"Well, never thought I'd be back here..."

Ren looked around, finding himself standing on a familiar stain glass platform that he come to when we received Twilight's Balance for the first time. He looked down, seeing that Sora and his friend have been added to the platform as well, and Ren couldn't help but smile as he walked forward, looking around for a moment or two. "Alright, so I got here somehow in my meditation... but now what do I do here?"

That's when he noticed that the stain glass platform having new people on it was not the only thing that had changed. He squinted, seeing that there was a grey door off in the distance, off the platform. Ren ran up to the edge, looking out to where the door stood, and gave a heavy sigh. "Okay... so, that's new... but how do I get over there?"

He frowned, scratching his cheek, but suddenly he felt as if he was no longer alone. He whipped around, summoning his keyblade before laying eyes on the intruder. Standing there was a figure in an Organization XIII cloak, coming up to about his shoulder in height. Ren looked at the figure confused for a moment before he spoke. "W-who are you? How did you get in this place?"

The figure only smiled, before stepping forward. Ren stayed in his battle stance, but did not strike, even when the figure was directly in front of him. Ren dismissed his keyblade at once, for some reason feeling calm and trusting of the figure, even when said figure grabbed his hand.

And began to walk towards the end of the platform as if they were able to walk off.

"Whoa, it's dangerous!" Ren shouted, though to his surprise, the second her heeled boot stepped off the platform, a small stain glass step appeared out of nowhere. She turned to him, tugging on his hand as if motioning for him him to follow. Ren, despite seeing nothing but emptyness in front of him, obeyed the touch of the figure. The two walked, more platforms appearing with every step she took, until finally the two of them were at the door. She reached out, grabbed the handle, and opened the door, before suddenly pulling Ren forward and pushing him into the door.

"H-hey!" Ren shouted back at her, turning, but for some reason the figure was gone as quickly as she came, leaving Ren alone in this new room. He grumbled a bit about not knowing who she was, before he turned and gasped at what he saw. He was on another, large stain glass platform, only this one had Master Hiroto in the center, surrounded by Ren, Hikari, Shun, Yumi and Tenmei's faces, and above them all was King Yami's calm expression. Twilight Citadel's castle seemed to be in the background, and the platform was entirely golden and white in color. Ren blinked, baffled at what he was seeing, and what it could mean, before he closed his eyes, forcing himself out of the dream.

Ren groaned a bit, finding himself now lying on his bed. He must've fallen over as he meditated, and somehow ended up in the Station of Awakening again. HIs thoughts were like a wild fire currently, wondering who the girl in the Organization XIII cloak was, what she was even doing in his Station of Awakening, and how Master Hiroto's station had become connected to his. Ren muttered something about needing to talk to someone, before walking out of his room and heading by instinct to Tenmei's room, knocking on the door just as he approached.

After only a couple moments, Tenmei opened up, his silver hair pointed in a few different directions than normal, having just woken up. "Ren? What's going on? You look troubled", he stated, quirking an eyebrow.

"I ended up in my Station of Awakening again", Ren stated, walking into the room. "And I need to talk to you about what I saw there..."

Tenmei tilted his head, confused, but soon nodded. He closed the door behind him, locking it so the girls, Shun, or Sora couldn't interrupt, and walked back over, taking a seat at his desk, his sketchbook opened on it. "Alright... what happened?"

"When I was in there, I saw a grey door", Ren began to explain. "But it was off my platform and I couldn't really get to it... suddenly, a strange girl wearing an Organization XIII cloak appeared, and she kinda... grabbed my hand."

"An Organization cloak... did she have any distinguishable features?" Tenmei asked. "Hair color, eye color, anything?"

"I couldn't really tell you, I only saw her lips", Ren stated, before placing his hand next to his shoulder as if someone was standing there. "But she came up to here on me, so no... it wasn't the Mega-Bitch."

"I'd hope not. She's anything but gentle, so I doubt she'd do anything to help", Tenmei pointed out. "Anyway... she grabbed your hand, and then...?"

"It was if she was able to navigate my heart better than I could", Ren stated, imagining what was happening. "Each step she took spawned a platform up to the door, before she opened it and pushed me in... then she was gone... but that's not the weirdest part... Tenmei, that door lead me to Hiroto's Station of Awakening."

At that, Tenmei's eyes widened. At the mere mention of his old teacher's name, Tenmei could feel the rush of emotions, and he took a moment to calm himself. His hands curled into fists on his desk, and Ren, understandably, waited for his friend. Finally, he spoke up. "Was... was he...?"

"I didn't get a chance to explore, let alone even see if he was there. I got pulled out before I could", Ren explained, before looking at his left hand. "But... if his station is connected to mine, could I...?" Ren held out his left hand in front of him, focusing. Suddenly, the familiar bronze keyblade, with star shaped teeth and a platinum, square handle, appeared from nowhere, causing Ren to look at the blade in shock.

"Dreams of the Kingdom..." Tenmei breathed out, his eyes shining with tears again. "... he really did connect to you." Hastily, the former prince wiped his eyes dry, staying silent for a moment out of respect. Finally, he spoke again. "Well, this is important to ask, then... do we tell Hikari and Yumi about this?"

"I might have to eventually", Ren stated, looking at the keyblade for a moment before dismissing it. "Especially if I can somehow talk to him... we might want to let them... ya know, say goodbye. As for now, though, let's keep it a secret. Once I figure out more of what is going on, or why Hiroto and I are even connected like this, we can tell them then."

"Alright", Tenmei agreed. "Then I'll trust you on this. No need to get their hopes up too quickly, after all." He looked back at Ren's left hand, where the keyblade had been, before sighing. "We still have some time before we arrive at our next world... Olympus Coliseum, if memory serves correct. Can you check on the girls for me? I'm not quite ready to go out and face them yet."

"Scared Hikari will nuke ya?" Ren asked, chuckling at Tenmei's sheepish grin and walking towards the door. "Yeah, I'll check on them."

"Thank you", Tenmei said gratefully, bowing his head a tiny bit to his friend. But that embarrassed espression soon dropped after his door was shut, and he stared back down at his sketchbook. There, in its infamous glory, was the blade Xao had been wielding. While forever ago he had determined that he had accurately depicted the weapon, his hands had been unable to stop. Now, while the base sword was, of course, depicted as accurately as he could place it, he had found that he added more decorations, and had even added a different hilt to the handle, curving downwards and wrapping around the grip like a keyblade's. And the subtlest formation of teeth was added to the blade's tip, something that put him in extreme unease.

"First Hiroto... now this..." he muttered, placing his hands on his head. "What... made that appear in my dreams? And... why, every time I see it... does it look more like a keyblade?" As he stared at the weapon, a feeling of pure dread filled his heart, and eventually, he couldn't bear to gaze at it any longer, and shut the book, his hand visibly shaking. "What the hell is Xao doing?"

XxXxXxX

It didn't take long at all for them to arrive at the next world. Once Sora parked the ship and disembarked, Ren turned to Shun. "Hey, go get Tenmei. He's probably still in his room."

"What?" Shun asked, glaring a bit. "Why do I have to get him?"

"Because Hikari and Yumi just stepped off the ship, too, and someone's gotta make sure they're alright after they get their rude awakening in the Underworld", Ren stated, pointing to the console. With one quick glance at the screen, Shun realized his friend was right; while Sora, Donald and Goofy seemed to have no problem traversing the darkest part of the world (though one look at their faces told the replica that they knew something was off), Yumi and Hikari both took one step forward and promptly collapsed to the ground, looking like they had suddenly gotten sucker punched as they struggled to get back on their feet... and failing miserably.

"... good point. I'll go get Tenmei so he can save his girlfriend", Shun said with a snicker, and while Ren only nodded in response before stepping off the ship as well, the replica could spy the faintest hint of a smirk on his face at the joke.

It only took a minute to get to the room in question, but Shun paused. Honestly, at this point, it felt weird for him to be calling on Tenmei. A couple years ago, all Shun cared about was fighting Ren and proving he was the better of Hiroto's students. The prince of Twilight Citadel had barely even registered on his radar until Hikari suddenly found the possibility of meeting Prince Tenmei interesting.

Then, of course, his stint with his "father" did not exactly have the two on good terms.

In all honesty, Shun was certain that Tenmei would hate him for the rest of his life, for what he had done. Then, one day after he had fully recovered, the prince surprised him with what was, at the time, the kindest gesture he could have ever received.

X 1 X Year X Ago X

"Shun, I need you to fight me."

The replica flinched in surprise at the words, and looked up at Tenmei from his chair with a wide-eyed gaze. "What?"

"You need to come outside with me and fight me", Tenmei told him, motioning to the back door of their temporary home in Hollow Bastion. "I've cleared out some space in the backyard. Come on, I don't have all day."

Shun blinked, but soon found himself following the former prince outside. True to his word, the prince had cleared out as much of their yard as he could, giving them a nice, open space for them to duke it out. Once the two took their positions, Tenmei surprised him by charging forward, holding his blade of light. It wasn't a particularly strong strike, but the sudden attack made the gunblade wielder have to parry in a panic, and the prince only continued his assault.

For fifteen minutes straight, the two duked it out, with Shun barely able to keep up. But what surprised him the most was what Tenmei was shouting at him. Unlike their fights before, the prince wasn't yelling insults at himself or Xao, trying to rile him up.

He was shouting advice over the sound of metal striking metal.

"Keep your legs spread when you're parrying! If I hit you too hard, that parry is gonna turn into you getting knocked over!"

"Adjust your grip on overhead strikes! Lead with your dominant hand and bring them together to add more force as it strikes downward!"

"You're not strong enough to tank flurries like that! Against quick enemies like that, your best bet is to dodge unless you know how strong your opponent is!"

Finally, the two stopped their battle, and Shun was on the grass, supporting himself on his hands and knees and panting profusely, while Tenmei seemed only slightly winded.

"Right", Tenmei stated with a couple deep breaths. "Not bad for a first lesson. We'll pick this up tomorrow."

"W-what?!" Shun practically yelled, flabbergasted and exhausted. "Th-that... that was combat practice?!"

"Of course", Tenmei stated, tossing Shun a High Potion to help him regain his stamina. "I did say that I would help you grow stronger, right? And, obviously, my last teaching session... well, was lacking when it came to you." The prince gave a bit of a shrug, startling Shun with how calm he was. "You're more hands-on, aren't you? You won't learn anything unless you actually fight me."

Shun's jaw dropped. Out of all the things Tenmei could have done, this was the furthest thing from his mind. And even after all this time, he still took notes of what Shun's strengths and weaknesses were."Y-you're willing to teach me? After all I did?"

Tenmei paused at that. The replica did bring up a good point. But he shook his head, his lips stretching into a gentle smile as his gaze softened.

"You may have abandoned the Path of Twilight, Shun.. but the path never abandons its students." The prince then turned around, heading back inside. "Practice what I told you, and fight me again tomorrow, alright? We'll go into Dark techniques once you're all warmed up from swordplay."

X Present XxX Day X

Shun smiled a bit at the memory, but shook his head. Now was not the time for memories; they had a job to do. With a sharp rap of the knuckles against his door, the gunblade user spoke up. "Tenmei? We're in hell. Literally. Sora took a wrong turn and parked us in the underworld at Olympus."

The prince, inside his room, gave a sigh, before nodding, deciding he spent more than enough time alone with his thoughts. "I'll be out in a minute..." He looked up at the mirror, seeing his hair was still sticking out in odd directions, and let out an irritated huff. Walking over to it with a brush, he quickly neatened everything, so not a single hair was out of place, before he opened the door, following Shun to the deck of the ship, staring at the screen. "Did the others leave without us?" he asked, noticing the distinct lack of people.

"Yeah, Sora wanted to go on ahead and jumped right off", Shun stated, chuckling. "As for Ren, Hikari and Yumi... well, they're just outside the ship, and the girls aren't moving at all, so Ren is waiting with them."

"... I think I know why", Tenmei groused, sighing. With that, they stepped off the ship, and sure enough, Hikari and Yumi had both managed to adjust themselves, sitting back to back to support each other. "You two okay?"

"It hurts to breathe", Hikari whimpered, looking weakly up at Tenmei. "It hurts to move, it hurts to talk... it hurts to exist!"

"I don't get it... why can Sora move so easily when it hurts to even look around?" Yumi groaned, weakly raising her hand a bit.

"Because unlike you two, Sora, Donald and Goofy have more darkness in their hearts", Ren explained. "You two are practically Princesses of Heart with how much light you have in your hearts, so being in a dark place like this will either make you immune to it's effects completely, or suffer greatly... and the latter seems to be what is taking effect."

"So... what about you three?" Hikari asked weakly.

"Uh... half Darkness?" Ren pointed out.

"And I use Darkness, so..." Shun stated, shaking his head with an exaggerated shrug. "What do we do, now? We can't just leave them here."

Tenmei looked around, seeing that Sora was helping a woman in a purple toga, before a glimmer caught his eye behind them. He turned to see a grand staircase, a great amount of light shining from above the clouds that obscured their view. "There", he said, pointing to the otherworldly light. "That must take us to the actual coliseum. We'll bring them over there so they can recover."

Ren sighed, picking Hikari up and beginning to carry her towards the steps, which would normally cause the blonde to blush but the pain seemed to be preventing her from even knowing who was carrying her, as she muttered "put me down Shun I can walk... ok no I can't".

"But I'm over here..." Shun muttered in confusion.

Tenmei, meanwhile, had a bit of a rougher time. While Yumi was too out of it to even feel embarrassed about being carried princess-style, Tenmei had a tough time keeping his eyes forward, seeing as with how she was angled, her breasts were pressing a bit against him. Fortunately, his fear of Hikari's wrath kept him from being too distracted. "S-Sora!" he called out, looking over to him. "We found the way to the Coliseum! You coming?"

"In a bit!" Sora replied, shaking his head. "I have to take care of some stuff first!"

"Alright, we'll be waiting for you!" Tenmei yelled back, before beginning his climb back up the stairs. Eventually, the future warriors made their way back to familiar ground, as the nostalgic look of the statues in front of the arena filled their vision and the light shone down upon them.

Hikari gave out a massive sigh of relief, practically melting in Ren's arms and making it harder for him to hold her. "Sweet light, I love you!"

"You're welcome", Ren sighed, putting her down on the steps to the Coliseum so that she could sun bathe. A loud squawk caught his attention, and he turned and bit his cheek to keep from laughing at Tenmei, who had attempted to do the same... only to be caught up in a rather embarrassing embrace, the red-head sister practically shoving his face into her bosom.

"I feel like all my worries are melting away... this feels so nice", Yumi said in her daze, not realizing what she was doing as she sighed happily.

"Uh... R-Ren, Sh-Shun, a little h-help here?" Tenmei squeaked nervously, a tone that was definitely out of character for him.

Hikari blinked, coming back to her senses a bit, before looking over to see Yumi holding Tenmei by the neck and not letting him go. With a slight smile, she reached over and ran her fingers lightly on Yumi's side, causing the girl to yelp, releasing Tenmei's neck in her attempt to stop her sister. "H-Hey, what the-!?" Then she blinked, looking around. "W-when did we get here?"

Tenmei had stumbled back, catching his balance before he fell over, but now his face was bright red, even redder than it had been when Yumi was simply burying his face into her chest. He coughed, turning away to hide the massive blush. "Uh... th-thanks, Hikari", he stuttered, trying to gain his composure back with little success.

"No problem", Hikari said, looking up at the sky. "Sorry we might not be much help here, guys... I'd rather not go back down there right now."

"No worries", Ren shook his head. "You two can stay up here, while we go assist Sora... though you might wanna think of a way to counteract the Underworld before we get what we need to be at full power down there, since we might need to go down there again no matter what."

Yumi, who at this point had curled up a bit to keep her sides defended, only groaned a bit. "So, let my sis figure out a spell that keeps us safe... got it."

"And next time, don't shove Tenmei into your 'girls'", Shun teased, grinning before he walked back towards the door to the Underworld, followed by Ren. "Come on, Tenmei!"

Tenmei only nodded mutely, too embarrassed to say much else. Yumi, who's face was almost as red as her hair, turned on Hikari, an angry/humiliated glare on her features. "W-what the heck was that for?!"

"What? I was only saving your prince from your death trap", Hikari teased, smirking at her. "Say 'thank you'."

"Oh sure", Yumi retorted, puffing her cheeks as she pouted. "Thank you, dear sister, for exposing my biggest weakness to the Prince of Twilight! He was the only one of us who didn't know about me being ticklish and you ruined it for me!" she hissed, obviously upset.

"You're welcome!" Hikari simply said, grinning, either missing her sarcasm, or ignoring it entirely to continue teasing her. The latter more likely, Yumi bitterly realized.

Meanwhile, as the trio of boys walked back to the underworld, it was Shun who noticed that Tenmei was definitely lagging behind And it was obvious to see why, as his entire face was practically glowing with how pink he had turned. "You alright back there, dude?" Shun asked finally, tired of the silence.

"...'m 'kay", the former prince muttered, scrunching his neck a bit more and making himself seem a bit smaller than normal. Even Ren noticed now that Tenmei was acting more like a shy child than the usually confident prince they had come to know.

"You don't know how to act to what happened with Yumi?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked behind him.

Being reminded of what happened cause a tiny wince, and reluctantly, the prince nodded, closing his eyes. "Y-yeah... I... I've never... f-faced stuff l-like that before..."

Shun looked confused for a moment, before smirking all of the sudden, realizing something. "Oh... you dunno about the birds and the bees, huh?"

"Shut up, Shun", Ren warned him, rolling his eyes. "We have a job to do, remember?"

At that, however, Tenmei looked up, his eyebrow quirking. "What does birds and bees have to do with what just happened?"

Even Ren had to stop walking at that, turning slowly to look at Tenmei, with Shun also looking at Tenmei with a baffled look. It was Shun who spoke next, his pitch slightly higher in shock. "Y-you really don't know!? Come on, dude! The birds and the bees... the light and the darkness... the heartless and the nobodies!"

"I think you're only confusing him more", Ren pointed out.

"All of my lessons had something to do with politics, war tactics, combat, problem solving, and the fine arts", Tenmei pointed out, obviously looking confused and upset. "I was also keeping with tradition and forbidden from leaving the citadel, and kept that promise until Yumi managed to sneak in and meet me face to face. I was supposed to get more lessons after my coronation, but we all know how that turned out..."

Ren and Shun blinked, with Ren shooting Shun a warning look, though it seemed to be ignored by the elder boy, who only put an arm around Tenmei's shoulder. "Don't worry, man! I can give you those lessons!"

"That is literally the worst idea I've ever heard", Ren bluntly stated, causing Shun to look at him offended.

"I'm going to go with Ren on this", Tenmei said, gently brushing off Shun's hand. "I... think I'd rather ask someone who is more knowledgable... like maybe Merlin or something... he might give me an idea of what I'm supposed to know without oversharing. This is a lesson that needs to be handled with care, if Ren's reaction is giving me any hints."

Defeated, Shun muttered something about how they should catch up to Sora, and thankful to be off the topic, Ren continued to lead the trio towards the deepest parts of the Underworld. Eventually, they had caught up to Sora, who was standing before a narrow, winding path that lead up to a dark, floating fortress that looked like a skull, fused into the wall of the Underworld. "Hades, come out!" Sora demanded, glaring as he looked around the Valley of the Dead.

"I don't think he's going to listen to the demands of someone in his domain", Tenmei offered, by now having recollected himself and now putting on the confidence he usually had.

"So we either go up there and demand to talk to him, or we-" Ren stated, before he was cut off by Sora beginning to run up the pathway to where the cavern entrance was. "And there he goes."

Tenmei let out a groan, before taking off, Shun and Ren following closely behind. Just as they caught up with Sora, Donald and Goofy, they came to see Hades, Lord of the Dead, locked in combat with a mysterious man, dressed in red with a scar over his right eye, a rather large sword being swung about... with only one hand.

"Okay, I know some of these guys are insanely strong, but this is getting ridiculous", Shun pointed out, as Sora summoned his Keyblade.

"Hades!" Donald yelled out, brandishing his staff.

"You again?!" the fiery god sputtered, surprised by them, before the warrior in red managed to break their clash.

"Fight", the man commanded, looking over at the six of them, before attempting to attack again, but this time Hades was ready, easily blocking his strike and knocking him onto the ground, stunning him temporarily. While the man in red recovered, Sora attempted to fight, but found his weapon was completely useless.

"Something's wrong" Donald whined, taking a few steps back.

"I feel kinda funny..." Sora admitted, also unsure.

"Oh, that's right. See that's the thing. Down here in the Underworld, heroes are zeroes", Hades quipped, his red glow returning to a pale blue as his mood improved, smirking. "Comes with the territory."

"Sora, take that guy and go!" Ren command, stepping forward and summoning his keyblade.

"But I gotta talk to Hades!" Sora shouted back at him.

"What was that?" Hades mocked, sticking his fingers in his ear and going wide eyed at the ceiling, as if pretending Sora was not there. Enraged, Sora charged again, only this time the man in red grabbed him and began to pull him away, with Donald and Goofy in tow. Tenmei and Shun both watched for a moment, before they took turned tail and fled. Hades launched fireballs at them, but Ren deflected them all, staying behind for the others to make their escape.

"You can't fight me, kid", Hades grinned, staring Ren down. "You're only sacrificing yourself in vain."

Ren smirked at that, "I'm only half hero, Hades... but you're right. I still can't fight you." WIth that, Ren waved mockingly, disappearing into a dark corridor, and reappearing right in front of Sora and the others as they ran. "Hi guys!"

"What the-?!" Sora yelped. "Don't do that!"

"Less screaming, more running, please!" Tenmei yelled, as they made their way out of the Valley of the Dead, taking a break in the next area once they were sure Hades wasn't following them. Ren was serving as lookout, while the others caught their breath.

"Th-thanks for the save, Ren", Sora panted, looking up at him. "But that could've gotten you seriously hurt you know!"

"Not really", Ren replied, baffling Sora, who only looked at him as if he was nuts. "Don't take too long, though. We aren't done yet."

"Why, what could be-" Shun began to ask, but his answer came in the form of a giant, black three headed dog leaping in front of them, snapping with all three of its jaws as it stared them down. "Alright universe, I see your game."

Tenmei stepped forward this time, an orb of light appearing in his hand. "My turn. You guys run, I'll hold him off."

"What is it with you guys and dumb ideas?!" Sora complained, before being dragged off again. Tenmei only chuckled, before staring the dog down, the ball of light bouncing in his hand.

"Hey there, Fido... wanna play fetch?" Tenmei stated, giving a small smirk as the beast growled down at him. He then chucked the ball directly at the creature, stunning it momentarily as he dashed back from his spot, running through the door as Sora and the myserious man closed it behind him, causing the three headed dog beast to run into it head first, a thump on the other side signaling that it fell to the floor knocked out from it's attempted assault on Tenmei.

"Dumb ideas, huh?" Ren stated, looking down at Sora. "I dare say we got out of that well off."

"And besides, it was your dumb idea to try and face Hades on his own turf without any backup plan", Tenmei pointed out, turning the tables on the wielder of the Kingdom Key. "If we hadn't been here to help you, you'd probably still be running from the Lord of the Dead right now."

"Y-Yeah, but..." Sora attempted, looking between them both. "Uh... Auron, wanna back me up on this?" However, when there was no response, Sora turned around, seeing that the man in red had gone missing. "Huh? Where'd he go?"

Ren only glanced behind him for a moment before shaking his head. "We'll see him again... in the meantime, we need to return to the surface and figure out another plan. Plus, the girls are up there recovering and we don't wanna make them worry."

At that, Tenmei had the decency to blush, but said nothing else on the matter. He began walking towards the coliseum silently, leading the boys back to where Hikari and Yumi were waiting, with Yumi still pouting a bit while Hikari looked bored as she sat on the steps. The second she saw Ren emerge, however, her expression perked up instantly. "There you guys are! What took you so long?"

"We had a talk with the devil", Ren sarcastically stated, giving a dismissive wave. "And I fought him and stuff, ya know. The usual."

Yumi blinked, unsure what to make of that. "O...kay?" she said, tilting her head. She soon stood up, stretching a bit. "So, I think our old trainer is in the lobby talking with Hercules. Wanna see if the legendary hero has a way to fight whatever the heck the Underworld does to us?"

Sora nodded. "That sounds like a good idea... then maybe we can finally get some progress with Hades."

"Okay, timeout", Tenmei called, glaring over at Sora. "Why do you want to make a deal with the god of the Underworld? You do realize that is a really, really dumb idea, right?"

"Well, it's something I told Meg I would do for her", Sora explained. "We saved her from a pack of Heartless, and she told us the whole situation. Hercules is fighting huge monsters, one after the other. He's strong, but he's not invincible. So, I need to make Hades hear me out, see if he'll lighten the load a bit so Herc can have a bit of a break instead of going at it nonstop."

Hikari suddenly went wide eyed, turning to Ren. "Wait... you fought Hades!?"

"Finally one of you gets it", Ren grumbled, looking at Hikari.

"You do realize that is nothing to joke about and that is a really, really, really stupid idea, right!?" Hikari shouted at him, bonking him on the head a bit. Ren rubbed his head, muttering something about how someone else would've appreciated the joke, before sighing to himself.

"Anyway, let's go talk to Herc."

As the group turned to walk in, though, that was when the hero decided to step out. He looked a bit worse for wear, letting out a tired sigh, until he looked down and spotted his friends. "Sora! Donald! Goofy!"

"It's great to see you, Hercules!" Sora said, greeting his friend with a high five. They began talking, catching up a bit, until Hercules noticed the others.

"And you are?"

"My name is Tenmei", the former prince offered, giving a slight nod. "These are my friends, Ren, Shun, Hikari and Yumi. I believe Phil let us borrow a bit of the arena before so we could do some personal training a little over a year ago."

"Oh, yeah! I remember him mentioning you guys!" Hercules said, smiling warmly. "Said you five had great hero potential!"

"Just like us!" Donald said proudly, puffing his chest a bit. "After all, we're heroes, too!"

"A-hyuk, I think you mean junior heroes, Donald", Goofy pointed out, causing the duck to deflate a bit with a scowl on his face.

"Anyway", Tenmei interrupted, before Donald could yell at his pal, "we need to head into the Underworld for something. Do you think you could give us a hand?"

"The Underworld, huh?" Herc mused, rubbing his chin a bit. "Well, I can see if I can go borrow the Olympus Stone for you... it's what the gods use when they have to visit Hades for whatever reason."

"That would be really helpful, Herc!" Sora stated, smiling. "And hey, maybe we can get some training with Phil while you're gone?"

"Sounds like a good idea", Hercules said with a smile. "I'll catch up with you guys soon, then." The exhausted hero turned, walking off towards the exit of the coliseum, while Tenmei scratched his chin.

"Extra training, hm?" he mused. He thought about asking the satyr about his own "problem", but soon decided against it. He opted, instead, to make his own way out. "I'm going to go to the nearby city and see if I can find some books or something. You guys have fun without me, and I'll try to be back before Hercules comes back."

"B-books?" Hikari asked, confused as Tenmei walked off. "About what?"

"Maybe it's about the light and the darkness", Shun cracked his same joke, nudging Ren, but the jade eyed teen only glared at his friend.

"Why would he need books about light and darkness?" Yumi asked, baffled. "He's a Prince of Twilight."

Shun sighed at that, leaning over to Ren. "Would that someone you mentioned earlier laugh at that?"

"No, she would not", Ren bluntly stated, despite no memory of the girl in question remaining. Shun's ego deflated, they walked off to meet up with Phil, who was so busy putting up posters that he talked to them as if they were Hercules, and only after hearing Sora, Donald and Goofy laugh, turned around and noticed them.

"Well, if it isn't the junior heroes!" Phil greeted, shaking the hands of Sora, Donald and Goofy, before he looked up at Ren and the others. "And... wait, weren't there five of you?"

"Tenmei is in town", Shun grumpily stated, still sore about Ren's earlier comment. "Looking at books about birds and whatever."

Phil quirked an eyebrow, before looking over at Ren. "What's got his toga in a twist?"

"He's just upset that he's not funny", Ren muttered. "Anyway, do you mind if we do some training here? It'll pass the time until either Hercules or Tenmei comes back from their errands."

"Of course. Time to give the junior heroes another lesson, after all. Gotta keep at it if they want to be a part of the big leagues", Phil said with a chuckle. In no time, the entire group was doing some training, while Tenmei finally returned, reading a book with slightly wider eyes. As he entered the training ground, he closed the book and sent it to his own room via dark corridor, his cheeks dusted a little pink.

"Well... glad I found that out through my own means instead of asking someone else", he said softly. "Heavens knows how Shun would have described it... and I don't think I'd handle hearing stuff like that come from Hikari or Ren. And I would never have even thought Yumi would know about those... things."

"What things?" came Yumi's response, and the former prince practically jumped out of his skin, letting out a rather loud yelp as he looked to the redhead, who had managed to sneak up on him thanks to his bad tunnel-vision habit.

"Y-Yumi! Hi! Nothing!" Tenmei said in a panic, his face flaring up a bit. He soon managed to recompose himself, clearing his throat. "N-nothing you have to worry about. Just... doing some private research."

"Research on the-" Shun began to shout from a bit away, before he was knocked out by Ren.

"You weren't ready", Ren pointed out, before dragging Shun off to heal him.

Thank you for the save, Tenmei thought to himself. "A-anyway, I'm guessing Herc isn't back yet?"

Hikari walked over, pointing over at the doorway. "He's actually just coming back right now, so you're right on time."

Good, now no one else needs to know what I had to do today. Things are turning up Tenmei! the prince cheered on the inside, though he turned to Hercules in a rather calm manner. "So... how did it go?"

"I'm sorry, Tenmei... it looks like the Olympus Stone was stolen by some creep in a black coat", the hero said, slumping his shoulders a bit in disappointment.

"Demyx", Ren whispered under his breath, which was only heard by Tenmei. "Alright, we will get it back for you... Hikari, Yumi, you two figure out what to do to survive down there without turning into jello?"

Yumi paled a bit, taking a few steps back. "H-how about I stay up here and... and... train a bit more? I mean, I still need to do some strength training, a-and I'm trying something new with throwing my shield, and-"

Unfortunately, Hikari was not on her sister's side this time. "I think I have something that'll definitely help... but all we'll be able to do is provide support."

"Good enough", Ren nodded, before looking at Yumi and walking over to her, putting his arm around her shoulder and beginning to guide her. "Well, looks like your strength training will be on Underworld heartless!"

"Y-yay..." Yumi said flatly, obviously not looking forward to being dragged back to the Underworld.

"Alright, leave it to me", Hikari stated, before closing her eyes and chanting a bit, before an orb of light began to hover over her head, creating a three foot radius circle around her. She opened her eyes, sweat dropping a bit. "...I thought it would be bigger than that... Well, as long as Yumi stands within the light, she should be somewhat immune from the effects."

"Somewhat?!" Yumi squeaked, realizing she was boxed in. The boys surrounded the light circle, keeping her from escaping. "... I hate you all."

"We love you too", Shun sarcastically replied, smirking. "Now let's go, before we lose our chance to catch the thief." Everyone (except Yumi) nodded, walking into the Underworld. Instantly, the funny feeling returned to Sora, who sighed in frustration. Meanwhile, Hikari and Yumi felt a bit of a jolt, but it wasn't like before where they literally could not do anything. Hikari sighed, shaking her head a bit.

"Well... I did say it wasn't perfect", Hikari muttered, clearly not happy with her own magic. She gripped her staff a bit tighter, trying to keep the others from noticing the significant drain that spell had on her. "Once we get that stone, we should be just fine though..."

"At least you can do something", Yumi griped, clearly not having a good time. "I only have a chance to fight if anything comes close enough to the circle. Otherwise, my only role is occasionally feeding you an ether and chucking potions to the others."

"Hey, better than nothing", Ren stated, before sighing and walking forward. "Now let's go be annoyed by a stupid Nobody."

"Hey, would you rather be carried princess style by your prince again while you can't do anything?" Shun teased, putting big emphasis on the words prince and princess as he walked after Ren, laughing and making sure he stayed as far from the circle radius as possible.

Yumi flushed bright red, and she grit her teeth as she glared daggers at the boy, obviously not finding the joke amusing. "Next chance I get, Shun, you are going to be buried here by my shield!"

"Will you leave her alone?" Tenmei said, glaring a bit at Shun. "You've already got your jabs at me, you can leave her out of it."

"Jabs?" Hikari asked, curious. "What jabs?"

Before Shun could even respond, Tenmei grabbed him, quickly covering his mouth as muffled words tried to escape. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Pretend you heard nothing!" With that, he dragged Shun further away, spending the rest of the walk focusing on finding and retrieving the Olympus stone, while Hikari, Yumi, and the half-pints all looked rather confused.

Sometime of nothing but wondering what the heck happened between Tenmei and Shun later, the half-pints were once again left confused by the appearance of the Organization XIII member, who lowered his hood, revealing his blonde hair and blue hair, which looked at them in wonder. "What a second... Roxas? Rexn?"

"Hi Demyx", Ren greeted him, as Sora looked baffled.

"Excuse me?" Sora asked, quirking an eyebrow in confusion.

Demyx blinked, before realizing that something was going on. Mumbling to himself, he pulled out a sheet of paper and began to read. "Rexn... will definitely remember you and hate you... HEY!"

"Well, you are an idiot", Ren stated, which caused Demyx to glare, before he turned to look at the paper again.

"Roxas... if the subject fails to respond, use aggression to liberate his true disposition... right", Demyx sighed, looking annoyed. "Man, did they ever pick the wrong guy to do this one."

"You're... bizarre", Sora said, as if trying to find the right word. As he said that, though Demyx ruffled into one of his pockets, pulling out a stone with the symbol of the gods, a lightningbolt, carve onto it.

"He's gotta be the thief!" Goofy declared, pointing accusingly at Demyx.

"Now, that's just plain rude", Demyx retorted, raising the stone as it enveloped him in a warm glow, showing he now resisted the effects of the Underworld.

"Then what is that", Ren pointed at the stone, looking at Demyx with a look of annoyance.

"Would you believe me if I said I found it?" the nobody asked with a sheepish smile, summoning his weapon.

"I'd be more likely to believe that Larxene was nice", Ren smirked, before summoning his keyblade.

Demyx scowled at that, before deciding he had enough talking. "Dance, water, DANCE!" he shouted, beginning to play his sitar, summoning a large amount of watery-looking clones.

Ren's eye twitched at that, before with a single swipe, all the water clones were vanquished by the Twilight Keyblader. "Wanna try again, or are we done here?"

The Melodius Nocturne sweat a bit at that, quickly deciding that it was best if he get out of there in a hurry as he failed to notice the stone falling from his person. "Roxas!" he called out to Sora, a pleading look in his eye. "Come back to us!" And with that, he vanished into a Dark Corridor, leaving the group staring in confusion.

"Who was that kook?" Sora asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"All you need to know is that he's an idiot", Ren stated, walking over to the stone and picking it up. "...but he's still dangerous... anyway, catch Sora!"

The wielder of Kingdom Key let out a yelp as he caught the stone, fumbling a bit with it before managing to get a good grip. Then, with a raise of his hand, the stone went into effect, making everyone immune to the Underworld's curse, automatically dispelling Hikari's magic circle.

"Oh, that feels so much better!" Hikari sighed as she smiled, almost melting again but remaining on her feet.

"Freedom! Sweet merciful freedom!" Yumi cheered, jumping around a bit. "I can finally punch things again!"

Hikari sighed a bit, suddenly swaying on her feet. "Oh boy... okay, maybe I don't feel as good as I thought..."

As she stumbled a bit, it was surprisingly Tenmei who caught her before she fell, supporting her back a bit. "Whoa, hey, take it easy", he said, helping her stand straight again. He patted her shoulders gently while she stared in surprise at his willingness to help her. "Even at a low cost, that was a lot of magic you were channeling. You might need a bit to recover completely before we keep moving."

"Y-yeah", Hikari muttered, looking down a bit. "T-thanks."

Ren looked at them for a moment before looking at Sora, who seemed antsy. "What?"

"We need to keep moving", he replied, looking focused. "Hades has Meg trapped down here, too. Were you not paying attention when he showed up?"

"Hades was at the coliseum?" came Tenmei's confused reply. "When did that happen?"

Sora sighed in frustration. "So you didn't pay attention... well, Hades has Meg down here and we need to help her!"

"And we should trust Hades?" Ren asked, actually shocked at Sora's belief in Hades' word. "Well... if you say so, but I think it's a trap."

"Even if it is, she's a friend of Herc", Goofy said. "I don't think we have much of a choice, either way."

"Okay", Hikari stated, looking a bit better than before. "Let's get moving then. I think I'm good to go."

Everyone else nodded, as Tenmei took the lead once more. After only a few more minutes, the group found themselves in front of some sort of lock. There, carved into the lock, was the image of Meg, trapped in the stone, and with one swish of the Kingdom Key, Sora unlocked it, freeing her... sort of. It was only when they arrived at the next area did they see how elaborate this plan was, as a familiar face greeted them again.

"Now that is what I call a key", Hades stated, grinning. "Gee, thanks for your help!" Then his malicious grin turned back into the bored deadpan as he waved them off. "Now have a nice day." And in a puff of smoke, he was gone.

Of course, they weren't left alone for too long, as a familiar, obnoxious laugh echoed from behind them. There stood Pete, his own smug smirk on his face. "What's the matter? Can't fight in the Underworld? Boo-hoo-hoo!" he mocked, laughing again.

"Better think again", Tenmei commented, as the group fought to defend Meg from the heartless. Pete looked stunned as they effortlessly defeated the heartless that were summoned to combat them, surprised at how they were all able to use the full power in the depths of the underworld, his mouth wide open after the swarm was vanquished by the group.

Then, in the middle of the fight, Pet found himself knocked to the ground by a certain winged steed, signaling that Hercules arrived to join the brawl. "Sorry I'm late", he said, helping put her on Pegasus' back. "Keep her safe. I'll meet you back at the coliseum." With a nod, the flying horse took off with haste.

"What about you?" Sora asked.

"I'll show these guys what happens when you mess with a true hero!" Herc said, flexing his right arm a bit. As he moved to fight Pete and his heartless, though, Tenmei stood beside him.

"As much as I trust you... I'm going to offer support", he said simply, implying there was no room for argument. Herc nodded, and the two warriors set off to do battle against Pete and his heartless, with everyone else just watching.

"So... anyone have a deck of cards?" Ren asked.

"Ren, shut up", Shun growled.

"Guys?!" came Tenmei's voice, suddenly loud and alarmed. The group turned to see that all of Pete's heartless suddenly possessed red eyes, and were attacking much more aggressively... even lashing out against Pete as well. "We could use some backup!"

"What's the big idea?!" Pete squawked, ducking as one of the Hookbats narrowly missed his head. "You mooks are supposed to be listenin' to me!"

Ren, realizing what was happened, stepped forward and summoned his keyblade. "The heartless obey whoever is strongest, Pete... and I hate to say it, but someone stronger then you is messing around with them right now. Guys! Let's go!"

"Finally", Yumi said, flexing her metal-covered hand. "A challenge!" She let out a loud yell as she charged forward, joining Tenmei's side and striking at the empowered creatures with her shield, cutting through one of them clean in half.

"How sharp is the edge of that thing?!" Shun asked, stabbing another heartless with his gunblade.

"It isn't!"

"... I think that's even worse."

"Less talky, more fighty!" Hikari shouted at them, sending a blast of light magic to vaporize a few heartless. The group fought against the empowered creatures, with Pete doing basically nothing but whimpering and ducking whenever a heartless attacked him. Eventually, the swarm was vanquished, leaving everyone panting and Pete to look flabbergasted at them all.

"Er... this changes nothing!" Pete yelled, before running off, sweating profusely from his forehead.

"So... we won, right?" Sora asked, smiling. "Mission accomplished?"

"I wouldn't be so sure", came the smooth voice of Hades, as he appeared once more. "I think 'wonderboy' here made a bit of a mistake... what's happened with that hydra? You know, the one you forgot to finish off?"

Herc looked confused for a moment, but soon his eyes widened, and a look of despair formed on his face. "No..." he whispered, before sprinting towards the coliseum. The rest of the group, realizing something was very wrong, shot after him, but it was already too late. The hydra had gone nuts since Hercules left, and the coliseum was completely destroyed, leaving only a large pile of rubble behind it, and the serpent-like monster let out a guttural roar, staring down at the heroes with a hungry gaze.

"Well, looks like we have more work to do", Shun groaned, looking at the hydra with an annoyed look on his face.

"This is all my fault", Hercules moaned, the glow he usually had fading as he lost the will to fight. "Some hero I turned out to be..."

"We'll handle this, Herc! Get somewhere safe!" Sora urged, while the rest of the fighters got ready, planning on their assault.

"Get up on the hydra's back!" came a familiar voice. Phil, able to escape the carnage, stood on top of some rubble, standing next to a golden urn.

"...I feel like he's just gonna keep shouting that unless one of us does", Hikari stated, looking at Phil.

Yumi gave a sigh, before doing as Phil asked. While the hydra was distracted, trying to eat Sora, she leapt from the hydra's back, as Phil tossed the urn up into the air, and with a grunt, she flung the urn straight down onto the monster's spine, stunning it as it howled in pain. This gave Sora an opportunity, and with a single slash, cut the hydra's head clean off.

Only for three more heads to sprout in its place.

"That's... disgusting", Tenmei mentioned, his face twisted like he smelled something horrible. "Can we just kill this thing and be done with it, already?"

Agreeing, Ren also leapt into battle, and before long the hydra (which had about nine heads by the time it was defeated) fell in battle, giving the heroes the win. Of course, it still felt somewhat of a hollow victory, as the stadium was still in ruin and Hercules was in a state of depression.

"Nothing we can really do for him right now", Ren said, looking at the others. "We should probably go for now, and check on him later."

Tenmei glanced over at the hero, wishing there was more he could say. But he knew anything he offered the hero either wouldn't believe... or he wouldn't be able to believe his own words. He gave a sigh, nodding. "Then we better get moving. Back to the ship, I suppose?"

Sora nodded, before turning to Meg. "Let us know if you hear anything about the Heartless and Organization XIII, alright?"

"Of course", she said. "And don't worry about Wonderboy. I'll take care of him."

With all they could do completed, the gang soon returned to their ship, and they began their journey to the next world... one where Sora, Donald and Goofy would end up on their own.

XxXxXxX

And with that, another chapter is done and set! Hope you enjoyed it, and thankfully, this time in my apartment has given me a lot more time to work on my chapters, and the ones that me and Blood have done together!

Thanks, again, to BloodWingdAngel for helping me write these chapters!