DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT THE PLOT AND MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS!

A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR'S! IT'S NEARLY 2016! WOW! A LOT HAS HAPPENED!

Yes, I mean what I said! A LOT happened this year. I would like to give a moment of silence for four particular Actors and Actresses who died this year.
(1.) Leonard Nimoy (Age 83) - Known for Spock on Star Trek, & Master Xehanort in "Kingdom Hearts".
Tetsuya Nomura chose him for the role of Xehanort specifically because of his role as Spock.
I only Hope he was able to record his lines as Xehanort for "Kingdom Hearts III"...
(2.) Christopher Lee (Age 93) - Known for Saruman in "The Lord of The Rings", Count Dooku in "Star Wars", and Ansem The Wise in "Kingdom Hearts".
(3.) Melody Patterson (Age 66) - Known for Wrangler Jane in "F-Troop". I shall REALLY miss her...
(4.) Al Molinaro (Age 96) - Known for Al Delvecchio in "Happy Days", & Murray Greshler in "The Odd Couple". I shall REALLY miss him...
(5.) Dick Van Patten (Age 86) - Best Known for Tom Bradford in ABC's "Eight Is Enough".

As it is, Richard Wayne Van Dyke - Better Known as DICK VAN DYKE - celebrated his 90TH BIRTHDAY on December 13TH, 2015!

HAPPY BE-LATED BIRTHDAY, DICK VAN DYKE! YOU ARE A TRUE DISNEY LEGEND!

In Addition, Two New Disney-Pixar Movies came out This Year! "INSIDE OUT (2015)", And "THE GOOD DINOSAUR (2015)"!
Since I have seen both, I shall just say - without any spoilers - those two movies seemed to be Counterparts that go together. I will not say anything else about them.

Plus, Two of my favorite Classic Television Shows celebrated their 50TH Birthdays This Year!

"HOGAN'S HEROES", And "GET SMART"! HIP-HIP-HOORAY! HIP-HIP-HOORAY!

Sadly, it appears the Disney Fairies Franchise is slowly dying out now... Their Latest Movie, "Tinker Bell And The Legend of The NeverBeast (2015)" is most-likely the Last One DisneyToonStudios will make for that franchise.
To me, this is very sad... I found myself REALLY enjoying those movies - especially since they were spun off of Disney's "Peter Pan"!

For that matter, it also looks like the PBSKIDSGO! Show, "WORDGIRL" might have come to end This Year, too.
I don't think I want to know how Sora's sister would react if she heard this news...

So, without further ado, here is a piece of TRIVIA for the road!
DID YOU KNOW? The actress who voiced Shego in Kim Possible was Nicole Sullivan. She was also two other Disney-made productions. One was Franny Robinson in "Meet The Robinsons (2007)". The other was Mira Nova in "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command". I am not sure if she did any other work for Disney. It would not surprise me if she did.

Well, with all THAT aside, LET'S GET UNDERWAY WITH CHAPTER 23! READ TO YOUR HEART'S CONTENT!

PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO REVIEW, TOO - PLEASE!

CHAPTER 23
Drakken's Scheme — Revealed

The sun had long set below the horizon. The air had grown cool and the moon had appeared shortly after. The streets were deserted now and also illuminated by the occasional streetlamp. The houses were lit up brighter than a million fireflies, let alone a lighthouse's lamp.

At Kim's house, everything was rather calm and easygoing… for once. Everyone was gathered around the television. Sora was slumped on the couch beside his sister. Amemi was yawning here and there. Donald was lying on his stomach upon the floor. Goofy was slouched in a chair. Launchpad was leaning against the wall, and sitting on the floor, all at the same time.

Sora's eyes started to droop. He was beyond drained. After leaving the Middleton Mall with Kim, Erik, and Ron, the spikey, brown-headed Keyblade wielder and his teammates had encountered a swarm of Mega-Shadow Heartless. Although they had cleared the parking lot of all the enemies, the group had decided to search the city for any sign of Pete, Don Karnage, or Drakken. The next few hours had flown by….

…Yet, there was no sign of the three villains anywhere in the city. Having recalled how Drakken had claimed they were settling into a new lair, Sora had reached the conclusion the evildoers were lurking somewhere in the city itself. His assumption had been extended when he remembered how Shego had been a teacher at the school.

Apparently, his conclusions were wrong. For all he knew, Drakken and the others had seemingly disappeared altogether. Of course, he knew such an event was truly impossible without using a Corridor of Darkness or some other form of transportation between worlds.

Either way, he knew he had to track them down and stop their evil scheme before the Heartless overran the world of Middleton and it was lost to Darkness, possibly for the second time, too.

Sora yawned himself and continued to watch the television. The news was on. The boring part… it had to be the news. This was one part of the media he didn't care for in the least little bit.

He was about to doze off when a newsflash, or (Special Report" as it read) came on about the local Bueno Nacho restaurant; there was a large amount of children's laughter going on inside the building. Sora's eyes opened. He was curious about this newsflash.

An anchorwoman came on. She had blondish hair, teal eyes, and a matching business suit. She was holding a small toy shaped like a smiling devil with a capital "D" on its head. It hands and feet resembled a LEGO Minifigure and it had a red and black color scheme. "I'm here at Bueno Nacho, the home of Little Diablo," she said. "This tiny toy, this mini must-have, this cute little devil, is the latest craze for kids all over the world. Just one look around tells you that Little Diablo…. "

At that moment, a blonde-haired young man who strangely looked exactly like Ron Stoppable barged in front of her. "I can't even get to the counter to order!" he shouted in a frenzy. He looked frantic, worried, and discouraged. "This used to be my place — mine! I'm losing everything I ever cared about!"

Sora stared at the screen in complete shock. It really was Ron himself! He had been at Bueno Nacho during the time the reporter had been there. The brown-haired Keyblader could sense a state of distress and panic in Ron's voice. Either it was his imagination, or it seemed the young man's heart was slowly being consumed by a dark emotion of some kind.

Whatever it was, it was clear Ron's heart was gradually falling into Darkness. Sora knew this had to be the case. He had seen Riku go there and back — twice! …Or was it only once? He wasn't sure. It didn't really matter now.

"Ron's on T.V.," Tim pointed out from where the twins were watching on the floor.

"And he's freaking out," Jim added.

Kim's mom (who was sitting beside Amemi) looked at the screen in time to see the restaurant staff pulling Ron away from the anchorwoman's microphone. "Honey," she told Kim's dad. "I think the boys are right."

Kim's dad looked up from the newspaper he'd been reading. "Hmm," he pondered aloud. "Ronald? Freaking? Oh, so he is."

"Mom," Jim spoke up. "Can we go to Bueno Nacho?"

"Please?" Tim pleaded.

Sora shook his head. Recalling how Kim had been in her room since he and his team had return to the house, Sora decided to inform her about what had happened.

After all, this was not something to be taken lightly. Sora silently and carefully left the room.

Amemi noticed her brother leaving and suddenly had a strange feeling. Was something up? She glanced at the others. Goofy grabbed the remote control and switched channels. An episode of Gilligan's Island was just starting… in color, too. When she saw the words "Gilligan's Island Marathon — Tonight", Amemi decided it was time to find out what Sora was doing.

Why not? He had a lot more experience in these situations than she did. Maybe he'd found a clue or something. The newsflash might've had something along those lines. For all she knew, there was a connection between the goings-on at the restaurant and whatever Drakken, Pete, and Don Karnage were up to.

She trailed her brother up the stairs. She was careful not to make any sounds. If Sora knew she was following him… she didn't wish to consider it.

When she reached the second floor, Amemi followed Sora to a large room at the end of the hall on the right. The door was slightly ajar, so she simple peeked in and listened.

There was Sora and Kim sitting on a decent-sized bed. Kim's device was in her hands. Amemi could hear something coming from the device.

"I'm losing everything I ever cared about!"

Amemi had to shake her head. This was the same thing she and Sora and the others had seen on the television downstairs.

She heard Kim sigh. "I'd better talk to him," the red-haired young woman said.

"He's in the old tree house," a voice from the device said.

"I'll come, too," Sora added.

Her eyes lit up. She heard footsteps approaching the door. The sandy-haired girl hurried down the hall and ducked into a closet. She peeked through the doorway and watched as Sora and Kim both left the room and marched down the stairs. Amemi emerged from her hiding place and followed them.

Downstairs, the noise from the television was louder than normal. The last time Amemi had heard a show being this loud was the last time she'd watched WordGirl at home, which had been the Friday before Sora's birthday. Now, she was starting to wish she'd stayed home. Hopefully her DVR was still taping the show whenever she wasn't around.

Well, even if it wasn't, she still had something else to look forward to. An adventure unlike any she'd ever heard of before. Traveling to far-flung lands. Making new friends… and enemies. Seeing sights she'd never dreamed of before. Fighting strange creatures every step of the way.

Amemi had to smile. Maybe it was worth missing a few episodes of WordGirl. She was enjoying the time she was spending with her brother.

When she saw Sora and Kim head out the front door, Amemi hurried along behind them. She could still hear Gilligan and the Skipper from the television just after she closed the door behind herself.

The tree house was in a tall, wide tree just outside a house a few yards away from Kim's house. The shape of it reminded Sora of a wooden crate, only with a hole in the bottom and a window or two. Not to mention, it was situated in a tree. And it had a peaked roof, like a real house.

To Sora, this tree house also reminded him of the wooden shack on the Children's Play Island back home on the Destiny Islands. He recalled spending many stormy days huddled in that very shack with Riku, Kairi, and anyone else who'd been on the island with them.

One time, he had been on the island with his sister when she was only five or six years old (his parents had made him bring her along that day). A violent thunderstorm had formed and washed over the entire seashore. If Sora, Amemi, Riku, Kairi (as well as Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka) hadn't taken cover in the shack, they'd have been washed away with most of the island's sand. It had taken five weeks to fix the docks and get the place cleaned up from palm tree leaves and other debris. Several of the trees had been uprooted and had to be replanted.

Despite all this replaying within his mind, Sora tried his best to keep his focus on the current task at hand. That task was helping Kim find Ron.

Kim scaled the tree rather quickly. As she neared the top, a voice shouted from above, "I have a lethal weapon!"

The teenage girl sighed and shook her head a little. "Put the slingshot down. It's me and Sora."

There was a sigh from above as Kim finished clambering on up into the tree house. Sora was seconds behind her. "Oh," he heard the voice say. "I always wanted to use this on somebody."

Sora was inside the tree house in a flash. He noticed Ron was slouched on a large, blue sofa, a small slingshot was in his right hand. A green blanket with a faded-green stripe was draped on the sofa behind him. Two posters were located on the wall behind the sofa, although the seventeen-year-old Keyblade wielder wasn't able to tell what they were supposed to be. There was an open crate of sport-related things to the left. A closed crate with a paper bag on top was to the right.

Kim stood before Ron. "You did once, don't you remember?"

"Arnie Custer?" Ron asked.

"Arnie Custer."

"Huh?" Sora broke into the conversation. "Who's that?"

Kim and Ron didn't pay the spikey-haired youth any attention. "I was trying to stop him from hurting you," Ron said.

"I pulled him off you because you beaned him with the slingshot," Kim countered.

"We were six, okay? The details are sketchy."

Sora rolled his eyes and started to look around the room some more. He spotted a wooden sign bearing the words "NO GIRLS ALLOWED" in red paint. "What's this?" he inquired.

Kim noticed the sign a moment later. "I never noticed that sign before."

"Really?" Ron scoffed (a little). "It's been up there forever."

Sora had his doubts. The paint looked fresh and seemed to still be drying. He had the feeling the sign was directly intended for Kim… as well as any other girls who might try to enter the tree house.

Kim grinned at a poster hanging over the entrance to the tree house. To Sora's surprise, it was a picture of Kim and Ron, only much younger. It reminded him of how he and Kairi used to look less than five years ago. "Oh, it was fun!" Kim said. "When we were kids, I mean."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Just the two of us."

Kim picked up a small raccoon hat from the floor. Sora stared at it. How did he miss it when he had looked around the room? Was it because it was so tiny?

"Hey, I remember this," the red-headed teenager smiled. "Ron, the happy camper."

Ron appeared to be miserable. "Camp Wannaweep. The worst summer of my life."

"I know, I know," Kim nodded.

Sora was puzzled. "What made it so bad?"

Kim turned to him. "The ticks," she explained. "The poison ivy, the toxic lake, his mom stopped accepting his phone calls."

"Wow," Sora marveled in surprise. "That does sound terrible."

"Yeah, you know, all that stuff was bad, KP," Ron spoke up. Sora and Kim turned their eyes back to him. "But you know what was worse? Spending a whole summer away from you."

"Oh," Kim sighed.

Sora was not sure what to say. After what he'd just heard, he had the feeling something serious was bothering Ron. Just like he had assumed from hearing the newsflash. Ron's heart was struggling with a dark emotion. Could it be jealousy? Or was it worse? He didn't know.

Ron scooped up a paper carton full of nacho chips and melted cheese. "You want any?" he offered the other two. "I only do 'to go' now. Little Diablo's ruined everything."

Judging from Ron's scowling face as he spoke the last four words, Sora had the feeling the Bueno Nacho issue was only part of the problem. "I think," he said. "Something else beside the restaurant changes are bothering you, Ron."

Ron snapped into attention in a hurry. "Talking about Erik? Why… No!" he stated in a frantic rush. "Why would I have a problem with Erik? No! I'm down with Erik!"

With the blonde-haired teenager started to wheeze, rub his nose, and look all around the room, Sora crossed his arms. He had the feeling Ron was not telling the truth.

Perhaps Ron was jealous of all the attention Kim was giving Erik? True, Erik was new at the school… and he did hang out with Kim quite a lot. Could it be the real problem? Was Ron not able to spend enough time with Kim anymore?

Kim shook her head. "Ron, Erik's not going to change what we're all about. We'll always be tight."

Ron looked down. "Yeah. Pretty words, Kim."

"We're not in Pre-K anymore. Time to grow up."

Ron turned his eyes away from Kim. "Maybe I don't wanna grow up. You know, if that means…. "

"Kim?" a voice called up from below. Sora, Kim, and Ron all rushed to peer out from the hole in the floor. There was Erik, standing at the base of the tree.

Ron scowled at the other two. "He can't come up here."

Kim frowned back. "Ron!"

"No," Ron shook his head. "I mean, like he really can't come up here."

"Why not?" Sora questioned.

"This tree house had a weight limit," Ron explained. "And while all three of us are up here we're already pushing it."

"We'll talk tomorrow," Kim said. She started to climb down.

Sora turned to Ron. "Don't worry," he assured the young man. "You still have your friends. I know what it's like to have someone stand in the way."

Ron turned away and crossed his arms. "I'm not jealous!" he stated with vigor.

Sora sighed. He was getting nowhere. Ron was certainly jealous of all the time Kim had been spending with him. He just refused to admit it. Instead, he was holding it all deep inside. It was slowly becoming Darkness.

For all Sora knew, the next Heartless he had to fight would be Ron Stoppable.

He headed for the exit. "You haven't lost a friend," Sora added. "I know what it's like to lose someone close to you. It's worse when you know they're never coming back."

Ron didn't move. Sora gave a silent sigh and headed down below. No sooner had he reached the ground did he see Kim and Erik strolling down the street together. Sora decided he ought to follow them, just in case any Heartless chose to show up.

As he trailed the pair of teenagers, Sora hid behind lampposts and ducked behind mailboxes. He felt a little like a certain secret agent from a classic show his dad really liked. He'd seen most of the show's episodes since Senzu (Sora's dad) owned copies of the entire series. It had starred a forgetful, and somewhat incompetent agent named "Maxwell Smart", who often had to take extreme risks to prevent an organization called "KAOS" from taking over the world. Sora had liked the show, even though he wasn't sure what was going on throughout much of it. He still remembered the title — "GET SMART". What a classic show!

"You think Ron's okay with us?" Erik asked Kim.

"Us what?" Kim replied.

"You know. Us."

"Oh, that us. I think he's okay."

Sora ducked behind a bush. If what he'd just heard was true, it seemed Kim had forgotten all about Ron the moment she'd been alone with Erik. Before he could hear more, Sora found himself being grabbed and pulled into the bush he'd been hiding behind.

"Wha—?!"

"Shh!" a voice said. To Sora's shock, it sounded feminine. He caught a glimpse of a silhouette. It looked like a girl. With curiosity creeping on him, Sora reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, navy-blue flashlight. He flipped it on.

"Hey!"

Sora nearly leaped out of the bush. Before his eyes was a sandy-haired girl who seemed to be about fourteen years old. She had covered her eyes the instant he'd turned on the light.

"Amy?!" Sora declared, realizing it was his own sister. "What're you doing?! You shouldn't be out here all by yourself. It's dangerous!"

"I couldn't help it," Amemi answered. Her eyesight came back a minute later. "I wanted to come with you. I thought you had figured out something important. I just wanted to know what it was."

Sora shook his head. "You could've asked. There's no way I wouldn't have told you. You're my sister. But… why are you sneaking around in the bushes?"

Amemi leaned closer and whispered into his ear. "I have a strange feeling about Erik. He reminds me a little of Tobey from WordGirl. I think he's up to something."

Sora paused in thought. Maybe his sister had a point. Erik did seem a little odd. He had seemed out-of-place (somewhat) from the moment Sora had first seen him at the school. He wondered… was Erik connected to the Heartless? He rapidly scratched that option off his list. Too much circumstantial evidence. Even Matlock would be able to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Erik's innocence.

The sounds of loud gasping filled his ears. Sora and Amemi hopped out of the bush. To their shock and complete astonishment, a handful of Large Body Heartless were surrounding Kim and Erik. There were a few Air Soldiers hovering above.

"Heartless!" Sora yelled in alarm. He summoned his Keyblade and charged over. Amemi pulled out her slingshot and followed him.

Sora reached Kim and Erik in a heartbeat. "Get to safety!" he told them both.

Kim hastily started to kick and punch the Heartless aside. When two of the Air Soldier Heartless swooped in low, Sora and Kim ducked. Erik jumped and easily avoided the enemies. Sora was amazed. He quickly shook it aside and continued to slash, slice, and slam his Keyblade into the Heartless.

From nearby, Amemi had witnessed the entire scene. She was impressed with how swiftly Erik had evaded the Heartless's attacks. She shrugged it to the side and continued to use his slingshot to terminate the Large Body Heartless from behind.

Within minutes, all the Heartless were gone. A small group of hearts had gone floating into the air. They had then vanished from sight once they were too high up.

"Phew," Sora sighed with relief. "That was close!"

He grinned at Erik. "Nice moves!"

"Thanks," Erik replied.

The young man turned to Kim. "Can I ask you something?"

Kim gave a nod. "Sure."

"This thing you do, the missions. How… What… It's just… It's kind of…. "

Kim looked down. "Weird?"

"No. Cool."

Kim was taken by surprise. "Oh. Yeah!"

"You wanna know what my mission is?"

"Okay. What?"

Erik pointed at her with a smile. "To take you to the Christmas Prom."

Kim seemed to be completely caught off guard. She gave a big smile. "O… kay… "

"Great," Erik smiled all the more.

Sora watched the two head down the street. He grinned and allowed his Keyblade to disappear. Amemi walked up to him. She stared into the distance.

"The Heartless weren't really bothering him," she said.

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "So?"

Amemi gazed at her brother. "Doesn't that seem strange? It seems like he's not afraid of what could happen to him."

Sora shrugged. "It's nothing to worry about."

The two continued to watch Kim and Erik head down the street. Deep, deep down, Sora was starting to sense something truthful about Amemi's claims. Maybe Erik was connected to the Heartless after all. Without any visible evidence to go on, there was no telling for sure.

Either that, or Amemi was making the whole thing up. Maybe it had been a mistake to take her along on the remainder of this quest. Then again, Sora knew he had promised to let her tag along for the rest of the mission. He just wished it wasn't such a dangerous one.

Hopefully she was be alright. His mom was counting on her safety… and it was up to him to ensure she was protected.

He sighed softly. The two of them were probably going to get quite the lecture from their mom the minute they returned to the Destiny Islands once this quest was finished.

The next morning felt like a repeat of what had happened two days before. Sora, Amemi, Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad all escorted Kim to the school. When Kim went inside, they had started to leave, only to get yelled at by the principal, Mr. Barkin, again. "I told you before, no one here skips class without a permission slip," he snorted at them. "Get inside — right now!"

As Sora slowly dragged his feet into the building, he glanced back. A few Shadow Heartless were dashing down the street. He gave a deep sigh, knowing he couldn't do anything about it. Well… he could do something. It would just threaten the World Order in the end. He was not about to do that!

Instead, Sora's team had gone through the same class schedule as before. When it came time for Math class, Sora was surprised to see Miss Go… or "Shego" (at least he still thought it was Shego). He took a seat near the wall on the left side of the room. Amemi sat at the desk beside him. Donald sat in the back row. Goofy and Launchpad sat side-by-side somewhere in the middle. Kim and Ron were both in the class (as expected). They sat on opposite sides of the room.

"Good morning, class," Miss Go said with a smile.

"Good morning, Miss Go," the rest of the class replied.

Sora yawned and stretched. He really wanted to be outside, fighting Heartless and tracking down wherever Drakken, Pete, and Don Karnage happened to be. This was what he considered to be the only way to waste a perfectly good day away.

Miss Go strode up to her desk. She smiled when she saw a red apple sitting on it with a card. "Aww, an apple for the teacher," she remarked. She looked at the card. "That's so sweet. Now, which one of you is 'Steve-y'?"

Sora swept his gaze around the room. No one else acknowledged the name. He paused in thought. Who was the mystery student? Apparently there wasn't any named "Steve-y" or "Steve" or even "Steven" in this class.

He noticed Barkin peeking into the room from the door. He had a large grin and gave a short wave. Miss Go gave a wave of her own in return. Sora rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"So, class," Miss Go said. "Today is a very special day. It's the last day for this class. You know what that means?"

No one spoke. The teacher scooped up a number of stapled packets from her desk and smiled. "It's the Final Exam!"

Sora gave an especially deep sigh. He hated exams of any way, shape, size, or form. Tests were annoying. He just wanted to go out and fight as many Heartless as he could within twenty minutes… or more given the time was extended to two hours.

Miss Go handed out the test packets. They were thin, but still at least five or six pages long. Sora sighed when one landed in front of him. He took out a pencil and started to write his name on the top of it. He read the first question in his mind.

"If a train carrying 2,028 scoops of ice cream leaves Chicago at 7 A.M. and the freezer stops working, how fast will it have to travel to reach New York City before half the ice cream melts, factoring at a melting rate of six scoops per minute?"

He stared at it in surprise. Was this some kind of joke? It was the exact same question he had seen on his own Math exam back home on his birthday. Nothing had changed. It was one hundred percent the same.

With a soft, irritated sigh, Sora decided he had had enough. He took his pencil and started to doodle on the test papers. He ended up with a drawing that seemed to resemble a Heartless wielding a Keyblade. That wasn't correct. It was all wrong.

Heartless never used Keyblades! They feared the Keyblade. They didn't wield it! It just was not done.

Sora immediately erased the drawing. He turned the page and started on the next blank space. Another question was there.

"Using Mathematical equations, explain (in your own words) what is the meaning of life."

Sora was stumped. This question was even harder than the one before. He flipped to the next page. He was stunned.

"Peter Pan picked a patch of pickled peppers. A patch of fifty pickled peppers Peter Pan picked. If Peter Pan picked a patch of fifty pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Pan pick?"

This one was even more confusing. None of it made any sense. Sora did not really care for tongue twisters that much, unless it was "Sora sells seashells by the seashore". He recalled how Donald and Goofy had taught him one. He tried to remember how it went. …It suddenly clicked into his mind.

"Mickey Mouse makes a muddle moping mud."

It was a nice one, even though Sora wasn't sure what it meant. He turned the page to the next question. He froze.

"Two trains are running on parallel tracks. One is heading from San Francisco to Chicago at 120 miles per hour. Another is heading from Chicago to San Francisco at 228 miles per hour. Where will these two trains collide?"

Sora shook his head. He never cared for brain teaser questions either. He decided to flip to the last page. This was most mystifying and startling question he had seen in this test.

"Calculate the shortest distance between two points when the TITANIC sailed from Southampton, England to Cherbourg, France and then to Queenstown, Ireland before heading towards New York City, USA."

Sora gave an extremely deep, extremely soft, sigh. He took his pencil and started to doodle all the more. He thought back to his previous adventures and wished he was there then. His mind continued to wander around and around and around.

As Sora, Riku, and Violet approached the table, Tinker Bell caught a glimpse of them in her peripheral vision. She sighed, "Go ahead and laugh. My inventions never work!"

"Laugh?!" Sora exclaimed rather awkwardly. "We're not here to laugh, Tinker Bell!"

As soon as the words registered in her head, Tinker Bell's eyes lit up in astonishment. She barely was about to say, "You… you know my name? Have we met?"

Sora was taken aback. How did Tinker Bell not recognize him? He clarified, "Tinker Bell, it's me — Sora! Don't you remember me?!"

Tinker Bell shook her head in return; that was all Sora needed to see. Rather than explain why, Tinker Bell turned to face Riku and Violet. She asked, "Who're you?"

"Riku." Riku replied.

"I'm Violet." Violet introduced.

After a few moments, Tinker Bell turned back to Sora. "Look guys," she calmly explained with a smile. "I'm kind of in the middle of a problem and would rather be alone."

When Tinker Bell turned back to her table, Sora blurted, "How do you not remember me? We're friends!"

At the mention of 'friends', Tinker Bell spun back to face Sora. She stated as clearly as she could, "How can we be friends? I'm the new girl!"

Sora paused for a minute, trying to figure out how to respond to this. He softly muttered, "Oh yeah! The real Tinker Bell isn't supposed to be trapped in this world. The dream world must be putting her back where she belongs. I don't get it."

"Huh?!" Tinker Bell exclaimed, causing Sora to snap back into reality. With a smirked grin, Sora added, "It's very nice to meet you, Tinker Bell!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Sora thought he saw Riku and Violet nodding at one another. Though he didn't blush, Sora was feeling humiliated.

Violet stepped forward. "You really want to visit the Mainland," she clarified. "I can detect it in your heart."

Both Riku and Sora stared in surprise. Tinker Bell nodded. "It's just… why don't Tinkers get to visit the Mainland?"

Sora was unconvinced. "Why's that matter?"

"Well," Tinker Bell explained. "All the other fairies get to go!"

Riku strode forward. "I think you're supposed to be here."

"Yeah," Sora agreed as he stepped over to the others. "Unless you could do something different, what's the point?"

"Maybe you three could help me switch my talent!" Tinker Bell suddenly exclaimed, much to everyone else's surprise.

"How would you 'switch a talent'?" Riku inquired.

"Don't worry about a thing," Tinker Bell reassured. "My friends will help. I just know it."

Sora paused in consideration for a brief minute. "I guess it's worth a try," he finally concluded. Deep down inside, he wasn't so sure it was the best option — even if the others did.

Sora looked down at his test packet. To his surprise, there was a detailed illustration of himself, Riku, and Violet talking to Tinker Bell. He saw the wings he had given Riku and himself. He grinned, knowing this was the result of a memory from his previous journey through the Realm of Sleep.

He had enjoyed exploring those worlds. He had especially liked helping Matt, Jackie, Inez, Digit, Widget, and the others from Cyberspace in Traverse Town. He had had fun dancing in the streets of the kingdom of Corona. He'd found flying as a fairy a lot of fun in Pixie Hollow. He had enjoyed seeing the amusement park in Rascal's Dreamland. He had been excited upon realizing he was back in The Grid. Getting to make friends with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, and Roo all over again made it worth visiting The 100-Acre Wood — not to mention getting to meet Christopher Robin all over again. He'd laughed with glee at Merlin's clumsiness while in Camelot. He'd had a blast being an honorary Musketeer in The Country of The Musketeers. He had even enjoyed himself while venturing through the musical dreams of the Symphony of Sorcery.

He thought back to how much fun he'd had exploring those musical lands.

Sora was wiping some sweat from his forehead when something else caught his eye. Turning to look into the distance, he spotted the family of flying horses coming in for a landing in a nearby bay. Sora dashed over to the edge of the shoreline in time to see the flying horses land and hear the music become louder as they each did so. To his left, Sora saw the six, smaller flying horses setting down upon a marble pillar beside the water. Each of the animals took turns leaping from the pillar and splashing into the water below. The music became loud for a moment each time one of the horses hit the surface of what Sora assumed was a great, wide sea. The brown-haired youth gave yet another smile.

'This place is truly a nice, peaceful spot!'

Sora remained smiling as he placed his hands behind his head and started rocking back and forth. Nearby, he saw one of the satyrs from earlier sitting on a rock, blowing a set of musical pipes that the background music made sound like a whistle. Sora was starting to stroll closer when he spotted a small, red flower drifting in the air nearby. He began thinking deeply.

'Kairi would love to see that flower!'

Sora darted for the spot where he was certain the flower was about to land. He failed to notice the shoreline ending and fell into the water of the sea. As he was carried along by a current, Sora watched the flower land into his hand. He smiled, only to then notice a drop in what appeared to be a river rapidly coming up. Unable to swim to the bank fast enough, Sora now found himself descending over the waterfall and straight down onto a slower-moving river below. As he drifted along the current with the flower still in his hand, Sora laid on his back and shut his eyes.

Before long, exhaustion had seeped in and the spikey-haired Keyblade wielder had dozed off. The last thing he saw before he started to nap was a bright, golden sun with crooked flames extending off the corona. The music fell into a state of serenity.

Sora glanced at the back of the test packet. He saw an illustration of floating musical notes and himself racing around, looking for a floating musical score. He relaxed and shook his head. This was one of those times when he wanted to simply enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

He looked around the room. Goofy was staring at his test with a look of deep concentration. The knight was tapping his pencil gently on the desk. His face lit up and he looked like he was thinking "Aha!". In one quick move, he wrote something down.

Launchpad was seated beside Goofy. The duck-pilot was in total focus. He was chewing his eraser in thought. Before Sora could wonder why the two were behaving the way they were, an audible SIGH filled the air. Sora glanced back to see a miserable Donald throwing his head onto the desk. Sora smiled and shook his head. For all he knew, the duck mage was treating the exam like it was any type of homework.

When he turned his head back to his test, Sora caught a mere glimpse of Amemi in his peripheral vision. The sandy-haired girl seemed to be focusing on the exam in front of her. He took another look. He saw Amemi was on the "Peter Pan" question. She rapidly wrote down "50" on the paper. When she turned to the next page, Sora saw her glance at Miss Go's desk.

Curiosity filled his mind. Why was Amemi looking at the teacher's desk? Sora hastily swung his eyesight to the desk. Miss Go was standing in front of it, leaning against the desk. She was smiling as she watched everyone taking the test.

Sora shook his head and was about to look back down when he saw something on the teacher's desk vibrate. Miss Go picked up the gadget and leaped behind the desk in a hurry. Now the spikey-haired young man was perplexed. What was going on? He had never seen a teacher jump behind a desk like that before!

Certain something was up, Sora chose to investigate. He rose from his seat and crept up to the desk. As he drew closer, he thought he heard Miss Go's voice coming from behind the desk.

"I know the Heartless are still running around. No, I did what you wanted. The distraction is a success. No — you are not going to clone anyone! Remember the Kim clones?"

Sora peered behind the desk. He saw the green-skinned young woman sitting down on the floor with her back to the desk. The gadget in her hands resembled a cellular phone, only without any antennas or flip-open keyboards. She had it up to her right ear and was nodding as she listened to someone on the other end.

Whoever it was, Sora wasn't sure since he could not tell. He was too far away and the gadget was muffled. He was sure, whoever was on the end, might not be anyone good. After all, it sounded like they knew what the Heartless were. It was never something good if anyone else knew what the Heartless were.

He silently decided to return to his seat until the bell rang would be over. As Sora started back, he heard a voice say, "Do you need something?"

Sora froze and spun around. Miss Go was staring at him in question. He instantly thought of a possible excuse, which was something he was good at. He nodded. "Yeah! Do you have another pencil? Donald and Goofy broke mine."

Miss Go's stare changed at the smile she'd had faded. She opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a cardboard box. She opened it and picked out a wooden No. 2 pencil. She held it out. Sora accepted it. "Thanks," he said.

Miss Go nodded. It was then the bell rang. Sora hurried back to his seat and hastily snatched his test. He took it to the front where everyone else was calmly, and sometimes casually, placing onto the teacher's desk.

Sora was the last one in line. When he placed his test onto the desk, he gave the teacher his famous smile. Miss Go crossed her arms. "Were you able to finish it?"

"No worries," Sora told her. He then headed for the door. "See ya!"

No sooner had Sora left the room did Miss Go look at the test he'd left behind. She flipped through it, only to discover a series of illustrations. Only one problem had been answered. The rest were blank. She looked out the door and frowned with un-amusement written on her face.

Sora knelt down to catch his breath. His Keyblade dangled in his right hand. He looked back to see Donald, Goofy, Launchpad, and Amemi all hurrying to catch up to him. He smiled at them.

The last two hours since the school had let out had flown by. The group had decided to continue their search for wherever Drakken, Pete, and Don Karnage were now hiding. Yet, it seemed their "new lair" was not somewhere in the city of Middleton.

The streets were filled with Heartless from one end of town to the other. Sora's team had gone from the school, through a number of neighborhoods, past the Middleton Spacecenter, around the Bueno Nacho restaurant, through a local skate park, past the city prison, around the city library, past the city hospital, and through the streets of Downtown Middleton.

After all that nonstop fighting, Sora was starting to feel very, very, very, very convinced. He finally caught his breath and saw the others were doing the same. "Man," he panted one last time. "This city is huge."

"I don't think there's any Heartless left here no more," Goofy indicated. "We took all of 'em out."

"Yeah," Donald agreed.

"I feel kinda dizzy," Launchpad remarked. "I feel like I've memorized these streets to the point it's all topsy-turvy."

Amemi strode up to her brother. "It's true, this place doesn't feel like a maze anymore," she stated. "Still, I don't think Pete, Drakken, or Don Karnage are anywhere in this city."

Sora gave a nod. "I think you're right, Amy. We've looked everywhere. There's no sign of them."

Goofy's stomach suddenly growled. He rubbed it and licked his lips. "Could we go to thuh restaurant now?"

Everyone stared at him. "Why?" Sora inquired.

"I want some of them tacos," Goofy answered. "Maybe some pancakes with maple syrup. A-Hyuck!"

Donald rolled his eyes. Launchpad chuckled. Amemi covered her eyes with right hand and shook her head. Sora could only smile. Goofy was just being Goofy, which was normal.

"Let's head back to Kim's house," Sora suggested. "I think tonight's the Christmas Prom."

The others nodded in approval. The group headed down the street for the long walk back to Kim's house.

The sun had just finished setting by the time Sora's team arrived at Kim's house. The whole building was well lit-up. It would have appeared every single light inside was turned on. To Sora, it seemed to be brighter than the sun back home.

As they strode up to the front door, Sora had everyone stop. Erik was standing there. He was all dressed neatly in a white tuxedo with blank pants. Instead of going in this way, Sora remembered there was a side-door leading into the kitchen. He led the group to it, quietly.

Sure enough, Sora's recollection was accurate. The group entered the house through the side-door. They walked into the front hall in time to see Kim's parents answer the door.

"Kimmie!" Kim's mom called up the stairs. "There's a very handsome young man here for you."

Kim's dad stepped in front of Erik. "Let's get a few things clear right up front," he stated in a strict voice.

"Oh, you read my mind, sir," Erik spoke up. "Now, Kim explained that her normal curfew is ten o'clock, but on special occasions and rescue missions, you extend that to eleven. I'd feel better if we stick with ten."

Kim's dad looked like he was completely taken by surprise. "Really? This young man has got it goin' on!"

Sora had to shake his head. He had the feeling Erik might've just been trying to make a good impression with Kim's family then and there. Of course, he had joined them for dinner a few nights before, which had been just after he started going to the high school. Talk about things happening too fast!

Kim's mom turned to her husband. "Why don't you get the camera, hon?"

"Okie-doke," Kim's dad agreed. He hurried out of the room and came back a moment later with the camera.

"You sure look handy-some," Goofy told Erik.

Erik nodded. "Thank you."

It was then a figure appeared at the top of the stairs. Sora and the others looked up. Erik gasped in amazement. There was Kim, her red hair nicely tied into a large ponytail. She was wearing the same long, shiny, silver dress she had bought at the mall. As she strode down the steps, Sora could not help but notice how much the young woman seemed to resemble Kairi.

She looked just like a princess.

As Kim neared the bottom of the stairs, a pair of jetpacks came soaring from upstairs. Jim and Tim were strapped into them. "Comin' through!" the twins called out.

Kim ducked down as the two flew straight over her. "You tweebs!" she snapped with a glare.

Sora, Amemi, Donald, and Goofy all ducked. Launchpad jumped back and bumped his head into the wall. He felt a little dazed. The two boys continued to soar and headed straight for Erik. The young man easily dodged the two as Jim and Tim flew through the open front door and into the night sky beyond.

"Good reflexes," Kim's dad told Erik.

"Thank you, sir," Erik answered.

Kim turned to her mom. "Is it just me, or is he perfect?"

Her mom gave a quick nod. "He seems very nice."

Kim proudly marched up to Erik. At the same time, Sora took note of how Kim's mom was gazing at a photograph on the wall. He saw the picture was of much younger versions of Kim and Ron. He had already felt all this emotion before when he and Kim had paid Ron a visit in the tree house. He sighed deeply.

Kim's dad smiled at Erik and Kim. "Aren't your folks gonna stop by, you know, get a few shots?"

"It's just my dad," Erik replied. "And he's always at work, like right now, he's in the middle of some really big-time project."

"Oh, I know that story. Hey, I know, I'll get double prints."

"Cool."

As Kim's dad started snapping pictures of Kim and Erik together, Sora had a thought. He turned to his teammates. "How about we go to this prom?"

Everyone was taken by surprise. Amemi was the only one who looked pleased. To Sora, this was ironic considering his sister didn't really know how to dance. Jiminy hopped out of the spikey-haired youth's pocket and landed onto his shoulder. "Remember," the cricket warned. "We shouldn't be involving ourselves in stuff that's going on in other worlds."

"Yeah," Donald agreed. "Jiminy's right."

"It would be muddling," Goofy added.

"'Meddling'!" Donald rapidly corrected.

"Oh, yeah! A-Hyuck!"

"C'mon," Sora argued. "There'll be a lot of people there. No one's gonna notice us. We'll blend."

"We'll need a blender," Launchpad pinpointed. He looked around. "Maybe there's one in the kitchen."

Sora shook his head at the pilot's statement. "How about it?"

"We can't go there," Donald stated in a firm voice. "Only anyone who goes to the school can go."

"They already think we do go to the school," Amemi countered. "Did you forget about how the principal dragged us in earlier today?"

Donald hesitated, trying to search for a possible counter-counter-argument. "Well… we still need someone to go with."

"I'll be with Sora," Amemi informed the duck. "I am the only girl among us."

Sora looked startled. "Huh?"

"No way!" Donald snapped. "That doesn't work! You two are brother and sister!"

"So?" Amemi asked. "What other choice do we have?"

"Why can't brothers and sisters go on a date?" Launchpad blurted. "They do it all the time — looking at calendars."

Donald muttered a series of illegible garble. "…Aw phooey!" he finished in irritation.

Sora took a deep breath and thought for a minute. Maybe he should go with Amemi. Kairi was not around and there was not anyone else to really go with them. There was not really a choice in the matter. "Okay, I'll go with Amy."

Amemi gave her brother a hug. "Thank you, Sora."

Sora felt a little uncomfortable. The last he'd been hugged before was when Kairi had raced up to him and… well… you get the idea. It was an awkward feeling since he'd never really felt it much before then. Something about it… felt new and uneasy.

"Just a minute," Amemi spoke up a moment later. "I need to get my new dress."

She raced up the stairs. Sora noticed Kim and Erik had already left and Kim's parents were no longer around. He looked up the stairs. "Hurry!" he called up. "We're going to be late!"

He turned to Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad. "What're you guys going to do?"

"Gawrsh," Goofy replied. "I was kinda thinkin' of goin' to that there restaurant."

"Me, too," Launchpad nodded.

"Aw phooey," Donald sighed again. "You big palookas are always eating food."

"Well," Goofy tried to explain. "Them tacos are awful ticklish. A-Hyuck!"

Donald nearly fainted.

"I'm ready now," Amemi called from the second floor.

Sora glanced back up the stairs. He stared in surprise. There was his little sister. She was wearing the golden dress. It was sparkling in the room's light. The sunflower petals seemed to dance as she strode down the steps. She was wearing her usual blue tennis shoes underneath. Her yellow hairband was gently positioned upright in her sandy hair, and her star-shaped necklace appeared to glow in the room's lighting.

"Whoa," an astounded Sora awed. "Amy… you do look beautiful — and cool."

Amemi had to smile. "Thank you, Sora. I do prefer 'lovely', but 'beautiful' will do just fine."

Sora had to shake his head and smile. His sister did look lovely. She also resembled a princess straight from a fairytale. Just like Kairi. They were certainly two of a kind… correct?

"Let's get going," Sora told Amemi. The latter nodded. They both headed out the door together. Unlike Kim and Erik, they were not holding hands. To Donald, this was a good thing.

Once the two sibling had left, Goofy headed for the door. "Last one to thuh restaurant's a marsh-y-mellow!" he called.

"Wait up!" Launchpad shouted as he raced out the door after the knight. "I'm not a marsh-y-mellow! I'm an idiot — I mean, I'm a pilot! Mister McDee says so — just as long as there are Angels in Heaven!"

Donald watched the two disappear into the distance. He started to grumble a long list of illegible words, complaints, and just plain insults. He stormed out the door and slammed it behind himself. The result was a shockwave that rippled throughout the house and caused a nearby window to give a small crack or two.

"'Angels in Heaven'," he murmured to himself. "Phooey!"

Sora and Amemi soon reached Middleton High School. Upon arrival, they saw lights coming from a special building near the back of the school. Loud music and flashing lights could be seen. Certain this was the site of the Christmas Prom itself, the two hurried over.

They entered through the doorway. Sure enough, they found the correct place. A disco ball was spinning on the ceiling. Lots of balloons decorated the room. A DJ was playing on the far side. A towering Christmas tree stood on either side of the DJ. There were several tables set up.

In the middle of the dance floor were Kim and Erik. The two were dancing away with huge smiles. Sora and Amemi both smiled as they strode into the room. They quickly seized the attention of the red-haired teenager and the dark-haired young man.

"You came?" Kim asked.

"Yeah," Sora nodded. "Why not?"

"We can have fun, too," Amemi added.

Erik grinned. "Then let's party the night away!"

Within seconds, Erik and Kim were back on the floor. At the same time, Sora and Amemi were dancing round and round. They laughed as they started to twirl about. To Sora, this seemed to remind him of how much fun he'd had being in the Undersea Musical back in Atlantica.

Through the corner of his eye, Sora noticed Bonnie sitting at one of the tables. She was scowling and seemed to be just plain bored and annoyed. A large, blonde-haired young man was seated at the table with her. He was smiling and seemed to be enjoying himself. "Those two got the funk," he said, pointing out the seventeen-year-old Keyblader and his sandy-haired sister.

"Oh, shut up!" Bonnie barked.

"Okay," the young man said. The tone of his voice sounded like someone who would go along with anything.

Sora noticed Monique was seated by herself at a nearby table. When she waved at him, he waved back, only with an anxious grin. Amemi saw this and took a look. When she saw Monique, she smiled and gave a wave of her own.

The song the DJ had been playing ended. Mr. Barkin approached the microphone and looked out over everyone in the room. "Attention, people. Listen up!" he said in a loud voice. Everyone stopped dancing and turned their focus to him. "In order to fully appreciate the next song, everyone must choose a dance partner he or she did not come with."

Sora and Amemi exchanged surprised looks. Kim stepped over to them. "Sora? Would you like to dance?" she asked.

Sora nodded and walked away with the red-haired young woman. Amemi watched them leave. She gave a sigh before looking around for someone else to dance with. She noticed several girls — especially Bonnie — crowding around Erik.

Erik's eyes wandered over to Amemi. The sandy-headed young woman smiled, a little. Erik walked over to her and extended his arm, much to the shock of the other girls. "May I have this dance?" he questioned in a very polite manner.

Amemi gave a nod. "Yes. Yes, you can," she said.

The two started to dance. The song began playing in the background. "You're in my arms and all the world is gone. The music playing on for only two… So close together, and when I'm with you, so close to feeling alive…. "

Sora glanced at his little sister. Seeing her dancing happily with Erik, he had to smile. Even though the song playing in the background wasn't very interesting to him, he was enjoying this night. After all, it was nice to take a break from constantly fighting Heartless and just have a little fun like this.

"A life goes by. Romantic dreams must die. So I bid mine goodbye and never knew… So close was waiting, waiting here with you. And now forever I know, all that I want is to hold you… So close. So close to reaching that famous happy end. Almost believing this one's not pretend. Now you're beside me and look how far we've come. So far we are so close…. "

Kim looked around. "Where's the others?" she asked.

"Goofy was getting hungry," Sora informed her. "Launchpad and Donald went with him."

Kim nodded. "They're probably at Bueno Nacho."

Sora gave a nod of his own. "Yeah…. "

The restaurant was pretty much empty. No one was really there, other than Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad. Of course, Ned was there. He was standing at the cash register awaiting them. As they walked over, the three saw Ron dragging on in. They stopped and walked as the depressed young man strode up to the counter at a sloth's pace.

"Welcome to Bueno Nacho," Ned said to Ron with a smile. "May I take your order?"

Goofy hurried behind Ron to wait. Launchpad and Donald were directly behind him. They all noticed Ned holding up a tray and whispering something to Ron. "Ron, something's very wrong!" he said in a hushed voice.

"Got that right," Ron sighed. He gazed up at the menu above. "Let's see. Two chimiritos, grandé-sized. Three orders of nachos and a grandé-sized soda to go."

From Ron's pocket, Goofy and Launchpad saw Rufus whimpering like he was half-starved. In turn, the blonde-haired teenager added, "Make it for here. Rufus can't wait."

"Si," Ned confirmed before he punched in the order. He the leaned in closer to Ron. "Ron, snap out of it," he whispered, keeping an eye out for the large man, Lars. "Something weird's going on here."

"Ned, you worthless slug," a deep voice boomed. Ned jerked his head back to see Lars towering over him. Lars grinned at Ron. "Did you ask our favorite customer if he would like Diablo Sauce with that?"

"'Diablo Sauce'?" Donald quacked.

"Sounds really spicy," Goofy muttered.

Ned gulped when he saw Lars scowling at him, again. "I did not, sir." He hastily held out a packet of sauce for Ron. "Diablo?"

Ron snapped to attention long enough to say, "Huh? Yeah, sure. Whatever."

"And here it is," Lars said as he placed a tray of food on the counter. "Nice and hit. Gracias."

Ned grinned, although it was a nervous one. "And have a muy bueno day."

Lars strode to the back of the kitchen. In the meantime, Ned opened a packet of sauce and scooted everything from Ron's tray to one side. He then used the sauce to write something on the tray. Sensing Lars watching him like a falcon, Ned hastily put all of the food back on the tray and handed it to Ron.

Ron and Rufus took the tray to a nearby table. Once they had left, Goofy stepped forward. "Two dozen tacos," he declared. "Please."

Ned looked unamused. "We don't serve tacos here. Only nachos."

"A-Hyuck! Yeah!" Goofy chuckled. "I remember."

Ned rang it all up. "That'll be $42.97."

"That's a lot of money," Donald stated.

"The prices have gone up," Ned informed them. He glanced around and whispered into their ears. "Something weird's going on."

Goofy handed the cashier the money and waited while Lars and Ned got the food together. Once it was ready, Goofy scooped up the tray and headed across the room. He suddenly slipped on a puddle of spilled soda and went sliding across the room. He carefully balanced the tray in his hands as he slid straight to Ron's table. Before a startled Launchpad and Donald, the knight came to a stop and set the tray down gently.

Goofy grinned. "Bet ya thought I was gonna drop it."

In the meantime, Donald and Launchpad stepped over to the table where Goofy was now seated across from Ron and Rufus. At once, Ron glared at the straw in his hands. "No," the young man said in an outraged voice. "It can't be! No!"

He leapt onto his feet. "This is the last straw!"

Ron rushed at the counter in a heated frenzy. Donald was shocked to see someone acting as furious as he often tended to be. Lars was caught by surprise. "I beg your pardon?" he asked.

"This is the last straw!" Ron snarled.

"No," Lars rapidly replied. "We have more in the back."

Ron tried to bend the straw, but it remained straight. "You took away the bendy straws!"

Donald collapsed backwards onto the floor in complete shock. Ned slapped his face; so did Rufus. Goofy could only remark, "A-Hyuck!"

Lars started to roar with laughter. "You, sir, have lost it."

Ron was far from amused. "Just because I care?"

"About bendy straws. Ha, ha, ha… "

Ron pointed an accusing finger at the larger man. "I'm telling on you."

"Telling who?"

Ron gave a determined grin. "Your boss."

Before Goofy could devour his tenth nacho, Ron had raced out the door and was standing by a pay phone outside. Curious to know just what exactly the young man was up to, Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad followed him. Goofy quickly got his leftover nachos in a to-go bag.

Outside, they approached a frustrated and self-determined Ron. The young man was dialing a number. The voice on the other end was so distinct, Donald recognized it as the boy from Kim's device — Wade. The three were so close to the phone, the voice on the other end was loud and clear.

"Hello?"

"Wade, it's me," Ron said into the phone. "I'm at Bueno Nacho and I've got comments and concerns."

"Okay. Want me to patch you through to their 800 number?"

Ron hastily shook his head. "No way! I want to go right to the top. Gonna have words with the head honcho."

"I don't know, Ron. Getting through to a CEO is not easy. This guy's private line is probably super top secret."

A few seconds passed. To Donald, it felt like a few days. Then Wade came in on the other end. "Got it. You're in."

There was a ringing sound. A deep voice picked up from the other end. "Hola, Bueno Nacho. El Presidente speaking."

Ron froze the instant he heard the voice. "Dr. Drakken?!"

Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad's eyes lit up with complete shock. They swung their eyes to the restaurant's windows. In one of them, they could see Ned and Rufus holding up Ron's empty tray. The letters "E-V-I-L" were clearly written on it.

Donald gulped. From the looks of things, it appeared Drakken himself was the owner of the restaurant chain Ron really liked. He knew what this meant — he needed to tell Sora, at once!

The phone slipped from Ron's shocked hands. Someone else hung it back up. To everyone's total astonishment, there was Lars. He was frowning specifically at Ron. "Mister Drakken is a very busy man," he said. "You shouldn't have disturbed him."

Lars gazed at the restaurant. Ron, Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad all did the same. Before their eyes, Ned and Rufus ran from the building as fast as they could. The doors barged open behind them. A small army of reddish-black toys were marching out like miniature robots.

"Huh?" a startled and nearly speechless Ron exclaimed.

Goofy's eyes were filled with alarm and marvel. "It's them Lil' Diablos!"

"Talk about toys coming to life!" Launchpad commented in a loud voice.

Behind the Diablo toys were a number of creatures wearing silver armor with claws, glowing yellow eyes, and wobbled around aimlessly. A number of similar shadowy creatures appeared from the ground. On top of all that, several flying soldier-like creatures appeared, too.

"The Heartless!" Goofy and Donald exclaimed.

A figure marched out of the doorway. Everyone stopped and stared at him. It was an anthropomorphic red wolf wielding a cutlass. He was dressed just like a pirate. "Don Karnage!" Donald cried out.

"The one and only," Karnage grinned. "So, what do I have here? The girl's sidekick and the key-boy's friends. Get them!"

The villain pointed his sword at the four near the pay phone. Lars stepped to one side with a sinister grin. "Diablos, attack!" he commanded in turn.

The toys and Heartless rushed at Ron, Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad. The four were quickly being surrounded. "Hey, cut it out!" Ron shouted.

It was then Launchpad spotted Ron's motorized scooter close by. "Hey!" the pilot declared. "I know what to do!"

He raced for the vehicle. In the meantime, Donald, Goofy, and Ron followed him. The toys and Heartless continued to pursue. When they reached the vehicle, the group found Rufus waiting for them. Ron climbed on, strapped on his helmet, and started the scooter up. Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad all piled onto the back.

The engine started, but it was coughing. "Come on, come on!" an impatient Ron shouted.

"Hurry!" Donald panicked as the Heartless closed in. Goofy threw his shield and sent it spinning into some of the flying enemies. A few Heartless were struck and vanquished in an instant. The shield returned to Goofy's hands in time for the scooter to start rolling along.

Ron stomped onto the pedals as hard as he could. The scooter only chugged along slowly. He looked down in total surprise. "This thing is junk!" he declared. "Am I the only one to notice this?"

"Go!" Goofy yelled. "The Heartless are after us!"

"So is the big guy," Launchpad pinpointed.

Sure enough, Lars was charging at the scooter. Karnage was quickly approaching from the side, too. Rufus hid into Ron's pocket. The two villains jumped at the slow-moving scooter. At the last possible second, Ron was able to swerve and avoid them. Lars went head-first into the Drive-Thru's sign. Karnage landed face-first upon the pavement. His cutlass went skidding away.

"You come back, and you'll be mine!" Karnage hollered in anger. He shook his fist at the group.

Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad all gave sighs of relief. Ron's scooter had managed to outrun the Heartless and the Diablo toys… for now.

Or so it would have seemed. Actually, the toys and a few Heartless were directly behind the scooter. Ron groaned in dismay and continued down the street for the school.

Sora found himself smiling as he continued to dance with Kim. He could still hear the song playing in the background.

"How could I face the faceless days if I should lose you now? We're so close to reaching that famous happy end. And almost believing this one's not pretend. Let's go on dreaming though we know we are… So close…. "

Sora started to imagine himself dancing with someone else. The auburn-haired girl he'd been friends with for years and years came to mind. The seventh Princess of Heart. The seventh maiden with a pure heart of Light. The girl whose good luck charm he still had.

Kairi….

He hastily shook the day-dream apart. He was too late. The memory of when Kairi had given him a kiss on his seventeenth birthday was coming back to his mind. So was the time he had shared a caring hug with her. The worst memory also came back. It was the time when he had gotten onto his hands and knees to beg Saïx to allow him to see Kairi, again. When the blue-haired man in the black-hooded coat had refused, Sora had felt quite outraged.

Nearby, he thought he saw Kim's device beeping. The young woman wasn't paying it any attention. The song in the background was starting to fade out.

"So close… And still so far…. "

The entrance doors to the room burst open. "The Diablo toys are evil!" a familiar voice yelled in alarm.

Everyone stopped dancing and veered their attention to the open doorway. The music stopped and the lights came on. There stood Ron, Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad. All three of them looked frantic and worried.

Sora, Kim, Erik, and Amemi approached the doorway. Ron pointed outside. "See?" he said. "They're… Where? What?!"

There was nothing outside. The whole area was so quiet, Sora was able to hear a cricket chirping in the distance. There was no sign of any toys in sight. The music inside resumed and the lights dimmed.

"Where are they?" Donald questioned. He scanned the area with his hand positioned directly over his eyes like the bill on a baseball cap.

Erik looked a little worried. "Are you okay, dude?"

"Okay, I know that tone," Ron started to say. "That's the 'Ron's making up the whole thing' tone. Hey, you know what? It doesn't matter what you think or anybody else thinks because my best friend, Kim, will believe me."

He switched his eyes onto Kim. "Right, Kim?"

Kim was completely caught off-guard. "Oh, I, uh… Totally believe you."

"Those 'toys' were here," Amemi said, trying to make sense of what Ron was talking about.

"They were bad guys!" Donald declared.

"What?" Sora inquired. He was starting to sense something amiss with this statements. Was Ron even telling the truth? The whole thing seemed like a desperate attempt to get Kim's attention, again. He knew what this was like. He'd done something similar years ago to draw Kairi away from Riku. That plan had failed.

"What do you mean?" he finally added.

"Buckle up," Ron went on. "Cause it gets weirder."

Kim sighed. "I'll bet."

"Drakken is behind the whole thing," Ron stated in a serious voice. To Sora, this did not sound exactly fictional.

Erik grinned. "The take-over-the-world mad scientist guy?"

"Yeah!" Goofy affirmed. "And Don Karnage and Pete are helpin' him!"

"That Karnage guy was at the restaurant," Launchpad explained. "He tried to make sliced salami outta us."

Amemi crossed her arms. "That doesn't make any sense."

"It's true!" Donald stated.

"Yes!" Ron declared. "It's all so obvious. Look, they use the more than thirty-thousand Bueno Nacho locations worldwide to give out their evil prizes."

Sora was shocked. The next moment, he was in deep contemplation. If everything Ron, Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad were claiming was true, it appeared Kim's arch-nemesis, Pete, and Don Karnage were in control of the Bueno Nacho restaurant franchise. If this was the case, the three villains could very likely be preparing to launch a massive Heartless invasion onto this world, and the Diablo toys could most-likely be their way of keeping the whole scheme covered from the eyes of Sora's team and Kim Possible.

His eyes lit up. If Ron's story checked out, the world of Middleton was now in grave danger. Chances were, later that night, there would be one less star shining in the night sky over the Destiny Islands, the Radiant Garden, Disney Castle, and the countless other worlds out there.

Kim looked like she was doing some serious pondering of her own. She finally spoke. "I'm going to check this out."

Erik was startled. "What?"

"Ron might be onto something."

"His whole story is ridiculous," Erik gestured to Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad. "Their whole story is ridiculous."

"It's not ridiculous, ya big palooka!" Donald snorted.

"Yeah," Goofy agreed. "We saw it all with our own eyes."

Kim strode to the table where she'd placed her purse. Her bluish device was already waiting for her. She sat down and turned it on. She was in contact with Wade within seconds. Ron, Sora, Amemi, and Erik all sat around the table in turn. Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad gathered around them.

"So it was definitely Drakken?" Kim asked.

"Voice print match confirms it," Wade answered.

"Got anything on Ron's evil toy theory?"

"Yeah, looks bad."

"How bad could it be?" Sora asked.

"All bad," Wade replied. "I scanned the one I got in my Lil' Niños meal. The circuitry is way beyond anything I've ever seen. It's like a real robot — only tiny."

Wade brought up a 3D model image of the toy's structure. Sora was perplexed. He was totally lost, other than the fact the toy's design was the same as an actual robot, only it was a miniaturized one.

Goofy looked closely at the image. "Gawrsh…. "

"Better show it to an expert," Kim said.

"Who?" Donald and Launchpad asked at the same time.

"My dad," Kim clarified. She switched off her device. She turned to Erik. "Be back as fast as I can."

"But," Erik started to say.

Kim cut him off. "It's a save-the-world thing."

Erik frowned. It was clear to Sora he was not impressed. This only grew worse when Ron grinned as he left with Kim. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Launchpad, and Amemi were next to go out the door.

Erik continued to watch them as they left. Bonnie saw the group leave. A sly grin formed on her face. She strode up to Erik and said, "Hey, Erik. Want to dance?"

Erik only shifted his gaze to her.

Later at Kim's house, Sora's team, Kim, and Ron were gathered in the basement. Kim's dad was looking at a Diablo toy through his microscope. Sora and Amemi were standing between Kim and Ron. Sora was leaning over Kim's dad's shoulder to see what the latter was doing.

Even though he didn't look back, Sora already knew Donald was pacing across the floor, Goofy was slouched against the wall, and Launchpad was leaning on the wall.

"I do not believe it!" Kim's dad declared all of a sudden.

"What?" Kim asked.

"What is it?" Sora added.

"They're totally evil, right?" Ron inquired.

Kim's dad looked up from the microscope. He was frowning with intensity. "The cybertronic technology," he explained. "It's the Hephaestus Project. He used my invention to build these things!"

"Man," an astounded Sora commented. "And they're very popular." Of course he would say that! Sora was not exactly sure how to react to this situation. Whenever he learned about something major happening in another world, he was always unsure how to respond… at first, that is.

"To think," Amemi spoke up. "This must be why Drakken kidnapped your dad, Kim."

Kim nodded. "You know," Ron stated. "For an evil genius, Drakken is pretty stupid."

Everyone whirled their eyes to him. Kim's dad raised an eyebrow. "Huh?" was all Sora could say.

"Oh, come on!" Ron exclaimed. "He steals a three-billion-dollar super-secret technology and just gives it away with a burrito, and yet he ditches the bendy straws?!"

Amemi looked puzzled. "What's your point?"

Ron slapped his right hand into his open left palm. "This man does not know how to run a fast-food business!"

Sora and Amemi exchanged confused looks.

The Bueno Nacho Chief Executive Official's office was a nice, large room in the shape of an actual taco shell. The desk was shaped just like a burrito. Seated at the desk in a nice, sky-blue suit was none other than Dr. Drakken. He was continuously fidgeting and whistling. From all accounts, it appeared he was getting really, really, really, really anxious.

He finally pushed a button on a black intercom device on the desk. "Shego!" he yelled into it. "Status report."

"It's a mixed bag," came a female voice on the other end.

"What?!" Drakken hollered in anger. He only wanted to hear good news, not bad news, too.

"On the positive side, global saturation has reached optimum level. We can strike at midnight."

"Oh yeah," echoed a deep voice from the intercom device. "We's got everything taken care of. Maleficent will be proud."

Drakken grinned. It sounded like everything was going according to plan. Within hours, this entire world would be under his control. After that, it would only be a matter of time before Maleficent arrived and started her search for that mysterious book in this place.

He suddenly remembered Shego had claimed there was some bad news, too. He said, "But…. "

"Well, there's a snag," the female voice returned.

Drakken groaned. There was only one possible thing it could be. "Kim Possible!"

"How'd you guess?"

Drakken slammed his fist onto the desk. "No, not this time," he declared. "We strike at the rest of the world at midnight as planned, but I want Middleton online — now!"

He saw he had accidentally knocked a framed photograph over. When Drakken picked it up, he realized it was a picture of Kim and Erik smiling together. He grinned. "Oh, and Shego," he went on. "I need you to run out and pick up something for me."

Kim's mom was busy reading a book in the living room when Kim, her dad, Ron, Sora, Amemi, Goofy, Launchpad, and Donald all came marching up the stairs. At the table in the middle of the room, Jim and Tim were playing with their Diablo toys.

"How'd it go down there?" Kim's mom asked.

Kim's dad looked furious. "That Drakken fellow stole my technology to make those little Diablos."

Jim and Tim grinned at their toys. "We're playing with stolen technology," Jim said.

"Cool!" Tim agreed.

"Those things are super-popular!" Sora said.

"Popular?" Kim said. "The craze is off the chain."

"Every kid on the planet must have one," Ron added.

"Aw shucks," Goofy sighed. "I was gonna give one to muh son, Maxie for Christmas."

Kim turned to her dad. "Dad, you said the Hephaestus Project, it was some kind of living metal?"

"That's how we sold it to the board of directors," her dad explained.

"Really?" Sora asked, though it was clear he was not really sure what Kim or her dad meant by "living metal".

Kim's dad nodded. "The cybertronic circuitry can repair itself, modify itself,… it can actually grow."

Sora and the others stared in alarm. "Grow?" Donald inquired.

"Ya mean, like a beanstalk?" Goofy questioned.

Kim's dad chuckled. "Don't worry," he reassured them. "It can't do anything without a command signal."

Sora gave a deep sigh of relief. He noticed Donald, Goofy, Launchpad, Amemi, and Ron all doing the same. He shook his head and smiled. He gently placed his hands behind his head, relaxed, and started to lean slightly from side to side.

Chances were, without any form of a command signal, there was no way Pete, Drakken, or Don Karnage would be able to take over the world easily. Unless, of course, the robots were going to be controlled by Heartless.

Out of nowhere, a low-pitched pinging sound filled the air. Everyone froze. The noise sounded very strange. It reminded Sora of something from a science-fiction movie he'd once seen where a race of aliens attempted to take over an entire world. Based on what he could remember, the aliens had used a certain signal to attack. In the end, that very same signal had led to their defeat.

"Gawrsh," Goofy remarked. "It sounds an awful lot like a radar-signal."

Donald nodded. "Yeah."

"It's so… mysterious," Amemi added.

Sora was deep in thought. A radar-signal… true, it did have the same noise from that of a radar. It almost sounded like it was supposed to do something. Like it was giving commands.

His mind halted there. Could this be it? The command signal Kim's dad had been talking about?

His eyes immediately flooded with alarm and concern. He rushed over to Tim and Jim. "Look out!" he shouted.

At the same time, Kim's parents grabbed the twins and pulled them away from their Diablo toys. The pair of toys suddenly started to grow in size. The table they'd been on was smashed to splinters. The toys grew so large, they started to break through the roof. Their smiling faces changed into snarls. Their capital letter "D"s became what appeared to be robotic antlers. Their clawed hands became sharp grabbing tools.

Sora was appalled. The innocent toys had transformed into gigantic, cybertronic robots armed with what were probably state of the art weapons. To make matters worse, the robots were giving off thin clouds of Darkness. A number of Shadow, Large Body, and Defender Heartless appeared in the room. The creatures smashed, struck, and shoved all the furniture aside as they charged around.

Sora summoned his Keyblade. "Get everyone to safety!" he instructed Kim. "We'll handle things here!"

Kim nodded. She turned to her dad. "Get Mom and the boys out. We'll distract the Diablos."

"Head for the garage!" Kim's dad shouted. He ran out of the house with Kim's mom, Jim, and Tim. In the meantime, Donald, Goofy, Launchpad, and Amemi all took out their weapons. Together, the group swung, slashed, and slammed their weapons at the Heartless. One by one, the Heartless were eliminated.

At one point, one of the Diablo robots launched a column of fire at Kim. She jumped, but ended up getting the bottom part of her dress burnt. She glared at the robot. "You know how much baby-sitting I had to do to pay for this dress?!" she snarled.

Amemi was relieved she'd already changed back into her normal clothes. It would have been difficult to run, leap, even sidestep in her new golden-yellow dress. Not to mention the petals would have gotten all over the place.

Ron was cornered against the wall. "That would be so cool if it wasn't the last thing we were ever gonna see," he remarked.

When one of the robots slashed a sharp, spinning blade at the young man, Sora jumped in front of him and held up his Keyblade. The robot's spinning blade was no match against the power of the Keyblade and quickly became dislodged from its place. The blade rolled across the room and nearly cut Donald's tail feathers off. It smashed through a window and bounced down the hill beyond.

When one of the robots tried to set Donald ablaze with a flaming hose, the duck yelled, "Blizzara!"

A thick chunk of ice formed on the robot's hose. The system became overloaded. Donald then sent a bolt of lightning magic onto the robot. The circuitry was completely overloaded. In a matter of seconds, the robot sizzled and exploded into metal pieces. Sora, Donald, Launchpad, and Amemi all ducked behind Goofy's shield when the debris flew all over the room.

Kim and Ron rushed outside to get out of the way. The remaining robot gave chase and smashed through the front hall, knocking aside the door as it moved on. Certain there was more trouble going on outside, Sora and his friends hurried out.

As expected, the giant robot was closing in on Kim and Ron. The two teenagers leapt behind a bush. The robot didn't see them hide. Sora told Amemi to keep the robot busy while he checked on Ron and Kim. Sora hurried to the bush and ducked down behind it. "You guys okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kim answered.

"Not me," Ron complained. "I was almost sliced in half!"

Kim flipped on her bluish device. "Wade, we've got a big problem."

The screen flickered for a moment. To Sora's surprise, Wade was hiding under his desk. Computer equipment had been knocked all around. The legs of another enormous Diablo robot could be seen in the background. "Anything to do with a giant robot?" Wade asked. "I think I can relate."

Kim nodded. "Dad says they need a command signal."

"I think I still hear it," Sora informed the group. Sure enough, he could still make out the low pinging noise echoing through the air.

"Makes sense," Wade told Kim. "You take out the signal, you shut down the robots. But I'm not really in a position to track the signal for you."

Ron looked up in complete focus. "It must be coming from the source of all things evil."

Sora and Kim stared at the blonde-haired young man. "Huh?" the brown-haired Keyblader said.

Ron's eyes narrowed. "Bueno Nacho."

"Sora!" Amemi's voice shouted. "Watch out!"

A flurry of flame struck the bush. The plant was incarnated out of existence. Sora, Ron, and Kim stared at the robot towering over them. Sora turned to Amemi, Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad. "Guys!" he called. "We know where the signal's coming from!"

"Where?" Donald questioned.

"The restaurant!" Sora yelled.

"How will we get there?" Launchpad inquired.

At that moment, the garage door opened. "Kimmie!" Kim's dad called from inside. "Think fast!"

He tossed a pair of helmets out. Kim caught one and Ron got the other. The two rapidly strapped them on.

"Blast off!" Tim and Jim's voice called from the garage.

Ron's motorized scooter came speeding out. To everyone's surprise, it now had a pair of bluish rockets attached to it. Kim and Ron hopped onto the scooter. Sora was next to get on. Amemi leapt in directly behind her brother. Launchpad, Donald, and Goofy clambered onto the scooter as it took off out of the driveway and down the street.

They had not gone far when the gigantic Diablo robot appeared from around the corner. The robot started to catch up with extreme haste.

"We're doomed!" Donald yelled in a panic.

"How do we get the rockets to go faster?" Ron shouted.

Goofy kicked at the rockets with the heels of his enormous shoes. The rockets suddenly became a greenish-blue color. Within seconds, the scooter had gained speed and was easily avoiding all the attacks caused by the giant robot pursuing it.

Sora was in the ride of his life. The motorized scooter was literally flying down the street. Well… not exactly "flying". Still, it was moving especially fast for something of its design, typical use, and nature.

He gazed back. The gigantic robot was still chasing the group. A few Air Soldier Heartless had started to accompany it. He gasped, knowing they had their hands filled to capacity. "Hurry!" Sora yelled as they raced down the street.

Up ahead, the distinct shape of the Bueno Nacho restaurant came into view. The lofty sign was still out front, only it had changed shape. It seemed to resemble a taco-turned-satellite dish.

Ron pointed it out. "Look," he announced. "He even changed the giant Nacho sign."

"Ron," Kim said. "That's where the command signal's coming from."

Sora realized Kim was correct. As the group grew closer to the restaurant, the pinging sound became louder and louder.

Ron was puzzled. "How are we gonna take that out?"

Sora paused in thought. Something suddenly clicked into place within his mind. "I have an idea," he declared.

"What's your idea?" Amemi asked.

Sora only beamed with what seemed to be a brightly-lit lightbulb above his head. The group closed in on the restaurant. They saw Lars stepping outside with a large grin on his face. When the large man saw them, he frowned. "Hey!"

The scooter flew past the man. Sora summoned his Keyblade. He extended his arm and got his weapon's blade caught onto the sign's post. The post bent lower and caused the sign to bend in the direction of the approaching Diablo robot and Heartless. The brown-haired youth swung himself round and round the signpost and bent it into a forty-five degree angle. He hopped off just as the Diablo robot reached him.

Lars kept his eye on the others. Donald, Goofy, Launchpad, and Amemi had all leapt from Ron's scooter as the vehicle had come to a stop in front of the restaurant's entrance. Ron pointed at the rapidly-coming robot. "Lookin' the wrong way, dude!"

Lars spun around. He screamed in alarm when the robot came in close before running away in a frantic style. The robot slammed into the bent sign and knocked the taco-shaped part off. The sign's upper half fell to the pavement and shattered into lots of static-charged pieces.

The Diablo robot was about to slash its buzz-saw against Kim and Ron. The pinning noise suddenly vanished. The robot stopped moving and quickly transformed back into a small toy — the same toy it had once been.

Sora, Amemi, Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad all gave sighs of relief. The robotic giants were gone. Now the entire restaurant's parking lot was covered in dozens of fallen Diablo toys. Sora was shocked to realize they had actually been surrounded by at least thirty or more giant robots. He wondered why they hadn't seen the other ones. He shrugged the pondering to the side. It didn't matter now.

The restaurant's doors banged open. Out stormed none other than Don Karnage. He swept his eyes all around. "What's all this noise?"

When he saw the damaged sign, Karnage shouted, "What happened to my beautiful sign?!"

He saw the many Diablo toys strewn about the parking lot. "What are all these toys doing here?"

He then saw Sora and his friends standing close to the building's entrance. Their weapons were out and they seemed to be ready for any sort of fight. Karnage glared at them. "What are you doing here?!"

Sora maintained his glare at the villain. "What're you guys up to?!" he demanded. He pointed his Keyblade straight at Karnage's face.

Karnage pointed his cutlass at the seventeen-year-old. "So, you wish to cross blades with the famous Don Karnage?" he inquired. "I accept your challenge. No quarter for you, key-boy."

Before Sora and Amemi's eyes, Karnage unleashed a thick cloud of Darkness that shrouded his body. A handful of Air Pirate Heartless appeared from it. "Get them!" Karnage shouted.

The Heartless swooped at Sora's team. The Keyblade-wielding young man swung his weapon and sliced the blade clear through two of the Heartless. Amemi shot another one out of the air. Donald burned one up with magic. Goofy rushed forwards and smashed his shield into another Heartless. Launchpad shot a few more out of existence using his gas-gun.

Karnage jumped over to the group. He swung his sword and clanged it against Sora's Keyblade. The two were immediately locked into a series of blocks and counters. Each time one of them attacked, the other jumped back and blocked it. This continued for a few minutes.

Donald waved his wand and sent a ball of fire magic at the villain. Karnage yelped when he was struck. Goofy tossed his shield and sent it spinning at Karnage's head. The villain easily avoided the weapon. Launchpad shot his gas-gun at Karnage, only to discover the weapon was now empty.

Amemi shot her slingshot at Karnage, but her attacks did very little work against the villainous red wolf.

It was not until Kim hopped over and kicked her way into Karnage's stomach that the fighting finally ended. The villain was knocked backwards and landed onto the sidewalk. His cutlass went sliding away. He was about to get back up when Sora pointed the Keyblade at him. Karnage was shocked, especially when he saw Amemi pointing her slingshot, Donald pointing his wand, Goofy readying his shield, and Launchpad standing behind the with Kim and Ron. Everyone was scowling.

"Okay, okay," Karnage stated. "You win this round. I don't want any more trouble."

"Spill it!" Sora snapped. "What are Pete, Drakken, and you up to?!"

"You're going to tell us," Amemi added, aiming her weapon at the anthropomorphic red wolf. The slingshot was now directed specifically at Don Karnage's forehead. "If you know what's good for you."

Karnage clenched his fists. "Fine!" He pointed at Kim. "We've figured out that stupid girl's weakness. We're gonna use it to take over this world with the Heartless. We've taken over a restaurant chain. That's all I can tell you!"

Before Sora could demand more information, Karnage used the Darkness to draw his cutlass back to him. He then swiftly vanished into a dark portal.

Sora was stumped. What did Karnage mean by "Kim's weakness"? As far as he was concerned, Kim did not have any weaknesses. She seemed undefeated and unmatched in every way, shape, and form. Sora now suspected a trick.

"That was weird," he finally said. "How will they use 'Kim's weakness' to take over the world? She doesn't have any."

"I bet he was just tryin' to confuse ya," Goofy said.

Sora nodded. "Yeah, you're right, Goofy."

At once, the bluish device in Kim's purse started to beep. She pulled it out. "Wade, you're okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Wade replied from the other end. "The Diablo has shut down and shrunk down. Thanks to you, I'm guessing."

Sora and his companions gathered around to see the screen. "Yeah," Sora confirmed. "We took out the command signal."

"Which sounds a lot like a good thing," Ron specified. "Right?"

Wade gave a nod. Kim and Sora smiled, knowing they'd stopped whatever plans Drakken, Pete, and Don Karnage had to take over this world with the Heartless.

"That's weird," Wade suddenly said. His smile faded. He started typing on one of the many computers in his room. "Just got a hit on the site."

The screen transferred to a video recording of a grinning Drakken. "Congratulations, Miss Possible," the villain declared. "You've already discovered how to foil my evil scheme — in record time, I might add."

Sora had to admit they had solved the mystery behind Drakken, Pete, and Karnage's main plans from world conquest within a few days. Of course, for the brown, spikey-haired Keyblade wielder, it was a longer time compared to normal. Usually he was able to determine specifically what his enemy was up to and stop them within hours — not days.

"It is most unfortunate, however," Drakken went on. "That this time you will not stop me. You will surrender."

Kim rolled her eyes. "As if," she scoffed.

"As if — if!" Ron agreed.

"Shego and Pete popped by your school dance and met the nicest boy," Drakken revealed. "Well, I don't have to tell you how nice he is! And cute."

The screen moved a little. In the background, three figures could be seen. One of them was a large cat-man Sora instantly recognized as Pete. Another was the long, dark-haired, green woman he'd learned was Drakken's sidekick, Shego. The third one was a dark-haired young man in a nice tuxedo.

"Kim," the young man whimpered. "What's going on?"

Kim's eyes lit up with alarm and worry. "Erik!"

The view swung back to Drakken. "The choice is yours, Kimberley Ann," he stated. "If you care about your dear Erik's safety, surrender is your only option."

Sora was appalled. Now Pete and the others from Maleficent's Council were taking hostages? How low could they go? He was not about to stand for such terrible actions.

He noticed Kim was scowling with determination. "What're you going to do?" he asked.

Kim did not answer with words. Rather, she jumped onto Ron's scooter. She told him something, something Sora was unable to make out. The two raced down the street in the direction of Kim's house. Sora, Amemi, Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad all hurried after them.

A/N: YIKES! KIM POSSIBLE - SURRENDER?! WHAT A TRAGIC TURN-OF-EVENTS!
Well, you'll just have to Stay Tuned for the climax and conclusion of this world's story! It shall all be within Chapter 24!

Since this was a rather LONG Chapter, I decided this would be a golden opportunity to go over some of the finer points, including the various things referenced in This Chapter. I shall most-likely be doing this from now on (as I pretty much already am), so keep an eye out for stuff hidden in This and other stories I choose to post!

(1.) Yes, I did include a reference to the Classic Television Show, "GET SMART". That show starred Don Adams as Secret Agent #86, Maxwell Smart. I thought it would add a nice touch to the story there. Besides, "Get Smart" just celebrated its 50TH Birthday This Year.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, "GET SMART"!

(2.) Yup! I added a reference to the Classic Television Show, "MATLOCK". That particular show starred Andy Griffith as Ben Matlock, an attorney who often cleared his client's charges by getting the real culprit to confess what they'd done. There was typically a lot of circumstantial evidence involved.

(3.) I'm sure you noticed the questions on the Math test. The first one WAS from Chapter 2 of This Story. The second was just randomly made up. The third was intended to be a spin on a tongue twister. The fourth was a Brain Teaser. As for the fifth and last one, it was meant to be an extremely challenging one.

(4.) Yes, I included some Flashbacks from "Kingdom Hearts - World Unto Dreams". The first one was from Chapter 8, and the other was from Chapter 37.

(5.) The song playing in the background during the dance was "So Long" from Disney's "Enchanted (2007)".

(6.) I have to admit, Drakken's scheme in the movie itself was just as clever as Hacker's plan in the "Cyberchase" episode, "The Snelfu Snafu". They both seem somewhat similar, at least in my own humble opinion.

Since I have all THAT taken care of, it appears I will not be back until next year... which now happens to be only hours away.
In that case, I will sign off - HERE!

So Then, I'll See You Next Time!
In other words, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT REVIEWING! THE FATE OF THIS STORY DEPENDS ON IT!

REMEMBER THIS - A MINIMUM OF 214 IS REQUIRED FOR THE SEQUEL! IF 240 ARE POSTED, I WILL INCLUDE A "SNEAK PEEK" FOR THE SEQUEL ITSELF! HOWEVER, THAT/THOSE GOAL(S) MUST BE MET BY THE TIME THE-SECOND-TO-LAST-CHAPTER IS POSTED! THAT WAY, I WILL HAVE TIME TO ANNOUNCE WHETHER OR NOT EITHER GOAL WAS MET!

This Is SoraLego278 Saying, "See Ya Later, Keybladers!" Plus, "Have A ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH DAY!" In Addition, "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

I SHALL SEE YOU ALL AGAIN - IN 2016!