Hello again dear readers and welcome to Part 2 of the Dark Summoner. Now, we got Ruby and Weiss in the first part, its Blake and Yang's turn now. This chapter will also introduce Marco summoning his Keyblade and a battle with Star, Marco and Team RWBY against a Darkness influenced Janna. And Toffee and Ansem arrive alongside someone else. Let's get this ball rolling! Also by the time this chapter goes up I'll have deleted the 'chapters' talking about the polls I put up.

Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be DELICIOUS!

-Ruby

Chapter 7: Battle the Dark Summoner Pt.2

(Britta's Tacos)

After Weiss and Ruby took care of the Heartless and having to pry Ruby off of Star when she asked why she didn't tell her she was a princess, Weiss explains why they're here and why they were looking for Rosa.

"Okay so let's see if I've got this right, you guys came from a world where you don't have magic like here on earth, but you have something called "Dust" that gives you the same abilities like magic?" Star asked.

"Something along those lines, yes," Weiss answered. "And the reason you're here, is because Rosa's Master sensed that something or someone was summoning the Heartless here." "Yep." Ruby answered.

"Wait a minute, how can someone just summon the Heartless? From what we've heard from Rosa, their supposed to be like wild animals that attack at random right?" Marco asked. Weiss began to massage her temples. "Sigh, something tells me that once again, Rosa left out some information about the Heartless when you asked her. I swear, sometimes I wonder how she was taught to be a Keyblade wielder and yet leave out such details?" The white haired girl ranted.

Seeing that her teammate was getting frustrated, Ruby decided to intervene.

"Hey Weiss, why don't I explain to them what Rosa left out, while you try to get a hold of Blake and Yang? Maybe they found what's causing these Heartless to appear or have met up with Rosa?" she suggested. "Huh? are you sure you won't leave anything out?" "Positive!" she said placing her hand on the heiress's shoulder. "Sigh, alright, I'll leave it to you Ruby, I'll see if I can get a hold of them while you fill in the gaps that Rosa left." Weiss said walking off, while pulling out what looked like a transparent tablet from her pocket.

"Does she usually get that flustered sometimes?" Star asked as she and Marco watched Weiss walk off.

"Yeah, but don't get the wrong idea about her please, She a really kind person once you get to know her." Ruby said, glancing back at Weiss with a smile. "I'll take your word for it Ruby, I think she's a nice person too." Marco says. "Same here, plus I get this feeling that me and her are kind of similar in some way y'know?" Star said looking back at the white haired girl, who was typing way on her tablet.

"Umm, I'm not so sure about that since you're a royal princess, but if you ask me, Weiss acts more like a princess." Ruby said, while she, Star and Marco were trying not to laugh.

"Okay, now I should probably start telling you guys a bit more about the Heartless, before Weiss comes back and finds out all I've done is make you guys laugh." Ruby said calming down from the laughing she did.

"Ha, good point. Okay Ruby, Star and I are all ears." "Yeah please explain to us what you know Ms. Rose." Star said in a polite princess like tone. Ruby really had to hold in her laughter after that.

"Ha ha, okay you two, now listen carefully," Ruby said as she started her explanation, unaware that hiding in the trees not too far away from the four, the two from before were also listening in on the conversation.

"(Whistle), well that fight ended pretty quickly, don't you think Emerald?" Mercury asked his partner, whose hood was now down. The now named Emerald was a young woman with medium-brown skin and dark-red eyes. Her hair is a light, mint-green cut with a straight fringe and bangs, as well as two long locks on each side, in the back.

"Never mind about the fight, I'll go and see what the ice queen is up to, you stay here and keep listening in on these three here." "I got, I got." Mercury said lazily, while Emerald sighed in annoyance as she snuck off here to listen in on Weiss.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Echo Creek, another pair were busy looking for a certain red head, as well as their other two friends.

One was a girl around the age of 17. She was a fair skinned young girl with amber eyes and long black hair with a ribbon tied with a large bow on the top of her head. She was wearing purple eyeshadow in cat's eye style. Her outfit was a black buttoned vest with coattails and a single silver button on the front. Underneath this is a white, sleeveless, high necked, crop undershirt and white shorts with a zipper on the front of each leg, emblazoned with the YKK logo of the real life Japanese zipper manufacturer. She was also wearing black low-heeled boots and full stockings with a color gradation of black to purple at her ankles. Just below her shorts, on the outside of her thighs in white, was a symbol that looked like an oval with shadows coming from it. On her left arm is a detached sleeve with a silver cuff around her bicep, and black ribbons are wrapped around both forearms. A small, loose scarf is wrapped around her neck and a gray magnetic backpack is strapped to her back, hidden by her hair.

The person with her was also around the same age. She was also a fair-skinned young girl with Lilac eyes and bright golden hair worn loose that fades to pale gold at the tips with a cowlick sticking out at the top. However, whenever she gets angry, they change color to a blood red. She was wearing a tan jacket that bares her lower stomach, with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Underneath this she wears a low cut yellow crop top with a symbol of what looks to be a heart with flames coming from the top on the left breast in black. She was also wearing a brown belt covered by a pleated brown piece of material reaching from hip to hip around the back of her waist, with the same symbol emblazoned on the right-most pleat in gold. Underneath this is a longer, white, asymmetrical piece of material reaching to her knee on the right side, as well as a pair of black mini-shorts. She was wearing brown, knee-high boots and orange over-the-knee socks, with the right sock pushed down just below the knee. A lavender bandana is tied around her left knee. An orange infinity scarf and black fingerless gloves complete her outfit.

Their names are Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long, and they were currently looking for their two friends/teammates, who ran off.

"I wonder where those two are right now." Blake said as she looked around. "That's a good question, but I don't think we should worry too much, I mean Weiss went after her, so I'm sure Ruby won't get into too much trouble." Yang said also looking at the city curiously.

"But how weird is it that we're in a world that's so similar to Remnant, y'know except for the fact that people here don't have to worry about Grimm." "Well, even if this world doesn't have to worry about Grimm, they must still have other problems that need their concern." Blake said.

"Guess you're right and... I have no idea what we should be doing right now," Yang said scratching her head in confusion, while Blake sighed.

"WATCH OUT!"

Blake and Yang look behind when they hear someone shout. They quickly move out the way of someone who was riding a skateboard.

"Sorry about that, my mind was somewhere else, you two okay?" The person asked hopping off their board. Blake and Yang saw that the person was a girl who looked to be younger than Ruby.

When she took her helmet off, they could see she had wavy, shoulder-length platinum blond hair with an aqua streak on the left side, tan skin, mint green eyes, and freckles. She was medium height and had a slim, curvy body. She was wearing a green and white raglan shirt, an orange seashell necklace, cyan jean shorts, green and white kneesocks, and blue and white sneakers.

"We're fine," Blake said. "Yeah don't worry about it, but I've gotta say, that was some pretty cool skill you've got." Yang said impressed with the girl.

"Thanks, I've be boarding for about four years now, it's kind of a hobby of mine." She said kicking the board up, grabbing it, and placing it under her left arm. "My names Jackie by the way." She said sticking her right hand out which Yang took.

"Nice to meet you Jackie, I'm Yang and this my friend Blake." "Hello." She said. "Hello, it's nice to meet you both." Jackie said as she and Yang stopped shaking hands.

"So are you guys looking for something?" Jackie asked them, which caused both their eyes to widen a bit. "Um, what gave you the impression that we're looking for something exactly?" Blake asked. "Well, it just that normally, a person would have move out of the way when they hear someone skateboarding behind them, but you guys seemed like you we're so deep in thought, you might of not heard it, so I thought I'd call out to get your attention." Jackie explained.

"Oh we were? Ha, ha," Yang nervously laughed, while Blake sighed again.

"If you guys want, I can try and help if it's okay?" "You'd really help us? Even though, we just met?" Blake asked. "Well yeah, that is if you two don't mind?" Jackie asked.

Blake thought about it, before turning to Yang. "You know, we really don't know our way around here, maybe we should take her up on her offer." She whispers to Yang. "You've got a point... alright then." She whispers back, then looks to Jackie.

"Okay, so Blake and I talked it over and decided to take you up on your offer since neither of us have been here before." "Ha, ha okay then. So, what do guys need help looking for?" Jackie asked.

"We're actually looking for someone," Blake said. "Have you seen a girl around our age with long red hair, wearing a black hooded coat?" she asked. "Hmm...I don't think I've seen anyone like that recently, but if you guys knew more about the person, like what they like to do or where they would go too, I could take you guys there." Jackie suggested.

Yang and Blake had to think for a moment. They've only known Rosa for a couple weeks when she first showed up at Beacon when Ozpin called them into his office, but she didn't even try to find her excitement when she met them all. The two remembered when they along with Ruby and Weiss, took her into town to hang out. Weiss brought her by one of the clothing stores and practically had a field day with how many outfits the two of them bought. Yang then took her to a restaurant she loves to eat at, by the time the others finished their meals, Yang and Rosa had already eaten ten bowls worth of food each. After Weiss thankfully payed for the meal, Ruby took everyone to the local Dust shop. Since it was Rosa's first time seeing Dust, the others explained to her what it was and what it can do, and safe to say she was blown away at what she heard. Finally, after having to practically drag Rosa out of the Dust shop, Blake took them all to a book store. Amazingly, Rosa has a love for mystery, adventure, and fantasy books, several of which Blake and she found out they both read. The red haired girl was surprised to find someone had an interest in books like her, they both even had a particular love of a book called "Ninjas of love".

After going over everything they knew about their friend, Blake and Yang decided on what to ask.

"Hey Jackie? Is there any place here in town that has good food, books to read, cool clothes, and amazing stuff?" Yang asked her.

Jackie thought for a minute of a place that was close to what Yang was describing. "Well, there's this mini mall in town that has a couple of places to eat there, and my friend Janna said they have a book store and a few clothes store too, would that help?"

Yang and Blake look at each other, then back to Jackie. "That sounds about right, so could you show us the way there?" "Yeah sure, this way," Jackie said as she gestured for the older girls to follow her.

As Yang and Blake started to walk behind the platinum-blonde girl, Yang decided to say something to Blake.

"So, what are our chances of not only finding Rosa, but also finding Ruby, Weiss, and whatever is causing those Heartless monsters to appear here at this mall?" Yang whispered. "Hmm, I'd say the chances are pretty high in this case, if they found someone like us to lead them there." Blake said, as she and Yang continued to follow Jackie.

(Echo Creek Mini mall)

Inside the bustling mini mall, Janna was waiting at one of the sitting areas with her phone out looking out for someone. She still had the charm that Ansem gave her, fiddling with it between her fingers.

"Sigh, dude what's taking you so long? I seriously want to know how to use this thing." She thought, looking over the message she got on her phone.

A few hours ago, Janna had gotten a message on her phone. It said, To Janna: Hello again, if you are interested in learning more about using the charm to its full potential, come to the mall and wait. When she read to the end of the message, her eyes widen when she saw that Ansem was the one who sent it. Afterwards she made her way to the mall, where she was now waiting for him.

When another fifteen minutes went by, Janna was considering leaving when she heard a voice come from behind her.

"Apologies for making you wait like this, young lady." Janna turns around to find a women who looks to be around 19 or 20 standing behind her.

She had ashen-black hair and bright amber eyes, and was wearing the same black hooded coat that Ansem wore.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say your one of Ansem's friends right?" Janna asked. The woman lightly laughed.

"You could say that yes," She said as she took the seat across from Janna. "My name is Cinder Fall, but you can just call me Cinder." "Wait, Cinder Fall huh? Your name is kind a strange, but in a cool way." "Thank you, now Ansem asked me to help you with using dark magic, he also said you were only capable of summoning is that correct?" Cinder asked.

"Yeah that's right, but when I tried to summon something yesterday, nothing happened." She said, disappointment in her voice. "Well, have you tried again today?" "I did while on my way to a friend's house, but again, nothing." "Are you sure of that? Because on my way here, I saw some very odd looking creatures." Cinder said which made Janna's eyes widen in surprise.

"What!? But that would mean that…I summoned them?" Janna asked the amber eyed woman. "Tell me, did you do anything that may have caused them to appear?" "Well, before I got Ansem's message, I was headed to a friend's place,"

(Flashback, a few hours before Ansem's message)

Janna was in a very good mood, which is surprising since she hasn't messed with Marco in a while.

Speaking of Marco, Janna was on her way to his place to show him and Star that she could use magic. Well, sort of use it, since she hasn't gotten it to work, even with the charm Ansem gave her yesterday.

"Well, maybe Glossaryck has some idea on how to get it to work." She mumbled as she got to the front door of Marco's house.

She knocked on the door and waited only a few seconds for Rafael to open it.

"Oh hello there Janna, it's so nice to see you, what brings you here today?" "Hello Mr. Diaz, it's nice to see you too, I came by to show Marco and…Star something." She said though, she wondered why she hesitated when it came to mentioning Star. "I'm sorry Janna, but Marco left a little while ago with Star and they didn't say when they'd be back." "Oh... I see," Janna said with a sad tone in her voice. "I think this is the third day they've left the house right after breakfast, but Star always has a smile on her face whenever they do, whatever those two are doing must be really fun, even Marco was smiling a little." Rafael said.

The more Janna heard about what Marco and Star were doing together, the more she felt her disappointment start to turn to anger as her hands slowly started to form into fists.

"Janna? Hello? Do you want me to tell them you came by?" Rafael asked her.

Janna lifted her head slightly to show him she heard him. But the bangs of her hair were covering her eyes now.

"Oh, no it's okay. I just remembered, I have to go take care of something." "Oh, alright then, please come by whenever you like, your always welcome to." "Okay then, bye Mr. Diaz." Janna then walks away as Mr. Diaz closes the door with her usual grin on her face.

When she was about one block from the house, her grin fell into a frown, while fists tighten more.

"Why?" She said in a low dark tone. "I get the fact that he wants to hang with Star, this being her first summer and all, but come on Marco! You have other friends besides her. Friends you've known since kindergarten." Janna said quietly to herself, unaware of the faint dark glow her charm was giving off.

Janna suddenly felt her cellphone vibrate in her pocket. The sudden feeling shook her from her dark thoughts and the faint glow vanished.

(Flashback end)

"So after I got Ansem's text message, I came here and waited until he showed up." Janna concluded. "Hmm…I see." Cinder said going over what she heard from the young girl. And she couldn't be more impressed.

'It looks like Toffee made the right call in choosing this girl. And this place, make the perfect setting for her to release that dark power within her, as well as to see if this will yield the outcome he's looking for.' Cinder thought.

"Alright then Janna, I think it's time we awaken you're true potential, could you follow me this way?" "To the center of the mall?" "Yes, I'm going to explain to you how to summon there." "ALRIGHT YES!" Janna screamed excitedly, as she followed Cinder.

Once they were at the center of the mall, Cinder and Janna stood in front of the large fountain.

"Now Janna, can you tell me how you felt when you went to go see your friend?" Cinder asked.

"Huh? How I felt?" "Yes, how did you feel when you were going to tell him that you could use magic?" Cinder explained.

"Oh, well I guess I felt happy, I mean most of the time I'm around him, and he gets annoyed with me because I play around with him a little. But, that's just how I've always been. So when his dad told me he just left to hang out with Star, I-I started feeling-" "Jealous?" Cinder said.

"Wait, I'm jealous of Star? But why would I be jealous?" Janna asked confused. "Deep inside your heart, you felt as if the friend you knew since you both were little, no longer wants you as a friend. You feel as though this other girl is taking your place by his side." "But then why, why would she want to hang out with me if she could just stay by him?" Janna argued back at her.

"Perhaps she did that to pity you." "Star wouldn't do something like that!" "Maybe, but what of your other friends?" Cinder said. "What about them?" "Do you often play pranks on them?" "Well, sometimes but what does-" Janna stopped mid-sentence when she thought of what Cinder was explaining to her.

"It seems you came to the conclusion on your own correct?" She asked with a knowing smile on her face turning her back to the stunned girl. "You think, all my other friends... will leave me... for Star?" She asked with a mixture of fear and anger in her voice.

"Well, that all depends on whether or not you want to lose them, do you want that Janna?" Cinder asks, knowing full well what her answer will be.

"No, I don't want that. I don't want to lose my friends like that." She says, her hands turning into fists just like before, only this time traces of dark energy began to leak from them.

A dark aura then begins to emanate from Janna, as the charm started glowing with a dark purple light.

"Huh? What's-What's going on with my charm? And what's this all around me?" she asked, completely calm.

"This is your power manifested from your desire." Cinder said. "My...power?" "Yes, the power you so wanted, is now at your fingertips." She said, as Janna looked at the purple glow coming off her hands in amazement.

"How do I use it?" she asked, wanting to use it right now. "Simply raise your hand in the air and concentrate while grasping the charm around your neck."

Janna did as Cinder instructed, and when she did, a dark portal appeared on the floor in front of the two, while also surprising the people around them.

Suddenly, several creatures leapt from the portal and landed in front of the gathering crowd of people.

They were humanoid in body shape and had pitch black skin and spherical, glowing yellow eyes. They had long antennae that fell behind the back of their heads. Their bodies had a muscular look to them, and they had large hands, each one sporting five clawed fingers. Their feet that looked more like boots, were long and lacked any form of digits. Finally, several faint blue veins of color lined their bodies.

These were a different type Heartless known as "Neoshadows", a stronger version of the Shadows, and much more aggressive as well.

"Whoa, I-I really did it, but what did I summon exactly?" Janna asked in complete awe at what she accomplished. "They're called "Neoshadows"," Cinder said. "They're a type of creature that only those with strong ties to dark magic can summon." "Wow, so what should I do now?" Janna asked.

"Hmm, why not show these people here your masterful control over these Neoshadows? You are the one that summoned them." Cinder said encouragingly.

"Okay umm, hey you five!" the Heartless turn to Janna when she called and walked to her. They then waited for her next command. "You see? They follow your commands without question. Can your friend Star do something like this?" "Well... no. In fact, most of the time her spells go out of control when she uses them."

"It looks like sending Cinder to help out was a wise decision, seeing as you've got a good grasp of your abilities now." A familiar voice said approaching the two.

Janna and Cinder look to their left and see Ansem along with someone else wearing the same black hooded coat as him and Cinder.

"Hey Ansem, I thought you weren't coming since you asked your friend to help me instead." Janna said, happy that her new friend came after all. "I had to grab my other friend here behind me, he also wanted to see your potential, which is just what I expected of you," he said proudly.

"Well you, Cinder and your other friend there just stand back and watch, because I'm just getting started." Janna said excitedly, raising one hand into the air.

"LADIES AND GENTALMEN! GET READY FOR A SHOW YOU'LL NEVER FORGET!"

Back at the entrance to the mall, Blake, Yang, and Jackie, walk in to see if they could find Rosa.

"Holy crap, you guys call this place a mini mall?" Yang said, flabbergasted at the size of the place. "Yeah, I think the guy who designed the place went a little over the top." Jackie said. "Over the top is putting it mildly in my opinion," Blake commented.

The three walked over to the mall's map to see where to start searching.

"With a place this big, your friend could be anywhere in here, where do you guys think we should start?" Jackie asked the two behind her. Blake and Yang walked up to the map to see which store they should start with.

"Hmm… why don't we start with this bookstore here, Rosa could have gone there to see what kinds of book they have." Blake suggested.

"Maybe or we could checkout that all you-can-eat restaurant they have here. Knowing her, she'd want to tryout the food here." Yang said.

"She could have gone to one of the clothing stores here. Yeah but, according to this map here, there are like ten of them in this place, she could be in any one of them." Yang said, sighing at the number of clothes stores.

"That's true, sigh, where could she be?" Blake said, as she, Yang, and Jackie continued to think of any place in the mall where Rosa could be.

They were so deep in thought however, that they didn't notice someone was walking up behind them, with a big grin on their face.

"HEY THERE YOU TWO!" All three of them jumped from the sudden shout coming from behind them. While the person who shouted bended over and started laughing.

When the three felt their hearts calm down from the sudden scare, Blake and Yang shot the person (who was still bent over laughing) sharp glares, while Jackie gave a confused look and checked to make sure her ears were still working.

"What was that for!?" 'You don't just walk behind someone and yell like that, you could have given us heart attacks!" Yang and Blake yelled.

"Whoa okay guys, let's just calm down for a sec." Jackie said trying the control the situation.

"Ha, you three…ha…jumped so…ha-ha, hard, oh my gosh; did you two lose your edge when I left?" The person said in between laughs.

"Wait, what did you mean by when you left? have we met before somewhere?" Blake asked.

"Huh? You mean you two forgot about me?" the person said, standing back so the three girls could see their face.

Yang and Blake's eyes widened and their jaws flew open, because straining right back at them was the person they were looking for with a playful look in her red eyes.

"ROSA!" they both yelled, seeing their friend in her new outfit.

"Ha, so you do remember me huh? Well that's a relief," Rosa said pretending she was worried about being forgotten.

"You little jerk!" Yang said, while playful punching Rosa on the arm.

"It's good to see you haven't changed too much Rosa." Blake commented with a small grin on her face.

"And it's nice to see you haven't either Blake, so are you two going to introduce me to your friend here or not?" she said pointing to a confused looking Jackie.

"Oh right, Rosa this is Jackie, Jackie this is our friend Rosa." Yang said.

"Hey there, nice to meet you Jackie." "Nice to meet you too Rosa." The two greeted each other and shook hands.

Now that the greetings were out of the way, Rosa decided to ask a question.

"Well not that it isn't great to see you both, but what are doing here?" "Oh, Professor Ozpin sent us after you're Master contacted him." Yang said.

"Huh, she did say if things got more serious, she send you guys to help. Wait, does that mean Ruby and Weiss are here too? If so then, why aren't they here with you?" Rosa asked.

"Well, the minute we got here, Ruby kind of got over-excited and…" Blake trailed off for Rosa to finish. "OOhh I see, so I'm guessing Weiss ran after her, and now since you found me, you want to start looking for them now?" "Yep." Yang said.

"Well, have you tried calling them on your scrolls yet?" Rosa suggested. That's when Blake looked to Yang, who was scratching her head in embarrassment.

"I guess we didn't think of that, let me try now," she says, pulling out what looks like a holographic tablet. Jackie looks at the object in amazement. "Hello? Weiss? You there?" Yang says waiting for a response.

"Hello? Yang? Can you hear me?" the voice of Weiss calls back. "Yes, hey guys, I got hold of Weiss. Yeah Weiss, I can hear you loud and clear, mostly load." "HEY!" Weiss yelled back over the phone, while Yang snickered. "At least it seems like our scrolls work fine here." "Yeah, so did you find Ruby? Is she ok?" "Relax will you. Yes I found her and except for crashing into someone, she fine." Hearing that her little sister was okay put the blonde's mind at ease. "That's good to hear, oh right, take guess who me and Blake found?" Yang hands her scroll to Rosa, who eagerly takes it.

"Hey Weiss, it's nice to hear my shopping buddies voice again!" "Rosa! It's so great to hear you too." Weiss said in a rare show of excitement. "Same here, so how've you been doing huh?" "Well since you asked I've been-" "hold on a minute Weiss, I want talk to Rosa too." "Yeah same, come on let us!" Rosa could hear two extra voice filled with excitement on the scroll, and knowing who they belonged to, had a big smile on her face,

"COULD YOU TWO CALM DOWN!? I AM TRYING TO TALK TO HER!" Weiss yelled back at them, when a new voice was heard. "Come on you two, I'm sure Weiss will let you both have a chance to speak with Rosa when she's done." The voice of a young male said, with two clearly heard moans saying "fine" in the background.

"Um Weiss? Is everything okay over there?" "Sigh, sorry about that, I must've had my scroll on speaker, so the second they heard you, they rushed over here." "Ha, ha, it's okay. Actually Weiss, could you call Ruby and the other two that are with you over? It would be a lot easier for everyone." Rosa asked her. "Sigh alright then hold on, come here you two and tell Marco to come as well." "YAY!"

The minute she heard that name, she knew she guessed right. She glances at the others, and notices that Jackie had a look of surprise on her face.

But before she could think on it further, two excited voices came over the scroll.

"HEY ROSA!" They yelled. The greeting was so loud that not only did Rosa have to pull the scroll away from her ear, but Blake, Yang, and Jackie had to cover their ears as well.

"Ha, ha, ha, hey Ruby, hey Star. Do you two think you can lower your voice a bit? I'm pretty sure the others could here." "Oh sorry about that you guys." "Ah, yeah, really hope you guys can still hear alright." The two apologized.

After going through some introductions of how everyone met each other and what happened afterwards, while also explaining to Jackie, they discussed what to do next.

"I'm still a bit ticked that my Master didn't tell me that she already contacted your headmaster and had you guys come here, no offences." "Ah it's cool." Yang said. "Yeah, maybe she just wanted to make sure you'd be ok." Ruby said.

"Yeah maybe, but anyway in regards of my searching for what is drawing the Heartless here, I have found…nothing." Rosa said defeated.

"You seriously haven't found a single clue?" "No, and I've been searching for two days too." "Then, why did you come back to the mall then?" Marco asked. "To recharge of course, and maybe see what kind of other outfits I could find." "Wait Rosa, you said you were at that mall after you met up with Star and Marco, so doesn't that mean you've already gone to the clothing stores there?" Ruby questioned.

"Well yes but, the first one I went into already had an outfit that really caught my eye so I just bought it and didn't go to the other ones." she said. "Um Rosa? How many clothing stores does that mall have?" Weiss asked innocently.

"I think they've got like ten of them down there right Marco?" Star asked. "Yeah they do." He answered.

Weiss's voice suddenly came back to the conversation with excitement. "THAT PLACE HAS TEN STORES!? Rosa, you and me have got to check them out!" "Easy there Weiss, we'll check them out later. For now, you Ruby, Star, and Marco, make your way here so we can-"

She stops mid-sentence when she felt a wave of negative emotion pass by. Rosa also looks to see that Blake and Yang felt it too.

"What was that just now?" Yang asked. "I don't know, but whatever it was, it can't be good. We need go check it out." Blake said.

"Ah guys, did something happen over there?" "Yeah what going on?" Weiss and Ruby asked after it went quiet. "Ruby and Weiss, I want you two to hurry to this mall with Star and Marco now! I think we may have found what we're looking for." Rosa said.

Picking up on the seriousness of her voice, two responded back. "Got it, but what are you Blake and Yang going to do until we get there?" "We'll see if we can find out where in the mall it is," Rosa looks to Jackie who's been quit through the whole thing.

"I know this is sudden but Jackie, Can you wait here for the others? We'll call on the scroll when we find out what's summoning the Heartless." "Yeah sure." Jackie says. "You guys better not start the fun without us kay?" Star yells over the scroll. "We'll try not to Star, just hurry up and get here." Rosa says ending the call and handing Yang's scroll to Jackie.

"Blake and Yang, let's move." "You got it," "Right." The two said as they ran off with Rosa into the mall.

(Britta's Tacos)

After the call ended, Weiss puts her scroll away in her pouch and looks to Star and Marco.

"Since you two know the way to this mall, you will have to show us the way there. Rosa says your friend Jackie will be by the entrance waiting for us when we get there." "Wow, that's pretty cool of Jackie to do that, right Star?" Marco asked, but looks to see Star with a slight frown on her face, looking at the ground.

"Star? Is something wrong?" "Huh? Oh no, just thinking of the fastest way to get us to the mall is all." She says waving her hand dismissively. "Are you sure? Cause you look a bit, I don't know troubled." Marco says a little worried for his friend. "Yeah, don't worry about it Marco, let's just get to the mall. Maybe this time we'll get to fight with Rosa!" Star says getting herself excited.

"Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves here Star, first we need to get to the mall." "Exactly, so how far away is it from here then?" Weiss asked. "Well, if we start running from here now, it would take about…45 minutes." Marco guessed.

"That would take too long, even if we run now." Ruby complained. "I agree with Ruby, there has to be a faster way to get there." Weiss said as she Ruby, Marco and Star kept thinking of a way to get to the mall fast.

'What's the fastest way to get us to the mall? Hmm…' Star thought. While she was still thinking, a leaf floating in the wind catches her eye, causing her to look at the tree it feel from, then back at her wand. 'Hold on, what if we…yeah, yeah! That would get us there in no time!' She thought. "Guys, I think I've got a way to get us to the mall really fast." She said after getting their attention.

"That's great Star, so what is it?" Marco asked. "Yeah Star, how are we getting there?" Ruby also asked in excitement, wondering what idea Star came up with. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you. But first," She pauses looking to Weiss and Ruby. "How good are you two at riding a porcupine?" She asks, as the two girls stare at her in confusion.

"I'm sorry, but did you just ask us if we knew how to ride a... porcupine?" "Yep." Star answers instantly. "Um, why would we need to know how to ride one?" Ruby asked still confused about the question. Marco also wondered, until he realized why Star would ask them that.

"Ah Star? You're not going to-" Marco tried to ask, but got cut off.

"Weiss could you please step from in front of that tree?" "Huh? Oh, okay then." Weiss stepping to the side next to Ruby and Marco, who looked a bit nervous. "Ah Marco? Why did Star ask me to move from in front of that tree?" "Yeah, what's she up too?" Ruby and Weiss asked.

"Just watch you two." Marco said as they saw Star take her wand out and point it at the tree. "Porcupine Beast Transformation!" She yells, as a blast from her wand hits the tree in a puff of blue smoke.

When it cleared up, standing in place of the tree was giant six-legged porcupine with a saddle on its back.

Ruby and Weiss's jaws hung open in complete surprise, while Marco gave a nervous laugh.

"S-She just... that tree... it's now a... WHAT DID SHE JUST DO!?" Weiss shouts in complete shock and confusion. "That. Was. AWSOME! SHE TURNED A TREE INTO A GIANT PORCUPINE WEISS!" Ruby yells in over-excitement, while running up to the giant mammal and petting it. "AAHH, he's so cute!" Ruby says gushing over the blue furred creature that was nuzzling Ruby cutely.

"Aww, he likes you already Ruby." Star says walking up to pet her summoned friend as well.

"She just turned that tree... into a giant porcupine." Weiss said still in shock. "And you deal with stuff like this, with her, everyday?" she asks looking at Marco.

"Ah yeah, when you've been friends with Star for as long as I have, you kind of come to expect this." He says as he starts to walk to Star and Ruby. "Well? Come on. You're the one who said we needed to hurry." He said grabbing the stunned white haired girl's hand, leading her to their mode of transportation.

Meanwhile, Emerald and Mercury were over hearing everything that was being said.

"Well, we know where those four are going, what now?" Mercury asks. "Now, we contact Cinder and tell her what we found. Then, we meet back up with her and those other guys." Emerald said, taking her scroll out to send a message to Cinder. While Mercury watched as the four teens got on the giant porcupine and rode off.

"There they go." "Good, I just sent the info to Cinder, let's get going." Emerald then opens a dark corridor and walks through with Mercury following behind her.

(Echo Creek mini mall, Center)

Janna was having so much fun after discovering her power. Right now, she was having the Neoshadows put on a show for the crowd of people that were gathering.

"Alright you guys, Totem pole formation!" She commands as four of the Neoshadows form a four person tower. This causes the crowd to cheer and applaud the performance, while also making Janna feel even more proud.

Cinder, Ansem and Toffee who had his hood up, were watching from behind Janna.

"She looks to be enjoying herself." The hooded figure said. "True, it's as if she has no issues dabbling with darkness. But if we are to see if your hunch is correct, her joy must turn to envy in order to feed her darkness." Ansem said interested to see what this girl can do when jealousy influences her.

"Well we won't have to wait long for that." Cinder said with a small smile. "Can I assume that-" "Yes, I've just been told that the Keyblade wielder you saw, as well as a few people from my world, are here in this mall right now. So perhaps they can, light the fire of her darkness." She says, while making a small flame appear on her finger before putting it out.

"It also seems like, the two you spoke about are on their way here too," She said, looking to the hooded figure.

"Then perhaps, it'd be better to not be seen when they find the source. I think it's time we let our young Summoner have her moment." He said with Cinder and Ansem nodding their heads in agreement.

Ansem walks up to Janna while she has the Heartless performing a funny skit, making the crowd laugh.

"Janna, can you have the Neoshadows take a break? There's something we need to discuss with you." He said looking back to Cinder and his hooded friend. "Oh sure, just give me a second," She says turning back to her audience.

"Okay folks, we're going to take a short break. And you guys, just stand there and don't move till I come back." She said walking over with Ansem to the other two, while the Neoshadows stood where they we're.

"You seem to be getting very adaptive to commanding those Heartless." "Huh? Heartless?" Janna asked confused. "Yes, that's they're true name. The Neoshadows are a Heartless type." "Oh I see, so what did you and the others want to say to me?" Janna asked.

"Well you see, there are some people who don't find your type of magic...acceptable." He says. "So? A lot of people out there don't understand dark magic nowadays." She say nonchalantly.

"That's due to the fact that they don't have the means to destroy it." The hooded said looking to Janna.

"Wait, what's he talking about?" What he means Janna, is that there are certain individuals with the means to not only destroy the Heartless you summoned, but also take away your magic." Cinder answers.

"Huh? They'll take…away…my power? But, but I didn't do anything to these guys, why do they want to take it from me?" Janna asks feeling hurt. "They believe that only those who are special enough to be born with magic can use it, like your friend." Ansem explained. And the more Janna listened, the more he could feel her darkness grow.

"I won't let them." She mumbled in a quiet/angry tone. "You guys helped me learn how to use magic, and now, just because I wasn't born into a life like Star's, some people want to take that away from me? I won't let them take it from me." She said in dark determination.

Seeing Janna's reaction made Ansem, Cinder and the hooded figure very pleased.

"Well then, you should know that some of those people are here at this mall right now." "What? Now!?" she says looking to Cinder. "Yes, two of my friends contacted me during your performance and told me that three of them are close by." She says to Janna, whose look of surprise fades to a look of anticipation.

"Hey Ansem? I know I'm still at a rookie's level of magic but, would it be possible for me to summon different types of Heartless?" She asks with a dark grin on her face. 'It seems like she is already allowing her darkness to influence her, very good.' He thought giving his own grin.

"Yes. In fact, I'd say you're capable of summoning some a very powerful one at your current level." "Hmm okay then," She says turning back towards the crowd. "So can you guys keep an eye out for when these people show up while I continue performing?" "I don't see why not?" "Of course." "Alright." The three of them said.

"We'll be on the upper floor keeping watch." Ansem says as he, Cinder and the third person make their way to the elevator. "Right, guess it's time for the show to continue," She making her back to audience.

Once inside the elevator, the third figure pulls their hood down.

"Was it necessary to hide your face from her?" Cinder asks, locking her amber eyes with a pair of yellow eyes. "True, she doesn't know of your connection with the princess Toffee." Ansem adds while also looking back at the septarian curiously.

"It's better she doesn't know who I am, so she can't tell Star who will most likely inform her mother. I'd prefer to stay hidden, until I feel the need to show myself." Toffee explains.

When they reached their stop, Toffee placed his hood back up and stepped out with the others. "If you say so. Anyway, it doesn't look like she'll have to wait long though," Cinder says looking further out behind the crowd. Following her gaze, Ansem and Toffee see three young girls approaching. "So it begins."

"I think it's somewhere around here," Rosa says as she, Blake, and Yang, continue to search.

While Yang was watching to see if Rosa had found where this thing that's calling the Heartless was, Blake looked to the left we she heard a crowd of people cheering and clapping.

"Hey guys, there's something going on over there," She says causing the other two look where she was looking. "What do you thinks going on?" Yang asked. "Don't know but, let's go see." Rosa said as they made their way to the crowd.

Once they got there, they realized that the crowd was much bigger than they thought. "Great, how are we supposed to find out what's going on now?" Yang complained. "Let's just ask someone in this crowd what's going on," Rosa said, as walks up to a random guy.

"Excuse me sir?" "Huh?" the guy turns his head to her. "Me and my friends were wondering what this huge crowd of people are looking at." "Oh, we're watching a show being put on by some girl in a green beanie hat that called up some weird looking black monsters, with yellow eyes." He says turning back around.

"Black monsters with yellow eyes? I think we found our source guys." Rosa said. "Well that was easy. But, why are they using the Heartless for performances?" Blake asks.

"Let's just take care of this first, we can wonder about the other stuff later. That guy said a girl with a green beanie hat was controlling the Heartless, so let's see if we can talk to her first." Rosa said as she, Blake, and Yang made their way through the crowd, unaware that they've been spotted.

Meanwhile, Janna was having her Heartless do some circus tricks for the crowd, when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She takes it out and answers the call.

"What's up?" "Janna, its Cinder. Those people that we told you about here, and they're making their wayto you now." She informed.

"What do they look like?" Janna asked. "There are three of them, all girls. One has long red hair. The other two have blonde and black hair. The blonde haired one will have yellow bracelets on her arms and the one with black hair is wearing a black ribbon on her head. The one with red hair will be wearing a bright red jacket." Cinder described.

"Well, I guess subtlety doesn't apply to them." Janna said snidely, while Cinder lightly laughed on the other end. "Hm? Janna? Ansem said he want to ask you something quick, hold on," not long after that, Janna heard the dark skinned male's voice.

"Janna, I wanted to ask, are you planning to use the Heartless you summoned to fend off the three we spotted?" "Well yeah, why? "Those ones aren't strong enough. You'll have to concentrate deeper to summon ones that are. Understood?" "Got it." She said ending the call. But as soon as she put her phone back in her pocket, she spotted the three girls Cinder described coming out of the crowd.

"Alright then, time to see what I'm really made of."

(Echo creek mini mall, entrance)

Back at the mall's entrance, Jackie stood by the map waiting for Yang and Blake's other friends. As well as Star and Marco.

"It's been like eighteen minutes now. I wonder if they've found what their looking for?" She said.

"Hey did you hear what's going on in the middle of the mall?" a guy said to his friend walking past Jackie, who heard them. "You mean that cool performance by that girl in the green hat?" "Yeah I heard, sounds interesting." "Yeah you planning on seeing it?" he asked. "No duh, come on!" he yelled as they both ran off.

After hearing their conversation, Jackie started to wonder.

'A girl with a green hat…they can't mean...' her thought was quickly interrupted when she heard someone yelling from outside.

"GET THIS THING TO SLOW DOWN NOW!" "STAR PLEASE SLOW HIM DOWN! OKAY YOU TWO, WE'RE HERE ANYWAY."

Jackie run out the entrance to find everyone else looking at giant porcupine with four people riding it, two them she knew.

"WOW! I can believe how fast we were going! We definitely have to do that again later." Rudy said joyfully as she and the others hopped off of the porcupine's back.

"NEVER AGAIN!" Weiss and Marco yelled at the same time.

"I thought I was going to fall off for second back at that intersection, where'd you learn to ride like that?" she yelled looking to Star who waved her wand and sent the porcupine back home.

"My dad, he taught me how to ride a warnicorn when I was eight." "A war-nicorn?" Ruby asked confused. Before Star could elaborate, the four hear someone calling them.

"Hey you guys!" They turn to see a platinum-blonde haired girl running up to them.

"Guys that Jackie!" Marco says, as she stops in front of them. "You guys got here a lot faster than I thought you would." "Yes well you can thank Mrs. Wild rider over here for that." Weiss says pointing to Star.

"Come Weiss, it was the fastest way we could have gotten here, and it was pretty fun." "Yeah Weiss, it wasn't that bad." Ruby says optimistically. "Marco and I nearly flew off that things back when it jumped that bus on the way here!" Weiss shot back irritated. "Guys, can we talk about this later?" Marco said trying to calm things down. Weiss decided to drop it and turned to Jackie.

"My apologies for that. I'm Weiss and the excited person in the red hood is Ruby." Said person scratches her head sheepishly before sticking her hand out.

"Hello Jackie, it's nice to meet you." "Ha, likewise Ruby," she said as they shook hands.

"Great, now that everyone is acquainted with each other, let's get down to business." Star said proudly, while the other Weiss sighed tiredly. "So Jackie, did Rosa call you yet?" Marco asked. "No not yet. Let's go inside the mall and wait for the call there." "Agreed."

So the five teens walked back into the mall to wait for Rosa's call.

(Echo Creek mini mall, Center)

In the middle of the crowd that had formed in the center of the mall, Rosa, Blake, and Yang were standing in front of Janna who had several Neoshadow Heartless in front of her shooting them a passive look.

"So, can you three tell me why you interrupted my show?" Janna asked in a board tone.

"Unfortunately, we're going to have to ask you to please come with us." Rosa asked calmly. "And why would I want to do that?" "Because you're playing with something that you don't understand and if left un-checked, it will consume you." Blake said trying to reason with Janna.

"She's right, we only want to-"

" you only want to take away something that you think I don't deserve to have, is that it?" Janna said glaring back at them. "You think just because I wasn't born special, I'm not good enough to receive something like this power."

A dark aura suddenly flares up around Janna, which forces Rosa and the others back a bit.

"I'm not going to let you take it from me!" Janna yells as she raises both her hands above her head, then slams them on the ground creating a dark portal underneath the Neoshadows. "Come on boys, it's time for the real show!" Janna says as the portal creates a dome around the Neoshadows. The dome then starts to grow larger.

"Tsk, not good," Rosa says as the dark dome continues to grow.

"Rosa! We have to do something!" Yang said urgently. "Argh, Blake, get these people away from here, me and Yang will hold things down here. Once you're sure everyone is safe, call Jackie and tell where to find us. Hopefully, Ruby and the others are with her by now."

Blake nodded and began to lead the now panicking crowd away. As soon as the dome reached a certain size, Janna took her hands off the ground and with a loud "HA" clapped them together causing the dome to crack open and fade into a dark mist.

"Yang, get ready. We don't know what we're going to be dealing with." Rosa said as she summoned Neo Light Seeker and got into a sword stance. "Got it." She says as she activates her bracelets, which begin to cover her hands and forearms.

When the mist faded, four menacing arthropod humanoid-looking creatures stood in place of the Neoshadows.

They're black bodies were armored in a silvery exoskeleton. They had dark purple antenna that converged with their mouthparts on the front of their relatively small heads, forming a sort of mask between their two eyes that were black and angular in shape, each with a yellow pupil that looks like a four-pointed star. Behind their heads are three roundish segments of their shell, each with a long, upwardly-curved protrusion on either side and marked with a greenish triangle on the front; these segments cover its jutting neck which had three pairs of arms beneath it. The first two pairs were thin, each one tipped with a sharp, black claw. The rearmost pair of arms are the largest, and ends with two large, purple "hands" equipped with two large claws each. The back of each hand is plated with three angular pieces of armor, marked with more greenish triangles. On Heartless's upper back, three more plates of armor are visible, the two uppermost of which are large with more long protrusions on the sides. They're body gets slightly thinner towards the gut, then curves forward again slightly at their round waists. A portion of shell resembling a loincloth surrounds their waist. Below this are two large, round thighs, which match the color of the armor. Thin, purplish forelegs connect the thighs to their boot-shaped feet, each tipped with a single sharp, black toe.

"What the heck are those things?" Yang said. "I don't know. I've never seen a Heartless like those before. But something tells me that we might be in for a rough time." Rosa said eyeing the new Heartless carefully.

"Well that's good." Yang said with a grin of excitement as she knocked her fists together. "I was afraid this trip to another world would be boring." "Hmph, same here. Alright, let's go!" Rosa yelled as she and Yang charged at the Heartless who let out a powerful roar and charged as well.

[Song Cue: Vim and Vigor - Kingdom Hearts II]

Rosa lunged at the closes Heartless and performed an upward slash, but it was blocked by its left armored claw. It then brought its right claw down to try and slice Rosa in two, but she jumped back right as the tip of its claws came close.

"Okay, you're a bit smarter than the other Heartless I've fought, I'll give you that. But, don't think that will give you a-" Before she could finish, the Heartless had vanished from her sight.

"What the? Where did he-argh!" she went skidding across the floor before using her Keyblade to stop herself. When she got to her feet she saw the Heartless standing directly behind the spot she was standing at a moment ago.

"Great. So not only are they strong, but these things can move fast too." Rosa mumbled as she got back on her feet. "Okay you over grown shrimp, you got lucky with that last hit. But don't think it will happen twice!" She roared as she ran at the Heartless again, who took what looked to be a defensive stance. As soon as she got near it she went for a stab attack, but it was caught by Heartless's four other arms. "Crap," she swore under her breath, as she tried to back away, but her opponent had a firm grasp on her Keyblade.

'How can those little arms be so strong?' she thought still trying to free herself. While she was doing that, the Heartless lowered its head to Rosa, opened its mouth and fired a stream of boiling hot water at her point blank, then let her go as it blasted her into wall, she slid down and landed on her knees. "Argh, dammit that really burned, just how strong are these Heartless?"

Her thought was interrupted by the sound of shotgun blasts. She turned her head slightly to as to not take her eyes off her opponent, to see Yang blasting shot after shot at the other three Heartless. However, every shot was being block by a giant wall of water. When the last shot bounced off the water wall, two of the three brought their large clawed hands back, then flung them forward sending out two vertical water slash waves towards Yang.

Yang quickly brought her gauntlets up to block the incoming attacks. However, they turned out to be far more powerful than she thought, as the first wave struck, breaking through her guard, leaving her vulnerable to the second strike that sent her air born. As she fell, the third one that had created the protective water wall, lunged forward so fast that it almost seemed invisible. When it was close enough, it swung its clawed hand that was covered in swirling water, and slammed it into Yang's mid-section sending her flying into the same wall as Rosa.

"Yang! Hey! You okay!?" With a little difficulty, Yang gets on one knee then looks to Rosa. "Yeah, just peachy." She says with a slight grin on her face. "How about you?" "Oh great, the big guy over there, is really something." Rosa said grinning back at her friend, despite the pain of the burns from the scalding blast of water she took from before.

"What's wrong? You two giving up?" The two look to Janna, who's been sitting on the mall's fountain watching the fight.

"No, just catching our breath…for a second." "Yeah, trust us, we're just getting started." They said as the two of them got back up, ready to keep fighting. "Hey by the way, what do you call these Heartless you summoned anyway?" Yang asked looking to Janna.

"Oh right, guess I forgot to call them something let's see," Janna closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them when she got an idea. "Well, since it looks like they use water in their attacks and movements, you can call them "Aqua Shredders". And because I don't want you two to get bored," Janna raises her hand into the air and two more Aqua Shredder Heartless appear.

Rosa and Yang get into their battle stances. "I really hope Blake got ahold of the others." Yang said. "You and me both." Rosa added as she and Yang charged at the six Aqua Shredder Heartless once more.

[Song end]

Back at the mall entrance, Jackie was telling the others what she had heard.

"Jackie, are you sure what you heard from those guys was right?" Marco asked a little worried. "As much as I wish I heard wrong Marco, I'm sure." She said having a hard time believing it herself.

"But there's no way it can be Janna!" Star yells getting everyone's attention. "Janna would never do anything like this, she's our friend." She said not believing that her trouble making friend was causing the Heartless to appear.

"Calm down Star, we know Janna can be a pain sometimes, but we do know that she wouldn't do something like this." Marco says placing his hand on her shoulder to reassure her. Star responses by placing her own hand on his. "Thanks Marco."

Suddenly, the four teens heard the sound of a phone ringing. They look to see it was coming from Jackie.

"Hey guys, I think it's them." She says taking out Yang's scroll and pushing the call button.

"Hello? Jackie? It's Blake, are you there?" "Yeah I'm here. What's going on? Did you guys find what's causing these Heartless things to appear?" "Yeah, we found out that it was a girl, who was summoning them."

The second they heard that, Star, Marco, and Jackie started to worry.

"Blake, did you see what this girl looked like?" "Yeah, she had dark-blue hair and brown eyes, and she was wearing a green colored beanie hat." "Was she also wearing a yellow skirt, olive green shirt, a turquoise jacket, and brown boots?" "Yeah…she was. But how do you-"

" THAT OUR FRIEND JANNA!" Star yells causing the others to cover their ears.

"What was that yell? Jackie who's there with you?" Blake asked when she heard the sudden shout. "That was Star, she Marco and your other two friends got here not too long ago. Hold on I'll put you on speaker," Jackie said as she pressed the speaker opinion on the device.

"Okay Blake, go on." "Ruby, Weiss are you two there?" " Yeah we're here Blake! What in the world going on? What's the situation right now?" Weiss asked. "Well, when we found out that this girl Janna was the one summoning Heartless, we made our way over to her to try and see if we could find out why. But the moment she saw us, she got aggravated and started to generate a massive amount of dark energy creating a dark sphere." "WHAT!? What was she trying to do?" Weiss asked. "I'm not sure, Rosa had me get the people that were near the area to safety, then call to see if you guys got here. Listen you guys, Rosa wants you to make your way to the center of the mall with Star and Marco now, and I'm making my way back there as well." "Alright we'll get there as fast as possible." Ruby said looking back at the other three who nodded their heads in agreement. "Roger that." Ending the call, Jackie hands the scroll to Ruby, to give back to her sister.

"Let's get moving guys. Marco, do you know the fastest way to the center of the mall?" "Y-yeah, we just have to a straight away and then make a left turn at a corner." He says quickly and a bit surprised at Ruby's change to the situation.

"Wait Ruby, what about Jackie? We can't just leave her here." He says looking to her. "Well we can't bring her with us, it's too dangerous." Weiss says. "I'll make sure nothing happens to her, no matter what." Marco says back, not noticing the light blush on Jackie's face from hearing him say that. However, Star did notice, and for some reason, started to feel a little sadness in her heart.

"Weiss we don't have time to argue over this, if Marco says he'll keep her safe, then I don't see a reason why she can't come." Weiss looked like she wanted to argue back, but just sighed in frustration.

"Sigh...alright fine. But if things start to get worse, you tell her run got that?" she says pointing to him in serious tone, he nods back, as did Jackie.

"Right then, lead the way Marco. Alright, Star you ready? Star?" he looks to see his mewman friend in staring at the ground with a sad look. Weiss walks over and shakes her to wake her up.

"Huh! What?!" "Hello! This no time to start spacing out like that. Now come on." "Right, sorry." Star says quickly.

"Star? Are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just hurry and get to where Janna and everyone else is." "Okay then, this way you guys." Marco says as he and the others start running to the center of the mall.

But while running there, a quick image of Star's sad look flashes in his head. 'Why did she have that look?' he quietly thought.

(Echo Creek mini mall, Center)

"Okay, this fight just went from bad to worse really quick," Yang said while dodging another blast of scolding water from one of the newly dubbed Aqua Shredder Heartless.

"That's probably due to the fact that these Heartless actually have brains as well as brawn on them." Rosa commented while blocking and dodging several attacks from three of the Aqua Shredders.

Still watching from the floor above, Ansem, Cinder, and Toffee were impressed with what they we're seeing.

"Giant arthropod Heartless that can both plan an attack and are fairly stronger. That girl's creativity is something else in of itself." Ansem said watching as the red haired girl wielding the Keyblade, was pushed back by Janna's Aqua Shredders.

"True, it's such a waste that she's only being used to confirm a few things for us, she would made a lovely addition to my group back in my world." Cinder said as she watched another of Yang's shots get deflected, while two of the Aqua Shredders swung their claws at her, which she barely dodged.

"You both do realize that she's only useful to us due to that charm Ansem created." Toffee commented.

"Still, I can see what you're getting at. And judging from what we heard earlier, she may impress us a bit more when both objects of her admiration and envy arrive." He said allowing a small grin to appear on his face.

"Speaking of arrivals, it seems like one part of their back up has just come running back." Cinder says as she can see someone dashing towards the battle.

Back down at the battle, Yang was on the ground, being pinned down by one of the Aqua Shredders, who had its foot on her gut and was ready to impale her with his claws.

But before its claws even reach her, several gun shots begin raining down, forcing it to take it's foot off of Yang and back away to defend itself. Once she felt the pressure lift off her, Yang quickly got back up to see Blake running up to her.

"How is it I come back and find you in over your head again?" she asks with a cocky grin on her face.

"He and his friends got a cheap shot in on me and well…you saw what it lead too. Anyway, I would've found a way to get out of that." "I'm sure, but tell me about it, after we deal with this." She says grabbing and pulling out what looks to be a gray oversized cleaver.

"How's Rosa holding up?" Blake asked.

"That's it!" Blake and Yang and the three Aqua Shredders look to the right when they hear a sudden shout.

Rosa started channeling crimson and black energy in her Keyblade until a red energy sword surrounded the blade.

"BRUTAL CUTTER!" She roars charging at full speed at the three Aqua Shredders, who crossed their two large clawed arms in response. "You're going to have to think of something better if you want to block this attack!" She yells horizontally swinging the blade to cut all three of them in half. When the crimson blade neared the first Aqua Shredder, it un-crossed its arms and swung it's left one at the red blade.

However, instead of slicing through both the arm and the Heartless, the blade was stopped by its left arm that's claws grew longer and were glowing a dark-blue. The other two Aqua Shredder's arms were also glowing the same color and their claws were also extended.

"W-What!?" Rosa gasped, amazed that one of her attacks was just blocked with little to no effort.

Taking advantage of her being distracted, the other two Aqua Shredders lunged towards Rosa.

"Rosa, in front of you!" Blake yells dashing towards her. The three Aqua Shredders that she and Yang were going to fight saw this and were going to stop her with blast of scalding water.

But before they could, two of them got blindsided by several shotgun blasts, while the third one got sucker punched pushing it back a bit. When they looked up, they saw the blonde-haired brawler standing in their way with a smirk on her face.

"Now we're even from the last time and if you guys want to get to my friends, you'll have to go through me first." In responses to her declaration, the three Heartless crossed they're arms that started to generate a dark-blue glow like the others did.

"Wait, you guys aren't," Before she could finish, they un-crossed their arms and they're claws extended with the dark-blue glow around them. "I really hope the others get here soon." Yang mumbled bracing herself to continue fighting.

Back to Rosa who was frozen on the spot, as the two Aqua Shredder Heartless drew closer.

"Guess I don't have much of a choice here," She says letting go of her Keyblade and ducking underneath the attacks of the two Heartless, then jumping further back, skidding across the floor until she felt someone stop her skidding. She looks back to see Blake holding her in place.

"Oh hey Blake, when did you get here?" "Not too long ago, and I see you and Yang having trouble with...what exactly are these things?" She asked. "Aqua Shredders, it's what that Janna girl calls them and trust me, they living up to their name so far." Rosa said as Blake helped her up.

"So, did you check to see if Ruby and the others got here?" "Yeah, their making their way here as fast as possible." "Well that's good to hear." She said in relief.

"But there's something else." "Huh? What is it?" "It turns out that girl Janna, she's friends with Star, Marco, and Jackie." Blake says, causing Rosa's eyes to widen in shock.

"Crap. Well, hopefully they can try to get her to come to her senses." "Yeah. But for right now, let's just hold out till then. Are you going be alright without your Keyblade?" "Sigh, I'll manage somehow, it's not like these things are going to give me a chance to call it back to me." She says. "Wait, won't it just come back to you on its own?" Blake asked.

"Yeah the thing is...my Master said that Neo Light Seeker can be a bit stubborn and I and it sometimes butt heads, so I don't think it will come back to me itself, ha." Blake just shook her head in exasperation.

"But hey, it's not like I still can't fight y'know?" She says channeling that crimson and black energy into her hands, then clenching them into fists. "Since when were you able to do that?" Blake asked surprised. "Remember that time when I was training with you guys, and I asked Yang to spar with me?" She reminded.

Blake thought for a second, then her eyes widen slightly.

"Oh right, while you were sparing, Yang knocked your Keyblade away and right as she was about to hit you…"

"Yep. I put my arms up to try and block and the next thing I know, the energy that I normally channel into my Keyblade is surrounding my arms blocking a punch that would sent me flying." She says standing up facing their opponents. "It was still a shock to find out I have a…what did you guys call it again?" "Sigh, it's called a Semblance, a power that's different, depending on the person." Blake explained.

"Right. Now I think we've keep these guys waiting long enough don't you think?" Rosa said cracking her knuckles. "Right," Blake says drawing out a dark gray katana from the cleaver, which was revealed to be a sheath. "Let's Go!" She yells as she and Blake dash towards the waiting Heartless.

As Rosa and Blake begin their fight once more with Aqua Shredders, Yang was beginning to feel pressured by the other three with their water blasts and dark glowing claw swipes.

"Huff, huff, these guys are seriously good." She said panting from constantly having to dodge all their attacks.

Two of the Aqua Shredders fired off another stream of scalding water. Yang quickly ducked underneath the two streams and using the recoil from a blast from her gauntlets, launches herself at the one to the left, her right fist cocked backed and drove it into Heartless's gut, sending it skidding back. The one to her right cut its stream off and ran towards Yang, its glowing claws at the ready.

Thinking quickly, she brought her arm up to block a thrusting attacking. An exchange of blocks and counters began. But due to her exhaustion and injuries, Yang was starting to slowdown.

"Ahh!" She yelled as she was unable to successfully block an attack that caused her to skid across the floor and drop to one knee.

While she was down, the Heartless charged at her with its glowing claw stretched out in front, ready to impale it through her heart. Yang lifted her head up in time to see the Aqua Shredder drawing closer, but not fast enough to get out of the way. 'Crap!' she swore in her head as she closed her eyes and braced herself for the attack.

However, she didn't feel the impact right away. She hesitantly opened her eye and gasped when she saw someone with red-black hair, holding a Keyblade was standing between her and the Aqua Shredder Heartless, blocking its attack, wearing a red hood.

"Yang! you okay?" her savior said, still holding back the Heartless. "Yeah, thanks for the save Rubes." She said as Ruby pushed the large Heartless back with a powerful shove.

Shortly after that, Star, Marco, Jackie, and Weiss appeared too.

"Wow, Ruby can move pretty fast can't she?" Star said amazed at the red-blacked haired girls speed. "Yeah, I think she'd be a pretty good runner for the Olympics." Jackie commented. "Uh guys? I think we have other things to worry about right now," Marco said drawing everyone's attention to what was going on.

They look to see Rosa and Blake fighting what look like giant crab-like creatures with glowing dark-blue claws. But what really got Star and Marco's attention, was that Rosa was fighting two the creatures with her hands that were glowing with crimson and black energy and not her Keyblade.

"Hold on, Rosa is fighting that thing? Without her Keyblade!?" "I guess she is Star," Marco said still a bit shocked. "Of course she can fight without her Keyblade, Why are you both so surprised by this?" Weiss asked. "Well it's just, we never saw her fight without it." "Yeah, when we first met her she took out those Heartless in like five minutes." Star said. "Huh, they must have been weaker ones then." Weiss said.

While she was listening to what Weiss was saying, Jackie glances over to the mall's fountain. As soon as she did, her eyes widened at who she saw.

"Guys look, over by the fountain," the three of them look to where Jackie looking and just like her, Star and Marco's faces took on a shocked expression when they saw sitting on the fountain's edge with her legs crossed and her eyes closed, was there friend Janna Ordonia who had a dark aura surrounding her.

"JANNA!" They yell to get her attention.

During the fights, Janna had decided to do something she never thought she'd ever do, meditate. The only reason she was doing it, was to see if she could summon or create more types of Heartless. But hearing someone calling her name, she stops and slowly opens her eyes. When she did, she saw that more people had shown up.

"Huh? When did they call for back-"she stopped mid-sentence when her eyes landed on three people who had also shown up. The dark aura around her starts to flare up as she grips the edge of the fountain in frustration.

"It looks like she's really wants to kill the young princess over there." Cinder says look along with Ansem and Toffee as things develop further.

"I think it's time you and I introduce ourselves Cinder, what say you Toffee?" Ansem asked. "Hmm, I don't see why not. I'll stay up here and continue to see if what I think will occur happens." He said.

"Hmph, very well. Shall we Cinder?" as soon as Ansem say that, a dark appears behind them. Stepping out from it were Emerald and Mercury.

"There you two are." "Sorry we're late, Mercury was holding us up with his usual laid back self." Emerald said pointing back at the silver-haired male. "Relax, it's not like we missed much."

"Sigh. Anyway, did my message get to you ma'am?" "It did and it turned out to be quite useful. See for yourselves." Cinder says motioning for the two to look over the guard rail. When they did, they saw six very large and fierce looking Heartless fighting.

"Whoa, where did these things come from?" Mercury said amazed. "If you looked carefully, you could see that they were summoned by that girl who's sending a death glare at the guys we were following before," Emerald says looking at Janna as she got up and made her way to the four teens.

"That girl's names is Janna, she's proven to be quite useful." "Indeed she has. Now I believe you and I were about to join her weren't we?" "Correct, let's be off then," Ansem said as he and Cinder disappear through a dark portal.

"What do think those two are going to do?" Mercury asks. "Wait and see." Toffee answered.

Back on the floor below, Janna stopped walking until she was a couple feet away from her friends and the white haired girl.

Before any of them could say anything, she took her left hand out of her pocket and lifted it into the air.

"Before we start talking, maybe it would be better if we had some quiet first," Janna then snaps her fingers. When they heard this, the six Aqua Shredder Heartless made their way to Janna and lined up side by side behind her.

"Huh? Why'd they all just stop like that?" Ruby asked confused as she, Blake, and Rosa made their way over to the others. "It's because this person here just ordered them to." Weiss said while shooting a narrowed eye glare at Janna, who just smirked in response.

"Right the first time your high and mightiness." Janna says mockingly which causes Weiss's glare to intensify.

"Janna!? What's going on here? Why are you acting like this? And how are able to summon these, these-"

"Heartless? Is that what you were going to say, Marco?" she says stunning Marco along with Star and Jackie. "Janna how do know they're called Heartless?" Star asked.

"She learned the name from us, dear child." A voice said from nowhere.

Everyone but Janna, were shocked when they heard it. "W-Where did that voice come from?" Marco said while he and the others looked around.

As if to answer his question, a portal opened up next to Janna and two people wearing black coats stepped out.

"Greetings to you all, it's good that all of you have come to see what this girl is truly capable of." The amber-eyed man said.

"You! So you're the one behind this," Rosa said in cold serious tone causing everyone to look towards her.

"Rosa, do you know who that person is?" Star asked a little freighted of the red head's sudden mood change. "Yeah I do Star. Not only that, but he's most likely the reason for what's happening to your friend. As well as the Heartless that attacked you and Marco when we met." "What?! So you're the reason Janna's mess up right now?" Star said shooting the dark-skinned man an angry glare.

"If you mean I helped her realize her true potential, then yes, I am somewhat responsible." He says un-affected by Star's glare.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ansem, its pleasure to meet you all." He says with sweeping his are across his chest while doing a mock bow to them.

Star then takes her wand out and points it at him, while Marco gets into a fighting pose.

"You better undo whatever it is you did to Janna." "Yeah, unless you want me and Marco to-"

"CAN YOU BOTH SHUT UP!" Janna suddenly yells getting everyone's attention.

"NONE OF YOU ARE GOING TO HURT EITHER OF THESE TWO GOT IT!? THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO ME. ALL THEY'VE DONE WAS HELP ME LEARN HOW TO USE THIS POWER THAT'S BEEN INSIDE ALL THIS TIME, AND NOW YOU SHOW UP WITH THESE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO TAKE IT FROM ME, JUST BECAUSE I'M NOT SPECIAL LIKE STAR!" She screams with tears running down her face.

Star begins to lower her wand while hearing what Janna said. 'I had no idea Janna felt like this. I didn't know she was jealous of the fact that I could use magic.' She thought as her arms fall to her sides and her angry look fades to one of sadness and regret.

Star wasn't the only one thinking this, Marco also surprised at what he was hearing from his rebellious friend. 'I didn't think that Janna was envious of Star. Ever since their time together in detention, they've hung out regularly. I guess maybe she's been keeping it bottled up and neither me or Star noticed.' He thought sadly.

"But Janna, we're just trying to help you, that power you're using is not good." Jackie said trying to reason with her distraught friend.

"She's right Janna." Star says coming out of her thought. "If you continue to use that power-"

"I SAID SHUT UP. YOU'RE THE LAST PERSON I WANT TO HEAR TALK TO ME ABOUT USING DARK MAGIC STAR!" Janna shouts back, shocking both Star and Jackie.

"It seems like your friend has no interest in listening to you. Do you really think you have the right to lecture someone on the use of dark magic?" Cinder said mockingly.

"What are you talking about?" Star asks confused on what the women meant.

"Do not pretend like you don't know what we're referring to," Ansem said in a cold serious voice. "You have the capabilities of wielding dark magic, yet you choose to ignore it. But no matter how much you do, it will remain a part of you, just as it was a part of the former queen of your world, Eclipsa the Queen of Darkness." He said shocking the young mewman girl.

"How do you know about that?" She asked still shocked that this person knows the name of a former queen of her family. "That is of little importance to you right now, you appear to have other things to worry about." Cinder said looking to Janna, as did Ansem.

"We merely came down to introduce ourselves and to get a closer look at how well these Heartless you summoned fare Janna." "Well prepare to be impressed then." She said, a dark grin spreading on her face.

"In fact, I was just about to summon another one right now. You could call this one like the commander for my Aqua Shredders here."

Janna then holds both her arms out, closes her eyes and begins to concentrate. Soon the dark aura around her begins to grow as two black orbs appear in both her hands.

"What's she doing!?" Marco frantically asked. "She's trying to summon another Heartless." Yang warns. "Then we have to try and stop her before she finishes." Weiss says summoning Mercury Splitter to her hand. She then sweeps her hand across the blade, causing part of the guard to start glowing red.

"No, wait! You'll hurt Janna if you do that!" Star shouts, grabbing Weiss's arm to stop her from finishing.

What is wrong with you?! If we don't stop her, she going to summon a Heartless that's even more powerful than the ones she already has."

"I know that, but there has to be a way to stop her that doesn't involve hurting her." Star argues back.

"Maybe if I give her my wand, then she might-" "Star no!" Marco yells cutting her off. "You can't give Janna your wand. Who knows what will happen to her if you give it to her, while she's like that." "Then, then what are we supposed to then!?" She yell with tears rolling down her face. "I don't want one of my friends getting hurt, but I don't want her to lose herself because of me either." "I know Star, but you can't help her if don't calm down first. We just need to think and will find a way to save Janna, without hurting her." Marco says, emphasizing the last part looking at Weiss, while placing his hand on Star's shoulder to reassure her.

Calming down from her distraught moment, Star whips her tears away and look at Marco with her usual smile.

"Thanks Marco. And your right, I can't help Janna if I get all down on myself. There has to be way to snap her out of whatever those guys did to her." Star pondered.

"Yeah guys? As much as I'm glad you two worked that out," Rosa said getting both Star and Marco's attention. "I don't think we have the time to sit and think!" She said as everyone look to see Janna slam both dark orbs onto the ground opening a dark portal.

Suddenly, four large spider like legs and two equally large claws, sprang up from the portal and slammed themselves on the edges of it. Then out of the portal rose what could only be described as a giant spider, except it had sharp, poisonous spikes protruding from its back and a pair of massive retractable jaws. On its abdomen was a large stinger.

Ansem and Cinder look at this new Heartless with great interest.

"Very impressive Janna," Cinder said. "Yes, a true testament to your power. What do you call this one?" Ansem asked, truly amazed this girl could summon a Heartless of this magnitude.

"Heh, it's called "Shadow Widow". It's commander type Heartless that can be very merciless if pushed into a corner. It can also use sound waves to send orders to the Aqua Shredders." She explained confidently. "Allow me to demonstrate,"

Raising her hand into the air, Janna's dark aura begins to flare up. Senescing this, the giant spider-like Heartless turns around to see her walking up to it. It lowers its head, allowing Janna to pet it.

"Good girl. Now I need you to lead these Aqua Shredder Heartless and take care of the people here." Following to where Janna was pointing, the now named Shadow Widow sets its six eyes on the eight people behind it. "Oh, except for the boy in the red hoodie. I don't want him getting hurt, okay?" Janna tells it.

The Shadow Widow Screeches then stands on its four legs and fires a string of webbing at Marco. It quickly reels him in, then jumps and latches onto the mall's ceiling, where it sticks a struggling Marco firmly in place.

"Marco!" Star yells after watching that giant spider suddenly grab her friend and stick him on the ceiling. "Would you relax Star? I've only got a bone to pick with you and those other people, Marco has nothing to do with this." Janna said, then looks to Jackie.

"Jackie, that same choice extends to you too. I don't want you to get caught up in this, so just move out of the way." "No Janna, I'm not going anywhere, not until you've come to your senses. These people just want to help you." Jackie said trying to talk Janna out of this whole thing. But all she got in return, was a passive look from her.

"Fine then. Don't blame me if you get hurt." She says motioning for the Shadow Widow and Aqua Shredders to step forward.

Seeing this, Star and the others get ready.

"Is everyone ready?" Rosa asked, while getting into a combat ready stance. She received nods from the others, but Star was giving her a confused look.

"Star? Is something wrong?" She asked. "Ah, Rosa? How come you're not fighting with your Keyblade like Ruby and Weiss?" Star asked confused. "Yeah she's right," Ruby commented. "That's true, why were you fighting without it?" Weiss added.

Now realizing that she was still fighting un-armed, Rosa let out an exasperated breath.

"Alright, to answer your question Star, I was fighting with my Keyblade before you guys came. As for why I don't have it now well…just look over there," She said indicating the three to look to where she was point, and they saw Neo Light Seeker at the far right, stuck diagonally in the ground.

"Umm, how did that happen?" Ruby asked as she and Star looking at the lone Keyblade and back to Rosa. "Well one of those over-sized shrimp here, managed to block my Brutal Cutter attack, while also keeping a hold on the blade so his friends could double team me. So, in order for me to not get cut in half, I had to let go of my Keyblade to avoid their attacks." She finished, all the while Weiss had her hand on her head and let out a tired sigh.

"Okay, then why don't you just call it back?" Ruby suggested. "Wait, you guys can call your Keyblades back to you?" Star asked. "Oh yeah, since a Keyblade and its wielder are in sync with each other, the Keyblade will always return to its wielder." Ruby explained to Star. "Whoa, I wish my wand would that when I need it. So then how come Rosa can't call her Keyblade back?" Star asked still wondering.

"Let me explain," Weiss said getting their attention. "While all Keyblades do have a will of their own, that also means they can be very picky and stubborn." "So your saying, is that Rosa's Keyblade is being rebellious right now?"

" More like it wants to make me pull my hair out sometimes." Rosa said annoyed.

"Anyway, it looks like I'm going to need it, since it looks like we're in for one heck of a fight." She says as the Aqua Shredders lined up in front of the Shadow Widow.

Star suddenly got an idea that could help.

"Hey what if me, Ruby and Weiss distracted the Heartless long enough so that you could get your Keyblade?" She whispered. "I'm not sure if that would work. If we did that, Yang, Blake, and Jackie would be left with that giant spider Heartless." Rosa said. "Yeah, and from what I can see, Yang looks like she wouldn't hold out too long." Ruby said, looking over to her sister in concern.

"We would need a very large distraction to keep all seven of those Heartless busy while Rosa got her Keyblade." Weiss said keeping her eyes on the enemy.

"A large distraction huh," Star mumbled to herself. Then a lightbulb went off in her head, as she thought of something.

"Guys? I think I have just the spell needed for a large distraction, all Rosa has to do is make run for her Keyblade when I give the signal. Then I'll take care of the rest okay?" she said confidently.

Seeing and hearing this, brought a smile to Rosa and Ruby's faces. "Okay Star, just give the word." "Yeah I'm right behind you too on this," They said ready to carry out Star's idea. "Weiss, I need you to tell your friends and Jackie about this, and also tell to get ready move out of the way." She said pushing the white haired girl to the others. "Wait, what about Marco? He's still stuck on the ceiling."

The two looked up to see Marco still trying to escape from the web. When he looked down though, he and Star locked eyes for a second. As if they were conversing telepathically what the other was planning. Then Marco smiled at her, as if he knew what Star was going to do. Seeing this she smiled back at him.

"He'll be fine, trust me. Now get going." She said shoving Weiss further. "Alright already!" Weiss said heading off to inform the others.

When Weiss told them of Star's plan, all three of them looked over to her and nodded their heads in confirmation.

"Star!" She looked to see Rosa calling her, letting her know she and Ruby were ready.

"Alright guys, let's do this!" Star yells raising her wand into the air.

[Song Cue: Tension Rising - Kingdom Hearts II]

"NOW!" Star shouts. Rosa then dashes towards her Keyblade, with Ruby following right behind her.

The Shadow Widow screeches in response, ordering three of the Aqua Shredders to go after Rosa and Ruby.

"Oh no you don't!" Yang says and starts firing off shots from her gauntlets, while Blake clicks a switch on her katana folding it in to become a compact striker pistol, which she begins to firing along with Yang at the Aqua Shredders to keep them away from Rosa and Ruby.

"Weiss and Jackie go!" Blake yells from behind signaling to Jackie and Weiss.

Weiss and Jackie hop on her skateboard and move as fast as they can towards Rosa and Ruby as the other three Aqua Shredders began moving at a fast pace towards them. "You Ready Weiss?" Jackie yells back as they start to get closer to where Rosa and Ruby are headed. "As I'll ever be!" she answers back.

When they reach the spot, Weiss quickly jumps off the board and into the air. She then sweeps her hand over Mercury Splitter causing the guard to turn blue. She quickly falls back down, stabbing the ground with her Keyblade creating a wall of ice in front of the charging Heartless stopping their advance.

"That won't hold them for long, you two need to hurry!" Weiss shouts, already hearing the Aqua Shredders claw and slash at the ice wall.

Yang and Blake were still keep the first three Shredders at bay, until one of them made the choice to fire off two slash waves at them.

"Blake, incoming!" Yang warns as she and Blake quickly get out of the way of the attacks, causing them to stop firing long enough for the other two Heartless to continue their charge towards Rosa and Ruby.

"I've got this one over here, you keep the other two from reaching them." Yang told Blake, leaving no room to debate. With a quick nod, Blake dashes at the two Shredders, while Yang faces the other one. When she looked closely, she saw that this one had a small crack in its armor.

"I'm guessing you're the one I clocked when Blake was going to help Rosa before right?" as if confirming her claim, the Heartless roared in anger and ran towards her. "Yep, you defiantly are!" She said as she charged and met the Heartless in the middle clashing her fist with its claws.

Rosa and Ruby were nearing her Keyblade, when they heard two defacing roars from behind.

"For the love of, these things don't quit!" Rosa groaned as the two Aqua Shredders were closing in. Suddenly, Blake landed in between them with her katana and sheath in a reverse grip. "I'll hold them here, you two keep moving!" She said. The two nodded and continued running. "I really hope Star's almost done with her spell!" Ruby says still following from behind.

While all this was going on, Star was in deep concentration. She then opens her eyes and performs a series of poses, which end with her spinning in place and holding her wand over her head as she yells "Warnicorn Stampede!"

Star's wand emits a bright blue flash as the ground begins to shake. Sudden out of nowhere, an enormous herd of what look to be unicorns with purple manes, glowing red eyes, and scars on their bodies charge from behind Star and continue forward.

Everyone look to see the stampeding herd of unicorns headed towards them.

"Now I see why she said to make sure were not in the way when she casts that spell." Yang said as she jumped back from the Aqua Shredder she was fight. "Wouldn't want to be you right, see ya!" she yells as she jumps back further, while the Aqua Shredder is swept up by the stampeding herd.

Blake had been deflecting and dodging attacks from the two other Shredders, when she saw the herd coming her way. She back flips away from the two Heartless and throws her katana which she switches to pistol form at a support pillar and swings away. Before the two Heartless could give chase, they turn around to see the stampeding warnicorns coming and are swept into it unable to avoid escape. "That's defiantly a BIG distraction." Blake commented from a top the pillar.

Meanwhile, the three other Aqua Shredder Heartless were almost through the ice wall. Weiss held her Keyblade at the ready, while Jackie stood behind.

"They're about to break through, what is Star doing right now!?" Weiss said. That's when she and Jackie felt the ground start to shake. Wondering what was causing it, Jackie looked back and her eyes widened at what she saw coming.

"Ah, Weiss? I think I know why Star said to make sure we weren't in the way!" she said causing Weiss to turn and have her eyes widen to when she saw the massive stampede coming towards them. While they saw the charging unicorns getting closer, the Heartless had finally broken down the ice wall.

"It just one thing after another isn't it? Jackie hold onto me quick!" Weiss said as she summoned a glowing white circle with the symbol of a snowflake in it underneath their feet.

Doing as she said, Jackie held onto Weiss's shoulder as the two were launch into the air just as the Aqua Shredders got close. Weiss then summoned another circle that propelled them to a safe distance, as they saw the three Heartless disappear in the herd.

"How have you been friends with Star this long and stuff like this doesn't freak you out?" Weiss asked once they landed. "You just get used to it I guess." "That is the same thing I heard Marco say." Weiss said.

When Rosa and Ruby finally reached Neo Light Seeker, Rosa looked at the Keyblade with an annoyed frown, then let out an exasperated breath. "Jeez, you really are one stubborn piece of work you know that?" she said, before her frown turned into a friendly grin. "But I guess you're my stubborn piece of work. Alright, you ready Ruby?" she said pulling her Keyblade out of the ground and resting it on her shoulder.

"You already know what my answer to that is." the young silver-eyed girl said, as she began to channel energy into Fenrir.

After the stampeding unicorns vanished into thin air, the six Heartless got back up a bit dazed from the sudden trampling. They quickly looked around for their targets when they saw two red blurs speeding at them.

Unable to react in time, two of them screamed in pain as one of their arms were sliced clean off. "Ouch, now I know you ugly shrimp felt that!" a voice from behind said in a mocking tone.

They turned around and found Rosa and Ruby standing behind them. Only now Rosa had her Keyblade in her hand again, but Ruby was now holding a different looking weapon.

She was holding a giant mechanical scythe that the same red/black colors as her outfit. It also had the same rose crest she had on her belt, on the circular swivel frame of it. A small, hook-like, double-pronged, jagged blade was at the bottom of the shaft.

[Song Swap: RWBY Red like Roses ll]

"Let's do this!" BRUTAL CUTTER"!" Rosa yells as the red energy blade erupted from the Keyblade. She and Ruby then charged at them full speed.

The two that lost their arms charged at them in return full of rage, while the other four fired streams of scalding water. However, Rosa and Rudy weaved through the streams as they continued their charge forward.

When they neared the two charging Aqua Shredders, Rosa swung from the left, but the Shredder on her right threw its remaining arm forward to try and impale her. But it failed to notice Ruby coming from above with an overhead strike, intending to split it down the middle. But the other Shredder jumped and caught her attack with its one arm.

"Big mistake!" She said as she squeezed the trigger on shaft, firing off a shot into the Heartless's head. Using the recoil from the shot, she landed behind Rosa, who managed to block the stab from her opponent. She was now going for an overhead strike of her own, only to have it blocked again.

"Not this time!" She said putting more force into her attack. The Heartless was now struggling to hold the energy blade back as it dropped to one knee, the armor of its hand starting to give way. And with one fierce pull, Rosa forces the blade through the armor on its hand, as well as down the middle of the Heartless. It then vanishes into black smoke.

Recovering from the shot to its head, the other Aqua Shredder looks to see its comrade defeated. Roaring in anger, in charges at the two girls intending to cut them to ribbons.

Seeing the one-armed Heartless charging at them, Rosa and Ruby smirk in response and lung at it.

The Aqua Shredder fires off a slash wave at them. Rosa holds her Keyblade behind her in a reverse grip, then swings it forward yelling "BLOOD CUTTER"! As the energy blade flies off her Keyblade and spins towards the slash wave and clashes with it. The two attacks fought for dominance, until they both blew up creating at dusk cloud, forcing the Heartless to cover its eyes.

"DREAD WEAPON!" upon hearing that, the Aqua Shredder uncovers its eyes to see Ruby spiraling at it like a twister, while Rosa was rotating forward at high speed like a buzz saw. The Aqua Shredder tried to create a water wall to block their attacks, but it wasn't fast enough and got skewered and sliced in half, then vanished like the other one.

Ruby then noticed that the other four Aqua Shredders were speeding towards them, surrounded by water. She and Rosa raised their weapons to block, but stopped when they heard a voice shout from behind them.

"Coming through guys!" They soon stepped aside just in time to avoid Yang, who charged pass them towards the incoming Heartless. She then stopped and flung her fist back as the first Shredder was close, threw her fist forward striking it while also firing a shot from her gauntlets, blasting it backward, and causing it to crash into the other three.

"Holy crap Yang! Talk about a punch!" Rosa said. Amazed at Yang's ever impressive strength. Soon, Weiss and Blake arrived, follow after Yang.

"Next time, tell us when you're going to just dash off like that!" Weiss said, catching her breath. "Let's just focus on what's in front of us right now." Blake said, as she saw the four Aqua Shredders get back up. "Alright guys, you ready?" Ruby said ready to get back into the fight.

"Always little sis!" Yang said knocking her fists together. "As I'll ever be," Blake said holding both her katana and sheath in a reverse grip. Weiss begins to channel energy into Mercury Splitter, causing a light to envelope it. When light fades, she is now holding a silver-gray rapier with four prongs that encase a revolver-like chamber. "Let's just end this quickly." she says holding the rapier in a ready position. "This is going to be great!" Rosa says holding Neo Light Seeker in an inside right position.

Reorganizing themselves after that crash, the four Aqua Shredders charge at the five girls again.

"Freezerburn!" Ruby says as she, Blake and Rosa scatter as Weiss impales her rapier in the ground freezing as Yang then jumps into the air and punches the frozen ground, while firing a shot from her gauntlets creating a mist.

The four Heartless stop, un-able to see due to the mist. They begin to look around for any sign of their opponents.

Rosa and Blake suddenly appear from the right and left and slash at two of them, who block at the last minute, then quickly jump away. The two others fire off four slash waves that dispelled the mist. They both each send out another wave we they see Yang and Weiss dash in front of them only to miss. But immediately raise their arms to deflect an attack from Ruby who was lunging at them.

The five then regroup when Ruby flips backward to them.

"Checkmate plus Red Knight!" Weiss, Blake, and Rosa then attack the Aqua Shredders simultaneously. The overwhelming attacks cause one of the Shredders to mis-read, leaving it wide open for Weiss to pierce it through its exposed black body causing it to vanish.

The remaining three Shredders begin firing scalding water in short burst at them, but they back flip and dodge every shot; until one of the Shredders jumps into the air and Fires a massive stream at Weiss while in mid flip, sending her flying back.

But she manages to fire off a light that hits the ground next to where Blake and Rosa land. Blake quickly rolls into where it landed, as an image of a clock face and gears appear. Blake then starts to glow with a yellow outline. "Shade Illusion!" Rosa says as phantom image of her appears behind her, increasing her strength and speed greatly.

The Aqua Shredders then release a volley of water shots in rapid succession.

"HHHHAAAAAA!" Blake and Rosa yell as they begin to slash and cut down each shot that came their way. When every last shot was cut down, Ruby then dashes toward the Heartless.

"Ladybug x3!" She shouts as she swings her scythe at one of the Shredders, who had the dodge cause how fast the attack was. Blake and Rosa soon followed up with their own fast attacks alongside Ruby in sliding maneuvers, while the Shredders tried to dodge out of the way, however Blake clips one of them on an exposed part of its leg. Ruby and Rosa took advantage of this, and focused their attacks on the downed Heartless, who in desperation swung wildly at them. The two along with Blake jumped above its attacks, then did downward slashes defeating it.

"Okay Rosa, the last two are yours!" As soon as Rosa hears Ruby say that, she gives a quick nod then bolts toward the last two Aqua Shredders, while also gathering a large amount of crimson/black energy into her Keyblade.

Before they could do anything to retaliate, Rosa was already in front of them.

"TIME TO SAY GOODBYE! "BRANDISH BREAKER" HHHHAAAA!" Rosa then swings her keyblade in rapid succession creating numerous rifts in the air that tear and shred the heartless as if they were paper. When the attack ended, only faint trails of black mist were all that remained.

[Song end]

"Phew, those things were no joke," Rosa says whipping some sweat from her forehead, while walking back to Ruby and the others. "How you holding up Weiss? You okay?" She asked worried for the white haired girl.

"Aside from the boiling hot water and the minor burns I've received, I'll live." She said checking herself for any other injuries. "That's good, how about the rest of you guys?"

"Except for a few scratches, I'm good," Ruby said dusting her skirt off. "Same here," Blake said simply. "I could keep going... provided my aura holds out." Yang said with that grin of hers.

"Tell me you're kidding! You should glad your aura held out as long as it did against those attacks." Weiss said exasperated. "Weiss kind of has a point Yang. Plus since those things armor could take the damage you dealt them twice that, you may want to think of something to work around them." Ruby said.

"Yeah I might take that into consideration if we fight those things again. They are a lot smarter than Grimm that's for sure." "That only applies to some Heartless," Rosa said. "If you just watch and study their attack pattern, you can take them down easily. I should know, I have been fighting them for a while now," She said confidently.

"Then explain how Rosa the Heartless expert, was seen struggling against something she so experienced fighting before?" Weiss said mockingly with a knowing smile which causes Yang and Ruby to snicker.

"Hey, I never said I was an expert, I-I mean yeah I have fought Heartless for a bit but, argh! Forget it!" Rosa then groans in frustration, Weiss and the others just laugh.

Farther away, Jackie was standing next to Star, who was sitting on the ground, tired after casting her spell.

"Whoa, how is it that those things gave those guys a hard time when it was just two or three of them fighting, but when all five of them work together, they take them down so easily?" Jackie said awestruck.

"And here I thought Rosa was the coolest person I'd met this summer. I'd try to run over ask them how they did all those awesome moves…If I wasn't so tired after casting that spell." Star said with a tired smile.

Jackie and Star laughed a bit before they both realize something and start to frantically look around.

"Wait Jackie, Where did that giant spider Janna summoned go!?" "That's what I was going to ask too, it was here right before you did your spell. Now, it just vanished into thin air,"

As the two teens continued to look around for the giant Heartless that seems to have disappeared, they weren't the only ones look for it. Marco who was still dangling high above the ground, was also searching for the Heartless.

'Where could that thing have gone!? How does something that big just vanish like that!?' he thought as tried to see where it could be. Unaware that three people still standing by the fountain, knew where the Shadow Widow had gone.

"Hmm, how long do you guys think it will take for them to find out that my Shadow Widow can use it's webbing to cloak itself?" Janna asked her two companies with a dark grin on her face.

"It's really hard to say, but by the look of it your two friends, as well as the boy you have hanging from the ceiling, seem to have already noticed its absence." Cinder says watching Star, Jackie and Marco look around for the Heartless.

"Yeah. I figured Marco and Jackie would notice right after everything calm down, I just didn't think Star would too, given how clueless she can be sometimes." Janna said, then looked over at Ansem who's been quietly looking at the part of ceiling that was above Rosa and the others.

"I guess you can see where it is, can't you Ansem?" "Indeed. For such a large Heartless, it can move very quietly and swiftly when the need calls for it." He said impressed with the Shadow Widow's tactic.

Back with Rosa and the others, Blake suddenly remembered about something.

"Guys, what happened to that giant spider heartless that was supposed to be commanding those other ones we fought." She said, as the others eyes widened in shock.

"Blake's right, where that thing get too?!" Yang said as she and the other started looking around. "How could we lose track of something that big!?" "Weiss let's just calm down and think, it has to around here somewhere," Ruby said trying to lessen her teammate's worry.

"It must have hidden itself in the confusion when Star performed her spell. And here I thought those shrimp Heartless were clever." Rosa said holding her Keyblade at the ready, while looking for the Heartless.

However, as Janna said, the Shadow Widow had spun a light gray silk around itself, which caused it to blend in with everything around it. Right as Star cast her spell, the Shadow Widow sent an order to the Aqua Shredders to gather Rosa and the other five into one spot. Then before it was caught in the stampede, it quickly jumped onto and hung from the ceiling and watched as the Aqua Shredders fought while swiftly and quietly making its way to the spot where its targets will gather.

While Rosa, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang continued to look around, the Shadow Widow was silently hanging from above. Its retractable jaws gnawing in anticipation, as it slowly begins to lower itself down to its unsuspecting prey.

Meanwhile, Star, Jackie and Marco (Who was still stuck on the ceiling) were still trying to find the Shadow Widow.

"Come on, where could that thing have gone!?" Marco says frustrated that he still couldn't find where the Heartless ran off to. 'If I can't find that thing soon, it may hurt Rosa and the others. Or worse it might hurt-'He looks down at Star and Jackie with a worried expression.

'You really want to protect them that much huh?' A voice suddenly said surprising Marco.

"W-what the, who said that!?" he asked frantically looking for the source of the voice.

'First calm down, you're not going find anything freaking out like that.' "Okay, so who are you and how are speaking to me right now?" 'Well your first question, I can't answer yet. As for your second one, let's just say I'm a part of you that's been asleep for some time now.' "That sounds pretty vague to me." Marco says skeptically.

"Anyway, you asked me if I wanted to protect my friends, I do, but how can I if I'm stuck up here?" Marco says struggling to break free, but to no avail.

'You have to focus on the darkness of the Heartless in order to see it.' The voice said.

"Focus on its darkness? How am I going to do that?" 'You have to draw on the darkness in yourself first.' "Wait, What? You mean like Janna!?" 'No, the darkness in your friend's heart was forced out. You have to willing release and accept the darkness within you.' "But I don't have any darkness in me." 'Are sure of that? Try focusing on it right now and see for yourself.' "But-" 'Do you really want to protect you friends?' The voice said in a serious tone. Marco flinched at the voices sudden serious tone and did as it asked if it meant he could help his friends.

Marco closed his eyes and began to concentrate. When he opened them, he found himself in a dark, empty space. He looks around but found nothing but more darkness.

"What is this place? There's nothing here." 'That's due to the fact that this part of your heart has been dormant.' "WHAA!" Marco jumps slightly at the sound of the mysterious voice.

"You could've said something before suddenly talking you know?" 'Ha, ha, I'll be sure to remember that. Now then, focus on the darkness and it will manifest itself.' "Uh, what happens if this 'darkness' inside me is dangerous?" 'That depends on what it manifests as. Now focus Marco.' "Alright, I'll try."

Marco says and begins to concentrate again. As he focuses more, he starts to feel something familiar inside himself begin to stir. Then all of sudden, a burst of dark energy erupts from Marco's right arm.

"What the heck!? What's going on with my arm!?" Marco says in a panicked tone. "It's your darkness, trying to take its form. "BUT WHY IS IT TRYING TO FORM ON MY ARM!?" 'You should know why, since you once fought this darkness before. Once it forms, you'll know what I mean.' The voice says calmly. While Marco continues to look with a frightened face as his arm begins to take a different shape.

When the dark energy stopped, Marco saw that his arm was now a large tentacle with a light magenta underside and light pink suction cups. Most of the tentacle was a deep blue color that fade to purple at the tip.

"Well, this isn't the way I thought we'd meet again Marco." A new voice said maliciously. Marco's eyes then widen in recognition at the sound of the voice.

"Wait a minute, now I remember, you were that Monster arm that was attached to me. But I thought Star got rid of you." He said in a less shocked tone.

"Did you forget what I said as I was fading away? I was already a part of you. You and Star may have thought you had gotten rid of me, but what actually happened was that I was forced into the depths of your heart." The tentacle creature explained.

"Then why didn't you try to take me over again?" Marco asked. "Especially, when I looked at that one page in Star's spell book?" "Huh, I must have been asleep when that happened, plus the darkness in that book wasn't anything that enticing to me." it said in a board tone.

"Okay hold on, what's up with you? Why do you seem so laid back and not trying to take me over?" 'It's because you called upon it willingly and the growth of your heart." The voice said.

"He's right, since you called me, there's really no point in me trying to fight for control. Plus, I've been feeling the changes in your heart. Now why is it that you called me in the first place? Oh right, I almost forgot." Marco then explains to Monster Arm what's been going on.

"So basically you need to tap into your darkness aka me, so you can see where this Heartless thing is, I get all that right?" "Yeah, so what's it going to take for you to help me?" Marco asked leveling his gaze at the monstrous appendage.

"…Nothing." It said simply, making Marco's gaze turn from serious to confused.

"Wait, did you just say you want nothing from me?" "Yep." "There has to be a catch, you have to want something." "There's no catch Marco, and if anyone is going to want something, it's going to be you. But if your going to be insistent on it, I could think of something," the arm said in a joking tone.

'He's right Marco, but that's something to think about later. You should be able to see where the Heartless is now.' The voice said as the empty space was filled light blinding Marco.

"I'll be seeing you again soon Marco." He heard Monster Arm say as its voice faded.

Marco opened his eyes to find himself still hanging from the ceiling back in the mall.

"What was all that?" He asked. 'That was you looking inside your own heart.' The voice answered. "Wha?! You're still here?" 'Yes, because there's something you need to know. But for now, try tapping into your darkness again.' "Alright then,"

Marco then closes his eyes again and focuses on the darkness in himself.

A black outline begins to appear around Marco, pulsating slightly. He then breaths in and out calmly and opens his eyes which are no longer brown, but a magenta color.

"Whoa, so this is…" He trails off amazed. 'Yes, you can now see things that are hidden by darkness. Now try to see if you can sense and find out where the Heartless is now.' The voice says.

Marco then starts looking around for ant sign of the giant Heartless. As he does, he notices that he can see different colored outlines of each person surrounded by either a white wispy one or a black wispy one. Star had a royal blue colored outline and Jackie had a neon green outline. Suddenly, he sensed something.

'Whatever that was, I felt it coming from…there!' Marco thought as he looks to where Rosa and the others are. Just above them, he could see a pitch-black wispy dangling over-head.

"GUYS! IT RIGHT ABOVE YOU! LOOK OUT!" Marco yells as loud as he can getting everyone's attention. Including the still hidden Shadow Widow.

Hearing what Marco just shouted, Rosa quickly looks up and suddenly feels a presence.

"Ruby and Yang quickly, start shooting above us!" she told the two sisters.

Ruby and Yang started firing shots into the air and were surprised when they heard fierce screeches coming from above. When the smoke from their shooting cleared, they along with Weiss, Blake, and Rosa saw, shielding itself with its massive claws was the Shadow Widow.

Seeing that its cover was blown, the spider-like Heartless swung from its web line, and landed to the far left of the group.

"That thing can use its webbing as camouflage!?" Weiss shocked. "Looks like it, if Marco didn't yell when he did, we would've been goners for sure." Ruby said.

"Yeah, but how could he have seen it, if it was camouflaged like that?" Blake asked while keeping her eyes on the Heartless in front of them.

"We can figure it out later, right now, let's take care of this over-grown arachnid." Rosa said as she and the others charged at the Shadow Widow.

Over by the fountain, Janna, Cinder and Ansem were surprised at what they witnessed.

"How in the world could Marco have seen where it was!? It was completely hidden!" Janna said confused as to how Marco could have possibly known where her Heartless was.

"That's a good question," Cinder said looking up at the still trapped boy. She then noticed a faint black outline around his head.

"Perhaps your friend has very good hearing is all?" "Do not make such foolish guesses Cinder," Ansem says looking from the fight to Marco, noticing the change in the boy's eye color. "Apologies, then how do you think he saw it Ansem?" "It's obvious that the boy has something special within him. Just as Janna here does." He said with a small grin.

Janna looked up at Marco, her eyes filled with amazement and wonder.

'If Marco is the same as me, then maybe he and I could…' She let that thought trial off, unaware of the light blush on her cheeks.

Not too far from Janna, Star and Jackie were watching the others fight the Shadow Widow. However while Jackie was watching the battle intensely, Star's eyes would often drift to Marco in curiosity.

'How could Marco have seen where it was?' She thought. 'I know that while me and Jackie were looking for it, I looked up to check if he was okay and saw a black outline around him while his eyes were closed. Marco what did you do that allowed you to able to see that thing?' She continued to think, until she was brought out of thoughts by the screeching of the Shadow Widow as it blocked and countered an attack from Rosa, Blake and Ruby, sending all three flying backward.

Yang and Weiss tried to attack it from both its left and right side, but it quickly jumped back avoiding them. It then began to quickly charge at them. Weiss drew a circle in the air with her rapier creating four glyphs that each fired a large ice spear in an attempt to pierce it while it charged. But it quickly side-stepped to the right, avoiding all four spears and closed in on both girls.

Seeing that they were in trouble, Star got up from the ground and started running towards them.

"Star! What are you doing?" Jackie yelled as she saw the blonde mewman girl suddenly run off. "I've got do something their trouble!" Star yelled back as she hurries over to the fight.

Marco eyes widen in frightened shock, when he sees Star running towards the Heartless.

"What's Star doing!?"

' It seems like she's going to try and fight that Heartless.' The voice said.

'But from the look of her, it seems like she's still recovering from using that previous spell. Plus, her magic wasn't that effective against the other Heartless to begin with." A new but familiar voice said joining the conversation.

"What the? Monster Arm?! How are you talking to me too?!" 'Relax will ya? Since your using your inner darkness aka me, I'm able to talk to you like this. But I'd be more worried about Star right now, seeing as in her weakened state, her spells won't even scratch that thing.' He said as Marco began to try and break free from the webbing he was in, while watching his best friend run towards the fight.

Meanwhile, Weiss and Yang were bracing themselves as the Shadow Widow was quickly charging at them.

"Any ideas would be great about now Weiss." "I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" She shouted franticly trying to come up with something, until she and Yang heard someone shout.

"Dagger Crystal Heart Attack!" Soon a wave of heart-shaped daggers were seen pelting against the Heartless's head, forcing it to stop. It turn in the direction the attack came from as did Weiss and Yang and they saw Star standing there with her wand up panting heavily.

"Ha…I guess I'm…ha…still tried…ha…from using the…warnicorn stampede." She said in between breaths. "Hey, you guys okay?"

" We should be asking you that! What do you think you're doing!? You know your spells won't do any damage to that thing!" Weiss shouted. "Well I'm not about let you guys fight this thing by yourselves." Star yelled back as she fired another spell at the Heartless which did nothing to it.

Infuriated by the sudden attack, the Shadow Widow quickly charges at Star, ignoring her continued spell casting. Recovering from the knock-back, Rosa, Ruby and Blake saw the Widow headed for Star and quickly got up to try and get to her.

However, the Shadow Widow sensed them coming and fired a stream of webbing at their feet from behind which stopped them.

"Crap! We're stuck!" Rosa yelled. "Star! Run away!" Ruby shouted in desperation. But Star stood her ground with her wand raised.

"Rainbow Blast!" She shouted as a rainbow shot from her wand and hit the approaching Heartless, creating a dust cloud. "Did that really just work?" She asked as she cautiously walked closer to check.

A stream of webbing suddenly shot out from the dust cloud, ensnaring Star. When it cleared up, the Shadow Widow stood there reveling that her spell did nothing but only in raged the Heartless further. Now Star was trapped by its webbing and couldn't run, as the Heartless slowly made its way to her.

"STAR!" Marco yelled in fear as he desperately tries to break free, as the Heartless threw closer to the frightened girl.

'Yelling and flailing like that won't help knucklehead!' Monster Arm said.

'He's right. If you want to save her, you're going to have to fully accept the power that lies within you.' The other voice said urgently. "But I already did that! How is me doing again going to help me save Star!?" By accepting the other half of that power." It said causing Marco to stop flailing.

"Wait the other half?" 'That's right,' Monster Arm added. "I'm only one half of the power inside you Marco. You're going to have to accept the other half if you want to save her.' "But how am I supposed to do that if I don't even know what this other half is!?" "Heh, when are you going to tell him that he's been been talking with the other half already?" The tentacle creature directed to the other voice which caused Marco's mind to stop.

"Wait you mean that-" 'that's right Marco," the other voice said suddenly. 'I'm the other half of the power that's inside of you and if you truly want to protect those close to you, then accept it. Accept the darkness and the light within your heart!' the voice shouted in Marco's mind.

Taking one more look at the Shadow Widow as it begins to bare its claws and fangs, Yang and Weiss trying to move as fast as they can to help, Rosa, Ruby and Blake working to free themselves, Janna looking on, and finally he looks to Star and sees a terrified look on her face. A face he doesn't want to see her have, he wanted to see her with her usual smile, the one that she would always show him whenever he was troubled.

After seeing all this, Marco makes his choice.

"Alright, I'll do it. I don't care if I get swallowed by whatever this darkness inside me or if my Monster Arm takes me over, if it will help me protect those I care about, then I WILL ACCEPT IT!" He yells as a bright light suddenly erupts from within him catching everyone's attention and stopping the Shadow Widow in its tracks.

(Marco's Dive to the Heart)

Marco opens his eyes expecting to see the black void again, but instead finds himself floating in an ocean.

Normally he would be freaking out that he was supposedly drowning, but discovered that he could breathe. Marco continued to float down until he touched down onto the bottom which erupts into white doves, revealing a platform with five stained glass pillars that depicted an image of him, Star, Jackie, Janna, and…Ruby?

They were divided into three stations. The first one showed Jackie and Janna with their eyes closed. The second one showed Star with her eyes closed, but Ruby's eyes were open. The third and final station, showed Marco with his eyes open.

"What is this place?" He finally said after looking at the depictions. "This what's called the 'Dive to the Heart'."

Marco quickly turns around when he hears the mysterious voice behind him. When he does, he sees two people standing there.

One is a boy who looks to be two years older than him. He had a sleeveless, black zip-up tank-top with double zippers, and a white-and-yellow vest over it with a blue separating the two colors and decorated with four silver buttons. He sports a white thick band on his left wrist, baggy blue pants held up by a black belt covered with square spike studs. He wears a pair of yellow-laced, white sneakers with gray lining and soles, and three black stripes on the sides. He had bright blue-green eyes and long silver hair, reaching down to his upper back.

The other person looked like a copy on him. Except he had on a dark blue shirt and was wearing a black hoodie over it. And instead on Marco's brown eyes, his were magenta colored.

"Wait, you're the voice I've been hearing?" He asked the older boy. "That right. The names Riku, nice to finally meet you Marco." The now named Riku says holding his hand out. Marco then slowly takes his hand out and shakes it. "Nice to meet you too, I guess. So who's this person that looks like a mis-colored copy of me?" He asks which causes Riku to snicker and the other Marco to walk up and grab him by the collar of his shirt.

"You know, just because I'm no longer attached to you, doesn't mean I still can't smack you silly Marco." His look alike said in a threating manner. Marco's eyes suddenly widen when he heard what his copy just said.

"Wait, Monster Arm!? How and why do you look like me and where is this place!?" Again relax, sheesh," he said releasing his grip on Marco.

"I only look like this now because you chose to accept both the light and darkness of your heart. That answer your question?" "Uh, no. it doesn't," "Well that's about the best way I can explain it to you." He says shrugging his shoulders then looking back to Riku.

"You explain the rest to him, since you're the one who's going to be giving him the darn thing." "Huh? Giving me what?" He asks confused at what they were talking about.

"He's talking about a Keyblade." Riku said. "And it's not a 'thing' you over-grown calamari." "Who do you think you're calling calamari?!"

"Wait, wait, and wait! Your... going to give me... a Keyblade!?" Marco asked/shouted looking to Riku.

"Well technically, I'm going to awaken your ability to wield one." "B-But I'm not a Keyblade wielder like Rosa is. So how can I wield one?" He asks skeptically.

"That's because you're the descendent of a Keyblade wielder. More specifically, my descendent." He says pointing to himself with his thumb.

Marco stood there as if he was frozen in place for about five minutes until Monster came over and waved his hand in front of his face, snapping him out of it.

"You're a Keyblade wielder and I'm your descendent!?" He says looking wide eyed at the silver-haired boy.

"Heh, that's right." "Wow. So anyway, you called this place we're a Dive to the Heart?" Marco asked curiously.

"Yeah, this place is actually the representation of your heart. Monster Arm and I guided you here so I could awaken your ability to wield a Keyblade." Riku explained. "So if this place is my heart, then the pictures of Star and the others show my connection to them?"

"You catch on quick when you're not panicking." Monster Arm says mockingly ignoring Marco's glare.

"Okay but if that's true, then why is a picture of Ruby here? I only just met her recently." Marco asked. "That is something you'll have to find out on your own. But for now, let's just awaken your abilities first," Riku said reminding Marco why he's here.

"Oh yeah, that's right! I need to help Star and the others." "Alright then,"

Riku then holds his hand out. Suddenly a unique looking weapon appears in his hand.

The blade of the weapon is a straight lined demon wing. The guard is composed of one angelic wing and one demonic wing. At the top of the blade is a dark angelic wing and at the end of its chain link was a black heart token with a red out-line.

"So that's your Keyblade?" Marco asked transfected on the weapon. "Yep, this is 'The Way to Dawn'. It symbolizes my redemption after my fall to darkness," he says remembering his time as wielder.

"In your hand, take this Key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend—no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love." He says holding out the Keyblade to Marco.

Marco looks to Riku and then to his Keyblade. He then places his hand on the grip and closes his eyes. When he opens them, he sees that he is now holding the Keyblade fully in his hand.

"Whoa, it's not as heavy as I thought it would be," he said lightly swinging it. "Yeah well it won't look like that when you leave here," Monster Arm said after silently watching the two.

"He's right, once you leave here, the keyblade will change it's appearance." "Oh, so kind of works like how Star said her family's wand changes depending on who's holding it." "Ha, ha, in a way I guess." Riku says, with a laugh.

Marco then felt something. It was as if the world around him was starting to stir.

"What was that just now?" "That's your que to wake up and start cracking heartless heads, idiot." Monster Arm said with a toothy grin on his face. "Time to show the world what you're made of." "A-Alright then but,"

Marco looks to Riku with a worried look in his eye. Seeing this, he walks over to the younger boy and hold his fist out to him.

"Don't worry, you'll see me again." he says giving Marco an assured smile. Marco smiles back and then raises his own fist and bumps it with Riku's fist as the world around the three faded into the light.

(Echo Creek mall, Waking world)

Everyone un-covered their eyes when the bright light that came from Marco faded away.

When Janna looked up to see what happened, she immediately noticed that Marco was no longer on the ceiling.

"What the? What happened to Marco!? What was that light that came from him!?" She asked Cinder and Ansem who were equally shocked at what happened. But before either of them could try and answer, all three of them heard ear splitting screech of pain.

They look in the direction of the sound and see that the Shadow Widow has backed up a considerable amount away from Star.

'Why did it back away like that?' She thought, before her eyes landed on the reason for why her Heartless backed up so quickly. Standing in between it and a now stunned Star Butterfly, was Marco who was in a crouching position holding a very menacing looking Keyblade in a reverse grip.

It resembled Riku's Way to Dawn in some aspects. Except that the angelic wing of the guard had darkened and the blue eye that was at the base of blade was blood red. The blade that was normally the straightened demon wing, was replaced with a straight darkened angel wing with a demon wing at the top. The link chain at the bottom of the guard was red and had a yellow star attached to it.

Rosa, Ruby, and Blake looked completely shocked at what they were seeing, while Yang and Weiss were frozen where they were.

"D-Did Marco just, I mean did he?" Ruby started to stutter out completely awestruck at what she saw.

Rosa was both amazed and surprised at this sudden occurrence.

'My Master already told me that he would eventually awaken the power to brandish a Keyblade but, I didn't think he would summon one that bears a resemblance to another one that was once wielded by a different Keyblade Master.' She thought.

All while this is going on, Emerald, Mercury, and Toffee were watching from the upper floor.

"Well, we definitely weren't expecting that were we?" Mercury asked simply. Emerald just rolled her eyes, while Toffee walked closer to get a better look.

'Now, let's see what you can do Marco.' He thought eyeing the boy closely.

Marco stood up and looked down at the Keyblade that was now in his hand.

"It really does look different from how I saw it before," He mumbled to himself.

'Of course it does. But if you want my opinion, it doesn't look that much different.' Monster Arm's voice said in lazy tone. 'We can talk about your opinion later, I've got other things to worry about right now,' Marco said looking back at the Shadow Widow, then turning to look back at Star whose face was frozen in surprise.

Casting a glare at the Shadow Widow, Marco walks over to Star and with one quick swing, cuts the webbing that was holding her away.

"Star? Are you okay?" He asks placing his hand on her shoulder to try and snap her out of her stupor. Star shakes her head snapping out of her trance and immediately grabs onto Marco's arms surprising him.

"Marco! What was that light? How did you get free? How could you see where that giant spider was? What's this thing in your hand?" She asked so fast the Marco could understand her.

"Star hold on! I can understand a word your saying. Just calm down first, and I'll explain," He said placing his hand back on her shoulder to get her to relax, which seemed to have worked.

"Sigh, okay Marco, I've calm down now. And also I'm okay." "That's good. Now, I'm going to assume in your high speed question asking, you wanted to know about this," He said lifting the Keyblade up for Star to see. "Y-yeah, Marco is that a-" "Yeah Star, it's a Keyblade." "Wow, so what's it called? And why is it looking at me?" She asked as they both looked to see the red eye of the Keyblade was indeed gazing up at Star.

'Ha, ha, this is too good. That Keyblade of yours also like her too. Ha, Ha!' Monster Arm laughed.

"Sigh, Star? Do you remember how Rosa told us that Keyblades have wills of their own?" "Yeah, I remember why?" "Well apparently, my Keyblade here umm…huh?"

Marco looked down to see the Keyblade's eye looking at him, as if it was speaking to him. "Oh, okay then." "Umm Marco? Did your Keyblade just say something to you? Cause you spaced out there for a second." "Oh sorry Star. But yeah, it was telling me its name." He said causing Star to get a little excited.

"So what is it? What is it?" She asked hopping a little. "Its name is 'Path towards Nightfall'. And the reason it was looking at you Star, is because it likes you and wants to help me help you I guess." He said scratching the back of his head embarrassed.

Star just smiled and placed her hand on Marco's that was holding Path towards Nightfall, which caused him to blush.

"Ah Star? What are you doing?" Marco asked as his blushing face grew brighter which Star noticed, causing her own face to turn red too. "I-I was just seeing if I placed my hand on yours while you were holding it, it would get my message." "Which was?" He asked as she pulled her hand away.

"It's nice to meet you and I like you too." She said smiling.

Seeing her smile made Marco's own smile appear on his face. "I think your message got through Star." He said, as he started to turn back around to his waiting opponent.

"Okay Star, I need you stay back for this one." "Wait Marco, are you planning on fighting that thing on your own?" Star asks worriedly. "You can't, it's too strong. You saw how hard a time Rosa and the others having against it." "I know Star, but I've got a plan for that, trust me okay?" He said looking back at her with a smile.

When Star heard how confident he sounded, that feeling she had when she and Marco met Rosa flared up in her heart again.

"Alright Marco, just promise me you'll be careful okay?" She asked placing her hand over her fast beating heart. "I promise Star," he said confidently.

After hearing his promise, Star moves further back, as to not be in the way. Marco then locks eyes with Shadow Widow that has been waiting for him.

'I cannot believe that thing didn't choice to attack you both during that mush moment you were having.' Monster Arm said while pretending to puke.

"No one said you had to listen in on it you know." 'True, true. Anyway, Riku wanted me to tell you that since you've now awaken your ability to use a Keyblade, you can use some of his powers and other abilities.' "Like what?" 'I'm not going to name them all off for you, but most of them use the power of darkness while others use light. Your going to have learn most of them on your own.' Monster arm explained. 'But relax, Riku and I will help you balance out how to use them effectively.' 'Umm…thanks I guess? Can you at least give me one of the abilities I'm able to use?' he mentally asked.

'Sigh fine. Since I can only guess the first thing you want to do is free those three girls first, I suggest you try this one ability called 'Dark Firaga'. It should be able to burn away that thing's webs without hurting them. Also you'll probably notice this soon anyway but, you can move a lot faster than you could before.' Monster Arm explained.

"Is that everything then?" Marco asked. 'Just one more thing, could you stop calling me Monster Arm.' "O-kay, then what should I call you then?" 'No clue. Just let me know when you find a name I might like okay?' "Sure." He said refocusing on the Shadow Widow.

Marco then holds his Keyblade above himself at his following side/arm and puts his leading left hand out with its open palm being shown. (It's Riku's stance in case anyone was confused.)

The Shadow Widow suddenly charges at Marco from the side, intending to catch him off guard. However before it brought both its claws down, Marco jumps back dodging its attack. He then rushes back at the Heartless who quickly raised its one claw and swung it at Marco. "Now!" Marco vanishes right before its claw came close to him then reappeared right next to Rosa, Ruby, and Blake surprising them.

"Hey! Are you guy alright?" Marco asked them. "We're fine Marco, But where did that light come from?!" Ruby asked. "Yeah and how did you summon that Keyblade just now?!" Blake asked immediately after. "I'll explain later, for now let's get you guys out of this webbing." He says placing both hands on his Keyblade.

"That won't work Marco, I've already using my Keyblade to cut it." Rosa said irritated. "I'm not going to cut it Rosa," He said aiming the tip of Path towards Nightfall at the webbing.

"Wait, if you're not trying to cut, then how are you going to-" "Hmph!" Ruby was cut off when she, Rosa, and Blake saw Marco fire off a dark fireball that then split apart and ignited the web which quickly burned away, freeing them.

"Wow! That was a lot easier to do than I thought it was." He said amazed at what he did while the three girls in front of him were once again surprised.

"Marco, what was that you just used to burn the webbing?" Rosa asked skeptically. "Huh? Oh right, that move was Dark Firaga. Its apparently one of a couple of other abilities I can use due to the darkness in my heart." Marco explained.

"WHAT?! But if you have darkness in you, then how come it isn't making you act like your friend?! I mean isn't darkness supposed to be like…evil?" Ruby exclaimed.

"While that's true Ruby, there have been some people who are able to control their darkness without losing themselves to it. And looks like Marco here is one of those people." Rosa said throwing her arm around the Latino boy while smiling.

"That would have been helpful if you told us that little detail Rosa!" Weiss says/complains running up to them with Yang following behind her making a b-line for Ruby.

"Ruby! Are you okay?!" Yang says already hugging her little sister tightly before she could even respond. "Yang…can't…breathe!" "Oh! Sorry about that, I was just worried about you is all." She said releasing Ruby so she could breathe again.

"I'm fine Yang, you can thank Marco for that." Ruby said looking to said person in appreciation. "Oh? Well in that case, looks like I owe you and that crazy looking Keyblade of yours big time for saving my little sis here." Yang said winking at Marco causing him to blush a little.

"Y-You don't owe me anything, I'm just glad she's okay. I-I mean, I'm also glad that Rosa and Blake are also not hurt. Umm speaking of which Rosa, could you maybe let me go now please?" He asked the red-haired girl who still had her arm wrapped around him.

"Aww, really? I thought I could get a better look at that Keyblade of yours." She said in a pretend hurt voice, taking her arm from around Marco.

"Speaking of your Keyblade, could explain how you suddenly came to possess one?" Weiss asked walking up to Marco and looking him over.

"Because when Ruby and I first met you, you didn't look like someone who could hide the fact that they own one." "Well about that," Marco was then cut off by the shrieking of the Shadow Widow that was now facing towards them, getting their attention.

"You can interrogate Marco later Weiss! We still have that thing to worry about!" Blake said as she and the others took their battle poses. "Let's focus on taking that thing down and fixing Janna first. After that, I promise to try and answer any questions you have Weiss, okay?" Marco asks while getting into the same stance he did before.

Hearing the honesty in his voice, Weiss turns to face the Heartless with the others while holding her rapier up and taking a fencing stance.

"I'm going to hold you to that promise then." She says as she, Marco and the others charge once more at the Heartless.

The Shadow Widow fires it thread in wide spread to try and trap them all at once.

"Oh no you don't!" Marco yells as he fires another Dark Firaga from his Keyblade which like last time, burst apart incinerating the thread.

With the thread burned away, Ruby and Rosa leapt at its head. But the Widow raised its claws and not only blocked their attacks, but also held the blades of their weapons.

"I already had to deal with this once, not happening a second time buddy! "Assault Strike!" Rosa yells as she punches the Heartless's claw with a fist cloaked in dark red energy while Ruby fired a shot from her scythe forcing the Shadow Widow to let go. They then back flipped away with Rosa stopping next to Yang and Blake who start fire shots from a far, forcing the Shadow Widow to back up, as Ruby stops next to Weiss and Marco.

"Weiss! I'm going to try something. Can you fire those ice icicle shards like you did before to keep it occupied?" Marco asks. "And Ruby, once you see an opening, I want you to try and aim for its eyes." "Got it!" Ruby says.

"Wait, what are you planning to do?" Weiss asked a little skeptical. "A move that just came to me, just wait for my signal, okay you two?" He said to which they both nodded. Though, Weiss's was a bit hesitant.

After receiving their nods, Marco then rushes towards the Shadow Widow. Ruby plants the blade of her scythe into the ground and takes aim at the Heartless, while Weiss summons four glyphs behind her.

As Star watches the others fight the Heartless, she hears someone coming up next to her. She turns to see Jackie running to her with both surprise and worry in her eyes.

"Star! What just happened with Marco?! And why is now fighting that thing?! He could get hurt and-" Star places her hands on Jackie's shoulders to try and calm down the normally cool-headed skater girl.

"Jackie calm down and listen okay?" Star asked. Jackie then started to settle down, telling Star she could continue now. "Now, the reason Marco is now fighting that Heartless with Rosa and the others is because…somehow he's able to use a Keyblade now." "But even if he can use one now, he could still get hurt. So why aren't you trying to help?!" Jackie asked.

"Because I know he'll be alright Jackie," She says smiling and placing a hand over her heart. "I can't really explain why but…I just get this feeling that he'll be fine and he'll help Janna too. So, just have a little faith that he can do this."

After seeing Star's confidence in Marco, Jackie remembered what she said about his never-give-up attitude when she asked him to the school dance. Which causes her to smile.

"You're right Star, sorry I freaked out there." "It's alright Jackie, I know you were worried about him as much as I was." Star said smiling at Jackie who returned it with one of her own.

Star then looks to the side and sees Marco rushing at the Heartless. Jackie follows where Star is looking and both their eyes widen in surprise as the same thought runs in their heads.

'WHAT IS HE DOING?!'

After shooting a stream of web to stop Yang and Blake's continued shooting which they managed to dodge, the Shadow Widow looks and sees Marco charging at it.

It prepares to fire its webbing to trap him. But before it could do that, four large ice icicles slam into it stopping its attempt. Seeing his chance, Marco quickens his rush. The Shadow Widow swings its claw at him, but he slides right underneath it not losing his momentum.

When he feels he's close enough, he energizes his Keyblade then performs a swift upward strike on the Shadow Widow, which pushed it back a considerable amount. He then back flips into the air and shoots several swords of dark energy at the dazed Heartless that begins to screech in pain.

"Ruby Now!" he yells as he lands.

After lining up her aim, Ruby fires three shots at the Shadow Widow's eyes which connect causing it to screech in even more pain at being blinded.

"HOW?!" Janna yelled furious at what just happened. "How are they over-powering it?!" She then looks to Star and Jackie who were amazed at Marco's idea to blind her Heartless. This only made her anger slow grow.

The Shadow Widow was now failings about in pain at the loss of three of its eyes.

"So he had Weiss distract it so he could move to do that attack. Then while it's dazed, have Ruby blind it by shooting its eyes out, that was a good plan on Marco's part." Blake said with Yang and Rosa agreeing.

"Now it's our turn to keep the pressure on while it's screaming like that right?" Yang said reloading her gauntlets. "Exactly, come on you two!" Rosa yells as she, Yang, and Blake charge at the injured Heartless.

"Blood Cutter!" She yells shooting off a crimson saw blade at the wounded spider Heartless. But it either heard the attack or was still distracted by the pain it was in because moved to the left of the spinning blade. However, the attack did manage to cut part way through its left claw which caused it to shriek in more pain as Yang and Blake drew closer.

Blake then threw her katana in its folded form at a support pillar and swung towards the Widow. Using its three remaining eyes to see, it swung its right claw at Blake as she got closer. But when it connected, she disappeared then reappeared on its injured claw. She then uses both the sheath and katana and strikes the part of the arm that Rosa's attack hit, severing its left claw and then leaping away.

The Shadow Widow screeches in both pain and anger as it uses its remaining claw to attack Blake, only have it knocked back by Yang who had sprung towards it using the recoil from her gauntlets.

Sensing that it was starting to get overwhelmed, the Shadow Widow backs away to try and think of a new plan of attack. It suddenly heard the voice of its master speaking in its head.

'Widow I have a new target for you. Forget about the people in front of you and go after Star and Jackie.' Janna told it. 'If you can devour their hearts, it could help increase your power. Understand?' it nodded slightly indicating that it understood. 'Good. Now just wait for my signal, then strike.

During this, Marco, Ruby, and Weiss made their over to Yang and the others.

"What's that thing doing now?" Marco asked. "No clue. It just backed away and now it's just sitting there waiting." Yang said keeping her eyes on the Heartless, as it tenses its legs up for a possible attack.

The Shadow Widow looks slightly to Janna, waiting for its signal from her, while also keeping its guard up.

"NOW!" Janna shouts and the Shadow Widow begins rushing towards Star and Jackie.

"What the- it's going after Star and Jackie now!" Yang said as she and others quickly ran after the speeding spider. "But why would it suddenly do that?! It make no sense, is it getting desperate?" Blake asks. Marco then suddenly hears Riku's voice.

'Marco listen, that Heartless is going after those two because your friend ordered it to.' 'WHAT?! Are you certain?!' 'Yeah, I think her darkness is feeding off of her jealousy towards Star.' He explained. 'But then why is she having it go after Jackie as well?' Marco asked franticly.

'The darkness in her heart must be affecting her to the point that anyone in her way will get hurt. You need to end this battle now or her heart will be lost and she'll become a Heartless herself.' Riku said sadly.

'I'm not letting that happen to her got it?!' Marco said defiantly, which surprised Riku. 'I'll save Janna no matter what. Even if that means bearing the burden of her darkness myself!' he said determined to save his friend.

Riku couldn't help but smile after hearing the conviction in his descendant.

'You're starting to sound like someone I knew when I was around your age. Okay Marco, I'm right behind you let's do this!'

"Alright! Yang, I need you to get on that thing's back." Marco says running next to the blonde brawler. "Okay and do what?" "Start hammering at it to stop its run." "Oh, I can handle that!'" Yang said running further ahead.

"Now while Yang does that, Rosa, I want you to separate Janna from those two with the black coats." "With pleasure." She said with a sweet but scare smile on her face.

"I just said separate Rosa okay?" "Oh I heard you Marco, but I get to choose how to separate your friend from them. Don't worry, I'll make sure Janna don't get hurt." She said sincerely, before stopping and turning towards the three near the fountain.

'I really hope she doesn't do anything too extreme.' Marco thought, as he quickly gets his head back on the situation.

"Ruby, Weiss, and Blake, you three are with me. We're going to protect Star and Jackie." He said receiving a round of "Right" as the four quickly moved.

Upon seeing the giant spider Heartless charging at them, Star and Jackie hop on her skateboard to try and get away from it.

"Why is it suddenly coming after us?!" Star said hanging onto Jackie as she tried to get them further away. "You heard when Janna yelled that things suddenly started headed for us right? Something tells me that Janna was the one to tell that thing to come after us." Jackie said sadden at the fact.

"We've got to find a way to get her back to normal. But how-" "JACKIE IN FRONT OF US LOOK OUT!" "Huh?!" Jackie was so caught up in her thoughts, that she didn't see the crevasse that was made by the Aqua Shredder Heartless's attacks.

Jackie tried to avoid it, but it was too late as she and Star tumbled to the ground.

"Ow, that hurt. Jackie are you okay?" "Yeah, more or less. It's not the first time I fell off of board like-" Jackie stopped mid-sentence when she saw the Shadow Widow quickly close in from behind Star.

"STAR! BEHIND YOU!"

Star quickly turns to see the Heartless about too reach her. She tried get up to run, but she found that she was too scared to move.

The Shadow Widow opened its jaws as it got closer to Star who was too paralyzed with fear to move. But before it reached her, it screeched in pain and stopped its charge when it felt a continued barrage of punches on its back.

"What?" Star said as she saw the Heartless begin to fail about trying to shake off whatever was attacking it. When it turned its back to her, that's when she saw the reason it stopped. Yang was on top of it attacking with a combination of shots from her gauntlets every time she punched.

"Star!" she snapped out of the staring when she heard someone running up to her calling her name. She turned around and saw Marco along with Ruby, Weiss, and Blake.

"You okay Star?" Marco asked placing his hand her shoulder. "Y-Yeah Marco, I'm okay. Just a bit shaken is all." She said placing her hand over his in appreciation.

"Why didn't you start running again when saw that thing barreling down at you?!" Weiss said irritated. "Weiss calm down," Blake said. "Yeah, maybe she was just too freighted to move is all," Ruby said, walking over to also see if her new friend was alright.

Meanwhile, Janna, Ansem, and Cinder watched as Yang continued her attack on the Shadow Widow.

"I'm really getting tired of these guys right now," Janna said summoning a black orb to her hand.

"Are you planning to summon again?" Cinder asked. "I'm going to have to If I want to win aren't I?" she said darkly. "Very well then Janna, summon as many Heartless as needed." Ansem said, as Janna raised the orb in her hand preparing to summon.

But before she could that, two red slash waves came crashing down in front of the three, causing Janna to lose her focus and the orb in her hand to vanish.

When the dust from the attacks cleared, they saw Rosa shooting daggers at them, most notably at Ansem.

"What's the big idea interrupting my summoning like that huh?!" Janna yells while glaring at Rosa who responded by sighing. "As much as I would like to see what else you pull out of thin air, there's someone who wants to see you back to the way you use to be. So," Rosa then sent out two cross slash waves, which forced Ansem and Cinder to move away from Janna.

Janna cover her eyes with her arms when the dust kicked up from the attacks. When she uncovered them, she found Rosa standing right in front of her.

"Sorry about this in advance," Rosa says as she punches Janna in the stomach lightly, knocking her out. She then flings the unconscious girl over her shoulder and looks back at Cinder and Ansem.

"So you came only to retrieve the girl then?" Ansem asked with a grin that made Rosa's blood start to boil, but she quickly calmed down.

"As much as I would prefer to settle things with you right now, I was asked to take this one away from you two. But, if you want to start something right now, I could place her a safe distance and oblige the two of you." She said as red and black sparks danced along her Keyblade.

Ansem and Cinder glanced upward at Toffee, who inclined his head slightly at them.

"You may do as you wish with her." Cinder said. "Indeed, we have no further use for her now. However, should her darkness take hold of her again, I believe she would be most welcome to our ranks." Ansem said still grinning.

Rosa only glared at them, as she turned around. But before she left, she wanted to make one thing clear to them.

"You both can forget about that ever happening. From what I can tell, this girl here has heart meant for the light. Even if she's a bit of a trouble maker." Rosa said as she dashes off with Janna towards the other, leaving the two behind her.

"Hold on, why'd they just let that red-head take her?" Mercury asked a little confused. "Because we only needed her to confirm something," Toffee said pleased. "And I'd say, it was quite successful. So, do we just leave now?" Emerald asked. "Not yet, let's see how they end this battle first." He said.

Back to the fight, Yang continued her assault on the Shadow Widow's back. While Marco, Ruby, Weiss and Blake attacked from the ground as Star watched from behind them.

"How tough is this thing?!" Weiss says astounded that the Heartless hasn't fallen yet as she and others continue attacking.

The Shadow Widow then suddenly backs away quickly and slams its back against a wall creating web like crakes in it.

"Oh no, Yang!" Marco yelled as he saw the Heartless take its back off the wall. When it did, he and the others saw Yang begin to fall off the wall.

The Shadow Widow saw this as well and took the opportunity to swing its remaining claw at her sending her flying to the ground.

"Crap! She needs help!" Marco says about to run over to help, but stopped when he felt someone grab his shoulder. He turned and found Ruby was the one holding him with a smile on her face.

"Don't worry about Yang Marco," She says. "Ruby's right. If anything you should probably be more worried for that Heartless." Weiss said knowingly.

"Huh? Why?" Marco asked confused at what they we're talking about. "Yeah, what do you mean not to worry? Your sister could be hurt really bad Ruby." Star said just as confused as Marco.

"Yang's going to fine, on account of two things." The group turn to see Rosa walking up to them, holding Janna.

"Janna! Is she okay?!" Star asked worried about her friend. "Don't worry she's fine Star. I just put her to sleep for a bit." Rosa said in a caring tone, putting Star at ease.

"Rosa what did you mean when you said Yang will be okay because of two things?" Marco asked her. "Right well for one, Yang's aura would have kept her safe." Rosa explained. "Her aura? What do you mean her aura?" Star asked confused.

"Allow me to explain," Weiss said. "You see in our world, aura is the manifestation of one's soul and used in many different ways. However, it's mainly used as a form of defense. So Yang's aura absorbed the damage from that attack." Weiss explained.

"That. Is. So. Cool!" Star said amazed at what she heard, as was Marco. "So you guys are like invincible or something?" Star asked. "Ah no, actually the more we use our aura, the more it will deplete. And if that happens, we could get seriously hurt. Also, any minor injuries we receive are healed by our aura." Weiss explains.

"Okay, so what's the second thing?" Marco asked. "The second thing is Yang's semblance. Her what now?" Star asked confused. "Sigh, semblance. It's like a person's innate power that only they can use, with effects varying from person to person. Also, the nature of a semblance is said to represent the aspects of a person's character. Wow! But, what does this have to do with Yang?" Star asked.

"Well, Yang's semblance allows her to absorb the energy from the damage she takes from her opponent, and redirect it at them with twice the force, making her attacks stronger. That is what makes her special." Ruby said proudly, while Weiss sighed in exasperation and Star had sparkles in her eyes.

"Okay you guys, If you're done explaining things, how about we get ready for when Yang gets back up." Rosa said excitedly. "Umm, Rosa? Could you maybe leave Janna with Jackie first?" Marco asked her pointing to his unconscious friend.

"Oh right, sorry." She said embarrassed. "I'll do that, while you guys get set." She said dashing to where Jackie was.

"Alright, so what's the plan here? Since Yang absorbed the damage she took from that thing's attacks, do we just leave this to her?" Marco asked.

"Actually, we kind of fought something that was just as big as that Heartless before." Blake said, which surprised Marco a bit.

"That's why we're going to use the same team attacks just like back then. But this time, we're going to add two new things to them." Ruby said looking at Star and Marco. "Wait, you want me and Star to help with this?" he asked.

"Yeah, I know you two can." Ruby said with confidence. "For once, I'd have to agree with Ruby on this." Weiss said. While Blake smiled at them and nodded in agreement with her teammates.

"Well I'm all in for helping in any way in can but…" Marco trials off looking to Star. "Are you sure you're up for this Star? I'm mean, If your still a little weak from before I can-" Marco stops what he was about to says when Star places her hand on his shoulder and gave him a bright smile.

"Thanks Marco, for worrying about me. But I want to be able to help too, I don't want to seem like I'm getting in the way. I want to help to save Janna as much as my bestie does." She said causing Marco to mimic her smile.

"Now I'm wishing I had a camera to capture this adorable moment." Rosa said coming from behind, causing both teens to turn away from each other with a light blush on their cheeks. While Ruby, Blake, and Weiss looked at her with dead pan expressions.

"What?"

Meanwhile, Yang had just dug herself out of the ditch she made when she got swatted by the Shadow Widow, after it slammed its back against a wall to try and shake her off.

"Okay, that would have hurt a lot more if it wasn't for my aura." She mumble as she saw the spider-like Heartless making its way to her.

"YANG!" a voice yells from behind her. She turns around to see Ruby waving to her.

"DO YOU REMEMBER THAT FIGHT WE HAD WITH THAT ATLESIAN PALADIN THAT TORCHWICK USED?" She yelled. "YEAH, BUT WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO-OOOHHHH, I GET IT NOW." Yang said turning back towards the Shadow Widow with a look of excitement.

"Your sister understood what to do pretty quickly." Marco said

"Yeah, well that's just how she is sometimes. So is everyone ready?" Ruby asked as everyone nodded their heads.

[Song cue: RWBY Die]

When the Shadow Widow reached Yang, it swung its claw at her. But Yang knocked her fists together, causing her blonde hair to flare up and her eyes to turn blood red. She then brought up her left arm and stopped the attack cold.

"My turn now!" She said as she threw her right arm back and then flung it at the Shadow Widow's claw completely tearing it off.

The Heartless faltered a bit at the loss of its remaining claw, but then quickly charged and head-butted Yang, sending her flying back towards the others.

"Get into your positions guys!" Ruby said as everyone got ready.

As soon as Yang flew pass them, Ruby shouted "Bumblebee!"

Blake immediately threw her folded katana to Yang who caught it while she held onto the other end of the ribbon that was attached to it. Blake then swung Yang around towards the Heartless, while she fired a shot from her gauntlets to boost her momentum.

But the Shadow Widow quickly jumped back, avoiding Yang's punch.

"Now! Weiss, Star," Ruby yelled. "Ice Flowers and Ice Stars!"

Weiss then summoned a glyph in front of them, while Ruby planted her scythe in the ground and Star raised her wand in front of it.

"Shooting Star Explosion!" Star yelled as several stars flew threw Weiss's glyph turning blue, while Ruby started firing off shots that also turned blue as they flew threw.

When the Ruby's shots hit the Shadow Widow, they froze upon impact. But when Star's spell hit its legs, the stars exploded in casing them in ice. The bullets and stars continued to hit and freeze parts of the Heartless until it could no longer move.

"Bumblebee again! Star, Marco," Ruby yells and looks to them.

"Ribbon Slash!" she yells.

Blake once more swings Yang around who fires a shot from her gauntlet again boosting her momentum. While Star and Marco run towards the Shadow Widow.

When Yang got close to the frozen Heartless, she fired one more shot from gauntlet and then drove her right fist into its head.

The force of the punch sent the Shadow Widow flying to the left.

"Star! Now!" Marco yelled then dashed ahead while Star stopped and raised her wand.

"Raspberry Ribbon Lasso!" she shouted as a ribbon of light shot from her wand and latched onto Marco.

Star then spun him around once, then released the spell sending Marco towards the airborne Heartless.

'Now Marco!' Riku and Monster Arm shouted at the same time in his head.

Marco then closed his eyes and then focused. He then re-opened and quickly shot passed the Heartless and landed/slide across the ground as the Shadow Widow exploded into a massive cloud of dark smoke.

[Song end]

Marco then let out an exhausted breath as he placed Path towards Nightfall into the ground.

'Well done Marco.' 'Yeah, not bad for a rookie wielder.' Riku and Monster Arm said proudly. "Thanks, but I really owe it to you guys and the others. If it weren't for all of you, I don't know what would have happened. So, thanks again." he said gratefully.

'We didn't do much, just helped you realize you're potential.' Riku said. 'Speak for yourself, I've been with this guy from when that princess attached me to him, and now he sees how great I am.' Monster Arm commented in a cocky tone which caused both Marco and Riku to roll their eyes.

Riku then sensed someone running up to Marco.

'Speaking of said princess, Marco you better brace yourself.' He said.

Marco became confused and was going to ask what he meant when he heard someone call his name in a happy and excited voice.

"You did Marco!" he looks up and sees Star barreling towards him with her arms opened.

"Ah Star? Just hold on a sec-Ugh!" Marco didn't get to finish what he was going to say as Star tackled him into a hug as they both fell to the ground.

"You were so incredible Marco! You moved so fast that you disappeared for a second when I flung you at that thing!" Star said excitedly. "And those black flames you shot that exploded into smaller ones were so cool!" "Okay Star, I think I get it. I'm just glad you're alright and… thanks for helping take down that Heartless." Marco said.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay too Marco." Star said still hugging him, until a sudden cough got both of them to look behind them to see the others (more specifically Yang and Rosa) giving them knowing looks.

"So, are you two going to kiss or what?" Yang said grinning at Star and Marco who both realized that they were still hugging each other and quickly stood up and separated both of them with a huge blush on their faces.

"Ha, ha, relax you two, I was just kidding. But seriously Marco, what you just did was incredible. And I thought only Ruby could move that fast." Yang said hooking her arm onto the still blushing boy.

"Yeah you both pulled that off as if you already knew how to do it." Ruby said excitedly. "I'll admit, the two of you did very well. I honestly didn't think that Star's spell would be that effective on that Heartless, even if it was enhanced with my glyphs." Weiss said impressed with Star's magic.

"Yeah, you both did very well." Blake said

"I'm still surprised that you were able to summon a Keyblade Marco." Rosa said throwing her own arm onto him as well. "And the way you performed with it as well, I thought I was watching my Master for a second there." "I-I don't know if I was that good," Marco said sheepishly.

"No way! If you decided to become a huntsmen, you'd be so awesome!" Ruby said happily.

"Same here. You'd be a pretty good at it." Yang said. "I agree with these two, have a little bit more confidence." Rosa added.

"If you two are done hanging onto him, we should probably think of checking on his friend, who is asleep thanks to a certain someone," Weiss says looking to Rosa who along with Yang, took their arms from around Marco.

"That's right, Marco we need to check and see if Janna's alright." "Okay Star calm down, we'll do that right now." He says placing a hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

"Hmph, it seems you forgotten what was said previously princess." A voice said approaching the group.

They look and see Ansem and Cinder along with three other black hooded figures approaching them, while everyone raised their respective weapons in response.

"You may have destroyed the Heartless your friend summoned for now, but unless you can calm the darkness that is raging in her heart, you won't be able help her at all." He said.

"Especially," Cinder says looking to Star. "If the reason for it is present should she wake up and if that happens, well…let's just say your friend won't be the same person you knew her as."

"By that you mean…Janna will turn into a Heartless?" Marco said which surprised Star and the others. Especially Rosa who was amazed that Marco knew about that.

"Marco what did you just say?!" Star asked him. "If Janna continues to hold onto her jealousy of you Star, she'll lose her heart and become a Heartless." Marco said while glaring at Cinder and Ansem. While Star had a look of distress.

"It would seem that gaining that Keyblade has opened you're mind to new knowledge boy." Ansem said while looking back at the hooded Toffee who he could only assume was smiling.

"What you said is correct. If the girl let's her envy continue to feed her darkness, then what awaits her is nothing but an endless abyss." Ansem said looking passed them at Janna while Jackie tried to wake her up.

"I believe it's time we took our leave," one of the hooded figures said to Ansem as they opened a dark portal. "There are other things we need to attend to soon. Why not leave them to their…more pressing matters." "Hmm…very well then," Ansem says as he, Cinder, and the other three walk to the portal.

"Hey hold it!" Star yells and Raises her wand at them.

Ansem stops and turns to her with a cold look in his eyes which began to un-nerve Star.

"Think carefully before you try and throw away that worthless life of yours. Although, seeing as how it's brought misfortune to those around, perhaps it would be better if you did go through with your attack." He said seeing the growing fear in Star's eyes as he and the others walked into the portal as it closed.

Star lowered he wand as they left and began to think about what Ansem said.

'Could he maybe be right? I mean if I wasn't around, then maybe Janna wouldn't have felt jealous and wouldn't have ended up like she is now.' Star thought until she felt someone shake her out of her grim thoughts.

She looks to see Marco with a worried expression on his face.

"Don't let what he said get to you Star," Marco said. "Remember, you and Janna are friends. Those guys probably only brought up the negative parts to try and use her." He said.

"Y-Yeah, your right Marco," Star said and suddenly hugs him which surprised him, but he returned it none the less.

They soon separated when they heard Weiss shouting at them.

"Could you two please make your way over so we can figure out what to do with your friend here?" "Sorry, sorry. Come on Star, we better get moving before Weiss has to yell again." Marco said jokingly which got the mewman girl to laugh.

"Right, I get enough of that from my mom as it is." Star said as she and Marco quickly made their way over to the other.

A/N: My apologies that this chapter took so long to get out. let's just say that life can be a serious pain in the butt when it feels like it. So I have a few things to go over with you guys. First, how do you think I handled Marco's dive to heart? and what do think him seeing a depiction of Ruby means? Second, do you want me to make a states list for the characters that will be wielding Keyblades? This will include the moves their Keyblade, abilities and whatever else. Now finally, do guys want me to do a similar thing for Star like I did for Marco when it's time to get her Keyblade? If yes, then who would she meet in her dive to heart? if not, then how would she get her Keyblade. So did you like the chapter? did I do the action scenes justice? let me know in your reviews and pms. Also if you've seen what I put up on my page, then let me know which of those crossover ideas would you like to see me tackle. okay see ya ;)