A/N: Apologies for the long wait. Hard to get my mind into writing sometimes.

Also, Sora is finally in Super Smash Bros Ultimate! Can you believe that?

Miracle

Sora and Abigail continued to duke it out in the forest.

Abigail fired her micro missiles, frustrated that she can't use her targeting system with her cyber eye damaged. Sora dodged them effortlessly before he flung his chain fail at her, only for her to duck under it. She then activated her energy claws and dashed at her opponent, ready to strike. However, the Keyblade Master quickly leapt back, avoiding the strike, and retracted his flail to block another strike.

The two struggled for a moment before the assassin readied to strike with her dagger, only for Sora to shout, "Strike Form!" as his outfit turned a brighter red than normal. His boosted strength allowed him to shove his enemy away before her attack could land. He then leapt up to her as he brought down his mace. Abigail managed to dodge the direct hit, but the impact on the ground created a seismic shock wave that blew her away.

But she cling her claws onto a tree and swung herself right back at him with the momentum, nailing a kick to his face, and knock him into another tree. She then pointed her palm cannon at him. "Hell Buster!" She fire a large beam of darkness at him.

But Sora quickly got up. "Guardian Form!" His outfit turned yellow and a barrier surrounded him, blocking the beam. He then pushed through the attack and rammed into the assassin. He quickly followed up by whacking her with his chain flail, sending her crashing into a tree.

Abigail growled. "That's it! Let's see how you handle a little frostbite!" Her Pain Garnet then glowed. "Sheer Cold!"

And suddenly Sora felt a very harsh chill that made him shiver. "What the... It's...freezing!" This sever cold made the winters of Arendelle seem like a cool breeze. He could swear he could feel frost starting to form on him. Still Sora did his best to power through this, reverting his King's Mace back to its Keyblade form to lighten himself. He continued to clash with her for a good while, but the cold was gradually slowing him down. Soon he ended up stumbling to his knees, still struggle from the cold.

The cyborg chuckled in amusement. "You're resilient, I'll give you that. But even you have limits to how much punishment you can take. Piercing Screech!" Instantly the cold air around the Keyblade master was gone, but was quickly replaced with an ear shattering screech, causing him to cover his ears as he grunted in pain. Abigail clicked her tongue. "A weak grunt... that's all you're willing to muster." The glow of her forehead gem intensified as she grinned sadistically. "Come on! Your wife screamed louder than that for less than this!"

And that statement proved to be a mistake as Sora glare angrily at her. "Rage Form!" One quick burst of darkness later and Sora's body was coated in it. Not a power he uses very often, usually only a last resort as he can't properly control it or maintain for very long. But it's helped him out of a jam before, especially since it can block out pain, making it useful against the powers of the Pain Garnet. Without giving her a chance to react, Rage Sora dash at Abigail, grabbing her by the face and slamming her into the ground. As this happened, his darkness covered hand had inadvertently touched the Abyssal Stone on her forehead, and he felted a sudden surge of power flow into his body. He skidded her along the ground before throwing her into a large boulder.

Sora took a moment to look at himself, noticing the same red aura as though channeling the power of Discord. Was this from touching the stone?

Abigail dislodged herself from the boulder and scowled at the Keyblade Master before rocket leaping at him. She swung her dagger, which clashed with his Keyblade. It was then that she noticed his red aura. "What?! How did you gain the power of Discord?"

"From your stone, I think." Sora spoke in a distorted voice as a result of his Rage Form before effortlessly shoving her away. "Can't say I planned this... But perhaps I can use this to my advantage." He then shouted as he charged at his foe.

"Torture Taser!" The assassin fired a stream of electricity from her Garnet, but it didn't faze the Rage Form Sora, as he swiped her with a dark scratch followed by kicking her away.

For the next few moments, the two continued to clash, with Abigail not gaining any ground and constantly getting pushed back.

Soon Sora's Keyblade managed to break the assassin's cyber arm, followed by slicing her cyber legs, leaving her helpless on the ground. She growled at the Hero of Light. "You bastard!"

Rage Sora slowly approached. "You've had this coming for a long time, Abigail. You WILL answer for what you've done!"

Suddenly a loud explosion accompanied by a strong tremor caught his attention. He turns to look and find a large pillar of light shoot into the sky from the town, before dousing soon after. Sora immediately knew something was wrong and it took him a second to realize why. He could sense that the strongest source of light in this kingdom was now gone. His Rage Form dissipated from shock as he realized what happen. "The cornerstone... THE KING!"

He then turned back to the Abigail, only to find her crawling with her remaining limb though a dark corridor, which immediately closed. The Hero of Light growled in frustration and how that murderer got away again, but he had to calm himself as he had more important things to worry about right now. He transform his Keyblade into a flying board, hopped on, and charged back to town.

"Axes of Ruin!" Thaddeus called as his threw his energy axes at the Keyblade Masters. Riku deflected a couple of them with his spear, while Roxas dodged a few others.

Both than held out there palms. "Dark Cannon!" They unleashed a flurry of dark fireballs that pelted the titan of a man, but it barely fazed him.

Roxas then stared rapidly twirling his Dark Kusarigama, whose sickle became coated in darkness. "Shadow Shredder!" He began cutting at the muscleman with blinding speed. Thaddeus tanked the swipes until he moved his ax in it way, cause the chain to wrap around it, stopping the attack cold.

But before he could do anything, Riku warped above him, energy charged in his Gungnir. "Leap of Faith!" He thrust down at him. The cult member noticed him just in time to get out of the way of the spear, but the shock wave from the impact to the ground push him back a ways, Roxas's chain unwrapping from the ax.

Thaddeus then charged at them and started swinging his ax at them wildly, which they both opted to dodge rather than defend so as to not fall into the Oblivion Onyx's absorption power, while striking every opening he gave. After a while the brute unleashed a burst of darkness, pushing them back. But Roxas recovered quickly as he leapt over the brute, extended his chain and threw both ends at the brute's arms while, wrapping around them, and pulled on the middle of the chain, holding the arm back in place, leaving him wide open.

Taking advantage of the opening, Riku dashed forward as his spearhead glowed. "Valor Fury!" He then thrust his spear over and over again at blinding speeds.

The human steel wall tanked every hit before channeling his Onyx's power through one of his bound arms, draining Roxas through the chain. Riku noticed this and charged more for a stronger strike, hoping to stun him so his teammate could release himself. However, Thaddeus then tugged hard on his restraints, knocking Roxas on the ground, and he was able to move out of the way while grabbing hold of the spear, using his draining powers on him too.

Both masters struggled to free themselves from the Onyx's power. Fortunately a few Assassin Nobodies sprung out of the ground and struck muscleman, followed by a few Ninja Nobodies, striking him fast, causing him to lose focus on his power. The masters managed to free themselves and regrouped, reverting their weapons back to their Keyblade forms as they panted.

Thaddeus spun with his ax, using the energy he absorbed to dispatch the attacking Nobodies in one fell swoop, before smirking at his foes. "Why don't you just give up already? The more you resist, the harder you all will fall after all. The darkness with overtake you all!"

"Hah! Shows how much you know!" shouted Roxas. "No matter how deep your darkness gets, our light will keep shining strong!"

The brute chuckled. "If you really believe that light and darkness are two sides of the same coin, one cannot exist without the other, you are sorely mistaken."

"And what makes you say that?" asked Riku.

"The thing about light is that it requires a source in order to shine. One way or another that source can and will burn out, and once it does its light will vanish."

Right when he finished that sentence, an explosion drew everyone's attention. They looked to see a large pillar of light had blown out of the center of the castle.

Once the pillar vanish the Keyblade Masters stared in shock. "Wh-What?!" Roxas asked in disbelief.

"The Cornerstone's light..." said Riku, "...its gone." He then gasped. "MICKEY!"

The muscleman then laughed. "Case in point!"

Roxas glared at the enemy. "What did you do?!"

"Mistress Evol proved her power by smashing this kingdom's precious cornerstone to smithereens! As you can see, even a great source of light as that can be snuffed out!"

Then Riku glared. "You monsters!"

"Do you see now? Your light is more fragile then you are willing to admit, because it always has its definitive sources! Whereas darkness...does not have a source to speak of! It is just always there wherever light is absent! Light can be destroyed, but darkness cannot!" He charged energy into his ax. "Chaos Crusher!"

Mizu and company had made it to town, still heading for the Gummi Ship hanger, fighting Discord Heartless along the way. Soon the eruption of light from the castle caught their attention too.

"What the hell was that?" asked Cassidy.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Lumina. "The Cornerstone of Light has been destroyed!"

"What!" exclaimed Drake. "You can't be serious! I thought you fortified that thing with the power of Harmony!"

"I did! It would've taken tremendous power to destroy it... like the power of the Gauntlet of Discord."

"Evol..." Mizu had her hand clutching her chest, she could feel the light that had always bathed this kingdom get so much weaker. "This can't be happening..." Suddenly a sense of dread crawled up her spine as she sensed a lot of darkness approaching. "Guys! Watch out!"

Everyone braced themselves as they watch an entire horde of Heartless soon surrounded them, mainly Shadows, Neoshadows, Flame Cores, Earth Cores, Water Cores, and Flutterings.

"This is bad!" exclaimed the light spirit. "With the kingdom's protective light gone, the Heartless are multiplying!"

"Great!" complained the mechanic. "There's too many of them! Now what?"

"Ah, quit being a sissy!" shouted the pilot. "We can take these punks on!"

There was a short pause before several Neoshadows decided to leap up to strike their prey. However, suddenly they were each blasted by an energy sphere that magically froze them in midair. Soon a bunch of Harmony Nobodies floated above the party. These Nobodies were on the short side, each had a cone hat like protrusion on its head, a tailcoat, baggy pant like legs, a small book in its hand. These Scholars(1) had their books held out, open with their pages glowing and flipping like crazy as they were maintaining their binding spells on the attacking Heartless. Then in a flash, a few Samurais darted passed and cleaved the bound Heartless in two.

Soon, a few Sentinels dropped in a defensive formation around the teens, some Dragoons flew above them, and dozens of Dusks surrounded them. Finally, two human sized tornadoes came from the Heartless horde, mowing them down, creating a path through, until they joined the Nobody horde and revealed themselves to be Barbarians spinning around with their axes.

The party was in awe at the cavalry that arrived for them. "Man!" voice Drake, "I am so glad these things are on our side!"

"Master Roxas must've sent them to aid us in our escape," Mizu deducted.

One of the Samurai turned to the party and made a 'follow me' gesture.

Cassidy chuckled. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's get our butts moving!"

With that, the party and their Nobody escorts pressed forward striking down every Heartless that came their way.

"The Cornerstone of Light..." Terra said in disbelief.

"DON'T IGNORE ME!" The berserk Adrian roared as he stabbed his sword into the ground, and a line of explosions ignited towards the Keyblade Master, who promptly dodged. The boy then dashed to his opponent, clashing blades with him.

The brunette master growled. "Your cult is gonna pay for destroying a precious source of light, not to mention this kingdoms protection."

The redhead scoffed, "WHO CARES?! FURY CLAW!" He swiped with his astral claw covered arm, knocking him away.

Terra then transformed his Ends of the Earth into a double-bladed battle ax. "Gigant Ax!" He slammed it onto the ground, creating a linear shock wave that was follow by a series of exploding rocks, which sent the berserk boy crashing into a wall. "Do you not see how many innocent lives you're putting in danger?!"

Adrian pulled himself out of the wall. "WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT THE WEAK?! THE WEAK ARE WORTHLESS! IF YOU'RE NOT STRONG THAN YOU'RE NOTHING! NOW JUST SHUT UP AND FIGHT ME! RAGING DESTRUCTION!" He unleash another line of explosions.

Terra leapt away from the attack. This kid is getting angrier by the minute, he thought. Must be the Abyssal Stone. His attacks are strong but sloppy. Let's see how much control he actually has. When he lands he takes a deep breath. "That's just like you, Adrian. Always so focused on the fight, you refuse to see the big picture. Fine! I'll play this your way then! Dark Impulse Style!" He gained a dark aura, some of that darkness prominently gathering in his left arm.

The boy grunted before throwing his palm forward, gathering dark flames with a dim yellow outer shell from the Topaz's power. "CHAOS FIRA!" He then unleashed a fusillade of fireballs that flew erratically towards his target.

The Keyblade Master gathered darkness at the tip of his ax's staff. "Dark Volley!" He fired a string of projectiles all around him. Each one colliding with one of Adrian's, although the erratic patterns caused some to miss. The ones that missed each continued toward their intended target. The redhead merely braced himself and tanked the hits, while the brunette deflected them with his ax.

Adrian then roared as he leapt to his opponent. However, Terra dove into a pool of darkness on the ground, causing the boy to stumble.

Terra then arose from behind with his left arm coated in darkness. "Hand of Shadows!" The darkness expanded into a large ghostly hand, which then grabbed hold of the boy and squeeze. The shadow hand touched the Hate Topaz on his shoulder, and a surge of discord ran through the projection and into Terra. The master winced in pain at the surge before he threw his opponent into a wall. He looked at his hand as he saw the red aura of discord. "Heh... You really should've covered that stone if all it takes to steal your power is touching it with darkness."

Adrian growled as he dislodged himself from the wall again. "You know, I always found it hypocritical that you wield darkness yet fight on the side of light!"

"Nothing hypocritical about it. Our enemy isn't darkness itself, but the people who would use darkness for malicious intent."

"Tsk... What nonsense!" The redhead activated his Fury Claw, and charged at the master.

The two clashed several more times with both weapon and protected limbs alike. The boy proved tenacious, but the master continued to get the upper hand.

Soon Terra reverted his ax back to its Keyblade form before charging darkness through it. "Chaos Blade!" He dashed toward the berserk boy blade first. Adrian blocked the attack, but then the master warp to a different angle, catching him off guard and striking him in the side. Then he warped to another angle and struck his shoulder. This repeated several more times before the last one sent him flying crashing into the ground. "This is the difference between your anger and mine, boy! I've learned how to control and harness it properly, while all you do is let it run wild! Unrefined and sloppy!"

"SHUT UP!" Adrian's berserker aura intensified.

"If you only understood the necessity of balance and control..."

"KEEP YOUR STUPID PHILOSOPHIES TO YOURSELF! THE ONLY TRUTH THAT MATTERS IN THIS WORLD IS THAT THE WEAK ARE AT THE MERCY OF THE STRONG! AND I REFUSE TO BE PUSHED AROUND ANYMORE!" Adrian then roared as he raised his Bleeding Rage greatsword high, gathering a lot of topaz energy into it. Soon the energy expanded into an astral blade three times larger than the greatsword's normal size. "SAVAGE CLEAV-AAUUGGHHH!" He was cut off as his shoulder started throbbing with intense pain. His attack dispelled before he could even use it, and his Demon's Wrath berserk aura ceased. He screamed in agony as dark tendrils began seeping from the Hate Topaz and wrapped around his shoulder.

Terra shook his head in disappointment as he ceased his Dark Impulse Style. "Why am I not surprise that you can't even handle your new power? Here you are recklessly overusing a power you can't control. Typical Adrian Cain."

Adrian continued to grunt as his opponent slowly approached. Damn it! I can hardly move!

Before the master could apprehend the boy, a sinister female voice filled the sky above the city. "Citizens of Disney Town... Guardians of Light... Champion of Cosmos and her followers... Know this well... Your king and queen have failed! Your precious Cornerstone of Light has been destroyed! This kingdom's protective light has vanished! There is no hope left for this world! And we will not stop there! We will not stop until ALL LIGHT IS DESTROYED! Now witness despair as the remains of this kingdom is torn asunder!" As she said that last sentence a dark portal appear in the sky, and a cluster of Discord Shadows and Neoshadows snaked out, swarming the sky. The swarm immediately began ramming into the town structures, destroying everything in its path.

"Not the Chaos Tide again!" Terra exclaimed. He looked back at Adrian, only to find that he was gone, only spotting the residual darkness of a closed Corridor. Coward... But there was no time to worry about him. He had to do something about the swarm. But when he saw the direction it was heading toward, he gasped. "Shit! Not good!"

Mizu and company made it to the Gummi Ship Hanger. As the ran toward the Phoenix, they couldn't help but spot the citizens being led to escape ships.

They reached their own ship and Drake press an app on his Gummiphone and the four seat cockpit open up. Cassidy leapt in first, taking the pilot's seat as she stretched her fingers out. "Alright! Let's start this baby up!" She started pressing buttons as the ship started running.

Drake hopped in and took the co-pilot's seat as he inserted his Gummiphone into a slot before he too started pressing buttons. As Mizu sat in one of the two back seats with Lumina perching on her shoulder, the mechanic close the cockpit as he activated his holographic monitor. "Okay! Let's just do a few quick checks! Engine output stable, radar sensors functional... Cass, check the steering controls!"

The pilot fiddled with the control handles. "Rudders are working!"

"Okay! Press the firing trigger a few times but don't turn off the safety yet!"

"Hmm... Yep, says the guns are receiving."

"Alright then..." Drake turned to Mizu. "Do you know how to operate in one of these?"

"Yes," the key wielder replied as Master Sora had taught her how Gummiships work while traveling on the Highwind, even let her pilot a few times.

"Good! I'll be transferring some controls over to your seat." Drake then pressed a few buttons before a button on the side desk of Mizu's seat flash, which she pressed to activate her own holographic monitor. "Alright! All systems green! Prepare for launch!"

The platforms around the Phoenix moved out the way as it hovered above the ground. Soon the engines began charging, as the ship faced the open launch door.

Cassidy grinned excitedly as she rubbed her hands together before grabbing the controls and trusting them forward. "Blast off!" And with that, the Phoenix took off. It exited the hangar and flew into the sky. "Woohoo! Now we're talking!"

Drake started pressing buttons, "Alright, give me a moment to set up the exit warp drive and-"

"Look out!" Lumina suddenly shouted, causing the green haired pilot to jerk the ship to the right on reflex as something just barely missed them from behind. The party gasped in shock as they saw what almost hit them, the Discord Heartless cluster.

"Oh crap!" exclaimed the blue haired mechanic. "The cult's go-to exterminator, the Chaos Tide!"

They then watched in horror as the swarm suddenly consumed an escape ship that had also just taken off flying next to them. The Shadows and Neoshadows covered the transport, quickly tearing it apart, and the group swore that could hear loud cries of terror before suddenly silence. The shocked group couldn't take their eye off the horrible sight. So much in fact that they failed to pay attention to the Chaos Tide returning to them.

Fortunately, Drake snapped out of it and did the only thing he could quick enough, he touched something on his monitor. "Barrier up!" The Phoenix was then surrounded by a barrier of light just as the swarm engulfed them. They were so far all right, but it didn't take long for the barrier to start cracking. "It's not gonna hold!"

"Now what!" asked Cassidy.

Fearing her life, Mizu put her hands together and started praying. And no sooner did they all hear someone call, "Zone of Ruin!" as suddenly the swarm was scattered by a large blade of light. They looked up and saw that their savior was none other than Master Sora. "Keep going!" He shouted as he continued to fend off the Tide, and he was soon joined by Master Terra coming in on his jet speeder Keyblade Glider, ramming through Heartless left and right.

Cassidy wasted no time and charged the ship back toward the sky, while Drake resumed preparations for warping off world.

As the two did their stuff, Mizu couldn't help but be worried about the Masters' well-beings, especially against the very cluster they had been having trouble destroying for years. It weighed heavily on her heart to be unable to help them fight. She decided that there was only one thing she could do. She touched her forehead with the tips of her put-together fingers, then moved her hands to the opposite shoulders, then onto her chest, before finally clapping them together in prayer.

"Dear Lady Cosmos, Goddess of Light and mother to use all, please hear my prayer. My master, the Guardians of Light, and others who are precious to me are risking their lives against a powerful enemy. Please I implore you... Bless them all with your protective light. Give them strength to survive! Give them the strength...to prevail!"

"Alright!" Drake said as he turned his chair. "Entering warp drive in...what...?" he cut himself off as something caught his eye.

Cass looked back too, and she two was awestruck. "Mizu... what's going on?"

The silverhead opened her eyes, confused at what they were talking about, until she notice that the Mark of Harmony on her hand was glowing, and so too was her amulet. "What? What's happening?"

Lumina giggled. "Looks to me like your prayer was heard!"

Right then, the Phoenix entered a warp hole, exiting the world.

The sky had been covered with clouds since the invasion started. It was conjured by the cult itself to instill fear in the hearts of the citizens, and spreading fear is one of their objectives.

However, soon a large hole opened in the clouds, revealing a bright light that shined down on the kingdom, a light that was not the sun. The local toons watched the sight in awe.

"Wow!" exclaimed Max. "What is that, Dad?"

"Gawrsh!" replied Goofy. "I don't know. But it it sure is pertty."

"Whoa!" said PJ. "Is anybody else feeling...re-energized or something?"

"Hey I am!" replied Donald.

"That's not all," said Roxanne. "Look!"

Everyone saw that all the Discord Heartless around them seemed to be writhing in pain under the heavenly light. Conversely, however, the Harmony Nobodies seem to have gained a second wind and started plowing through the Heartless more easily.

The duck began hopping up and down pumped. "Whack! This is our chance! Let's get 'em!"

Just before the light shown in the sky, Sora and Terra continued to fend off the Chaos Tide, but they weren't faring as well as they would've liked. It got to the point where they started to become overwhelm to where they slipped up and the Tide began to engulf them both.

(2)

However, once the heavenly light shined down, both Keyblade Masters felt re-energized and empowered, and they then burst themselves out of the cluster with bright gold auras. Sora in particular had his outfit turn white. "Ultimate Form!" Normally he'd need to switched his Keychain to his Ultima Weapon to use this mode, but now he was using it with his based Keyblade. Sora wasn't sure what happened, but he wasn't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.

Meanwhile, Terra landed on a building before, on instinct, pointed his Keyblade at the Tide. "Sealing Chains!" he called as he conjured an array of chains made of light, which wrapped around the cluster and in a flash of light, the Chaos Tide was bound in a large spherical shape. He didn't know how he was suddenly able to do that, but he couldn't complain.

Sora pointed his Keyblade at the Tide, charging up a lot more light energy then normal. "Divine Ragnarok!" He unleash a fusillade of countless projectile, more than he's ever fired using a normal Ragnarok.

Terra then transformed his Keyblade into a giant cannon. "Ultima Cannon!" He then began firing large spheres of light at a quicker rate then he'd normally be able to, explode on impact with the cluster.

Soon the Chaos Tide managed to break out of its binds to continue its rampage, but that didn't deter the masters from fighting back.

As the heavenly light shined, a slightly brighter ray descended on the wrecked Disney Castle.

Soon the rubble began to tremble before a bubble of gold light burst out. Inside that bubble were none other than the King Mickey and Queen Minnie, the latter of whom was generating the bubble. Both glared at the swarm of flying Heartless with renewed vigor after there crushing defeat at Evol's hands.

"No one destroys our kingdom and gets away with it!" the king declared.

"I agreed!" replied the queen. "Let's show them Mickey!"

Mickey then raise his Star Cluster Keyblade before it then transformed. It took the form of a short staff with his old master's wizard hat at the head, three gold star ornaments around the hat and a gold moon ornament on top. "Sorcerer's Wand!" He waved his wand as a cluster of star shaped projectiles pummeled several Heartless.

Minnie then held her palms out. "Pearl Storm!" A barrage of light orbs dispatched several more Heartless.

The king then raised his wand high. "Star Shower!" And a rainstorm of stars wiped out the rest.

Once all the Heartless in their vicinity were cleared, the mice then set their sights on the Chaos Tide.

Riku and Roxas's battle had been halted by the heavenly light.

"Grr..." Thaddeus winced at the brightness. "What is this?"

"What's going on?" asked Riku as a gold aura shrouded him.

"I don't know," replied Roxas gained the same aura. "But it feel so...soothing. Huh?" Without having called it, his damaged Oathkeeper had reappeared in his hand. Almost immediately, light enveloped the Keyblade and the cracks the brute's crazy strong blow inflicted then disappeared, as though they had never been there in the first place. "Whoa! Sweet! It's payback time now!" He then dismissed Oblivion before transforming his newly repaired Keyblade into a bow with wings at the ends. "Bow of Light!"

Riku felt something appear in his own hand. He looked and gasped as he saw his old Way to the Dawn Keyblade. Last time he saw it, he had left it in the Realm of Darkness after it had broken in two many years ago. But now its back and good as new. "Impossible..." He said in awe. But then he smirked, "Perhaps Mizu's goddess is watching out for us after all. Let's see what I can do now with old reliable." He dismissed Braveheart before transforming his old Keyblade, something he had not gotten the chance to do until now. It transformed into two curved swords, one shaped like a dark demonic wing, similar to his original Soul Eater sword, and the other shaped like a silver angelic wing. "Double Blades!"

Thaddeus growled. "Don't get cocky! Swords of Desolation!" He unleashed a large barrage of dark swords.

The silver haired master put his swords together by the bottom of their handles, converting them into a double bladed staff, before jumping in front of his teammate and spinning his weapon, deflecting the attack. The blond then fired several light arrows from his bow at the muscleman, which actually staggered him a bit.

Riku separated the blades again before charging light energy in one sword and dark energy in the other. He then swing them in a crossing slash, unleashing an x-shaped projectile, impacting his opponent and pushing him back a little.

Where did this sudden boost in power come from? Evol's right hand thought. He then charged at the Keyblade Master, swinging his ax wildly again. However, they seemed to have gotten a little faster, while at the same time, he himself felt himself going a little slower. Is this that light's doing? Roxas continued to pelt him with light arrows, while Riku renew his hit-and-run tactics with his twin swords. Thaddeus was having a hard time keeping up. He let out another burst of darkness. "That's it!" He then charged darkness into his ax and began spin around so fast he was practically a human sized tornado. "Severing Twister!" He charged all around the battlefield.

Riku dodged him left and right, unable to get close, while Roxas's arrows kept deflecting off of the twister. The latter however got an idea, and began charged more light in his next arrow. The former kept firing blade beams at the ground, trying to throw the brute's movement off. Soon Roxas leapt above the enemy, and aimed at the eye of the storm. "Silver Arrow!" He then fired a larger light arrow, which crash right onto Thaddeus, stopping his attack cold and face-planting him in the ground.

Before the brute could get up, Riku leapt over to him as he put his blades back together. He charged the light side, and stabbed it right next to him, creating a burst of light that sent him into the air. He quickly followed up by charging both blades, and twirling them. "Whirlwind of Dawn!" He created a vortex of light and dark energy that sucked Thaddeus in, grinding his defenses, and then flinging him into a wall. The human steel wall found himself barely able to move as he dislodged himself and leaned on his ax.

Roxas chuckled. "What was that you were saying of darkness overtaking us?"

"Look who's falling harder now," added Riku.

Thaddeus scoffed. "Fine... I'll let you have this victory. But just you wait until we get use to our Abyssal Stones' powers. You won't be so cocky for long. This was only the beginning. The Guardians of Light will pay their dues for causing us far too much trouble." With that he vanished in a dark corridor.

Immediately after, the duo saw the Chaos Tide passing overhead, and Sora and Terra continue to fight it. They looked at each other and nodded. Riku resummoned Braveheart before transforming it into a hoverbike, while Roxas resummoned Oblivion before transforming it into a board. Both boarded their gliders and took off after the Tide.

Sora flew above the tide before generating a large fireball from the tip of his Keyblade. "Firaga Burst!" That large then split into a barrage of smaller fireballs that pelted the swarm.

Terra then flew from the side, imbuing his glider with lighting magic. "Thundaga Charge!" He then rammed right through the tide.

"Twilight Cross!" Riku flew in from underneath and sliced at the swarm with a light and dark crossing slash from this Double Blades.

Roxas flew in and pointed his Bow of Light at the sky. "Heavenly Rain!" He shot a beam of light into the sky which then came down as a shower of light arrows.

As the Guardians continued their assault, the Chaos Tide kept losing more of it Heartless swarm, but kept sucking in the remaining battlefield Heartless in an effort to replenished itself. It was having it rough due to the light weakening it. It then ran into a pillar of light, as the light bubble the mouse monarchs were in flew in.

Mickey pointed his Sorcerer's Wand at the tide. "Cosmic Cracker!" He unleashed a thick sparkling projectile which turned into a brief fireworks display upon impact, scattering the swarm.

While the Tide tried to collect itself, Terra flew close. "Sealing Chains!" He once again entrapped the cluster in chains of light.

Sora then transformed his Kingdom Key into its King's Mace form and charge massive energy into its head. "Ultima Crash!" He launched the chain flail at the swarm and it created an large explosion of light upon impact.

Once the light dimmed, they saw the core of the Chaos Tide shakily rise into the air, as its Heartless shell continuously broke apart, before it then disappeared into a dark portal before they got the chance to finish it off.

With the Chaos Tide gone, and all other Heartless eradicated, the heavenly light from the sky vanished, its job done. The Keyblade Masters then rendezvoused on the ground.

"Damn! That thing got away again!" exclaimed Roxas.

"But we were actually able to do significant damage to it that time," said Mickey. "We probably won't be seeing it for a while."

"But that heavenly light from the sky," said Minnie. "It really aided us, didn't it?"

"Yeah," said Riku. "It made us stronger, and our enemies weaker. It aided us when we were all cornered. It was a real miracle."

"I can...still feel the power that light gave within me," said Terra. "Where do you think that light came from?"

Sora smirked. "I have a pretty good idea."

The Phoenix entered the space between worlds. Scanners detected no hostiles in their vicinity, so they decided to still the ship to relax and catch their breath from the adrenaline they experience from their escape. Cassidy was slumped in her seat, Drake was typing on the the keyboard looking at his holographic monitor as he typed, and Mizu continued to pray with Lumina on her shoulder.

Soon, a high pitched noise that sounded like a ringtone caught their attention. Mizu gasped as she dug into one of her belt pouches and pulled out a Gummiphone. She pressed the accept button, before shouting, "Master Sora?!"

Her master's face appear on her screen. "Hiya Princess! You guys alright?"

Mizu sighed in relief. "Thank goodness! We're alright, but I should be you asking that question!"

"Well, we're a little worse for wear but we managed! Though admittedly we had a little...divine intervention on our side."

Drake then spoke up. "Hold on, Mizu. Put your Gummiphone into that slot next to your seat."

The champion did as instructed, and a large holographic screen containing Sora's face appeared at the front of the cockpit.

"Oh hey, I can see you all now!"

"That's better," said the mechanic. "So...What's the sit-rep?"

"Well, we successfully drove the heartless away, and the last of Durza's robots have been turned to scrap metal... Though, not without extensive damage to the kingdom, nor without casualties, both military and civilian alike. We were able to evacuate as many as we could, but the town is too wrecked to live in. And as long as the Cult of Chaos is still at large, it's too risky to attempt to repair it at this time, especially now that the cornerstone is gone."

"I'm so sorry about the Cornerstone of Light!" Lumina said. "If only we had our full power, Mizu and I would've been able to restore it for you."

King Mickey then appeared on the screen. "Not to worry! We've prepared a refuge for the evacuated citizens, so we'll make do for now. You just focus on getting stronger."

Then Riku entered the picture. "I have to admit. After the cornerstone's destruction we were all put into a corner. I wasn't sure we'd be able to drive them off. Until a heavenly light shined down on us and gave us the upper hand. Terra learned to summon chains, Roxas got one of his Keyblades repaired after Thaddeus managed to fracture it with his Abyssal Stone's power, and I saw the return of an old Keyblade I had that had broken years ago."

The rabbit spirit giggled. "That would be the goddess answering Mizu's prayer for your victory! The Champion of Cosmos with the Amulet of Harmony made it possible!"

Sora smirked. "I thought as much! Looks like we owe you big time, princess!"

Mizu blushed as she fidgeted nervously. "Um, it was nothing... I...honestly didn't think it would actually work."

Cassidy whistled. "Calling for help from the gods? That's cool!"

Lumina then got serious. "I should warn you not to get too comfortable though. Lady Cosmos cannot perform these miracles whenever we want her to. Even the gods have rules they themselves must abide by for the sake of the mortals, one of them being not to directly interfere in mortal affairs. If the gods intervened in every little problem, mortal-kind will become too dependent on them and therefore won't learn to grow as people. You all should still have the power boost the light gave you for a good long while, and Mizu's regular praying should keep everyone's Power of Harmony strong regardless of where we all are. But I still advise that you rely on your own strength, and not to expect any more divine intervention."

"That won't be a problem! I prefer to do my own legwork anyways. It's not as rewarding if someone else was essentially doing all my work for me."

"I can agree with that!" said the pilot. "Nothing is any fun if it's too easy!"

"Anyway," said Mickey. "Thanks to our power boosts, we're feeling a lot more confident in our plan to take back the worlds the Cult has taken over, and to keep their inner circle busy while you guys search for the Celestial Stones."

"Speaking of Celestial Stones," said Mizu, "I met the spirit of Master Yen Sid."

That caught the Keyblade Master's off guard. "MASTER YEN SID!"

"Yes," said Lumina. "Turns out he was the one who hid the Celestial Stones in these pocket dimensions designed to test the Champion of Cosmos. He wanted to make sure the chosen one was truly ready for the stones' powers and to make sure they didn't fall into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, he didn't foresee his own demise before he could warn you all of the upcoming forces of Discord. He even claimed he had a candidate in mind for the Champion role, before things took a turn for the worse sooner than he expected." The masters looked at each other at that last statement, as if pondering who the candidate might've been.

"Well, that confirms our theory about what Yen Sid wanted to talk to us about before Evol silenced him." said the mouse king.

The young champion grabbed her amulet. "He told me to let my amulet guide me, help innocent people in need, and eventually I'll be led to the other stones. 'On the job training' as he called it. So that's what I'm gonna do."

"That's good to hear!" said Sora. "We'll be rooting for you! I know you can do this!"

"T-Thanks, Master Sora..."

Terra then appeared on screen. "By the way, Lumina, we'd like your advice on something."

"Yes?"

"Something...interesting happened, during mine and Sora's fights. We seem to have acquired the Power of Discord."

"Really?" asked Drake. "How did that happen?"

"We were both channel darkness when we grabbed hold of our opponents, Adrian and Abigail. They both had Abyssal Stones embedded on their bodies, and when we inadvertently touched those stone with our darkness, we just kinda absorbed some of their power."

Lumina scratched her head in thought. "Well Discord is the boon to darkness. So it makes sense it would be attracted to it, especially when a channeler of darkness comes in direct contact with great source of Discord like the Abyssal Stone."

The Roxas appears on screen. "Man if we knew about that, Riku and I could've taken that power from Thaddeus ourselves."

"I wouldn't be too sure," said Riku. "Considering his stone, the Oblivion Onyx, allows him to drain our power, attempting to take power from his more than likely would've backfired on us."

"And besides," said Terra, "I don't think we should actively seek out the power of Discord without knowing if it's even safe for us. Which is why I'm inquiring about it."

Lumina thought for a moment. "I'm not sure what to tell you. One person with both Harmony and Discord coursing through them has never happened before. I honestly don't know what to expect from this. Will Harmony keep the Discord under control? Will Discord be a danger regardless of Harmony's presence? Will having both powers at once be a danger in and of itself? I can't say for sure. All I can say is that I advise exercising caution with the power of darkness from now on. Discord may make them stronger, but could also make them harder to control."

"We'll be sure to keep that in mind," said Sora.

"Still, the fact that Evol is now loaning her inner circle the Abyssal Stones means they're stepping up their game." Mickey pointed out. "And with how they had the nerve to attack my home world, shows that they're getting bolder."

"All the more reason we need to step up our game too!" exclaimed Roxas. "This war has gone on long enough! We need to take the fight to them before they make another bold move!"

"We all have our missions!" declared Sora. "The Guardians of Light will keep the Cult busy as much as possible, while you all complete that amulet and get stronger so you can help us finish this fight once and for all! Is that understood?"

Everyone in the cockpit saluted, "Yes sir!"

"Good! And Mizu... Be safe..."

"I will."

"Cassidy, Drake, Lumina, I'm counting on you to watch her back!"

"You know I always will, Sora!" Lumina reassured.

"We're on it!" stated Drake.

"It'll be a piece of cake!" exclaimed Cassidy.

"Thank you! And may the light shine upon you all!"

Mizu bowed. "And you, Master Sora."

With that the call ended.

"May the light shine upon you..." repeated the pilot. "What's that all about?"

"It's a Harmonist phrase," answered the champion. "Basically, its our way of wishing others good fortune."

"Alright," said the mechanic. "Now that we're officially off on our mission, what now? We'll need a destination to plot a course to."

The rabbit spirit floated in front of her master. "You know the old Keybearer saying, Mizu."

Mizu put her fist up to her chest. "May my heart be my guiding key." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she concentrated. After a few seconds, she held out her hand and summoned her Shining Hope. Pointed it out the cockpit window, a bright light shined from the Keyblade's tip, before a pathway revealed itself.

Drake whistle impressed. "Looks like we've got ourselves a heading!"

"Now we're talking!" Cassidy grabbed the controls and trust forward. "Let's go!"

And with that, the Phoenix accelerated forward, as Mizu and her friends headed off to a new adventure.

A/N: And that does it for the introduction arc. I hope I executed it well enough. Expect the next chapter to be more of a little interlude before the next world.

So I'm gonna warn you all right now, I don't have a definitive plan when it comes to worlds. While there are events that I'm planning on happening, I'm mostly winging it on the worlds. I personally find planning ahead too much to be too stressful.

Footnotes:

(1) What I imagine Zexion would've controlled.

(2) Can't help but wanna put the song Miracle from the RWBY Volume 6 soundtrack right about here.

Changes from the Original:

*Hikari Town: This was Mizu's original home world. This world was made as an homage to Twilight Town. Mizu had her own "Hayner, Pence, and Olette" whom she hung out with in an alleyway hideout. There was a group of Final Fantasy characters as the token bullies, except unlike the disciplinary committee who were an established group, I pulled from multiple games. The characters were younger versions of party members who were either full of themselves(Edge FF4), had a questionable career choice(Locke FF6), was a born rebel(Barret FF7), and...was gothic looking(Lulu FF10)... Yeah in hindsight turning these hero characters into stereotypical bullies was a dumb decision on my part. Hikari Town had its own version of Struggle, which I called Street Brawl, and that sport had their champion(Firion FF2) who was much more honorable and friendly than the gambler who tried to bribe for his wins. There was also a multi-day structure like the prologue of KH2, except it I used 4 days as oppose to 6. There was also a part inspired by a game I played briefly, Dark Cloud 2, involving a circus, a ticket thief living in poverty who turns out to be only testing the MC's selflessness, and an evil clown(in my case Kefka FF6). Also a personal touch having Mizu be the daughter of the mayor. Sadly, by the end of the last day, Mizu's whole town gets destroyed. For this new version, I decided that the Twilight Town homage would no longer work for the new direction I'm going. So I changed it to a more religion centered town with knights and mages called Eveston on a world called Luminous Highlands, and had it so the town destroy at an earlier point in Mizu's life, leading to her being taken under Sora's wing.