Chapter 11: The Town Basked in Twilight

It hasn't even been that long since we all arrived at Twilight Town and I can already say this. This whole place certainly is a beautiful place to reside in. The architecture, the sky basking in the grogerous twilight light created by the setting sun... Honestly, if it was possible, I'd definitely like to spend a vacation here one day.

To know that a dark force was here was almost unbelievable.

"Let's begin the search with the local friends," Sora suggested.

"Hayner and the gang would know if there was anything yet," Goofy added.

"I assume Hayner and his friends are residents of this world?" Bentley questioned.

You bet they are," Kairi said. "They're all really nice people, so I'm sure all of you guys will get along great with them."

"Where exactly do you think we'll find them?" I asked.

"They have a bit of a hideout of sorts where they usually hang out at," Sora explained. "Hopefully, they're in there right now as we speak."

"Well, it's worth a shot at least," Carmelita said.

As we made out way to the hideout where Hayner and his friends were usually at, I couldn't help but look around in amazement by our new surroundings.

"Wow! I don't even know what to say about this place! Do you come here often, Sora?

"You bet," Sora said with a smile. "In fact, all of us have been here plenty of times in the past!"

They should be at their spot," Kairi pointed out. "Let's go."

My gang and I followed the others through town. I couldn't help but run my fingers over my bare skin, still bewildered about my new form. Yeah, it would still take time to get used to this.

"Hey, you," a rough voice called out. I turned to see a guy with a black beanie with a dark skinned, kind of muscular kid and a silver haired girl. With them was... Was that a Heartless dressed like a ragdoll with a witch hat?

"You think you can go parading through my town?" The beanie kid called out.

"No, we're here to remove a threat," I stated simply.

"Back off, Seifer," Sora stated.

Seifer, huh? So, that's what that guy's name is. And from the looks on the faces of Sora and his friends, it was clear that they all knew who these three were pretty well.

"Do you guys happen to know who they are?" I asked.

"All too well," Riku said simply.

Oh. So you brought them here," Seifer deadpanned.

"They're friends," Kairi pointed out.

"We might as well ask if you've seen something strange around here," Sora said.

"Do you remember seeing a black shadow? It could be a problem if we don't track it down."

"A black shadow," Seifer simply said with an obvious tone of nonbelief in his voice. "And why would any of us know anything about that being here?"

Sheesh, it hasn't even been that long since we met these four and already I was not liking their leader's attitude. I'm assuming Seifer was their leader, anyway.

"You better talk," Carmelita demanded, already losing her patience. Frankly, the same was for me.

"A shadow was heading towards Twilight Town, that's why," the king explained.

"Shadow?" the strange creature questioned.

I said, "I don't even want to think about what that shadow could possibly do, but we think it could cause some problems."

Well, don't bother asking us for any information," Seifer said coldly. "Trust me when I say this. We know nothing about some shadow being around a place like this."

Well, that certainly didn't help us at all. And while I didn't want to admit it, it looked pretty clear that they honestly didn't know anything about that shadow.

"Let's go," Riku said. "They're not worth it."

"Hold up," Seifer called. What now? "If it has to do with that Roxie... Rocks... whatever his name-"

"It's Roxas," Sora answered sternly. Sounded like this person was close to Sora. "And I doubt the shadow has anything to do with him, Naminé or Xion." More new people to meet. My head will begin to hurt.

"Fine. Don't say we didn't say so." Um, you did all of the talking, dimwit. Not that I would that or I would be just as bad as him. So we just walked away.

It took a bit of time, but Sora eventually led us to a cut up fence with a curtain.

"I think it would be better if only a few of us go in," he informed. "Hayner can be a bit on the rough side at first."

I asked Sora, "Who do you think would be best then? By the way, it sounds like a lot of people have a connection to you, and it's making my head hurt just thinking about it."

Sora gave a bit of a chuckle.

"Yeah, 'a lot' can be a bit of an understatement with all of us, to be honest," he said with a grin on his face. "But in terms of who goes in, I think you and I would be pretty good candidates for that."

"I think I can agree with that," Kairi said. "I mean, you are pretty good with Hayner and his friends, Sora. Plus, I think this'll be a good way for them to properly meet Sly."

"They also know you, Kairi. You should come too."

"Okay." That was settled quickly. So the three of us headed behind the curtain to a decent hideout space for kids. Inside were three people and three more...

Huh? Was I seeing double Sora's and triple Kairi's?

"Sora, Kairi," the blonde with a bit of a punkish look greeted.

"Hey, it's been a while," the dark haired boy called.

"I thought you guys would be here," Sora commented with a grin towards the windswept blonde.

"Who's with you?" the brunette girl in orange asked.

"This is Sly," Kairi explained. "He's our new friend."

More introductions to friends of Sora... I wonder how many more times I'll have to go through this.

"So, his name is Sly, huh?" The blonde girl that resembled Kairi said with a kind smile on her face. "That's a very interesting one. I don't think I've ever met someone with that name before until now."

"Yes, I agree," the girl with black hair said before looking in my direction. "It's very nice to meet you, Sly."

"Um, same to you," I greeted, still stunned by the lookalikes.

"I'm Pence," the black haired boy greeted.

"Hayner. Nice to meet you," the punk said.

"My name's Olette," the girl in orange greeted.

"And we're Roxas, Naminé and Xion," the dirty blonde added.

"And, well..." Sora smiled smiled nrvously at me, probably because I looked confused. "You could say Roxas is my twin and Naminé and Xion are Kairi's."

"'You could say'? Is this part of the long story?" I questioned.

Sora said, "It makes it even longer. But I knew when I started telling you my story that these three would have to be brought up."

I guess I could understand that. I mean, with everything that just happened prior to us coming here, I almost immediately knew Sora's story would definitely be a long one. I would ask for more details, but right now, that's not our main objective.

"So, what exactly brings you guys to Twilight Town?" Olette asked.

"We saw something head towards town and thought you would know something," Sora said. "A shadow?"

"We haven't seen something like that yet," Hayner pointed out.

"But..." Xion began, thinking it over. "I thought I saw something... out of the ordinary."

"Out of the ordinary?" Kairi repeated.

"Like, the figure was... humanoid, but its shadow was... skeletal. With a cone like head." She motioned with her hands over her head to emphasize the shape. "I first thought it was a trick with the light so I ignored it."

"That's a new one."

What could this shadow be? If it's new to Sora's group, then I feel like we aren't close to an answer to that question.

"A humanoid figure with a skeletal shadow and a cone-like head..." Sora recapped.

"If that's nothing something that's highly ominous, then I don't know what is," Kairi commented.

I could've sworn I felt a small chill go through my body. Of course, I guess that's something to be expected when dealing with this mysterious shadow, especially now that we have a bit of a clue as to what it at least looks like.

"Where did you see that?" Sora asked.

"Around the sandlot."

"We better go see."

"In that case, we'll come along," Roxas proclaimed, standing up. Naminé and Xion followed.

"They wield the Keyblade too," Kairi pointed out.

"The more the merrier," I commented.

What will we find when we get there? Hopefully not too much destruction. If we find destruction, I really don't want it on the level of Clock-la.

"Well then, everyone, let's not keep everyone else outside waiting!" Sora exclaimed.

"Oh, you brought the others with you here too?" Naminé asked.

"Yeah, we did," Kairi said in response.

Along with Sly's friends."

"They're more of a family to me," I couldn't help but add.

"Okay then."

"Good luck, you guys!" Pence cheered us on. Olette and Hayner waved. Then, we started to come out of the space to the others.

"Am I seeing twins and triplets?" Bentley asked, surprised as he fixed his glasses to be sure. The girls giggled while the twins looked a bit sheepish.

"Sort of," Sora replied.

"Either you are or not," Penelope commented.

"Trust me Bentley, I thought the same thing when I first saw them. I'll get the details later. We have an update on the shadow though."

"An update?" Carmelita repeated.

"Well, to start off, according to our friend, Xion, here, apparently there's another shadow roaming around here," Kairi explained. "One that's completely different from the one we saw before we came here, at least in terms of shape."

"Intriguing," Bentley said. "What exactly did this other shadow look like?"

"From what we learned, this shadow looked more humanoid and had a more cone-shaped head."

Never heard of such a thing," Bentley quickly denied calmly. "And I suppose one of you is Xion." The black haired girl raised her hand before putting it down. "Nice to meet you."

"She saw it around the sandlot."

Bentley replied with, "I don't know what this shadow is capable of, but we should get going, before it causes too much damage."

"Yes, that does seem like our best option for this situation," Penelope said. "Where is this sandlot, by the way?"

"It's not that far from here," Roxas said. "We'd be happy to lead all of you there, if you want."

"That would be most appreciated," Carmelita said with a smile.

We all followed without a word. After passing a few interesting shops, we had reached a clear square with a scoreboard.

"Around here?" I asked.

"Yeah, by the alley," Xion replied.

As we were walking, the shadow Xion saw didn't leave my mind. Who or what could it be? Ever since I met Sora, so many crazy things have happened, and I don't think the craziness will stop anytime soon.

In not that short amount of time, we approached the alley that Xion allegedly saw the shadow. Of course, we didn't immediately find anything out of the ordinary once we investigated it.

"You're sure that you did see the shadow by this alley in particular?" Bentley asked.

"Yes, of course," Xion said. "Although... Considering that there's nothing here anymore, I guess it really must've been some sort of trick with the light I saw earlier."

"No, I don't think it was some sort of illusion," Riku commented. "Something is up."

"Like that?" Murray pointed to the sky. All of us followed and gasped in surprise when the massive shadow we saw from space now in view.

"I have to say, I didn't expect to see this. Do you feel the same way, Sora?"

"Definitely, Sly," Sora simply said.

Staring at the shadow in question was highly unbelievable. It definitely was not the shadow Xion said she saw earlier. This was something a lot more menecing than the one that she described. Something that clearly shows an interesting in harming this whole world.

Something that would show no hesitation in obliterating anything that even thought about standing in its way.

"EEEE-!" someone screamed before it was suddenly cut off.

"Lance, what has brought you to curse the whole town?" a woman's voice lamented. It sounded like a bad soap opera was playing.

"What was that?" Donald questioned.

"Sounded like it's on the other side of the alley."

I said, "Then let's go see what that was. Now I'm really interested."

"I have a bad feeling about this, but it looks like we don't have much of a choice in this situation," the king said. "Let's be on guard, everyone."

We all nodded and proceeded to go down the alley, making sure to keep our guard up in case anything went south the moment we reached the other side.

We krept slowly... silently... and on the end...

... ... What? Is this supposed to be ominous... or a total joke?

It's a robot... with a cone like head... skeletal-like body... and it's playing a bad soap opera?

End Chapter