It didn't take long for the group to be on their way to the next world. Once the ship was cruising at a comfortable speed, everyone was able to reorient themselves again, with Ren, Hikari, and Shun recovering from the sudden take off. Only Yumi had been able to get her seatbelt on, so she wasn't in the same position as they were, but she definitely was caught off guard, her eyes spinning dizzily as she tried to recover.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Ren shouted, standing up to face Tenmei, who set the ship into autopilot.

"I gave you a warning", the prince replied, shrugging. "It's not my fault that you didn't get to your seats fast enough."

"Couldn't you have given us a little more warning?" Hikari groused, shakily standing up next.

"I did say we needed to get off world asap, didn't I?" Tenmei countered.

That's when Shun stood as well, glaring at the prince. "And who said you got to be captain, anyway? I sure as hell didn't vote for you."

That made Tenmei frown, not appreciating his authority being challenged. He turned his chair, giving them all a pointed, dry glare. "Alright, then let's handle this simply." He raised his own hand, challenging Shun to follow suit. "Raise your hand if you have experience commandeering a vessel that can carry more than three people and fly between worlds."

Shun flinched a bit, and reluctantly sat down, with none of the others even attempting to argue with the prince.

"That's what I thought", Tenmei replied, standing up from the captain's chair. "Tell you what; I'll teach each of you how to fly this thing so we can keep moving if I'm otherwise indisposed, but for now, I'll be in charge of flying duties. Deal?"

Murmurs of 'deal' followed this, the three that complained defeated at the argument that Tenmei had brought forward. Hikari crossed her arms and sat down in a seat, looking as if she was not going to uncross them anytime soon. Shun simply walked over to the window, staring out at it and not even looking back at where the prince sat. Ren, on the other hand, was the quickest of the three to forgive Tenmei, turning to him instantly after the others had begun their pity parties. "Hey, what kind of training are we doing there anyway?"

Tenmei let out a soft "hmmm", thinking about what they could do. He glanced back at Yumi. "Well, for Yumi... I'm thinking we should find a style to compliment her shield. I understand Master Hiroto was teaching her a sword-shield combo style... but I think she'll take to 'shield only' a bit better. Maybe, if we can find a complimenting gauntlet or something of the like?" He then looked over at Hikari. "I'm assuming you're more of a magic user, so we'll be going over your magic skills, and some staff combat techniques for whenever you run out of magic. Knowing you and your sister, though, you're both leagues ahead of us right now." He then looked over to Shun. "As for you... personally, you're the one I know the least of. This'll give us a chance to spar so I know what to help you out with, and I can help both you and Ren with sword-fighting. I need to work on my swordplay, as well as the keyblade techniques I know so far."

Shun merely huffed at that, but Ren's attention was caught by Tenmei. "Hiroto didn't have time to train me in the keyblade, only the swordplay I'd need to easily adapt to wielding one once I summoned mine for the first time... to be honest, I'm not even sure what the heck this keyblade can do." Ren called Twilight's Balance forward, the blade appearing in the signature sea of light and dark swirls. "I feel like for a legendary blade, it might have a few secrets that I don't know about yet."

Tenmei gave his own huff, understanding the situation. "You first summoned that during Xao's attack... then that means you're a novice in the most literal term." He gave a tired sigh. "Fine... I'll teach you what I know about keyblades, and on our journey, we'll figure out what other secrets your weapon has. I can't say that I'm a master, but I'll do everything in my power to help you while we travel together." He started walking out of the room, yawning. "I'm gonna crash for a bit... let me know if we get there faster than I expected."

However, soon everyone had crashed as well, and by the time they had all awoken (and forgiveness had been given by Hikari and Shun, at least for the most part), the ship was descending just outside of Olympus Coliseum, parking at a giant spot in town right before the gates. Tenmei gestured the group forward, and they followed him through the gates into the golden stadium that awaited them. There, they found themselves staring at one of the weirdest creatures Ren had ever seen; a short squat man with the features of a goat hanging posters, his big horns almost tearing one in half as he bent over to grab the bundle before moving over to the next spot.

"The heck?" Ren asked, pointing at the creature.

Unfortunately for him, the satyr heard that, and seemed to know immediately that Ren was referring to him. "What? You've never seen an honest man doing his job before, kid?"

"'Man' is not the word I would use..." Shun muttered.

"Quiet, both of you", Tenmei said, sighing. "My apologies, sir. This is our first time here, and my friends are... not used to the area", he said, looking back at Ren and Shun with a "bow your heads down, you idiots" look, which was reluctantly obeyed. "My name is Tenmei. The two boys behind me are Ren and Shun, and the sisters are Hikari and Yumi. I was wondering if we could borrow some space so we could do some training?"

The satyr gave them all a raised brow, seemingly judging them. He then shrugged. "Eh, what the heck? No fur off my tail." He motioned them towards the coliseum. "Come on. Since you're not participating in the games, I don't mind lending you rookies some space to practice."

"'Rookies?'" Hikari muttered, crossing her arms again. "Who does this jerk think he is?"

"Careful, sis", Yumi pointed out, trying to calm her down. "That's Philoctetes - or Phil - the trainer of heroes. He's got an impressive record of raising a bunch of nobodies to the legendary Hero status, like Hercules."

"Glad someone gives respect where it's due", Phil said, smirking as he heard the whole thing.

"Apologies, sir," Ren said, bowing instantly, before raising up and summoning his keyblade. "Alright, let's do this!"

Phil eyed the weapon curiously for a moment before continuing to lead them to the area where they could practice, and while it wasn't as big as the main arena, it would do for the time being. "Alright then, here ya are... but you might wanna make whatever you are doing quick. The main games are scheduled in about 5 hours, and you might wanna come watch! Be careful with the training now, especially with those keyblades." He laughed at the look on their faces when he said the weapon name, before walking out of the arena, muttering something about not seeing those three in a long time.

"H-how does he know about the keyblade?" Shun asked.

"He's a trainer of heroes", Tenmei stated, trying to shake off the nervous feeling he got from that statement. "No one ever said all of his trainees are from this world, specifically. Now, who should we start with? I can't help you guys if I don't know your baselines for combat."

"Start with Yumi and Hikari," Shun instantly said, drawing his sword and looking at Ren. "I think we still have something we need to settle?"

"Bring it on, Shun!" Ren challenged him, and soon the two boys had raced off, clashing keyblade to sword and causing sparks to fly.

"And there they go," Hikari sighed, shaking her head in frustration.

"I assume this happens a lot...?" Tenmei questioned, quirking an eyebrow.

"All the time", Yumi said, giving a nervous smile. "Even without weapons, those boys only care about who's the better fighter."

"I swear, they're so immature..." Hikari muttered, shaking her head in frustration. "This is why I don't like younger men..."

Tenmei blinked a couple times, before glancing over at her. "How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm 16," Hikari muttered, looking a bit frustrated. "Aka, the oldest here... Shun is three months younger then me, Ren is your age... exactly your age, might I add... and Yumi is 14."

Tenmei looked at her for a moment, processing all of that. He then shrugged. "Okay. Then that means I don't have to worry."

"Hey, what does that-?"

"Now, show me what you can do, Hikari. I understand Yumi's style very well, but I need to see what else you're capable of."

Hikari blinked, before smirking. "You sure about that? I'm pretty damn powerful if I do say so myself." But before she got a response, she had already readied her spell. "Fire!"

Tenmei allowed the fireball to get close, before casting his own spell. "Reflecta!" Instantly, a barrier surrounded him, and the fireball exploded harmlessly against the plane of light, leaving him unharmed. "'Pretty powerful', huh? With that time-travel spell, I'd expect at least level two magic, you know."

"Uhhh..." the blonde had nothing to say about that, her cocky smrik fading into a dumbstruck look. Firstly, she had NO idea how she even sent the five of them through time. Secondly, she had NO idea how to use level 2 magic. She was going to learn, of course, but the timing was not ideal before they were thrust into the situation they were in. "G-Give me a bit, ok!?" She began to mutter in frustration, walking away and trying to remember what Hiroto had said about casting more powerful spells.

"I think you hurt her a bit there, your highness", Yumi stated, giggling a bit.

"Only her pride... which I'm perfectly fine with", Tenmei responded, smirking a tiny bit. "If she's going to get a big head from mastering level one magic, it's best if we nip that problem in the bud. We'll need her to remain confident, but not cocky, if we're going to be fighting together from now on." He then looked at Yumi. "And for the last time, it's just 'Tenmei'." He then gave a sigh, shaking his head. "How about you? Feel comfortable punching me again?"

At the mention of the spar, Yumi turned almost as red as her hair. She began fidgeting a bit, looking down at her shield. "I-I'm sorry for... y'know... punching you in the face."

"Water under the bridge", he said almost immediately, smiling at her. "If I was pissed about that, I wouldn't have asked you to be my bodyguard, y'know. Have you been worried about that this whole time?"

"W-well, I kinda forgot with everything that happened, but... yeah", she muttered, feeling a bit silly for not letting that go earlier.

Before Tenmei could say anything else, Shun landed next to him with a thud. The dark haired teen stood up, just as Ren walked forward with his keyblade raised. "Ha! I gotcha!"

"Not this time, you little brat!" Shun yelled, charging again. The two clashed again, and this time their strikes were so fierce that Tenmei could've sworn that they were actually trying to murder one another. One glance at Yumi, however, seemed to tell him that this, too, was common, which only served to confuse him more.

Finally, after glancing at them for a bit, Tenmei decided enough was enough and charged forward. This was when he revealed one of the secrets of his own keyblade; instantly, both weapons met a metallic clang, and Ren and Shun both got a shock. Tenmei had physically split his keyblade down the middle, using both halves to easily block their attacks. What's more, the grip on the individual blades had shifted, and now the prince was wielding them in a reverse grip.

"If this is how you two spar, I'd hate to see you both actually fighting", he stated dryly. "I think I've seen enough, so can you both back up a bit so I can give you some pointers?"

Ren and Shun were both staring in shock at what the prince had done, and the silence was only broken when Ren stated in a pitch higher than his normal tone, "I wanna do that!"

Tenmei's eyes widened quite a bit, and a breathe broke past his lips, the corners turning upward in a small smile, before he caught himself, stifling the laugh right away. He then dismissed his keyblade, relaxing in stature as he looked at them both. "Well... I have to say, when it comes to raw technique with a sword... Shun has you beat, Ren. He simply has more comfort using his blade as an extension of himself." Ren frowned at that, while Shun beamed with pride. "On the other hand... when it comes to power, Ren is at the upper hand. He did knock you pretty hard onto your butt, Shun, and it may have something to do with his ability to call upon his keyblade now." At that, Ren let out a victorious "HA!" while Shun scowled, crossing his arms. "Honestly, with proper training for both of you, I have a hard time seeing who would win in a true battle."

Ren and Shun looked at one another, and Tenmei could only just imagine that the two of them were eagerly awaiting the day they could test that for real. However, the feeling was quickly dashed aside, as Ren looked at Twilight's Balance in wonder and confusion. "Okay, but how did you do that?"

Tenmei gave out a chuckle. "That's simply one of the techniques I learned my keyblade gave me. See, keyblades not only increase the power of your known abilities, but also give you access to more. As a wielder, you now can also learn magic easier than most other people, and in time, more techniques will be bestowed upon you, including mastery over specific Dark and Light skills that will benefit you the most." He summoned Twilight's Guardian once more, this time as the whole weapon. "Similar to what you saw me do when Hiroto... gave us our last orders. Understand?"

Ren nodded, turning to Tenmei. "Yeah, I got it... so, let's get on with our real training then."

The prince nodded, but it was obvious he wasn't completely confident in his abilities. While a faithful and wonderful student, he had never taught anyone how to fight before. This was going to be new for him. "Alright... I'll teach you what I can." He then looked over at Shun. "You learned from Master Hiroto as well, correct? How about the three of us spar together? I recognized some of the techniques he taught me in your style."

Shun confirmed Tenmei's question with a nod. "Though I'm not a keyblade wielder like you two, I was taught swordplay through Hiroto's schooling... that's how i met Ren and Hikari, after all."

"Very well then. I'll get to training you both first, since... to be quite honest, I may have a bit of an easier time helping you two out than I would Hikari..." He then glanced over at the blonde, who was still off doing her own thing. "Plus... I think she'll get mad at me if I try to talk to her right now." He then looked over to Yumi. "As for you... we just need a good weapon to work with you." He handed her a sack of cash. "This should be enough for a starter weapon for you. And perhaps a new outfit, so you're not parading in that color-guard outfit we gave you. I recommend some sort of gauntlet, if you wish. You throw a mean right hook."

Yumi couldn't help the slight blush at the complement, but she nodded and took the munny. "R-right. Then... I guess I'll be back soon. Ren, Shun... please don't try to kill each other, okay?"

"No promises!" Shun yelled after her, smirking in a joking fashion, before turning to Tenmei, more serious than the boy EVER remembered seeing him before in the short time he's known Shun. "Alright then, let's get on with it!"

Tenmei nodded, slipping into a battle stance with his Keyblade. "Alright... I'll do my best to teach you both. Just let me know if you need some pointers, alright?" He looked over at Shun. "Show me your overhead strike. I'll block it, and show a potential counter. Then I'll do the same to you."

Shun nodded, swinging his sword instantly, probably harder than he needed to. But he was surprised to see the prince had been ready, easily using the flat of his blade to stop his weapon. "Now... from this point, I have two options. I can either slide your weapon down to the hilt of my blade, easily throwing you off balance..." And at that, he did just that, moving a bit faster than Shun was used to and making him stumble a bit, before he felt the cold metal of Twilight's Guardian at the base of his neck. "... which means victory for me as of now... or, if you have quick instincts, you can swing your own weapon up to block an overhead strike with a lot more force, making their blade repel completely and leaving them even more open to attack."

Shun huffed, backing away so that the blade was no longer at his neck. "Yeah, if you say so." Meanwhile, Ren only nodded, having watched the whole affair. It was obvious to Tenmei at that point which of the two was more attentive in lessons, though if they were on equal skill as of right now, Shun was the better natural fighter.

At least was, with the keyblade now in Ren's hand.

"Now, Shun, try to either repel or cast off my weapon", Tenmei commanded, and brought his blade up before swinging it down. Shun attempted to swing his own blade up, intending to make Twilight's Guardian bounce back, but he found a much stronger resistance than he expected, and after some struggling, managed to slide Tenmei's keyblade off with a huff. The prince stared down at Shun, frowning.

"Not quite right... but doing something you're not used to takes time. I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly", Tenmei said. "You'll just need a bit more practice, and you should be able to counter that in no time." All Shun did at that was mutter something, and Tenmei instead turned his attention towards his second new student. "Ren, are you ready?"

"Yeah", Ren nodded, stepping forward and holding Twilight's Balance in a ready stance. "Whenever you're ready!"

Tenmei nodded, and struck the exact same way, making a big, powerful overhead swing. This time, however, Tenmei was caught off guard, as Ren instantly parried, throwing the prince off balance as his keyblade slid harmlessly past Ren's hilt. Though he did spare himself embarrassment, by quickly holding his blade up and blocking Ren's weapon from tapping his neck. "Impressive", he said, smirking at the wielder of Twilight's Balance.

Ren blinked in shock, attempting to process what he had just done, before grinning back at Tenmei. Shun sighed at that, turning and only muttering a simple message over his shoulder. "Hey, I'm going to take a walk real quick... be back."

"Is he ok?" Hikari asked, finally rejoining after cooling down herself.

"I-I dunno..." Ren admitted, tilting his head after him. He looked down at his Keyblade, before turning to Tenmei. "Hey, how come I adapted to your lesson so quickly?"

Tenmei gave a sigh, no longer smiling. "Twilight's Balance", he said simply, tapping Ren's keyblade with his own. "Keyblade Warriors are naturals at traveling to different worlds. Thus, they learn to adapt much faster because the Keyblade allows them to. I did tell you that you'd gain skills and now had access to magic, did I not?"

"Yeah, that's true," Ren stated, looking down at the weapon before looking after Shun, who had become nothing more then a speck as he walked past the coliseum gates. "I wonder if that is why he got upset... hope he'll be ok..."

"Who knows", Tenmei said with a shrug, trying to play it off as normal. "I'll admit... with his mastery over Hiroto's techniques, I expected you both to be a bit more equal in learning, but... obviously I was wrong. I may have put too much pressure on him..." He gave a soft sigh. "We'll let him cool down, and then I'll offer some more practical lessons for him to take with me. Perhaps a full out spar will help him figure out what he needs to do."

Shun, meanwhile, was yelling his head off, breaking pots and anything else within reach of his blade. He was shattering pillars, walls, you name it. Finally, he calmed down a bit, panting as he looked down, gritting his teeth in frustration. "How... how the hell did he do that? Why did he pick it up so easily, and I didn't?!"

"I'll tell you why..." Shun gasped, recognizing the voice. Before him, a dark portal had appeared, and through it stepped Xao, who was smirking at the young teen as he readied his weapon. Xao raised a hand, "Settle down, boy. I didn't come to fight... No, I merely came to teach."

"Teach?" Shun huffed in laugher, glaring at Xao. "As if I have anything to learn from a monster like you!"

Xao frowned for a moment, before smirking again. "That's really not a nice way to talk to me... son."

The silence that followed could have lasted an eternity, as Shun only stared at Xao for what seemed like ages before finally giving the man that claimed to be his father a hateful look. "Yeah, sure. And I am a heartless! There is no way you can be my father! I already have a family, thank you very much!"

"Do you?" Xao asked, walking forward. Shun braced himself to strike, but the curiosity he has of what Xao was saying prevented him from actually attacking. "Has your adoptive family even actually told you anything about your birth? Anything about your early childhood? How much do you actually remember about before you were ten years old?"

Shun paused at that. It was true that he didn't remember anything past six years ago, and it was true that his family never really mentioned anything about him being anything under ten. "H-how do you know about all that?"

Xao only smiled as he walked up to Shun and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We have much to catch up on... my long lost son..."

XxXxXxX

Tenmei sighed, his leg bouncing a little bit. He had taken a seat on the steps of the coliseum, waiting for Shun to come back so they could talk. His fingers had interlocked, his chin resting gently upon his hands as he stared at the gate, waiting as patiently as he could, but it was obvious he was becoming anxious. Before, his leg merely bounced once every little while... now it seemed to bounce every other second.

The door began to creak, and Tenmei sat up a bit more, ready to say something, but his face fell a bit when Yumi was the one walking in. Not only was she now sporting an iron gauntlet on her right hand, forged to effectively cover her hand and still allow her use of her fingers, but she had also bought a new outfit. The elegant bodyguard outfit had been useful for the time, but there was no denying that she needed something that fit her style better. Gone was the stifling overcoat and elegant decals. Now, she wore a green tank top, a black sleeveless hoodie, and a pair of purple shorts that hugged her hips nicely. She even bought a pair of sneakers, which were purple as well, with simple black decals on the sides.

Tenmei let out a sigh, sitting down again and resuming his waiting... only now his leg began bouncing even faster, his worry growing. Yumi quirked an eyebrow, before walking over to Ren and Hikari. "Is... everything okay?" she asked, glancing over at the former prince.

"Well, Shun hasn't come back from his 'walk' yet..." Hikari muttered, also looking just as worried as Tenmei was. "I mean, I know the dude gets upset when things don't do his way... but he's never gone this long..."

"He'll be fine," Ren said, but even then his face did not say the same. He was also looking at the door to the coliseum with worry, wondering how their friend was doing.

At that, Tenmei let out a frustrated groan, the first they had ever heard from him, and he stood up. "Alright, waiting's obviously gotten us squat. I'm gonna go find him and talk to him, like I probably should've from the start."

"It's a little too late for that," a voice suddenly said. The four teenagers flinched, as Xao suddenly appeared as if from nowhere, a dark portal surrounding him before it vanished, the man looking over all of them with a victorious stare on his face. "He is mine, now."

Tenmei growled, standing between Xao and the others. "The hell does that mean? What did you do to Shun?" He wanted nothing more than to charge him, but he learned his lesson; fighting Xao right now was a really bad idea.

"Nothing more than the obvious," Xao explained, looking over all of them. "But you of course do not know... about my son."

"Son?" Ren asked, confused. "Wait, someone actually had a relationship with a monster like you?"

Xao brushed that off, "Shun is my son, in a manner of speaking... and I only told him the truth about that before I decided that we should spend a little father son bonding time. That is all."

Tenmei snarled, refusing to believe that. "Alright, so... say that I believe you are his father. Why the hell would he go with the bastard that destroyed his home?"

"Because it is not often that you find the truth about your childhood, prince," Xao stated, adding a bit of bite to the last word. "Shun merely found out the truth, and after a little convincing, he decided that he wanted to know more about daddy dearest."

"You mean you kidnapped him?" Ren growled, summoning his keyblade in frustration.

"Well, it's not everyday you find out the truth about your father," Xao commented, smirking. "Believe me if you want, but the truth is written in stone, so honestly I don't care what you believe... all you need to know is Shun is mine now."

Tenmei growled, summoning his keyblade as well. It was then he noticed something, and slowly grinned. "Hey, Xao... is it just me, or did that little Light bath I gave you earlier leave you not so tall dark and dangerous as you were at the Citadel?"

Despite Tenmei's taunt, Xao only continued to smirk. "Even if it did, this time is perfect... darkness is plentiful here... and I will not only regain my strength soon enough, but surpass what I once was! I'm sure you figured it out my now, Tenmei, but have the others... Where are we in time right now?"

Silence filled the gap for a moment before finally, Yumi gave a gasp. The fact that Phil knew the keyblade, the fact that worlds were vanishing, and the fact that Xao seemed happy about where they were at only cemented the truth that she knew all along. "The Legend of Kingdom Hearts."

Xao nodded, smirking. "Darkness... is plentiful now." His grin only widened, as he raised his arms, as if already celebrating his victory. "Before the Door to Darkness is sealed, I can gain all the darkness I want! I will be more powerful than I ever could be in that damned future! ...and it is all thanks to you, Tenmei."

At first, Tenmei wanted to curse. The scowl on his face was quite evident, as he realized how bad of a blunder he had made. Xao was right, of course... the Door to Darkness was thrust wide open, and Heartless were beginning to swarm on all of the worlds.

Another thought hit him, though, and he grinned again. He even let out a slow laugh, shaking with mirth where he stood. "Well... even if you can access Darkness... it looks like your heart is all but swallowed by it. I have no doubt that you're a master of it... but... you forget, Xao..." He pointed his keyblade at the Dark Master. "... we came from the future. And in the end... Darkness lost. So what if you can gain the power from the Darkness that's present now? Ren and I can do the same. And when that door is sealed shut... your power source is gone. But us Princes?" He gave a laugh as he shook his head. "We can just start taking power from the Light, too. This is what happens when you betray the Way to the Dawn, the Path of Twilight... you cut off your own power." With the laugh finished, he slipped into a more serious tone, glaring at their enemy. "Fine. Do whatever with the Darkness. But I will come for you, Xao... we will take Shun back... and you will answer for your crimes."

Xao only continued to smirk as he glared at Tenmei, though the group spotted the tiny glimmer of worry, the corner of his lip twitching a small bit. "We will see, prince... who says that the future cannot be changed? Either way, I have what I want, and we will see what the future for us from the future has in store." He summoned his sword, which the four future warriors couldn't help but notice looked a bit different from the last time they saw it. "Either way, we will fight soon. The clash of Twilight and Darkness is coming... we will settle this soon, Tenmei and Ren, and on that day we will see what is stronger... your faith, or my will..." With that, he vanished, only leaving a wisp of dark energy in his wake.

As soon as he was gone, Tenmei's smirk faded. Sure that bravado kept him confident in the face of that monster... but he knew that his own bluff would soon bite him in the ass. "Back to the ship. We have to get moving."

Ren nodded, looking worried. "If Xao does have Shun, we have to get him back! Let's go!"