Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Legion

by lyokoMARVELanime

Sequel to Dual Keys. Sora, Donald, Goofy return to the worlds after an event that caused them to have their memories modified, and they're off on a new adventure with Ven. But this time they've some new friends with them. Can Roxas and Xion help to save the worlds from this new evil group? Is there some deeper mystery surrounding the two siblings? Find out along with the new team.

8. Geared Up and Ready to Go

AN: Well, this took a little longer to get out that I'd originally thought, but, good news is that at long last, the next chapter in the journey of the Keyblade Legion is finally out now!

[audience applause]

Roxas: Took you long enough. I get that you would want to update a Marvel story or two as a way of honoring Stan Lee, [pauses for a moment of silent respect along with everyone else], but couldn't you have worked a little faster to get this new chapter out?

AN: Hey, I did the best I could, but the holidays are a busy time. Gotta juggle a lot more than usual along with this. Moving along, let's answer some reviews that we received since last chapter.

Xion: How about starting with "rmarcano321"'s question about who your favorite KH character is?

AN: Yeah...let's not go into playing favorites, especially since I know some of you will likely try and beat me up if I don't say your name, regardless of whatever consequences may unfold for you in the main story.

Sora: Aww, come on!

AN: Well, if I'd had to pick, I'd say anyone who was not a bad guy. So basically, Sora, Kairi, Roxas, Xion, Ven, Aqua, etc. You get the idea.

Riku: Uh, do I count on the list of bad guys? Considering I was an antagonist in KH1.

AN: Yeah, you don't count as a bad guy. Riku Replica on the other hand...

Anyways, let's get to "Anonymaton"'s questions and comments. To explain how Ven didn't notice his beard itching up a storm, the simple answer is...magic armor. It does wonders.

Ventus: I feel like that's a bit of a cop out.

AN: Too bad. That's all we're really going with for now, and all we really can go with. Anyways, like the idea for a gag, so I'm gonna have to remember that for later. Also, about your next Master Chair, go with the really nice leather recliner. I tried the gold plated throne once, and yikes! The pains I had all over after sitting in it for for like ten to fifteen minutes, even with excess cushioning...So not worth it.

Next up is our old pal "Monkey D. Conan", I hadn't actually considered either of those ideas you mentioned regarding Roxas, but I do like the idea you offered up about Sora owning someone in a verbal match. I'll definitely have to either work your suggestion or something similar in at some point later on. As for Xion play flirting with Sora after his wardrobe change...yeah, that's not gonna happen here. Plus, even before Sora learns the truth, Xion's most likely going to think of Sora as more like a brother or something in this continuity, so she'd probably feel a little strange flirting with him, even playfully. But I do admit, I kinda like the suggestion you made about her and Kairi tag-teaming in a little moment of messing with him.

Sora: I don't! It's not that funny!

Xion: Neither was something that was suggested in the main story, but you don't hear me complaining. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded playfully flirting with Sora after the wardrobe change if you hadn't included that particular part.

AN: Hey, the idea came to me after reading a couple of reviews that I felt brought up a good point, so I just had to include that in here.

Kairi: Wait, what are you guys talking about?

AN: You and the readers will see later. Rolling on over to "Dragon Rider 66", let's discuss the topic of the fractured heart from Past-Ven. Technically speaking, the heart still remained with Sora, even after he turned into a Heartless, but it did provide the blueprints for Roxas's appearance, so that's why Sora's Nobody looks like Ven instead of Sora. That makes sense to everybody, right?

Riku: I think so.

AN: Well, I'll just have to hope so. Anyways, at the moment, Ven's theory on why Roxas has two Keyblades is really the only thing that is going to hold true for now, but it may change later on down the line. That, and I just think that Roxas is meant to dual wield Keyblades. It's just his thing since as far as most people are concerned, he did it first.

Roxas: Damn right I did!

AN: [eye roll] Also, Ven doesn't really see Pete as that much of an enemy-enemy, but he does know that Pete's a huge bully from his experiences in Disney Town during BBS, so that's enough for him, and of course he'd learn about what Pete did later on that got him imprisoned after he went to study under Mickey. And yeah, people having a comment or two, or just some variety of reaction to Ven's beard is going to be a thing. Even after he may or may not trim it down and give it a little grooming that'll be a thing.

By the way, your question about the team visiting a Power Ranger world, or having a summon charm for one of said characters...the latter of those two ideas has a stronger likelihood than the former in this story. While the Power Rangers were a Disney property at one point, they aren't any longer, and they weren't really that obviously one, like how Marvel and Star Wars has been over the last few years or so, but don't worry, we will likely see those teenagers with attitude in a future story of this series.

Rolling it on the guest reviewer "Guest" from 11/2/2018, who commented on Ven and Aqua adopting their apprentices and such. First off, what do they look like, Kanan and Hera from Star Wars Rebels? Cause you know those two practically did that with Ezra and Sabine, although, now that I think about it, I can definitely see plenty of parallels, and why you would say that, so I guess I've almost unintentionally created a kind of Keyblade family in this series, huh?

Ventus: Well, that name's probably gonna stick with us for a while now.

AN: Ah don't tell me you don't love the idea of having a family with Aqua. [smirks wider when both Ven and Aqua blush up a storm] Thought so. Beyond that though, what are yours and Aqua's thoughts on that?

Aqua: Well if you asked me, I'd say that if this were a different kind of AU, I can see me and Ven doing just that with these kids, and I can't help but feel like Ven would likely spoil them rotten.

Ventus: Oh like you're one to talk. You'd probably dote on them nonstop.

Sora: You do remember that all of us are teenagers, right?

Aqua: Well, I did say if this were a different kind of AU. You know, like a real-world-based AU, or even a High-School one.

AN: Okay, let's move on before this gets out of hand and I start getting more new ideas. To the guest reviewer "Guest" from 11/2/2018. Yeah, Xion's gonna be teasing the hell out of Roxas and Sora in regards to their respective girlfriends, and the girls in question for a long time to come, and if Naminé did have any dreams like that, Xion definitely would be making fun of her for a long time to come the minute she found out.

Naminé: [blushing bright red] Please change the subject and move to a different review please!

AN: Sure thing, Naminé. If you really want us to. [smirks knowingly along with everyone else, other than Roxas] To "Mr. Nobody or YARN", Xion having Ven's fractured heart in her will have a lingering effect or two, but nothing to the point where she's able to use Ven's Command Styles. You'll find out in a couple chapters or so, don't worry. And yeah, Sora's still going to have Drive Forms. I realize that everyone has often said that Sora's Drive Forms give him the ability to use two Keyblades because of how he has Ven's heart inside of him, but you have to keep in mind...this is an AU story. Obviously some things are going to be different from canon, as if that isn't already obvious. So, I wouldn't worry too much about how the Drive Forms will be effected in this series. Why would I change up something so awesome, anyways? I'm creative, but I don't think I'm that creative.

Roxas: Sure you're not. [please note the tone of disbelief]

AN: Hey! Betrayed by my own action notes?! The indignity and embarrassment. Oh well, let's wrap up the more long-winded review answer by addressing the comments/questions of "Fantasysword92375". You don't have to worry about how those two treat Luxord, because out of all the Organization members, aside from Dusks, Roxas and Xion are only really going to have their sights set on one above all the others, besides Xemnas I mean. Plus, you have to remember that they're still steadily getting memories back, so you'll have to forgive them if they don't remember everything about their old business associates right away. Oh, and as for your questions on the Keyblades they had in 358/2, yeah, I'm going to do my best to include those in this story, as you'll soon see later on in this chapter.

Xion: Ooh, ooh! I want to answer his last question!

AN: Well, it is addressed to you, so...

Xion: Yay! Ahem, to be quite honest, I'm not really sure which version of Ducktales I prefer. I mean, in this story, the series is more like a fusion of the two series, only in a documentary kind of form, but if I did have to choose one or the other...yeah, it's honestly a tie. Both series are great! You can't hate a classic, and the new is a really awesome new take on the Ducktales adventures.

AN: I hear ya on that, sister. And to round things out, thank you to everyone else who favorited, followed, and left reviews of both praise and constructive criticism. Glad to see so many of you are enjoying the story so far, and here's hoping you'll continue to find it great. Now let's get on with the show, and let the adventure begin!...

I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.

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Chapter VIII

The train ride had fallen into deep silence after the scenery change and Ventus's last statement. While some of them were just taking the time to relax and finish regaining their bearings after so long, Roxas and Xion could not help but gaze at their new friends in nervous contemplation. Sure, they were already accepted into the group after that first meeting, but they could not help but be concerned about how they would react if and when they found out that the twins used to work with the bad guys. They knew Sora had an incredible forgiving nature, but was it really to that much of an extent? Not that he really knew too much about the Organization, aside from the Dusks that had just attacked them at the station, but it was still a concern all the same. And speaking of Sora, they also had to wonder how he would react when he learned the truth about the two of them, and their connection to him. Just how would Sora take it when he found out that the twins were practically his siblings, if not his clones, for lack of a better word?

On a similar subject, they also had to wonder if they really should consider themselves as twin siblings now. After learning the truth about their natures, Roxas and Xion had not really stopped to think about how they were not brother and sister in blood, but merely in sentiment. Maybe it was partly because of the shock that came with their new knowledge, or maybe it had something to do with how they just wanted to get out of that old mansion as quickly as possible, but now that they had finally caught a break, they were not able to avoid thinking it over. Despite that though, part of them could not help but wonder if they really needed to think about it that much. The mere idea that they were not actually siblings by blood, at least in the typical sense, had not been too great of a shock to them when they first found out, so did they really need to worry about it now? Then again, what if it was something they should be concerned about? There were already a massive number of questions plaguing their minds about their pasts in the Organization, even if they did remember the more important details regarding their history with the group, so they were not sure if they could really afford to be worrying about anything that would seem really small in comparison at the moment. Or at least, what they could only assume was a small matter, but if you take into account that they did not even remember the full details of what they did while they were working with the Organization, it probably was.

The two were so engrossed in their thoughts that they had not even noticed that Sora was talking to them until he finally asked them a question that caught them by surprise. "So how'd you guys meet, anyway," the Kingdom Key wielder asked.

"Huh? What," Roxas stuttered while Xion just jumped out of surprise in suddenly being addressed directly.

Sora could not help it. He just had to give the two a look for apparently not listening to him, but he still elaborated on his question all the same. "I was asking how you guys met Ven. I mean, I doubt he just showed up on your doorstep at random one day or something…Did he?"

"Oh…Well," Roxas stuttered, and a side-glance to Xion told him that she was not sure what to say either. Ventus had already warned them against telling Sora the truth about them right away, but they did not want to lie to Sora about something this important. One look to Xion told Roxas that she was likely about to say something no matter what, and he was about to stop her when he noticed that Ventus was nodding to them, silently saying they could tell him a few things, so long as they did not go too far into details just yet.

"The thing is…we don't really remember how or when exactly when met Ven," Xion admitted. "Or really…anything from the past year."

"Really? How come," Sora cautiously asked. He was curious about the matter, but he did not want to be too insensitive to his two new friends.

"It's…complicated," Roxas finally said. "You see…we used to be part of a really bad group, and when we found out the truth about why we had been recruited, we ran away. They didn't take it too well, and they proved that they were going to keep coming after us no matter what. So, after meeting up with her and Ven, we asked Naminé to alter our memories so that we wouldn't remember the time when we were in the group, allowing us to completely fool everyone into thinking we were someone different, including ourselves."

"Wow…" Sora gasped in awe. Not that he could really think of that much else to say, but he did eventually have a big question that he had to ask. "Do you think that you'll get your old memories back?"

"Maybe," Xion nodded. "We've already started to remember a few things, like how we used to interact with each other, and about one of the few, real friends we had in that group, but nothing in the way of extensive details. Just enough to know that we did leave for a reason, and that it was our choice to leave."

"But why did you guys leave, and why would you go so far as to change your memories to keep them from finding you," Sora asked, finally getting to the big question that the two were hoping he would not pose to them.

Roxas and Xion exchanged a small, hesitant look between themselves and Ventus, before Roxas finally decided to swallow the bitter pill and reveal as much of the truth as he could. "Because of you, Sora. You were the reason we left. We wanted to do what we could to help you recover from what had happened to you, and the only reason we could do that was by leaving."

"What," Sora gasped, hardly believing his ears. Clearly he felt really upset that he had caused so much trouble for the two siblings, and turned their lives completely upside down as a result. It showed in every single inch of his face and body language, and neither sibling was about to let Sora apologize to them for something that was not really his fault.

"It's not like you meant for any of it to happen," Xion reassured him. "Besides, like Roxas said, it was our choice to do it, and we would do it again in heartbeat if we had to."

Sora could nothing more than nod in response to the girl's words, but he did eventually smile to show that he appreciated the sentiment. Still something about the whole thing did bug him a little bit, and he had to point it out. "How exactly were you guys supposed to help me wake up and recover from what had happened to me," Sora asked. "I mean, all that happened was that Naminé had tampered with my memories, so was there really that much you could've done to help fix that?"

Roxas and Xion were definitely stuck now, and from the look of things, Ventus did not really know of any way for them to answer that question without revealing the truth about the twins' nature in relation to Sora. At that point, the only thing they could save them from that problem would be if something else a little more important came up, and it was not like that sort of thing just happened at a convenient moment whenever you wished for it to, right? Well, this time, such a thing did happen, as they all suddenly felt the train slowing to a stop, while the breaks squealed against the wheels and the engine let off steam. Ventus quickly hurried out of his seat to look outside, and the minute that he saw what was waiting for them outside the train, the bearded blonde grinned to his friends and students in excitement, telling all of them the very thing that they suspected before Ventus had even said the words.

"We're here," Ventus revealed, and seconds later, the door opened to allow the train's passengers to disembark. "Come on, everyone. That person I mentioned to you all before may be a very patient man, but we should still hurry and see him as soon as possible."

Donald and Goofy both nodded and rushed out the door in response, with Ventus just behind them at a slightly slower pace, but the last three took their time stepping off and taking in the view of where they had just stopped. Not that you could blame them, because it was certainly a sight to behold like nothing that any of them had ever seen before. Just from looking around, they could tell that they were standing on what could only be called a small island that floated in the middle of a vast void of colorful mists, and while that alone was eye-catching, what was more incredible was the lone tower that sat on the island, the only structure it possessed. The tower seemed to twist and turn in various directions as it reached towards the sky, and at some points, the three could see that like the train, it was decorated with stars and moons. Needless to say, the three were unable to really keep their feelings of awe at bay. Even Sora was left staring up at the tower in silence while taking in the amazing sight, and he had seen quite a few spectacular, out-of-this-world things on his last journey.

"Whoa," Roxas finally whispered, breaking the silence between them. "So is this…really another world?"

"It sure looks like it," Sora nodded, though he still crossed his arms in thought for a minute. "But, last I checked, one of the only ways to reach another world was with a gummi ship, a Keyblade, or really powerful magic. I mean, the train was definitely magic from what I could tell, but what if this is actually just another part of Twilight Town that few people know about?"

Xion seemed to think it over for a minute, before she reasoned, "I guess that could make sense. I mean, most people think that the train we came in on was just something of legend, so maybe…Uh, guys…"

"What," Roxas asked as he and Sora turned around to see what had caused Xion to suddenly change her tone to something a little more nervous. A minute later, both boys' eyes had widened along with Xion's, as the train glowed a little bit before vanishing completely, leaving only the strange energy tracks that it had been traveling along in its wake, and three very startled and nervous Keybearers.

"Eh-hehehe…There goes our ride," Sora nervously chuckled in an attempt to relieve the tension that the three were now all likely feeling. He did not quite succeed.

"That's not helping, Sora," Roxas had instantly revealed, his face more than a little pale as he stared at where the train had just been, his mind having already gone back to how the locomotive was called the ghost train.

"Let's just…Let's just go and meet this person that Ventus was telling us about," Xion decided, and neither of the boys argued with her as they both turned around and followed after the other three just as quickly as she had.

It was not long before the last three caught up with the others, and it took even less time for them to take notice of a rather large figure standing at the door to the odd tower. Seeing someone standing at the door, Sora quickly came to the first conclusion that popped into his mind, and asked, "Is that the guy we're here to see?"

"No…But he does look familiar," Ventus admitted, his eyes narrowing on the figure standing at the door. "Be on your guard, everyone. Something tells me he's not supposed to be here, be it right now or in general."

Everyone nodded in response to the Keyblade master, and they all slowed their approach to a more cautious pace as they reached the front door of the tower. Even before they had gotten close they could tell that the person at the door was big, but once they were standing at the foot of the stairs, just a few feet away from him, they realized that "big" was probably too easy a word to describe him. The man, who wore a red shirt with blue and purple armor, fingerless gauntlets, a navy blue pauldron on each shoulder, and navy blue pants that had large, pouches on either side. They could not really see just who this person is, since his back was turned to them while he tried to peek in through the door, but regardless of that, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy all narrowed their eyes suspiciously, feeling that there was something very familiar about this large man that was obviously sneaking around in a place that he was not supposed to be.

After a few moments of silence, Xion finally could not take the suspense anymore and walked a little closer to the large man. "Excuse me," she called out. "What're you doing?"

The large man chuckled deeply in response, making Ven, Donald, and Goofy's suspicious gazes narrow a little more at the familiarity of that laugh, and that same suspicion only grew more when he spoke up in reply. "I sent some of my lackeys inside to see if the master of this here tower's as big and tough as they say. Word is, he's a real powerful sorcerer, which would make him the perfect bodyguard for me. See, it don't matter how tough he is. Once he's a Heartless, he'll do as I say."

"A Heartless," Roxas exclaimed in shock, while Sora and the others all jumped back a bit and adopted looks of slight panic.

"That's right," the big man nodded, still not turning to face the group. "They're those things that come outta the darkness in folks' hearts. Why, with all those Heartless at her side, my dear friend Maleficent is gonna conquer everything! And since I got me a debt to pay, I'm goin' 'round to a bunch of different worlds and buidlin' an army of Heartless, special for her." That got the team's worried looks washed away in favor of various confused ones. Clearly this guy had not heard that Maleficent had been defeated a year ago by Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy, but that did not quite explain how this guy was able to still build an army of Heartless, let alone command them, assuming they really were still around. At that point, the big man suddenly seemed to realize that he should not be talking to random folks about his plans, because the next thing he said was, "Why am I talkin' to you pip-squeaks anyway? Go on, scram! I'm behind schedule as it is."

Roxas got a little annoyed with the big guy when he heard that, and was likely about to give a rude retort in reply, when Sora stepped up and said, "Maybe you should consider finding something nicer to do. Working with bad guys like the Heartless never ends well, after all."

"Says who," the big man drily scoffed as he finally turned around to face the group, allowing them to finally see his full, cat-like features, and for three members in particular to finally recognize him in full. Those three were not the only ones though, as the big man gasped in shock before growling in anger, "Wha….AAAH! It's you!"

"Pete," Donald, Goofy, and Ventus all exclaimed in surprise, earning confused looks from the three Keyblade apprentices.

"What are you two nimrods and that overgrown twerp doin' here," Pete groaned angrily.

"What are YOU doing here," Donald snapped back.

"Um, I'm pretty sure he just told us that," Roxas pointed out.

"We know, but that's not what Donald meant," Ventus explained. He then glared at Pete and asked, "And who're you calling an overgrown twerp, you overweight pretender?"

"Wait, you guys all know him," Sora asked, looking to his three friends, with Xion and Roxas both silently asking the same question.

"We sure do," Goofy nodded with a glare of his own being directed at Pete. This came as a surprise for Sora, as he had never seen Goofy glare at someone like that before, without them being an obvious bad guy, until the knight explained the reasoning behind his look. "Pete's been causin' trouble for ages! King Mickey and Queen Minnie banished him to another dimension a long time ago."

"So that's what happened to him after his little stunt at the Million Dreams Festival, huh," Ventus muttered, before going into an explanation on how he knew the guy. "I met Pete on my first trip to Disney Town, and at the time, he was dressing up and trying to play hero in an attempt to get people to vote for him to win the Million Dreams award. From what I heard, he had two different disguises, but I only knew about one. When he found out that me, Aqua, and Terra were voted the winners, he threw up a huge fuss, to put it mildly, and got arrested. At least, that's what Aqua told me when I asked her about it later on." The blonde then leveled a glare at Pete, and demanded, "How'd you get out Pete?"

Pete immediately bellowed out a loud laugh before replying, "You wanna know how, eh? Well, Maleficent busted me out, that's how!"

"Of course," Ventus muttered under his breath, clearly annoyed.

"And now your world—no, no, no, all the worlds are gonna belong to yours truly," Pete declared with pride. He turned a little more sheepish seconds later when he added, "Cause Maleficent's gonna help me conquer 'em."

"Maleficent…huh," Sora said with an amused tone, before he let out a few snickers along with the others. Even Roxas and Xion had to laugh a bit at that idea, but only because they knew what was so funny, unlike Pete, who was quickly getting mad.

"What are you laughing at," Pete growled. "Why, Maleficent's power is so great that…"

"She's toast," Sora finally revealed, startling Pete quite a bit when he did.

"Sorry, but Maleficent can't help ya now," Goofy added on.

"Whaddaya mean," Pete asked before it finally clicked for him. "You! So you're the ones that did it!"

"Well…we mighta had something to do with it," Sora shrugged in false modesty while placing both hands behind his head.

"Or everything, but who really wants to stress out on all the details," Ventus piped in with a similar tone as he took on his version of Sora's relaxed pose, grinning as much as the Keyblade warrior the whole time.

Pete growled angrily at that, and looked like he was about to do something, when his gaze locked onto the last two members of the group, and he let out a startled gasp. "You two again?!"

"Us," Xion asked, completely confused.

"Yes, you! Don't think I've forgotten what you two did," Pete stated.

"Right…Of course you wouldn't forget about…that," Roxas nodded along, just as confused as Xion. That did not keep his curiosity at bay though. "Uh, what did we do?"

"Don't play stupid! That won't work on me. You two mucked up my plans in Agrabah and Neverland," Pete snapped.

"We did," Xion questioned with a look to Roxas. Her brother could only shrug in return, not having much more of a clue as to what Pete was talking about either, and that just got Pete even more riled up.

"I told ya playin' stupid ain't gonna work on me," Pete snapped. "Don't think for a minute that I don't recognize you just because you're not wearin' them snazzy little black coats now. Anyone who crosses me always pays the price eventually."

"Keep telling yourself that," Ventus scoffed in return, while Roxas and Xion finally figured out what Pete was referring to the minute that he had mentioned a time when they were wearing black coats.

Sora on the other hand, did not really know about that, and instead just said, "So you guys were saving worlds even before we met? Guess you have a bit more experience with the Keyblade than you thought, huh?"

"Maybe," Roxas shrugged, not knowing what else he could say right then, and Xion was not much better off given the look on her face.

That made Pete finally snap, as he immediately waved his arms out and shouted, "Heartless Squad! Round up!"

To be quite honest, Donald and Goofy were actually a little surprised to see some Heartless materialize around them when Pete called for them. Sure, Pete had never really been too much of a good guy, as far as they could remember, but he was never really a full-blown villain, or at least not one that would be on Maleficent's level. Of course, the big bully did admit that he had become one of Maleficent's thugs in exchange for help in getting out of his punishment, so anything was possible in that regard. The only thing that they found more shocking was that there were still Heartless lurking around, even after all that their team had been through last year, but that was a problem that they could easily deal with. The two warriors of Disney Town were now well-rested and more than ready for a fight this time, but Ventus had other ideas.

"Really? Is that the best you can do, Pete," Ventus questioned, his tone an obvious display of how unimpressed he was. "I mean, I was expecting you to at least be able to bring out a few Soldiers, or even some of the more powerful pureblood Heartless, but just a bunch of little Shadows? Guess Maleficent didn't think you could handle something a little further up the ladder to the big leagues."

"Oh yeah? Well if they're so easy to beat, how about you prove it," Pete dared.

"With pleasure," Ventus accepted before waving for Donald and Goofy to step back. Everyone thought that meant the blonde master was going to battle all these Heartless by himself, and they were all more than eager to see Ven showcase his skills like this. Sadly, they were not going to get that show, as Ventus also stepped back a little, looked to his three apprentices, and said, "Sora, Roxas, Xion, how about you guys handle this one yourselves?"

"HUH?!" Was everyone's immediate response, including Pete. None of them had thought for even a second that Ven was going to throw his apprentices to the wolves like that, but then again, he did seem pretty confident that they could handle it, so maybe there was not any reason to worry.

Still, that did not keep any of the three kids from asking the obvious question. "Are you sure about that, Ven," Roxas asked. "I mean, me and Xion haven't really fought all that many Heartless before, or at least, we don't remember fighting that many Heartless, and while Sora's got the most experience, he's probably still getting his bearings back after waking up from his year-long nap."

"He has a point," Sora admitted. "Plus, we haven't really had much time to work together as a team up until now."

"All the more reason why I'm saying you three should handle it," Ventus insisted. "Think of this as an impromptu training session to help get you all back into the groove of things, and to help get a fix on how good or bad your teamwork is at the moment. Plus, this will also help me start to get an idea on where you all currently stand in regards to your Keyblade wielder abilities, and that will help me figure out how to organize training for each of you."

None of the kids were really able to think of an argument for that, but Pete did have something to say against this. "Oh, so you're runnin' away and throwin' out the kids as shields, huh," Pete mocked. "All that tough talk and you can't even back it up."

"I don't need to," Ventus replied simply, and with a somewhat smug smile at that. "Or rather, if I did fight them, this fight would be over way too quickly, and we'd have to listen to you whine and groan before summoning out another few waves in a vain attempt to beat me, all of which will end in failure, until you finally just collapse in exhaustion. I know that doesn't sound like something that would take long, but honestly, it would take far too long for my liking, and we're on a bit of schedule. Besides, a mere rookie fighter could beat you and these Heartless, Pete, so this will be just as much of a walk in the park for my apprentices as it would be for me."

Hearing how much confidence Ventus had in them definitely alleviated any doubts that the three young wielders had, and an instant later, Sora had summoned out Kingdom Key to his hand, with Roxas and Xion calling forth their Keyblades seconds later. "Don't worry. We'll try to make this as quick and painless as possible for ya," Sora teased Pete as he dropped into his battle stance. His teasing then turned to his sibling apprentices as he said, "That is assuming you guys can keep up with me."

"Hah! Get real," Roxas laughed as he readied Oathkeeper and Oblivion. "If anything, you're the one who's going to have a tough time keeping up with just one of us."

"Yeah. Me and Roxas are one of the best tag-teams that you'll ever meet, and we're just as good when we have to fight on our own, too. We can handle this no problem," Xion added in full confidence.

Sora smirked back at the duo's replies, and then set his sights on the Shadows slowly crawling towards them as he said, "Then let's show 'em how it's done!"

Nothing else needed to be said at that point, as the three quickly set to work, and after the first five or six Heartless were slain with ease, Donald and Goofy both found themselves just sitting back and watching the show along with Ventus. Of course, the blonde was making quite a few observations of the three and their fighting styles as he watched, but he did have to admit, this was actually pretty entertaining, given how frustrated Pete was getting over how easily the kids were beating the Shadows. Still, he had a job to do as the three's master, so Ventus did his best to keep his focus on studying the three and how well they fought, both individually and together. For starters, he made it a point to take careful notes on how well Roxas was doing, mainly because of his natural ability to dual wield Keyblades. That alone was going to make training Roxas a little challenging for anyone, but Ven was going to have to face that challenge as best as he could. That said, from what he could see, Roxas definitely went for fast, powerful strikes, and he could already tell that his younger doppelganger was going to be more of a close-combat type, mainly because of his natural ability. Even when Roxas was in the virtual Twilight Town, and from what he could tell from his observations of the boy during his time in the Organization, Ventus could tell that Roxas did not go for using magic all that often, aside from the occasional healing spell and one or two other attack spells, and it looked like that tendency carried over to now, but Ven was not going to know anything for sure about that until after Roxas actually did learn some magic.

Speaking of magic ability, Ventus could not help but note that Xion was much more open to using such abilities than her brother. The girl did not have any problem throwing out blasts of Blizzard whenever she saw a chance to, but she did not spam the attack like there was no tomorrow. If anything, she waited for the most opportune moment to fire out the blast of icy magic, and spent most of her time dancing around opponents while taking them down with Two Become One. One would think that this was a typical fighting style of a gifted mage, but Ventus had to disagree. He knew from his time giving Kairi a crash course on the basics of Keyblade wielding during the team's last journey, that most folks who wanted to put a lot of focus into magic would either use spells they knew so much that they would exhaust themselves very quickly, or just ended up trying to avoid getting close as much as possible. Xion was not doing either of those things, as she showed little to no hesitance in getting in close and attacking with her Keyblade, as she quickly proved when she vanquished three more Shadows with a single swing of Two Become One, and that alone proved to him that she was likely to end up as a much more balanced type of fighter. To be more accurate, Xion was looking like she would be the type to mix her magic in with her regular attacks while putting a good deal of focus on her speed if nothing else. It was actually something Ven was hoping would be true, given that he was a speed-fighter himself, but he could not help but notice that she seemed a little awkward at some points during the fight.

Right from the start of the battle, Ventus had noticed that Xion was making an effort to use her own battle stance and the style that went with it, so as not to seem like she was copying either Sora or Roxas too much, so naturally, Ven saw that she was stumbling now and again to keep herself from going back to what had been her default for so long, as far as she could remember. There was something else here though regarding her awkwardness during the fight, but Ven could not quite put his finger on what it could be. It almost seemed like she was struggling a bit to keep herself from tripping up due to a drastic change in her regular mannerisms or something along those lines. Thankfully, it was not so bad that it left her open to attack, but Ven did still make a note to look into this a little more when they got the chance later on. After watching and studying Xion's fighting style and ability for a few more minutes, Ventus finally turned his attention to his first apprentice, and prepared to see just how much of a refresher Sora would require.

After the little fight in the station plaza, Ventus already knew that Sora could still use his Shotlocks without too much trouble, and now that Sora was well-rested, the Kingdom Key wielder was proving that in full, as he unloaded Typhoon Barrage and Radiant Blade on several Shadows at once, vanquishing most of them before either ability had even gotten halfway to their finishing strikes. This is not something that worried Ventus too much, since Shotlocks required more focus than they did magic energy, but when it came to Sora's skills with magic and Command Styles, Ventus definitely had more than a few concerns. He did not want to find out that Sora would be back at square one when it came to his Command Styles, especially after how long it took for Sora to master them in their last journey, and then discover his Unique Tier One Style, but more than that, he also hoped that the kid was not going to be unable to use any magic at all. That would have been far worse, since magic spells and abilities were a key part to activating most Command Styles, be it the common ones or the unique variety, and Sora suddenly being unable to use magic would have been a huge blow that anyone could quickly take advantage of. As a result of knowing all this, Ventus could not help but breathe a small sigh of relief when Sora finally did make an attempt to use magic, but while the results were not as bad as he had thought they would be, they were still a matter of concern.

When Sora saw some Shadows leap at him, he quickly spun out of the way, aimed his Keyblade at them, and called upon his magic energy while shouting out, "Firaga!" While a fireball did rocket out from the tip of Kingdom Key, it was not the massive one that he normally associated with the level three fire spell, but instead, the smaller one that was typical of the starting level fire spell. Sure, it still destroyed one of the Shadows that had attacked him, but Sora was still a little confused as to why he got the wrong spell. He quickly shook it off and figured he should try again with a different spell, and after rolling to the side to avoid another Shadow's pounce, he turned his Keyblade skyward and shouted, "Thundaga!" Just like last time though, he did not get the powerful spell he was going for, but instead, the basic level one that was nothing more than a single lightning bolt. "Come on already! Blizzaga," Sora complained as he turned his Keyblade on another Shadow, only to groan in irritation a second later, when he only received the simple collection of ice shards that were normal of Blizzard instead. "What's wrong with my magic?"

Ventus was about to shout for Sora to not drop his guard, but the warning was too late, as a Shadow finally scored a hit on the blonde master's first apprentice. Since he was not expecting it, Sora immediately fell to the ground, and quickly raised his Keyblade in a poorly formed defense for the Shadow's follow-up pounce. Thankfully, Sora did not need to worry, as Roxas came to the rescue, slicing the Shadow up with Oblivion after he came out of a spin he had used to strike down a previous pair of Shadows with Oathkeeper. The blonde boy quickly dismissed one of his Keyblades to help Sora up, earning him a nod of thanks from his senior, and the two were more than ready to get back into the fight. They did not need to though, as Xion struck down the last Shadow that Pete had summoned, and they all dismissed their Keyblades in response to the lack of enemies.

Donald, Goofy, and Ven would likely have showered the kids in congratulations on a job well done had Pete not decided to be a sore loser and let out a loud groan of annoyance at his defeat. "You just wait," Pete promised. "Nobody, and I do mean nobody, messes with the mighty Pete!"

'I can't help but wonder if that's ironic or not, considering that if he's telling the truth, we were Nobodies when we last met him,' Xion and Roxas both wondered to themselves.

"And here I thought your name was 'Captain Justice,' or was that 'Captain Dark,'" Ventus mocked in return, angering Pete even more than he already was.

"So 'mighty' Pete, who lives in this tower anyway," Sora finally asked. He would have directed the question to Ventus, but right now, he felt like the big bully would have just gotten a little more annoying if they acted like they were ignoring him. Apparently Ventus agreed with that sentiment, because he did not say anything in response to who Sora had directed the question to, even if he did want to.

"Oh, ya don't know, eh," Pete grinned. "Well, it's old Yen Sid. 'Course he's probably a Heartless by now."

"Master Yen Sid," Donald exclaimed in a panic, and he quickly raced up the stairs to head into the tower. While Ventus was worried too, he was not panicking as much as Donald. He knew full well that it was going to take a lot more than whatever Heartless Pete had probably sent in to take down Yen Sid.

"Who's Yen Sid," Xion asked, voicing the question that Sora and Roxas were also wondering.

"Yen Sid is the King's teacher," Goofy replied.

"And a retired Keyblade master as well," Ventus added.

"Wow! Sounds powerful," Sora gasped in awe.

"And it also sounds like someone we don't want turning into a Heartless," Roxas pointed out. That got the rest of them to follow Donald into the tower, even if some of them were not as worried about the sorcerer's wellbeing.

Roxas and Xion paused for a minute to throw one more glance at Pete, wondering if he really was telling the truth about meeting them before, but before they could ask anything, Ventus called out, "Roxas, Xion, come on! Just leave the overgrown baby to whatever tantrum he's going to throw in a minute! We've got work to do!"

That got the siblings to rush after the others, while Pete was left to throw that very tantrum that Ventus said he would. It was a little hard to know for sure if Pete cared or not that he was proving Ven's point so well, but if he did know that, anyone would tell you that it would be the reason why his tantrum seemed to get even worse just minutes later.

---

When he had come to Yen Sid's tower in the past, Ventus had always made use of a special spell that would allow him and anyone with him to reach the aged sorcerer's study quickly, and without having to traverse the twisting and turning corridors of the crazy stairwell. Granted, it still had the appearance of an average stairwell, but it was still not as crazy as the one that the tower used to keep out intruders. This time though, he did not have a problem with taking the crazy route, because while the tower was capable of dispelling intruders on its own, the blonde master did not want to take any chances on the possibility that the Heartless could get through. So, despite any complaints that anyone might have had, Ventus lead the team up the magical stairwell so that they could get rid of the Heartless that Pete had sent into the tower. It was not a difficult task, given that all the Heartless they encountered were fairly weak, but it was rather grueling and tiring for everyone. Then again, most of them were more concerned with something other than the long climb up the strange, magic stairwell.

"Heartless, Heartless, Heartless! Things haven't changed one bit," Donald groaned as the team stopped for a brief rest in a chamber that was just filled with several Shadows and a Soldier or two.

"Well, it's a good thing we're on the job, then," Goofy pointed out, optimistically, but he was not quite successful in raising everyone's spirits.

"So the worlds aren't at peace after all," Sora asked.

"I wouldn't go that far just yet, Sora," Ventus informed the kid. "The worlds have been at peace or at least something close to it while you were sleeping, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the Heartless were gone for good. They're creatures born of the darkness in people's hearts, and aside from the Princesses of Heart, everyone has darkness in their heart. After all, light begets darkness, and darkness seeks light. The two coexist in balance with one another, but there are always those who seek to upset that balance somehow."

"And that's what's happening now, right? Someone's upsetting the balance," Roxas asked.

"Pretty much," Ventus shrugged. "While the Heartless alone can upset the balance simply because of their natural instincts to seek out and devour more hearts, there have been signs of someone pulling their strings again for some time. More than that, there's also a new set of players out there who are using them for unknown means."

"You mean…" Xion started to say, already suspecting what Ventus was referring to, and ultimately, getting her confirmation before she could finish the question.

"Yep," Ventus nodded. He then smiled a little and finished, "But now that we're all together and taking action again, it shouldn't be too much of a problem for much longer. Like Goofy said, it's a good thing that we're on the job."

That seemed to raise everyone's spirits perfectly, and Ventus was soon leading the team the rest of the way up the tower, and into the main study. The room in question was a large, circular space that was lined with a few bookshelves and other various items that were typical of a sorcerer's practice, while in the center of the room was a large desk, situated before a large chair, and right before the two star-shaped windows, and a third window that was in the shape of a crescent moon. What really caught everyone's attention though was the man seated at the desk, because even a simple glance could allow one to feel the powerful and commanding vibe that he gave off. The man showed many signs of being many years old, even without the long, grey beard he sported, and was dressed in blue robes and a conical hat that was decorated with the same star and moon shapes that the team had seen so many times now, but what really caught Sora, Roxas, and Xion's attention was the look in his eyes. They radiated a rather strict appearance, and one that burned with the fires of one with a vast wealth of experience and discipline, but along with that, there was also a deep sense of kindness and caring in them that could only be held by one who knew just how valuable all the lives in existence were. To say that the three were left a little rattled would be to put it mildly, but their concerns quickly settled when Donald, Goofy, and Ventus all stood at attention before him, with the former two giving a bow of respect to the wizened sorcerer.

"Master Yen Sid," Donald greeted. "It's an honor."

"For all of us, Master," Ventus added. "And it's good to see you again after so long."

Sora glanced at the other three, before looking back to Yen Sid, and figured that he should be as friendly as he could in the presence of the intimidating man. His method of doing so did leave a bit to be desired, as he greeted the older man like he was just any other person. "Hey there."

"Sora! Show some respect," Donald scolded, while Goofy jumped a little in worry, and Ventus, Roxas, and Xion all cringed at Sora's lack of appropriate manners.

Thankfully, Yen Sid did not seem to be offended at all, and quickly waved for everyone to remain calm as a way of showing this. He then smiled a little to Ventus as he said, "It has been far too long, Ventus. You've certainly proven yourself worthy of the Mark of Mastery since passing your examination so long ago, from what I can see of your first apprentice."

"Thank you, Master Yen Sid," Ventus bowed in thanks. "But I only do the best that I can, based on how I learned from my own masters. I just hope that I can continue doing well."

"Do not let that trouble you too much, Ventus. That is a worry and concern that many great teachers have for their students, and it makes them do all the better in regards to the lessons they share with them," Yen Sid assured the blonde with a smile, showing that he truly did understand the feeling. After receiving a smile of thanks from Ventus in return, the retired Keyblade master turned his gaze to the younger Keyblade wielders, and spoke to them. "So, you are Sora, and that would make the two of you Roxas and Xion." It may not have been a question, but the three still nodded in response as if it were one, prompting Yen Sid to continue. "Now then, how much has Ventus told you about the current state of things?"

"Well…just the basics from what we can guess," Roxas admitted with a shrug. Sora and Xion could not add any more to that, feeling that the blonde had summed it up quite well.

"And what of the King? Have you seen him yet," Yen Sid inquired further.

"Briefly," Ventus confirmed. "We didn't have much of a chance to talk to him."

"Yes…the King has been quite busy of late. And the same can be said of you as well, isn't that right, Ventus," Yen Sid noted aloud. "Though I am surprised that you did not tell them everything that you know of the current state of things."

"I felt that it would be better if they received something a little closer to the full story, and the only one who could provide that without Mickey's help would be you, Master, since I know that he has been passing information to you as I have," Ventus explained.

"Of course. I had already suspected that the task of instructing your friends and apprentices on these things would fall upon my shoulders, so I am more than happy to help you in this." When Ventus nodded in silent thanks for this, Yen Sid let his gaze sweep over the group as a whole, and began to tell them what he knew. "You all have a perilous journey ahead of you. You must be well prepared."

"You mean…we have to go on another quest," Sora asked, unintentionally interrupting. Ventus would have likely scolded the boy again had he not heard the hint of sadness in Sora's voice, and he knew of only one reason why Sora would not be so eager to go on another long quest like the one they had taken on the year before. A reason that Sora made clear soon enough. "I was looking forward to finding my friend, Riku, so we could go back to the islands, and helping Ven find Master Aqua again, too, so they could finally be reunited after all these years."

"Yes, I know. However, everything in your journey, Sora, is connected," Yen Sid revealed. "Whether you will find your way home to the islands, whether you will return alone or with your friend, whether you will be able to help your master to reunite with his long, lost love, and whether or not the islands will still be there. Most importantly, is whether you will be able to help your newest friends find that which they seek as well, and the key that connects them all is you, Sora. Even your master cannot take on this quest unless you are standing by his side."

"I'm…the key," Sora asked, hardly believing what he was hearing, and sounding very nervous at the same time. After all, that kind of thing came with a great deal of pressure, which would likely crush anyone beneath its weight.

"Perhaps not the whole key in this case, Sora," Ventus clarified, taking the reins of the conversation. "You, Roxas, Xion, and I are all parts of the key to this matter. None of us can handle this quest without the others, but out of all these pieces, you are perhaps one of the most important."

While Roxas and Xion were both flattered by the idea that their new friends could not handle this quest without them, they were also really worried. After all, they had seen quite a few of the memories Sora had about his last journey, so they knew just how important and how dangerous such a responsibility was. Still, it did ease their worries to know that they were not alone in this, and after seeing how Sora seemed to relax a little more once he had heard this, they knew that he was doing a lot better now as well. When Sora stretched out his hand, both twins did the same, along with Ventus, and at once, they had all summoned forth their Keyblades, as a way of showing their acceptance of this responsibility.

Yen Sid was a little surprised by the fact that Roxas had summoned two Keyblades, with the blonde holding Oathkeeper before him like the others were holding theirs while Oblivion hung down at his side in the other hand, but he did not show it for more than a brief second, and was soon continuing with what he had been saying before. "Chosen wielders of the Keyblade, you are each pieces of the key that will open the door to light."

"Yes Master," Ventus nodded in response, with Sora silently doing the same. Roxas and Xion were a little more hesitant to do so, not entirely sure if they really could help that much, but Ventus did seem to think that they could handle whatever came with joining them, and judging from how assured Yen Sid seemed, they had to assume that the wise sorcerer had faith in them too. So, they too nodded in acceptance of the master's words, and a moment later, Donald and Goofy were standing at attention to show Yen Sid that they were ready for action at any time as well, much to Yen Sid's satisfaction.

"Now then, I believe if you do not have any questions," Yen Sid started to say, only to pause when Xion hesitantly raised her hand like a child in a classroom. "Yes, my dear? What is it you wish to know?"

"Well…I was just wondering why the Heartless are still around? From what I heard, Sora, Ven, and the others defeated them a year ago, so shouldn't they be long gone now," Xion reasoned, and her sentiments were shared by all members of the group, save for Ventus.

"As I am sure that your master has informed you, light and darkness coexist in a balance with one another," Yen Sid began. "Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy's past endeavors did prevent an immense effusion of Heartless from the great darkness; make no mistake about that. However, the Heartless are darkness made real, and darkness yet lingers in every heart. The Heartless are fewer, but while darkness exists in a single heart, it will be difficult to eliminate them."

That made five of the six slumped down in sorrow a little, Sora, Donald, and Goofy more so than Roxas and Xion since they had been the ones to go through all the trouble the Heartless brought a year ago, until Goofy suddenly perked up with a new thought. "Gwarsh, that must mean that if everybody's heart was full of light, them Heartless'd go away!"

Donald and Sora both smiled in agreement with that idea, but Roxas a little more skeptical of that idea. "That seems a little optimistic to me," the blonde stated, bluntly.

"Maybe, but it does make sense, so why not try it," Xion countered with a smile.

"Because it's not quite that easy," Ventus revealed, earning him the others' attention again. "Remember what I said before? Light and darkness coexist in balance with each other, and it's a balance that must always be maintained for the sake of everyone and everything. You can't have light without darkness, just as you can't have darkness without light. It doesn't stop there though, because many things also exist in a crucial balance with one another. Right and wrong, good and bad, and even heroes and villains. You can't have one without the other, and if one were to try and wipe out all darkness for good, then there's no telling what sort of danger may come about."

"So you're saying that despite all the bad things that have happened because of the darkness, we still need to have it around," Sora asked, sounding more than a little skeptical of that idea.

"I'm afraid so," Ventus shrugged in reply. "But then again, darkness isn't necessarily evil, or even all bad. Just dangerous, especially if you aren't careful in how you use it, or how deeply into it that you go. Think about it like this, Sora: despite how much trouble it caused both you and him, darkness did allow Riku to find a way to travel between worlds, and even allowed him to help us seal the door to darkness on our last journey, while simultaneously finding his way to both Mickey and Aqua. That likely would not have happened if your friend did not ever find his way into darkness, even by a little bit. Understand?"

"I guess so," Sora nodded, feeling a little sad about that. He was not too fond about the idea that Riku had to have fallen to darkness in order to help them on their last journey, but he could still see that there were some benefits to that event taking place.

Ventus could tell all of what was going through Sora's mind just from the kid's face, and was satisfied to see that the kid was at least considering all of this, so he nodded to Yen Sid to show that he was willing to let the old master take over again. Yen Sid nodded in return, and then waved his hand to a space of the room at the group's right, as he said, "Now it is time to speak of the enemies that you will encounter." A moment later, an illusionary image of Donald appeared before them, much to everyone's surprise, but especially the real Donald's. A moment later, the Donald Duck duplicate vanished, and was replaced with the image of a Shadow, and while they were a little startled at first, they quickly relaxed when they remembered that it was just an image and not the actual Heartless. "If one such as you, Donald, yields to the darkness in their heart, they too will become a Heartless. But you know this." That earned Yen Sid nods of acknowledgement from everyone, as they all knew that from a certain encounter that none of them could shake away no matter how much they might have wanted to. "The Heartless are always lurking and ever seeking to capture new hearts. Never let your guard down! Now then…"

Yen Sid waved his hand again, and then appearing next to the image of the Shadow, much to Roxas and Xion's shock, was an image of a Dusk, much like most of the ones that they had encountered over the course of the last few days, and the ones that they had all just fought outside of the station in Twilight Town. None of the others seemed to notice the two's sudden moment of worry, at least in regards to anyone who did not already know the two's full history, but only because they were so focused on listening to what Yen Sid had to say about this new enemy that they had just had a close encounter with. "At times, if someone with a strong heart and will, be they evil or good, becomes a Heartless, the empty shell they leave behind begins to act with a will of its own. An empty vessel whose heart has been stolen away, a spirit that goes on even as its body fades from existence. For you see, Nobodies do not truly exist at all. Nobodies may seem to have feelings, but this is a ruse. They only pretend to have hearts. You must not be deceived."

"Nobodies…They don't exist," Sora muttered to himself, as if to better remember the name of these new creatures, never once noticing the slightly sorrowful looks that his two new friends had adopted with each sentence that Master Yen Sid spoke. Though Roxas and Xion did take some solace from the fact that Sora did seem to sound a little sad for the state that Nobodies live in.

Just seconds after Sora had said that, and before Roxas or Xion could comment on it at all, assuming they ever intended to, three more images of Nobodies appeared directly behind the group, startling them a little. "Now then," Yen Sid continued. "The being you see before you is known as a Dusk. They are the most common form of Nobody, but there are others. Some larger, some with frightening and unique powers. Be vigilant! On your journey, you will meet an alarming number of Dusks. They will all attempt to do you harm."

"Some of us more than others," Xion muttered to herself as she rubbed her arm in nervousness. Roxas was quick to place a reassuring hand on his sister's shoulder, earning him a small smile of thanks from the girl immediately afterwards, but Xion could still tell that her brother was just as worried about that encounter as she was.

"Still, they are nothing but empty shells, destined to return to darkness. But…," Yen Sid continued on, before he paused and waved his hand again. At once, the images of the Dusks vanished and became replaced with ones that were far more frightening for Roxas and Xion, if for no other reason than the sense of familiarity that they brought. The images now displayed were those of very human like figures that wore long, black coats with matching hoods that covered their faces. Roxas and Xion were instantly reminded of the vague memories they had of the time when they too wore those same coats, and when they noticed how nervous and on-edge Sora, Donald, and Goofy had suddenly become, their doubts on whether or not they should tell the three about their history grew a little more. "The beings you see before you now are different," Yen Sid pressed on, either not noticing the five's current states or not feeling it was a great enough concern for the moment. "These powerful Nobodies have formed a group called Organization XIII. It commands the lesser Nobodies. As some of you likely know better than others, given your history with them."

"Our history with them…What do you mean by that," Sora asked. He would admit that there was something familiar about these images before him, but he could not place where it was for the life of him. When he turned to Donald and Goofy, he found they were just as clueless as he was, but that was when he finally noticed the hesitant and nervous statures that had fallen over their two newest companions. "Roxas? Xion? What's wrong," Sora asked.

The two did not immediately answer, still feeling unsure if they should, but when their gazes fell onto Yen Sid and Ventus, they saw both masters nod in response, and they knew that it was now time to come clean. If they did not do so now, then there was no telling how Sora would react when he found out later, especially if it came from one of their enemies. Roxas looked to Xion and saw that she looked far too nervous to really say anything, so he steeled his resolve, and took it upon himself to answer the question. "The truth is…My name is Roxas, former Number XIII, and Xion is the former Number XIV of Organization XIII. We are Nobodies, and we used to work alongside of this group," Roxas declared with as much courage as he could muster, despite the sad look he still wore.

All things considered, the three took the news pretty well. "WHAAAAT?! YOU'RE NOBODIES!"

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd have thought that they had rehearsed that," Ventus whispered to Yen Sid, earning a rare bit of laughter from said master immediately afterwards.

Apparently, the blonde master had not been quiet enough, because Sora quickly spun around to face Ven after he had spoken up. "Wait, Ven, you mean you knew about this?"

"I did," Ventus replied without any hesitation. "And before you ask why I kept it a secret, the main reason why I didn't tell you was because it wasn't my story to tell, and it still isn't. I would suggest that you at least hear these two out before you make any judgments, though. There's a lot more to them than you can even begin to realize."

Sora was not really sure what to think. After hearing that his new sibling disciples used to be part of the bad guys' team, he was shocked of course, and it did not really help matters hearing that his master knew this fact and still took them on as his newest apprentices. Then again, the latter of those two facts made Sora pause and think for a minute. Ventus would not have taken on Roxas and Xion if he did not have a good reason, and definitely not if they were working with this Organization XIII, so there had to have been more of a story behind all of that. Looking over to the siblings allowed Sora to quickly realize that this was really hard for them to talk about, mainly due to how Xion could barely meet his eyes, or those of Donald and Goofy. Roxas may have had his gaze fixed on them, but somehow, Sora just knew that he was just barely holding together better than his sister. Besides, he also remembered what they said to him on the train ride over about how they had asked Naminé to change their memories for his sake, so Sora finally nodded in response to Ven, and waved for Roxas to explain.

Roxas breathed a silent sigh of relief upon seeing that Sora was willing to hear them out, but he was not going to relax just yet. He knew that would only come if they were still accepting of him and Xion after they knew of his and his sister's story. After taking a deep breath to keep his nerves under control, Roxas began to tell their tale, or at least as much of it as he could remember, while giving Xion a small glance to show that he would be okay with her stepping in at any point when she felt that she should or was able to speak. "Like Master Yen Sid said, the Organization's members are different from the Dusks. For one thing, they are the ones who bare all of the characteristics that he mentioned were typical among Nobodies, namely how they pretend to have hearts. That's because of the same reason as to why they retain a human appearance in comparison to the Dusks: they remember what it was like when they were human. Almost all of the members in the Organization do, except for the two of us."

"So you don't remember anything from when you were human," Goofy asked.

"No. I can barely even remember anything from my first week of existing, not that I really remember that much of my time with the Organization now," Roxas admitted. At the three's confused looks, Roxas explained, "You remember how on the train we said that we couldn't remember anything from the past year since Naminé erased our memories? Well, the Organization is the group we were trying to hide from, and we have been slowly remembering some things from our time with them, but it's mostly just small stuff that would probably be considered important. Things like how we interacted with each other, one of the few friends we had in the group, and how we eventually decided to leave and come help you."

"But why'd you join them in the first place," Donald asked.

Looking to Xion, Roxas could tell that she was not quite ready to explain herself just yet, so Roxas quickly pressed on. "Like I said, I couldn't remember anything at all from before I was a Nobody. To be honest, I'm a little surprised that I could remember how to function as a regular person, and I wanted answers on why I even existed. The Organization said that they could give me those answers, so I accepted. It turned out that they only wanted me around because I could use the Keyblade, and they needed a Keyblade wielder to help with their ultimate goal, hence part of the reason why they added Xion to their ranks as well. When we found out the truth, we made it a point to leave and the Organization does not let that kind of thing happen without a fight, literally."

"So they took advantage of the state you were in at the time, and convinced you to join them because you didn't know any better or something," Sora asked, just to make sure he was understanding correctly.

Roxas immediately nodded in reply, feeling that was an accurate summarization of his story, and that prompted Donald to ask, "But if that was only part of the reason why Xion joined, then what was the rest of the reason?"

"I didn't have a choice," Xion revealed, finally finding her courage to speak up and explain. "I was added to their ranks from the moment I was created, because…I'm not like other Nobodies in more senses than one. You see…I'm actually what's called a Replica. Something that somebody created and the Organization created me using the most precious memories of…of the person that Roxas used to be. I was originally created as a fail-safe in case Roxas ever left or proved useless to the Organization's plans in some way, but they soon found out that as long as I existed and drew power from Roxas's original form through him, you would never wake up, Sora. The Organization never counted on me gaining an identity or sense of will that was all my own, so I guess I surprised them a little when I ran away."

"So I guess that's what you meant when you said that you and Roxas left to help Sora, isn't it," Goofy figured out. "Since you were keeping him asleep, you went to find him so that you could undo the damage."

Xion nodded in response, and while Sora did appreciate that, there was still one thing he needed someone to clear up for him. "There's still something I don't get," the Kingdom Key wielder stated. "I know that Xion was created using someone's memories, but if that's the case, then who's Nobody is Roxas? And why was it that my waking up was delayed because of how you were drawing power from the guy through Roxas?"

"You really haven't figured it out already," Ventus asked in mild disbelief. When he saw Sora turn a perplexed look to him, Ven realized that the kid was serious, so he decided to just give it to him straight. "Sora, Roxas is your Nobody."

"What?! He's my…You're my…" Sora sputtered, looking between Ventus and Roxas rapidly for a few seconds. When he finally managed to get out of his shock, he quickly said, "But that's crazy! I never turned into a Heart…Oh, right."

"It was when you came to retrieve Kairi's body in Hollow Bastion, and used the Keyblade on yourself to free her heart," Xion filled in for him, surprising Sora, Donald, and Goofy with how she knew that. In response, Xion could only sheepishly shrug as she pointed out, "What? I did mention that I was made using your most precious memories. And not only that, but over time, some of your memories flowed into me along with your powers, which is what eventually led to me looking like I do now."

"So that's why you look so much like Kairi! It's because Sora's most precious memories are all about her," Donald exclaimed in excitement, with a hint of teasing, and that quickly earned Sora a teasing look from both him and Goofy.

"What? Come on! They're not…all about Kairi," Sora tried to protest, but the bright blush on his face told a very different story, much to everyone's amusement, including Roxas and Xion's.

When the laughter started to subside a little, Goofy let out a hum of thought that got everyone's attention. "You know, if Xion is a replica of Sora, and she was made using his memories of Kairi, then does that mean that in a way, Xion is like Sora and Kairi's daughter?"

Goofy's comment made the entire room go quiet, save for the sounds of the magic images that Yen Sid had conjured, while Roxas, Sora, and Xion all seemed to become as stiff as boards with wide eyes. Eventually, Sora and Xion slowly started to turn towards one another, before they both jumped a little and looked away with blushes on their faces. "Nope, nope, nope! Not gonna go there," Sora rapidly insisted. "That's just…just…just no! I-I'd rather not…"

"Y-yeah, that's way too weird for me, too," Xion added, clearly embarrassed. "I think I'd rather stick to being considered like a sister to either Sora or Kairi, personally."

"That makes two of us," Roxas agreed, as his own mind had started forming a few ideas that he felt should never have been formed. There were just way too many similarities to that scenario and the one behind the reasons as to why he looked like Ven despite being Sora's Nobody.

"Yeah, that's probably for the best," Ventus nodded in full agreement with his apprentices. "For more reasons than any of you would care to know," he then silently thought to himself. His mind had already gone to another unique Nobody that had been born under similar circumstances to Xion and Roxas, and he felt it would be wise to keep that quiet for a long time after that awkward little topic was mentioned.

Feeling that they had gotten off track, and that they needed to get away from this very awkward topic as quickly as possible, Sora quickly coughed into his hand and asked, "So how much do you guys remember about your time with the Organization? Is there anything that could help us to better understand them and what they want?"

"Not really," Xion shrugged, eternally thankful to Sora for changing the topic like he did, both because she was now more comfortable with sharing hers and Roxas's history after that little episode, and because it got them away from any more thoughts about the idea that had sparked said episode. "But we do know that they're not like the Heartless at all. All we do know is that they're trying to find a way to gain hearts of their own for some reason."

"Wouldn't that be something you and Roxas want too," Donald pointed out.

"Why would we want something we've already gained," Roxas asked in return. When the other three gave him confused looks, Roxas placed a hand over his chest and explained, "I don't know if it happened after we started looking for answers, when we left the Organization, or at any other time, but at some point before now, Xion and I did gain hearts that were all our own, and unlike the ability to wield the Keyblade, and maybe one or two other things, they didn't come from Sora. We're each our own persons, not anybody else, and we've got the hearts to prove it."

"Huh…well that explains a lot," Sora commented as he assumed his usual easy-going posture, earning him a bewildered look from Roxas and Xion. "I don't really know how the other members of the Organization act, but I do know that you have to have a heart to be as nervous as you guys were about telling us all of this, and you have to have a heart to laugh and cry. You guys showed us you can do all of that even before we left Twilight Town, and if you really didn't have hearts…well, I guess I can't help but think that you would be using duplicates of Kingdom Key instead of your own Keyblades or something, right?"

Roxas and Xion smiled at Sora for a minute before they finally let out a pair of short laughs along with him. "To be honest, we did actually use copies of Kingdom Key when we first gained the ability to wield the Keyblade, but I think it was more of a template for our real Keyblades to use for when we finally got our own hearts," Roxas admitted.

Sora just laughed that off with a soft chuckle, which was accompanied by chuckles from the twins, but all laughter ended when Goofy brought up a new point. "So you can't really remember anything else about the Organization's plans, or what they can do?"

"Aside from our best friend, Axel, no, we don't remember anything about what the other members are capable of," Roxas said. He then paused to think for a minute before he added, "Actually…Now that I think about it, I think that each member had their own breed of lesser Nobodies to command aside from the basic Dusks, but I can't remember much more than that."

"Me neither," Xion shrugged. "All I know is that they were searching for Kingdom Hearts, and that they wanted to find a way to gain hearts of their own, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous."

"Yes, you are quite correct, Xion," Yen Sid said, finally stepping back into the conversation, and turning everyone's attention to him again. "As you said, Nobodies are different from the Heartless, for while Heartless act on instinct, Nobodies function in a higher manner. They can think and plan, and it seems they are working towards a goal."

"Although, that mostly applies to the members of the Organization and not the Dusks," Roxas muttered to the team. "Most of the Dusks are only capable of really thinking of simple battle strategies, but they're not so good at adapting to a new situation on the spot like the more powerful members of the Organization."

Yen Sid nodded in thanks to Roxas for his input, before he carried on like there was no interruption. "What the Organization's exact goal is, we do not know. We do know that it involves Kingdom Hearts, but how exactly it ties into their gaining hearts of their own, and whether it is the true Kingdom Hearts they seek, or a copy like the one you all saw a year ago, is still undetermined. Like Ventus, the King sensed the danger, and journeyed forth to fight it. While Ventus stood vigilant over all of you, and did at times risk spying on the movements of some of the Organization's members, the King has managed to take more active, yet still secret measures. He found the dark realm's Keyblade and Master Aqua, and with the Keyblade and Aqua's assistance, closed the door. Now he's traveling from world to world, fighting the Heartless as he seeks the full answer to the riddle of the Nobodies and Organization XIII."

"So then, I guess that means we should go and find the King first, right," Roxas asked.

"Yeah, exactly," Sora cheerily confirmed, and from the grin on his face, it was clear to see that Ventus had been thinking the same thing.

"But where could he be," Donald asked. He knew that they just saw him in Twilight Town, but if what Master Yen Sid said was true, then the King was likely long gone and off to another world by now.

"Well, we won't know 'til we look," Goofy pointed out with a smile.

"Yeah, and the King must know where Riku and Master Aqua are, 'cause the three of them were together in the Realm of Darkness when we closed the door," Sora added on, his excitement growing more by the minute. It quickly simmered down a little when he noticed that Roxas and Xion suddenly seemed to get nervous again. "What is it?"

"Well…I think…we saw Riku a little while ago," Xion revealed.

"You did," Sora exclaimed, clearly excited. "Where is he?"

"We…We don't know," Roxas admitted. "I'm still not even entirely sure it was him, but he disappeared shortly after someone had taken Naminé away too."

"Well then…Maybe the King knows where we can look for him and Naminé," Sora reasoned. "I mean, if they were together for a while, then he must have some ideas, right?"

Roxas and Xion seemed to consider that for a minute, before they both perked up a little with quick nods, as the latter said, "Yeah, maybe you're right. So I guess it's just a matter of time before we find them all again."

Seeing that they were all now more than willing to get on their way, Ventus nodded in approval of his friends' resolve, and that seemed to be Master Yen Sid's cue to offer something to them. "So, before you go, you will need more suitable traveling clothes. Those look a bit too small for you," the master sorcerer comment, with hints of an amused smile playing on his lips as he indicated Sora's outfit in particular. He then waved towards the door opposite of the one that they had came from, and said, "Through there, you'll find three good fairies. If you ask, they'll create for you appropriate garments."

"Yeah, that would be a big help," Sora chuckled, feeling a little sheepish once again after the latest reminder about the state of his current outfit, while the others all laughed a little at said fact. With that said, they all quickly made their way into the other room, eager to see just what these three good fairies would come up with for Sora, while Roxas and Xion could not help but wonder if they intended to give them new outfits as well. To be honest, they were actually hoping that would not be the case.

---

When they stepped into the next room, Ventus had already formed a few suspicions on the identities of the three good fairies that Master Yen Sid had mentioned, but all the same, he was still pleasantly surprised at the sight of the three who were happily chatting amongst themselves when they came in, and he was sure that it showed in his voice when he greeted them. "Flora! Fauna! Merryweather," Ven happily waved to the three, getting their attention.

"Well, look who's here, dears! Little Ven all grown up," the fairy in red, Flora happily said as she gave the blonde master a quick hug, which was quickly followed up with one from each of the other two.

"And you've grown up into quite a handsome young man at that," the fairy in green, Fauna noted as she took in Ven's appearance.

"Though you should probably consider doing something about that beard of yours. It seems like a little too much. Maybe trim it down a little," Merryweather suggested.

Ven could not help but roll his eyes a little at someone once again mentioning his beard. Clearly this was going to be a thing for a while, and it seemed his three apprentices were going to be very amused by it if their barely repressed snickers were any indication. "It's good to see all of you too," Ventus said to the three. "How's Princess Aurora by the way? Is she safe at home again?"

"Oh yes, she is. You don't have to worry about that, dear," Flora reassured Ven. "After you and your friends defeated Ansem and restored the worlds, Aurora and all the others found themselves back home on their worlds again, and with everything set right once more. She and Prince Phillip are now quite happy being home and together again."

"That's great," Ventus practically cheered. "Do me a favor and say hi to them for me when you see them again?" The three fairies all nodded in response, and Ventus took that as his cue to move along to the matter at hand. "Well, allow me to introduce you to…"

"Oh, there's no need for that, dear. We know who they are," Flora revealed, and she then went on to indicate each of the five before her as she listed their names. "Sora, Roxas, Xion, Donald, and Goofy, correct?"

"Yep, that's us," Sora nodded in reply, while the others gave a wave or some other form of greeting for their response. He then looked between Ven and the three fairies and asked, "How do you know Ven, anyway?"

"I met these three eleven years ago on my first journey through the worlds," Ventus revealed. "It's actually thanks in part to them that I was able to beat Maleficent the first time I encountered her."

"Oh, you're too kind, Ven," Fauna insisted, with the other two clearly sharing the modest feeling.

"We only did what we thought was right after you helped us to retrieve Aurora's heart from that mean old witch," Merryweather added.

The three young Keybearers were clearly fascinated by this new information, and likely would have begged to hear the fully story had they not remembered why they were here. "So Master Yen Sid said that you could get us some new clothes for our journey," Roxas asked.

"Ooh, yes indeed," Merryweather confirmed. "If you're looking for clothes, you've come to the right place."

"Yeah…about that…Do you really need to give me and Roxas new clothes," Xion asked. This clearly left the three surprised, and Xion was left thinking that she might have offended them, so she quickly explained her concerns to them. "It's just that…we're really used to our current outfits, and a good friend went to a lot of trouble to help us get them, so I don't want to just trade it out for something entirely different just yet."

"Oh, well don't worry, dear. If your friend helped you pick those clothes out, we won't do too much to change it," Flora reassured them. "In fact, that actually makes things a little easier for you two. Hope you don't mind if we help them first Sora."

"Nah, it's cool, but only if it really doesn't take too long. I think this jumpsuit is starting to chafe a little," Sora reassured them, fidgeting a bit in his too-small outfit as he mentioned that last part.

That earned him a few quick giggles from the three fairies, but the others were not so sure that Sora was entirely joking, given how he was fidgeting around in the outfit. After the three had calmed down, they raised their wands, and with a simple swish of flick of the magical tools, a quick burst of magic in their respective colors had flowed over the twins. When the light faded, their outfits did not seem to have changed at all, save for how they seemed to sparkle a little. All the same, Ventus was smirking a bit at them as he had spotted an obvious change they had not quite taken notice of yet, even as they examined their appearances.

"I'm not sure it worked. Nothing feels all that different to…Whoa," Roxas suddenly exclaimed when he finally noticed what had changed in his attire. There on his arm, was a gauntlet that was almost identical to the one that Sora wore on his left arm, except where Sora's was black with red highlights, Roxas's was shinning silver with black highlights, while the small dial on the gauntlet's wrist area seemed to house a symbol that was identical to the pointed cross he had on his white jacket's zipper.

When Xion saw her brother's new accessory, she quickly looked to her wrist and saw that she too now wore a gauntlet of her own, though hers was colored sea-green with light blue highlights, allowing it to perfectly match with the rest of her outfit. On the dial, she could also see that she had a unique sigil inside of it as well, this one looking a lot like the symbols she had seen on the Dusks, but was colored in a bright, pinkish-red color. "Are these…" Xion started to ask, barely able to believe her eyes at what they appeared to be.

"Yeah, those are Keyblade armor gauntlets like mine," Sora cheered. "Guess that makes it official: You guys are now definitely part of our team."

"What're you talking about? They were an official part of the team long before now," Donald stated.

Roxas and Xion could easily tell what their friends were doing by saying that. This was basically their way of saying that they were still willing to accept the two into their group despite what they had just learned of the twins' history, and as a result, both of them had to smile at them in thanks. Of course, Xion took it a little further and quickly walked up to wrap Sora and Donald both in a tight hug to show her thanks. Not that either of them minded that much, as they had happily accepted her sudden group hug by wrapping their arms around her smaller form barely seconds later. Roxas on the other hand just grinned widely at the group in a manner that they could all say was almost identical to the way Sora would smile when he was especially happy, and it was even more obvious when Sora returned the blonde's grin with the very same expression.

"I hope you don't mind that we decided to give them those. After all, you're going to need to be ready for anything on your new journey," Fauna said to Ventus.

"Hey, if you three didn't do it, I would've. I'm well aware of how challenging this new adventure is going to be," Ventus reassured her. He then glance back at the five and said, "Now how about we finally do something about Sora's clothes, because I really can't take him seriously in that outfit, and I've been trying my best to do so with little success."

"Oh, of course! I'll do the designing," Fauna declared as her two friends escorted Sora to the middle of the room. Once Flora and Merryweather stepped aside, Fauna flicked her wand at Sora, and like Roxas and Xion, the wielder of Kingdom Key found his attire taking on a new change. Unlike the twins though, his was very different, because instead of his outfit changing or gaining a new addition, Sora's clothes ended up just turning into various shades of green.

"Oh, that will never do," Merryweather moaned, and she quickly flicked her own wand at Sora, only this time, she turned his clothes blue.

"Now, now, dears," Flora scolded, but a second later, she was doing the same thing as the other two, this time changing his clothes red.

"But don't you like this better," Fauna asked as she changed Sora's clothes green again.

"Hold on," Flora insisted, changing the outfit red again.

"Are you certain," Fauna asked, as Sora's outfit went back to green again.

"Blue," Merryweather insisted as she changed the clothes to said color.

From the side, the others could only watch in disbelief and slight amazement as a war of colors unfolded over Sora's outfit. It was actually kind of funny from a certain perspective, but to be quite honest, none of them felt like they really had the time for something like this. Still, it did not keep them from commenting on what they were watching. "Wow, they really do end up doing stuff like this," Ventus muttered to himself, his mind going back to a conversation he once had with Merlin and Fairy Godmother in the past year when he came across them during his discreet travels through the worlds.

"How long are they going to keep this up," Roxas asked.

"I think the better question is how much longer Sora's going to last with them doing this to him," Xion argued.

The girl of the three commentators hit the mark right on the nose, as Sora ended up snapping well before the three could reach a conclusion, assuming that was ever going to be possible. "Aww, would you just decide," Sora finally groaned in frustration after his outfit was turned green once again.

All three fairies quickly realized what they were doing, and were soon chuckling at one another, quite embarrassed. After she and her friends had recomposed themselves, Flora cleared her throat and said, "All right, then. Together now, dears, and no more squabbling."

Fauna and Merryweather both nodded in response, and with that, the three all waved their wands at once, letting their combined magic powers wash over Sora in a burst of light. When the glow of their magics died down, everyone was left in awe of the magnificent end result. Not only did Sora's clothes perfectly fit him once again, but they were completely redone, giving him a whole new look that seemed very fitting for a hero. His hoodie was now colored black with white lining, and silver pauldron-like additions to his sleeves, while his jumpsuit was replaced with a navy blue shirt that had a red patch in the center, and pants that were black on the outside, navy blue on the inside, and lined with silver-white edging. Yellow straps criss-crossed around his pants, held together by a black belt, while a pair of large red pockets with a black cross over them was adorned on either side. Rounding out the lower portion of his new outfit were Sora's shoes, which while still fairly big, were now mainly black with yellow along the tops, and silver soles, a zipper running across the top, and black straps holding them together with buckles here and there. Sora's gloves had been recolored to be black on the outside and white on the inside with a yellow line running around them, and in addition to the gauntlet he wore, his Keyblade armor now included a shoulder guard as well, much like the one that Ventus wore on his shoulder. The big differences between Sora and Ven's shoulder guards were the fact that Sora's was lacking any spikes, leaving it really smooth and rounded out, and of course, the coloration of said shoulder armor, with Sora's being mostly red and black. In addition to that, the circular dial on Sora's shoulder armor also seemed to have a faint image of the crown pendant on his necklace, which ended up being the only thing in his attire that had remained the same.

"Wow," Xion breathed in awe at the sight of Sora's new attire.

"Now that is what I call a look that's suitable for a Keyblade warrior," Roxas stated with a grin.

Ventus could only smirk in response, doing his best to keep his own comments on the outfit to himself, because he could only think, 'Now that's a bit more like the Sora I know.'

"Oh, my," Flora gasped with pride.

"Ooh, it's lovely," Fauna added in the same manner.

"Oh, yes! He does look very dashing," Merryweather finished as Sora just beamed excitedly while examining his new look.

Upon finishing his study of his new clothes, Sora could not help but summon forth Kingdom Key and assume what he could only believe was a serious, heroic pose. The seriousness was quickly broken though when he smiled and asked, "What do you guys think?"

"Looking good there, Sora," Roxas replied, grinning just as much as his former other.

"Oh yeah. You're going to have all the girls drooling over you now. Never mind Kairi," Xion agreed, getting in a little bit of teasing as she did. Her approval of the new look was genuine, but she just could not resist the chance to get in a little bit of ribbing, not when the blush Sora gained afterwards made it so worth it.

"Now, those aren't ordinary garments," Flora revealed to the three, getting their attention again.

"They all have very special powers," Fauna explained while Flora waved her wand and summoned forth a pair of red orbs with odd looking emblem inside of them. The orbs quickly floated over to Sora and Xion, as Fauna instructed, "Take the orbs, dears."

"And watch what happens," Merryweather finished.

Sora and Xion were a bit nervous, but all the same, they reached out for the orbs, and allowed them to be absorbed into their hands, feeling the power inside of them flow through their bodies and into their outfits. An instant later, the two were lifted a little off the ground, and a bright light exploded out from around them, blinding everyone for a moment. When the light died down, the others were shocked to see that Sora and Xion's attire while still of the same design, had undergone quite the impressive change. While Sora's outfit had taken on a red and white color scheme, Xion's had turned gold and emerald green, and they both hand a fleur-de-lis symbol on some part of the outfit. Sora's being on each of his sleeves and pant legs, while Xion's was adorned the back of her now-gold vest on the end of her now-emerald green scarf. The most surprising thing though, was not the color changes, but what had appeared in their off-hands after the sudden change.

"Whoa," Sora and Xion both gasped. For there, in their opposite hands, they found that they were both now wielding a second Keyblade in addition to their regular ones.

"Wow," Donald gasped.

"Two Keyblades! Just like Roxas," Goofy exclaimed.

"Is it weird that I'm actually kinda feeling a little less special now," Roxas joked with his arms crossed.

"Maybe a little bit, seeing as you don't need special magic clothes to use two Keyblades at once," Ventus replied, continuing on with the other blonde's jest, all the while studying the second Keyblades that Sora and Xion were now holding. "Still, I'm a little surprised. I always figured the next time I saw Star Seeker would be when we ran into Mickey again."

Indeed, there in Sora's left hand, was none other than the first Keyblade of Mickey Mouse, in all of its blue, star-and-moon decorated glory. When he heard Ven's comment about the King using his new Keyblade, Sora's grin actually grew a little wider, and he then joined the others in taking a look at Xion's second Keyblade. The handle of Xion's second Keyblade was orange and black, from what the others could see, and possessed a black, circular guard with rough edges. The shaft was a relatively thin, smooth white rod that ended in a black spike, and led off into the teeth, which took on the form of a sideways, black colored version of the symbol that was now adorned on Sora and Xion's clothes. Completing the appearance of Xion's second Keyblade was a Keychain that took on the shape of an arrowhead with a black diamond-shaped gap in the center.

"So what Keyblade is that," Roxas asked Ventus. His answer did not come from the master though.

"Midnight Roar," Xion replied before Ven could get more than one word out. When the others looked at her in wonder, trying to figure out how she had realized that so quickly, Xion just smiled and said, "I don't know how I already know that, but it feels really familiar. I think I might have used this Keychain before."

"Well, that makes sense then," Roxas nodded, as he found it a little familiar as well, now that he thought about it. He then looked to the three fairies and asked, "So…do I get some cool transformation like that, too?"

"I'm afraid not, dear," Flora replied. "While your garments do possess similar powers, they do not come with this one."

"Not that you really need it, seeing as you can already use two Keyblades without a power up like this," Sora reminded Roxas with a smirk.

The blonde could only shrug in reply, though he was still a little jealous that his sister and Sora got such a cool addition to their outfits while he did not. Sure, it was unnecessary for him in this case, but that did not mean he was not starting to feel a little anxious to get his own special power-up form sooner or later. "It's actually a good thing you can all use two Keyblades now, even if it is just temporarily in two of your cases," Merryweather told them. "This journey's gonna be twice as difficult as your last."

"Well I say bring it on. We're practically twice as strong now that we've got Roxas and Xion on the team, so let them hit us with their best shot," Sora declared, even if he did look like he was already feeling a little worn out at the thought.

"Not to worry," Flora added on, seeing right through Sora's brave front. "Each of your garments also have other powers, but you will have to discover what they are as you continue on your journey."

"Okay, we'll do our best," Sora promised.

"And thank you so much," Xion added on with a smile, as she allowed her clothes to return to normal, causing Midnight Roar to disappear a second later.

Sora did the same with his own clothes and second Keyblade just a moment later, and right at the moment when Fauna revealed one last thing to the team. "Oh, and there's something else for you from Master Yen Sid."

"Oh boy," Donald cheered, while the rest of the team all seemed to get equally excited at what the master sorcerer could have for them. All of them except Ven that is, as he just grinned widely in a different kind of eagerness.

"I was wondering how much longer it would be before we finally got to this part," the blonde master admitted, earning him surprised looks from the other five. "Trust me, you guys are gonna love this little gift." He then glanced at his newest apprentices before adding, "But first…Sora, Donald, and Goofy, present arms!"

The three all immediately knew what was coming the minute Ventus had said that, and they were each quickly holding their respective weapons in salute after forming a bit of a circle around their newest friends and teammates. Roxas and Xion on the other hand were a little confused about what was going on, but decided to just go with it for now. That did not mean they were not a little nervous when Ventus told them both to kneel down before him, but they did find themselves overcome with a new sense of wonder when Ven's Keyblade suddenly let out a faint glow as he lowered it towards them. "By the right of the Keyblade," Ventus recited as he tapped his Keyblade on both of Roxas's shoulders. "By the will of Kingdom Hearts," he continued, repeating the action for Xion. "Roxas and Xion of Twilight Town, I hereby dub thee Keyblade Apprentices, future defenders of the worlds."

The minute that Ven's chant had finished the glow on his Keyblade vanished, and seemed to be transferred over to the twins' gauntlets, much to their surprise, even as the gauntlets glowed a little before fading into faint shimmers of light, similar to the ones that had surrounded them just moments ago when their clothes were enchanted. "What just happened," Xion finally asked. "Did you…?"

"Now don't go getting too excited. You're not warriors like Sora just yet," Ventus revealed. "This is more of a way to officially make you apprentices, and make sure that we're all ready for anything, and this time, that does include all of us Keyblade wielders having armor."

"So how come you didn't do that for me when I first became your apprentice," Sora asked.

"Well there is the fact that we didn't have anything for making your armor at the time," Ventus reminded the boy, earning a sheepish chuckle in reply. "And besides, I wouldn't complain too much. You're still at a higher rank than either of these two and your armor's newest evolution certainly reflects that now."

"Huh," Sora asked, glancing at the newest addition to his armor in wonder, trying to figure out what Ventus meant by that.

"I'll explain later," Ventus promised. He then gained a small smirk when he added, "And just so you know, since you are officially a Keyblade Warrior, I could've easily made one of them your apprentice."

"What," all three of Ven's apprentices exclaimed in shock and disbelief, with a small hint of horror in some of their faces.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! No way. I'm not falling for that. There's no way you could actually do that," Sora immediately protested, thinking that Ven was joking when he said that.

"Actually, yeah I can. There's no rule that says that one has to be a full-fledged Keyblade master to take on an apprentice. Just that they are at least a Keyblade Warrior. Though it is usually a high-level warrior," Ventus revealed. "In fact, Master Eraqus often used to tell me and Aqua that he was still a high-level Keyblade Warrior when he first took on Terra as his apprentice. It was only a few months afterwards when Master Yen Sid prompted him to the rank of master, and by then Terra had already been training with Master Eraqus for quite some time."

Sora did not know what to say to that. Sure, he was impressed that Ven's second teacher, or first if you were to ask Ventus, was not officially a Keyblade master when he first took on an apprentice, but he was also more than a little freaked out at the idea that he could have taken on an apprentice who, for all appearances, was likely the same age as him, if not a year younger. While he was not entirely opposed to the idea, he definitely did not feel like he was ready for a responsibility as huge as teaching someone else. Since Sora wore his heart on his sleeve, everyone could tell exactly what he was thinking and feeling right now, and Ven could not help but let out a fond, nostalgic smile, remembering when he was of the same mind as Sora. Of course, unlike the kid, Ventus actually was a fully trained master, and there was the fact that Sora's powers had obviously weakened after his little experience in Castle Oblivion, and the subsequent year-long nap, so he felt that maybe Sora's feelings about his readiness to teach others was a little justified.

Roxas on the other hand was still curious about something, and he could not help but ask, "If Sora was able to train an apprentice though, would you really have to pick for him?"

"At his current level, and since there is still a great deal for him to learn from his own master, yes, I would have to choose," Ventus revealed. "But that would only be if one or both of us felt that he was ready for the responsibility, and I think it's pretty clear by the look on Sora's face that he does not feel ready for it just yet."

Everyone had to agree with him on that judgment, but that still left the other half of Roxas's question unanswered. "So then…which one of us would you have had him train as an apprentice," the blonde asked.

"Honestly…It most likely would have been Xion, but mainly because your unique ability to naturally dual wield Keyblades would require you to train under a more experienced, or at least a fully trained master," Ventus revealed.

"Oh thanks a lot," Xion sarcastically joked. "Nice to know I'd be getting the short end of the stick in that regard."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean," Sora demanded, but his only answer was another round of laughter from the others, and he could not help but join in after a few minutes.

"All right, all right. Enough messing around," Ventus stated once he managed to get his chuckles to settle down. "We've still got something that Master Yen Sid needs to show us, and like I said, you guys are going to love this."

---

Ven was right. The group definitely loved what Master Yen Sid had to present for them, because the minute they looked outside the window, all five of their faces lit up with joy and excitement, some more than others. "Hey! It's the gummi ship," Donald cheered happily with a smile that was almost identical to both Sora and Goofy's.

"Yeah! The Kingdom's back good as new," Goofy grinned as he led his two friends over to the moon-shaped window.

Ventus could not help but smile, because right outside said window was a gummi ship that did indeed look like an exact copy of their lost vessel from a year ago. Apparently, none of the three had quite realized that it was much larger than the Kingdom had been, but then again, it was not really too obvious, even from this distance, and that was the only change to the ship that could be considered as noticeable. Part of Ven was thankful that he was not the one to dash the three's hopes, but it was still a little disheartening that it had to happen all the same. Not that it stopped Roxas from speaking his mind on the subject.

"Wait a minute. I thought that ship was destroyed when you guys went to End of the World," Roxas had reminded them.

"And you're right. The Kingdom was destroyed," Ventus confirmed causing the first three that had raced to the window to hang their heads in sorrow for a minute. At least until they heard what else Ven had to say. "That doesn't mean all gummi ships were destroyed though, and this ship is proof of that. Well, that and proof of the fact that I wasn't just keeping tabs on the Organization without them knowing it and babysitting you guys for the past year."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy all let out short chuckles in response to Ven's little joke, before the Keybearer of the three finally asked the question. "So you're saying that this is a whole new ship?"

"Not just any new ship," Ventus explained. "What you're looking at is basically the Kingdom's successor, in more ways than one. It's equipped with all the latest versions of the same equipment that the Kingdom had, plus all of the latest in gummi block technology. New, stronger shields and weapons, an improved flight and combat control system, updated navigational charts, and a computer that's connected to one of the most reliable networks in all of the worlds to make sure that said charts are never out of date: the Moogle Network."

"How'd you manage to get that last one," Donald asked, knowing that getting anything from the Moogles was a hassle in and of itself.

"Long story," was all Ventus said in response while repressing a slight shiver at the memory. "Plus, with a little assistance from Professor Ludwig Von Drake, we also managed to complete and perfect the automated engineering system that links directly to Disney Castle, and allows a couple old friends of ours to perform repair work on the ship without actually being on the ship. Not only that, but the system also allows the ship to even repair itself, if the damage sustained isn't too serious. In addition to this, the ship is now able to travel at warp by default, but we will need to drop out of warp at times if we need to engage any enemies while in transit. The final new feature is probably one of my favorites: the simulator deck."

"Simulator deck," Xion asked, sounding a little excited about what that could mean.

"Sora, do you remember how on our last journey we had to wait until we landed on another world for you to do some of your more serious or intense training," Ventus asked.

"A little hard to forget. There was only so much meditating or magic practicing I could do on the Kingdom before getting really bored," Sora reminded his master.

"Well, now we don't have to worry about that," Ventus replied. "Because this ship is equipped with a special training center on it, specially designed for the use of Keyblade wielders."

"Wow, really," Sora cheered in excitement.

"Yep," Ventus confirmed. "It works in a way similar to Mirage Arena, in the sense that it can create realistic imitations of enemies to fight, and how it's able to create various different battlefields from a standard version to one that's based on the locations in other worlds. Add in some of the features that are still being finalized, but should be readily available within a few days' time, and you'll find that this ship may be more than worthy of living up to its predecessor's name. Master Yen Sid had been keeping it safe for me ever since it was finished, so that we'd be able to get underway as soon as possible. Ladies, gentlemen, duck, and…whatever Goofy is…No offense, pal."

"None taken," Goofy waved off, having heard that query a few times before now.

"Allow me to present…the gummi ship Kingdom-A," Ventus announced in a grandiose tone as he waved his hand towards the ship in question.

Now the team was especially excited for the trip. It would have been nice to have the old Kingdom back, but getting a new one that was apparently made with all of the latest and best technology was just as good if not better in their eyes. Plus, hearing that this one had its own training center on board was most definitely a major plus in all of their eyes. All the same, Sora was actually really glad that the Kingdom-A looked almost exactly like the old Kingdom from the outside. He was not sure he would be able to consider a ship that looked completely different from the first one they flew around the worlds on as his, otherwise. None of that mattered now though, because all that did matter was that they now had the new looks and powers, and they now had a ship to get them to other worlds, and as far as any of the team was concerned, that meant they were ready to get back out there once again.

"So, you guys all ready to go," Sora asked the group at large.

"Just say the word," Roxas replied.

"Ready whenever you are," Xion nodded in turn, and Donald and Goofy both nodded along in confirmation as well. With that, they all quickly snapped to attention so that they could give Yen Sid a formal farewell, but apparently the former Keyblade master still had something to tell them.

"Now, now, just a moment," Yen Sid cut in before any of the group could get too far. "Because of your previous endeavors, the worlds have returned to their original states. That means the pathways between them have disappeared."

"But then, how did Ventus get to other worlds if he had been traveling to other worlds to keep an eye on the Organization," Xion asked.

"I used a special set of pathways that only Keyblade wielders can access," Ventus explained. "While the gummi ship pathways were lost after the worlds returned to their original states, the Lanes Between which Keyblade wielders traveled before the first gummi ships were built have always held strong against any drastic changes. Sure, there have been times when they were slightly altered or invaded, but those times were few and far between, save for when the Heartless had been attempting to invade our realm last year. Besides, I doubt you'd really want to split up again so soon, and none of you three are ready to travel between worlds like that just yet."

"So how do we get around," Donald asked in dismay.

"Do not fear. If what the King suspected proves true, the worlds have prepared new pathways along which you may travel," Yen Sid reassured them. "These pathways may be utilized by unlocking special gates. How these gates are opened, I'm afraid I do not know. However, the Keyblade will serve as your guide. When a beam of light radiates from any one of your Keyblades, return to the gummi ship. Though the worlds may seem far apart and out of reach, they nonetheless remain connected by invisible ties. As do our hearts."

"Our hearts are connected," Sora recalled, showing that he was not likely to forget the most important lesson he had learned the previous year.

"That is correct," Yen Sid nodded in reply, with Ventus smiling right along with him. The master sorcerer's expression turned serious once more as he continued, "But be warned. As you proceed, the Heartless and the Nobodies will be using their own paths: Corridors of darkness, to travel from world to world."

"Don't remind us," Xion muttered, having more than a few memories of when she and Roxas used those very corridors to get around during their time with the Organization. More than that, she could not help but remember how icky it made her feel to go through those corridors as much as she had, even if it was the only way she possessed to reach other worlds. Roxas was of the same mind as his sister, as he was soon rubbing one of his arms in discomfort at the same memory, too.

"I'm sure you do not wish to be reminded of this, Roxas and Xion, but it is necessary for you to know about this, for your enemies may be attempting to link these dark pathways to the gates between the worlds," Yen Sid revealed to them.

"Hey! That's not fair," Donald snapped.

"Trust me, Donald, from what I can remember, not that many members of the Organization really cared about fairness that much," Roxas informed the duck.

"Doesn't mean we can't still beat them back if they do try to get in our way," Sora pointed out.

"Yeah," Xion agreed with a nod, and the others all shared that sentiment.

Yen Sid nodded in response to this consensus, and then finished what he was saying before. "Now then, that is all the information I can give to you. Go forth, Sora, Ventus, Roxas, Xion, Donald, and Goofy. Prove yourselves to be the beginnings of the legion that will safe guard the worlds against those who threaten it. Everyone is waiting."

The six all nodded in response, and then stood at attention once more before snapping out a salute to the retired Keyblade master. "Master Yen Sid," Donald began.

"We sure do appreciate the help," Goofy continued.

"And we won't let you down," Roxas promised, and with that, the group turned to leave the tower and board the ship.

Only Ventus paused at the door before turning back to the older master, and giving him one last smile of reassurance. Yen Sid could only nod in return before giving Ventus one last set of parting words before the younger Keyblade master left the tower for his newest adventure. "May your hearts be your guiding key."

---

A short time later, the new team was all gathered on the bridge of the Kingdom-A, and while the layout was mostly the same as it had been on their old gummi ship, there were a few noticeable changes to the control console in terms of layout. Not that they really minded too much. Most of them were just glad to see that some new seats had been added in so that no one would have to stand or sit on the floor for the duration of the trip. They likely would have taken a full tour of the ship first, but they were all eager to head out, so they figured that they could tour the ship after taking off. That still left one question on one the newest team members' minds, and she did not hesitate to ask after she had finished taking in the sight of the bridge.

"So…can I drive," Xion eagerly asked, obviously very excited at the idea of flying the ship. To be honest, her excitement actually reminded Ven and Sora of how eager the latter was to learn how to fly a gummi ship the previous year, so they could already hear the protest from a certain magician coming before he had even opened his beak.

Since he knew that Donald was going to quack out a harsh no, Ventus immediately snapped the duck's beak shut before saying, "Maybe you should wait until you actually know how to fly the ship before we let you pilot, Xion."

"Oh, okay," Xion sighed in disappointment.

Seeing her dismay at not getting to pilot right away, Sora immediately patted the girl on the shoulder and promised her, "Don't worry about it, Xion. With me and Ven teaching you, you'll be a great pilot in no time."

Xion smiled in thanks for that, and then took up one of the seats at the back next to Roxas, while Sora took the pilot's chair, and the other three moved to the remaining seats. It was only a matter of minutes before they had run through all of the basic, necessary checks for lift off and departure from Yen Sid's tower, and by the time they had finished, they all quickly noticed that they were getting a call on the gummi ship's communicator. Jumping out of Sora's jacket, Jiminy was quick to answer the call, and they were all greeted to the image of two familiar faces, and the sound of equally familiar voices.

"Howdy everybody! How you all doin'," asked a chipmunk with a large, red nose.

"It's your favorite Gummi engineers here, ready for duty," another chipmunk, this one with a black nose reported.

"Oh my stars above! Chip and Dale, is that you two, fellas," Jiminy happily asked.

"Yep, that's us," Dale replied. "Now that we've got the link-up with the ship's engineering systems working, we'll be able to better help you all on your journey."

"Not only can we guarantee quicker repairs than before, but from here at the castle, we'll also be able to keep an eye on any big changes in the worlds, and report them to you the first chance we get," Chip added.

"Really? Well thanks you guys," Sora called back. "Oh yeah! We've got a couple new friends with us too." He then waved for Roxas and Xion to make themselves a little more noticeable to the engineers, and quickly said, "This is Roxas and Xion. They're both Keyblade wielders like me and Ven."

"Wow! That means your team has four Keyblade wielders in total," Chip excitedly cheered.

"And the mission will go twice as fast too," Dale joked in equal excitement. "Nice to meet you guys."

"Same here," Xion nodded in response, while Roxas silently repeated her gesture.

"Well, you guys just worry about getting to other worlds and beating the Heartless. Leave the hard maintenance and technical analysis stuff to us," Chip instructed.

"And as always," Dale started before both chipmunks finished together.

"Happy flying!"

With that, the communication ended, and Donald began checking the map for their first destination. Sure enough, just like Yen Sid said, the computer was only reading one pathway that the gummi ship could travel, and it only led to one destination, while everything else seemed to be shrouded in a large, green, hazy cloud. "Well that's no good," Donald grumbled. "There's only one place we can go."

"Only one," Sora exclaimed.

"Well, Master Yen Sid did warn us about this, you know. We're just going to have to open up the pathways ourselves, and we'll be doing it as we go," Ventus reminded them all.

Goofy studied the image of the single world on the map that Donald had brought up, and after a minute, he quickly realized something that the others missed. "Hey fellers! I think it's a world we know!"

"Really," Roxas asked, excited at the prospect of visiting one of the worlds that these four had visited before in person, as opposed to just seeing it in a dream.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get going," Xion cheered, clearly just as excited as Roxas.

"Right," Ventus agreed. "Sora, set the course, and proceed ahead at Warp-G Level Three."

"The warp gummi has different levels now," Sora asked.

"Hey, I did say that gummi block tech has gone through a few upgrades in the past year," Ventus reminded him.

Sora nodded in conceit of that, and quickly programmed the ship as instructed. "Course laid in, and Warp-G standing by on level three. Ready for lift off."

"Engage," Ventus ordered.

With that simple order, the Kingdom-A and its crew of adventurers were off on a new journey, their destination unknown for the moment, but their objective quite clear. Stop the Heartless and the Organization, before the latter's plans came to fruition, and reunite with their missing friends. None of them could be more excited about this, but their excitement probably would have dropped a little had they noticed the raven flying into Yen Sid's tower with a familiar black cloak, or the sinister laughter that had echoed out from the tower shortly afterwards.

---

AN: So, obviously there's no new journal entry today. To be honest, the next one we see will probably come at the end of next chapter, but I am doing my best to make sure that several chapters are wrapped up with those things, so keep your eyes open, because you never know which part of the story that took place between this one and Dual Keys will be unveiled next.

Anyways, moving right along, let's start off with the topic of the Drive Forms. Yeah, Sora and Xion are the only ones who have them at the moment, and they both have a Valor Form. If you'll remember reading Keyblades of Future Past, you should recall that I gave Sora and Kairi both Drive Forms, with the latter having all the same forms as Sora, save for Limit. The only differences between the two being that they took on different color schemes. I'll be honest, I had a hard time deciding what colors Xion's Valor Form would be. I'm really hoping that I made a good call on the decision that made it in. Also, yeah, Roxas and Xion now have Keyblade armors, namely the gauntlet forms of them that Sora and Kairi had in the previous story, while Sora's has been upgraded to that of a true Keyblade Warrior, as you all probably figured out from looking at the cover art for this story.

Sora: Hey, while we're on the subject of that matter, why'd you mention that Ventus could've made Roxas or Xion my apprentice?

AN: Just something I thought of on the spur of the moment. My mind had wandered back to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and how Ahsoka had ended up as Anakin's Padawan, and I felt like I had to imply something similar could've happened with Sora, and most likely Xion.

Xion: Is it weird that I can totally see that happening to us now too?

AN: Not really. If someone were to do a Star Wars, or a similarly styled AU with you guys, I would definitely see you jumping into the role of, or a similar role to that of Ahsoka and the same goes for Sora in relation to Anakin. You know, except for the whole, Darth Vader thing.

Sora: Unless someone decided to make it that way and then have me get pulled back from the dark side a lot sooner than Vader had been.

AN: Moving on...Now Sora and the others all know the full story behind Roxas and Xion, or at least as much as those two can remember. Honestly, maybe I could have made it so that Sora and the others were a little less trusting of the two, but Sora's not a thoughtless punk who would just forget about all the heavy details he'd already learned about his newest friends, so why make him act like one? And now that he knows that there's a strong connection between him and the two, do you really think he's going to just turn his back on them in any way, whatsoever? Not a chance in hell.

And before anyone asks, yeah, I did have to mention that little about the relation between Xion, Sora, and Kairi. A reviewer had actually brought it up a while back, and I felt like it would lead to some funny ideas and conversations if someone brought it up in the story. And I'd like to think I was right!

Roxas: I don't.

Sora&Xion: Neither do we.

AN: Yes, you've made that quite clear now. Let's move on to one last detail, namely the new gummi ship. Did you really think I wasn't going to bring it back somehow? Obviously I could've said that Yen Sid retrieved the old ship with magic, but I wanted there to be a more solid reason for the ship to have some new upgrades, like the new simulator deck, because yes, that's now a thing, so you can expect a few more scenes aboard the ship in this story compared to the last one, most likely, due in no small part to more impressive training moments taking place on the ship now. And in case it isn't obvious, Star Trek played a large part in the inspiration for the new Kingdom, or should I say the Kingdom-A? Need I say more than that? I don't really think I need to mention much more than that, other pointing out the little reference we made to Professor Ludwig Von Drake when Ven was talking about how the new ship was made.

Other than that and mentioning a few other changes in dialogue, plus adding in some the newest Kingdom Hearts related lines and such, I don't really think I can talk about much else. Aside from how we zeroed out Maleficent's return. Yeah, that happened like it originally did, so I didn't really bother with going into detail on it here.

Roxas: You could also mention the fact that Pete recognized me and Xion from our time with the Organization.

AN: Why would I? I mean, that pretty much makes it clear that events from 358/2 Days will be playing something of a small part in how events play out in this story, and people Roxas and Xion met will likely recognize them here, so be ready for all of that.

Now, there's not much else to talk about so, let's move Onto the Preview!...

The legion's first stop turns out to be none other than Hollow Bastion, and they are all soon greeted by some familiar faces, along with Xion and Roxas meeting one of their biggest idols. Afterwards comes a quick reunion with even more old friends, followed by a request for help, and being who they are, the gang don't hesitate to offer whatever aid they can provide. But not everything involved in their return to Hollow Bastion is so joyous, as Sora, Donald, and Goofy finally find themselves coming face-to-face with Organization XIII, or at least as close as they can get to that. How will Roxas and Xion handle seeing their former allies again now that they're on opposite sides? Will the Organization try to make another attempt to retrieve the two? How will Sora and Ven's old friends react to the two newest members of their team? And what sort of mind games will the Organization try to play on them? The answers are soon to come, next time.

Please read and review, happy holidays, and see ya real soon!