Okay! Here goes the next chappy!

(Yes! I own all of this wondeful stuff! So next time any of you write fanfics about these characters I'm gonna sue you! ... And that dear readers is called sarcasm. Enjoy the fic that I don't own anything of.)

The ghostly behemoth gave a terrible roar, which almost knocked Danny and the others off their feet.

"How do we fight that?" Sonic asked.

"It's horn." Sora replied. "If I can hit its horn enough, it'll be destroyed. But with those ghost powers I can't get at it long enough."

"Then we'll give you some more time." Said Danny. "Sonic, Hiei, Run around it as fast as you can and get it dizzy. June, Clover, you attack from behind whenever you can. Jake and I will blast it with everything we've got. Sora, once it's distracted you hop up and get its horn."

"Right." Came the unified response.

Sonic and Hiei began running at top speed around the Heartless. It tried to keep its eyes on them, but was already feeling dizzy.

Next, June and Clover began attacking its rear legs.

The behemoth would have attacked them but came under a barrage of ghost rays and dragon flames from the front.

The ghost-Heartless didn't know what to do or who to attack. In the confusion, Sora jumped onto its back, sliced off the snake heads, and attacked the horn.

The ghost powers may have made the Heartless stronger, but its horn was weaker. Sora gave a final blow and a bright light came out of it. Time seemed to slow momentarily.

Sora jumped back down just as the Behemoth disappeared.

"Yeah!" Sonic cheered. "We rock!"

"You said it!" Said Jake, after turning back into a human.

"I have to admit," Said Hiei. "We make a fairly efficient team.

Clover suddenly hugged him from behind. "I can't believe we won!"

"Um… you're hugging me…"

Danny ignored Hiei and Clover and looked towards his house. "Let's get to that key-hole." He said.

But suddenly, a huge dark fortress sprung out of the ground where Danny's house should have been.

"What's that?" June asked.

"Oh no." Said Sora. "Smith must have found the key-hole!"

"But how?" Clover asked.

"He must have been watching us." Hiei replied. "And when we found out where the key-hole was, so did he."

"Of course!" Said Danny. "So he must have sent that Heartless ghost to distract us!"

"But," Said Sonic. "If he found the key-hole, does that mean we lost?"

"No." Sora replied. "If he had gotten to the key-hole the whole world would be gone. But he's set up a dark fortress, which means he's still afraid of us getting to it."

"But, what's stopping him from accessing the key-hole?" June asked.

"He must not be able to get to it for some reason. We have to get there and seal it before he figures it out!"

"Right." Said Danny. "Let's go!"

They made their way to the fortress in no time, but found there was no visible entrance.

"No problem." Said Jake. "I'll make an entrance. Dragon up!" Jake transformed back into a dragon and blasted the wall. But no matter how hard he tried, the wall stayed just as solid. "Uh… maybe this is gonna be harder than I thought…"

"Never mind," Said Danny. "I can get us in. Everybody hold onto me." The group did as they were told and Danny used his ghost powers to make them all see-through. The group floated thru the wall and into the dark fortress.

"That…" Sonic said, as he and the others returned to normal. "…Was weird."

"Look." Said Clover, who was pointing towards the entrances to three different corridors leading through the fortress. "Which way do we go?"

"We'll have to split up." Danny replied. "Sonic and I will take the middle, Jake and June will take the left, and Hiei, Clover, and Sora will go right."

"How will we contact each-other if we find something?" Hiei asked.

"Here, I brought these for just this kind of circumstance." Danny handed everyone a pair of what looked like techno-goth earrings. "These will work as communicators. If anyone finds anything, give the others a call and we'll all meet up." The group all put the devices in their ears. "Okay, let's get going. Be careful everyone."

Danny and Sonic headed down the center corridor, then Jake and June went down the left, and Hiei, Clover, and Sora went left, as planned.

Danny and Sonic were about halfway through the hallway which was dimly lit by green torches, when Sonic finally broke the silence.

"It's quiet… too quiet."

"This isn't the time for jokes." Said Danny.

"No, seriously. It's too quiet. I mean, shouldn't this place be guarded or something?"

"Yeah… you're right. Something is up." Danny and Sonic were on guard now. But there didn't seem to be any life in this fortress. "Man, I wish there were ghosts here."

"That's kinda the opposite of what people say in spooky castle-things."

"No, I mean instead of the Heartless. I can detect ghosts, and I'm used to fighting them. But these Heartless are completely new."

"Tell me about it. I'm used to bashing robots. But ever since Eggman got thrown in jail I haven't had much to do back in Station Square."

"Eggman? That was your arch-enemy? What, was he half egg or something?"

"Nah, just fat I gave him that nick-name years ago and it kinda stuck."

Danny chuckled. But suddenly he stopped in his tracks.

"What?" Sonic asked.

"There's something here."

"Where?"

"I don't know. I just saw something out of the corner of my eye."

The two remained as still as statues, trying to hear, or see, or even sense whatever it was that was stalking them.

Suddenly, a large dark shadow fell over them.

Danny let out a call for help, but soon disappeared with the shadow. All that was left in the corridor were Sonic and Danny's communicators.

Meanwhile, Jake and June were talking again about their similar lives.

"Okay," Said Jake. "Who's the dumbest magical villain you've ever faced?"

"Hmm…" June thought for a moment. "Probably the Sandman."

"No way. You fought the Sandman? I thought he had the power to throw you into your worst nightmare."

"Yeah… don't believe everything you hear."

"Yeah…" Jake laughed, but looked nervous suddenly. "So, uh… you have a boyfriend or something?"

Jake mentally kicked himself for asking but June just smiled. "No, I haven't had much time for dating in the past few years. Though the magic community in Orchid Bay has calmed down in the last few months."

"Oh, that's cool."

"Yep… Um, how about you?"

"Me? Well… I almost did once…" Jake lowered his eyes and looked sad. "It was years ago… when I was 14. Her name was Rose, and she was one of the most beautiful girls I'd ever seen. She was smart, and funny, and she seemed so nice."

"So… what happened?"

"I found out she was actually a dragon hunter. And not just any hunter, but the same one who wanted to kill me and decorate her living room with my skin."

"Really?"

"Yeah… I never talked about it before now… but I never got over it."

"I'm so sorry Jake." June stopped to look at him.

"It's okay." Jake replied, also stopping. "I think talking about it helped. Thanks for listening."

"No problem."

It was then that the two realized they were holding hands.

They let go and continued on their way, blushing all the while.

But suddenly, a shadow swooped down out of nowhere.

Jake pushed June out of the way just before the shadow swallowed him up.

June got up and turned to the shadow. "Spit him out now!" She shouted.

The shadow just glared with it's yellow eyes.

"Okay, you asked for it!" June charged the shadow and was about to kick it, when it suddenly swallowed her up to, then disappeared.

As before, the communicators were left on the floor.

In the right corridor Hiei paused and looked behind him.

"Hiei?" Clover asked, looking behind her. "Is everything alright?"

"It's fine." Hiei replied, catching up again. "I just thought I heard something. Sora, can't your Keyblade detect the keyhole?"

"No." Sora replied. "It's always been up to me to find it. The Keyblade can open locks, fight Heartless, and seal the Keyhole, but I still have to get it there."

"That kinda stinks." Said Clover.

Sora just shrugged. "Yeah, but I don't really mind anymore. Except I used to have a lot of help from Donald and Goofy."

"What were they like?"

"Well… Donald is a duck, and Goofy… wait. Is Goofy a dog? Hmm…"

Sora walked up ahead, leaving Clover next to Hiei.

"So…" She said. "Do you have any friends Hiei?"

"Humph. I'm not sure I'd call them friends."

"Oh… any family?"

"A sister, Yukina."

"Oh, that's nice. How about your parents?"

Hiei suddenly looked at Clover. "Why ask all these questions?"

"Well, I wanna get to know you better."

"Fine. I'll tell you all you need to know about me. I'm a three-eyed demon, who hates humans. I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for the fact that I want to have my record wiped clean so I can go away and never have to bother with saving the world again."

Clover was shocked, and also a little hurt. "Well fine. If that's all you want I'll stay out of your way!"

She stormed ahead and walked next to Sora.

They hadn't walked far when they came to a door on the left side of the hall.

"Does this qualify as 'something?'?" Clover asked.

"Maybe." Sora replied. "Let's open it and see."

Sora opened the door, only to see a swarm of Heartless on the other side. He slammed the door shut and shouted "Run!"

The three of them ran, but the Heartless broke through the door and followed.

Hiei noticed a door up ahead which looked strong enough to hold back the Heartless, but they would never outrun the shadowy beasts long enough to reach it.

Hiei drew his sword and turned to the Heartless.

"What are you doing?" Sora shouted back, as he and Clover turned to face him.

"I'll hold them off!" Hiei replied, keeping the Heartless at bay. "Get through that door and lock it!"

"But Hiei!" Clover called out.

"Just go!"

"Hiei we can't leave you!" Said Sora.

"You need to get the Keyblade to the keyhole! Get going!"

"But…"

"Now!"

Sora knew Hiei didn't stand a chance alone, but a sudden calm came over him and he nodded.

He grabbed Clover by the hand and pulled her to the door. Once they were beyond it, Sora began to push it shut.

Clover watched as Hiei fought desperately against the creatures, until the door was shut all the way.

Sora bolted the door and tried to pull Clover down the rest of the corridor.

But Clover wouldn't budge. "Sora! We can't leave him!" She cried.

"I don't want to either Clover." Said Sora. "But if he hadn't held them back the Heartless would have caught up with us. There was no way we'd survive."

"But… what about Hiei?"

"It's too late Clover. Even he couldn't fight all those Heartless… he's… gone."

Clover couldn't help but shed a few tears.

Sora let her cry for a moment before gently telling her they had to keep going.

As they made their way, Clover tried to contact the others, but no one answered.

"This isn't good." She said, after failing to contact Jake and June. "What if something happened?"

"We'll find out soon. We just have to keep going."

"Sora, how can you be so calm about this?" The others may be in trouble, and Hiei died to protect us! How can you be so cold?"

"Clover, believe me, I'm just as worried about the others as you, and I feel terrible about Hiei… but if we don't get to the keyhole it will all have been for nothing. As long as we have the Keyblade there's a chance we can win. So we have to keep going for the others. Okay?" There was no answer. "Clover?" Sora turned around, but Clover was no-where in sight. "Clover? Where are you?"

"Foolish boy…" A chilling voice echoed from the shadows. "All these years and still you understand nothing."

"What?" Sora's face turned white.

"A shame you couldn't save your demon friend from the Heartless… but then you always seem to lose friends, don't you?"

"It can't be… you're dead…"

"Perhaps I am… perhaps I'm… a ghost."

Sora heard a sound behind him and turned just in time to see a large familiar Heartless charging at him. Then, everything went blank.

Sora soon woke up again, and found himself trapped in a web of dark energy. He looked around and saw the others still unconscious on the web with him.

"Guys!" He called. "Wake up!"

The others obviously heard Sora, because they began to stir and open their eyes.

Danny was the first to wake up, and being the leader, called out to the others. "Is everyone okay?" They all replied that they were. "Good. Where are we?"

"I don't know." Jake replied. "All I remember is some kind of… shadow.

"Yeah." Said Sonic. "It was like a big Heartless."

"Yes…" Said a strange voice. "I sent it to bring you all here." Danny and the others turned to see Dr. Smith standing nearby. "Glad to see you're awake." He said, but the voice was not his own. It was more like someone else's voice was speaking at the same time as his.

"Smith!" Danny shouted.

"No." Said Sora. "That's not Smith… not anymore."

"Very true." Said the voice, now the only one coming out of Smith's mouth. "Smith was kind enough to give me his body. Allow me to show you my true form." Smith's body seemed to fade away, leaving another form in its place.

Danny and the others now looked at another man, with whit hair and a Heartless symbol on his chest.

Sora knew who it was right away.

This was the seeker of darkness… Ansem.

Ooooh, a cliffhanger! Be sure to tune in next time my friends to see the exciting climactic battle!

p.s. I finally have that pic done! So if you want to see my dumb little work of art go here: http / www . deviantart . com / view / 27875894 / and remember the : and two /'s after http and don't use spaces.

(Sigh) Why can't I just put the whole link in there? Oh well.