explorer, I should have every right to join resistance, Phienas and Ferb do as well, it's not like your above using kids"

"Yeah it is kinda weird Leon" Yuffie suggested.

Leon rubbed his forehead, "Phineas and Ferb stay behind and make tech, I don't send them out to fight, and before you bring up Donald nephews remember Scrooge is always watching them. So that's not really my call, and as for Sora...Well, he has a keyblade".

"So if I get a Keyblade can I join"

"Good luck with that" Yuffie smirked.

"Dipper!" Leon turned a corner to see Wendy walking down the streets, "Dipper, oh there you are, Stan sent me to look for you, he wants you home, said something about another raid on Scrooge's-I mean, he wants you safe"

"Of course he does" Dipper muttered.

Wendy frowned, "Oh come on dude, he does want you safe, though he did ask me to look for you"

Leon decided to just ignore them as he nodded.

Dipper let out a large groan before huffing off, Mable just followed him trying to calm him down. This wasn't the first time the Pines kid had wanted to join, but Leon had a good reason to say no, and he was going to keep that reason no matter what at this point.

"Boy he's a stubborn one" Yuffie said, "Kinda like you were when you were his age, but more nerdy"

"I never had a resistance to fight in"

"You never really had much of a family looking out for him, then again...none of us really did".

Leon frowned, "Yeah, I suppose"

They continued to press on there patrol, about to head back to base after seeing no Heartless or other troubles. Until, a green energy opened up, it was swirling vortex of ooze, A few seconds the portal just sat there until two individuals spat out of it. Both teens one was a young blonde girl wearing a headband with two little horns the other a darker skinned boy with a red hooded sweatshirt. Leon watched as they got up and dusted off while Yuffie had her ninja stars at the ready but he held her back.

"Hey" Leon said getting the two teens attention, "You lost?"

"Um-No" The girl said looking around nervously, "Um...Actually yeah, were totally lost, we got stuck in some world of cheese cows and let me tell you cheese cows, not nice"

"Is this Traverse Town?" The boy asked sounding exhausted.

Leon nodded, "Yep, I'm Leon...I'm kinda…

"He's the boss," Yuffie finished.

"Oh-" The girl looked surprised, "Well I'm Star, and this is Marco, Sora sent us, he said he knows you"

Leon's eyes widened at the mere mention of that name, "Sora? Yeah, we know him, why did Sora send you here"

"Well he said you needed recruits to fight the Heartless and I know how to fight" Star took out a wand and turned it into a large sword "I know magic, and I have these scissors that can travel between worlds. Will something like that help.

Leon just stood there frowning, "Are you kidding"

-000-

"Amazing" Merlin said holding the scissors in his hand, "I haven't seen interdimensional scissors in ages. Granted I knew the person who invented them, strange individual though, but aren't we all in our own unique way".

"And everyone here is so good looking" Star said gazing at everyone wide eyed.

Marco agreed, "Heck yeah, I've never seen so many muscular people ever!"

"Okay," Yuffie stepped back, "A little creepy you are obsessed with our muscles ...But I guess I'll take the compliment"

Leon had lead Star and Marco to his resistance base, there they met up with Merlin, Scrooge and Aerith who were all very happy to meet them. The group went to the small hut in the underground cavern for tea as they discussed future plans. Merlin was particularly taken in by Star, apparently he knew of Mewni, and so did Scrooge apparently much to Leon's surprise.

"I'm surprised the Magic High Commission hasn't gotten to get involved in this" Scrooge said as he sat down to take a cup of tea, "Of course, we might have to fear the worst in that regard"

Star flinched, "I'm sure Mewni is fine, my mom is a tough, she's not going to let the Heartless get to her"

"I knew your mother when she was young, I have no doubt that" Scrooge relied, "Still, the Heartless are continuing to spread, however perhaps your scissors will allow resistance agents to spread to more worlds and even keep an eye on there wearabouts without hearing it second hand from new comers"

"Yeah, we've been seeing those creatures everywhere" Marco explained to the others, "Every dimension and world we go too...They are spreading, rounding up people and doing weird things to the hearts"

"Dang!" Leon sneered leaning against the wall, "Maleficent is building her forces and they are getting more aggressive by the day"

"Hey Star, I'm sure everything is fine" Marco said holding his friends shoulder to comfort her, "I'm just glad Sora told us about you guys when he did, we've been in a bit of a pickle looking for a Keyblade Master too"

"My mom said it would help in the crisis"

"Ah, soon Moon does know, good" Scrooge said, "She would know about the Keyblade"

Leon got up and paced around, "Where did you see meet Sora exactly"

"At the Olympus Coliseum" Star said as she explained everything to them.

Marlin seemed shocked, "So Sora was able to convince Phil, I guess the boy has more spirits then even I gave him credit for"

"He seems to have that effect on people" Aerith said taking a sip of tea listening intently to everything, "Sora seems to be affecting the hearts around him as this journey keeps pressing on"

Leon groaned, "Yeah, and here we are sitting around doing nothing most of the time"

"Well now we might have a way to travel" Yuffie said looking at the scissors.

"Oh that remind me" Star went into the pocket of her skirt and took out a piece of paper, "Mom told us to give you this, she said someone gave it to her before this all started"

Leon took the paper and tried to read it, it was very hard to distinguish at first. He gave it to Aerith, she was far better at reading people's handwriting then he was. Even the far more messier handwriting like Yuffie's. A few minutes passed as she tried to translate it. Everyone waited impatiently and with interest.

"Well?" Leon asked.

Aerith eyes widened, she unlocked the message, "This is Ansems"

"What?" Leon got up, Yuffie as well.

"Ansem? Ansem?"

"Yeah," Aerith replied looking at it, "It's part of his reports, it's not the full thing but it's a excerpt"

She put on the table for everyone to see. Leon had heard about Ansems reports about the Heartless in the past. But he never expected he would ever see one in his life. The scientist thought was legendary for being one of the smartest beings of his world. Smarter than anyone alive perhaps. As they all gathered around they were intrigued to find out what he would say.

Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge.

That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that.

I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand.

I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times.

Darkness...Darkness of the heart. How is it born?

How does it come to affect us so?

As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness.

"Fascinating" Leon muttered "still something doesn't makes sense"

"What that he was nuts" Yuffie muttered.

"No!" Leon grumbled, "Maleficent, how does she know all this, why did she attack us all those years ago"

"Because she's evil!" Yuffie snapped, "She's an evil witch who takes homes and ruins lives, anyone can you"

Leon shook his head as he began to pace around the room, "No...Something still doesn't add up, Maleficent might be evil, but she hails from one world, she had to find this out from something, something that could have possible triggered all this"

"Um, excuse me" Marco interjected walking up to Leon, "We don't understand any of this, but we do want to help"

"Yeah," Star added looking determined, "Marco and I looked for Sora because mom wanted us too, he seems to be connected to all this, now that we found him and he brought us to you...What do you want us to do"

Leon looked at them, these two did make possibly real good recruits for the Anti-Heartless resistance. They also had those scissors that could go to other worlds, other worlds meant other allies. That meant more members of the resistance.

"We need friends," Leon said, "And answers"

Star nodded, "Well...Let's get started, Anti-Heartless Resistance Princess is ready to go!"

"You know-" Marco interjected, "That doesn't really role of the tongue"

Star sighed, "No, no it doesn't...I'll work on it".