Sword Art Kingdom III

by Jacob Pendra-Huth

After so many years of waiting, the next chapter of SAK, with the final battle awaiting the trio of Keyblade wielders, Sora, Asuna and Kirito. With swarms of enemies coming from all sides, the heroes must not only gather the Guardians of Light, but also the Lost Princesses of Hearts, all the while doing their best not to let the enemy win, in any world, in any dimension.

8. Forgotten Friends! Meet Heart Sisters!

Author's Note:

Sorry for the long wait, everyone! With the holidays, work, and a few video games that blocked or distracted me from doing my story-writing, it ended up taking forever to get this chapter prepared. But fortunately, it is a long one, featuring new and old characters, including some that I already created drawings for on my DeviantARTs page. Just look up my work under the name 'Jacksonswordsman' to see my collection! In the meantime, enjoy reading this!

Oh, and just to let you know, there are spoiler alerts involving a couple of characters, so fair warning. Also, I would recommend reading the following before reading this:

Sword Art Kingdom: Final Mix 'There & Back! Saitama Keyblade Wielders!'

---

Resolute Oasis, Maho-Dou Magic Shop

"You want to reawaken those souls in you already?" Laralie asked, looking at the heroes in her shop.

"That's right." Kirito answered, "Think you can figure out a way?"

The six heroes, along with Lightning, had recently discussed about the souls that remained dormant within Sora, Kirito and Asuna's hearts. They wanted to see if there was a way to reawaken them, possibly using them as a Soul Burst. Though since Sora can't use that power like Kirito and Asuna, they also wanted to know if there was a way to manifest the souls in a different way. So they visited the Maho-Dou Magic Shop to speak to Patina, Laralie, and the apprentices.

"Is it possible to use the souls within us?" Asuna asked, placing a hand over her heart, "I would like to use Lightning and the other's powers again." Lighting looked at the young lady at these words.

"Well, it WOULD be Patina who would have the answer for it…" Reanne admitted.

"…Unfortunately, she still is unconscious." Mirabelle followed.

"She hasn't recovered from the last time we saw her?" Yui asked.

"She is a business woman." Laralie stated, "And if stocks won't sell, especially ones that cost a pretty penny like what she found, she won't take it easily."

"Sounds like Uncle Scrooge…" Donald compared.

"I wasn't around when you guys were starting on selling these powers, but I bet there might be one or two people around here who can use them, right?" Ellie asked, looking at a package that Silica sent on the table.

"Even so, maybe we can use those Finishers she bought into something else." Dori stated, "I mean, there has to be other usages for them, right?"

"And if we do that, we might just be able to help answer your problem, too." Reanne followed her train of thought.

"Didn't Patina have a book on this kinds of things before?" Mirabelle asked Laralie, "I know where she stashed it. I'll go get it." She rushed off into the side room.

"A book?" Sora asked, curiously.

"We found it back in Yusnaan." Lightning explained, "It told us about many forms of powers and the lore of each, but it mostly spoke about the power of the Soul Drive. However, it required those with open hearts, no malicious intentions, and great magical prowess to utilize it. The same also has to be said about the person it is conjured upon."

"And we fit the bill just right!" Dori declared, placing her hands on her hips, "We have great magical skills, we don't like anything evil, and our hearts are definitely open!"

"Dori, you still kinda have trouble with your magic, Dori…" Reanne admitted, getting a deadpanned expression from the chignon bun girl.

"And your brain is just as open as your heart is, Dori." Mirabelle added bluntly, walking into the room at that moment with a book in her hands. Dori puffed her cheeks as she made a noise three times, turning away from the others.

"Is this the book?" Sora asked, as Mirabelle handed the book over to Yui, who took it and looked at the cover. There was no title, but a golden heart with blue, green and bronze-colored streams ringing around it. She opened it up, and looked through the pages, with Asuna and Goofy reading over each of her shoulders.

"Gee, there's a lot to be said about souls in this book." Goofy noticed.

"It looks like this section is about Soul Drives." Asuna noticed, "More of the basics and history."

"Let me see if I can find anything about Soul Pacts." Yui told them, and she flicked through the pages. She scanned each page quickly, reading faster than anyone else there. Finally, she stopped at a page that had a picture of what looked like a dead Soul Pact, with an arrow pointing to a glowing orb, then to a shining Soul Pact. "Found it!" Yui exclaimed, "It says here that extra dormant soul pieces within a person can be turned into Soul Pacts!"

"Really? That's great!" Kirito stated.

"…However." Yui continued, "It looks like there are a couple things we're missing in order to reignite souls into being used for Soul Burst."

"What are they?" Donald asked.

"Well, one of them is a person who gave you or is relative to the soul piece sleeping within you." Yui explained.

"So in other words, Snow, Vaan and I need to be here to help reignite the soul pieces." Lightning understood, "That shouldn't be too hard."

"But the second one is trickier." Yui stated, "It says here that there is suppose to be an object called the 'Bond Lazuli'. It's supposedly a magical artifact that can reignite souls within one's heart, and put them through a metamorphosis in order to become used for Soul Burst."

"I see…" Laralie understood, itching her chin, "Without the Bond Lazuli, there's no way any of us can turn your original powers into the ones you have now."

"Do you guys have any idea as to where this 'lazuli' is?" Sora asked, looking to both the witch apprentices, Laralie, and Lightning. They all shook their heads in response to this question, causing the heroes to become slightly depressed at their lack of info.

"Wait…" Kirito muttered, coming to a realization, "I think this might require the help of Argo!"

"Oh, right! She has a lot of information, so she might know somethin' about the Bond Lazuli for us!" Goofy agreed.

"I'll try to see if I can get Vaan and Snow back here to help you guys out." Lightning told the heroes, "You try to learn where this magical artifact is."

"Right!" The six answered, and they left the building to set out on their mission.

---

(Insert 'Adamas Amalee ver.', TV version)

Music intro

(Rushing through black darkness, glittering shards of light pass by. As music starts, the three main Keyblades suddenly shoot forward like shooting stars, circling around from a distance, then crossing one another, shining brightly, forming the logo of the series.)

I'm trying to understand it but it's making me numb

(Left half of Sora's serious face, the other half hidden by the teeth of his Kingdom Key.)

This swirl of karma leaving such a bitter taste on my tongue

(Right half of Asuna's determined face, the other half hidden by the Lambent Light's teeth.)

'Cause I know the pain and sorrow, it has only begun

(The upper half of Kirito's face, with glaring eyes, the lower half hidden by the Elucidator's teeth.)

Who-o-oa, Who-o-oa, Who-o-oa

(Flashing through the faces of each hero; Donald, Goofy, Yui, Mickey, Riku, Leafa, Kairi, Axel, and Kayaba.)

Now I'm surrounded by my enemies, but luck's on my side

(In the dusty fields of the Keyblade Graveyard, the camera pans around the circle of the six main heroes as they ready their weapons.)

So I shatter through the walls and change the course of the tide

(In the same field, the camera pans the opposite way around the six other heroes as they ready their weapons.)

Can't stop this surging fate like a volcano set to break, Take a breath until you're set to

(Allies of the multiple worlds they will or have visited pan across the screen, finally ending with the silhouettes of the four Lost Princesses of heart, with the one in the center opening her hands to reveal a bright light.)

face that voice of fear. That god of death that's always looking down on you

(Philia stands on a lone green hill, staring at a card with the picture of Castle Oblivion on it. She feels a hand behind her, and looks to see Flair and Hinata standing behind her, giving assuring smiles, with Tinkerbell coming out of her pocket, and Samson giving a thumbs up.)

"Do you believe yourself?" I won't stop til I've won

(Maleficent and Dr. Temna stand together, with Pete and Tears next to them, and a swarm of Heartless and shadowed foes ready to strike.)

A glimpse of that bright future that's just begun!

(Xehanort's maliciously smirking face appears, as he and fifteen others float together in a circle. Screen splits in half as half of Heartless Oberon and Gouxus take the screen, their eyes shining from yellow to violet.)

Shining like a diamond, The emotions in your heart reflect like crystal

(The six heroes team up together, taking down Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed that come across their path with their weapons, skills and magic.)

As we vow an oath that will ignite your light and mine - And we will rise!

(A Demon Tower nearly falls on top of the six, but they get away, with Kirito, Asuna and Sora in the air, performing Soul Bursts and Keyblade transformation, creating Cloud's Buster Sword, Asuna's SAO Lambent Light, and Sora's twin guns, unleashing a sword beam, ice spears, and magic shots as one.)

So many times I've gotten back on my feet to make it to this moment

(A group of dark energy orbs shoots down the trio from a cliff above, hitting them into the ground. The attack comes from Xehanort, Heartless Oberon, and Gouxus.)

It's time our prayer that's waiting in the dark. Is set free so light the spark and let it shine!

(Sora, Asuna and Kirito get back up on their feet, shaking off their injuries, and raising their Keyblades as they charge forward, beams of sunlight shining upon each of them as they all take a leap at the Organization XVI, with their friends, the other heroes, including Roxas, Xion, Recon, Terra, Aqua and Ven, joining them from behind.)

Song ends.

---

Resolute Oasis, West Wing

"Argo!" Kirito called out as he and the others approached the info broker, who was shuffling through a holo-pad with information. She looked up at the sight of them, and paced the pad away.

"Hey, Kii-bou. What can I do ya fo-?" She stopped at the sight of Goofy, and cried out, "NYAAA! Keep that mutt away from me!"

Everyone stopped and looked to the anthropomorphic dog, with Sora arguing, "Why? We told you he isn't a bad guy!"

"Let her get use to him, Sora." Kirito told him in a sympathetic tone.

"Anyways, Argo, we need some help on something." Asuna continued, "Do you have anything about something called a 'Bond Lazuli'?"

"Funny you should ask…" Argo answered, pulling out her holo-pad again, "I actually got some information about that very thing here. Kind of crazy how I ended up giving it to two people I know."

"Two people…you know?" Kirito asked, moving away from Sora and Goofy.

"Yeah. You guys are one, and another group came in a little while ago to get that same information, too." Argo explained, "Though if you want the info on who wanted it first, you're gonna have to purchase a Record Sphere from me showing that transaction."

"…Maybe later, if we're interested." Kirito responded, "First, tell us what you know, and we'll pay the price for it."

"Oh, this won't cost anything, as it's not completely confirmed it's down there." The info broker explained, pulling up the info, and readying it for trade. Sora and Jiminy pulled out the Gummiphone, and downloaded the info given to them by Argo. "However, according to Fran, she was able to sense a powerful magical object within some ruins. There was also some writing near that ruins. Balthier and Fran could barely translate it, but they did say something about a lazuli gemstone. They assumed that the gem was of great importance, and were planning to go investigate. However, they couldn't open up the door underneath the ruins to lead further in."

"A locked door, huh?" Sora understood, summoning his Kingdom Key Keyblade, "Well, it's a good thing Kirito, Asuna and I have the keys to open it up."

"We'll look into it for you, Argo. Thanks." Kirito thanked her.

"Don't thank me yet, Kii-bou." Argo retorted, "I told you that you guys that someone else's group got this information, too, and trust me, the leader is a real treasure hunter."

"A treasure hunter?" Donald echoed.

"Yep. You'd better stop yappin' and start catchin' up to her and her team if you wanna get to that gem of yours." Argo told them, "The ruins are south of the Eastern Quarter."

"Thanks, Argo!" Sora thanked her, and the six took off to their next destination; the ruins containing the Bond Lazuli.

As they ran, Asuna saw an expression on Kirito's face as they ran, asking him, "What's up?"

"It's…more of a funny feeling." He answered, "The way Argo spoke about this other person…It made me feel like she knew who she was."

"Well, she and the others have been here for a while. So they might've gained friendships with other people here."

"True, but I knew Argo for a while now, and so do you. She's more into business, so she wouldn't make friends with just anyone that easily. So it's either that, or she knew this person beforehand."

"But…that can't be right. I mean, she didn't even know about other worlds until Klein told her." Asuna argued as they made their way through Magia Street.

"I know…" Kirito agreed, looking concerned, "…Let's go catch up with this treasure hunter and see who she is."

"Hurry up, you guys!" Goofy called out to the pair, who realized they were falling behind the others, so they raced the catch up.

---

After a few minutes, they finally made it to the Eastern Quarters, and found the southern path Argo spoke about, which looked like it was less than changed compared to the rest of the city. Going along that southern path, they found themselves facing Heartless of variant kinds, including Shadows, Fat Bodies, Pogo Shovels, and Talonclaws. However, the team made quick work of them with their teamwork and skills, before progressing onwards.

After a while of racing through the ruined part of the city, they finally reached the edge, discovering an entrance to underground ruins.

They were about to make their way in when Kirito stopped and looked to a broken pillar that seemingly blocked the path to the ruins. Everyone else also stopped and looked to him, with Donald asking, "What's up?"

"This pillar…it's been destroyed recently." Kirito analyzed, looking at the ground, seeing small signs of his assumption being true.

"Do you think it was the treasure hunter?" Sora asked.

"Maybe, or one of her allies." Kirito assumed, "I'm just wondering how strong are these treasure hunters, and if they are good guys, or not."

"If they actually made it through the locked door." Yui pointed out, "I mean, Fran and Balthier are both treasure hunters, if I remember the information right from Yusnaan. So if they couldn't open it, maybe they couldn't either."

"Let's find out!" Sora declared, and he led the team down the steps down into the ruins.

The descent of stairs wasn't too bad, and they did make it down in less than a minute. However, when they arrived, they found the pathway and the door that they were told about, with Yui's assumption proved wrong. The large, stone door was very much ajar, with the keyhole split in half between the two doors.

"It's open!" Donald noticed.

"So they did make it through." Asuna understood, "And it doesn't look like the door was busted open, due to no damage, as far as I can see."

"Then that means the person who opened the door has a real knack for opening up ancient locks." Kirito understood, frowning at the sight, "We'd better get moving, before we lose the Bond Lazuli to them!"

"Right!" Sora and Yui answered in unison, and the six heroes charged through the opened door into the path beyond.

The ruined pathway was pretty much a one way path for the most part. There seemed to be light emanating from lanterns along the path. One look at them made the heroes realize they were lit with magic. The heroes ventured through it, dealing with walls to climb and descend, but they soon realized there was more to the dungeon crawl than they thought.

As the team walked along, the stone beneath them suddenly gave way, before a large portion of the stone flooring around them gave way, causing them to fall down a pit, screaming. They fell quite a ways down, before they landed into a dark room, not terribly big, but deep enough for the light above not to reach it.

"What happened…" Asuna grimaced, rising back onto her feet.

"Looks like we fell into a trap…" Kirito muttered, nearly rolling onto Donald as he tried to get up, angering the duck.

Sora also rose to his feet, grimacing, before opening eyes, and seeing something within the darkness that was not good; Yellow eyes. "Heartless!" Sora shouted, getting his Keyblade out.

"Great, and while we can't see anything…" Kirito grimaced.

"Donald and I can do something about this!" Asuna called out, "Donald, Fire spell, and raise it up high!"

Donald squawked in response, and raised his staff high while Asuna raised her Keyblade up high, and caused flames to burst out. It temporarily lit the room up, and everyone could see the Heartless surrounding them.

"Take em out, quick!" Kirito shouted to Sora, Goofy & Yui, who charged at the sight of the Heartless nearest to them. While Asuna and Donald made sure to keep some flames lit, the others made quick work with the enemies around them, until it was all clear. When it was done, magic lamps suddenly lit up on the walls around them, and part of the wall nearby opened up, revealing a path forward.

"That was close…" Asuna sighed, pulling out a bottle of ether, and handing one to Donald, who took it to recharge his magic energy.

"Do you think those other treasure hunters triggered that trap?" Sora asked, looking up at the top of the hole they fell through.

"That trap does seem like a one-time thing, so probably not." Kirito answered, "They might've noticed it in a way we didn't."

"But how did they see it?" Goofy asked.

"Someone with great observational skills?" Yui suggested, "Or maybe they're just aware of traps, being that they're treasure hunters."

"Well, whatever the case, it seems we made it further underground." Sora noted, looking to the door, "We might even gotten closer to the Lazuli."

"Then we'd better keep going, or those other guys'll get to it first." Asuna told the others, who nodded in agreement, and they exited the room.

It was clear that there were more traps than the one they just encountered, and unlike them, they didn't get the team closer to the goal. Some traps caused nearby statues to collapse nearly on top of them. Some traps made magic barriers appear, and they had to take out the Heartless that came with them before progressing onward. And some just had explosive magic that triggered at their feet. Due to that knowledge, the team felt like the treasure hunters before them either didn't make to these traps before them, or more likely they were able to notice and avoid the traps.

"I can't see HOW they made it past all that without triggering at least one of them!" Donald huffed, exhausted and injured after the assortment of traps they endured. Everyone else was also worse for wears.

"I don't know. Back in SAO, I heard about people who had trap sensing abilities, and were able to pinpoint where every trap could be in a dungeon." Kirito pointed out, taking a potion and downing it to heal his wounds, "So anything is possible if you have the right skill sets."

"I guess. It would be hard to believe someone would have the same kind of ability as those kind of people back in SAO, though." Asuna retorted as Yui was brushing her hair with her fingers, after the last trap ruffled it up badly.

"Guess Argo wasn't kiddin' about them bein' professionals." Goofy stated, having the worst-looking damage out of everyone, but otherwise unperturbed by his condition. Despite his demeanor, Sora healed him with a Cure spell.

"Just how good are these guys?" Sora asked, looking to the path ahead.

"Well, we don't know, nor do we actually know they are ahead of us." Asuna answered, "Either way, we still need to get to the Bond Lazuli before they do."

"Right then. Is everyone ready to keep going?" Sora asked the team, who nodded in response, with the exception of Donald. He huffed a bit, but decided to keep going with them as they all turned and continued on the dungeon pathway.

After a minute more of running through the corridors, Kirito, who was in the lead at the moment, sensed something as they neared a corner. "Hold on!" He whispered to the team, raising a hand to stop them. They all came to a halt as they questioned what Kirito was sensing. He peered around the corner, and saw a small doorway that led to the next room. He could see a light in there, along with the sound of movement. Someone was in there.

Without saying a word, he ushered the team to follow him quietly, and they rounded the corner tightly to not alert those inside the room. They kept close to the walls before nearing the doorway. Kirito and Yui both looked around the corner, and saw there was someone, indeed, inside.

The room was open, and it had a small flight of stairs that led to a treasure box, which was ajar. Three characters surrounded the treasure box, and based on their figures, they were clearly young ladies, maybe around their mid-teens. The one in the middle had shoulder-length dandelion hair. The one on her left had long raven hair that fell down her back. The one on her right had long dark purple hair that split into two parts, almost tentacle-like, and curled inwards, with what looked like thorns hanging off each side.

"Did you find it?" The girl on the left asked with an almost wispy voice.

"I think so." The girl in the middle answered, "Man, did they have to hide the gem in all this sand?"

"Are those the treasure hunters, papa?" Yui asked, peering in.

"Looks like it. And it looks like we caught up to them as they got their hands on the treasure." Kirito noticed.

Suddenly, something on the right girl's head glowed yellow, like a pair of eyes, along with a pair of teeth, and it started to speak in a gruff mail voice. "Hey! We got some spies right behind us! Show yourselves!" Kirito and Yui were both shocked to see whatever the thing was that spotted them, while the three girls surrounding the treasure box turned to face the doorway, looking serious.

The girl in the middle had teal eyes, her ruffled hair fell over her forehead and sides. She wore a blue, white and black-lined sleeveless top, which hugged her chest and showed her midriff, and was held up by a petal piece attached to the black and white collar around her neck. She wore black and white-trimmed shorts, a blue and white-trimmed waist cape that had a familiar silver heart and crown symbol on the back, a leather belt with a silver buckle holding it in place, including the satchel on it. She had long blue socks underneath black and silver-trimmed boots that reached above her knees, with blue gems near the top, and a satchel strapped to her left leg. She had detached sleeves with neon blue and yellow lining decorating it, and metal pieces guarding the back of her fingerless gloves.

The girl on her right had red eyes, though for some reason, there seemed to be eyes on her head that were yellow and black pupils. She wore a lavender jacket that zipped up with a silver skull zipper, though still showing her one-piece magenta dress underneath, along with some cleavage from her ample chest. The dress had a skirt that curved down the middle. Her stockings were also a purple color, and her shoes were pale lavender Mary Janes.

The girl on the left had pale eyes, almost like she was blind, with a zipped-up,green flak jacket that had pockets over each breast, a faded gold shirt that was underneath, with sleeves almost kimono-like, like the attire Yui use to wear. She had on black combat pants, with bandages on her left leg, and a bag strapped over it, and open-toed black shoes. Around her neck was some sort of forehead protector, with a symbol on the metal piece that was awfully familiar.

"Who's there?" The pale-eyed girl asked, raising her palms out like a Chinese kempo fighter, "I can see you spying on us!"

"Yeah! Get out here and show your faces!" The gruff male voice from the right girl demanded, and one of the tentacle-like hairs on her head pointed at the door threateningly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on a moment!" Kirito cried out, appearing around the corner with his arms up, "We didn't come here to start a fight. We were here to find something, just like you." He stepped into the room, followed by Yui, Asuna, Donald, Goofy and finally, Sora. Donald looked a bit hostile, but Asuna tried to hold him back.

The central girl stopped showing hostility, and looked shocked, looking down at Donald, Goofy, and finally, Sora, who she stared at for the longest of time. Finally, she asked, "S-Sora? Is that you?"

"Huh?" Sora asked, confused and surprised she knew his name.

She didn't make a word as she stepped down the stairs, while her comrades watched, as she approached the spiky-haired Keyblade wielder. She gazed at him for a few seconds, then she clenched a fist to her chest as blush-marks formed on her face, and she smiled. "It really is you, Sora. Donald. Goofy. It's…been a long time."

Sora looked to the other two she addressed, who shook their heads as if answering the question he had in his mind. Finally, he spoke it out loud as he asked, "Do we know you?"

She looked a bit heart-broken at first, but then came to an understanding shortly after, and closed her eyes. "Well…you did, once. But that was a long time ago. I guess your memories about me are still locked away." Sora, Donald and Goofy all looked confused at all of this.

"Sorry. Let me start over again." She told the group, opening her eyes, "My name is Philia. It's nice to meet you guys."

"Oh, uh…hi there, Philia." Sora greeted, "I guess you already know about us… Oh!" He looked to the other half of their team who were not addressed by her as he stated, "But I guess you don't know them. That's Kirito, Asuna, and Yui. They're friends of mine."

"I know who they are." Philia stated, looking to the trio with a smile.

"You do?" Kirito asked, surprised.

"But how would you know?" Asuna asked suspiciously.

"Simple. Mistress Gretinal told me all about you." The name surprised the six heroes.

"You…know Gretinal?" Sora asked.

"Yeah. My dear friends and I all help her out in many worlds." Philia explained, addressing her friends as they descended the stairs to join her side, starting with the one on her right as she introduced, "This girl is Flair. The hair monster on top of her is Samson. And this other girl…" she addressed on her left, "…Is Hinata."

Suddenly, from behind Philia, another character appeared. She looked like a pixie, similar to Yui when she was a Navigation Pixie, with blue eyes, blonde hair tied in a bun, faded blue pixie wings, and a green dress. "Do not forget about me, Philia." She told the young lady as she fluttered in front of her face.

"Oh, right. I'm not sure if you remember this pixie, but she's-."

"Tinker Bell!" Sora, Donald and Goofy recognized the girl happily.

"It's great to see you boys again." The pixie addressed the team.

"Wow! It's so awesome to see you again, Tink!" Sora stated eagerly.

"And you can talk, too." Goofy pointed out.

"I could speak before, but you didn't understand pixie." Tink noted, "But Gretinal enchanted my voice to be more audible to others." She sat herself on Philia's shoulder, crossing her arms as she looked a bit smug.

"Sorry for begin so hostile towards you guys." Flair apologized, as she looked to Kirito and Asuna, "We tend to deal with all sorts, so you can understand if we had to be defensive."

"No, it's okay." Asuna assured her, "Believe me, we can relate."

"Hmph! We don't need to apologize for what we did." Samson retorted, "Especially to these jokers!"

"Samson!" Flair barked at him, who crossed his tentacles in stubbornness.

"Wow. Hair with an attitude." Kirito muttered, looking at the eyes and mouth on the back of Flair's head, "You don't see that everyday."

"It's not as unusual as you think in my world." The girl stated, "There are a few people there who are bonded with a parasite. Samson is just one of them."

"Doesn't that get annoying at times? To have a monster cover your head like that?" Kirito asked, receiving an elbow to the ribs by Asuna due to his tactless question.

"Watch it!" Samson growled.

"No, it's okay." Flair assured them both, "I've just gotten use to him, after a while. Though I do wish I had an unlimited supply of hats to wear, since he keeps eating them."

"Hey, what can I say, kid? I love their texture!" Samson stated, licking his lips, "Especially bowler hats. Way tastier than fedoras or fezes!" Flair looked irritated up at her parasite, while Kirito and Asuna gave awkward, sweat-dropped expressions.

At the other section, Hinata interfered with Philia speaking to Sora as she asked, "Um, excuse me. This might be a weird question to ask, but, do you know a boy named Naruto?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course I do!" Sora answered, "He and I are pretty good friends. He's even shared his soul with me when we fought a bad guy together. You know him?"

"Hinata's from the same world as him." Philia explained, "I actually heard you were around when Flair and I were there."

"I thought that symbol looked familiar." Donald noted, looking at the forehead protector around Hinata's neck.

"So you're a ninja?" Yui asked.

"Not just any ordinary ninja. Hinata's been handy at using magic, too." Philia stated, "And her eyes are extra special. She's been able to see things the rest of us don't."

"Is that how ya didn't activate the traps?" Goofy asked.

"No. That was Philia." Hinata explained, "She is able to sense traps like those in the dungeon."

"And I bet you guys activated almost every one of them, didn't you?" Philia questioned the team.

"Whaaat? No way." Sora answered, averting his gaze, "I'm sure there were some we DIDN'T trigger, right?"

"Sora, only you can be that honest and dishonest at the same time…" Philia muttered.

"Anyways, just out of curiosity, are you guys here for the Bond Lazuli?" Kirito asked.

"That's right!" Flair realized, "Philia, the gemstone!"

"Oh, yeah!" She answered, racing back up the small flight of stairs to the treasure box, and searching through the sand that's in there. Finally, she discovered what she was looking for, and pulled it out. It was a rather large, deep blue gemstone, cut like a long diamond prism, and held in a golden frame that wrapped around the edges. It gave off a warm feeling upon revealing itself to everyone.

Sora came to one side, and saw the gemstone she picked up. "Is that…"

"The Bond Lazuli. Looks like Argo's info was right on the money." Philia stated, turning to show it to everyone. Everyone was in awe at the sight of the sparkling gemstone. Donald licked his lips as he slowly started to make his way up to touch it, only to be stopped by Asuna, who held his cape.

"Finders keepers, kids. We got to the Lazuli, and we're keeping it!" Samson growled at the six heroes.

"What?!" Donald and Sora argued angrily.

"But we came here to get it so we can reawaken the souls that are inside of my mama, papa, and Sora." Yui explained.

Philia looked to Sora, asking, "There are souls inside of you? Like Soul Pacts?"

"Sort of." Sora answered.

"They were actually used for another power before." Kirito explained, "We're hoping to use them now as Soul Pacts for Asuna and I, and hopefully something else for Sora."

"Then that means you guys can use Soul Burst, like Philia?" Tinker Bell asked.

The six heroes looked to Philia in amazement as Sora asked, "You can use Soul Burst?"

"Yeah. It was kinda thanks to you that I was awaken to that power a couple years ago."

"Me?" Sora asked, "How did I do that?"

"That's a story for another time." Philia answered, placing the Bond Lazuli inside the satchel on her leg which, despite being large than the satchel itself, fit right in. In conclusion, it was a magic satchel. "For right now, I guess you have an idea for where this stone can be used, right?"

"Yeah. At the Magic Shop." Kirito answered.

"Would you mind if we use it, please?" Asuna asked.

"I don't see why not." Philia chuckled, "Any friend of Sora's is a friend of mine. And a friend of mine can share the wealth of the treasures the Heart Sisters find."

"Heart Sisters?" Goofy echoed.

"That's our team name." Hinata explained with a smile.

"Do you have a team name for your group?" Flair asked. Donald and Goofy scratched their heads at this.

"Didn't we have one back in Yusnaan?" Asuna asked.

"Right. Team Keybladers." Kirito answered.

"Weird name." Philia told Sora, who chuckled in embarrassment.

Suddenly, Hinata and Kirito's eyes flashed, and they turned to the entrance as one, giving glares that drew the attention of the others, as Asuna asked, "What's up, Kirito."

"I sense something coming." He answered.

"You sense it, too, Hinata?" Philia asked, who nodded.

The team exited the room, and gathered into the hallway, with Kirito, Sora and Hinata in the lead. The ninja girl stepped forward, and concentrated as her blank eyes sharpened, and the veins around her eyes popped out. From her perspective, there was an aura all about the place, but she could see a mass of dark-colored figures coming down the hallway, nearing the corner. "Heartless!" Hinata warned the team.

"Leave it to us!" Sora declared as he and Kirito produced their Keyblades. Asuna followed with producing her own by Flair and Samson's side, while Donald, Goofy and Yui summoned their own individual weapons around Philia. They waited in baited breath as the Heartless came around the corner, composed of Shadows, Soldiers, Talonclaws, Large Bodies, and Flutterings.

"That's a lot of Heartless!" Asuna stated, seeing the swarm they had to deal with.

"We'll help you guys out." Philia declared as she, Flair, Samson and Hinata stepped forwards around the heroes. Samson readied his sharp tentacles as Flair summoned a weapon that looked like a large hairpin, but she held it like a rapier. Hinata summoned golden bracelets that had a red, icy blue, and yellow gemstone embedded around it. She held her palms out, which began emanating a violet aura.

However, it was Philia's weapon that surprised the Keyblade wielders, as she whipped her arm to one side, and in her hand, she summoned a long dagger weapon, but it took on a familiar shape. It was a silver Keyblade, with a sharp-looking shaft with a jagged part on one end, pointed teeth, a crescent-shaped, rough gold hilt that only guarded the front, with a blue gemstone embedded into the front of it, a bandaged hilt, and a keychain on the end with a sword for the medallion.

Sora, Kirito and Asuna looked shocked at the sight as they gasped as one, "A Keyblade?!"

"Sort of." Philia explained, "A Keydagger would be more the better term for it. Let's not talk about it, now! Let's fight!" The trio were very curious about her, but decided to give up for the moment, and concentrate on the fight.

Donald and Asuna opened up the attack with a double Water spell that blasted back a few Heartless, before the frontal assault team went into action, composed of Kirito, Sora, Goofy, Philia and Flair. Goofy bashed through a pair of Soldiers, making them fly upwards, only for Flair to leap up, and Samson to stab them both with his thorn tentacles, defeating them, before coming down with a stab onto a Shadow.

Sora unleashed several slashes with his Keyblade, before bouncing off a Large Body's belly, who was ready to swing his arms at him. However, Philia suddenly appeared, parrying the monster's attack before it could hit Sora. She then concentrated her Keyblade, which shined an electric yellow, sparking with energy. She suddenly quick-stepped around the Large Body, appearing from behind, and unleashing a slash on its' back. It suddenly became shocked and paralyzed by the attack. The attack attracted both Kirito and Asuna's attention, as it looked awfully familiar to the two.

"Sora, go!" Philia shouted.

"Right!" Sora answered, taking a high leap back, producing his Kingdom Key Keyblade, and aiming at the Large Body, along with many other Heartless around it. He then performed his Shotlock: Ragnarok, and blasted a large amount of Heartless with it, including the Large Body, destroying them.

"Nice move, Sora." Philia complimented the Keyblade wielder, "You got a lot better. I didn't know you could unleash that attack so easily."

"I wouldn't have gotten to unleash so easily if you hadn't givin' me that opening with that attack." Sora retorted, "Thanks a bunch, Philia!" The treasure hunter blushed at Sora's praise, looking down as she felt a bit flustered.

"Heads up!" Kirito shouted, slashing a Talonclaw away before it got close to the pair. "We'd better clean these guys up before we get to talking again." He stated, looking at the two before glaring at the Heartless remaining, "Soul Burst: Cloud Strife!" Kirito raised his Keyblade high, which shined as the silhouette of the young man himself appeared, before diving into his Keyblade. His weapon transformed right before his eyes, becoming the Buster Sword, which he held in both hands, ready to fight.

"Cloud?!" Philia looked amazed at what she heard, "You mean, that guy back at Olympus?"

"Get down!" Kirito begun swinging the massive sword, taking out Heartless with the brute force he was exerting, taking them out as quickly as he could. Flair, Goofy, and the others got out of the way as he was destroying them. After about ten seconds more of this, and one good Cross Slash to defeat the last Large Body, Kirito cleared the way. He spun the weapon around with one hand, before saddling it on his shoulder.

"Impressive. It's almost like the real thing." Philia compared, wandering up next to Kirito.

"The real thing?" He asked her.

"Yeah. I knew Cloud, too. Fought him as well."

"Really?" Kirito asked.

"Everyone!" Hinata called out as she, Asuna, Donald and Yui joined the others, "There are more Heartless in this dungeon! Lots of them!" She was looking ahead, her eyes focused like before.

"Really?!" Yui gasped.

"How can you tell?" Donald asked.

"That's her Byakugan." Philia explained, "She is able to see quite a long distance from all around her, and is able to sense the dark aura of the Heartless. She can also see other people approaching in the same way, by sensing their chakra or magic energy. It's how we avoided fights against overwhelming odds, as well as sneak attacks."

"Wow! That's incredible!" Sora gasped in admiration at Hinata.

"And here I thought you were blind, but you were just the complete opposite." Asuna stated, then realizing her statement might've been insulting, she quickly added, "I'm not trying to be rude by saying that."

"Don't worry. I've heard far more crueler words than that." Hinata assured her.

"We'd better get a move on before they gather up and attack us as one." Kirito told the team, his Soul Burst dying away as his Buster Sword reverted back to his Keyblade, "My Soul Burst's time wore out while we talked, too…"

"Sorry about that…" Philia apologized, "Guess I explained things too long, didn't I?" She walked past Kirito, patting his shoulder as she assured him, "Don't worry about it. In exchange for you showing off, I'll show you my Soul Burst, next." She raced on ahead, leaving Kirito befuddled at her words. Hinata and Flair passed him before he and everyone else raced after them.

It didn't take long for them to find more Heartless in their way as they made their way back up out of the tunnels. Fortunately, they only came in small intervals, so the team didn't have to unleash their full force like they did with the first mob. The six heroes ended up seeing what the Heart Sisters were capable of in minor battles.

Flair and Samson were clearly the close-ranged brawlers of the group, with Samson using powerful blows, while Flair made precision strikes with her rapier weapon. Asuna couldn't help but make a pointer or two to Flair on how to use her weapon more properly, as a rapier-user herself.

Hinata was skilled in close-combat skills, but her attacks were more magical-based than physically damaging. Thanks to her bracelets, she mixed magic with her ninja training to perform unique techniques, such as sending Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder-spells in the form of 'Twin-Lion Fists'. It was only her Aero-spell that was different, which was known as the 'Eight-Trigram Vacuum Palm'.

Philia, however, was clearly the lead in the group, able to perform great amounts of skills with her Keydagger, as she called it. Her athleticism was great, and she was even able to perform Airstepping techniques. She had numerous spells under her belt, including Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, Cure, and Gravity spells. However, the one thing that intrigued Kirito, Asuna and Yui the most was the fact she could pull off Dagger Skills, just like those who use it in SAO & ALO. The only ones she showed were Rapid Bite, Quick Throw, Paralyze Bite, and Accel Raid. They decided to question her about that after they escaped this place.

The traps that they triggered before didn't activate again, which was fortunate, but it made the Heart Sisters understand how many traps the six heroes actually triggered on their way down.

"Seriously, did you activate EVERY trap here?!" Samson demanded as they ran, seeing the debris of one of the exploding traps.

"Hey, it's not like we could see where they were!" Sora argued, "None of us have a trap-sensing power!"

"Well, at least there's no more traps to deal with from now on, right?" Goofy asked.

Karma just had to happen at this point, as they reached the path that connected with the room the heroes fell through. Philia's senses reacted, and she shouted out, "Donald, stop moving!" The anthropomorphic duck tried to come to a halt, but as he turned and took a step back in his haste, his foot suddenly caused a piece of the stone floor to sink in. Suddenly, a wide part of the ceiling started to fall down upon him.

"Donald!" Sora cried out, as Samson reached out hastily, and snatched his wrist, yanking him out of the way before the ceiling fell onto him, creating a wall that blocked the path forward.

"That was close!" Hinata sighed in relief.

"You okay?" Yui asked Donald, who was on his belly, looking too terrified for words.

"Guess there's no way of returning that direction." Kirito understood.

"How was I suppose to know that was there?!" Donald squawked, getting to his feet and adjusting his beret.

"No, that was my fault." Philia apologized, "I knew that was there before when coming down here, but I forgot about it."

"Now what?" Sora asked, looking to the room he and his comrades were in before, "Should we try going that way?"

"But it's a dead end." Asuna reminded them, "The hole we fell through is too high to climb."

"There has to be a way out of here." Philia optimistically stated, "Traps like that are made not only to trap people, but to also keep out enemies from reaching the treasure. So if this room holds anything, it's a trick to escaping our predicament." She marched right into the room, with the rest of the Heart Sisters joining her. The six heroes looked to one another, before joining them in the room.

Once they were all in, Philia stood in the center of the room, while Flair and Hinata made sure to have the others keep a bit of distance from her. They watched as Philia concentrated for a few seconds, before opening her eyes as her eyes glowed, activating a skill of hers. She looked about the place, keeping an eye out for any signs of a trick door piece. Finally, she suddenly spotted something. From her perspective, the room was glowing yellow, but there was a red stone piece on the wall that was slightly sticking out, compared to around it. She wandered over to it, and shoved her palm onto the stone piece. It sank right in. The grooves of the wall glowed slightly, as an energy suddenly shot right into the middle of the floor. A large magic circle formed on the ground, startling the team as they backed away from it. It was gold, and very intricate.

"What…what is this?" Asuna asked, dazzled by the glowing circle.

"If I'm right, this is how we rise back up the hole." Philia answered, her eyes back to normal as she wandered over to the magic circle, "Only one way to find out." She stepped onto the magic circle, waiting for her theory to be true. Suddenly, the magic circle replicated itself, rose off the ground, and floated upwards, carrying Philia with it. Everyone gazed up at her as she rose up the hole, disappearing from view for a while. When the magic circle reached the top floor, it vanished as Philia hopped off of it. She looked down the hole, and shouted, "Come on, everyone!"

Everyone climbed onto the magic circle, and waited for a few seconds, before the magic circle rose them off the ground, carrying the eight of them up to join Philia at the top. They hopped off the magic circle as it vanished, finding themselves at the floor they recognized as a couple minutes away from the entrance.

"Way to go, Philia!" Flair cheered for her leader.

"You really are a skilled treasure hunter." Sora stated, "How did you know that would work?"

"I didn't." Philia answered, looking back at the hole, "However, that's the thrill of treasure hunting; not knowing if things will work out. If you find the treasure, you gain something great. And even if you don't, you'll learn from the experience, all the same."

She looked to Flair, Samson and Hinata as she added, "And if you have people to share that treasure and experience with, the worth is exponentially increased. In fact, I bet I have you guys to thank for opening up the floor to help us reach up here. Who knows if things'll work out if the stone floor wasn't open for me when I rose up, or if that room would open if that other path closed. Not knowing things'll happen, and finding out what happens, makes me feel alive."

The six heroes were admired at Philia's speech. "Well, if we're responsible for helping you get back here, then I'm glad things worked out." Sora told her.

"Well, it is as you say, Sora." Philia turned to him with a gentle smile, "My friends are my power. And I am your as you are mine, right?" Sora looked startled at how she knew a thing he said a lot, but he smiled confidently, and nodded in response.

Behind them, both Kirito and Asuna were in their thoughts as they watched Philia and Sora together. 'It's obvious that Philia has a history with Sora.' Kirito thought to himself, 'And based on other conversations, she knows Donald, Goofy and Jiminy as well. But the real question is why Sora doesn't or the others don't seem to know her…?'

'…And why does Philia know so much about him?' Asuna finished in her mind.

Both of them went back to recollecting what Philia said that also confused them. It was how she answered when Sora questioned if they knew her.

"Well…you did, once. But that was a long time ago. I guess your memories about me are still locked away."

'Their memories of Philia were locked away?' Asuna echoed, 'What could that mean? Was there something that happened that made Sora and the others forget about her?'

'There are so many questions I have about her. Not just her connection to Sora, Donald and Goofy, but also her style of combat.' Kirito told himself, 'The way she uses her dagger, and uses those skills. They are so much like weapon skills of the virtual world back home, it cannot be just a coincidence.'

Suddenly, Sora's eyes flashed, as he sensed something. He turned to the path towards the entrance as something started to appear from out of nowhere. Several Dusk Nobodies appeared, and some other Nobodies that were new to the six heroes. They looked like thin figures in cloaks, the torn bottoms brushing the floor ever so slightly, with twin, lengthy cleavers for hands, and thin arms.

"Nobodies!" Kirito growled, the nine heroes summoning their weapons.

Hinata looked to the new Nobodies, and gasped, "Philia, those are…!"

"I know." She growled, frowning at the sight, "Murderers."

"Murderers?" Sora echoed, looking to her.

"The name of the Nobodies." She explained, then she started muttering to herself, "And if they're here, then…" She closed her eyes, knowing who was the commander of those particular Nobodies, and knew that they might just see him. She glared up as the Dusks swerved their way towards the group, while they charged ahead, taking them on.

The Dusks were not the problem, as they were the least dangerous Nobodies. However, it was the Murderers that were the more dangerous ones. They went from zig-zagging quickly towards their target, only to cleave them with a cross slash. They spun like tops while their cleaver hands were out, their cloaks fluttering upwards to reveal the thin legs underneath. They would even stand in one place as they flail their weapons about like bloodthirsty maniacs, making it impossible to get close to them. However, they seem to melt into the ground, leaving their cloak behind, before rising back up when someone gets close, and slash them with a pincer slash.

"These new Nobodies are tricky, but also freakin' insane monsters." Kirito stated.

"True. For some reason, I'm almost getting a vibe off of them that is awfully familiar." Asuna muttered, "Brings back memories of SAO, when dealing with-." She was cut off by a Dusk trying to whip her, only for her to block with her Keyblade and retaliating with a triple thrust.

"We need to take care of these things before it becomes too much!" Hinata declared, unleashing her Eight-Trigram Vacuum Palm to blow back a Murderer, before turning to her dandelion-haired leader, "Philia, maybe you should show everyone your power!"

"Huh?" Philia asked, lowering her guard for a brief moment, before realizing, "Oh! I haven't showed off my Soul Burst." She looked to the remaining Nobodies, and stated, "In that case, let me demonstrate a personal favorite of mine. Soul Burst: Jade!"

She raised her Keydagger high as the silhouette of a physically fit young lady with long-tied-back hair, holding a glaive, unleashing a kick forward before diving into Philia's weapon. She twirled her dagger in front of her as it transformed, becoming a glaive like the one the woman used. Now using both hands, she twirled the blade above her head, before bringing it down behind her, ready to use it for battle.

She started spinning her glaive about, before sweeping away the first Dusk with a single slash. She then started unleashing combos with her weapon as she slashed, swept and thrusted her way through the competition of Heartless. That is not to say she only used her weapon, as she also unleashed kicks as surprise attacks, from low sweeps to reverse somersault kicks. As for any special moves with her lance, she would sometimes encase her blade in ice before slamming it at her opponent, or encasing her glaive in lightning, and bringing it down onto the ground, creating a wide-ranged Thunder-element spell.

"She's really taking them out for us!" Sora noticed as they made sure not to get in the way of Philia's storm of attacks while following from behind.

"Hey, this ain't even her best, kid." Samson warned him, as Philia ended the life of another Murderer, before seeing more Nobodies appear. They were about halfway to the entrance at this point.

"Time to get a little more serious…" she told herself, glowing with energy. Kirito, Asuna and Yui looked in amazement as they watch her hold her glaive out in front of her, shouting, "Advance Burst: Re-Vamp!"

She stabbed her weapon blade-first into the ground, which magically vanished before everyone's eyes, as she raised a hand almost elegantly, before whipping it to one side. A dark energy of red and black suddenly sparked around her body, consuming her. The six heroes looked worried, while Flair, Samson and Hinata were not disturbed in the slightest.

When the dark energy died down, Philia's entire appearance had changed. Her skin color gained an almost purplish color, and her eyes became red and yellow. Her attire was not her usual look, but a black and gold-trimmed bunny girl costume, complete with bunny ears, with one ear flopped slightly, a red choker with a gold heart, coattails coming off the costume, fishnet stockings, black stilettos, and gold bracelets.

"What…just happened?!" Yui questioned.

"Philia looks different." Donald noticed.

"She looks pretty, but scary." Goofy described.

"Advance Burst?" Kirito echoed what he heard her shout out, looking at her from behind, wondering what this power was.

Asuna looked to Kirito, then back to Philia, then looking back and forth a few times before blushing and shouting, "Kirito, don't stare at her so much!"

"Huh?" Kirito wondered for a second before realizing why Asuna was upset, and defended, "N-No! I wasn't looking at her like THAT!"

Philia glared at the Nobodies, saying, "Better steer clear. This lady is as beautiful as a rose, but demonic as the devil." At her last word, she unleashed multiple kicks in one go, taking out any that were close to her. She saw an oncoming Murderer appear from behind, and she did a spin kick to divert the cleaver hands from striking her, before unleashing a hip strike that created a heart-shaped explosion upon impact.

She turned to the two Dusks coming her way. Her hands glowed as heart energy surrounded her. She brushed her hands up her body, showing off her figure, before brushing her bangs, and forming a gun with her two hands, the heart energy formed at her fingertips, before firing it forward. The heart shot struck down one of the Dusks with absolute ease, while the other one came close to Philia, about to strike.

Philia snatched the head of the Dusk, surprising it, and she had a mischievous smirk about her. "How about a little gift from yours truly?" She asked the Nobody, "I'll treat you to a puff-puff." What she did next was not only something Sora, Donald, and Goofy to blush strongly at, but made Kirito hurriedly cover Yui's eyes to refrain her from seeing what was taking place, while averting his gaze, as well.

Asuna looked flustered, her cheeks rosy at what was taking place, before turning to Philia's team, demanding, "How is this deemed appropriate for a fight?! Doesn't she feel any shame for her actions?!"

"Philia was like that at first." Flair admitted with a confident grin, "But eventually, she realized that sometimes it takes a bit of 'womanly charm' to disarm your opponents before-." Her sentenced was cut short after the sound of a collision took place in the fight. Philia sent a charmed Nobody flying with a kick, causing it to move radically about, knocking out some of its' brethren in the process.

"And they say Nobodies don't have hearts." Philia stated, placing a hand on her hip, "Seems like they show their true colors when dealing with fem fitales." She charged forward, continuing her assault, charming and kicking her opponents with her beauty then demonic combo. She was clearly much stronger and more dangerous than what they had seen so far.

"Just a few more left." Philia stated, seeing the last enemies ahead of her. She jumped upwards, and unleashed her Finalé. She spun like a ballerina, creating a powerful pink tornado underneath her, entrapping the foes and causing them to spin about without control. She then glowed with a dark aura, chuckling maliciously, before releasing a storm of kicks that were amplified by her powers, consuming the range of the tornado, and destroying every Nobody within. When the attacks died down, Philia sighed in relief as her body glowed, reverting back to normal again.

She turned to the others as they raced up to her, with Yui exclaiming, "That was amazing!"

"You really took them all out with ease." Goofy pointed out.

"What kind of power was that?" Kirito asked, "It was definitely beyond that of a simple Soul Burst."

Philia paused for a second before understanding, "I guess you haven't reached that level of your Soul Burst powers just yet, huh?" Kirito, Asuna and Yui all shook their heads at this. "Well, when you use your Soul Burst in enough battles, you can level it up, and allow yourself to unleash a secondary form that is far more powerful, called 'Advance Burst'. Think of the first form of the standard level the soul of the person can use, and the Advance form being what their max level of power is."

"I get it. It's kind of like how we can use more powerful Finisher moves in our Soul Drives as we use it more in battle." Kirito understood, "And the more it is leveled, the stronger we are, right?"

"You got it right on the nose!" Philia answered.

"Well, I can't wait to see what the Advance Burst forms of your souls are." Sora stated, looking from the SAO trio, to Philia, before adding, "Though, it was kind of embarrassing to watch a couple of those moves you unleashed onto those Nobodies." Donald and Goofy nodded in agreement.

Philia thought about the moves she had done, and suddenly became beet red in the face. The puff-puff, the Sexy Beam, and even the attire she wore. She was so use to it doing it in front of her friends, who were, for the most part, girls, that she didn't even consider the fact that she was doing it in front of her old friends, especially Sora.

(Insert SAO II OST 'A Brisk Conversation')

"I…I…" Philia stammered, "Oh my gosh! I…I was doing all that. In front of Sora? I was…" She squealed as she covered her face in embarrassment before crippling to the floor, ashamed of herself. "I am so sorry you had to see that! I just…when I take on that Re-Vamp form, I end up getting a little carried away with my attacks. Please, don't think I'm the kind of girl who does stuff like that outside of fights!"

"N-No! Don't worry!" Sora seemed surprised at her embarrassment, "I understand the feeling! Whenever I was using my Soul Drives way back when, I kinda get carried away with the personality of the soul!"

As Philia was still in her embarrassed state, the others watching the pair had sweat-dropped expressions. "I'm confused. Why is Philia acting this way around Sora?" Yui asked out loud.

"Well, whenever Philia speaks about Sora to Hinata, Tink, Samson and I, she does show signs of her feelings for him." Flair explained.

"No kidding." Samson agreed, "She sometimes gets carried away when talking about him."

"So Philia's got a crush on Sora?" Goofy asked, causing Donald to chuckle a bit.

"I understand Philia's feelings." Hinata agreed, "If I did something like she did in front of Naruto…" Her imagination got the better of her, and she blushed and covered her face with her hands, exclaiming, "I would die with embarrassment!"

"Yeah. I would get uncomfortable if I did that, too." Asuna agreed, blushing as she averted her gaze from Kirito, "I-I'd rather not do stuff like that at all, let alone in front of Kirito."

"Let's just make sure we don't have Soul Pacts with anyone who do that kind of thing." Kirito prayed. He then approached Sora and Philia, saying, "Hey, uh, can we get a move on? The sooner we get back into town, the sooner we can get away from the Heartless and Nobodies, and bring the Bond Lazuli back to those girls."

"R-Right…" Sora agreed, looking down at Philia, who was slowly recovering her emotions, "Philia, shouldn't we get going?"

The embarrassed treasure hunter regained herself, and rose to her feet, blushing back at Sora, before giving a nod in response to his question. She turned away from the others, patting her cheeks to refocus herself, and got herself back to normal, leading the team out of the dungeon.

As soon as they left, each of them held back until they were gathered up together again. "Well, we got out of that place in one piece." Samson stated.

"And with treasure, to boot!" Flair added.

"I'm so glad our mission was a success." Hinata cheered, making a girlish pose at their accomplishment.

"Well, we wouldn't have gotten this far without Sora and his friends." Philia stated, looking back at the six heroes, "Thanks so much. I owe ya."

"You can owe us by having us use that Bond Lazuli when we give it to the girls at Maho-dou." Kirito requested.

"Deal." She replied, nodding confidently at this agreement.

Suddenly, there was a sensation that drew everyone's attention, and they all turned to see a Corridor of Darkness appear onto the fallen pillar nearby, and out came a familiar black-cloaked figure…only this one's cloak was different from any other Organization member. It was torn up to only go down to his knees. His black pants and boots were showing, revealing several brown belts wrapped around his legs.

"Well, now. Ain't this a party filled with familiar faces." The hooded figure stated, looking down at the group of heroes, "Old faces, all of ya. Well, except for the pipsqueak over there." He was indicating Yui at this statement.

"The Organization!" Donald growled.

"PHox!" Philia barked, drawing the attention of the six heroes. She clearly looked ferocious at the sight of him.

"Well, now. It's been a while, Philia." The man called PHox greeted, Tell me; You learning to be a bad girl, yet?"

"You just can't stay away from her, can't you?" Hinata questioned as she, Flair and Samson gathered around her. Even Tinker Bell rose out of Philia's clothing to join them.

"What can I say? I'm doing her a favor by helping her remind her of who she was." PHox stated.

"And I'm telling you that is not true!" She snapped back.

"Seems like they got a history with one another." Yui noticed.

"Yeah. And I remember Nariko and Yasu talking about that guy." Kirito recalled, thinking to the two people they met a long while back who were once not only SAO survivors, but also members of the Organization, Larxene and Demyx.

"Right. It's been a while since I remember that talk." Asuna admitted, "But if that's the case, this means this guy was the SAO survivor who became part of the Organization, too!"

"I know you guys are talking about me." PHox called out to the SAO pair, "And I know you guys all too well. Solo Player, Black Swordsman Kirito, as well as Second Commander of the KoB, Lightning Flash Asuna."

"Yeah, well if you know us THAT well, then I suppose were suppose to know you?" Kirito demanded.

"Oh, boy, oh, boy. You really don't remember me?" He asked, "Well, maybe I should show you who I am…" And he pulled off his cloak, revealing his face. He had black hair, with pieces of long hair falling from his forehead down his left side, beady yellow eyes, and a blue, scar-like marking going up the left side of his face.

He gave a sinister grin at the group, who looked serious as they glared up at him. However, it was Kirito and Asuna who looked shocked beyond words. "No…it can't be!" Asuna gasped.

"You gotta be kidding me…" Kirito muttered.

"You guys know him?" Philia demanded.

"Yeah…" Kirito answered, trying to calm himself as best as he could, "That guy…he was the leader of the most notorious red guild in Sword Art Online. The leader of the Laughing Coffin: PoH!"

"Pooh?" Sora echoed.

"Red guild?" Goofy followed.

"His name is spelled 'P-O-H'." Asuna spelled out, "It means 'Prince of Hell'. He led a group of killers back in Aincrad. He's very dangerous!"

"Oh, these guys already know that." PHox declared, looking down at the trio, "Or rather, they DID know about me. Guess they forgot about me, just like how they forgot all about you, Philia." The treasure hunter gritted her teeth, hating the man right now.

While Sora, Donald and Goofy wondered at his words, Kirito demanded, "How did you end up getting recruited by the Organization?! I knew the reason they would recruit people like Sugou, but a murderer like you?"

"Why? Because I fit the bill to do a lot of the messy work most others aren't too keen on doing." PHox answered, wandering down the fallen pillar, "I did my part for a while. Then I was given a chance to be a Seeker of Darkness, to take on the Guardians of Light in an all-out festival of murder and chaos. Who wouldn't want to take part in such a grand party?!"

Yui huddled behind her mother in fear, while Asuna growled, "I can't believe you would find taking the lives of so many people 'fun'."

"First people lives aren't enough. You're after people's hearts, too?!" Kirito demanded.

"Why not? It's really the same thing." PHox stated, "Hearts can be snuffed out so easily, be they be a human or a monster. And since there are millions upon millions of hearts to massacre, why should I hesitate? The heart yearns for what it wants. If it wants to kill, it kills. If it wants to make another suffer, it shall do so with the upmost pleasure. So I follow my heart's desires, to do what I want."

"That doesn't make it right!" Sora retorted, "Even if your heart want to hurt others, doing that is just wrong! Taking lives, severing hearts from one another, causing so much suffering, both from the living and the dead…doesn't that bother you at all?!"

"Don't try to judge my actions, little boy!" PHox retorted, "I'm sure you caused pain by taking the lives of the so-called villains you and everyone else here have slain." Sora gritted his teeth, hating to hear these words.

"Deep down, we are all murderers!" PHox spread his arms out wide, "The dark destroys the light, and the light destroys the dark. The only difference between us is if we are enjoying what we are doing or not! I survived in our old world because I chose to love the sight of bleeding hearts, and I wasn't the only one…"

He turned to Philia, pointing a finger at her, "For all you know, you and I were in the same boat. We were both murderers. Killers. Destroyers of lives. You don't have any memories of who you truly were in the past, so why choose to toss aside what might be the truth?!"

The six heroes looked to Philia, with Kirito, Asuna, and Yui not fully confirming, that she was, indeed, an SAO survivor. However, as PHox pointed out, she didn't seem to have memories of who she was.

"You're right. I don't know about who I was way back then. And it is something I am continuing to seek out." Philia admitted, curling her fists as she glared up at PHox, "But you just said it yourself; The heart has its' desires. And my heart's desire is NOT to be a deranged murderer like you. I choose my path, and I chose to protect as many treasured hearts as it takes, especially from people like you, your Organization, the Heartless, and anyone who will choose to cause them harm! I will not allow people like you to change me differently!"

Her Heart Sister allies all smiled and nodded in agreement at her statement. The six heroes could only look in admiration at the girls strength against her opponent. Clearly, she had dealt with a lot, but it only made her heart even stronger with every conflict. She, like their group, still had many things she wished to have, and she had weaknesses. However, she wasn't gonna allow such things to slow her down. To them, she was just as strong of a person as they were.

"Then I can't wait to see all that bravado and pomp be destroyed the moment you accept who you really are." PHox finished, raising his arm high, causing darkness to exert from it, "I shall have fun tormenting all of you once again in the future. In the meantime, why don't you have fun with this beast of mine…"

He created a giant ball of darkness, which suddenly dissipated to reveal a floating Heartless. It's main body was spherical, with glowing yellow eyes underneath a stone crown, jagged teeth underneath it, and twin rings crossing around its' body. However, it also looked like there was another pair of eyes and a set of teeth on the bottom part of the body, too, only instead of a crown, it had stones shaped like wind-swept hair. Surrounding its' body were four pillar-shaped parts, like the columns around the ruins. Two of them looked bronze-colored with gold ends, while the other pair were granite-colored with silver ends. They revolved around the main body in a square formation, like an alien saucer.

"It's Showtime, folks!" PHox finished as he vanished into a Corridor of Darkness, disappearing from the scene, as the nine heroes prepared to face the Heartless.

"He summoned a Heartless?!" Kirito questioned, producing his Keyblade.

"I haven't seen that one before!" Yui stated, "If only I had my scanner back from Hope…!"

"Hold on…" Philia pulled out a book surprisingly from one of her satchels, confirming it was magically larger inside than it looked.

She flipped through it as Donald asked, "Why are you reading, now?!"

"That's a book on Heartless." Hinata explained, "And not just them, but she has books on Nobodies & Unversed, too. Mistress Gretinal gave the books to us."

"Got it!" Philia called out, finding the picture of the Heartless, "The Ruins of Disaster. It is said to be swarm of Heartless that took control of cursed ruins. Watch out for the columns around its' body, as well as what face is facing up."

At this point, the Heartless' granite columns suddenly split from the rotating around the main body, flipped about in the air, before hurling down at the heroes, who dispersed to avoid the attack. The columns came out of the ground they slammed into, and continued to rotate around the body as it slowly moved about the field.

"We gotta hit the main body!" Philia told the team, "However, the columns are much weaker than it, so we can destroy them before the body."

"Then we'd better take out his weapons before we take it out!" Kirito demanded, "Let's use that same formation as last; melee fighters out front, taking out the columns first!"

"Right! Hinata, Donald and I can handle magic and healing until the columns are cleared." Asuna followed, with the two nodding in agreement.

"Right. Let's go!" Kirito shouted, leading Philia, Sora, Flair, Goofy & Yui into the close-ranged battle.

The Heartless sent the two granite columns slamming towards Kirito and Flair's positions, but they dodged out of the way to avoid the main damage. They skidded to a halt as Sora and Yui went into action, unleashing combo slashes with their Keyblade and fan, damaging the columns that were on the ground until they were sent back up to rotate around the Ruins of Disaster.

Goofy & Philia leapt up at the columns, and unleashed a bash & slash technique with their shield and dagger together on one of the bronze columns. However, the damage it did didn't seem as effective as they thought.

As they descended, Philia hopped onto Goofy's shield, and pushed off for an extra boost to slash the pillar a few more slashes on the bronze pillar. Again, the damage wasn't as effective.

"Is the bronze not that effective against physical damage?" She asked herself, "In that case, I need to target the other kind of pillar…"

She descended again when Tink shouted, "I got you!" And she spiraled around Philia, performing an Aerial Dodge technique that gave her a double jump. She came out of it, her Keydagger glowing a light blue before unleashing her Rapid Bite Dagger Skill to unleash one more powerful slash, this time striking at a granite pillar. The attack caused the pillar to break and fall apart, crumbling to the ground.

"Yes! One down!" Philia told herself as she landed on the ground, before seeing the Heartless spun the columns, pointing them downward, and slamming them down like pile drivers, creating shockwaves that sent Philia flying backwards. Goofy caught her before she tumbled onto the ground. "Thanks a bunch!" She thanked the anthropomorphic dog, who chuckled in response.

"We got an opening, thanks to you!" Asuna called out, "Hinata, Donald, let's go!"

"Right!" They answered together. Asuna fired of Water from her Keyblade. Donald unleashed Fire from his staff. Hinata triggered Thunder Twin-Lion from her fists. All three attacks swirled about one another as they shot towards the Ruins of Disaster. The Heartless saw the attacks coming, and its' head rotated, revealing the other head underneath. It used its' other granite pillar to block the attacks, which struck it. The results were making the attack less effective than before.

"Our weapons did more damage to those columns than the magic attacks." Sora noticed.

"Then that means we know what is not effective." Yui understood, "The granite-colored ones are resistant to magic attacks, while the bronze-colored ones are resistant to physical."

"But the same can't be said the other way around, I bet." Philia added, "We can target the other pillar, and use magic on the bronze ones. That should give us an opening to the main body!"

The Heartless suddenly caused the three columns to spin like propellers as they rotated around its' body, like a barrier. It turned to Yui, Flair & Sora's position, and charged towards them with its' spinning columns. "Move!" Flair shouted as the three ran away from the attacker as fast as they could. They hopped over a fallen column and ducked as it passed right over them, coming to a halt and ceased the rotations of the columns.

"How dare you!" Samson roared, grabbing Flair's foot and pulling her into a spiky spin-dash, much like Sonic from way back when, and rolled towards the Ruins of Disaster, before leaping off a stone. It ceased the spin dash, and the two-in-one team were near one of the granite columns.

"Get ready, Filia!" Samson declared.

"Okay, but you have to remember it's 'Flair'!" She retorted, and they unleashed their 'Banshee' technique, with Samson shapeshifting to make Flair to look like a sort of moth-girl, and she flew right at the pillar with her rapier pointed forward. After a second of pushing, the attack broke through, and destroyed the pillar, causing her to strike the main head of the monster. She bounced off, and landed onto the ground, Samson reverting to normal hair style.

"Awesome!" Sora cheered.

"I've never seen hair used in such a way!" Yui exclaimed.

"Well, there's a reason why I count on them in the brute force department." Philia stated.

The Ruins of Disaster roared, and flipped itself about, with the two remaining columns on either side of its' face. It then started punching them forward one at at time as it charged at Flair, who turned and got a face full of one pillar. She got struck hard, sent flying right back towards Sora and Yui, smashing into the pillar behind them.

"Flair!" The two cried out, seeing the damage Flair & Samson took. They saw the Heartless stop it charging punches, and looked down with a roar at the pair.

Yui readied her tessen as she shouted, "We have to protect her! Let's use Team Attack!"

"You got it, Yui!" Sora answered, readying his Kingdom Key. They went back-to-back with their weapons out, gathering wind magic, then connecting their weapons together, making them spin. "Homing Tornado!" They shouted in unison, unleashing half-a-dozen tornadoes with their powers, striking the body and columns of the Heartless, damaging it all.

Flair, at this point, downed a potion, and slowly rose to her feet, before she and the other two exited the area they were standing at. This gave the Asuna, Donald, Hinata & Philia to charge in. "Those two can perform a Team Attack?" Philia questioned, looking at Sora and Yui with a slight jealous look.

"They're not the only ones." Asuna answered, "Donald, you think you can pull one off with me?"

"Of course I can!" Donald argued, "Let's show 'em!"

Philia looked to the two as they charged ahead, then stopped alongside Hinata as she shouted, "W-Well, we can take care of one pillar, you handle the other! Hinata, let's go!"

"Okay…" The pale-eyed ninja answered, feeling Philia's competitive nature take form.

Asuna and Donald saw the Ruins of Disaster turn and started the repetitive punching with its' columns again, and they jumped off towards the right side of it to avoid the attack. "Okay! We'll take this one!" Asuna responded to Philia's declaration.

"Time for some magic!" Donald declared, spinning his staff.

The two hovered in the air as they twirled their weapons, summoning a circle of firework rockets around them as they shouted, "Duck Flare!", sending the rockets homing in on the one pillar, obliterating it, and having plenty more rockets to damage the Heartless.

Philia and Hinata went to the left side, and pulled back the hands closest to one another back. Hinata summoned a glowing blue lion head made of chakra from her hand, while Philia's dagger shined brightly from within the lion head, causing it to shine from blue to white, the mane becoming wilder. "Gentle Step: Lion Salvation!" The two shouted, thrusting their combined attack at the second pillar, which became a stream with the lion's head in the front. It chomped down onto the pillar, and there was a burst of light magic that not only destroyed the pillar and damaged the Heartless, but also healed those near the light.

"That's both columns down!" Sora declared.

Kirito and Goofy charged in as the Heartless was weakened, with Kirito shouldered his Keyblade as it glowed. "If Philia can do it, so can I!" He declared, and he performed Sonic Leap Sword Skill, while Goofy did a discus throw with his shield. The two attacks collided with the Ruins of Disaster. "Everyone, attack it, now!" Kirito shouted.

"Right!" The other seven answered, charging from all sides to attack the Ruins of Disaster.

They kept peppering away at the Heartless, who could do nothing but spin its' body to keep people at bay. However, when it did that, it only meant to switch from physical attacks to magic and long-ranged Shotlocks, and pepper it from a distance.

"It's almost down!" Hinata shouted, racing forward to unleash another palm strike, with Donald, Goofy, & Flair all joining her side.

Suddenly, the Heartless's eyes glowed, and four of the columns nearby, both still standing and fallen, levitated, and suddenly gathered itself around the main body.

"Wha?!" Donald gasped.

"It took some columns from around the place?!" Samson demanded.

The Heartless then made the columns shine, transforming them into pairs of the same kinds it had before; two granite-colored, and two bronze-colored. It then pointed all four of them outwards, and spun them around, like blades of a fan. The two-faced main body then spun, and came to a halt, with the two faces now on the left and right sides of the spherical body, as it lowered itself closer to the ground, and flew at the four off-guard fighters. They got struck painfully by the attack, and were sent flying clear across the place, landing painfully far away from the others.

"Guys!" Sora and Philia shouted, seeing their four injured allies.

"Heads up!" Kirito called out, and the five saw the Ruins of Disaster and its' spinning columns come at the five remaining. They began running away from the threat, with the exception of Philia, who concentrated at a standing column, and unleashed her Airstepping technique, shooting towards the top of the said structure, distancing herself far from the attack.

"That's a clever idea." Sora noted, seeing what Philia did.

"Let's do it, too!" Asuna declared, holding Yui's hand. Sora, Kirito and Asuna concentrated, seeing three other pillars, and shot themselves towards them, with the young mother pulling her daughter along with her. They ended up on the column far from the Ruins of Disaster.

"We were so close…" Sora grimaced as Asuna pulled Yui onto her column.

"We need to take out the columns. We can't get near it if it keeps swinging those things around." Philia spoke up, "However, it was already a hassle taking those things out in the first place. We need a quicker way of dealing with them."

"You mean Soul Burst, right?" Kirito asked her, who nodded in response.

"I can handle the bronze-colored ones." Yui declared, drawing the attention of her friends and family, "My Yuna Soul Burst can deal with their magical weakness."

"Then I'll help her and take out the other ones." Asuna followed, looking to Kirito and Sora, who nodded in confidence that she can pull it off.

"Then we'll come in from behind and finish the job!" Sora declared, indicating himself, Kirito and Philia.

"That's the plan." Philia finished, "Girls, get going!"

"Right!" Asuna and Yui answered, pushing off the column as they charged towards the Ruins of Disaster. Yui produced her Keyblade as she descended.

"Soul Burst: Yuna!" Yui shouted, producing the illusion of the young summoner she was channeling, who dove into her weapon, transforming it into a summoner's staff.

"Soul Burst: Tifa Lockhart!" Asuna declared, producing the illusion of the young brawler girl, before she dove into her Keyblade, transforming into a pair of leather gloves.

As Asuna pulled on the sleeves of the gloves to tighten them, Yuna summoned Valefor landing onto its' back at it angled itself in the air, flying towards the Ruins of Disaster. Asuna hit the ground in a front roll, before charging towards the enemy.

"Hit those bronze columns!" Yui shouted, raising her staff high and unleashing energy projectiles from her staff, while her avian partner unleashed Sonic Wings, sending shockwaves from its' wings at one of the bronze columns. The combined attacks eventually broke it in a few seconds.

The Heartless tried to smack down Yui by sending its granite-colored column. Valefor pulled her away as Asuna came rushing in, evading the structural piece, before unleashing a Beat Rush technique on the granite column, before going right into a Waterkick that destroyed it.

"Yui, use your final attack!" Asuna ordered, backing away from the Ruins of Disaster.

"Already?!" Yui questioned the choice in surprise.

"Leave it to Kirito, Sora, and Philia to finish the job!" Asuna told her with a smile, "Our job is to clear the way for them."

"A-Alright!" The young girl understood, seeing the Heartless ready its' last two columns, about to smash them onto the two of them. They backed away from the Heartless to avoid getting smashed then made their moves.

Asuna unleashed Meteor Strike, rushing to the granite column, snatching it in the middle, and after a straining groan, she carried it up with her into the air, before tossing it down to the ground with a tremendous explosion that caused the column to destroy itself, and the explosion to damage the Heartless. Meanwhile, Yui ordered Valefor to fire Energy Nova, creating a magic circle, and firing an energy ray from it, hitting the bronze column, and eliminating it, also causing some damage to the Heartless.

"Now!" Yui and Asuna shouted, their weapons reverting back to normal as they backed away to allow the other three to leap into action, Sora jumping more upwards than forwards. He focused his Kingdom Key on the Ruins of Disaster, as it began to spin to try to avoid a close-up attack.

"Take this!" He shouted, unleashing Ragnarok from his Keyblade, sending scattering lights down at the Heartless, damaging it hard, and making it stop spinning. Kirito and Philia roared as they readied their key weapons, making them shine as Kirito readied his Slant Sword Skill, while Philia readied her Rapid Bite Dagger Skill. They roared as one as they went right past the Heartless, slashing it on both sides, before landing on the ground. They swiped their blades to one side, as the Heartless flailed in pain, before crashing to the ground, rolling to one side, and vanishing in darkness, leaving its' heart to rise into the air, vanishing from sight.

Far behind, Donald, Goofy, Hinata, Flair & Samson were watching the final attack and defeat take place. "Waaaah… Why do they have to always finish the job?!"

"No kiddin'! I wanted to deal the final blow!" Samson growled.

"Now, now, guys…" Flair calmed them.

"All that matters is that we all did our part to defeat the Heartless." Hinata pointed out.

"She's right. No need to fret about it." Goofy added. Samson and Donald still furled their arms, huffing in disgruntlement.

Up front, the five heroes gathered together on the spot the Heartless vanished. "We did it, you guys!" Sora cheered.

"Great teamwork." Asuna complimented them.

Philia looked to Sora and noticed, "I'm just amazed at how easily you could unleash Ragnarok. You really have been improving a lot since we last saw one another."

"Thanks. Though, I still don't even remember when we last met." Sora admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

"For the time being, it's probably for the best." Philia assured him, patting his shoulder as she walked back to where the others were, "Come on. Let's bring the Bond Lazuli back to the town!"

Sora looked a bit confused at her words as she walked away. "It's for the best? What does that mean?"

"I'm not so sure." Asuna answered, "But she definitely knows you a lot. We might need to bug her in order to get some answers."

Kirito was curious about what Philia's connection was to Sora. However, there was one other person that he was more concerned about than that. Yui looked to her father and asked, "Papa, are you that concerned about Philia knowing Sora? Because I know she's a good person."

"No. I can tell she's a good person, too." Kirito admitted, "I'm…more concerned about PoH, or PHox." Yui, Asuna and Sora all looked to him, understanding his concerns. "How long has he been part of the Organization?" He wondered, "He seems too familiar with them to be a new to the group, especially if he's one of the sixteen Seekers of Darkness."

"Maybe we should ask Philia that, too." Asuna added, "The two seem to recognize one another, so maybe she knows how long he's been in the group."

"Okay…" Sora agreed, though a bit less enthusiastically. He looked back at Philia, wondering if he should ask her about their connection. He was curious, but there was a part of him, somewhere deep down, that told him that even if he asked, she wouldn't answer.

The others looked to Sora for a moment, seeing the struggle on his expressions, before Yui suggested, "We should start with heading back to the Maho-dou to hand over the Bond Lazuli."

Kirito and Asuna looked to one another. Asuna smiled in agreement, and responded, "Sure. We'll save the interrogation for later."

"Sure." Kirito answered, realizing what was best for now. With the decision made, the four rejoined the others before they made their way back to town once more.

---

Magia Street, Maho-Dou Magic Shop

It took a while, but the nine heroes made it back to the town again, and went straight to the magic shop. Sora opened up the door, and saw all the witch apprentices, Laralie, Patina, and a new, but familiar face among the group. She looked like she was in her early twenties, with an elegant and slender appearance, long green hair reaching her lower legs, and green eyes. Her attire relatively Greek-based, being a white dress with red and gold trimmings, and several gold ornaments about her body, including a golden tiara, a large golden necklace, golden vambraces, and hanging ones going down her belt, which was held up by a red fibula on her left hip. She was also wore heel-like sandals, with her left leg having a long white sock. On her left arm, she had a gold and blue mirror shield. On her right, a gold and blue staff.

She turned at the sight of the heroes, and greeted, "Well, hello, everyone. We meet again."

"Oh! Lady Palutena!" Sora greeted, shocked but pleased at the sight of her.

"This was clearly an unexpected surprise." Kirito stated.

"Who's she?" Hinata asked, blushing at the sight of her, "She looks like a goddess."

"That's because she is, in her world." Asuna explained, "That's Lady Palutena, the Goddess of Light, as well as a friend of ours and Gretinal."

"Gawrsh, we didn't think we'd bump into ya here." Goofy told her.

"Why are you here?" Sora asked, "Is your world in trouble again?"

"No, no. Thanks to Pit, we ended up taking care of Hades for good." Palutena assured them, "But Gretinal did say to come here to assist you in some matter. Plus, she told me this place did need a bit of a goddess's touch."

"Some…matter?" Sora asked, thinking for a second, then realizing, "Does this have to do with the souls inside us?"

"As a matter of fact, it is." Laralie answered, "But first, did you gain the Bond Lazuli?"

"Got it right here." Philia answered, pulling out the said magic gem, presenting it to the magic group. Dori and her friends all gazed in awe at the sight of it.

Patina flew over and grabbed the gem that was twice her size, feeling it. "Heh. You kids did a pretty good job finding this gem." She attempted to take it away from Philia, but she held it tight.

"Hold on. I believe a payment for our hard work is in order." She informed the magical frog.

"Ha! Like I made any agreement to the payment." Patina retorted.

"Hold on. We did!" Dori argued, "We'd promise to help Kirito, Asuna and Sora out with reviving their sleeping souls if they got us the Bond Lazuli!"

"There, you see? That's the payment!" Patina told snobbishly at Philia.

"For them, yes. But my friends and I were the first to reach the gem. Hence, we get a reward for our efforts. We are treasure hunters, after all." She smirked mischievously as she requested, "How about a new, more powerful set of magical bracelets for Hinata?"

"Ph-Philia…" Hinata said in a slightly nervous way.

"Fine. I'll scrounge up some cheap ones." Patina started, "Then I'll-."

"No! The best ones you got." Philia bargained, "My friends need to be as strong as I am."

"Are you out of your mind?! These things don't grow on trees!" Patina barked, pushing her body in Philia's face.

The treasure hunter yanked off Patina, stretching her lips as she retorted, "Hey! I could go for far more expensive things! I'd say this is far more reasonable than you think."

"I'm already in a lot of debt thanks to being unable to use the Finishers I bought! I can't give away pricy stuff like that!"

Everyone watched the two argue with such intensity. Hinata was unsure if to intervene, since she was fine, with or without upgrading her gear. The six heroes could clearly see that this was out of their expertise to try to break up. Even Palutena decided it would be best not to intervene in such a trivial matter, in her perspective.

"First Lisbeth arguing with Patina, now this…" Reanne muttered, recalling to something that happened a while back.

As the two growled at one another, Flair intervened by having Samson push the two apart, causing Patina to squash into the wall, before sliding down to the ground. "Alright, that's enough!" The parasite growled, "I'm getting a headache just hearing you two argue!"

"He's right. Look, let's take the middle route, Philia." Flair suggested, then turning to Patina, "How about instead of having it for free; half-off on the magic bracelets. Can that work?"

Patina was face down on the ground as Laralie descended to her, saying, "I think that's a more reasonable trade. Let's do that."

"Fine! Whatever! Let's just get this over with!" Patina growled, snapping her finger. She summoned a new pair of magic bracelets, made of some sort of steel with dewdrop white gems embedded around it.

"They do feel powerful." Philia stated, taking the bracelets. She saw the price tag on them, and looked at it. "Adamagia Braces. The price would be pretty steep, but half-off? I can deal with that."

"I can take you over to the counter!" Reanne quickly suggested, running to the check-out counter to ring up the bracelets for Philia.

"Good. Now we can get to the main part." Asuna sighed in relief.

"Right. Reawakening our sleeping souls." Kirito followed.

"So, how do we do that with the Bond Lazuli?" Sora asked, looking at the gem, "And what does this have to do with Palutena?"

"According to the book, having the gem isn't enough." Ellie explained, walking with Dori and Mirabelle at her side, "The soul can awake if you have the person who gave you their's with you, or if someone who is deeply tied to the soul of the person is there, too."

"Oh, so THAT'S why Palutena's here." Yui understood, looking to the Goddess of Light, "Since she is very close to Pit, she can be useful to help awaken the soul!"

"Oh, now I see." Palutena understood, "Gretinal didn't give me the details, but now it makes sense."

"But we still don't know how ta use Sora's souls, since he can't use Soul Burst or Soul Drive." Goofy pointed out.

"Actually, we did figure out a way." Dori told them, "There is one other option to use the souls; as summons for battle."

"Turn the souls…into a summon?" Sora asked.

"I think that's a great idea." Asuna stated, "You can call on their souls to help you in battle. It kinda reminds me of how we use to summon Yui's full power a long time ago." Yui giggled at this, recalling that time. Only now, she could use the Second Form to pull off that power for herself.

"Yeah, that IS a great idea!" Sora agreed excitedly.

"But we'll need a Heartbinder." Donald pointed out.

"Heartbinder?" Mirabelle echoed.

"Yeah, like this one." Sora answered, pulling out the Dream Heartbinder he had, and showing it to the girls.

"Wait…I think I saw a charm that looked like that in our accessories!" Dori recalled, running over to a table on the second floor. She reached it, observed the things for sale, then discovered it. She snatched it and brought it down to show the heroes. Sure enough, it was almost the same in design, but the embedded gem in the Heartbinder was black and blank.

"We can transfer the souls into it, and awaken their power when we need them!" Kirito understood.

"So apart from Palutena helping awaken Pit's soul, Vaan can awaken his own soul. That just leaves Naruto's…" Sora summed up.

"U-Um…" Hinata stepped forward, saying, "I am close to Naruto. I mean, I'm not as close as others to him, but still…"

"Don't doubt your bond." Philia told her, taking the newly purchased equipment, and giving it to her partner, "You love him, don't you? That can reawaken his soul, no problem." Hinata blushed at Philia's comment.

Just then, the door bell rang, and the team turned to see Lightning and Snow enter into the scene. "Well, ain't this place pretty crowded." Snow noticed.

"Heya, Snow." Kirito greeted, the two wandering up to one another.

"Kirito. Heard you need me to wake up what I gave to you." Snow stated, "Well, I'm your man for the job." The two pounded their fists in greeting each other.

"Where's Vaan?" Asuna asked Lightning.

"He's right behind us." She answered, turning to the door, to see Penelo forcefully bring in Vaan with her. His attire was relatively the same as before; a loose cropped open metal vest with metal accessories on the sides, fastened by a blue-gemmed pendant. Unlike before, he had on a large-collared white shirt underneath it. He had on dark pants held up by a red ribboned sash belt, tucked underneath a pair of knee-high steel boots.

"Ouch! Ouch! You don't have to pull me all the way here." Vaan argued.

"You would've gone rushing off to explore the place, if I didn't drag you along." Penelo argued, letting him go as soon as he was away from the door.

Vaan looked disgruntled, then saw Sora, and his expression became bright as he said, "Hey, Sora. Long time, no see."

"Hi, Vaan!" Sora returned the greeting, "Glad you arrived."

"I guess this means everyone is finally here." Kirito understood, "We can start the awakening, right?"

"Well, Patina?" Dori asked, looking to the magical frog, who rose up on her floating dustpan, finally recovered.

"Fine. Let's get this over with." She sighed, "Let's get everything prepared.

After a few seconds, Sora, Kirito and Asuna were standing around the Bond Lazuli, which floated in the center of them at their feet. Sora clung onto the blank Heartbinder in his hands. Around them were the four witch apprentices, standing in a circle, with Vaan, Snow, Lightning, Palutena, and Hinata near each of them. Everyone else watched from outside the circle.

"Girls, ready yourselves!" Patina declared, holding her magic orb around her neck up high. It shined brightly, while the four apprentices raised their wands, as their bulky tops spun. Magic energy shot from their wands and magic orb, converging on the space above the Bond Lazuli, which glowed and started rising up. Kirito, Asuna and Sora watched the Lazuli rise up, converging with the magic energy, and making it shine even brighter and spin.

"Now think of the bonds you have with your souls within the three." Laralie told the five standing with the apprentices. They did as they were told, with Lightning concentrating her thoughts on her soul in Asuna, Snow focusing himself on his soul in Kirito, and Vaan doing the same with his soul in Sora. Palutena focused her thoughts on Pit, while Hinata focused her thoughts on Naruto, both concentrating on the souls of the two in Sora. The five began to glow, which reacted with the Bond Lazuli.

The light of the magic energy suddenly shot down in three streams, striking Kirito, Asuna, and Sora in the chests, making them gasp as they felt the light penetrate their very beings. From within their hearts, the five souls that were being focused on were awakening through magic. Sora's, in particular, suddenly shot out of Sora, spinning around him, before the trio dove into the Heartbinder in his hand. He looked down at it, and saw the gem of the Heartbinder shine, then become orange, with white outlined pictures of Vaan, Naruto, and Pit's heads, in a triangular formation.

"Yes!" Sora cheered, pumping his fist at the sight of the Heartbinder working. He turned to Kirito and Asuna, who had their eyes closed, feeling the souls of the ones near them awaken in their hearts. They flashed their eyes open together, and summoned their Keyblades.

"Soul Burst: Snow Villiers!"

"Soul Burst: Lightning Farron!"

Their Keyblades shined, as the illusion of Snow appeared over Kirito, while the image of Lightning appeared over Asuna, before diving into their respective Keyblades. Kirito's Keyblade suddenly turned into ice dust, which swirled around behind him, causing a bear emblem to appear on the back of his shirt, before the dust settled on his hands, magically forming into gloves, which he pumped, ready for action. Meanwhile, Asuna's tossed her Keyblade upwards, where a bolt of lightning struck upon it, transforming it into Lightning's signature weapon, the Blazefire Saber, which was in gun form as it descended. She caught the weapon, spinning herself around as she transformed it into sword form, taking a fighter's stance like Lightning would.

The magic died down as everyone looked at the trio in amazement. "It worked!" Yui cheered.

"For Kirito and Asuna, yes. But what about Sora?" Lightning asked, looking to the Keyblade wielder in question.

"Only one way to find out." Sora answered, holding the Heartbinder close to his heart. He was about to concentrate before Patina shouted, "Hey! Not in my shop! Take it outside!"

"Oh…right." Sora answered, realizing that activating a summon in here would not be the wisest idea.

---

After a moment, the heroes, Lightning, Snow, Vaan, Penelo, Palutena, and the Heart Sisters all joined outside on the street, making an open space for Kirito, Asuna, and Sora to show off their reawakened powers. Before they prepared, though, Kirito and Asuna felt they should be good opponents for Sora so each can demonstrate their powers.

"Time to use this!" Sora declared, concentrating his magic on the Heartbinder, making it shine with energy. He closed his eyes, focusing on the power he was activating, then shouted, "As one! Link: Trinity Soul Drive!"

From within, the three souls came flying out, before bursting with light. From the souls came the physical appearances of Vaan, Naruto, and Pit, all landing on the ground in front of Sora. Upon closer inspection, though, they were more beings made of light instead of the actual people. They turned and walked over to Sora, who held his hand out. The three placed their hands on his, and shined. All of a sudden, Sora started floating as the three characters became balls of light that surrounded Sora, who could feel the power of his three friends, before readying himself for a battle.

"Come on, Asuna. Let's see what each of us can do!" Kirito started, readying his fists.

"I'll go first." She responded, transforming her weapon into gun form, and shot Ruin spell shots at Sora from it. He responded by summoning Pit from one of the orbs, who shot a salvo of arrows from his bow to completely destroy the attack, and come at Asuna, who leapt over the attack to avoid getting hit.

At this point, Kirito was rushing forward, encasing his fist in ice as he readied to unleash a Frost Strike attack. Sora turned, switching out Pit for Naruto, who produced a large Rasengan to counter the punch. After a power struggle, Sora's soul partner pushed Kirito away from him. He skidded to a halt, and slammed his fist to the ground, unleashing a wave of ice in a straight line towards Sora, who swapped out Naruto's soul for Vaan's, who unleashed Cataclysm, sending a row of stalagmites towards the ice, canceling each other out.

"Not bad, Sora." Kirito acknowledged, "The souls you are using are giving you all range of attacks to fight against. But does it have an all-around attack?" He unleashed a Blizzard spell out at Sora, while Asuna, who appeared from the opposite side of Sora to Kirito, unleashing a Thundara spell. Sora backed off, avoiding each attack that came at him, skidding to a halt. He leapt high, and used Pit again to unleash a volley of arrows down at the two, who avoided the attack as best as they could.

Asuna leapt high, shifting from gun mode to blade mode, and unleash a spinning slash towards Sora, who couldn't use his Keyblade at the moment to block the attack. He ended up getting slashed hard, sending himself crashing into the ground.

He got back up, telling himself, "Better start working on my strategies with this power…" he grimaced. He looked up, and saw Kirito take a leaping dash at Sora, about to slug him while he was recovering.

"Soul Burst: Second Form!" Philia suddenly shot forward, her Keydagger shining as she summoned an illusion of herself, way back when, before it dove into her weapon, transforming it into a standard dagger weapon with teeth on one end of the blade. She got in front of Sora, making her dagger shine a green-yellow color, unleashing an Armor Pierce Dagger Skill to counter Kirito's fist.

They backed away from each other as Kirito exclaimed, "Oh, come on! That's the second time my fist was countered!"

"You gotta overpower the attacks harder than that, Kirito!" Snow ordered.

Philia got Sora to his feet, before turning to Kirito and Asuna. "Sorry. I just felt a two-on-one fight wasn't fair. Why don't you dance with me?" She readied her dagger for action.

"Kirito, her dagger." Asuna pointed out, "Doesn't it remind you of a dagger used in SAO?"

"Yeah. The Swordbreaker." Kirito answered, "I remember some dagger users back in SAO who used them to counter sword-wielding enemies. It looks exactly like them."

Philia got into position, and charged at Kirito, who created ice from his fists to block the attack. The two then engaged in a fist vs. dagger fight, with Kirito unleashing Blizzard-element attacks, both long-ranged and short ranged. Meanwhile, Philia was more close-quarters combat with her dagger, though she did have a Dagger Throw Skill that did prove annoying.

Meanwhile, Asuna had the skills for both close-ranged with her Gunblade in sword mode, and unleashing magic attacks in gun mode, which consisted of all the spells she could use, plus Ruin spells. While Sora continued to use his Heartbinder to unleash powerful attacks from Vaan, Naruto and Pit.

Kirito and Philia backed off from one another as the former felt something within. Using the power in the fight made him feel something even more. "This power…I can do more with it…" Kirito muttered, feeling the power emanating. He concentrated, before shouting, "Advance Burst: Shiva Sisters!"

Kirito's left forearm suddenly had a glowing symbol on it, and a icy blue crystal formed in his left hand. He tossed it up and punched it, forming a magical circle of icy blue energy appeared. Out of the circle came two mechanical female humanoids. They appeared around Kirito, before joining hands and contorting their bodies, turning into a motorcycle. Kirito leapt onto it, revving the engine as he prepared to fight.

Donald, Goofy and Yui looked awed and amazed at the sight of Kirito's sudden new power. "What just happened?!" Yui questioned.

"He summoned my Eidolons to the battle!" Snow noticed.

"Yes. And it seems like Asuna might be tapping into something as well." Lightning noticed, indicating as Asuna and Sora stood away from one another, with Asuna clenching her fist to her chest, feeling a power surge, much like Kirito.

"Advance Burst: Odin!" Asuna shouted, bursting with energy. A rosy red crystal suddenly came from a spot near her heart, and she grabbed the crystal, tossing it upwards, before leaping up and slashing it, causing a magical circle to appear, emanating off rose petals from it. Out of the magic circle came a humanoid being, holding a double-sided, hook-shaped blades. It stabbed into the ground, before leaping up to join Asuna. It suddenly transformed its body, taking on a horse form. Asuna fell right onto its back as it galloped through the air, before stopping on the ground next to its weapon, the Zantetsuken, which Asuna grasped the handle of, and dividing it into two blades, ready for battle.

"Wh-Whoa…" Sora muttered, backing away from Asuna and her new stallion ride she was on.

"You…went into Advance Burst!" Philia gasped, looking at Kirito on his new ride, "But didn't you just awaken that soul? How can you already progressed to this level already?!"

"Don't ask me." Kirito answered, looking at the bike, "I'm just as shocked at this as you are."

Just then, Sora's power suddenly dissipated, and the souls vanished, returning to the Heartbinder. "Aw, man. Looks like my time is up." He grimaced.

"Then we'd better stop the testing of our new powers, right now." Asuna suggested, hopping off of Odin, patting him, "We at least know the basics of our powers, right?" She looked to Kirito and Philia, who nodded in agreement. All three of them extinguished their Soul Burst powers, and reverted to normal.

"That was still a sight to behold." Palutena stated as she and Hinata walked over to Sora."

"Same here! I was so glad to see Naruto fighting again, even though that wasn't completely him." Hinata pointed out.

"You still got my good skills going, Sora." Vaan admitted, "Glad to see you haven't lost my touch."

"Thanks." Sora thanked them, "I still hadn't seen what their final attack could do, but I'll find out when I fight someone who isn't a friend of mine."

As the four fighters had their allies all gathered around them, Philia was curiously asking, "But I just don't get it. How in the world did you guys end up going to that level of power so easily? I mean, whenever I use a Soul Burst, it takes a few fights before I get to the Advance Burst level. But you guys went there instantly."

"I might have a theory." Lightning stepped in, drawing their attention, "If those souls are the same ones you used in your Soul Drives before, then it's possible that the experience that you gained from using them also came with."

"Meaning…?" Sora started, looking to Kirito and Asuna, who were puzzled

"I get it." Yui understood, "In our world's terms, it's like transferring our character data from one game born from the Seed to another game. It may be a different game, but the experience of a power that is used in both games is transferred over."

"Right. Much like transferring my game data from SAO to ALO and GGO." Kirito understood, "So all the leveling Asuna and I did with our Soul Drives is relatively the same. And if I remember correctly, I maxed out Soul Drive with Snow's soul."

"I did too. With Lightning's." Asuna added.

Philia hummed as she was in her thoughts, then stated, "Well, there's only one way to find out if that theory and what you guys said is true. There is one power that can be accessed with the Soul Burst, but only if you maxed out your experience with them."

"What is it?" Yui asked.

Philia looked to Kirito and Asuna as she started, "Focus on those souls you just said, and repeat after me; 'Soul Armament'."

"Soul…Armament?" Kirito echoed, confused.

"It's better for you to try it, and I'll explain afterwards."

Kirito and Asuna looked to each other, then closed their eyes, concentrating on Snow and Lightning's souls within them. "Soul Armament!" They called out together. Suddenly, the garments they wore shone brightly with magic energy, and transformed into new attire.

Kirito's attire was the same as he remembered it when using Snow's Soul Drive; a black beanie, a beige trench coat with frayed hems, a light blue vest over a chest-revealing black shirt, black pants with large gray boots, a striped blue scarf hanging from a studded belt across his waist, and his Elucidator pendant around his neck.

Asuna's was not the same as her Lightning's Soul Drive form from before. Her attire was gold and silver armor, which made her look like a valkyrie. She had a silver chestplate under black and purple leather top, armor pieces around and in front of her waist attached by belts and decorated with purple and gold cloth pieces in front, armored leggings with steel boots and spikes at the knees, shoulder guard pieces, long gauntlets that spiked at the shoulders, with long-sleeved black gloves going up to her upper arms, and a sash of white feathers that covered her left hip. Her Wayfinder still dangled from her neck.

Everyone looked amazed at the sight of the pair as they looked down themselves. "Woah!" Donald, Goofy, Sora and Yui gasped, looking at the two's new looks.

"New garments? And armor?!" Sora stated, looking at the two's new looks.

"Not bad." Snow acknowledged Kirito's new look, "Rockin' my old look, there."

"It does feel nostalgic." Kirito responded, liking this look.

"I don't remember the Soul Drive I had before looking like this." Asuna pointed out, looking down her feathery sash, then up at Lightning, "Have you worn this before?"

"No…" she answered, "Though, the appearance reminds me of old scriptures in my home world. About the knights of the goddess, Etro."

"A knight to a goddess, huh?" Asuna asked, looking to her armor, to Palutena, who felt her gaze.

"Well, it would give me ideas for new attire for my soldiers in Skyworld." The Goddess of Light acknowledged, "Maybe I should go cloth shopping to see if there are any of its' kind." Asuna gave an awkward chuckle in response to her excitement for a task that felt so beneath a goddess.

"These are nice, Philia, but is there any reason to change our clothing?" Kirito asked, looking to the girl who instructed them into these attires.

"Of course there are!" She answered, "For one, you can style yourself in any way so you won't have to wear the same old boring attire all the time. I mean I enjoy the look Mistress Gretinal gave me, but still…"

"It does feel nice to switch up my clothing once in a while." Asuna admitted, "I can have fresh new looks if I wanted to!"

"I wanna try on new garments from my Soul Burst." Yui stated excitedly, "I'd love to try new clothes, too!"

"I'd love to see what your new garments would look like on you!" Asuna admitted with a motherly glee.

Kirito looked to the trio of girls, muttering to himself, "I never had a problem with what I looked like. In the game, as long as the stats were good, I was fine."

"You know stats aren't always important when it comes to fashion, Kirito." Philia scolded him, "Seriously, try to think about your appearance, once in a while."

"Why am I getting chastised with how I look?" Kirito questioned incredulously.

"Although, you'd be fortunate to know that these garments also come with their individual benefits." Philia continued, "The Soul Armaments not only grant new looks, and but a sort of 'bonus' to your skills. Tap into the soul that gave you your new attire, and they can tell you what benefits they gain."

"A bonus, huh?" Kirito asked, closing his eyes, and trying to connect with Snow's soul. After a few seconds, the answer suddenly came into his mind, and he opened his eyes. "So my standard attacks now gain a Blizzard-element to them." He understood, pulling out his Keyblade, and gripping it tightly as the teeth of his Keyblade glowed an icy aura, "And my Blizzard spell is boosted in damage, too.

"The same can be said about mine, only my attacks are Thunder-element based, as well as my Thunder spell." Asuna understood, pulling her own Keyblade out, and causing the teeth of her Keyblade to electrify.

"Attire like that can be produced in mid-battle, making it useful if you need an advantage over your opponent." Philia explained, "So if an opponent has a weakness you can expose, or want to boost the power of certain moves, use the bonuses of your Soul Armaments to take that advantage."

"Fashionable, and useful." Asuna understood, looking to Kirito, "So will you have problems with changing your look, now?"

"Not as long as I can gain the right powers from them." He answered. Asuna rolled her eyes, noticing Kirito wasn't getting the full picture.

"So, do you have Soul Armaments, too?" Sora asked.

"Of course she does." Flair answered.

"How else do you think she knows this power?!" Samson barked.

"Can you show us one?" Goofy asked.

"I wanna see!" Donald barked.

Philia looked to the trio, then answered, "Well, I do have a nostalgic one." She concentrated, then said calmly, "Soul Armament." Her garments shined brightly, dying down to reveal her attire. She wore lightweight attire, with a blue and dark blue top, with armor pieces covering her breasts that were held up by dark red cross-straps, a blue cape with white-lined designs on the back, blue detached sleeves, with the left one being poofier than the other, which was underneath armor piece, brown fingerless gloves, black short shorts with brown belts, and a blue cloth piece covering her right hip, a satchel strapped to her left leg, black and white-lined leggings, and brown boots with metal pieces on the top of her feet.

She opened her arms up and showed off her attire as she asked, "Well, what do you think?"

"It…looks pretty cool." Sora answered.

"The light essentials of a female treasure hunter." She explained, "I wore this attire a long while back. Now, they're my Soul Armament from my Second Form. They boost the power of my Dagger Skills, too."

"That's a pretty handy set of garments, then." Kirito understood, his expression growing serious. He looked to Asuna, who nodded in confirmation at what he was thinking about.

"Philia, can the three of us talk privately to you for a little bit, please?" She requested.

"Uh, sure." She answered, a little concerned about why this was so private. She wasn't the only one.

"We wanna listen in, too!" Donald added.

"No. I think it would be best if we three spoke alone, without anyone else." Kirito retorted.

Sora, Donald and Goofy looked a bit depressed at being left out, while Yui looked confused. "Mama? Papa? What are you guys going to talk about?" She asked.

"We'll explain it to you later on. Okay, Yui?" Asuna assured her, crouching down to place her hand on her shoulder. After a pause, Yui nodded in response to this.

"Why don't you guys hang with the others while we talk, okay?" Philia requested to Flair, Samson and Hinata, then pulling at her pocket on her belt, she added, "You too, Tink."

The pixie flew out of her pocket as she stated, "Come on, Philia! I won't say anything, even if I am listening in. You and I are best friends, right?"

"We are." She responded, "And I'll tell you everything they spoke to me about afterwards, so you can record it. In the meantime, go pester Donald."

"Shouldn't be too hard…" Tinker Bell answered, flying over as Sora and his friends, including Jiminy, spoke about with Lightning, Snow and Palutena, while Yui spoke with Philia's other comrades. Vaan and Penelo had already left the scene.

---

As soon as they were a good distance away, they reverted back to their normal garments as they found themselves near a cafe that had circular tables that had four seats around it. Philia, Kirito and Asuna each took a seat. "So, what is it you wanna talk about?" She asked the two of them.

Kirito and Asuna looked to one another, then Kirito started, "First of all, we just want to make things clear. You don't know about your past, right?"

"Everything from well over a year ago, yeah." Philia answered, "Why do you ask?"

"We…already could tell WHO you are. At least, some evidence as to who you are." Asuna started.

"The fact that you can use Dagger Skills, what PHox said about you, some hints that I felt from Argo, and even your armor and weapon." Kirito listed things down, "These clues alone tell us one thing about you. You're an SAO Survivor. You're from our world, right?"

Philia looked surprised at the two, then looked down, her face a bit on the confused side. "Well, I'm not totally certain. Someone did say I was in a game world before I ended up in another one called Traverse Town."

"Traverse Town?" Asuna echoed, looking to Kirito, "Wasn't that were Sora said he appeared after he lost his home almost two years ago?"

"Yeah. I'm sure that's the name of the place." Kirito answered, then looking back at Philia, he asked, "Who was it that told you that you were in a game world before that?"

Philia paused, then she answered, "Some guy named DiZ."

Now the two were even more surprised than ever. DiZ, who's real identity was Ansem the Wise, knew about this girl?

"Can you explain to us about what he said?" Asuna asked, "And, does it tie to how you know Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy?"

The treasure hunter closed her eyes, recalling what she was told by the bandaged-faced man from long ago, before looking up at the two. "Okay. But only if you promise not to tell Sora and the others about this." Kirito and Asuna nodded in answer to this.

Philia took a deep breath, then started, "I somewhat know about the world I came from before this. It was a world called 'Sword Art Online'. DiZ said it was a virtual world where people's hearts and minds were trapped inside a game, and that they had to clear floors to reach the top to beat the game. He said that while he was exploring the world, I ended up encountering him before the game was cleared. Just as the world was disappearing, the Organization was about to steal my heart and turn my body into a Nobody like them. But DiZ saved me…at a cost."

"A cost?" Kirito echoed.

"Yes. He sent me through a digital wormhole of sorts. But since it was incomplete, he ended up doing something he never meant to do; He split my heart in two. One part is the me you see, still in the avatar I was in back in that game. The other part…was said to have returned to my real body. Because of this, my memories were fragmented. I hold some memories, while the other me holds the majority of my other memories."

Kirito and Asuna were amazed at this. In short, she was very similar to them during their first couple of adventures with Sora and his companions. Only difference was that their memories remained intact when their minds and hearts were sent through the digital wormhole.

"I awoke in Traverse Town, where I became friends with some people who lived there. A few days later, I met Sora, who lost his world and ended up there, along with Donald and Goofy, who were searching for the Key bearer. In short, we ended up forming a team, and went on a crazy adventure to stop the Heartless, who were led by a woman named Maleficent, along with this Heartless man named Ansem."

"So you went on an adventure with Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy?" Asuna asked, recalling the story Sora and the others told about that particular enemy, "If you guys were so close, why don't they recognize you?"

Philia looked to one side, then looked back at Sora, who was laughing at Donald, while chasing Tinker Bell around angrily. "Because their memories of me, along with anyone connected to Sora, were wiped out. Or to be more precisely, they were put to sleep."

"How is that possible?" Kirito asked, surprised.

"Due to an…incident that happened a long while back, Sora, Donald and Goofy had to forget about me in order for them to move on. And since all of the people I met on my journey back then were connected to Sora, they too had forgotten about me ever being part of it. I also had to move on, so I could find the other part of me that is out there. So, I've been traversing worlds, taking out Heartless, trying to find clues, finding some treasures here and there, but not really having a proper destination."

She turned back to Kirito and Asuna, "Then, one day, I ended up going through a wormhole between dimensions. That's how I met Mistress Gretinal, who sent me on a mission; To discover the source of the Cyber Heartless and Dark Hybrids; where Dr. Tenma's main base of operation was at. She promised to help me return home if I helped her help you guys out from behind the scenes. That's also how I reunited with Tink, as well as made friends with Flair, Samson and Hinata."

"A dimensional wormhole?" Asuna repeated, looking to Kirito, "You don't think that was Disney Castle, do you?"

"Well, your story does seem to fit in all the right places, here and there." Kirito understood, "So you are an SAO Survivor, but you ended up almost taken by the Organization the same day it was cleared."

"The fact is that we know a couple people who were also SAO Survivors who were taken by the Organization, too." Asuna explained, "They're named were Nariko and Yasu. Their Nobody names were Demyx and Larxene. Ring any bells?"

"Demyx, no. But definitely Larxene." Philia answered, "That girl was a pain in the rear with her tormenting Sora a while back. However, from what I heard, she was betrayed by PHox."

"And he was also an SAO Survivor. The worst one of all." Kirito grimaced, "Whether it was coincidence or he was chosen for a reason, I don't know. All we do know is that we can't let him, or any of the Organization, get what they want."

"I know. I had encountered them before. But PHox is definitely obsessed with me." Philia gripped her hands tightly, which began to quiver. "Is it because we are from the same world, or my lack of memory. But he's constantly tried to make me believe I was a villain. A murderer back in the virtual world. I refuse to believe him at all. At least…not until I find out who my other self is, and restore the rest of my memories."

"Well, maybe we can help you." Kirito suggested, making her look up at them.

"We know where our world is in this dimension. We can guide you there, if you want." Asuna added.

Philia looked amazed at the offer given to her. It was an option that she never thought getting so easily up until this point. And yet…

She smiled as she answered, "Thanks, but no thanks. I already decided to go along this path, for the time being."

"But why?" Asuna asked, "Seems like you really want your memories back."

"I do. Really, I do." She answered, "But I want to continue on this adventure a bit longer with my dear friends. Besides, Dr. Temna and his group of villains he's created are still out there. I think it would be best if we protect the worlds before my selfish desires. And who knows? I might stumble upon my world again at some point. But until then, protecting the light of the dimension comes first."

Kirito and Asuna both looked a bit satisfied at her response. There was no doubt that she was a kind young lady, and one that was greatly influenced by Sora and his friends. Thanks to him, her understanding of things that are more important than the things she gains for her own sake expanded, not to mention the importance of her friendship of her teammates, both those who remember her and those who don't.

Kirito and Asuna stood up as the former stated, "Well, I do have more questions, but for now, I know I can trust you. You are a close friend of Sora and his friends, after all."

"Agreed. I hope you can become friends with us, too." Asuna prayed, reaching out a hand to her.

Philia stood up as well, taking Asuna's hand as she responded, "I'd like that, too." The two girls smiled at one another for a moment, appreciating the fact each of them wanted to become friends.

---

They rejoined their friends again, which was only now the remaining members of Team Keybladers and Heart Sisters now, since everyone else left. "What were you guys talking about?" Donald asked, annoyed by Tinker Bell after her tormenting him.

"Just stuff." Kirito answered.

"What kind of stuff?" Goofy asked.

"Something only the three of us are allowed to know…for now." Philia explained, "So please don't try to prod us for the truth, please?"

Donald, Goofy and Yui all looked curious about what they were talking about, but it was Sora who said, "Okay, as long as you tell us eventually."

"Yeah. Someday." Philia answered.

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to come along with us?" Sora requested to Philia, "We already make an awesome team, and we do share the same goal in stopping the Organization."

"As fun as that sounds to do that, Sora, I'm afraid I must decline." Philia answered, "We have our own mission, as instructed by Mistress Gretinal."

"We're hunting down Dr. Tenma's base." Flair explained, "He's the one whose been unleashing those Cyber Heartless and Dark Hybrids."

"Yeah, we know about that." Sora admitted, "We met his daughter, Tears."

This came at a surprise the Heart Sisters, for some reason. They looked to one another, worried, as Hinata questioned, "Tears?"

"How long ago was this?" Tinker Bell asked.

"Just a few days ago." Kirito answered, "Why?"

"Cause we thought we trashed her a long time ago." Samson answered.

"Guess Dr. Tenma was able to heal her up." Philia understood, "Hopefully, she wasn't as strong as she was before."

"How much do you know about her?" Yui asked her curiously.

"Not a whole bunch. She was powerful, but rather monotonous in our encounters with her. She barely had a personality."

"Well, you are right about her being powerful." Kirito admitted.

"But she definitely had a personality." Asuna followed, "A snobby, spoiled daddy's girl personality."

"And what's more, we believe she might a connection to Yui." Jiminy added.

The girls looked to Yui, who looked down, worried. "Can't see any connection to her, if you ask me." Samson bluntly stated.

"Let's hope we find out about what the connection is." Hinata prayed.

"In the meantime, while you guys are taking care of your ordeal, we'll handle our mission." Sora spoke up, "We're searching for the Lost Princesses of Heart. There should be four of them in this dimension."

"Four more Princesses of Heart?" Philia echoed, "Guess some things don't change, do they?" After Sora gave a curious look, Philia realized she might've hinted at something, and continued, "Well, just in case if either one of us finds any info on each other missions, we'll send it to Argo. Sound good?"

"Good thinking." Kirito answered.

"Well, we'd better head back to our ship." Tink told the girls.

"Agreed. We have more worlds to explore, more treasure to be found, and hopefully, more hints to where Dr. Temna's base is at." Philia stated.

The Heart Sisters separated themselves from the other heroes as Hinata said, "Well, it was great meeting all of you guys."

"We hope to see you again!" Flair added.

Philia looked to Sora, and smiled sweetly as she stated, "I wish you guys the best of luck. And it was really great to see you still smiling and happy."

Sora grinned happily as he answered, "Thanks. I can't wait to see you again." Philia blushed, but nodded in agreement. She couldn't wait to see him again, too. The girls and Samson waved goodbye to them before racing off towards the hangers on the other side of town, leaving the six heroes alone.

"We should get going, too." Kirito told the group, "We need to get going to our mission."

"Agreed, but let's say farewell to Liz and the others at her shop." Asuna suggested.

"Good idea." Goofy agreed.

"Let's get moving!" Sora declared, and they wandered off back towards where they last saw the blacksmith.

---

Liz's Blacksmith Shop

The team made it back to Liz, who was alone with Silica, Pina, and Hope in the shop with her. They were just talking to one another when they turned to see the heroes. "Hey, you're back!" Liz greeted, "We were just talking about you."

"Oh, really?" Kirito questioned suspiciously.

"What about?" Donald asked.

"Well, for one, I'm giving this back to you." Hope told Yui, handing back the scanning device, "I updated the system to feature a full selection of Heartless, Unversed, and even some Nobodies."

"Thanks!" Yui thanked the young man, taking the scanner, and reattaching it behind her ear.

"As for you guys, Silica ended up getting this package by mistake, but I know it's for you." Liz told Kirito.

"H-Here you go." She said, handing a small envelope to Kirito. Sora and Asuna gathered around him as he unveiled it, and tipped it down to drop what was inside. Out dropped a keychain, a silver chain with a pale aqua ingot medallion at the end.

"A Keyblade keychain?" Sora noticed.

"It looks…familiar." Kirito noticed the medallion.

"I remembered it. I practically made my best sword ever out of it for you." Liz recognized it.

"Then…this is…" Asuna realized.

"The Dark Repulser, but in a Keyblade form." Kirito understood. He quickly summoned his Keyblade, and swapped out keychains. The weapon transformed, becoming a weapon that highly resembled the Dark Repulser weapon he wielded back in SAO. It was a mixture of aqua green colors, with the grip and the back part of the guard being a darker color. There was an aquamarine gem on front of the guard. The shaft was long and thin, and the teeth were a deep aqua green color, crown-shaped, and with another aquamarine gem embedded into it, as well.

Everyone looked in awe at the blade, with Kirito looking up and down the blade, before stepping away from everyone, and swinging the blade a couple times. "Well?" Liz coaxed, "Does it feel like the one I made for you?"

Kirito paused, then smiled as he answered, "Still a heavy weapon. A great sword." He turned to the two girls as he said, "Thanks for this weapon. I'll put it to good use against the darkness."

Silica and Liz looked to each other, grinning eagerly. "Well, of course!" Liz answered, "And don't forget you can upgrade that beauty here. Just let me know, and give the materials, and I'll take care of it!"

"No problem, Liz." Kirito answered, doing a quick-change between the Dark Repulser and Elucidator.

"So, we have to get going, right now." Asuna told the two, "I hope you and everyone else stay safe here."

"We will. Don't worry about us so much." Liz told her.

"You will come back, right?" Silica asked, looking to Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"Of course we will!" Sora answered.

"Yeah. We'll come back to visit." Goofy assured her.

"In that case, if you are traveling to different worlds, can you gather up resources for us?" Hope asked.

"What kind of resources?" Yui asked.

"This town does need a whole ton of resources here and there, and there isn't a whole lot of things outside of the city." Hope pulled out an electronic pad, pulling up something, "We did place up a request section for the people around town, but we still have a lot of materials we lack. I bet there are a whole ton of things in other worlds that we can use to fill these requests. And if you do that, you'll not only be helping the city, but also improving shops and locations, and all other kinds of things."

"Sounds like those town and city building games you'd find in video games." Kirito compared, "But I won't deny that will be beneficial to us in the future."

"Great. Is there a device I could send this data to?" Hope asked.

"How about the Gummiphone?" Donald asked Sora, who looked confused, then pulled out the said device. He handed it to Hope, who took it and examined it. He turned around and started working on both electronic devices. Finally, he finished, and handed back the Gummiphone, which now had a new app added to it, with the letters 'O.R.C' on the picture.

"Now you have a list of all the requests on that app." Hope told them, as Sora poked the app button, and it revealed a list of requests from people around town, "It'll update once in a while. Also, I added a function that'll let you know if there are resources nearby you can use to fulfill the requests."

"Handy." Kirito stated, as Sora placed the Gummiphone away.

"Thanks so much for letting us know, Hope." Asuna thanked him, "We'll do our best to bring all the resources to you."

"Well, take care of yourselves!" Sora told Liz and Silica, waving goodbye as the six heroes exited the shop.

"Bye!" "Take care!" "Come back soon!" Liz, Silica and Hope called back, with Pina chirping a farewell.

---

Swiftline

The team returned to their ship once more, and after saying a farewell to Sahz, they took off into unknown space once more. They all took their seats as Sora started, "It was awesome to see everyone was okay."

"And we even made new friends, too." Goofy added.

"And apparently some old ones." Asuna added.

"I'm still confused about why we don't remember who Philia is." Jiminy stated.

"Me, too." Sora agreed, "But…just being around her, I feel pretty safe."

Donald and Goofy looked to one another, and smiled and nodded in agreement at this statement. Kirito and Asuna looked to each other, and smiled. Even if they forgotten about Philia, their feelings connected to her were still there. Was there more to those feelings? They were not sure. Although, it was clear Philia had feelings for Sora. But considering Kairi was also close to Sora, what could this mean? Were they rivals in their affection towards him? They were not completely sure. Either way, they were fortunate to have more allies out there, exploring worlds to find out the location of Dr. Tenma.

"Yui, do we have any worlds to go to?" Kirito asked his daughter, who tapped away at the computer at her father's request.

"Three, actually." Yui answered, looking at the map, showing three new locations apart from Green Square and Resolute Oasis.

"Let's hope one of the Lost Princesses of Heart are there." Sora prayed.

"Set course for the nearest one, and let's see!" Kirito answered.

"Right!" Yui answered, locking in the coordinates. The Swiftline shot forward, heading towards the next world on their journey.

Outside of their view, there was another ship. It was a Gummi Ship, just like Sora's team. It had a sort of triangular look to it, with the hull having a sort of heart shape to it. Colorwise, it was blue, violet and white. This was the Heartelia, the ship of the Heart Sisters.

Inside the ship, the said group of girls all watched the Swiftline go off. "You sure you're okay with not going with them?" Tinker Bell asked, sitting on Philia's shoulder, while her eyes were shadowed.

"We know you really wanted to go with him." Hinata pointed out.

"I would…" Philia admitted, looking up to show she was holding back some tears, "But…I still need some time before I am ready to be by his side once again. But…right now, I don't feel like I can be with my friends. Not after what happened…"

"Geez, didn't you say it was a really long time ago?" Samson reminded, "You gotta let it go and move on, Philia!"

"You know it's never that easy, Samson." Flair retorted, "They might not remember about why she left them, but she does."

"And until I get my memories back, I'll support him, Mistress Gretinal, and everyone else in stopping Dr. Temna and the Organization." Philia determinately stated, glaring forward as she took the controls, "Let's go, Heart Sisters."

"Right!" Hinata, Flair, Samson and Tinker Bell answered as one, as the Heartelia shot forward, heading off to their next destination.

---

Next time on Sword Art Kingdom III

Melromarc! Hunting the Shield Demon!

plus

Bonus Episode: Argo's Record Sphere Collection #1