Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, things have been keeping me busy, along with my cat going missing for a week(We found her, so don't worry)

Chapter 6: The Vaizel fighting festival

(Radiant garden: Villains vale)

(Music:Villans of a sort~1.5 ver~)

In Maleficent's fortress that was far from the main city of Radiant garden, the mistress of all evil herself, along with her minion, Pete were eagerly awaiting news from about his search for information about the keyblade war, only to get nothing. Now Maleficent was standing silently in front of the table in the center of the main chamber while Pete was impatiently pacing around the room in circles.

"This is a big waste of time! That bucket of bolts Nefarious guaranteed he'd find us something about that black box, or at least something about whoever stole the data you gave Ragyo! I think he pulled a fast one on us!" Pete claimed.

"Hush already!" Maleficent ordered as Pete decided to cease his complaining. "The last piece of news I heard from the doctor was that he found a new world we haven't been to before. Something must've interfered in his investigation."

"Well what the heck could've gotten him tied up?" Pete wondered.

(Britanna:Tala village)

"Keep looking, Lawrence! We're bound to find something!" ordered as he dug holes around the abandoned village with a shovel while Lawrence simply searched around with a datapad. However, unknown to the two robots, they were right near the entrance to the necropolis.

"Sir, I seriously doubt we'll find even a book to point us in the right direction. I suggest we search for the so-called Necropolis our spies managed to overhear about." Lawrence suggested.

"HAH! A city of the dead? RIDICULOUS!" Nefarious shouted as he tossed his shovel, which Lawrence moved his head to avoid. "I'm a scientist, Lawrence. I don't believe in the afterlife! Besides, how does one even reach this place if it exists?"

"From what the spies have reported you must "Share your precious memories with the dead" if I heard it right. Sounds like a nice poem though, which you wouldn't know after your failed poet phase."

"Share your memories with the dead? HAH! Now that's just utterly laughable!"

"I know, sir. But I'm only repeating what I've been-"

"Although, that reminds of the great times I've had with Cassiopia." Nefarious said as he swooned over an old love as Lawrence rolled his eyes.

"Oh, here we go…" Lawrence sighed.

"All the smiles, all the laughs, all the plotting of the destruction of squishies everywhere! I tell ya, Lawrence, there was no other Valkyrie that made this robot go-" Nefarious said before a familiar petal tornado had swooped in and brought Nefarious and Lawrence to the capital of the dead itself, making Nefarious drop his jaw at the sight of the realm made of green crystals.

"Huh, look at that, sir. It does exist. Maybe now you can pull those bolts out of your ears and listen to other people's advice once in awhile." Lawrence said as Nefarious' awestruck soon turned to rage.

"LAWRENCEEEEEEE!" Nefarious shouted so loud that the spirit of Elaine was able to hear him from faraway, wondering what angry soul had made their way into the Necropolis.

(Back in the villain's vale)

"I mean, I don't see how hard it could be to get info on a new world and some dirt on the black box along with who might have it." Pete continued, unaware of ' current frustration while Maleficent was thinking of a solution.

"Hmm, I suppose you're right. It's been far too long now. Pete, go to this new world and find him." Maleficent ordered.

"Ha! I knew you put your trust back in ol' Pete!" Pete exclaimed before taking a second thought about his order. "Wait, what? Why do I have to go find him? You gave Nefarious the scavenger hunt, now you're saying I gotta do the same by finding him in a place we know nothing about."

"Of course. You're the one that suggested you could do a better job."

"B-B-But I…!"

"Off with you now." Maleficent ordered as she waved her staff and a dark corridor opened up behind Pete, who gave up arguing with her.

"Oh fine…" Pete said as he slumped over and made his way over to the portal.

"Pete…" Maleficent said which made her minion stop as he perked up, hoping for something positive to be said.

"Yeah, boss? You wanted to say thank you?"

"No, I just wanted to say, don't get caught by any manner of terrible creature in this new world."

"Oh...Should've known that's what you were gonna say. And with my luck, that might just happen…" Pete complained as he walked into the dark corridor.

(The boar hat)

(Music:Happy hair day)

After defeating Gulia and leaving Tala village, Sora and the others made sure the holy knight wouldn't be able to follow them by tieing her to a tree(And drawing on her face) While she was still unconscious, hopefully losing her tail. Now the group was celebrating King's return to the seven deadly sins.

"Here, captain! I broiled this just for you!" Diane said as she offered a giant cooked fish to Meliodas and poked him in the head with it.

"That's a little big." Meliodas said while drinking ale and being poked by Diane.

"Uh, Diane?" King spoke up as he floated in front of the giantess. "Are your injuries really healed now?"

"Sure I feel fine." Diane said.

"Dumbass! She only pretended to be hurt so she could suck faces with the captain." Ban pointed out while drunk, which got on King's nerves.

"Diane's that kind of girl, okay?!" King shouted while Diane looked away with a guilty expression.

"Sounds like someone's jealous." Ryuko said while taking a bite out of some cooked fish, while King noticed Sora's half of the group,realizing he had never seen them before the necropolis, along with Elizabeth.

"That reminds, who are you three?" King asked.

"I'm Sora, this Ryuko and Satsuki. We're traveling with Meliodas and the others to stop the holy knights, and we're on our own journey. I was wondering if maybe during your time with the knights, you might've seen some people dressed like me, and have a keyblade too." Sora asked while King shook his head.

"Sorry, in all my long years, I've met any other human with a weapon like yours before." King answered as Sora hung his head down in disappointment.

"Bummer.." Ryuko spoke for Sora as he raised his head again.

"Oh, well. That we have three more of the sins to ask, hopefully one of my friends is with one of them."

"By the way captain, you and this girl...:" King said as he turned to Elizabeth. "Just what is the nature of your relationship?"

"The "lovers" kind." Meliodas said as he began groping Elizabeth yet again.

"No it's not!" Elizabeth shouted before Ryuko suddenly stood up and punched Meliodas in the face hard enough to send him flying into a nearby lake.

"How about the "total pervert taking advantage of a girl who's too nice" kind of relationship?" Ryuko said as she cracked her smoking knuckles while King started in awe at Ryuko's surprising strength.

"Well, at least someone is keeping the captain in check." King said while mentally relieved that Ryuko's anger was pointed at Meliodas and not him while the former captain rose out of the lake with seaweed on his shoulders and took a seat like nothing happened, even though his cheek was swollen and red from Ryuko's punch.

"Elizabeth is a princess of the realm. You're the third one, right?" Meliodas asked as Elizabeth nodded, while King was taken by surprise.

"What?! The princess?! You should've told me! If I knew, I would've made myself more presentable!" King said as he began making a straining sound, much to everyone's confusion.

"Hey, uh, if you need to use the bathroom, there's one inside-" Ryuko said before King's form changed into a shape that resembled his appearance on his wanted poster, which Ryuko too nearly choked on her fish and caused Ban to make a spitake. "The actual fu-?!"

"Wow! You changed your clothes." Meliodas stated.

"Look closer!" Ban shouted.

"You know, it takes a great deal of mental effort to change into this form." King said in a voice that matched his appearance.

"What a pig…" Hawk stated, ironically while King made his introduction to Elizabeth.

"Hello! I am King, the grizzly sin of the seven deadly sins, please to make your acquaintance." King introduced himself to Elizabeth.

"Uh, the pleasure is all mine, I'm sure.." Elizabeth said while becoming nervous as King got closer to her face.

" I didn't know you were royal, please forgive my poor manners in the necropolis!"

"Think nothing of it. Also, don't let yourself become stressed out, feel free to relax and become comfortable!" Elizabeth insisted, much to King's relief now that his transformation was starting to tax him mentally.

"If you insist, you're majesty…" King said before reverting to his normal form in a puff of smoke and fell backwards as his green pillow caught him before hitting the ground. "Uhhhh...That really took alot out of me…"

"Thank god he went back, I thought he was gonna eat her." Ryuko said.

"Look, his clothes changed back." Meliodas stated, obvious.

"Look closer, damnit!" Ban shouted before King turned his attention to Sora's group.

"By the way, are any of you three important people? If you are, I have to make proper introductions to you as well once I catch my breath." King said as Sora and Ryuko turned their view towards Satsuki, who was the monarch to the Kiryuin family name, and overseer of Honnouji academy, making her pretty important. However, Satsuki only had one thing to say.

"No…" Satsuki answered while drinking tea that Elizabeth made. Dealing with his formal form might be too much, even for her to take.

"I really must say, you're one powerful individual, truely, sir King. On your own, you took down an opponent that sir Meliodas and the others had trouble with together." Elizabeth noted.

"Yeah, I guess I'm pretty powerful." King agreed before turning his sight towards the other three sins. "But any of you could've taken care of that holy knight if you just unleashed your true strength. Like Sora over there." He said, pointing to the keyblade wielder.

"Are you saying Meliodas and the others haven't used their full power yet?" Sora asked.

"No, they haven't. Now I'm wondering where their sacred treasures are."

"I lost mine." Diane said with a smile and her tongue sticking out.

"Sold mine!" Meliodas admitted with a strange prideful smile.

"Mine got stolen!" Ban said as King reverted to his human form out of sheer dumbfoundment at the recklessness of his teammates losing their weapons.

"...Shame on you!" King said before reverting back to normal.

"You gotta be kidding me, all you need these treasures of your's to use your full power? And you lost them?" Ryuko said.

"No, I sold mine. That's different from losing it." Meliodas said as he was struck in the face by a rock that Ryuko threw. "I had that coming."

"Could any of you know where they might be now?" Satsuki asked as the sins shook their heads "no" to answer.

"What about your's, Sora? Where did you get your's?" Elizabeth asked, which caught Sora by surprise considering he wasn't expecting anyone to ask at all.

"Me? Well, actually. The keyblade isn't one of these sacred treasures at all, it's kinda got a mind of its own, it chooses who gets to use it." Sora explained.

"So where it came from, then?" Meliodas asked.

"I...Uh...Don't know…" Sora said, even though it was a lie since he couldn't tell them it was forged in the image of a weapon that could control the heart of all worlds, and even that could expose his group's true identity.

"So i'm guessing these friends of yours that you're looking for also have these things, right?" Ban asked.

"Basically, yeah. I need their help for something really important."

"You may wanna put that on hold, the holy knights are still after you." King advised.

"Why are they after Sora? All the knights since we found Diane in the forest said they need him." Satsuki said.

"I'm not sure why. Gilthunder never told me a thing about why they need him, although...one name kept coming up…" King said as he narrowed his eyes. "...Grandmaster Hendrickson…"

(Meanwhile...in Liones)

The kingdom of Liones, the center of Britanna that once overlooked by Elizabeth's family, now under control of the holy knights since their coup and was now the breeding grounds for war. Currently, the holy knights were even more riled up by one of the two holy knight grandmasters, Dreyfus, who was waiting in his personal chamber for Gilthunder, who had returned from slaying their enemies in the north.

"Howzer, Gilthunder, well done in the north." Dreyfus said as the door to his chamber opened as Gilthunder and his partner, another holy knight named Howzer walked into the room to report while the grandmaster was reading a book with a strange symbol on one of its pages.

"So grandmaster Dreyfus, when is this holy war gonna happen, sir? Running all these errands is kinda making me soft." Howzer asked, wondering when he and his fellow knights can battle.

"Yes, when indeed?"

"You don't know? Not even who we'll be fighting against?"

"You need to mind your tone, Howzer." Gilthunder said as Dreyfus raised his hand.

"It's all right. Now what of the seven deadly sins?" Dreyfus asked about the current status of their targets.

"King has turned his back on the realm, and the sins are gathered four strong. Also, Gulia was unable to retrieve the special target traveling with them." Gilthunder reported as Dreyfus' eyes narrowed.

"The boy Hendrickson wants captured. Have you found out why he wants this child?"

"No, sir. Though I suspect it has something to do with a strange power he possesses." Gilthunder answered as Howzer decided to speak his mind.

"Hold on just a minute! Are you saying the next holy war is gonna be waged against the seven deadly sins and some kid that happens to be with them?" Howzer questioned as Dreyfus stood away from his desk and put down his book.

"That future remains clouded for now, as for this boy, he will have to choose a side, the holy knights, or traitors to the realm. For now, there's one thing I'm quite certain about, the sins who have gathered, in particular, Meliodas, the dragon sin are great threats to the realm and must be eliminated!" Dreyfus announced.

"Uh, of course, grandmaster Dreyfus!"

"I assume you're aware of Danafall, the kingdom that rivaled Liones itself in military power, Right?"

"Well, wasn't it destroyed by some disaster?" Howzer asked, considering that one day, the kingdom of Danafall suddenly disappeared, with only a giant crater being where the kingdom once stood, however it wasn't destroyed by a disaster.

"It was completely erased...At the hands of Meliodas, who fell victim to his own wrath!" Dreyfus explained as a cold sweat ran down Howzer.

"You can't be serious! Even assuming that story is true, the realm's holy knights outnumber the sins dozens of times over, plus, we got the new generation now, so they don't stand a chance!"

"Howzer, I think you're being too optimistic." Gilthunder stated as Howzer put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"And you're being too pessimistic. Now, I got a prior engagement, if you'll excuse me." Howzer bidded farewell as he left the room, leaving Gilthunder behind with Dreyfus.

"The new generation, huh?" Dreyfus questioned the newest holy knights, whose power was questionable to him as Gilthunder walked over and leaned into Dreyfus' ear to tell him more private news.

"There are reports the Hendrickson's faction has snared several apprentice holy knights, and are working with them." Gilthunder explained.

"I see…"

"Another thing…" Gilthunder continued as Dreyfus was surprised by the fact of further news. "Before me and Howzer returned, a boy bearing similar resemblance to the one I have encountered in the forest of white dreams appeared and demanded that he'd speak with Hendrickson, and says he has something he needs."

"What? Who is he?"

"I don't know...Before I could pry any more information out of him, I told him Hendrickson was here in Liones and suddenly disappeared before I could question him more." Gilthunder said as Dreyfus put a finger on his chin to process the information he was given.

(Back at the boar hat)

"So what is the deal with this Hendrickson guy? Why could I have to do with this holy war he wants?" Sora asked King.

"I'm not sure, he could have the same reasons as grandmaster Dreyfus." King said.

"Hold up, there's two of these grandmaster guys? Why do the knights have two bosses?" Ryuko asked.

"After Grandmaster Zaratras was killed, Hendrickson and Dreyfus were the two most promising knights in the realm, thus they were promoted to grandmaster together to fill the void Zaratras' death left. They're probably more powerful than he was."

"Sounds like we got a lot of work cut out for us if we wanna save Elizabeth's family and the kingdom." Sora said.

"The new generation will also be a problem too." King said.

"The "New generation"? What's that?" Meliodas asked.

"Apparently, there have been a few failed apprentices who have found a way to gain the full powers of a holy knight in the space of only one day. Gulia, for instance. She's the latest apprentice who's grown stronger overnight. Doesn't seem right, does it?"

"I we fought her, I sensed something off, something unnatural." Satsuki agreed.

"Yeah, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I swear I sensed some powerful darkness coming from her." Sora said, since during the fight with Gulia, he felt a dark presence along with her.

"And we gotta fight a whole army of people just like her? We're gonna need some serious firepower soon." Ryuko said as Sora leaned in to whisper.

"Speaking of firepower, didn't you use Senketsu in that last fight? You could've taken her by surprise and even the playing field."

"I tried! For some reason, Senketsu wouldn't work."

"I did try to lend you power when I drank your blood, I couldn't transform." Senketsu explained.

"I tried the same with Junketsu as well, I had the same result. Something must've changed when we defeated Ragyo." Satsuki said while Ban had noticed the trio whispering amongst themselves.

"Hey. The hell you guys talking about?" Ban questioned.

"Oh,uh..not much, just wondering if the holy knights getting stronger fast might have anything to do with the heartless." Sora lied, which seemed to work, but Ban was still suspicious.

"Uh huh, sure thing."

"Back to the matter of the sacred treasures, you took the sacred treasure bestowed upon you by king Liones himself, and sold it?!" King said while staring angrily at Meliodas, who put on an innocent smile.

"I needed seed money for the tavern." Meliodas explained as King turned his view towards Ban.

"Yours was stolen?!"

"When I threw my butt into that prison." Ban explained the irony of his stolen weapon as King then turned to Diane, who had on sad puppy eyes out of guilt.

"Am I a bad girl?" Diane asked as King's annoyance quickly faded into sympathy.

"Well if it got misplaced then it's not your fault." King assured.

"That guy is totally head over heels for pigtails." Ryuko noted.

"Just like someone I know." Satsuki pointed out as Ryuko's face turned completely red and turned her head away to hide it.

"Hey, I don't understand why you're getting so upset, King. These guys do pretty well with what they got." Hawk said as King turned his attention towards the speaking pig.

"Sir pig…" King said.

"Sir pig?"

"Let me say that this lake represents all the magic power you'll find in one of the sins." King said as he directed everyone's attention towards the lake. "How much water could you scoop out using just your hands?"

"Hands?" Hawk questioned in confusion, as he looked at his hooves, which he had instead of hands.

"Is this gonna be on any test?" Sora asked.

"No, also, now how much you grab the water with your hands, you'll be pretty limited by them. But, if you have a weapon, especially the treasure, you could draw out incredible amounts of magic." King explained as he then held out his hand and the water from the lake then rose up from to form into a giant sphere to make the fairy's point.

"Sacred treasures are pretty awesome!" Meliodas said.

"That makes a lot of sense. Why the hell did you give your's up?!" Hawk shouted as he began shaking Meliodas as King released the sphere of water, allowing it to fall back into the lake.

"In any case, we're gonna have to get your sacred treasures back. Assuming you're serious about saving the realm." King said as Sora walked up to him and looked him in the eye.

"We are serious. Me and Meliodas already made a promise to Elizabeth that we'd save her family and her home. Ban and Diane and also willing to help, the question is, are you gonna help too?" Sora asked as King stood silent for a moment before smiling.

"Now that's what I'd like to hear, if only the captain could be as serious as you. As for me, I guess I'm already involved since I turned my back on my alliance with the holy knights." King said as Elizabeth approached.

"Excuse me…" Elizabeth spoke up to get the grizzly sin's attention. "But sir King, before you joined us, were you working with somebody inside the castle?"

"More or less."

"Do you know what happened to them? My father and two sisters? The king and the other two princesses."

"I'm afraid not, sorry about that." King apologized as Elizabeth became disappointed.

"Oh, I see…" Elizabeth said sadly before walking off towards the boar hat, leaving Sora and the others to watch her leave.

"Elizabeth…" Sora said as he was about to follow the princess, only for Meliodas to stop him by grabbing the back of his jacket.

"Let her go for now, we'll talk to her later to see how she's doing." Meliodas said as Sora nodded his head in agreement.

(Later that night, in the boar hat)

After Elizabeth left the campsite after hearing the lack of status on her father and sisters, she immediately went for her room to be alone and figgeded with the earring on her left ear while her thoughts continued to dwell on her family. As Elizabeth held the earring, she heard a knock on the door and looked up to see Meliodas standing in the doorway.

"That's really pretty, nice." Meliodas commented as Elizabeth was able to smile for the face time in hours.

"Yes, I got on my fifteenth birthday. It was a present from my big sister, 's really thoughtful and kind. Veronica, the second princess is a handful. I always remember father scolding her for being so willful and playing with swords. That and Gilthunder played with us too." Elizabeth shared before her face grew sad again. "It was wonderful…"

"Now don't you worry!" Meliodas exclaimed as Elizabeth looked up again. "We'll rescue your father, your sisters and everyone else too! That's one of the reasons we're on this quest."

"Sir Meliodas…"

"So now…" Meliodas said as he slid into the bed and patted it and made an inviting face. "Let's get some rest, join me!" He said before Hawk suddenly appeared and tied up the former captain in ropes.

"You don't learn, do ya, bacon brain?" Hawk said while Sora, Ryuko and Satsuki were standing outside the room, listening in on the conversation.

"Guess Elizabeth is gonna be okay." Sora said, happy for the princess.

"At least the pervert has a bit of a nice side. You think we can save her family?" Ryuko asked.

"We have to!"

"If we can find the rest of the sins and any keyblade wielder here, we can invade the capital and save the royal family. If they expose what the holy knights have done, they'll be finished." Satsuki said.

"At least we got a plan. *Yawn* But first, I think some shut eye for me…" Sora yawned.

"Same, I need some sleep here after getting blown up a dozen times by that knight chick."Ryuko agreed as the trio walked down the hall and walked past the door to Ban's room as King came barging out.

"You guys gotta help me! I've been stuck with Ban as a roommate and he's strangling me in his sleep! Get me out of here!" King begged as the trio turned around.

"We would, but it seems to be too late now." Satsuki said as King looked back and saw a sleepwalking Ban standing over him.

"Just where are you going, captain Hawk?" Ban said in his sleep as he grabbed one of King's legs and dragged him back into the room.

"PLEASE HELP!" King begged as he tried to grip onto the floor with his fingers, but was unsuccessful as the door closed.

Notice: King has now joined the party

(Liones: Magical research facility)

While Sora and the sins were resting for the night, a particular event was happening in the kingdom of Liones, underneath the holy knight's research facility where holy knight apprentices, Jericho and Twigo where asked to come to, only to have bags thrown over their heads upon approaching the building. After a while of blind walking, the bags over their heads were suddenly taken off by Gulia, and another holy knight in bronze armor with their face covered by their helmet and the two apprentices found themselves in a cave.

"Bloody guts! What are you doing here?!" Twigo questioned.

"I have no obligation to answer you." Gulia responded with her always present smile, which annoyed Twigo.

"Conclusion! I will strangle you later!"

"I thought the sole purpose of our being brought out here was to speak with grandmaster Hendrickson." Jericho said, considering the reason for the two apprentices' appearance was that they were summoned by the grandmaster.

(Music: Disquieting)

"It was indeed…" A voice from behind the two knights announced as they turned around to see a middle aged man with white hair and a goatee appeared out of the shadows, this man was the second holy knight grandmaster, Hendrickson. "I believe...you would be Twigo and Jericho, is that correct?"

"Grandmaster Hendrickson, what are we doing down here?" Jericho asked before Hendrickson raised his hand.

"I must ask you to hold that thought for a moment, it seems I have a visitor." Hendrickson said, much to the confusion of the other holy knights before a corridor of darkness suddenly appeared between the surprised knights and the unshaken Hendrickson. "I thought I told you to wait for me to finish down here before we could discuss our business."

"I didn't want to miss what was going on down here." A familiar voice as Vanitas walked out of the dark corridor, whose face was a surprise to the holy knights.

"What?! That's the brat who joined the seven deadly sins!" Twigo exclaimed.

"Grandmaster! What's he doing down here?" Jericho questioned before taking a closer look at Vanitas, and realizing he was not Sora, thanks to his much darker presence. "Wait, hold on. Unless he bleached his hair, that's not the same guy."

"Understandable. You're not the first to be surprised by my face." Vanitas said.

"What are you? That boy's twin brother?" Twigo asked.

"Yes, and also no."

"Conclusion, I am very confused."

"I must ask why you are down here. Better yet, how you knew about this place." Hendrickson said.

"Hey, if we're gonna be working together for a bit, I need to know what you're packing. Because these two aren't gonna cut it." Vanitas said, gesturing to Twigo and Jericho, who were both glaring angrily at Sora's dark twin.

"Grandmaster, would you like me and Gulia to get rid of him until you're finished?" The knight in bronze armor asked.

"No, consider him our guest." Hendrickon said as he turned to Vanitas. "If you may…"

"Apparently, I've from guest to butler in two seconds." Vanitas said as he lit a small dark fire in his hand before flicking towards a nearby torch to set ablaze, allowing light to reveal the hidden contents of the cave, causing Jericho's and Twigo's blood to freeze.

"What the..." Jericho studeered.

"The hell is that?!" Twigo shouted at the sight of the body of a red creature that hung from the cave ceiling by chains, the same red demon Ban killed many years ago.

"Welcome, brave warrior who crave the power of holy knights." Hendrickson said before he took out a knife and plunged it into the dead demon's body and sliced it open, allowing it's blood to spill into a pair of wine glasses Hendrickson prepared before he offered it to Twigo and Jericho. "Here today, the two of you will be reborn. Drink it, this is the blood of a demon."

"The blood...of a demon?!" Jericho said in disbelief as she was handed the glass with the bubbling substance.

"What else would it be? Juice?" Vanitas teased as Jericho snared at him.

"Strangely, the fairy's forest is where it came to light. When by all accounts, they have been sealed away forever, since their defeat by the goddesses and the other races in the holy war. Know that after drinking this, if you prove compatible, you will be able to summon and control more magic than you ever had before. Won't they, Gulia?" Hendrickson gestured to Gulia as an example as Twigo and Jericho looked at the holy knight in disbelief that someone as strong as her was like them at one point.

"You do desire power, don't you?" The knight in bronze armor questioned while Twigo and Jericho continued to stare at the demon's blood, still unsure when Vanitas approached from behind.

"You know you want this. The power to gain everything you want in life. Fame, fortune...maybe vengeance or to simply settle a score. You no longer have to be weak." Vanitas said as he leaned into Jericho's ear. "You only have to take one step forward, and leave a little something behind….give in to the darkness."

"Yes, you're right…" Jericho agreed as she thought back to how easily Ban had overpowered her, and how easily she was brushed aside by Sora.

"I want it…" Twigo said as he thought back to how Meliodas humiliated him in battle.

"Do it…" Vanitas said as he stepped back as Jericho and Twigo chugged the demon's blood and suddenly dropped their glasses and shattered on the ground.

"AAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jericho and Twigo shouted in pain as the demon blood coursed through them, causing them immense pain by the transformation while Jericho suddenly buckled over and coughed up blood before collapsing to the ground while Twigo was still able to stand.

"Only one was compatible." Hendrickson observed.

"So it would seem…" The bronze knight said as Twigo noticed the change in him.

"What is...this sensation I've never known? C-Conclusion! I've acquired the power of explosion!" Twigo exclaimed, only to be quickly proven wrong when his body began mutating into a horribly disfigured blob.

"No! I'm exploding! ARGGGGGG!" Twigo shouted before he exploded into a bloody mess and left nothing behind.

"Ack, nasty…" Vanitas complained as he wiped off Twigo's blood of his black and white suit. After Twigo's demise, Jericho's body began twitching before she began coughing again and was able to lift herself up and opened her eyes, which seemed to be different from a human being as Gulia stood over Jericho and held her face.

"Welcome. Now you're one of us." Gulia congratulated the newest member of the new generation before helping Jericho to her feet, and ecosting her out of the cave with the bronze knight following behind them.

"You knew only one was gonna survive. Yet you went through with it anyway, didn't even warn them." Vanitas noted.

"I honestly thought both were compatible. But it's like they say, you win some, you lose some." Hendrickson said.

"Heh, you're one cold guy." Vanitas chuckled before he suddenly caught sight of another wine glass, offered by Hendrickson.

"Would you like to give a try? Become more than what you are?" Hendrickson offered before Vanitas quickly smacked the glass out of the grandmaster's hand as it shattered on the floor, leaving the bubbling substance on the ground.

"You think I can't tell? You put a ticking time bomb in that girl, and everyone else who drank that stuff, at least whoever survived."

"I wouldn't call it a bomb, more like a contact. One I will collect upon when the time is right. Speaking of agreements, I believe you want to talk about ours?"

"What's there to go over really? I get that sword you want from that blonde shortie, and you give me the artifact from the age of fairy tales you've found." Vanitas said.

"Indeed. That is the deal, but why are you interested in an era we know next to nothing about." Hendrickson asked.

"Let's just say the rightful owners want it back."

"And I'm sure you want proof that I have it." Hendrickson guessed.

"Do you?" Vanitas asked as Hendrickson walked over to a nearby rock pillar and removed a rock that was revealed to be a fake covering a hidden compartment as the grandmaster took an object out.

"I believe this is what you want?" Hendrickson asked as he showed Vanitas the object he sought, a mask with the image of a fox that was worn out by time and was cracked, which Vanitas recognized to be of similar design to the bear mask Aced wears.

"Yeah, this is it…"

(Vaizel)

"This ain't right! Why do I hatfa look for that rusting bucket of bolts?" Pete complained as he stomped angrily through the market streets of Vaizel while pushing aside anyone that got in his way after being forced by Maleficent to look for . "I don't know why she needs that quack, I've been her number two for the longest time and this guy shows up and takes the spotlight, I could find something that could blow her mind instead of some stupid box."

"Excuse me, sir?" A voice from behind Pete said.

"Whataya' want?!" Pete snarled as he turned around to face a boy with green hair and glasses and holding a book.

"I couldn't help but overhear your frustration, do you need assistance?" The boy asked as Pete grabbed him by his yellow coat and lifted him up to eye level.

"Listen up, poindexter! Unless you get something to blow my bosses' mind, you get lost or get the wedgie of a lifetime!" Pete threatened.

"Then if you're looking for something amazing, you could win the sacred treasure, Gideon at the fighting festival today." The boy suggested as Pete raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Say what now?" Pete questioned as the boy pointed behind him as Pete looked up towards a giant rock that sat atop a cliff overlooking the town, where a giant sized hammer was sitting aside the rock, which Pete to bulge his eyes out cartoonishly as he could hear heavenly choir at the sight of the hammer.

"Ohho, mama! That will do it! Thanks, dork boy!" Pete said as he tossed aside the young boy and began making his way towards the rock and the boy watched him leave.

"A strange one, indeed." The boy said as he walked away, while Sora, Ryuko, Satsuki, Meliodas, Ban and King were walking through the marketplace, looking for the sacred treasure themselves.

"There's a lot of stuff people are selling here, you sure we're gonna find something here?" Sora asked Meliodas.

"Yup, my tip is good. From I heard, Diane's sacred treasure, Gideon, is somewhere here in Vaizel." Meliodas confirmed.

"And we have to look through all this stuff to find it?" Ban questioned while he was wearing an apron to stand in for the shirt that he lost during the fight with Gulia.

"And you're actually wearing an apron. I think captain prev was joking when he said that." Ryuko stated as Ban shrugged.

"Eh, at least I make it look good."

"Can we focus? Diane is counting on us to get her sacred treasure back." King stated.

"Calm down, she knows to wait since you said yourselves that giants aren't welcome here in this town. Someone also needed to stay behind and protect the princess, essically if the heartless are near.." Satsuki said.

"These heartless you've told me about. Tell me more." King asked.

"Their trouble, nothing else to say. But even the biggest heartless will probably turn tail when they see Diane." Sora assured, though for some reason, he suddenly felt unsure when it came to the fact about size.

"That's probably true. Now, let's find an arms vendor." Meliodas said as the group walked through the town, catching the attention of a certain someone.

"Looking for something, son?" A voice caught the group's attention as they looked over to see a small eldery man sitting on a tree stump, and was clearly drunk considering the wine bottle in his hand, along with his appearance. "Or are you looking to be part of the festival?"

"Nah, We're trying to look for a weapon, a really big hammer. We heard there might be one here at this market." Meliodas said.

"Ahh, well, that's easy enough. Right there, behind that rock." The old man said as he pointed to the giant rock overlooking the town.

""Awesome, thanks for the tip!" Meliodas thanked before Ryuko decided to stop him.

"Hold up. Are you really gonna take the word of some drunk old man? It's not even ten o'clock, he probably doesn't even remember what's up and down." Ryuko said.

"It's true, I don't even remember where I was yesterday." The old man agreed as he took a sip from his wine.

"Maybe, but I also take tips from drunk people all the time, and they usually pay off." Meliodas said as he made his way towards the giant rock. "..At least half the time anyway."

"Oh grand…" Ryuko said with a facepalm.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be anywhere else we could look, might as well give it a shot." Sora said as he began following Meliodas and the rest of the group decided to follow as well. After some time walking to the giant rock, the group found a large crowd gathered around, where the giant bronze hammer, Gideon, was lodged into the side of the rock.

"Look! It's Diane's Gideon!" King confirmed.

"It was here all the time!" Meliodas said while Sora's half of the group was awestruck at the size of the giant hammer.

"Holy hell! How did she lose that huge thing in the first place?! You gotta be a special kind of dolt to lose it!" Ryuko said while a cloaked individual wearing a hat suddenly bumped into Ryuko while walking by. "Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"Let that one go. We should focus on how we can pay for the hammer." Satsuki said.

"Uh, I don't think we can pay for it." Sora said as he pointed towards a small imp like person, wearing a helmet with horns and a red cloak take stand atop a podium.

"Alright! It's time to begin the annual Vaizel fighting festival, now!" The imp announced as the crowd cheered in excitement.

"This takes me back to when you made me and Sora fight the whole city." Ryuko said, thinking back to the time Satsuki arranged the sudden death runoff election.

"Indeed, only the prize is useless to anyone else other than the original owner." Satsuki stated.

"Talk about a royal screw over."

"I'm kinda excited! There might be strong people to fight other than Meliodas, the sins and the holy knights, I can't wait to fight them!" Sora said, excited for the event. Although he might be quickly disappointed.

"The use of weapons is strictly forbidden. Men who let their fists do the talking should hurry and sign up right away!" The imp announced as Sora quickly summoned his keyblade and looked at it.

"Sorry, Sora. Sounds like you gotta step outta this one since you don't throw hands with anyone." Ryuko said, apologetic.

"Nah, not be sorry. I've learned that I can't always rely on the keyblade, so I'll fight without it today." Sora said and proved his point by implanting his keyblade into the ground.

"Surprisingly mature answer coming from you, Sora. I always thought you'd become nervous without your weapon." Satsuki said as the keyblade wielder became annoyed at the comment.

"Hey! I'll have you know I punched a guy with a squid for a face!" Sora exclaimed as Ryuko snicked and Satsuki simply smiled while Sora could've sworn he also heard Senketsu laugh a little.

"The winner is gonna get a hundred gold coins! But that's not all, you'll also take home this giant's war hammer!" The imp announcer said as he directed everyone's attention to the gideon as the crowd cheered while King wasn't impressed.

"What a barbaric gathering. Right, captain?" King asked as he turned towards Meliodas, only to find him and Ban already conspiering.

"We're gonna put our names in, are we?" Ban asked.

"Let's see who's got what it takes!" Meliodas agreed as King turned into his human form out of sheer dumbfoundment again.

"I already lost the battle…" King said as he transformed back to normal.

"That's not all!" The announcer exclaimed again as everyone turned towards him again. "We have a third prize, a glistening gemstone that is no doubt priceless!" He exclaimed as he pointed to a stand with a small trinket with a blue gemstone that had a kanji symbol written into it.

"That's a heartbinder!" Sora exclaimed, recognizing the gem, much to Ryuko and Satsuki's surprise.

"You know what that is?" Ryuko asked.

"Remember back in Honnouji when I fought Gamagori?"

"Oh yeah, you brought out a giant flaming lion out of nowhere."

"I was able to call Simba using a heart binder, like this one." Sora explained as he took out the pride heart binder he would use to call Simba.

"I see, so you'll be able to summon another ally with this gem." Satsuki said as Sora nodded his head.

"Hey, Meliodas. If we win, can you let us have the gem?" Sora asked the former captain.

"Sure thing. I'm glad you decided to go with us on this." Meliodas as he quickly grabbed King by his hoodie after he tried sneaking away before raising his hand to get the announcer's attention. "HEY! COUNT US IN!"

"Count me out!" King begged as Meliodas was suddenly picked up by his shirt by a very large man.

"This ain't a festival for little kids, get out of here!" The large man threatened.

"Sorry, I don't see what the problem is." Meliodas said, playing dumb while a hand rose up to pull the large man's arm down.

"Hey there, friend." Howzer said after bringing the man's arm down while he was wearing casual clothing instead of armor to blend in. "This is a festival, so just relax."

"What?! Who do you-" The man huffed before setting Meliodas down. "You know that my name is Taizoo, right? I've been the winner of this festival three years in a row!" He exclaimed before deciding to walk off.

"I wonder if he had any hair before that." Ryuko commented.

"Hahahaha! Now that's a good one!" Howzer laughed as he turned to Sora's half of the group and something seemed to strike some familiarity in him. "Hey, have we met before? You look familiar."

"I don't think so. But my name is Sora. That's Ryuko and Satsuki over there." Sora introduced himself.

"Name's Howzer. Looking forward to facing off in the festival, even if you are on the skinny side ,kid." Howzer said.

"Trust me when I say, that you'll be very surprised." Satsuki said.

"I hope so!" Howzer said as he walked away, while King had suspicions about the disguised holy knight.

"I've seen him somewhere before…" King pondered. After signing up for the tournament, the group and the crowd made their way up to the top of the great Vaizel rock, where the main ring was.

"The fighting festival elimination round will now begin! Fighters, into the ring!" The announcer imp said as all the contenders jumped into the main ring.

"Okay, fighting without our weapons shouldn't be too hard, at least against the weaker fighters." Sora said while Ryuko noticed something on the other side of the arena.

"Uh, Sora. That actually might be a problem." Ryuko said as she directed the keyblade wielder's attention over to Pete, who was talking to Taizoo.

"And then I said, '' Why not just save him the trouble and pick someone already dead!" You know? Because he was the god of the dead! Hahahaha!" Pete laughed while Taizoo remained unamused.

"I knew I shouldn't even have looked at this guy…" Taizoo said while Sora's group was looking over.

"It's Pete! What's he doing here?" Sora questioned.

"Who cares why? That fat cat sent a huge heartless after us and Mako back home, I say we pay him back!" Ryuko said as she was about to go and pick a fight with Pete, only for Satsuki to grab her shoulder.

"Hold on! If we alert him, we might cause trouble, especially since we're being watched." Satsuki advised as she gestured over to the other side of the arena, where a woman with short violet hair and a scowling expression, along with a large bulky man were both staring in the direction of the group, mainly at Meliodas, King and Ban.

"You think they're holy knights?" Sora asked.

"Most likely, if we cause a scene now, we'll never get the hammer or the heart binder."

"So what should we do then?" Ryuko asked.

"We should drop out after the elimination round and wait on the sidelines if this Pete tries something." Satsuki advised as Sora and Ryuko nodded their heads in agreement.

"What's going on, guys?" Meliodas asked.

"Nothing, we just figured we might drop out after the first round. It's Diane's hammer, so you guys should probably win this one." Sora explained.

"You not wussing out on us, are ya? I even picked out good disguise names for the three of ya." Ban said while Sora's half of the group raised their eyebrows.

"And what names would you have in mind?" Ryuko asked, suspiciously.

"It was actually kinda easy, he's porcupine." Ban said pointing at Sora.

"Probably because of the hair again." Sora commented.

"She's punk rock girl." Ban said, looking at Ryuko as she gave him the middle finger.

"And she's eyebrows." Ban said, looking at Satsuki, whose face turned dark quickly as Sora and Ryuko looked at each other worried.

"Did he just…" Ryuko questioned.

"Yup…" Sora answered while Ban noticed the worried looked on their faces.

"What? I think it's a good name since she has those giant eye-UAGGGGHHHH!" Ban yelled in pain after Satsuki had kneed him hard in the gut, causing the bandit to kneel over in pain. "Everybody's a critic."

"First up is the elimination round! The referee will be yours truly, Love Helm! The rules of this round are extremellllllyyyy simple! Knock your opponent out of this ring! Throwing them out is fine, pushing too! Or send them flying! As long as it's barehanded, the eight contenders who are still standing will move on to the finals!." The referee explained while Pete had a mischievous look on his face before sneaking into the crowd.

"Hehehe… I Gots me an idea!" Pete said before snapping his fingers a pool of darkness opened up in front of him as the heads of two neoshadows popped out. "Drag as many bazoos off the ring as possible!" He ordered as the neoshadows then dove back into the pools to await for any targets underground.

"Now then...LET THE BRAWLING BEGIN!" Love Helm announced as every contender immediately charged at each other.

(Music:Beneath the ground~Underdrome mix~)

"Incoming!" Sora warned as he, Ryuko and Satsuki decided to move out of the way of the crowd contenders that crashed into each other, creating total chaos in the ring. Meliodas tossed away anyone thinking he was an easily target, Ban didn't look at anyone coming at him before he quickly knocked them out, Taizoo picked up anyone smaller than him and tossed them out of the ring, King used his small hight to his advantage to run around anyone fighting(Considering he didn't want to partake in the festival in the first place) The old man that pointed the group in the direction of Gideon simply stumbled around anyone that charged at him, Howzer easily displaced his challengers, and the large silent man also knocked away his opponents easily while Pete simply sat on a lawn chair he pulled out of nowhere while drinking iced tea.

"Hey, guys, look! An easy mark-AHHHHH!" One of the competitors yelled after spotting Pete, only to be dragged out of the ring by one of the neoshadows Pete had summoned.

"Ahhhhh!" Another man screamed as he was also pulled out of the ring by a neoshadow.

"Keep up the good work boys!" Pete said as he took another sip of his tea while the heartless took out the compassion for him, but his cheating did not go unnoticed as King spotted him commanding the heartless.

"So, those would be the heartless I've heard so much about. I may not be able to use chastiefol, I can use my magic to punish that overgrown cat to-huh?" King questioned as he felt a tug on his leg and looked down to see a neoshadow had gotten a hold of him. "Oh no...AHHH!" The fairy king screamed as he was dragged out of the ring and tossed into the crowd. "Ow…."

"Looks like Kings out." Sora noted.

"C'mon! Let's hit this fat cat while he's busy cheating before he notices us!" Ryuko said.

"No, we can't afford to make him panic and summon the heartless while there's still people in the ring." Satsuki said.

"Hey there, you couple of pretty things." A man along with a few of his companions approached mainly around Ryuko and Satsuki while a few of them were giving Sora hostile looks. "What are you doing with this scrawny little thing in a place like this?"

"Scrawny? I might not do lifts, but I've seen sticks with more muscles than you." Sora zinged as the thugs became annoyed.

"Pushing your luck, kid. How about we do you a favor and take these dames off your hands?" The lead thug said as he took a hold of Ryuko's arm, only for her to uppercut him into the air. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed as he flew well beyond the great Vaizel rock and landed faraway in a dust cloud, much to the awe and fear of the thugs.

"I think that's your cue to leave." Sora said as he was covered in a blue aura before jumping up and planting his feet on the chest of the nearest thug and used flowmotion to blow him away before tackling another thug off the ring while Satsuki grabbed the arm of a thug and tossed him off the ring.

"Nice one!" Sora applauded the Kiryuin monarch when one remaining thug had the drop on Sora was about to grab him.

"Sora, behind you!" Ryuko warned, but before the keyblade wielder could turn around the cloaked figure that bumped into Ryuko earlier suddenly appeared with a flying kick that knocked the thug out of the arena.

"Hey! Thanks for the help!" Sora thanked the figure, but his thankfulness faded when he noticed a familiar earring with the mark of the sun and moon on the cloaked figure's ear, and the figure didn't have white hair. "Hey, where did you get that earring?"

"...!" The figure gasped in surprise before running off to fight more competitors.

"Hey! Hold on!"

"Only eleven fighters left!" Love helm announced, stopping Sora in place before he could go after the cloaked girl.

"Sora, time to step out!" Satsuki called over to the keyblade wielder, who wanted to go after the girl to find out why she had Elizabeth's earring. However, he knew if Pete spotted him, the people in the area would no doubt get caught up in an onslaught of heartless.

"Be right there!" Sora said as he ran over to Ryuko and Satsuki, while Pete finally noticed the elimination round was almost over.

"Say what? Who's left?" Pete questioned while Sora, Ryuko and Satsuki had jumped off the ring and ducked just as Pete looked over in their direction, just missing them.

(Music ends)

"That's it! The elimination round is over!" Love helm announced as Pete shrugged after just missing the sight of Sora. "Now that we have eight fighters left, we can finally draw numbers for the upcoming matches! Fighters to the waiting area!" The impish referee said as those who were left, including Meliodas and Ban walked out of the ring and towards the small hut that was standing aside the arena.

"Well, that was fun while it lasted, but I think we would've smashed the competition if it weren't for the heartless. Right, Sora?" Ryuko asked, only to notice that he was ignoring her, paying a close eye towards the cloaked girl walking into the waiting area. "Hey, what's up with you?"

"You know the girl that saved me earlier in the ring? She's wearing Elizabeth's earring, I think something might've happened to her." Sora answered as Ryuko looked at him with skepticism.

"C'mon, Sora. Who knows how many other people have that earring. Besides,the princesses' back is being watched by Diane, who'd wanna mess with them?"

"Actually, Sora might be onto something. The first holy knight we've encountered said the earring bore the crest of her family, making it unique." Satsuki said as Ryuko became surprised, and then worried.

"Oh shit! Now I'm thinking what if a holy knight got them?" Ryuko questioned.

"I'm gonna find that out myself. While I get out of that girl, you two keep a close eye on Pete in case he calls the heartless." Sora said as the two sisters nodded in agreement.

(A few minutes later…)

After the final contestants for the draw ups for the final matches, Pete suddenly came crashing out of the front door with a happy and confident look on his face.

"Hahaha! I'm being put up against the tiny old man? This is gonna be an easy victory for ol' Pete!" Pete laughed while the old man he had been paired up against walked out and took a sip out of his wine bottle.

"I think I should stop drinking this stuff, I swear that big cat is talking..." The old man said, before shrugging and taking another sip of wine anyway while the cloaked girl walked behind the old man.

"Hey there." A familiar voice greeted the cloaked girl as she turned to see Sora leaning against a wall, waiting for her. "So, do you wanna tell me how you came by my friend's earring?"

"...!" The cloaked girl gasped in surprise before quickly running off into the crowd in an attempt to lose Sora.

"Aw, come on! Don't make me chase you!" Sora exclaimed as he began chasing after the girl, who was pushing adside people as she made way to the bridge that connected from the town to the great Vaizel rock with the keyblade wielder in pursuit right behind her until she suddenly jump off the bridge as Sora watched her land down below.

"Oh come on…" Sora complained as he jumped off the bridge and landed to follow after the girl and began following her into town where a crowd of people awaited and unforutily, the keyblade wielder was unable to stop the cloaked girl from disappearing into the crowd, leaving Sora to scratch his head as he turned around to return to the arena. However, the girl had actually slipped into a nearby alley to hide, which seemed to work.

"Whew…" The clocked girl sighed, believing she had gotten away, which was actually untrue since Sora was right above her, hanging into the wall before summoning the oblivion keyblade to his hand and jumped down to surprise the girl and pinned her to the ground.

"Gotcha!" Sora announced as he kept a hand on her shoulder to keep the girl down, who was certainly surprised to see the keyblade wielder was able to catch her.

"Now I've got questions about my friends and you better answer them, and if you think I'll take it easy just because you're a girl, you better think wrong-" Sora said as he pulled the hat off the cloaked girl, and was certainly surprised to see it was a familiar face. "DIANE?!"

"Uh...Hi…" The cloaked girl that was revealed to be none other than Diane greeted as Sora's face became stuck in surprise as a close up view of his brain zoomed in before it suddenly exploded like fireworks in a literal sense of getting his mind blown.

"B-b-b-but...I don't understand! You're not...I..You're normal sized?! When were you able to do that?" Sora questioned while incredibly confused while he dropped his keyblade and let Diane go as she stood up and picked up her hat.

"Not really, I kinda wanted to surprise the captain with this, which is why I ran away from you." Diane answered.

"Okay, but why are you wearing Elizabeth's earring? Where is she?"

"Sora? Could you please calm down?" The familiar voice of the princess surprised Sora.

"Elizabeth?" Sora questioned as he looked around for her, but something else caught his attention.

"The first round of the fighting festival is about to begin! Griamore vs Matrona!" The voice of Love helm announced all the way from the great Vaizel rock.

"Who the heck is Matrona?"

"Oops! That's the name I'm using! Gotta go!" Diane said as she rushed past the keyblade wielder and out of the alleyway.

"Wait! Where's Elizabeth?!" Sora questioned, only to be unheard as Diane dashed away, leaving him alone. "Guess I'll wait here until the match is over so Pete doesn't spot me, and hopefully Diane will tell me and everyone else what happened later." He said to himself as he sat on a nearby crate. However, as he waited, a dark portal opened up on the other side of the alley behind Sora, as the menacing Marauder that the keyblade wielder faced in Tala village came stomping out, summoning his chaos ripper keyblade to his hand and stomped ever so slowly behind Sora, raising his weapon up with the intent of striking down the hero from behind while he was completely unaware until he suddenly got a bad feeling and looked up.

"DAHHHHHHHHHH!" A voice screamed as Sora looked up to see a figure fall from the sky and crashed down in front of him in a small dust cloud as the Marauder decided to back up into the shadows before vanishing into a portal in the wall, not wanting anyone to interfere with him battling Sora again. As the dust cleared, the fallen figure was revealed to be the large man Sora saw earlier in the ring with the violet haired woman.

"Guess by the direction he came from, he was Diane's opponent. She took him out faster than I thought she would." Sora said to himself as he rushed over to help the man. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, it's you...I saw you earlier…" The man said with a voice that oddly sounded a lot like Ira Gamagori to Sora while the large man declined his help and stood up, and for some reason gave the keyblade wielder a hostile glare.

"Is something wrong?"

"Griamore! Where are you?" A voice called out as the violet haired woman appeared at the end of the alleyway and spotted the large man, who immediately kneeled at the sight of the girl in an apologetic matter. "There you are."

"I'm sorry Veronica, I wasn't able to win."

"Honestly, you got sloppy. If I had known this would happen, I would've brought..."The girl named Veronica scolded before spotting Sora behind Griamore, and glared at the keyblade wielder. "You, what are you doing here?"

"Me? Oh, I was just taking a walk around town, thought I'd take in the sights." Sora claimed, although Veronica saw right through his lie.

"Save it, traitor. I know who you are, and who you're traveling with." Veronica said, much to Sora's surprise as she turned away while Griamore continued to stare at the keyblade wielder.

"Consider yours and the seven deadly sins day numbered." Griamore said before leaving to follow Veronica, leaving Sora alone again.

"That's not good. The holy knights already know we're here, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a trap for us." Sora said before deciding to return to the festival arena, unaware of the dark portal that opened up as the Marauder appeared once more.

"Arrrrgggggg..." The Marauder growled and narrowed his red glowing eyes.

(Great Vaizel rock)

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Taizoo screamed as he was sent flying over the edge of the great vaizel rock by Howzer's air fist attack, just as Sora returned to the ring to find Diane with the rest of the group, who was no longer hidden in a cloak to reveal she had been wearing the boar hat tavern uniform, which the keyblade wielder assumed Elizabeth lended to the former giantess.

"Hey, what did I miss?" Sora asked as the group noticed he had returned.

"There are you, kinda thought Diane did something to ya for a moment." Meliodas said as Sora looked annoyed.

"Geez, thanks for telling the truth, Diane." Sora said as she put on an innocent face and rubbed the back of her head.

"Speaking of, did you find out this happened while you were gone?" Ryuko asked about Diane's diminutive state.

"Probably at least five minutes before you all did." Sora answered before turning to Diane. "But, Diane. What happened to Elizabeth? Weren't you supposed to be watching her back?"

"She's actually much closer than you think." Satsuki answered.

"Where? I haven't seen her yet." Sora said.

"I'm over here." A familiar voice caught the keyblade wielder's attention as he turned around, only to see Hawk.

"Okay, Hawk. Your impression of Elizabeth is pretty good, but where is she?"

"Dunderhead, look up a couple inches." Hawk said as Sora did look a few inches upwards to finally spot Elizabeth, who was no bigger than a doll sitting on top of Hawk and using a blue cloth as a dress.

"Whoa, what?! Elizabeth, you too?!" Sora said in surprise as he leaned down to get to eye level with the shrunken princess, having serious flashbacks to Wonderland before being pulled back by his hair by Ryuko. "Ow, ow! Watch the hair!"

"Quit staring at her, she's basically naked!" Ryuko scolded before letting go of Sora's hair.

"Sorry, but how did this happen?"

"From what Diane has told us, they ran into a chicken-Matango out in the forest. They release spores that shrink other creatures when they feel threatened. It only lasts a little while thankfully. " King explained.

"Maybe me and the captain can make babies before it can!" Diane exclaimed as she nuzzled up against Meliodas' face while he simply pushed her away with his finger.

"I already told you, not happening." Meliodas stated, much to Diane's disappointment as she began crying a waterfall of tears while King was also disappointed that his captain was receiving her attention instead of him while Sora's half of the group watched.

"You'd think she would get the hint by now that he's not interested." Ryuko noted.

"Diane is basically a schoolgirl that has a crush." Satsuki said.

"Yeah, a schoolgirl that could break you in half." Sora agreed, when he suddenly remembered the situation with Pete. Oh, yeah. Did Pete go up yet?"

"Not yet, but I think he's up next." Ryuko answered, which was confirmed as Pete was at one side of the stone arena, doing attempts at stretches, which failed considering his bulky frame, causing the minion to trip over himself while Ban caught the topic of the conversion.

"Hey, you know that huge dofus up there?" Ban asked, which caught the other's attention as well.

"You know someone here, Sora?" Meliodas asked.

"Well, yeah. But I wouldn't say me and him are friends, and well...Since he's here anyway I might as well tell you. Pete is real bad news anyway he goes, he can control the heartless." Sora explained, surprising the sins.

"I knew those monsters I saw were connected to him during the elimination match! He was using them to pull fighters out of the arena, even me!" King said before he quickly became sad. "I could've been able to win Diane's gideon if it weren't for him…"

"Pete is cheating already? That's gotta be a new record somewhere."

"What does a fat cat guy want here anyway?" Hawk questioned Pete's goal.

"He probably wants Diane's hammer to impress his boss and win minion of the year award." Sora guessed as Diane became disgusted.

"That big ol' sweaty guy wants to use my sacred treasure?! Ewww!" Diane exclaimed.

"Don't worry about it. Once Pete realizes he can't carry that huge hammer, he'll just whine about it and give up."

"Sora, you do realize he could just call a heartless large enough to lift the hammer, do you?" Satsuki questioned as Sora's expression quickly changed to worry as he thought about a powerful heartless with Diane's tremendous strength.

"Okay, now I'm worried. We gotta make sure Pete doesn't win."

"Next up is our third match, Cain vs Pete!" Love helm announced as the drunk old man from earlier stepped(Stumbled actually) into the ring, along with Pete.

"So you step out of the ring because of that guy, he just looks like a big bully." Meliodas said.

"Couldn't let him spot us because Pete might've panicked and call the heartless, but right now, I'm really worried for that old guy now." Sora said as Pete sized up Cain to intemiadie the old man.

"You might as well turn tail and run ya old coot! You're about against the mighty Pete!" Pete exclaimed as Cain camly smiled.

"Could still run circles around you, ya big fat whippersnapper." Cain shot back as Pete became annoyed.

"Oh, now you're asking for it! Time to send ya to a retirement home!"

"Let the match begin!" Love helm announced as Pete quickly picked up Cain by the back of his cloak.

"That doesn't even seem fair." King state.

"What a bully…" Diane agreed.

"I don't think I can watch." Elizabeth said as she covered her eyes while Pete stared Cain straight in the eyes.

"Maybe if ya cry uncle, gramps. I might go easy on you and let you off with a warning!" Pete threatened while Cain remained calm.

"It's funny you should mention that. Maybe you should leave the arena so I don't have to punish you for using those monsters to cheat." Cain said, which surprised Pete after he didn't think anyone noticed him using the heartless.

"So what? You caught me, what are ya gonna do about it?" Pete asked, when he noticed that Cain had vanished entirely from his grip. "Hey! Where did that old coot go?!"

"Down here…" The voice of Cain announced before Pete turned around, and got uppercutted in the jaw by the old man with surprising strength and was sent flying.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Pete screamed as he was sent over the horizon and landed faraway in a giant mushroom cloud, leaving the entire audience in silent awe.

"Uh...I don't know what just happened...But the winner is Cain!" Love helm announced as the crowd went from silent to cheering in a quick moment while Sora and the sins were still comeply awestruck while watching Cain stumble off the arena, seemingly drunk again.

"What just happened?!" Sora shouted while mentally putting Cain on a list of old men he didn't want to mess with. (Master Xehanort excluded considering he was deceased)

"I think that old man is tougher than he looks. Not only that, something is oddly familiar about him…" Meliodas said, wondering if he might have met Cain before.

"Least we can look on the bright side, we don't have to worry about that huge asshat anymore." Ryuko said.

"Yeah, but now I wish we didn't drop out." Sora sadly said.

"Next up is the last match of this round of the finals! It's Baaan vs Meliodaf!" Love helm announced as Sora turned to the immortal bandit.

"Wow those are the names you picked for yourself and Meliodas? Great thinking there."

"I don't do well under pressure." Ban said with a shrug.

(Meanwhile…)

As the match between Meliodas and Ban was about to begin, a familiar pair of legs were sticking out of the ground faraway from the festival until they began squirming and Pete erupted out of the ground with dirt in his mouth.

"*PAHH!* Pete spat out the dirt before angrily scowling and looking towards the great Vaizel rock.

"That tears it! Nobody, and I mean nobody makes a fool out of the mighty Pete! Not even some old fart like that!" Pete exclaimed as he stood up and began stomping angrily in the direction of the festival with the thought of payback on his mind.

"I'm gonna get what I'm owed!"

(Great Vaizel rock)

With the first half of the festival about to end with one last match, Meliodas and Ban immediately made their way into the arena as Love Helm noticed the dragon handle on Meliodas' back.

"Hold on! Having a weapon is against the rules!" Love Helm announced as Meliodas stopped.

"Oh, this thing?" Meliodas questioned as he drew the dragon handle to show its broken blade. "It's only for show."

"Oh, in that case, I'll allow it." Love Helm accepted as Meliodas put away the sword back in its sheath while Sora's half group became more curious about it."

"I just don't get it, why does he carry around that piece of junk everywhere? He could've asked one of us to hold on to it while he's up there." Ryuko questioned.

"You know, I'm not so sure myself. The captain has always been sevistive about it." King stated.

"How sensitive?" Sora asked.

"You know that scar on Ban's neck? The captain gave that to him when Ban tried to steal his sword." Diane explained, much to the other's surprise.

"Say wha? I thought that bastard couldn't be killed by anything?" Ryuko said.

"Being scarred should be impossible as well. How did Meliodas do that?" Satsuki asked.

"Well, from what I remember, the captain's sword was covered in these dark looking flames after he cut Ban." Diane said, which sounded familiar to Sora.

"Dark flames? (Can Meliodas use the darkness? Like Riku can?) Sora thought to himself as he looked up to the arena, where Meliodas and Ban were about to battle.

"Weighting in at five feet tall and one hundred and ten pounds, Meliodaf!" Love helm announced the fake name of the sins' captain as he began stretching to warm up as the crowd started cheering.

"Standing at six feet eleven inches tall and weighing one hundred and seventeen pounds, Baaaan!"

"It's about time, huh? Guess we should get down to it." Ban said as Meliodas cracked his knuckles.

"Then let's go!" Meliodas agreed as the two took fighting stances.

"Capta-uh, I mean Meliodaf! Get him!" Diane cheered.

"Hey, Baaaan! If you screw up and lose this match, I'll tell Elaine!" King shouted.

"Makes you wonder which one they really wanna route for." Ryuko commented.

"Well, I'm rooting for both of them either way." Sora said as Diane tapped on his shoulder with the miniature Elizabeth in her hand.

"Hey, Sora? Think you hold onto Elizabeth so she can watch the match?" Diane requested.

"Sure thing. Put her in the back of my hood." Sora said as Diane place Elizabeth in the hood of his jacket, allowing the shrunken princess to see everything over the keyblade wielder's shoulder.

"Thank you, Sora. Are sure you don't mind this?" Elizabeth asked.

"Don't worry about it Elizabeth. You're probably in the safest place right now, besides, you're not even the first one to hitch a ride back there." Sora said, referring to Jiminy Cricket usually riding in Sora's hood during his journeys while Elizabeth looked confused at the statement.

"Huh? What does that mean?" Elizabeth asked as Sora's eyes widened upon realizing his mistake.

"Oh, uh...A heartless jumped on the back of my head once, didn't even notice until someone pointed it out to me." Sora lied as Ryuko facepalmed and Satsuki shook her head in disapproval at the terrible lie while the fight between Meliodas and Ban was about to begin.

"Time for the match to get underway!" Love Helm announced as the gong went off.

"Would be nice if we had more room to move around." Ban said.

"Hehe…" Meliodas laughed, much to the bandit's confusion.

" So what's with the laughing? You really looking forward to fighting with me that much, Captain?" Ban asked with a smile as he cracked his knuckles.

"I was thinking back to the old days, we had as much space like this back then, didn't we?" Meliodas asked.

"It's been awhile. Which time are you talking abou?"

"Don't worry. Because you'll remember it soon enough." Meliodas said when he suddenly blurred out of sight, much to Ban's surprise before Meliodas suddenly reappeared and threw a powerful punch that nearly caved in the bandit's face, but also seemed to trigger his memory.

(Music: Courage~2.5 ver~)

"Oh yeah! I think I remember now!" Ban said with a bloody face as he remembered the first time he met Meliodas. After the bandit was arrested for the burning of the fairy king's forest, Ban fell into depression after losing Elaine and decided to stay in prison, hoping that some execution on him would work and take his life, but no method succeeded. Then Meliodas appeared and gave Ban an offer that he refused at first, until Meliodas knocked him though the prison walls and ignite a fire in Ban that he thought was extinguished and became excited with the thought of fighting Meliodas over and over again to feel alive again, leading Ban to become a member of the seven deadly sins.

"The fight has been decided with one punch!" Love Helm announced, shaking Ban out of his memory and regaining his balance before he could fall out of the ring and then grabbed Meliodas in midair and slammed him downward, but Meliodas countered by stopping his fall with his hands and grabbed Ban by the neck with his legs and slammed his head into the floor of the arena. But the bandit was able to retaile by grabbing Meliodas legs to throw him upwards and kick him far into the air.

"Let's do this! HAH!" Ban exclaimed as he jumped after Meliodas to attack him with a barrage of punches that the captain blocked with his arms.

"That's nothing!" Meliodas said as he found an opening in Ban's assault and punched back to the arena hard enough to crack the entire great Vaizel rock in two down the middle, much to the awe of the audience while Meliodas landed back in the arena.

"Jesus! These guys are out of control!" Ryuko said as she watched Ban get back up, perfectly fine before he and Meliodas disappeared in a blur and then appeared trading punches and kicks.

"And you would think we were bad." Satsuki referred to how she, Ryuko and Sora would destroy everything around them without thought when they clashed back in Honnouji, but Meliodas and Ban seemed to have no restraint whatsoever. As the monarch looked back on old times, Meliodas managed to win the trade of blows by punching Ban in the stomach, making him cough up blood before sending him flying to the other side of the arena with another punch, but then suddenly felt a feeling of weakness and fell to his knees.

"Oh no! It looks like both fighters are down!" Love helm observed, but was wrong as Ban stood up once more with his hand reaching out as if he were using his snatch ability as Meliodas seemed to know what the bandit had done.

"You jerk, you've gone and done it now." Meliodas said with a smile of amusement before Ban jogged forward at his captain while Meliodas threw a punch, only to miss when Ban moved behind him and smacked his opponent away with a punch of his own and threw punches in the air.

"Hehehe! I'm floating like a butterfly now!" Ban laughed before Meliodas suddenly jumped up and elbowed Ban in the face before jumping forward with a flying kick, only to miss when Ban sidestepped the attack and headbutted the captain.

"What's going on? Meliodas was winning a minute ago, now he seems to be slowing down." Sora questioned.

"You're not wrong. The captain is indeed losing stamina while Ban's agility is shooting upwards." King agreed.

"He's using his snatch ability on Meliodas, isn't he?" Satsuki guessed as King and Diane nodded in agreement.

"Ban can do that? I thought he could only use his power to take stuff from others." Sora said.

"No, He can also use it to steal the speed and strength of others as well." King explained as Ban delivered an uppercut Meliodas' face and the captain countered by grabbing the bandit's arm.

"Is that all you got?!" Meliodas exclaimed before swinging Ban around like a ragdoll and slamming all over the arena.

"Meliodaf has turned the tables! He's beating Baaaan like a rug! Look at that raw power!" Love Helm exclaimed in awe as Ban quickly reached out with snatch to sap away more of Meliodas' strength, which seemed to work as Meliodas suddenly froze up and Ban punched him away and became covered in an aura of power and a crazed smile crawled across his face

"This feeling is that strength of yours flowing from you straight into me! Oh man, this is such a rush!" Ban said in crazed excitement and Meliodas looked at his hands, noticing his fading strength as Elizabeth became worried.

"I'm starting to think sir Meliodas isn't going to win, he might even be seriously hurt...:" Elizabeth said in worry as Sora reached back and patted the top of her tiny head with his finger to comfort her.

"Hey, it's going to be fine, Elizabeth. I'm pretty sure Meliodas already has a plan to turn this around." Sora assured the shrunken princess.

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, of course!"(At least I hope he does) Sora thought to himself, beginning to worry the fight might go too far as Ban launched at Meliodas to attack with a flying punch, only for Meliodas to counter with a punch of his own and crash into Ban's fist, breaking the bandit's arm and slammed into his abdomen, causing Ban to fly to the edge of the arena, nearly falling out.

"This is gotta be some kind of joke or something. Just how bottomless is your power, captain? Hehehe…" Ban chuckled in amusement as his arm healed. "Okay, I've made up my mind…"

"Giving up?" Meliodas questioned as he and the bandit approached each other.

"I've been chipping away at your speed and power up until now, but I'll need a little more than that to wrap this up. So I'll just take it all!" Ban said before Meliodas rushed forward and delivered a seemingly endless barrage of punches.

"Hurry up and finish him off already!" Diane shouted at Meliodas, who continued to throw punches.

"If Ban steals all his strength, he'll win. So the captain is gonna have to take him down before that." King said, only for Meliodas to start slowing down from his barrage. \

"Uh oh, I think it's too late." Sora said as Meliodas completely halted, but not before he could try and reach out with one last punch, that unfortunately too weak to effect Ban before the captain fell onto his back.

(Music ends)

"That was delicious, captain…" Ban said as he was covered in an aura of power again.

"It looks like it turned around, folks! Meliodaf, who was pounding on Baaaan the whole round, has just run out of steam!" Love Heml exclaimed.

"It appears to be over now." Satsuki said.

"What about Meliodas' counter attack? Maybe he could use that?" Sora questioned.

"That won't work. The captain's full counter is capable of only reflecting magical attacks, so it will be powerless against an ordinary punch." King explained, much to the surprise of the others.

"No way! Then what's the captain doing out there?!" Diane exclaimed.

"I honestly have no idea!"

"Okay, then. Screw this, I don't like the prev, but I think this is going a little too far." Ryuko said as she was about to jump into the arena to stop Ban as he was winding up for a powerful punch.

"No, wait!" Sora exclaimed as he pulled Ryuko back by her arm. "If we step in, the others might get kicked out, and we'll never win that hammer. Plus, the holy knights know we're here!" He said, much to the other's surprise.

"They do?!" King exclaimed as Sora nodded in confirmation.

"Back in town, I ran into two of them. I think they knew who I was, I think they're waiting for one of us to cause a big enough commotion to jump us."

"Then the hammer is a trap…" Satsuki realized.

"Ban! Just throw him out of the arena! You don't need to hurt him!" Sora shouted to try and get the bandit from hurting Meliodas too badly.

"Oh pipe it, would ya, kid? This between me and him, you got it?" Ban said, much to Sora's annoyance as he was considering going against his own warning and tossing the keyblade at Ban's head. "Hey cap, if you survive this, make sure you tell me how it felt afterwards. The taste of a punch that got your power as well as yours behind it!"

"Elizabeth, you might not wanna look!" Sora warned the princess, but she didn't listen as Elizabeth looked on.

"Sir Meliodas, look out!" Elizabeth shouted as Ban brought down his fist with all his might on Meliodas and created a giant cloud of dust from the impact that shook the ground.

"MELIODAS!/SIR MELIODAS!" Sora and Elizabeth shouted at the same time, believing the worst. However…

"Shh! The two of you might wanna watch the name." Meliodas said as the dust cloud cleared, revealing he was completely fine with his usual smile, as the entire crowd stood in awe, while Sora noticed something on Meliodas' forehead. A strange black symbol that quickly vanished from the captain's head.

(What was that on his head?) Sora thought to himself.

"Look at that! Meliodaf is all alone in the ring! Where is Baaan?" Love Helm questioned as everyone looked around for the missing bandit.

"He's right over there." Meliodas answered as he pointed forward where everyone looked to see that Ban was embedded in a faraway structure with several holes in his body, defeated by Meliodas for certain.

"This is incredible! This could only mean…"

"I'm the winner!" Meliodas said with a smile.

"Meliodaf will move onto the next round!" Love Helm announced as the crowd cheered and Meliodas stepped down from the arena.

"So what did you think, guys. I was pretty awesome, wasn't I?" Meliodas asked as everyone just stared at him, completely silent.

"Uh, What the hell did you do up there?" Ryuko asked as Meliodas confused.

"Whaddya mean? I won of course…"

"She means, how did managed to knock Ban out of the arena when you had no strength left." Satsuki said.

"Does it have something to do with that mark that was on your forehead?" Sora asked as Meliodas stared at the keyblade wielder silently.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Meliodas said, deadpan as Sora slumped over at the answer and the captain patted him on the shoulder. "Don't be such a downer, Diane is up next! Might be something worth watching." He said before passing by the keyblade wielder while Elizabeth realized that Sora saw the crest on Meliodas.

"Sora, you saw it too?" Elizabeth asked, much to the hero's surprise.

"Wait, you saw it too, Elizabeth? When?" Sora asked.

"Back in Dalmally, when sir Meliodas woke up."

"Right when that holy knight tried to steal his sword." Sora realized as he looked over at the captain talking to Diane and King. (Meliodas, who or what are you?)

(Meanwhile, with Ban)

"Crap, I got sloopy." Ban complained about his loss as Hawk was carrying him back to the arena. "I can't believe I forgot that ace the captain has up his sleeve. The hell was that anyway?"

Forget that for now. You got two feet, so why don't you use them?!" Hawk exclaimed.

"C;mon, don't be mean and say stuff like that…"

"What are you, a brat or something?"

"There's a big downside to physical hunt, see my body gets really heavy after I use it…" Ban exclaimed while swiping a bag of coins Hawk earned while selling ale during the festival, but the pig didn't even notice as a certain smell caught his attention.

"That smell!" Hawk said as he sniffed the air.

"Scraps, huh?"

"It's not scraps! A storm's coming!" Hawk warned as Ban looked around at the sky.

"What are you talking about, there's not a cloud in the…" Ban said, but then stopped when he looked down over a cliff to see the bridge that connected to the great Vaizel rock, and saw an angry looking Pete stomping towards the arena, backed up by dozens of soldier heartless following him. "Uh man. That big fat cat is back, and he's got friends."

"AH! We better get there first!" Hawk shouted as he tried to sprint in an effort to warn Sora and the others, however, Ban's weight stopped him from taking off. "You could help you know!"

"Sorry, but my legs are shot…"

(Great Vaizel rock)

"What an amazing match, folks! Matrona turned around this match and took out Howzer in one blow! I can't wait for the next match!" Love Helm exclaimed in excitement after Diane faced off against Howzer and won, unfortunately for her, the tavern uniform she was wearing became torn and tattered after Howzer unleashed a series of tornados on her.

"Are you alright, Diane?" King asked as the shrunken giantess stepped off the arena.

"I'm fine. But about your outfit, princess." Diane apologized to Elizabeth.

"It's fine, really." Elizabeth assured as Diane turned to Sora.

"Hey, I think you were right about the holy knights knowing we're here. The one I just fought seemed to know who I am."

"I thought so. So far there seems to be only two holy knights here in this town, and you were able to beat both of them by yourself." Sora said.

"These guys are probably getting too full of themselves thinking two of them is enough." Ryuko stated.

"Either that, or they're just the scouting party." Satsuki guessed as the group looked surprised at the statement. However, more important things were afoot.

"Right now, it's time for the second match of the semifinals! Meliodaf, vs Cain!" Love Helm announced as Meliodas took the cue and stepped up into the arena.

"Do your best out there, captain!" Diane cheered.

"Please be careful!" Elizabeth pleaded.

"Just leave it to me!" Meliodas said.

"Hey, Meliodas. I'm not sure why, but be careful against this guy, could you?" Sora repeated Elizabeth's request.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine." Meliodas assured as he and Cain stepped into the center of the ring.

"I have to say, you really are the splitting image of him. I had my suspicions the second I saw your face, but when I heard your name was "Meliodaf" I knew my hunch just had to be right." Cain said as Meliodas looked surprised, suspecting that old man knew who he was. "The truth is, you're Meliodas' son. That is the case now, isn't it?"

"Actually, I'm Meliodas if you want to know." Meliodas confirmed as Cain's eyes bulged out in surprise.

You're talking nonsense! There's no way Meliodas can be a whippersnapper like you!"

"Shhhhh!" Meliodas shushed the old man from talking too loud. "It's a long story, but I'm using another name."

"If Meliodas were alive today, he'd ought to be a young man, an adult in his thirties or so." Cain said as the captain looked annoyed.

"Why doesn't anyone ever believe me?"

The fact that you don't even remember me makes it harder to believe your story."

"Uh, yeah...sorry about that." Meliodas apologized as he was still drawing a blank on if he knew Cain at all as the old man's face grew dark, seemingly sobering up.

"If it's true that you're the same Meliodas I used to know all those years ago…" Cain said before he suddenly jumped up and tried to kick Meliodas in the face, only to be blocked before attempting a barrage of kicks and then jumped back to remove his cloak to reveal the symbol on his uniform.

(Music:Shaded truths)

"I swear, I'll never forgive you for what you've done!"

"That crest he's wearing...it's Danafall's." Meliodas said, recognizing the symbol while Elizabeth was watching from Sora's hood, looking surprised at the mention of Danafall.

"Elizabeth, what's wrong?" Sora asked, noticing the look on her face.

"My father mentioned that once, Danafall was where I was born…" Elizabeth explained as Cain's fingers became coated in flames before a fireball formed.

"What possessed you to destroy the whole kingdom?!" Cain demanded as he tossed the fireball forward and washed Meliodas in a stream of flames, but had no effect as Meliodas guarded against the flames. "What possessed you to kill all my people?!" He said as he tossed another fireball that Meliodas defended against.

"What the hell is he doing out, is he still strung out from the last fight?" Ryuko questioned.

"No, he's letting the attacks connect." Satsuki said as Sora realized why Meliodas let such a thing happen.

"He feels guilty about something…" Sora said as Cain shot another fireball at Meliodas.

"What possessed you to kill Liz?! The woman you loved?! What possessed you to betray everyone of us?!" Cain said as he formed a giant fireball above himself and chucked it at Meliodas, who looked at Cain with sadness.

"I tried to save all of them, I wanted to protect everything. But I...I failed…that's the sin I bare" Meliodas said as he quickly flashed back to the woman dying in the rain before raising his hand up. "So this time, I won't let that happen!" He exclaimed before dispersing the fireball with his bare hand just as it made contact, much to the awe of the crowd as Cain recognized the technique.

(Music stops)

"The Counter vanish technique. The ability to nullify any offensive magic that's pointed in your direction. Without a doubt, you're the same Meliodas I knew all right." Cain said.

"And I remember you, Cain Barzard. Although it took me awhile." Meliodas said.

"So you remember, huh?"

"Yeah. Back when you were with the holy knights, you used to go by the name of Barzard the flame. You were always wearing a full suit of armor too." Meliodas said as Cain looked back.

"Is that so? I don't recall that." Cain admitted as he approached Meliodas. "Meliodas, can I trust what you said before? You didn't betray us? You didn't betray all of Danafall?"

"No…" Meliodas answered with a serious reassuring face as a single tear fell down Cain's face at the answer before suddenly hugging the captain.

(Music: Laughter and merriment~2.5 ver)

"Ohohohohoh! I'm so glad you didn't turn on us! I've wanted to hear you say those exact words for so long!" Cain cried.

"Really?"

When I came back to the kingdom after finishing my mission, everything was gone! And there were these rumors flying around about you destroying Danafall! But somewhere deep down I wanted to believe they were lies!"

"What's going on here?" Diane asked as King shrugged.

"Beats me." King said as Sora seemed to understand what was going on.

"I think Meliodas is just catching up with an old friend." Sora said with a smile.

"Old is right." Ryuko stated as Cain let go of Meliodas

"This is a huge relief! I'm glad I ran into a comrade in arms from the old days still alive!" Cain said as Love Helm approached.

"Um, excuse me, what about the fight?" Love Helm questioned.

"I'll be forfeiting the match."

"HUH?!" Love Helm exclaimed as his jaw dropped to the ground in shock before shaking himself out of the surprise. "What's this?! Cain just admitted his own defeat! The winner of the festival's second semifinal match is Meliodaf!"

"Are you sure?" Meliodas asked if Cain's decision to throw the match was final.

"Of course I am. You're the same old softie as ever, are ya? You could've reflected my techniques back at me whenever you wanted to." Cain guessed, which was true.

"If I had, you've ended up dying, and it would've all been for nothing."

"Hey, I'm not some frail old man. But I guess I'll just take things easy now and see what happens in the finals." Cain said as he turned around to leave, only to bump into a familiar and angry face, which Pete, literally fuming as steam seemed to come out of his ears.

(Music stops)

"Uh oh. What's Pete doing back?" Sora questioned, worried about his angered appearance.

"He looks pretty pissed, that's for sure." Ryuko said as Cain looked unworried as Pete stared angrily at him.

"Hello there again. I'm pretty sure I already beat, didn't I?" Caina questioned as Pete picked the small old man up by his shirt.

"You old coot! I know you cheated!" Pete exclaimed, even though he cheated in the elimination round while Love Helm was annoyed at the minion's interruption of the festival.

"Hey! You were already disqualified in the first round!" Love Helm exclaimed as Pete rolled his eyes in annoyance before taking out one of his explosive bowling balls. "If you wanna take part in the festival again, you're gonna have to wait a whole year before-" The referee shouted before Pete tossed the ball at Love Helm and exploded in his face, leaving the little imp covered in soot.

"Ah, forget it. Just take it up with our complaint department."

"You know, sonnie. You're not getting anything out of beating up an old man like myself, so why don't you just take your leave?" Cain asked nicely before bringing his arm up to form a fireball in his hand, making Pete reconsider his choice.

'You know, you might got a point, grandpa...So I'll just do this!" Pete exclaimed as he snapped his fingers and dozens of soldier heartless appeared in the crowd and surrounded the people

"Holy crap, monsters!" Man exclaimed as the heartless then appeared while Ban returned on the back of Hawk.

"Hey, guys. That lard ass is coming back here to-" Ban said before several soldiers appeared around him and Hawk.

"I think they might already know…" Hawk said as he shivered in fear at the heartless while more had appeared around Sora's group.

"What a brutish tactic!" King said in disgust at Pete's actions.

"That guy is a real bully!" Diane agreed.

"Hey, Sora. The heartless are here anyway. Can we do something about it now?" Ryuko asked.

"No doubt about it, Elizabeth,you might wanna hold on." Sora said as Elizabeth ducked down into his hood, while Pete decided to make demands.

"Now, what I want is really simple! I'm gonna take that huge hammer and walk away with it, no funny business whatsoever! Or my friends are gonna turn everyone here into an all you can eat buffet!" Pete demanded as he felt someone's grip pull down his arm that was holding Cain and looked down to see Meliodas.

"You can take the hammer, but I'm gonna have to ask you to let go of my friend." Meliodas requested.

"No can do, shrimp! I still got a score to settle with grandpa here!"

"The fact you keep picking fights with an old man such as myself is pretty sad." Cain pointed out as Pete growled angrily, as a certain keyblade wielder walked up from behind.

"Let him go, Pete." Sora demanded as he summoned the favorite deputy keyblade.

"Not now, key brat! Can't you see I'm busy-Wait a moment…" Pete said as he turned around, only to only smack in the face by Sora's keyblade, causing him to see stars flying around his head and to let go of Cain as the old man landed on his feet.

"Thank you, young man. I can tell, you'll handle this." Cain said.

"Yup. Leave it to us!" Sora said, giving a thumbs up as Cain left the arena and Pete shook his head to shake out of his dizziness and glared angrily at the sight of Sora.

"You! What are you doing here?!" Pete questioned.

"Isn't it obvious, Pete? I'm cleaning up your mess you made,again. What are you even doing here, anyway?"" Sora asked as the rest of the group joined behind him. (Minus Ban since his body was still suffering after the aftereffects of physical hunt)

"Well, since you asked, Maleficent doesn't appreciate what a great help I am, and my wife thinks I make a lousy underling! So I'm gonna take that huge hammer and give our heartless a huge improvement!"

"Wow!"

"I know, awesome plan, isn't it?"

"No, I can't believe you of all people have a wife." Sora stated as Pete looked annoyed.

"Now that just plain hurts…" Pete said as Meliodas joined up with Sora and cracked his knuckles.

"If I were you, I'd skip town. My friends already took care of your monsters, so you don't have any more hostages." Meliodas pointed out.

"You might as well take the offer." King said.

"The captain wouldn't be handing it to you if you had no more aces." Diane said as Pete put his thumb under his chin to think.

"Hmm, you all seem to have a point...So I'll just do this!" Pete said as he clapped his hands and more soldiers heartless appeared and tackled Meliodas, Diane and King off the arena while missing the arena before a barrier suddenly appeared and separated Sora, Ryuko and Satsuki from the outside.

"Guys!" Sora shouted as he watched heartless appear on the other side of the barrier to surround Meliodas' half of the group.

(Music: Rowdy rumble~the crazy carriage~)

"We're fine! We can take care of this." Meliodas said as he casually backhanded a soldier that leaped at him.

"Besides you got bigger things to worry about, me!" Pete exclaimed as he swung arm around in a circle before flexing it.

"Oh yeah. You're really scary." Ryuko taunted as she drew her scissor blade and Satsuki drew bakuzan while Pete tried to remember the two sisters.

"Hmm, have we met before?"

"I may have left behind a tape that blew up in your face." Satsuki reminded the minion as Pete then became angry.

"Oh, yeah. Now I remember! Get ready for payback, ol' Petey style!" Pete said as he drew a pair of his exploding bowling balls and tossed at the trio, only to be easily reflected back at the minion as he quickly sidestepped the explosion. "HA! Ol' Pete already knows that little-" He gloated before Ryuko suddenly appeared in front of him and then uppercutted him in the chin, making him flip backwards from the force and land on his back.

"Aw shut it, would you?" Ryuko said as Pete stood up and shook his head.

"Oh yeah?!" Pete countered as he snapped his fingers and several hookbat heartless were summoned into the arena and flew at Sora, Ryuko and Satsuki and began swiping their hooks at them while Pete decided to use the distraction and toss his firecracker balls at the trio, causing small explosions.

"Owowowowow! That's bullshit right there!"Ryuko complained, which then turned into surprise as she watched Pete jump surprisingly very high into the air before diving down.

"YAHA!" Pete shouted as he landed with a belly flop that created a strong shockwave that separated the trio across the arena and fell to their knees from the force as the hookbats began swarming them again.

"This is getting annoying!" Satsuki exclaimed as she twisted around and created a mist of ice from her sword that froze the heartless, causing them to fall from the air and shatter upon crashing with the ground.

"This is actually quite the exciting interruption of the festival everyone! Right now, the scary looking woman with the sword has frozen her foes and smashed them into icicles! And look right there!" Love Helm announced as the view turned to Sora swinging around one hookbat by its own hook to smash it into other heartless. "Key boy has turned his enemies against each other while the other scary looking girl with the giant pair of scissors is simply just smashing the monsters together!" He exclaimed while Ryuko had smashed a heartless away with her fist.

"Are you seriously doing commentary right now, you little midget?" Ryuko questioned.

"Hey, the people are liking it!"

"Yeah! We should have monster fights next year!" A man in the crowd shouted as the other spectators cheered in agreement as Ryuko stood dumbfounded.

"The people in this town are crazy." Ryuko said before she was suddenly lifted up by her arm by Pete.

"Hey, I say give the fans what they want!" Pete said before he tossed Ryuko into the barrier, much to Sora and Satsuki's anger.

"You pig, how dare you!" Satsuki exclaimed.

"Time we stopped going easy on him!" Sora said as he and Satsuki held their weapons forward and released blizzaga at the same time as Pete as he bulged his eyes out.

"Oh boy!" Pete said as he extended his arms out and a reddish barrier surrounded him to protect him from the ice as it froze over the shield. "Too bad, lunkheads, Pete's invincible!"

"Actually, that gives me an idea!" Sora said as he shifted into strike form and the top of his keyblade turned into a rocket that flew off and spun around him before returning to the keyblade as it extended into the hyper hammer as Pete realized what he was going to do.

"Wait, hold up!" Pete pleaded before Sora reared his hammer back and swung it with all his might into the shield. "YAAAAAHHHH!" The minion screamed as he was sent flying into the arena barrier and bounced off the wall before bouncing into the other side of the wall before repeating the process many times like a pinball while the crowd watched Pete fly around.

"Wow, I thought you were something with a hammer, Diane." Meliodas said.

"You think Sora could teach me a few tricks?" Diane asked as Pete slammed into the barrier one last time before his shield shattered from the force, causing him to fall back to the ground with stars around his head once more, before he shook his head.

"You think that's gonna take me out ya, Bozo?!" Pete said angrily, which turned to fear as Sora jumped up with his hammer above his head. "Oh boy…" He said as Sora brought the hammer down that smashed Pete into the ground, with his head and shoulders sticking out with his eyes spinning in his head.

(Music ends)

"Had enough, Pete?" Sora asked as he bent down in front of the minion's head before Pete glared angrily at him.

"You porcupine haired little brat! You think your hot stuff, you better hope Maleficent will go easy on ya because we got a new guy that will make you shake in your boots!" Pete threatened

"Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure he's just as scary as you. Hey, Diane!" Sora called out to girl to get her attention. "Wanna send him packing?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Diane accepted as she approached the arena, while Pete saw little threat in her.

"Oh, what's that little girl gonna do? Sing me a song or do a little dance with me-" Pete said before Diane slammed her fist into the barrier that surrounded the arena and easily smashed it into pieces, making Pete become fearful. "Wait, hold up! Can't we talk about this?!"

"I think you'll wanna use this." Sora said as he handed the hyper hammer to Diane.

"Thanks, you know actually what a girl like me likes." Diane thanked as he held the hammer over the grounded Pete.

"I ain't no golf ball! Let me out!" Pete pleaded, but Diane wasn't listening.

"FORE!" Diane exclaimed before swinging the hammer like a golf club and knocked Pete out of the ground and onto the air.

"OH WELL! YOU CAN'T SAY I TRIEEEEEEEEDDDDD! Pete shouted he flew into the sky and disappeared from view as a small blip of light while the audience watched.

"Wow, that's probably a hole in one." Sora said as he was handed back the hammer and it reverted back into his keyblade.

"Think we'll see him again?" Ryuko asked.

"Uh, maybe." Sora said when Meliodas suddenly appeared next to him, along with King and Ban. "Good news, we get the tournament back on and win Diane's hammer-AH!" He yelped in surprise as Meliodas suddenly just pushed the keyblade wielder off the edge of the arena.

"The hell?!" Ryuko said as she and Satsuki were surprised as well before the sisters were suddenly pushed off the arena too as Elizabeth peeked out of Sora's hood to see what was going on.

"What's going on?" Elizabeth questioned as Sora rubbed his head.

"The other's just suddenly us out." Sora explained as the sins gathered in the center of the arena with Meliodas standing in front and had Diane and Bann by his side while King turned into his human form, what came next was something no one was expecting.

"My real identity is captain of the seven deadly sins, I'm Meliodas, the dragon sin! We're taking over Vaizel, everything here belongs to us now! I'm giving you less than one minute to clear out of this town, understand? If you don't, we're gonna kill you all!"

King abilities

Bumblebee:Attack foes with an insanely fast spear combo

Guardian:Defend and counter attacks

Increase:Send many spears flying at enemies

Equipment:Chastiefol

Journal update

Dreyfus: One of the two grandmasters of the holy knight, and one of the two strongest. Dreyfus holds great fear that a holy war is inevitable, and revolted against the royal family of Liones to prepare his holy knights for the war. Dreyfus also seems to hold a dark secret.

Hendrickson: One of the two grandmasters of the holy knights and leader of the new generation. Hendrickson has been dabbling in the dark arts, using the blood of a demon to create new generation holy knights in order to achieve a dark goal.

Veronica: The second princess of Liones and one of Elizabeth's sisters. Veronica left Liones to find Elizabeth and bring her make, believing the seven deadly sins had kidnapped and brainwashed her.

Griamore: A holy knight of Britanna. Griamore dedicated his life to protecting princess Veronica and follows her on the quest to find Elizabeth.

Howzer: A holy knight of Britanna. Howzer is a honorable young fighter and always looking forward to a fight with strong foes, even the seven deadly sins.

Love Helm: A mysterious little imp that is the referee of the Vaizel fighting festival.