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.

17. A Hero's Fall From Grace

AN: Hey guys! We're back again with another chapter in the adventures of the Keyblade Legion!

[audience applause]

And what better way to do this than with the conclusion of events at Olympus Coliseum, am I right?

Sora: Well, there may be one or two ways that could be better...

AN: [stares at Sora for a minute before turning to his computer] Hm, let's see here...Maybe something like "And then all of a sudden, Sora was stabbed from behind by a thousand different Samurais"? No, how about "Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Heartless's numbers suddenly seemed to double, and despite his best efforts, Sora was unable to keep them back. He was just too tired to keep it up for any longer."

Sora: You didn't let me finish! As I was saying, there may be one or two ways, but it's you, and I'd say that you pulled it off pretty nicely with how this chapter turned out.

AN: [smirks knowingly as he erases everything he was just thinking about typing] That's what I thought. Don't mess with the writer. The writer will retaliate in any way imaginable.

Riku: All of a sudden I'm not sure what's scarier. Some of the things you do to prevent spoilers, or how easily you came up with scenarios to kill off Sora.

AN: Oh, you think that was bad? I can do worse you know.

Sora: Please don't! Seriously Riku, don't encourage him! I like living!

AN: Hehehe. Calm down, I'm just kidding...Mostly. [winks knowingly] Seriously though, this chapter's going to be good, and I hope you all enjoy it, because you're all in for quite a few surprises this time around. Most of which center around Roxas and Xion.

Roxas: Doesn't that count for a good majority of this story.

AN: Yeah, but I feel like it needs pointing out this time. That said, let's get on with the show everyone, because here comes the next challenger!

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

---

Chapter XVII

While the heroes were on their way up to the Coliseum, Hades had finally started to calm down from the burning rage he had been feeling after not only having his prisoner and old foes escape, but also learning that they had beaten Cerberus. Sure, he was not exactly happy about the whole thing, but he was cool enough to maintain a certain degree of his usual calm, collectedness, and right now, that was the only thing that was keeping him from barbequing Pete to a crisp while the oversized cat explained a few interesting details to him.

"So, let me see if I've got this right…Those brats' Keyblades work on any lock," Hades asked of Pete.

"That's right," Pete confirmed. "Didn't Maleficent tell you about all this a year ago?"

"Eh…It might've come up once or twice, but, I'm a really busy god, what with a whole Underworld to run, and a huge cosmic coup to plan out and prepare for. Well, a second cosmic coup anyway. The first one didn't exactly go so good, but the next time…oh, boy, will ol' Zeusy be in for it," Hades shrugged like it was no big deal. He then let out a brief chuckle as he then went on to add, "On another note though, have I ever told you about the killer coliseum we have right here in the Underworld? It makes the one upstairs look like an Olympic kiddie pool."

"Then that's the place where we need to put an end to Herc the Jerk's winnin' streak," Pete decided with a slam of his fist on Hades's cosmic map. "Why bother sendin' a bunch of dumb ol' monsters, when you've got a place like that to finish him off in?"

"Simple question, simple answer. Problem: Zeus locked it tight. Can't use it even if I wanted to," Hades explained.

While that earned a frustrated growl from Pete, Hades could only giggle gleefully for some reason that Pete could not comprehend. At least, until the topic they were just talking about came back to his mind. "Are you suggestin'…?"

"Bingo, big boy," Hades confirmed with a snap of his fingers. "All we gotta do is swipe one of those keys, and then we reopen the Underdrome for business! Easy-peasy."

"Uh, not that easy, actually," Pete denied, earning him another angry, questioning look. "Look, I hate to be the one to tell ya this as much as the next guys, but those keys are kinda particular. They won't work for just anybody, and those kids ain't no easy pushovers."

"Tch, yeah, tell me something I don't know, in at least two of their cases," Hades grumbled, his mind automatically going to Ventus and Sora. Thinking of them though, also made him think of the other Keyblade wielders he had encountered, and that gave him another little idea on how they could get what they wanted. "I think maybe this calls for a woman's touch," Hades concluded as he conjured up a small replica of Meg into his hand, grinning evilly as a plan formed in his mind.

---

"Ah, clear blue skies, brilliant sun, and a sight that you never get tired of seeing. All that to simply say now this is more like it," Ventus sighed fondly and happily as the Legion all stepped into the entrance courtyard of the coliseum at last, and from the reminiscent smiles on Sora, Donald, and Goofy's faces, it seemed that his friends all agreed. The last two though, had reactions that gave him a sense of déjà vu.

"Wow! This is amazing," Xion grinned as she looked all around, even going so far as to slowly spin around as she walked to better take in the sights.

"No kidding," Roxas agreed. "Just imagine the kinds of epic battles you could have in a place like this."

"Maybe you need to imagine it, but we don't," Sora reminded him.

"Yep, and being out here just brings back so many good memories too," Goofy happily nodded.

Hearing that last comment, Ventus looked to the younger blonde of their group and asked, "Speaking of memories does anything about this place look familiar to you, Roxas?"

It was pretty clear why Roxas was being asked that question. So far, he was the only one between him and Xion who had really gotten any real memory flashes since they arrived on this world, so there was a very good chance that he was going to have a few more just by being here. He still took a minute to survey his surroundings a little more, but when nothing happened after he had, he ended up finally replying, "Sorry, but no. Nothing really seems to stand out, at least about this area."

After taking a quick glance at Xion and seeing her shake her head in the negative as well, Ventus let out a small sigh and said, "Well, it is just one other area, so who knows? There's still a bit of a chance one of you will remember something while we're here."

"Speaking of things that are here, check this out," Sora suddenly called to the others, prompting the three to turn to where he was standing with Donald and Goofy. "They added us to the board!"

"The board," Ventus repeated in question as he made his way over with Xion and Roxas. Upon seeing what their friends were looking at, understanding quickly dawned on him along with a smile. "Oh, the tournament rankings boards. I almost forgot all about these things."

"And from the looks of this, Sora, you, Donald, and Goofy are ranked pretty high up there for the Hades Cup," Xion noticed.

"Yep, right up at the top," Goofy proudly confirmed while flexing one of his arms.

"Because we're some of the only ones to make it all the way through and win without any second tries," Donald added on with just as much pride.

Ventus and Xion both let out a round of chuckles at the pair's boasts, mainly because they found they way they were bragging to be a little silly, until Ventus stepped over and pointed out something on another board. "Don't think you three are the only ones up here, and besides, you're just up there on the team category. Whereas in the singles category…"

Turning to said category, the three were stunned to see that Ventus's name was right up there at the top for the same tournament. "What?! But…How…When," Sora stuttered.

"Just because I was spending so much time babysitting you five, doesn't mean I didn't take some time for myself every now and then, you know," Ventus told him. "Besides, you said it yourself the first time we came here: fighting against tough opponents can be great training, and it's pretty easy to find some tough, powerful opponents here. How do you think I'd gotten as far as I have in mastering Flowmotion?"

"Fair enough," Sora shrugged along with Donald and Goofy. They then started to leave the ranking boards when Sora spotted something on one of the other boards from the corner of his eye. Turning to face it fully, Sora gasped, "No way! Roxas, your name's up here!"

"What?! I was in the Hades Cup," cried Roxas in surprise.

"No, not for the Hades Cup; a different tournament," Sora revealed.

The rest of the team all rushed over to the board that Sora was standing in front of, and sure enough, there was Roxas's name, right at the top of the listings for one of the lower scale tournaments, much to their surprise. Sure, it confirmed that at least Roxas had been to this world before, but why was his name up there to begin with? Most of the Organization's missions were supposed to be carried out in secret, and from what little he and Xion could remember, they both had missions like that most of if not all the time. Was there something special about the assignment on this world that Roxas was given that required him to participate, or did he slip up and blow his cover somehow? He did not expect his questions to be answered here, or to find them in his own mind, but Roxas could not help but think about them all the same.

Xion was just as curious about all of these things as well, but what she found even more interesting was the fact that Roxas's name was only in the singles category, and not anywhere in the team categories for any of the other tournaments. Sure, she and Roxas did have some faint memories of carrying out missions on their own, but from what she could remember, they did have at least one other person with them a lot of the time, so why did it seem like Roxas was all by himself when he came to this world, and why did it seem like she never did? Was it because the Organization did not think she could handle a mission to this world? If one of the first memories of her time with them that she recovered was any indication that probably could be the case, because she doubted that they would send someone that they considered to be a mistake or a failure to compete in a tournament like the ones they held here.

Before any of them could contemplate the matter further, they all heard the doors into the coliseum's lobby opening, and turned to see an old friend stepping out. Even from a distance, they could see just what Meg had been telling them about, because despite looking as strong as ever, Hercules had a weariness about him that spoke volumes of how tired he really was. The way he was slumped over, how his shoulders sagged a bit, even the drowsy look in his eyes was proof that the hero of Olympus Coliseum had been working too hard lately. Still, they all put on their best smiles and quickly rushed over to talk with him, with Ventus being the one to get his attention.

"Hey Herc," Ventus shouted.

Hearing his name being called, Hercules looked over to the speaker and quickly looked right as rain again as he smiled at the sight of his friends. "Ven! Sora! Donald, Goofy," he exclaimed. "When'd you all get here?"

"Just a short while ago," said Sora as he waved to the champion. "Figured we were overdue for a visit anyways."

Hercules nodded in understanding before he took notice of Roxas and Xion. "Looks like you picked up a couple new teammates while you were away, too."

"You could say that," Xion shrugged like it was no big deal. "I'm Xion, and this is my brother Roxas."

Hearing that, Hercules's eyes seemed to flash in recognition before he said, "Oh, so you're Roxas! Phil's told me a lot about you."

"He has," asked a slightly surprised Roxas.

"Naturally. Said you're probably one of the best hero trainees he'd taken on since me, even if you weren't actually the guy he had been expecting," Herc explained. "Not that surprising though, since you did earn a couple of impressive tournament victories, even if one of them did get interrupted by the Heartless."

"Oh…uh, yeah. If you say so," was the most that Roxas could manage. He did not really think it would be easy for him to explain his memory problems to Hercules, but then again, it sounded like they had never met each other personally until now, so maybe there was not too great of a need for him to just yet.

Roxas's hunch seemed to be accurate, because Herc pretty much brushed off the blonde's nervous reply and move onto a new subject shortly after that. "So, if the new additions to the group and outfits are any indication, I'm guessing you guys are on another adventure, right?"

"Yeah, trackin' down some friends, wipin' out some Heartless," Sora shrugged, acting like it was just another day at the office. Then again, it kind of was for them at this point.

"Only this time, it includes solving a few new mysteries as well," Ventus added on.

"Haha! Ventus and the Junior Heroes, always busy," Hercules commented as he locked hands with Ventus and Sora in greeting one by one.

"You know it," Ventus confirmed, his smile not fading until he finally decided to bring an end to the small talk. "But with that said, we could use your help with something, if you've got the time to spare that is."

"Sure thing. Come on in and we'll talk in the lobby," Herc offered as he waved everyone inside.

As the team was following Hercules in, they spotted Meg standing in the doorway, clearly having watched their exchange and looking a little more worried than when they last saw her. Upon getting closer, they saw that she looked a little pale, like she had just seen a ghost or something, and Xion could not help but slip over to her without anyone noticing so she could check. "Hey, are you okay," the young girl asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just…got a random chill up my spine or something," Meg shrugged off, but to Xion, it was pretty clear that she was trying to play off whatever was bothering her like it was nothing.

Whatever the case may be, Xion was not going to pry. As far as she was aware, it was not any of her business, so why stick her nose into things? If Meg really needed their help with something else, then Xion was sure that she would tell them. Right now, they had their own issues to worry about, so it was probably for the best that she kept her mind on the problem that she and her friends were already dealing with. Speaking of which, Ventus seemed to have just finished filling Hercules in on the necessary details of their current plight, and Hercules seemed understandably concerned.

"So wait, do you guys really think that there's something in the Underworld that may relate to your current mission, or that Hades might have some kind of answers that could help you in your quest," the champion of the coliseum asked.

"Pretty much," Ventus shrugged, glad that he was able to come up with a reasonable excuse as to why they were in the Underworld without mentioning their meeting with Meg or how she had tried to go and talk to Hades herself earlier. "If we'd known just how potent that Underworld curse really was though, we probably would've at least stopped by to talk with you a little sooner though."

"Still, are you really sure you want to go messing with Hades? You all know just how bad of an idea that is," Hercules pointed out.

"We know, but we don't really have much of a choice this time around," Sora insisted. "There's just gotta be something down there that can help us, and it's one of the few leads we've had since we started on this new quest. So do you have any ideas on how we can counter that curse? Because I think I speak for all of us when I say we'd much rather be able to fight at full strength in a place like that if at all possible."

Hercules did not even need to think very long to come up with a solution for their problem. "There is one way to beat the curse: the Olympus Stone. The gods on Mount Olympus use it all the time when they have to go down to the Underworld."

"Sounds perfect. Any chance we could borrow it for a bit," requested Ventus. "We'd just need to use it once, and our armors would be able to adapt its properties into their preexisting magic for any future trips we may or may not end up taking afterwards."

"Sure thing. I can go and get it for you right now," Hercules replied.

"Uh, are you sure? I mean, we wouldn't want you to overextend yourself if you have something else going on, or if you need to use whatever spare time you have getting some rest," said Xion.

"Hey, it's no problem. I can get it and be back in no time," Hercules assured her and the others. "If anything, I'm more worried about you guys. Even with the Olympus Stone, Hades is no pushover, and that's without the fact that you'd be in the Underworld. Plus, I can't even go with you guys since I have a match today…"

"Don't worry, Herc. You just worry about getting the stone and making it back in time for your match. We'll worry about anything we may or may not run into in the Underworld," Sora assured him. "And I think we all know the best place to start, too."

Ventus nodded in agreement, having already thought of the idea his first apprentice had in mind, and he immediately asked, "Any chance Phil's up for some special training sessions?"

"You betcha," Hercules nodded. "He's over in the main arena right now setting up some stuff for the next match, but I'm sure he'd be willing to spare a few minutes for you guys if it's to help you all get into fighting shape."

"Great! Then I guess we'll go talk to him and see you when you get back," Roxas concluded.

Hercules nodded in reply and then turned to head out for Mount Olympus, leaving the Legion and Meg on their own for the moment. Once Herc was out of sight, Meg looked to the team and asked, "I'm guessing that talking with Hades didn't go as well as we hoped?"

"Only because the curse left us weaker than we had expected. Don't worry though, we can still salvage this once we get that stone and do a little training with Phil," Sora reassured her.

"Well…If you're sure, but just try to hurry, please. I've got a really bad feeling that Hades might be getting ready to pull something especially nasty soon," Meg admitted.

The six friends all nodded in reply and then turned to head into the arena so that they could track down the trainer of heroes for some of his special training sessions. Sure, they probably did not need Phil's help that much, but Ventus knew from experience how much help it was to let other people lend a hand in your training from time to time. The fact that Phil played at least a small part in helping with Sora's training on their team's first visit to this world a year ago only helped to further enforce that fact. So, they all eagerly headed inside to find the trainer of heroes, and it did not take too long to find him in one of the training arenas, fixing up some urns that were clearly meant to be used in some variety of practice drills.

When Roxas saw the satyr hard at work, a brief flash of pain went through his head just before a sense of familiarity came to him, like he had at least seen Phil before. He already got the impression that he had been here and met said trainer already when they first came into the coliseum's courtyard and then spoke with Hercules, but now, he was certainly starting to believe it a little better after seeing Phil and getting this new flash of a memory that was likely on the verge of coming back. Right when Roxas was about to let the others know this, Sora had already started to approach Phil to say hi, only to have the satyr beat him to the punch in a way similar to how Phil had greeted them the first time he met Sora.

"Hey champ, how ya feeling," Phil asked, thinking that it was Hercules behind him and not the Legion. "Better rest up for the next match. Nobody's gonna pay to see a worn-out hero…capiche? Remember what I told you: victory in the games comes down to two simple words: eat, bathe, sleep!"

As usual, Goofy could not help but count the actual number of words that Phil said, and this time, Xion had joined him in the counting, but no one was surprised that the actual number of words was not two. If anything, they all just found it funny, right to the point where the whole group ended up laughing amongst themselves. As if to add more humor to the whole thing, or to get in a light jab at Phil, Ventus then said, "You know, I can't help but wonder just how good the education of the heroes you've trained is, given how bad you clearly are at math."

Phil instantly spun around to face them, ready to shake his fist at the blonde master for his jab, but his words died in his throat when he registered just who it was that was standing before him. "Hahaha! Hey, if ain't Ven and the Junior Heroes," Phil cheered as he came over to greet the four he knew best, exchanging high-fives and playful punches to the arms wherever he could. "Long time no see!"

"That's the Keyblade Legion, to you," Goofy proudly decreed as he and Donald took heroic-looking poses.

Phil scratched his chin a little upon hearing the name, before he finally nodded and said, "You know, I actually like the sound of that. Seems you've all got good heads on your shoulders for at least one thing when it comes to being heroes."

"Yeah, we think it's a pretty cool name too. You seem to be doing pretty good yourself, Phil," Sora complimented.

"Never better," Phil confirmed proudly. "How've you guys all been? Ven get you three up to the point where you've earned your 'true hero' wings yet?" The four grew silent upon hearing that, knowing that they could not go into detail about how they had fought against Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, or any of the other things that they went through when they were not here, and Phil ended up taking that silence as answer enough. "Ya still ain't got what it takes, huh? Oh well. No one becomes a hero overnight."

"What," Donald and Sora both gasped in disbelief, but they really should not have been surprised that Phil would make a judgment call like that.

"To be fair, we did hit a bit of a road bump along the way that set Sora back a little bit, but he's well on the way to getting back to where he was before, and we've also picked up a couple new friends along the way that I'm now training too," Ventus excused.

"Oh yeah? And who would that be," Phil asked, finally turning to the last two members of the group. Before either of the twins could say anything though, Phil's eyes lit up a bit and he let out another happy cheer. "No way! Roxas! I haven't seen you ages! How've you been, kid?"

"Uh…I've been…good," Roxas hesitantly replied, still a little unsure of how he should address someone he did not know despite the fact they had clearly met him before.

"What was that? You're acting like this is the first time we met," Phil scolded. "And after all that time I spent training you and coaching you so that you could participate in a couple of the tournaments, too. I told you before, kid, you're fighting's better than you're stand-up routine, so stick with what you're good at."

Upon hearing that, the small headache Roxas got earlier came back in full, and a new flash of memories began to play out in his mind's eye, showing him just what had happened in his time of knowing Phil before.

---

"There you are! I been waitin' for you," a voice randomly shouted out right when Roxas and his current partner for the day had finished taking down a small group of Heartless that were hanging around in the courtyard they had recently arrived in. Turning to the speaker, Roxas came face-to-face with a short, satyr that was marching over to them, or more specifically, to him. "What took you so long? I got everything set up," the satyr told Roxas, only to carry on without letting Roxas answer. "C'mon, hop to it. You wanna be a hero, and that takes time."

"What? But I'm…" Roxas started to say, only to get interrupted.

"Here to train, I know! Save your breath, kid. You're gonna need it," the satyr informed him. "By the way, nice moves back there. Herc told me you had potential, and if you're any indication then he's definitely got an eye for talent. I don't coach just anybody, ya know, so I hope you came ready to sweat, kid."

"Um, no!? I think you've got the wrong guy," Roxas tried to insist. He then turned to ask his partner to back him up on this, only to see that said partner had vanished on him. "Xigbar?! Where'd you…?"

"Your fighting's better than your stand-up routine, kid. Stick to what you know," the satyr advised, thinking that Roxas was pulling his leg with some kind of weird joke. "Anyways, you got a name?"

Seeing as it looked like he had no choice now, Roxas just sighed and replied, "Um, Roxas. And you are…?"

"You're kidding, right? You mean Herc didn't tell you who was gonna be coaching you," the satyr exclaimed. "The name's Philoctetes, but just call me Phil. Now then Roxas, since we're now acquainted, I'm gonna go double check the training equipment to make sure everything's still set up right for you. Head into the coliseum and let me know when you're ready to get serious and start, alright? I ain't got all day!"

The memories then seemed to fast-forwards to a later point in that same day, and judging by how out of breath Roxas was, it was pretty obvious that he had ended up going through Phil's training after all. Of course, one could also note the impressed smile on Phil's face as well, indicating that Roxas must have done pretty good. "Not too bad for your first time in the Coliseum. Keep up this pace, and you'll do just fine, kid," Phil complimented. "Which is good, because we need all the help we can get…"

"Help with what? Why are you looking for new people to train here, anyway," Roxas asked, the question having been on his mind for some time now.

"I guess you could say we're understaffed," Phil admitted.

"So there aren't any strong people around here," Roxas inquired.

"What are you, crazy?! We've got ourselves a bona fide hero! The champ in these parts is my prize student. Maybe you've seen him in the Coliseum before," Phil proudly boasted.

Even after hearing that, Roxas was still a little confused on the details. "So then…what exactly does he do here?"

That was probably the first thing that he said that really took Phil by surprise. "Wait, are you sayin' you signed up for hero training without even knowing what the Games are?! Oy… Lemme break it down easy for ya, kid. There's a hero and a ginormous monster; they fight, people come to watch, and that is what this whole place is for! At least until those Heartless started showin' up in droves. It used to be that they were all mainly just fake versions that were created by a special magic in the coliseum, but after Hades's last scheme, the real ones started coming in and causing all kinds of problems. Sure, it was frustrating, but after a while, some genius figured out a way to get them all corralled into the Coliseum so that heroes could fight and destroy them. The problem is, with back-to-back matches in the Games and taking out the Heartless that weren't rounded up, our champ's been workin' way too much, so naturally, I need to bring in some new talent to help take the load off."

That much Roxas got. He was not sure how someone could be able to destroy Heartless without a Keyblade, but if they found a way to do it here, he should probably look into it, or at least mention the fact in his report when he got back to the castle. He still had a few more questions though, but his next couple questions were for more personal reasons than anything else. "So the Games are like a tournament? Do I get to enter?"

"You? In the Games?! Ahh ha ha ha," Phil laughed out loud.

"What's so funny about that? You said you saw me in action, so why would you think it's funny that I'd want to enter," Roxas demanded hotly. He may not remember anything from his time being human, but somehow, he just knew that this is what it felt like to feel insulted.

"I got two words for you, kid: Outta. Your. League! You got promise, I'll give you that, but you'll need a lot more training before you're ready for the big time."

A few more brief flashes showed that Roxas continued to train with Phil, either by accidental coincidence or intentionally, and the blonde really seemed to put in the work, even when he was tired from doing something else, until eventually, Phil ended up clearing him for participating in the Games. Sure, it was just the Rookie Cup, and Phil did not seem too optimistic about Roxas's chances of placing, but it was pretty obvious that Roxas got excited upon hearing that he was going to get to enter in one of the next tournaments. That next tournament ended up being a bust though, as the memories showed that while Roxas did make it to the final round, in which he ended up facing a fellow member of the Organization that used what looked like crossbows as weapons, the match was interrupted by a huge Heartless that he had to take out, and he ended up leaving before an official winner was decided.

The next time Roxas arrived in the Coliseum, it was pretty clear that he was there to enter another tournament, and right after he entered the lobby and started to ponder how he would get signed up, he heard Phil's voice calling out to him. "Am I seeing things? Rookie, is that you?"

"Huh? Oh, uh…Hey," Roxas nervously greeted once the satyr stood before him.

"I haven't seen you in ages. How are ya," Phil happily greeted.

"I'm hanging in there."

"That's good, 'cause that vanishing act you pulled at the end of the last Games had me worried."

"Oh…Sorry." Roxas had the decency to sound and look a little sheepish upon hearing that.

"Ah no worries. I figured musta pulled through, because no lousy Heartless is gonna wipe the floor with one of my boys," Phil nodded, still showing all kinds of confidence in Roxas. He then turned a lot more serious as he asked, "Speakin' of which, when were ya plannin' to tell me you weren't the guy Herc sent?"

Roxas just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes, but he could not help but try and protest, "If you had just let me talk, or listen…"

"This whole time I thought you were the Champ's top pick," Phil interrupted once again, not knowing that he was proving Roxas's point on the reason why he never said that he was not the guy he had been expecting. "Okay, let's start over, Roxas. Where ya really from, and who sent ya?"

"Um… Well…" Roxas was stuck now. Considering that he could not say anything about being a member of the Organization, or even let people know he was from another world in general, he was not sure what he could say. It did not help that most of his missions were strictly stealth-based, and aside from Twilight Town, this was probably the only world where he had directly interacted with any locals from a world, so he never really bothered trying to think of a cover story to tell people. Most of the time, they usually did that for him and assumed that information on their own, and being put on the spot like this did not make thinking of something any easier.

Much to Roxas's surprise, Phil ended up coming to the rescue without even knowing it. "Ah, ya know what, don't bother saying anything. I think I already have a pretty good idea."

"You do?!"

"Yeah, I mean, it probably should've been obvious just from the fact you've been fighting with a Keyblade, or did you think I wouldn't notice that," said Phil. "I'm guessing that good ol' Ven sent ya or something, right? Who else would've sent me a trainee with a Keyblade and tries to keep a lot of information about him hush-hush."

"Well…uh…" Roxas stuttered, not sure if he should really bother telling Phil the truth. Sure, he assumed that the man in armor he met once was Ventus, but said man never actually confirmed that for him, and they met long after Roxas's first visit to this world. Still, if that was what Phil wanted to think, Roxas was okay with that.

Whatever the case, Phil just brushed it off a second later and helped Roxas get signed up for the tournament that was being held that day. Unsurprisingly, Roxas ended up dominating the whole thing and taking home the gold, even if he was mainly focused on taking out the Heartless he fought against. It did have the added bonus of making Phil happy to see that his trainee had made it through to the end, and seeing that made Roxas smile a bit more for his victory.

After a brief exchange of words between them, Roxas was prepared to head out, until Phil suddenly said, "Hey, Roxas… Don't be a stranger."

That seemed to surprise Roxas a bit. After their conversation before the tournament, he was sure that Phil would probably not want him to come back again, but judging by that last comment it seemed that he expected Roxas to return. For some reason, that actually made Roxas pretty excited.

---

As soon as the memory flash had faded away, Roxas quickly registered that everyone was looking at him with deep concern, mostly in Phil's case. The others had a pretty good idea of what had just happened, but they were not about to blurt it out in case they were wrong, let alone while Phil was around. There was no way of knowing for sure how Phil would react to hearing about the blonde's new memory problem, so it would probably be better to keep that to themselves for now. Even so, it did not stop Phil from being concerned for Roxas.

"Hey, you okay there, Rookie," Phil asked as he approached Roxas, ready to check him over for any signs of previous injuries if need be.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just…feeling a sudden wave of nostalgia," Roxas assured the satyr with a genuine smile. "It's good to see you again, Phil."

"Likewise," Phil nodded in return. "Of course, I wish you would've shown up a little more often. It'd have given the champ a chance to take it easy a bit more often between matches."

"I'm guessing that things have only gotten more hectic since I was last here, since you said that you were looking for more heroes to give Hercules a break," Roxas figured.

"Yeah, to put it mildly. Don't get me wrong, I love that kid's dedication, but even a big time champ like Herc needs to take a breather every now and then, something I'm starting to think he's forgotten about with how many matches he's been getting into recently even after stopping Heartless from destroying the city," Phil sighed. It seemed like he was just as worried about how long it would be before Hercules overworked himself as Meg was, and none of the Legion failed to notice this.

"Well, don't worry, Phil, because we're here to help with that," Xion proudly declared.

"Oh, well…Great, kid… So, uh…Does someone mind telling me who this adorable, little girl is," asked Phil, having been caught off guard by her sudden announcement.

Xion was just about to snap at Phil for calling her little, when Roxas stepped in to introduce her before she bit his head off. "Phil, this is Xion, my twin sister. She and I have been traveling and training with these guys for a little while now, since we're both Keyblade wielders like Sora and Ven."

"Really? You don't say," Phil nodded with an interested smile. "Well, here's hoping you're able to hold up better than your brother or Sora did, because I thought for sure they were gonna collapse after a few seconds into some of my training courses."

"Were not," Sora and Roxas both snapped at the satyr. Not that Phil really seemed to pay it any mind.

"Though are you sure you're related to Roxas? I mean, I'll admit, I can kinda see it in the eyes, but otherwise, I'd have thought you were related to that redhead that Sora was sweet on," Phil confessed.

"Yeah, I'm definitely Roxas's twin sister, and by extension, Sora's younger sister, but you're not the first to say something like that," Xion shrugged with a smile.

"Sora's… Wait, so Roxas, does that mean that you're also…" Phil's unfinished question received only smiles in answer, and that certainly helped to confirm it for him. "Huh. I coulda sworn that you were related to Ven or something. You know, because of…"

"The hair? Yeah, we know," both blondes chorused as one.

"Well, yeah, and the fact that you both look so much like each other, even in terms of your outfits," Phil pointed out. "I mean, if Ventus were a lot younger and didn't have that crazy beard, I'm sure that it would be near impossible to tell you apart."

"Why is everyone always making it a point to bring up my beard," grumbled Ventus to himself. His question was not likely to get an answer, so he just pressed on with the business at hand. "Anyways Phil, we could actually use your help to make sure that we're able to get Hercules that break he needs."

"Oh yeah? Well now I'm really interested. What's up," Phil asked.

---

They probably should have seen this coming. Really, it should have been obvious that Phil would react this way once he was told what they were planning to do to help get Hercules a break from all the back-to-back action he had been dealing with lately. Still, they were not going to get any help from Phil until they told him, so they gave him the quick summary and braced themselves for his response. It was pretty much what they were expecting, but that did not make it any less annoying when he started laughing and just did not stop.

"Is he done yet," asked Roxas, being the one who had gotten annoyed with the satyr first.

"Roxas, you can see that he's still laughing, same as me. Why are you asking me that," Sora questioned in return.

"Ugggh! It's been almost half an hour now since he started," groaned Xion, while Donald grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. Given what she knew about the court magician, she was sure that she should be glad that Donald's voice had returned to its usual state after they left Marvel Universe.

Ventus just watched as Phil kept on belting out loud laughter for a few more minutes, until he too finally lost what patience remained and said, "Okay Phil, you've had your laugh. Now will you please get serious and help us out?"

"I-I'm sorry, but…Ah-ha…Ah-HAHAHA," Phil continued laughing, only now, everyone was sure that he was faking it. "Y-you guys wanna take on Hades?! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"And what's so funny about that," Donald hotly demanded.

"Yeah! Me, Donald, and Sora beat Hades last year, so why would this be any different," Goofy pointed out.

"Because last year, you were fighting him up here in the Coliseum, meaning you had an advantage over him. What you're talking about is fighting him on his own turf," Phil reminded them. "Not exactly too smart."

"Hey, you do want Hercules to get a break so that he can rest up, don't you? Then why not help us get trained up so we can fight him in the Underworld," Roxas countered.

Phil's laughter finally stopped after hearing that, and he smiled a little wider as he said, "Now that's definitely the Roxas I remember. Still got a lot of nerve to go with the spunk that the rest of you guys got, I'll give you that."

"So then you'll help us out," Xion asked, a touch of hopefulness entering her voice.

"Sure, why not? And hey, you never know; maybe you guys can beat him. Stranger things have happened, right," Phil shrugged.

"You have no idea," the four Keyblade wielders all said as one.

Phil did not ask any more questions after that, and soon set to work on getting each member of the Keyblade Legion to run through the training courses and exercises that he already had set up and ready to go. Sure, they could only go one at a time, but that gave Ventus a chance to get in some training with any of his apprentices that were not currently going through said course. Obviously, he spent a bit more time in helping Xion to refine her skills in fighting with a reverse grip, but when she was running through the exercises, he made sure that Roxas got a lot of attention, whether it was in terms of his skills with one Keyblade or both. That was not to say that Sora did not get any attention at all, as Ventus decided to help Sora get his magic back to full strength at last. He probably spent the most amount of time doing that when it came to his first apprentice, but Sora was certainly not complaining with the results. Considering that this was the world where he learned the basic versions of his default arsenal of spells, it only felt right that he get all of those same spells back to their original level here as well. A real case of things coming full circle if you will.

Aside from that, Sora also took this opportunity to strengthen his skills with the Fire Ring, having not wanted to set himself on fire again like he did the last time he tried so much as Fira Ring. Plus, Ventus also took this as a chance for him to teach Sora some water magic as well, and before he knew it, Sora was already casting the simple stream of water like he would any of his other basic level spells. Clearly his return to his original level of magic ability was much quicker than any of them were expecting it to be, but then again, it's not like Sora was forced to get there on his own. Other than that, Sora seemed to spend a lot of time helping Xion with her own training, whether it was in terms of magic, swordsmanship, or some other variety of skill. Every second she was not able to spend on Phil's training regimens or with Ventus, Xion was with Sora, learning a few more tricks of the trade from her senior apprentice, and if she were being honest, she was picking up more tips from Sora to make things easier for her than it seemed like she did when working with Ventus. Not that Ven did not do anything to help in her training, but something about the way Sora was coaching her just seemed to click better with Xion for some reason.

Sora was not the only one who was taking charge of teaching though, as Roxas was also helping his siblings get a better handle on fighting with two Keyblades. Sure, the two had gotten better the more that they had used their Valor Forms, but a little more instruction never hurt anyone, and since he was the only one any of them knew who could use two Keyblades, the job of teaching Sora and Xion how to fight with two Keyblades fell to Roxas. The blonde did not mind though; he saw this as a chance for him to return the favor of the other two helping him to finally get a strong handle on his fire, ice, lightning, and healing magic, so what was there for him to complain about?

Eventually, after everyone had made at least one or two runs through Phil's regimen, and Ventus was allowed to focus on trying to help Roxas and Xion learn either their first Shotlocks or Unique Command Styles. He was determined to help those two learn those particular abilities a bit more quickly than Sora had, at least in terms of Command Styles, but so far, neither of them had really made a lot of progress in either department. Roxas would sometimes even insist that he did not really need to learn either of those abilities, but that idea was easily shot down after Ventus dragged him into a sparring match, where the younger blonde was soundly defeated by his master's Fever Pitch Command Style. Xion on the other hand had taken to insisting that she was at least getting close to learning one of hers, but she could not say for certain as to which of the two it was. Either way, their progress in getting those powers unlocked had been slow going, and by the time that they noticed Hercules returning from his trip to Mount Olympus, it had not gotten any farther, much to their disappointment.

It was actually at that same point when they decided to call their sessions to a close, and much to their surprise, Phil was the first one to actually do so. "Alright, you all should be good for now, so if you don't mind, I've gotta take off for a little bit."

"Huh? Just like that," Ventus asked, surprised that Phil would suddenly just leave out of the blue.

"Yep. Just like that. There's a very important matter I need to take care of," Phil informed them.

"And what would that be," asked a curious Xion.

"None of your beeswax," Phil immediately and rather rudely brushed off. "Look, Herc's back, so you can go and ask him if he got that stone you all need so badly. Best of luck dealing with Hades. You're gonna need it."

Despite his bravado, the Legion could all tell that Phil was trying to hide something with the way he was talking, and seeing him rush off the way he did only added more proof to the idea. Still, he did have a point when he said that they needed to talk with Hercules about the Olympus Stone now that he was back, so if he wanted to go off on some important, secret task, then like he said, that was his business. With nothing else to do and a way forward in their task now available to them, the group made their way over to Hercules, eager to get the Olympus Stone and take another shot at talking Hades into easing up on the monster attacks. Their moods quickly dropped though when they saw Hercules looked a bit down, and if their past luck in these types of matters was any indication, they were sure that meant they were about to get some bad news.

"Hey you guys, I've got some bad news," Hercules said when he spotted his friends approaching. "The Olympus Stone has been stolen."

"Say what?!" Sora and Ventus both exclaimed.

"By who," asked Goofy.

"We don't know who did it yet," Hercules informed them. "All we're sure of is that it was a guy in a black, hooded cloak, and he had a bunch of creatures in white working for him."

Hearing that last part instantly clued the team in on who the culprit more than likely was, even before Roxas had said it aloud. "The Organization."

"And the Nobodies," Xion finished for him.

"You know something about who did it," Hercules asked.

"Unfortunately," both twins replied with a sigh.

"Or at least, we have a good idea about who did it," Ventus quickly stated, much to everyone's confusion. "Hey, just because they wore a black, hooded cloak and worked with creatures in white, doesn't automatically mean that it was Organization XIII who did it."

"But it doesn't really leave that many other suspects, either," Sora pointed out.

Ventus would have to give him that, and he then turned back to Hercules and said, "Either way, if it is the Organization, we should be able to track them down and get the stone back. We're still going to need to borrow it for a little while though, if that's okay."

"Of course. I was going to get for you guys originally; it's only right that you get to use it if you can find the thief and get it back from them," Hercules assured him, much to everyone's relief. He then asked, "By the way, have any of you seen Meg recently?"

"Hmm…Nope, sorry," Sora said after a moment of thought.

"I don't think I've seen her since that chat we all had in the lobby," Xion shrugged in response, and the others all gave similar answers soon after.

"Oh, I see," Hercules sighed, clearly feeling a little depressed.

"Is everything okay, Herc," asked Ventus.

Just before Hercules could answer, someone else suddenly spoke up, but his voice lacked any of the concern his question should have held, even as he placed a hand on the worried hero's shoulder. "Yeah, what's wrong your hero-ness? Feeling a little under the weather?"

Everyone knew in an instant who the new arrival to the conversation was, so it was no surprise that they all started to assume battle-ready positions even before Hercules spun around to glare at Hades, even after some of them jumped a little at the ruler of the Underworld's sudden arrival. "Seriously, again with the surprise entrance," Xion had exclaimed as she got prepared for battle with the others. "I thought you were supposed to be all flashy or at least let out a blast of smoke every time you appeared out of nowhere like this. Why the sudden need to forgo any dramatics?"

"Uh, excuse me, I do believe that, unless I'm mistaken, I was talking with Wonderboy over here, and not some little peanut," Hades rudely waved away, clearly trying to get under Xion's skin.

Needless to say, his ploy worked, as Xion immediately became cross with at least one part of the Lord of the Dead's comment if nothing else. It certainly showed a lot better when she summoned out Two Become One to signal how ready to she was to attack. "'Little peanut?!' Why I oughta…!"

"Whoa! Easy! Easy there, Sis," Roxas rapidly cautioned as he and Sora came to stand in her way from either side.

"Yeah, let's not do anything too hasty like letting this low-life get to you, Xion. At least, not just yet," added Sora. He then lowered his voice a bit so he could whisper, "Besides, we still need to try and talk him into letting up on the monster attacks so Herc can get a break, remember?"

As Xion took a deep breath to try and calm down, Hades scowled at the sight of Sora, mentally promising that he would deal with him soon enough, but right now, he had a more important reason for being here, and he was going to address that first. With that in mind, he went back to his conversation with Hercules, picking up right where he left off. "You know, I thought staying in perfect shape was part of the hero job description. You know what I'm saying?"

"So is getting a good rest, something that isn't really possible when you're dealing with a new monster attack day-in and day-out," Ventus interjected, much to Hades's annoyance. Ven was not going to let that stop him from pressing his point though. "I mean, after all you've been through with Herc, I'd have thought you'd want to only beat Hercules when he's at his best. You know, get a win that you can truly appreciate and savor?"

Hades did seem to consider that for a moment, before he finally just said, "Sure, I suppose I could try and do that. Let the kid have a few seconds to catch his breath, rest up, be ready to knock heads in top form, all in the hopes of putting him in his place like some egomaniacal villain, but that type of thing…Meh, overrated. Plus, I'm not some, cheap, cliché, gullible, idiot villain like those guys that I hung out with a year ago, in case you haven't noticed."

"No, you're just the type that likes to make deals, underhanded or otherwise, so long as they can play in his favor somehow," Ventus could not help but snip in return.

"Well, you're not wrong," Hades chuckled, acting like it was no big deal one way or the other if Ven was. He then noticed Hercules slowly closing in on him as if preparing to jump him from the corner of his eye, and stated, "Oh, but before we continue this little chat about character traits and such, I think you might be interested in a little tidbit of mildly interesting news that I came to share with you, Wonderboy. Seems your dear, sweet little Nutmeg went and got herself lost in the Underworld."

"You mean you kidnapped her," Hercules accused, now fully charging at Hades in the hopes of tackling him, only for the god to teleport away from harm in a burst of smoke.

"Well, maybe," Hades shrugged once he had reappeared again. "But why get caught up in the details?"

"I can think of a few good reasons, even without mentioning our past experiences with you," Sora retorted.

"Hey, Spiky. Keep your mouth shut, huh? I've already got a few scores to settle with you, so I wouldn't go adding onto the list anymore than you already have if you know what's good for ya," Hades growled at Sora.

"What? Still sore over how me, Donald, and Goofy beat you last year, or how we interrupted your chat with Auron a short time ago," Sora bravely taunted.

"Oh kid, you seem to be forgetting about that very first offense you made against me, but I'm sure I'll jog your memory of it right before I drop you in the deepest, darkest dungeon the Underworld has to offer," Hades sinisterly chuckled.

"Huh? Very first offense," Sora repeated in question, feeling pretty confused by that remark. As far as he knew, those were the only things he really did to get Hades upset with him, and he could not remember saying or doing anything that would upset the Lord of the Dead when they first met, so what could he have been talking about? Looking to the rest of his friends for some kind of clue did not really help fill in the blanks, but no one seemed to notice how Ventus had tensed up a little out of nervousness after Hades's last remark.

Thankfully, no one had a chance to notice the bearded blonde's sudden state of concern, as Hercules had suddenly whistled loudly, and a moment later, his trusty stead Pegasus came flying down, ready to whisk Herc away to his obvious destination. While the others were in awe of the winged horse though, Hades was a bit more focused on the hero that was about to climb onto its back. "Ah-ah-ah. You can't leave now, okay? You've got a very important match today against, um…the bloodthirsty Hydra," Hades reminded Hercules with a sinister grin. "I mean, if you don't stick around who knows what kind of 'accidents' might happen?"

"You mean who knows besides you," Roxas accused.

"Because they'd be accidents that you cause," Sora finished.

"Like I said: details, who needs 'em," Hades shrugged again.

"You're just a coward," Hercules snapped.

"Ah well. Can't all be heroes," said Hades as he disappeared in another blast of smoke and brimstone.

Hercules was not sure what to do now. He knew that if he did not stay to fight the Hydra, people would get hurt, starting with everyone at the Coliseum, but at the same time, he had to rescue Meg before something happened to her. It was pretty much a guarantee that Hades would not hesitate to hurt her in any way imaginable, and Hercules just could not bear the thought of anything happening to her. He just was not sure what to do right now. It was truly the oldest and greatest dilemma that all heroes face at some point or another: to save one life or many more. Lucky for Hercules, he had a way to do both. He just needed a few of his friends to remind him of that.

"Don't worry. We've got your back, Herc," Ventus assured his friend.

"Yeah, we can go and save Meg while you deal with the Hydra, no problem," Sora agreed without a second thought.

"Are you guys sure," Hercules asked. He wanted to save Meg and everyone here, but he did not want to put his friends in danger just so he could.

"Positive. We're heroes too, you know," Donald proudly reminded him.

"Junior heroes, Donald," Goofy once again reminded him.

"Stop saying that," snapped Donald.

"Hey, we were likely going to find that thief somewhere in the Underworld anyways, so it shouldn't be too hard for us to save Meg too while we're at it," Xion pointed out. When the others looked at her in confusion, she was quick to figure out what they were thinking about, and said, "Where else would they go if they stole the Olympus Stone? The thing is supposed to keep someone safe from the Underworld Curse after all."

"She has a point," Roxas agreed. He then smiled to Hercules and said, "Just leave all of that to us."

Hercules thought it over for a few more seconds before he finally sighed and nodded to the team as he said, "Okay. I'm counting on you guys." He then looked to Pegasus and said, "You'd better go with them so they'll have a better chance of finding Meg, okay Pegasus?"

The winged horse neighed in confirmation and then took off into the sky at incredible speeds, much to Legion's amazement. It did not keep Ventus from noticing how Hercules suddenly started tiredly rubbing his eyes though, a sure sign that his friend was about to drop, and he immediately pulled something out of his pocket for the hero. "Here Herc. You look like you could use this."

"Thanks, but I'm fine. Really," Hercules tried to wave off. Too bad Ventus was not going to have it.

"Hercules, you can either take this elixir and drink it willingly, or I can force it down your throat. Your choice," Ventus said with a no-nonsense tone of voice.

Hercules decided to take the safer option and drank the elixir willingly. He was pretty sure that Ventus would not actually force him to drink it, but given the way he was talking when he gave that threat, he did not want to take any chances and test him. Once he had gulped up every last drop of the restorative drink, he then said, "Thanks. When you find Meg, just whistle for Pegasus and he'll be able to get her out of there."

The others all nodded in response, and then rushed off so that they could dive back down into the Underworld. Sure, they knew that doing so without the Olympus Stone was a risk, but their friend was being held prisoner down there along with the thief whole took the stone. It was just a chance they would have to take.

---

The team had barely gotten that far into the Underworld when they found a sign trouble again, but thankfully, it was not more Heartless or any other variety of monsters. The bad news was that it was the sight of Phil passed out on the ground. Moving quickly, the Legion was soon by Phil's side and doing whatever they could to get him up again so they could be certain that he was okay, and luckily, it seemed that he was not too seriously hurt.

"Phil, what happened to you," Ventus asked once the satyr was at least able to sit upright.

"Long story short: I spotted this strange guy all dressed in black and chased after him, but then he turned around on me. Next thing I know, I'm seeing stars, and not in a good way. All I wanted was to ask if he was interested in being a backup hero so Herc could take a break. Guess no one ever told him that a simple no usually works just as well," Phil informed them.

"All dressed in black," repeated Donald and Goofy in shock.

"It's gotta be the thief who stole the Olympus Stone," Xion reasoned. She then looked to Phil and asked, "Why would you be following someone like that in the first place?"

"Hey, he was wearing the same outfit that Roxas used to wear back in the day when we first met, so I figured he was probably a lot like him," Phil admitted.

"Yep, I'd say that confirms it was the Organization member we saw down here earlier," Roxas stated, feeling that his earlier comment about the said member being the thief was now justifiably proven. "Fair warning for future reference, Phil: those guys are bad news, and definitely no heroes."

"Then why did it look like you were one of them," Phil asked. "I mean, I'm pretty sure that he was somebody I saw you hanging out with a couple of times when you were here before, so…"

"Uh…I was going through some stuff at the time," was the best answer Roxas could give. He quickly changed the topic soon after though, mainly because he did not want to stay on this one for longer than necessary. "Did you see which way he went?"

"Yeah, down that way," Phil said as he pointed to the large green door. "I'd be careful though; that part of the Underworld is said to be home to a lot of bad stuff. Only the toughest of heroes have a chance of getting in and out of there in one piece."

"Then I guess it's a good thing that we've got plenty of heroes going down there. Heroes who would've been happy to fill in for Herc if you had just asked," Sora proudly declared.

"Oh yeah? You know some guys," Phil perked up, eager to hear about whoever it was that Sora was talking about. When the entirety of the Keyblade Legion all summoned their weapons and assumed heroic poses, Phil felt his excitement die down, and he only said, "Oh, good one…"

"Hey, you saying we can't handle it," Xion demanded, feeling a little insulted for the second time since coming here.

"I'm saying none of you are on Herc's level. Well, except for Ven, he's probably the only one of you that could come close to it," Phil stated like he was talking about the weather.

None of them had a comeback for that, as they were all well-aware of just how strong and capable Ventus really was compared to the rest of them, but it did not matter for the moment. They still had a job to do and little time to spare for an argument with Phil. Just as they were about to race off into the depths of the Underworld again, Phil suddenly called out for them to wait, and rushed over to Roxas and Xion.

"Here, I get the feeling you two might need these," Phil said as he handed them a couple of boxes that he pulled from somewhere on his person.

"What are they," asked Xion after she accepted hers.

Roxas did not wait for Phil to answer, but instead, just went ahead and opened his box. When he did, he let out a surprised gasp at the sight of what was inside, making the whole group turn to him as he retrieved the contents from the box. "It's another Keychain," Roxas exclaimed, showing it off to everyone so that they could see the dark blue chain that was connected to a blue, five-pointed star with a circular gap in the center. "The Abyssal Tide Keychain."

Xion quickly tore open her own box, and found that it too contained a Keychain. This one had a token that took on the shape of a circular, blue hook that nearly formed a complete circle, while almost resembling a dragon's head in appearance, and like Roxas, it did not take Xion long to identify this new Keychain. "Leviathan."

"Another pair of Keychains that you guys used to use," Sora guessed.

"Must be, but how did you get them, Phil," Roxas asked.

"I couldn't really tell you. They just showed up in the lobby one day while I was doing some work on one of the training arenas, along with a note asking for me to hold onto them until a certain, special pair showed up here to reclaim them. I figured that they probably belonged to one of you guys, and what's more specific or special than a pair of Keyblade wielders, am I right?"

"Who was the note from," asked Xion, hoping that might give them a clue as to who had been scattering her and Roxas's old Keychains around the worlds.

"Don't know. It wasn't signed," Phil shrugged. "I didn't recognize the writing either."

If they needed further proof that the Keychains from their old collections had made their way to other worlds, Roxas and Xion certainly had it now, but unfortunately, it also came with yet another new mystery for them: the question of just who it was that scattered them like this. In fact, it was starting to seem like this whole journey was designed to give them one new mystery after another, be it ones that were quickly solved on whatever world they traveled to, or the bigger ones that related to the pasts that they had asked Naminé to wipe their memories of, and it was starting to get a little annoying for both Roxas and Xion.

Sadly, they doubted that they would find any answers to that mystery here, and even if there was a chance that they could, they were not really given the chance to look, as Ventus suddenly said, "Worry about it later. We've still got a job to do."

"Uh, right. Coming," Roxas and Xion stuttered, and they quickly pocketed their newly reacquired Keychains while following their friends into the Underworld once more.

Their dive down became a bit more literal with the first cavern they stepped into. At first, it looked like the floor was just covered with a dense ground fog, but after taking a few steps forwards, Sora found out that it was not by promptly dropping through the dark clouds, and vanishing from sight. Everyone was quick to panic after seeing Sora's fall, but they all soon relaxed when Sora shouted that he was okay and the drop was not even that big. Still, they all took great care as they made their way down to him, and it was a good thing too, because the minute just half of the group had made it to Sora's location they were jumped by more Heartless.

They were not that worried; after all, even the Heartless were dangerous, these were all still just basic, normal Heartless that they dealt with all the time, so they made sure to make quick work of them. That was not to say that they did not have any troubles, or that it would not have gone by quicker if they had full access to all of their abilities, but it was still fairly easy to deal with all the Heartless with just their basic powers and skills. If anything, this was really just served to help them see how all that training at the Coliseum had paid off for them.

For the most part, this mainly showed in the cases of the three Keyblade apprentices, as Sora, Roxas, and Xion were now displaying skills and abilities that they had often struggled with before said run. In fact, if you were to look at how well they were fighting, you would think that they were reading each other's minds as they did. It was certainly not an inaccurate guess, because as it turned out, all that quality time training together ended up being the thing that they needed to finally establish a full D-Link between the three of them, and they were taking full advantage of it. Every time one of them caught sight of an incoming attack one or both of the other two did not notice, they immediately alerted them with a mental shout, leading to the ones who would be attacked to get clear in any way, and more often than not, allow the person who warned them to get a chance to counterattack in their place. Another example would be when they needed to prep for a team-up move, and instead of shouting out a signal to the person they were tag-teaming with, they would just send the signal via the D-Link. As such, the twins managed to pull off a large number of their usual tag-team combos in record time, while Sora was even able to add his own extra touch to those moves, create openings for their attacks, or deliver a final blow when the occasion called for it.

Ventus was happy to see that all three of his apprentices had managed to forge a D-Link between each other, but he was still a bit let down that he was still only able to make one with Sora. It did not stop him from being as extraordinary as usual though, and even if he could not use a D-Link with the kids, he was still able to use the one he had with Donald and Goofy to pull off a similar display of teamwork. Everything from incredible magic attacks to quick, powerful physical ones was at the beck and call of this trio, and to add a little icing on the cake, Ventus even brought about more than a few decisive ends to several fights using his special attacks and magic powers like Salvation. Even with all these incredible displays of magic and fighting prowess, none of it was able to keep the group from getting pretty worn out a little more quickly than they usually would when they had access to their full power.

Still, with or without the ability to fight at full strength, the Legion was still able to get pretty far down into the Underworld without much worry or injury, but there was still no sign of Meg or the thief anywhere. At least, there was not any sign until they came to one large chamber and found someone in an Organization coat standing before the entrance into the next room, and no one wasted any time preparing themselves for what was more than likely an inevitable fight. That is until the Organization member turned around and started talking to them.

"Ah! You again," the guy gasped in fear as he lowered his hood, revealing a face with green eyes and dirty-blond hair that was styled in a mullet. "Wait a sec… Roxas? Xion?"

"That's our names; don't wear 'em out," Xion quipped as she summoned out her Keyblade while Roxas did the same.

"Hey! Whoa there! Let's not get too crazy or anything," the Organization member insisted. "I mean, you wouldn't really want to fight one of your old buddies, would you?"

"That's funny, because I don't think we need to remember all that much about our time with the Organization to know that Axel was the only actual friend we had in the group," Roxas retorted without a second thought.

"Now that hurts. I thought we were close! I mean, come on Xion, don't you remember all the times I tried to cheer you up with some music after a bad day of dealing with Saïx, or what about that time when you wanted to learn a little bit more about music in general and came to me because I was the best musician you knew," the Organization member asked. "Oh, and Roxas, how about all those times we came to the Coliseum on this world and I backed you up in some of your matches?"

Xion's eyes furrowed in an effort to help bring the memories he was talking about to the surface, while Roxas just rolled his eyes and responded without thinking. "If by 'backed me up' you mean that you slipped away at the first chance you got so you could avoid doing any work, then yeah, I'm…starting to remember that pretty well."

"What do you mean 'starting to remember'? Don't tell me you seriously forgot all about your old buddy Number IX? You know, Demyx," said the newly identified Nobody.

Roxas and Xion were not sure how to respond to that, but Sora did have an answer of his own loaded. "It doesn't matter if they do remember you or not. Right now, I think you have something that doesn't belong to you, and this is the only chance you'll have to give it back."

"What? I don't know what you're talking about… Uh Other Roxas," Demyx feigned ignorance.

"Excuse me," Sora shrugged. "My name is Sora. I thought you guys knew that."

"Don't worry about it too much. From what I've seen during my scouting missions, he's not exactly the brightest bulb in the room," Ventus waved off. "Or the most useful, considering how lazy he does tend to be."

"Okay, now I know you're trying to hurt my feelings," Demyx whined.

"Said the only Nobody in the room who doesn't have a heart. Don't pretend otherwise; you're a terrible actor," Xion accused.

If Nobodies did have any ability to feel, then the look on Demyx's face definitely proved that he was mad now, or at the very least annoyed as he pulled a piece of paper out of his coat sleeve and began reading it aloud. "Okay, let's see here… 'If the subjects fail to respond, use aggression to liberate their true disposition.' Right. Did they ever pick the wrong guy for this one…"

The Legion just stared at him for a few minutes, hardly believing that this guy could be a member of Organization XIII, with or without the fact that he was a Nobody, until they all ultimately came to one conclusion. "This guy's weird," Donald muttered.

"You can say that again," Ventus nodded.

Demyx then drew a circular object from his sleeve, and judging by the lightning bolt emblem on it, the Legion instantly figured out exactly what it was. "The Olympus Stone," Sora and Xion gasped.

"So he is the thief," Goofy accused.

"I knew it," shouted Roxas.

"Now that's just plain rude," Demyx complained.

"Doesn't make it any less true," Xion pointed out, preparing her Keyblade for action once again. "Give us back the Olympus Stone, Demyx. Now."

"Hmmm…I guess I could…Or I could make you work for it," Demyx grinned wickedly. He then raised the stone above his head, and after allowing it to bathe him in a shower of light, he called forth a weaponized sitar, strummed a few of the strings, and shouted, "Dance water! Dance!"

All at once, various different creatures that looked a little like clones of Demyx made out of water suddenly formed around the group and began spinning around the area with the Keyblade Legion right in the center. For a brief second, it looked like they were just for show, until they suddenly rushed at the group as if intending to dog-pile them. Luckily for them, a majority of the Legion managed to roll or jump out of the way, save for Xion, who merely dispersed as many as she could with a quick spinning attack. Upon completion of her spin, Xion leapt right at Demyx, determined to knock him out quickly, but she was intercepted by another water form right when she got close, giving Demyx his chance to slip back and summon some more. Seeing his sister was now having to deal with more of these guys, Roxas quickly rushed to her aid and cut down several of the forms with both of his Keyblades.

Donald and Goofy were quick to join the twins in battle against the water forms, leaving Ventus and Sora to try and close in on Demyx. Too bad for them, they ended up having just as much luck getting through to the sitar player as the rest of their team was, because once again, more water forms appeared to bar their path. It really looked like they were going to have to get rid of the pesky, oversized water drops if they were going to land even one hit on Demyx, so the team switched up their focus to destroying every water form that appeared within their sights. The good news was that these water forms tended to be very easy to destroy, but the downside was that there were so many of them that it was easy for the Legion to get overwhelmed if they were not careful. More to the point, without their full strength and only their regular magic to rely on, the team was not sure how long this fight could go on for, and they could not afford to waste any time right now.

Having realized this, each Keyblade wielder did whatever they could to find an opening they could exploit so they could speed things up a little. At least, two of them were, while the twins were able to think of something pretty quickly. Ever since Demyx had introduced himself, more memories of him had started to come back to Roxas and Xion, and with those memories, came the knowledge about this particular ability of his, and some of its weaknesses, so it was not long before the easiest of those weaknesses came to their minds. Xion was the first to take advantage of it by rushing the next water form that was within arm's reach, and grabbing it firmly in one hand. It tried to get away, but she held on with a fiercely strong grip, and eventually managed to force it into destroying several more that were close to her.

When the others saw what Xion did, they all grinned mischievously and set to work on repeating her actions, grabbing a water form whenever they could and using it as a weapon that could destroy several more at once, until eventually, the number of water forms had dwindled enough to the point where Donald and Goofy were able to get a clear shot on Demyx, and they both took it without hesitation. One mighty shield throw and a blast of Firaga from the two best friends later, and Demyx was knocked on his butt, putting an end to his sitar strumming and causing all the remaining water forms to collapse into harmless puddles of water. He probably would have scrambled to retrieve his weapon and start up again had he not noticed how everyone had him surrounded with their weapons trained on him.

"Ehehehe…Now is there really any need for the silent death threats," Demyx nervously chuckled, hoping to squeeze out some way to avoid any further conflict.

"Last chance, Demyx. The Olympus Stone. Now," demanded Ventus.

"Okay, okay! Here! Take it," Demyx conceded, passing the stone over to the Keyblade master as fast as he could.

The Keyblade master then stepped back, raised it above his head, and allowed the magic inside the stone to wash over his friends and teammates, giving them a sense of relief as the Underworld Curse's effects were lifted from their bodies. As the light from the stone began to fade away, the Keyblade wielders' armor pieces also let off a quick flash of light that was almost identical to the light from the Olympus Stone, and upon seeing the smirk he was giving them, the three apprentices knew that meant that its magic had now been added to their armor, just like he said it would be. With the Olympus Stone now in their hands and their powers fully restored, the Legion was more than ready to press on in their search for Meg. They did not think it would be too big a deal to leave Demyx where he was for now, considering how harmless he appeared, but he was not about to let them walk away just yet.

"Wait, Roxas, Xion, are you guys sure you don't want to come back to us? I mean, what's the harm in joining up with the only guys who really get you again," Demyx tried to appeal to the twins.

"First off, you don't get us. They do," Roxas started, waving to Sora and the others with his latter statement.

"And second, the 'harm' is that they would likely destroy us on sight or turn us into mindless puppets that wouldn't care about anything but fulfilling the Organization's goals," Xion finished.

"What? No they wouldn't. You guys are like MVPs; why would they get rid of you," Demyx tried to insist, and from the way he was talking, Roxas and Xion got the sense that he really believed what he was saying.

"Gee, I don't know, why don't you ask the army of Nobodies and Heartless that they sent after us when we ran off, or how they sent someone who literally said they had to destroy us if we refused to come back," Roxas easily shot back.

"Wait, what," Demyx gasped. "When did that happen? No one told me anything about that! Why am I always the last to know these things?" When he did not receive any answers to his musings, Demyx looked to see that the Legion was starting to leave again, and quickly called out, "Hey, hey, wait a minute! Don't leave yet!"

"We already beat you! Just scram already," snapped Donald, brandishing his staff in a threatening manner as if to drive the point home.

"Okay, fine, I'll get going and tell the big boss about why we shouldn't bother with this world and about the Absent Silhouette I found."

"Wait, wait, wait," Roxas called out after hearing that last bit. "Absent what?"

"The Absent Silhouette. You know, the shadowy presences of those who were slain," Demyx lightly elaborated. When he only got blank looks from the whole group, he groaned, "Oh come on! I'm sure you guys saw one when you were down here earlier. I mean, how could you have missed it?"

Hearing Demyx mention the last time they were down there was the piece that completed the puzzle for Roxas. "Are you talking about that weird book?"

"Exactly, but they come in a bunch of different shapes and sizes," Demyx confirmed. "The item in the orb belongs to its owner, who is now nothing more than a shadowy presence. They can manifest into a full form if you touch the orb, but the minute they do, they'll start attacking you without hesitation, so you would have to fight them if you want to survive."

"So what? Are they like some kind of Heartless, or Nobody," Ventus prodded.

"Heartless, no. Nobody…Eh, kinda," Demyx shrugged. "I didn't really get all the details, but from what I gathered, I guess you could say they're like…the closest things Nobodies have to ghosts."

"G-g-g-ghosts," Roxas shuddered.

"Yep. Absent Silhouettes are the remains of a Nobody that was defeated, and if they stick around for too long…well, no one knows what could happen," Demyx shrugged. "But I'll bet that you guys could do something to find out."

Just when the team was about to question Demyx on what he meant by that, he disappeared into a Corridor of Darkness without another word. Seeing that he was finally gone did not bring the relief they all thought it would, because he had just added a few more questions to their growing list. Just why would he go ahead and tell them about all of that, and why did it seem like he was encouraging them to find more of these Absent Silhouettes and fight them along with that first one? It did not make sense in any of their minds.

"Just what is he on about," Roxas muttered.

"Worry about it later! We still have to rescue Meg," Donald reminded them.

"He's right. We can save everything else for later," Ventus agreed, and after receiving further nods and words of agreement from the others, they were all quickly moving to get back on track with their current mission.

---

The rest of the Legion's trip down into the Underworld passed by very uneventfully, much to their dismay. They were all eager to let loose and showcase how they were now able to fight at full strength in the Underworld, and the only thing that was more upsetting for them was the fact that even after reaching the very last chamber, there was still no sign of Meg anywhere. Then again, they had only just entered the last chamber and had not really looked around that much yet, so maybe there was a clue somewhere inside. It was not hard to find such a clue; it was practically staring them in the face right after they entered.

There, right in the middle of the room was a large rock with a faint glow around it, and carved onto one side was an image of a sleeping Megara, its outline glowing with a faint, rainbow color. That alone made it suspicious, and the golden keyhole that was right in the middle of the rock only made the group's suspicions grow even more. It was not just because it was a sign of where they could likely find Meg, though; the fact that it was such an obvious, outstanding clue set out so many warning bells you would think that the every one of the emergency responders in a single city was being mobilized for a massive emergency. Seeing this, they all agreed to do a bit more looking around before they did anything, but sadly, they did not find any other way forward.

"So we all know this is likely a trap, right," Ventus asked the group at large.

"Yep," Sora, Roxas, and Xion all answered as one.

"But do we really have any other choice if we want to save Meg," questioned Goofy.

"Uh-uh," Donald replied with a shake of his head, an action that was shared and repeated by the rest of their friends.

"In which case, the most we can really do is make sure we're ready for anything," Ventus concluded. He then reached into his pocket and fished something out. The item in question turned out to be a Keychain with a teal-colored chain and a gold Olympus Stone, which he did not hesitate to snap onto his Keyblade in the place of Guardian Wind's.

The minute Ventus had removed Guardian Wind's Keychain, his Keyblade had reverted to its original, base form of Wayward Wind, but it was soon changing again once he had snapped the other Keychain on, and this one certainly looked like something that was right at home on this world. The blade itself was light grey and the sides of the guard were slate gray, both being topped by white, cloud-shaped swirls. The handle, from could be seen of it, was black, and the entire Keyblade sported gold highlights. At the very tip of the blade was what looked like a golden trophy, with one of its handles being upturned to resemble an arm being flexed, and providing the Keyblade with its teeth, and finishing up the look of the Keyblade who's Keychain Ventus received on his very first visit to this world: Mark of a Hero.

Seeing Ventus trading out his usual default Keyblade for a different one, the rest of the Keybearers decided that they may as well follow his lead and began rifling through their own collections of Keychains. Roxas and Xion did not really have much of a selection to choose from, given that they only had three Keychains apiece aside from the ones they already had equipped on their Keyblades, assuming you were counting that of the Keyblade that Xion used while in Valor Form. Still, it did not stop them from swapping out their Keychains if they felt that any of them would be better suited for the job than their current ones were.

In the end, Xion decided that it could not hurt to go in using her newest Keyblade, and was soon watching as Two Become One transformed into the Leviathan Keyblade. The new Keyblade had a guard whose two halves did not connect at the top of its handle, a light blue shaft, and slightly concaved edges. The head and teeth took a shape that matched its Keychain token, with the most major difference being it was divided into alternating black and blue segments, further adding to its draconic-like appearance. Xion would probably have switched over to Hidden Dragon, but she figured that since they were likely to get into a fight with Hades, it would be better to use a Keyblade that seemed to have a clear water theme to it, at least from what she could tell.

Roxas was of a similar mindset when he switched out Oathkeeper with the Abyssal Tide, but he also decided to exchange Oblivion for Pain of Solitude. The first of his new Keyblades was varying shades of blue, much like Xion's Leviathan Keyblade, with a black handle that possessed a spike in its pommel. The left half of the guard's handle was light blue with a small, black section at the base, while the right half was black, curved outward slightly, and did not connect with the bottom half of the handle. The head of the blade formed a large hook that curved to the left, and its teeth were comprised of three curved spikes that lined the outer edges of the hook. Meanwhile, Pain of Solitude was a much different story, as it sported various different shades of lilac and violet throughout a good deal of its design. Its guard was comprised of spikes curving downwards, while the teeth bore a striking resemblance to the top of half of the general Nobody sigil, albeit with two of the spikes being longer than the others. The blade itself was a simple, black spike that ran through the spikes at the tip, all-in-all, giving it a look of something that almost seemed to represent a lonesome existence.

Finally, there came Sora's choice of Keychain for this upcoming fight, which took a bit longer since he did not have a shortage of blades to choose from. In the end though, he figured that now was the perfect time to test out his newest Keychain, and he quickly switched Kingdom Key's for the one belonging to Excelsior. The handle was a bright red color, while the guard was similar in shape to that of Kingdom Key's, colored blue with white outlining on the edges, and each point of the box-shaped guard was also decorated with circular designs that were reminiscent of Captain America's shield. The blade itself was a large, streamlined shape that was colored red and gold much like Iron Man's armor, and there even seemed to be a glowing, ARC Reactor midway up the blade, and the red portions seemed to be decorated with a black web pattern, while the blade's teeth looked a lot like the head of Mjolnir, but with glowing, lightning designs all around it. In short, the blade looked like it had been made using elements from Spider-Man and three of the mightiest Avengers.

"Whoa! Now that's pretty cool," Roxas breathed in awe at the sight of Excelsior in all of its glory, while Sora did a few practice swings to get a good feel for the blade.

"Yeah, it does look pretty cool, but it's a bit heavier than Kingdom Key. I mean, not as heavy as Metal Chocobo, but it does have a pretty decent, additional weight all the same," Sora admitted after a few more swings. "How about you guys? Notice any changes in your Keyblades aside from the obvious?"

"Well, now that you mention it, mine do feel a bit lighter, but I'm guessing that's partly due to the fact that they have a less bulky size than Oathkeeper and Oblivion," Roxas confessed as he weighed both blades in his hands.

"Same here, but then again, that could come in handy. Lighter blades mean faster strikes, you know," Xion reasoned.

Sora and Roxas both nodded in agreement with Xion's assessment, and Ventus had to smile at how quickly she had reached that conclusion too, but he soon brought their attention back to the matter at hand by saying, "Okay guys; time to get back to work. Ready?"

"Ready," everyone chorused afterwards.

Ventus then pointed his Keyblade at the stone with Meg's image on it, and after a beam shot out from the tip of his Keyblade and made contact with the Keyhole, the rock began to glow a little brighter until it finally vanished altogether, leaving a large hole in the ground with a faint glow around its circumference. Everyone had instantly braced themselves for any kind of ambush that may or may not come at any second, and they did not relax until they were absolutely sure that nothing was coming. It was a brief spell before they finally realized that nothing was going to jump out at them, but they still held an air of caution as they approached their new path forward, or downward in this case.

Upon diving down into the hole, they came out in a large, circular chamber that was surprisingly well-lit in comparison to the rest of the Underworld, likely due to the large beam behind them that served as the way back out, and there, standing just a few feet away from them, was Hades and a tied up Meg. Seeing both their captive friend and the God of the Dead standing before them, everyone immediately brandished their weapons, as Ventus shouted, "Let her go, Hades! Before we make you!"

No one was surprised that Meg smiled in relief when she saw the Keyblade Legion had come to her rescue, but they were a little put off by the sight of Hades's grin. That soon grew to worry and confusion when Hades chuckled, "Wow, looks like he wasn't kidding. Now those are definitely what I call keys. Thanks for your help, kids. I'd say we're all now on track to having the slate between us wiped clean. Now have a nice day."

"Hey wait," Sora shouted, but by the time he was within reach, Hades had already popped away in his usual burst of smoke and brimstone. Seeing that the villain had escaped to scheme another day, Sora could not help but wonder aloud, "What was that all about?"

"Don't know, but it's never a good sign when the bad guys are happy to see heroes succeed, so I say we get out of here while we have a chance," Ventus reasoned.

"It might be too late for that! Behind you," Meg shouted in warning.

Right after Meg had shouted her warning, a familiar, bellowing laugh reached everyone's ears, and they all turned to see Pete standing triumphantly with a squad of Heartless flanking him on either side. "Surprise nimrods! I told you I wasn't gonna let you get off easy," the big bully chortled. Clearly he seemed to think he had an advantage, because he kept on mocking them by adding, "Aw, what's wrong? Can't fight in the Underworld? Oh boo-hoo-HOO!"

"You sure about that? Because I'm feeling just fine," Ventus questioned, his Keyblade out and ready again right after Pete had finished his annoying laugh. Just to prove his point, an aura of energy began surging around him, and quickly came to settle as he shouted, "Command Style: Fever Pitch!"

"Wh-WHA?!" Pete gasped in disbelief. "How'd you do that?! You're not supposed to be able to do that down here!"

"Hey, haven't you heard? Curses are meant to be broken," Xion quipped in return right as her clothes changed to the gold and emerald colors of her Valor Form.

Pete only growled angrily. "D'oh, it doesn't matter either way! There's no escape for any of you this time. CHARGE!"

At once, several Hook Bats swooped in to attack, but Ventus was too fast for them thanks to his personal Command Style, she was able to avoid and take them out very easily. Xion was just as fast in her reaction, as she simply ran to one side before rushing the Heartless that Pete had set loose on them, cutting them down in several fast flashes of her two Keyblades. The other boys were soon joining in on the action, but Goofy tended to stay close to Meg so he could keep her safe. Much to their surprise, Pete actually did join his dark minions in fighting them this time, but Donald, Roxas and Sora were able to counter and engage him the minute they realized he was in the fight too.

A quick blast of his Typhoon Barrage Shotlock, and Sora was able to blast several Heartless out of the fight while sending Pete flying through the air towards Roxas. The blonde did not hesitate to unleash his own, high-speed attack, and instantly delivered several slashes to Pete before the overweight cat had even hit the ground. Apparently his big size was not just for show though, as Pete was up on his feet again and ready to attack, until he was suddenly blasted in the face with a fireball, courtesy of Donald. Angry at the magician's sneak attack, Pete immediately leapt up to unleash a powerful ground-pound attack that made Donald stumble a little, leaving him open for when Pete threw out a fireball like a bowling ball. Another wave of his hand allowed Pete to call down a blast of lightning magic that would have singed Donald's feather off of his body had Roxas not come in to block the blast with Abyssal Tide and Pain of Solitude, and he was quick to begin a counterattack right after. The speed at which Roxas attacked certainly seemed faster than normal, proving Xion's theory about how the lighter Keyblades meant he could deliver faster attacks, but the downside was that it seemed they did not pack quite as much of a punch as his normal ones did. Thankfully, Sora was able to make up for that, as he proved when he dropped in to hit Pete with an attack from above using Excelsior.

When his Keyblade hit both Pete and the ground, everyone could swear that they heard it make a sound that was similar to the one Captain America's shield often made, and from what they could see, it was also accompanied by a blast of lightning that definitely did not come from Sora's usual lightning spell. Sora did not seem to notice though, as he was more preoccupied with slamming his Keyblade into Pete, and every swing that connected seemed to pack more power in it than the last. Even when Pete created a magic shield to protect himself, Sora did not stop. Instead, when his Keyblade hit the shield, it actually sent Pete rolling around the room like a hamster in its wheel, much to everyone's amusement. That particular attack was something that Sora definitely noticed, given how he was grinning madly at what he just did, but he did not relax just yet. There was still plenty of fight left to be had.

Proof that was from Xion and Ventus's side of the battle, as the two were blazing through Heartless as fast as they could. With their respective power-ups, it was no surprise that destroying the Heartless went by much faster than normal, even for them, and even when Xion's Valor Form finally ran out of power and Ventus unleashed the full power of Fever Pitch, they did not seem to slow down to a major degree. The two back-hand wielding Keybearers were rushing, slashing, and blasting the Heartless so quickly that it was surprising that they had yet to become little more than a pair of blurs as they moved across the battlefield. It could not last forever though, especially when the fight started to drag on for a little longer than it should have.

With all of this happening, and their past experiences with Pete, you would think that the fight would be over in a heartbeat, but apparently, Pete decided to do a little practicing since the last time they saw him, and it showed with how he still kept on throwing out spell after spell while calling more Heartless to his aid to replace whatever number of ones that the team destroyed. Seeing this, the team decided that it was time to cut their losses and just Meg to safety, and without even waiting, Sora rushed over to cut Meg free while Ventus whistled as loudly as he could for Pegasus. Getting Meg free was a simple task, but unfortunately, the winged horse did not appear as they had expected him to when the Keyblade master had whistled, so Ventus tried again, only to receive the same results.

The rest of the Legion were soon whistling as well, but even when they all whistled as one, Pegasus did not show, and Donald eventually warbled, "Where's that bird-brained horse at!? We need to get out of here, now!"

No one had an answer, but it did come soon enough, when Pegasus's loud neigh was finally heard, followed by a grunt of exertion. The next thing Pete knew, one of his own Heartless had hit him from behind, leaving him sprawled on the floor like a welcome mat for Hercules as he rode in on his trusty stead. "Hey, sorry I'm late," Herc greeted with a wave.

The others all grinned in return to the hero, as Ventus replied, "Actually, I'd say you're right on time."

Hercules grinned at the blonde's joke before he dismounted from Pegasus, helped Meg onto said horse's back, and then said, "You guys get Meg out of here. I'll meet you back at the Coliseum."

"Wait, what about you," Sora questioned.

"I'm gonna show these guys what happens when they mess with a true hero," Hercules proudly declared with a flex of his muscles.

"Not alone you won't," Ventus argued. "I've got your back, buddy."

Hercules nodded in thanks as he and Ventus turned to face their opponents, and with a quick wave of his Keyblade, Ven cast a blast of the spell Tornado to clear a path for his friends to run through. Sora quickly led the charge out of the cave, as Pegasus flew safely overhead, but Pete was not too eager to let anyone leave just yet and quickly gave chase. He did not get too far though, as Mark of a Hero was suddenly thrown into his way, the blade stabbing into the ground with a loud clang. After the blade's appearance came Hercules and Ventus, the latter of which easily plucking the Keyblade from the ground as he glared at Pete, and both of them were more than ready to fight. At least, that was what it looked like on the surface.

"You sure you're up for this? I mean, you did just finish fighting a match at the Coliseum," Ventus asked Hercules, worried that his friend might be pushing himself too hard.

"No worries. I've got this," Hercules promised, but even now, Ventus could see a tired look in Herc's eyes that left him worried about just how true that statement was. Still, he knew that even while Hercules was tired, Ventus was more than likely still not strong enough to stop him from fighting right now even if he wanted to, so he just buckled down and prepared to do battle once again.

---

Getting out of back to the last chamber they were in was simple enough for Sora and the gang. All they really had to do was touch the beam of light that was in the center of the room, and they were brought back up to where they had been before. From there, it was more than likely going to be an easy run back to the Coliseum, but Meg was not willing to leave just yet. "I'm really worried for him, you guys," Meg told the Legion. No one needed to guess who she was talking about.

"Don't worry. Herc will be okay, and besides, he's got Ven with him. I'm sure they'll be fine," Sora tried to reassure her.

Meg was not having any of it though. "Look, even Herc has his limits and he's clearly about to hit them, assuming he hasn't already. I mean no disrespect to your master, but after all of the fighting he did with you guys back there, I'm not sure if he's able to give Wonderboy the backup he needs on his own. No one can keep winning forever; not even Hercules."

They all knew that Meg had a point there. Even they felt a bit worn down after the endless wave of Heartless Pete had set loose on them. Add in the fact that said creatures were likely to keep coming so long as Pete was able to keep fighting, and even Ventus was likely to drop like dead weight before he was able to stop the bully of Disney Town. Knowing this made every one of them want to go back and help their friends, but at the same time, they could not leave Meg to try and escape on her own, even with Pegasus's help, so there was only one thing that they could do.

"Okay then. Roxas, Donald, and Goofy, you guys take Meg and Pegasus out of here. Xion and I will go and back up Ven and Herc," Sora ordered.

"Wait a minute. Donald and Goofy are more than enough to help Pegasus get Meg to safety. Why are you telling me to go with them," questioned Roxas.

"It's called being cautious. We don't know what you guys will run into on the way back, so it makes sense to have at least one Keyblade wielder go with them. Who better to send than one of our strongest wielders in terms of raw strength," reasoned Sora.

Roxas knew Sora had a point, but he was still against the idea of leaving Xion to fight Pete and the Heartless on her own, even if she was with some of her friends. Goofy was the first to realize why Roxas was against this plan, and soon said, "Now Roxas, I know you're worried about your sister, but you can't keep coddling her forever. There always comes a time when you gotta let your family strike out on their own, otherwise they may never learn how to depend on themselves when things get tough."

"Goofy's right. Xion's plenty strong with or without you. You've said so yourselves, so have a little faith in her," Donald agreed without a second thought.

Hearing what his friends were saying did seem to help Roxas relax a little more, but he still turned to both of his siblings as he said, "Promise me that you'll both be careful and come back in one piece."

It did not take much for either of them to decipher the deeper meaning to his words, and they both smiled to Roxas as they nodded in reply, with Sora saying, "I promise."

"Same here. Now get going already before you make this anymore sappy than it already is, Bro," said Xion with a playful grin.

Roxas and the others all nodded in return, and with that, Pegasus took off once again with Meg on his back, and Roxas, Donald, and Goofy following after him on foot. The second their friends were all out of sight, Sora and Xion shared a brief nod with one another, and then dived back down into the hole that they had just come out of, entering the chamber that the rest of their friends were battling Pete in once again. From the look of things, they made it back just in time, because Hercules was looking more exhausted than ever, and Ventus was starting to pant a little heavily too, indicating that he was probably putting in a bit more effort to protect Herc than he normally would have. It was a little hard to believe that things had already gotten so bad in the short time they were gone, and it made Sora and Xion both begin to wonder just how little resting Hercules had actually done up until now, but they could question him on that after they knocked Pete down a few pegs, so they took aim and fired off a few quick blasts of ice magic to announce their return to the action, destroying or freezing any Heartless that were hit by the icy blast before anyone could blink.

Hercules and Ventus quickly spared a look in the two younger wielders' direction after their attack, but otherwise only grinned to acknowledge Sora and Xion's arrival. Pete on the other hand was much clearer in his feelings about the two returning combatants, as he sneered and growled at them before casting several more spells with the intention of blasting the two several times over. Thankfully none of Pete's spells hit their mark thanks to some quick dodging on their part, but his rapid assault of magic also made it hard for anyone to get close to him and hit back. Thankfully, Xion had gotten a lot quicker on the draw when it came to magic, and was soon firing back with whatever spells she had in her own arsenal. Some ended up blocked or dodged, but the few times that she did manage to score a hit left Pete wide open for her or one of the others to move in and attack for a good deal of time, until Pete either sent some Heartless after them, or found a way to force them back again.

Xion was not the only one to bring a little magic to the good guys' team, as Hercules was powering up his usual golden aura powers as well to give them a little extra edge in the fight, even going so far as to conjure some aura spheres that he could throw at Pete for additional firepower. The only problem there was that doing so seemed to make Hercules more tired every time he did this, and afterwards, it took a little longer to activate his godly aura again. If that was proof of how tired he was, then none of the three Keybearers were sure what could be. Now was hardly the time to be calling him out on it, but given the level of fatigue he was showing, they could not help but feel like they should have tried to do so a little sooner. At the rate things were going, the three were soon finding themselves defending him more than they were attacking Pete or the Heartless, and they were not going to win the fight any time soon if that kept up.

To make matters worse, they eventually felt the ground start to shake beneath their feet while the room began crumbling a little as rocks began dropping from somewhere up above them. It started off as a faint rumble, and steadily grew into a bigger and bigger quake, until it reached the point where it could no longer be ignored, because all these signs could only mean one thing: the cavern was beginning to collapse with them still inside. They all tried to make a run for it when they realized this, but Pete and the Heartless were determined to keep them where they were, regardless of the cavern's stability. Normally, one of them would have pointed out that Pete would be either crushed or trapped down here too if he did not let them leave, but somehow, Sora, Ventus, and Xion just knew that the weasel of a cat had some way of safely escaping at his disposal, so the only ones really in danger were them and Hercules.

Pete only proved this to be true when he chortled, "Oh dear! Looks like your world's about to come crumbling down, and you've got no way out without going through me and the Heartless. So watcha gonna do now, little heroes?"

"Take a wild guess," Ventus retorted as he rushed in with Sora right by his side, and the two immediately began a coordinated attack. Normally it would have worked, but given how long they had been fighting before Hercules had arrived, along with the amount of Heartless Pete still had supporting him, it was a miracle that the master and apprentice were able to land so much as one hit on their foe.

As a result, Pete was able to eventually blast Sora and Ventus away from, and right into a charging Hercules, sending all three sprawling across the floor, and leaving Xion as the only one still standing to challenge Pete. She was not the least bit afraid though, as proven when she glared back at Pete defiantly, Keyblade in hand and ready to attack. When Pete saw how Xion was the only one left to fight him for the moment, he let out another laugh as he said, "Aw, is the little girl gonna cry because she's all by herself? What can you really do now, twerp? I've got your number."

Xion just growled angrily and rushed in, determined to make Pete eat those words. Her efforts were admirable, but ultimately ended in failure, as Pete managed to overwhelm her with both his Heartless squad and his own magic powers, right to the point where she was soon dropping to her knees before him. Xion did not stay down for very long, and the minute she was back on her feet again, she let loose a few more spells to try and lessen the number of Heartless that were around when she moved in to attack again. The only problem was that with every Heartless she destroyed, it seemed like another three took its place, and the only purpose her efforts really served in the end was to make Pete laugh. Not that it lasted for long, because eventually, he began to just grow more annoyed than amused as Xion kept getting back up and trying over and over again to get through his Heartless squad and him no matter how many times she was knocked down.

The next time he managed to blast Xion back, he let out a loud groan as he saw her swallow a whole Ether in one big gulp to replenish her magic energy a little more quickly, and then get back on her feet again, albeit a little more shakily. "Oh, come on. Just call it quits already," Pete grumbled. "You can't win, kid, so why bother to keep tryin'?"

Xion just glared up at Pete and replied, "Because I made a promise to both my brother and a friend; a promise to reunite with that friend one day and to get back to my brother in one piece. Not only that, but my friends…No, my family believes that I have the strength to handle stuff like this. So I'm not about to let any of them down!"

What Xion did not realize was that while she was speaking, her body had started to glow with a faint, teal colored aura that grew brighter and brighter with every word she spoke, so that by the time Sora, Ven, and Hercules had gotten up again, it was just in time to see the aura explode outwards and then settle around Xion's body in a way that the two Keybearers were both very familiar with. "Whoa! Ven, is that what I think it is," Sora gasped in excited awe.

"If you you're thinking that it's a Unique Command Style, then I'd say you're right on the munny, Sora," Ventus gladly confirmed.

Pete seemed a little unsettled by the sudden change Xion had just undergone, but he managed to recover just enough to send more Heartless in to attack while rolling out some more explosive bowling balls. Unlike the last few times though, any attacks that did hit Xion were stopped by a reflective barrier that just sprung up on its own nearly every time an attack was about to hit her. When she finally moved to attack, it looked as though she was skating along the ground, and every one of her swings seemed to be accompanied by one of the basic three elements of magic that they had been taught up until now. Some swings allowed her to incinerate several Hook Bats with a stream of fire, others left some Soldiers frozen in their tracks, and every other flourish of her Keyblade called out a blast of lightning that destroyed any remaining Heartless in an instant. It did not even stop there, as sometimes, Xion would even extend her off-hand out to fire a sphere light magic at any unwitting target that happened to be in her line of sight, and more often than not, Pete turned out to be that target. Seeing all of this made Ventus think of Aqua's Unique Tier One Command Style, with the biggest difference being that Xion did not seem to be casting any spells to attack with the various elements; they all seemed like a natural extension of her new power, and that was before she had spun away to unleash her finisher.

"Command Style: MAGIC TAPESTRY FINISHER," Xion hollered at the top of her lungs after spinning around on one heel while drawing back the arm she held her Keyblade in. Right after announcing the activation of her finishing attack, Xion swung her Keyblade forward, and rushed forward while holding out in front of her while it spun like a windmill. As it spun, everyone could see a mixture of fire, ice, and lightning coating the blade, while the aura around her body lit up even more than usual. Every Heartless she passed by in her charge was quickly struck down by one of three elements circling her spinning blade, while anything in front of her was decimated by all of those same elements at once, plus a bit of light magic. Pete ended up finding out just how much the latter of those hurt very swiftly, as he ended up being the last thing to be hit by the full force of Xion's charge, right before she came to a stop behind him. A quick swing of her blade later then created a powerful explosion that was mix of fire, ice, and lightning all at once that finally knocked Pete out of the fight at last, while Xion herself stood tall and unblinking with a proud smirk on her face.

The others were so amazed by what they had just witnessed that they could barely speak. Sure, this was not the first time that Xion had used a Command Style, but the fact that she had managed to awaken her Unique Tier One Style so early in her training, and certainly much sooner than Sora had his, was an incredible feat on its own, never mind the fact that she had just used said power to end the fight in their favor. It was that last detail that really got Pete riled up, but it was not until he started moaning and groaning again while picking himself up that anyone registered how he was still there.

"You know what? Whatever. This place gives me the creeps anyways," Pete grumbled like the sore loser he is. "I'll deal with all of you nitwits later."

With that, Pete turned tail and ran off, and the heroes were sure that was the end of matters here, until they realized that the room was still shaking. More than that, with how much of it was coming apart, it was likely to be only a matter of time before the whole place collapsed, so no one had any complaints or arguments when the four decided to make a run for the exit. In point of fact, they did not even stop running until they had come out to the main entrance to the Underworld again. Sure, it was a long distance, but none of them really cared that much so long as they managed to put some distance between them and the cave that they had nearly ended up buried alive inside of. It was hard to say if they had hit a stroke of good luck when they did not run into any Heartless on the way out, but nobody really cared right now. They were just glad that the whole mess was over with.

The minute he was sure that they were not going to be jumped by any bad guys again, Sora grinned widely as he grabbed Xion in a one armed-hug while ruffling her hair and laughing happily. "Xion, you were AMAZING! You won by a landslide and awakened your first Unique Command Style," he cheered.

Xion had already started smiling from the moment that Sora had jumped her in such an affectionate embrace, but hearing his excited praise made it grow larger and brighter a lot faster than it already had been. The shower of praise did not stop with Sora though, because Ventus was adding a few words of his own in too. "You have every right to be proud of this Xion. Very few wielders manage to discover and activate their Unique Tier One Command Style so soon into their training, and that's without the fact that even compared to Sora, you managed to get yours in record time."

Even though Ven's comment probably could have been viewed as a jab at him, Sora found that he did not care. He was just too happy for his littler sister's accomplishment just now, and it showed in how he hugged her all the tighter with continued cheers and laughter. Xion was feeling just as ecstatic as Sora, and could not help but comment, "Well what can I say? I have some really good teachers."

That got Sora to finally let go of her, although in a bit more of a panic than some would probably have expected, and he quickly corrected, "Whoa, no! Teacher and sibling disciple. You have a really good teacher and a really good sibling disciple." He then gestured from Ventus to himself as he finished, "Teacher…Sibling disciple."

No one could help laughing or giggling at how silly Sora was acting right now, even if he was not joking about how much the idea of being considered a teacher so soon freaked him out, and Ventus felt it necessary to add a little more fuel to the flames of humor. "I don't know. With how you've been doing lately with showing her all the tricks and skills I've taught you so far, I'm actually starting to think that maybe I was a little too hasty in thinking you weren't ready to take on an apprentice."

"Not funny," retorted Sora, even as the others all continued laughing.

All sense of amusement quickly died when the sound of slow clapping suddenly echoed from behind them, and they all turned to see Hades approaching them once more as he continued his mocking clap. "Very nicely done, Peanut. Now that was some good work back there. Unlike our resident hero washout, Wonderboy over here," Hades drawled. "I mean geez Louise, did you really blow it this time, Herc."

As off-putting as it was to have Hades praising them for getting out of his trap, everyone was a little confused by his latest jab at Hercules. They soon just figured he was referring to how Meg had gotten kidnapped and was now coming to try something else, so it was only natural for Ventus to give the retort that he did. "Just crawl back into your hole already, will you? No one likes a sore loser, Hades."

"Can it, Keyboy Two," Hades snapped.

"Two? Who's one," Sora asked in confusion.

"One would be his old buddy Chickenheart, obviously, and for the record, this conversation does not involve Three, either," Hades supplied, extending his scathing remark to Sora just as swiftly.

"Then how about Keygirl," Xion challenged.

"Or even me," Hercules added. "No one likes a sore loser, Hades. Time to crawl back into your hole."

"Yeah, yeah, Styx and stones," Hades just waved off. "A couple things though. One, Peanut, I'm afraid that you're Keygirl Three, with One and Two being Breezy's girl, Bluebird, and Little Red. And two, you guys might want to go check on that Hydra that Hercules neglected to finish off. I hear things are really…falling apart up there, kids."

"What're you talking about? I beat the Hydra," Hercules stated.

"Did you now? Because, I could swear that I heard a lot of rampaging, roaring, and screaming coming from the coliseum. I mean, there was certainly enough of it to get the rest of your buddies to go running up there in a panic," Hades remarked, and just like that, everyone started to get a little more worried.

Right when they were about to call Hades a liar, Meg suddenly came running over to them, as she shouted, "Wonderboy! Sora! Ven! The coliseum's in trouble! The Hydra's on the rampage again, and Roxas, Donald, and Goofy are fighting it right now!"

"WHAT," every one of the heroes shouted in surprise, while Hades just grinned his malicious grin.

"You see? What did I tell ya," Hades shrugged. "Well, I'd hate to run, but I've got another little diversion to attend to, and it looks like you folks have some bigger problems at the moment."

No one was really paying attention to Hades at that point though, even when he finally poofed away again. They were a little distracted by the fact that their friends and all those people up at the coliseum were currently in danger. None more so than Hercules, who had immediately rushed off to get back as fast as he could, and the three Keybearers were right on his heels in an effort to get up there before something happened to their friends. At this point though, they just had to hope that they were not too late.

---

'This was probably not our best idea,' was the one, reoccurring thought Roxas had been having since he, Donald, and Goofy had gotten to the coliseum. You see, the minute he and the others had reached the threshold of the Underworld's exit, they could already hear panicked screaming and loud booms of large objects being destroyed, so it was only natural that he told Meg to stay back while he and his two friends checked things out at the coliseum. What they found was not pleasant, as the entire coliseum was in shambles, while all the spectators and civilians were rushing to get away or for a place to hide, and the culprit was none other than the Hydra that Hades had sent for Hercules to fight.

With little time to think, Roxas, Donald, and Goofy quickly sent Meg back the way they came, thinking that one particular area of the Underworld had to be safer than this place was right now, and charged in to attack. It seemed like an easy enough fight for them to handle, and if the speed in which Hercules had gotten to the Underworld after beating this thing before was any indication, then he was sure that the three of them could handle it without any problems whatsoever. That did not stop Phil from shouting out helpful tips and providing some support here and there to disorient the beast every so often, but considering that the pots Phil tossed up for them to slam into the Hydra so that it was left dazed were a bit help, none of them were complaining.

Between Goofy's staunch defense, Donald's magical skills, and Roxas's fast, impressive blade work, it was not long before they had not only beaten the Hydra, but also sliced off its head, leaving its body to drop to the ground. They were sure that it was over by that point, until Goofy remembered something from their time at Marvel Universe; namely, the slogan for a certain villain organization that they helped the Avengers take down before they had left said world. It turned out to be a bit more true than they realized, because right when they were preparing to let Meg know that it was safe to come back, the Hydra's body suddenly twitched, then moved, and then finally sprouted not one, not two, but three new heads from the stump of its neck that was left from when Roxas had sliced off the original one.

"Hey, what's the big idea?! I thought Hydra's were only supposed to grow two more heads when you cut it off," Donald demanded in the midst of his panic and rushing to avoid being chomped up by one of the three heads.

A quick leap and fast swipe of Abyssal Tide and Pain of Solitude allowed Roxas to force at least two of the heads away from Donald, freeing the magician up for a chance to blast the third with a fire spell, and the blonde quickly shouted, "Question the inaccuracy of monster powers later. Blast the actual monster trying to eat us while destroying the coliseum and likely the city later now!"

"Sorry," Donald hurriedly apologized, and he further made up for his temporary distraction by throwing out a blast of lightning along with any other spell he knew to keep the Hydra off of Roxas as the dual Keyblade wielder made his next charge.

Goofy helped Roxas to better get in range of his next targets by allowing the blonde to springboard off his shield, and Roxas was soon unloading the fastest barrage of slashes and slices he had ever managed up until now on the Hydra. Each of his attacks met their mark, but that was both good and bad in this case, because even though all of Roxas's attacks ended up severing another head, another set of three heads had grown from the stump of the head that had been cut off, until eventually, the three friends were met with the horrifying sight of a monster that had a countless number of heads, all snarling down at them with evil, hideous grins.

"WILL YOU FORGET THE HEAD-SLICING THING," shouted Phil right before he ducked out of sight to avoid being snapped up by one of the Hydra's new heads.

"Hey, I'm open to other suggestions if you have any," snapped Roxas before he had to turn and run from another four heads that were now literally snapping at his heels.

Roxas did not have to worry about getting chomped down on for too long, as Goofy soon came in to bat away the attacking heads with his shield. It was just too bad for them that even the mighty captain of Disney Castle's royal knights was not able to hold back the unlimited number of attacks that the Hydra was able to unleash now, and because of that, he was soon blasted away and out of the fight by the Hydra and a massive stream of fire that it was able to unleash upon them. Seeing Goofy being taken out like that spurned Roxas and Donald to take more drastic action, with the magician throwing out even more magic power than before, while Roxas decided to change tactics and follow Donald's lead. The only difference between Donald and Roxas was that the latter was able to throw out spells at twice the speed thanks to his use of two Keyblades. Right after he had fired a fireball at the Hydra, Roxas was able to quickly bring his other Keyblade around to shoot off several shards of ice, and a quick spin around saw him raising his Keyblades up together as he called down a bolt of lightning that was twice as powerful as the normal one since it was summoned with two Keyblades instead of one.

Even with all of this magic being thrown at it, the Hydra was barely even stumbling under their assault. It did not seem to make much difference when Pegasus swooped down to give Roxas a hand by flying him between the heads of the Hydra, enabling him to land several, direct hits on a number of its heads, either, and at this point, the two were beginning to tire out to the point where they were both panting heavily. Donald's weariness ended up getting him in trouble first, as he was the next one to be taken out by the Hydra, and Roxas only managed to get away thanks to Pegasus swooping in to pull him to safety at the last second. The winged horse's bravery was unable to it from also being brought down shortly after though, and Roxas was left to face the beast alone. Still, no matter how heavy his arms felt, how hard he was panting in an attempt to catch his breath, or how drained he felt after using so much magic at once for the first time in a fight outside of training, Roxas was not going to back down after all of that. This thing had already hurt three of his friends, and he would not let that stand.

Phil saw all of this, and while he did find it admirable, he also did not want to see the kid get hurt or worse. "Roxas, don't be crazy! You gotta get out of there! Grab Donald and Goofy if you can and run for it!"

"NO WAY, PHIL," Roxas snapped back. "I'm not going to just stand here and let this thing get away with hurting my friends like that! And besides, I've already done enough running as it is. For as long as I can remember, I've always run to others when things got especially tough. Not this time! This time, I'm ending things on my turns with my own strength! If I always run to others for help, then I can't ever truly become strong on my own!"

Phil would have shouted a counterargument to Roxas's belief, but someone else beat him to it. "And what's wrong with letting others help you," cried the voice of Roxas's sister, making the blonde turn to see Xion herself standing at the coliseum's entrance along with Sora, Ventus, and Hercules. Even though he took note of how upset Hercules seemed to be, and the concerned looks on Sora and Ven's faces, it was the fierce, frustrated one that Xion was sending to him that really had his attention, which was good, because Xion still had more to say to him. "It's only normal for friends to help each other when you ask, Bro. The same goes for family. They give us more strength than anything else ever could. Even if they're not right next to you, they're always watching your back and helping you up when you fall down. You're the one who taught me that, remember?"

Studying his sister's face for a minute enabled Roxas to see just how much belief she held in those words, and he could not help but nod as he said, "I know, Sis, and I do believe that. But still, think about what we've been through. I've been relying on you, on Ventus, on Axel, and even Sora to help me when things got really tough and confusing for the longest time. Every time I've been in serious trouble, someone's always had to come to my rescue at the last second. Not this time. This time, I need to handle it myself!"

Xion was about to rush over so that she could either help her brother or slap him for being so stupid, at least in her mind, when Sora suddenly held her back, much to her surprise. "You need to let him do this, Xion," the Keyblade warrior calmly said. "This is something that he needs to do on his own so he can prove to himself that he can stand on his own when there comes a moment that he needs to. More than that, he needs you to believe that he can handle himself, just like he did for you."

It took a moment for Sora's words to really register in her mind, but looking to her brother and how he was suddenly able to fire off another round of Fire and Blizzard spells from his two Keyblades, Xion could see what he meant. Roxas had trusted her to stand strong without him there to babysit her when they split up before, so now, she needed to trust him to do the same in this fight. He was right in saying that they had always turned to someone else to pull them out of danger when things got tough, so it was only natural that he would feel like he needed to prove to himself that he could hold his own without a safety net of some kind, and for whatever reason, he felt like this was the moment when he would be able to prove that. So, with a heavy heart, Xion finally nodded in acceptance and stepped back, folding her hands in prayer for her brother in the hopes that he would be alright.

Roxas just caught a glimpse of Xion backing down from the corner of his eye, and sent a mental thanks to Sora via the D-Link before he refocused his attention on the Hydra again. Sure, he was out matched, but he was determined to see this through to the end with his own strength. It was now his turn to prove that he could hold his own in a fight without any extra assistance. "Alright ugly, let's finish this," Roxas challenged the Hydra, hardly even noticing how his body had started glowing a little as he spoke.

At first, they all thought that the glow around Roxas's body meant that he was about to unleash his Unique Tier One Command Style like Xion had earlier, but after taking a second look, Ventus noticed something was a bit off. 'That doesn't look like the aura of any Command Style I know of, Unique or otherwise,' the blonde master thought. 'If anything, it almost seems like the auras of both Firestorm and Diamond Dust have mixed together. But how's that possible, unless…No, it couldn't be. Could it?'

Ventus did not have much more time to think on it, as the aura had already settled around Roxas's body, signaling the full activation of the strange Command Style. When it did, Roxas's body was coated with an aura that was half blazing red and half chilling blue, but Roxas barely paid it that much mind and went straight to work. The next time some of the Hydra's heads made to snap at him, Roxas merely swung the Keyblade that shared the fiery half of his aura, and upon being hit, one head had reeled back like it had been burnt, while its maw seemed to have a thin coating of ice on it. That same swing also allowed Roxas to shoot off a large plume of flames that caused them to be frozen in ice. Leaping high into the air, Roxas then brought both blades down on the frozen heads, and smashed them apart, and right when it seemed like some new heads were about to grow in their place, he spun around to swing his other Keyblade at them, releasing several large chunks of ice at said heads that exploded on contact.

Roxas was far from done, as he repeatedly swung the chilly aura's Keyblade at the Hydra, releasing more shards of exploding ice with every swing, and each of those swings were followed with a flourish of his other Keyblade, sending out wave after wave of chilling flames to freeze the heads where they were. Eventually, the Hydra started getting fed up with the confusing results of these elemental attacks, and made to slam its entire body down on Roxas, but Roxas managed to leap clear before it could hit the ground, and right at the same moment when the energy around him surged to full power.

"COMMAND STYLE: ICE FLARE FINISHER," Roxas screamed at the top of his lungs while spinning around with his Keyblades raised for a powerful cross-slash. One swing of his blades, and a powerful wave of freezing fire came hurtling out at the Hydra, freezing its whole body solid after it was encompassed by the blaze, giving Roxas the chance to spin around head over heels as he descended from the air to land one final aerial drop attack on the frozen beast, shattering it into a million pieces when he finally landed and struck it.

Seeing the Hydra defeated and Roxas's aura having finally faded away, the team finally deigned it okay to approach, and while Ventus checked to make sure Donald and Goofy were okay, Xion and Sora were a bit more focused on their brother and his recent accomplishment. "Roxas, did you just…Did you actually combine both Diamond Dust and Firestorm into one Command Style just now," Xion stuttered in surprise.

"Yeah…I think so," Roxas breathed in equal awe, still hardly able to believe he had done it himself. "I don't really know how I did it; it just kind of…happened."

"Whether it was intentional or not, Roxas, you just did something that's never been done before in the history of all Keyblade wielders. Then again, that seems to be something you're making a habit out of," Ventus lightly joked as he joined the group with the rest of their teammates now fully healed.

"Either way, it looks like I was right," Sora cheered, earning him weird looks from everyone. "Oh come on! Don't you guys remember? I'm the one who originally thought of the idea that he could combine two Command Styles together like that, and he just did! I'd say that qualifies as me being right!"

"He…does kind of have a point. I guess," Roxas shrugged, not entirely sure he was willing to give Sora that with how he was already doing a happy dance over the fact. He did know of at least one way to deal with it though. "Too bad you can't use Command Styles while in Valor Form, Sora, or you'd probably be able to make your Destiny Blaze even more powerful than it already is."

Sora deflated a little upon hearing that, but managed to shrug it off pretty quickly. "Ah, no big deal. I'm sure I'll figure out some way to do it eventually, and maybe then, we could do the same thing for Xion's Unique Command Style too."

"Wait, what," Roxas gasped. "Xion, did you…?"

"Mhm," Xion nodded with a proud smile. The next thing she knew she was being pounced on by her brother with a tight, proud hug. "Ah! Not again!"

"Haha! That's my baby sister," Roxas cheered proudly.

"Hey! Who're you calling 'baby sister'? I am NOT a baby!"

"But you're just as cute as one," Roxas could not help but tease, leading to a brief round of playful wrestling between the twins that the others could not help but find entertaining. At least until Ventus brought up a topic that served to bring down everyone's mood.

"Uh…I'd hate to interrupt you guys, but unfortunately, not all of us seem to be coming out of this with good news or high spirits," Ventus told them, pointing over to where Hercules was slumped over by the rubble of what remained of the coliseum.

Looking at Hercules, it was clear that he was not just sitting like that because his weariness had finally caught up with him. There was a very heavy air of defeat sifting around him as well. It was so bad, that it looked like a lot of his color had been lost, right to the point where it was like his usual shine had been dulled into nothing but blackness. From the looks of things, even Meg and Phil's attempts at encouraging and cheering him up were not making much difference, and realizing that immediately drove the team to rush over to his side.

"I can't believe I let this happen," Hercules moaned. "I left everyone unprotected, and now…Hades was right. I'm just a washout."

"Hey, come on, Champ. I didn't train you to think like that," Phil argued.

"Yeah, none of this is on you, Herc. This was all because of Hades's schemes," Ventus added on. "Even we weren't able to do much to stop this, so don't go thinking you can shoulder all the blame on your own."

"But you guys did actually succeed in what you were trying to do. I got sloppy and didn't finish the Hydra off like I should've because I was worried about whether or not you would be able to save Meg without me," Hercules insisted. "I should've just trusted you guys to handle it like I said I would've. Besides that, I was so sure that it was beat when I ran off that I didn't even think to make sure."

"Wonderboy, it's not your fault," Meg assured him. "Even a god would be exhausted after working for as long and as much as you have been, and no one can blame you for being worried about your friends."

"She's right. Besides, if it weren't for you, we probably wouldn't have been able to get Meg out of that trap at all, so don't start thinking you've lost your touch just because of one bad day," Xion encouraged him.

"They're right. Just give yourself some time to rest and I know you'll be back to your old self in no time," Sora agreed with a cheerful smile.

"Besides, it's not like there's gonna be any games for a while, so you won't have to worry about that at least," Goofy added on, hoping that would help bring things into a positive perspective for his friend.

It was hard to tell for sure if anything they were saying was really getting through to Hercules, but he did at least nod in acknowledgment of his friends' words. Thankfully, Meg was able to give them some more solid reassurance. "Don't worry about Wonderboy here. I'll look after him until he's back to normal. Or at least as close to normal as he can get, anyway."

"I guess we'll just have to hold you to that then, Meg," Ventus shrugged, knowing that there was not much else they could do for the moment.

Meg nodded in reply as she said, "Hey, it's the least I can do after all you guys have done for us. I owe you all big time."

"Hey, it's no big deal. Just let us know if Hades or the Heartless start acting up again, and we'll take care of it," Sora promised.

"Yeah, because that's what heroes are for," Donald proudly declared.

While Ventus could not help but smile in amusement, Meg regarded the other members of the Keyblade Legion for a few seconds before she finally asked, "When did you five make hero?"

"Uh…Let's save that for another time. For now, we have to hit the road, right guys," Sora quickly excused.

When the rest of Sora's friends all offered quick agreements, Meg knew that she had them beat on that front this time, but she was willing to allow them that little retreat without any fuss. "Okay then. Don't be strangers, Keyblade Legion."

"No worries there," Ventus promised.

"And I hope ya feel better soon, Hercules," Goofy offered in well-wishing of his friend.

"Yeah…thanks," Hercules sighed, not sounding very optimistic.

When their third friend did not say anything in terms of a farewell, the group all turned to Phil a little expectantly, bringing his mind back from wherever it had wandered to. "Oh, uh, yeah, take care you guys. Stay a little longer next time. We've got some serious training to catch up on."

"You've got it, coach," Roxas laughed with an easy thumbs up.

Right before the team could set out though, Ventus suddenly gasped and said, "I almost forgot." He then retrieved the Olympus Stone from his pocket and held it out to Hercules as he said, "I think you're gonna be needing this back."

Hercules nodded in thanks for that, but just as he was about to touch the stone, it lit up with a faint glow, and then floated into the air. Seeing that particular glow instantly told the Keyblade Legion what was coming next, and no one had a problem with Ventus being the one to take care of the task this time around. Holding out his Keyblade before him, Ventus allowed the tip of his Keyblade to glow brightly, as the image of the badge he wore materialized around him, glowing brightly as a familiar energy surged out from the image's outline. Much like many times before, once the surge passed, Ventus found himself in the strange sky, and he quickly spotted the Olympus Stone in the air before it shot out a beam that dispersed into a Keyhole high above it. Without even thinking, Ventus leapt back a short distance, spun his Keyblade around, and then aimed it at the Keyhole that had appeared, allowing a beam of light to be fired off from its tip the minute he had lined it up with the Keyhole. When the beam connected with the Keyhole, a faint ringing sound reached his ears, over the sound of something being unlocked, just as his surroundings returned to normal.

"And that is that," Ventus determined with a smile.

After exchanging one last round of farewells with their friends from this world, the Keyblade Legion headed off somewhere to signal the Gummi Ship's teleporter to bring them back aboard, eager to see what adventure would be waiting for them on the next world they traveled to. They were still a little worried about Hercules's condition, and about whatever scheme Hades was still cooking up, but for now, they had much bigger concerns to address. They just had to hope that Meg and Phil could get Hercules back into shape soon so that he could handle the ruler of the Underworld without them needing to come back.

---

Ventus's Journal Entry 3:

I swear, every time I go to visit Naminé and see how her work on restoring Sora is going, the more I can feel my dislike of DiZ grow. It's like the guy's mind is hardwired into making him think that only his ideas and opinions are right while everyone else is either wrong or just in the way of his vendetta, and it's very obvious that he's only helping us for just that: a vendetta. I don't really know what his problem is, other than the fact that it has something to do with the Organization, and honestly, I don't really care that much for it. So long as it gets Sora, Donald, and Goofy back to their old selves, and doesn't bring any harm to Roxas, Xion, or Naminé, I can…try to manage. I'm not making any promises though, because he's very likely to try something on the latter three any day now. I can just feel it.

Speaking of things I've been getting a feeling about, lately, I can't help but think that he and Naminé are getting help from someone besides me. Someone else who knows about other worlds and the Organization. Don't ask me who it could be, because I don't have many ideas. Okay, that's a lie; I do have a couple ideas, but some of them are a little far-fetched. One idea is that it's Leon and the gang from Radiant Garden, but I've paid a visit to said world a few times in between spying on the Organization and keeping an eye on Roxas and Xion, and it doesn't look like they've found any way to leave the world again since all the old highways between worlds were closed. I suppose I could help out with that, but all the paths I know of are only accessible via Keyblade Glider, so that's a no-go. The other idea is that it could be Sora's friends from the islands, but the one time I went there has me convinced that isn't the case. From the look of things, Kairi's been keeping to herself a lot lately, and the others have been trying to keep the blonde kid, uh Tidus, I think his name was…You know, the one who clearly had a thing for Yuna? Anyway, they've been trying to keep him from getting to depressed about being separated from her, so I doubt they've been trying to so much as find another way to go to other worlds, let alone actually doing it.

That just leaves one other option: Mickey, Aqua, and Riku. Now, this is the one that I feel is the biggest stretch, because last I checked, those three were still trapped in the Realm of Darkness, and I haven't heard or sensed anything that would indicate that they've found a way out. Then again, considering that there are two Keyblade masters on the case, and all that Riku had become able to do after gaining those dark powers of his, maybe it isn't that much of a stretch to say that they're the ones helping DiZ. Or maybe I'm just hoping for something because of how much I miss Aqua. I don't really know. Besides, I only got this idea because on one of my observations of Roxas and Xion, I overheard them talking about the latter tracking down an Organization imposter, or something like that. I don't know why anyone would want to pose as one of those creeps though.

---

AN: Okay, wow. Just wow! How does he do it?! How does this artist of writing and words manage to string together such an incredible work like this into such beauty, and give it life in a way that's just too...Oh, wait. Why am I asking these questions? The writer's me!

Ventus: Did...Did you seriously just forget that you were the one who wrote all of this?

Sora: Maybe we should call somebody to test his sanity.

AN: Hey, hey, hey! No, there's no need for that! I was just joking! Geez! Ahem, let's move on shall we. Today's matters of note are pretty obvious if you ask me. First and foremost, in terms of the most memorable are definitely the newest Command Styles belonging to Roxas and Xion. First off, yes, Xion has now in fact unlocked her Unique Tier One Style. When I was coming up with it, I thought of going with something that reflected the way Xion was created, but I figured that would be something that's better suited to either a Shotlock or a Tier Two Command Style, so I scraped that idea. Then it occurred to me that I could try to better play up her nature as a balanced-type of fighter, and thought back to some of the stylings of Aqua's Spellweaver powers. That seemed like something that could be applicable to Xion, so add a few little change-ups here and there, give it her own personal flare, and BOOM! We've got Magic Tapestry. Not bad, am I right?

Xion: Yeah, plus it's a better name than some of these other ones. [everyone turns to see her flipping through a booklet labeled, "Ideas for Keyblades Unleashed Series"] I mean, "Memory Page", or "Recollection Charms"? Those kinda suck as far as names go, and the mechanics don't really seem to line up that well. I do like the name "Memorabilia Stars" though. I can definitely see that as a Shotlock or a Command Link power for me later on.

AN: What the-?! How did you-?! Gimme that! [Snatches the booklet away] Seriously, how do you guys keep getting these things? I swear I had them put under tight lock and key after the last time I caught Roxas with one of them.

Roxas: Speaking of, I'm kinda surprised you didn't give me my Unique Command Style in this chapter.

AN: Eh, I was a little tempted, but I figured that this would be a better time to emphasize just how much more powerful/different you were from the typical Keyblade wielder: because you have the power to combine two Command Styles into one. I'm thinking of calling it these abilities Dual Styles! Or Double Styles. Either way, it'll have either Dual or Double in the name.

Sora: Why not Double Command Style or Dual Command Style.

AN: I think you just answered your own question.

Sora: Yeah, I did the moment I said it out loud. Way too much of a mouthful, and we've already got enough of those with the Unique and Tier One and Tier Two Styles.

AN: Anyways, regarding this first Dual Style (that's looking like the most likely name for now), Ice Flare, if you've seen Ben 10 Ultimate Alien, then you've probably seen Ultimate Big Chill in action. This is basically allowing Roxas to gain abilities similar to that alien's in that he's got a fire so cold it burns, while at the same time, being able to shoot off ice shard that pack an explosive and burning punch. I do intend to have Roxas gain a couple more Dual Style abilities as time goes on, if I can figure out all the mechanics for how each of them would work, but whether or not those Dual Styles include a way to mix his Unique Command Style with the others is still pretty high up in the air. Most likely not gonna happen, but at the same time a little tempting all the same.

Oh, and yeah, once Sora or any of the others get a Drive Form he can use Command Styles in, Roxas will probably try to teach them how to use the Dual Styles as well, since I know some of you are probably going to ask about that.

Moving right along, let's talk about Roxas's recent memory recovery. Of course, he was going to get some things back after seeing Phil again, and I figured I'd show you guys a little glimpse of just how things went down for him this time around. Not much change from 358/2 Days though, right? The only real change was some of the later dialogue that was shared between the two on Roxas's last trip to the Coliseum.

The next matter is regarding Demyx. Seems like there's at least a bit of friendliness between him and our favorite pair of twins, right? Too bad they don't remember enough to be able to know for sure if he's telling the truth or not. Are his claims true, or just a ploy to hide how dangerous he really is? More to the point, it seems like he wasn't in the know on how the Organization had initially reacted when Roxas and Xion left, huh? But then again, he doesn't really seem like the type who would be informed of important details until much later on when it becomes necessary for him to know, which is pretty late in the game, even in canon. I'm not trying to intentionally bash on Demyx here, but the guys just...yeah, he's...well...It's Demyx. Really puts into perspective on why he was the perfect person to serve as the spy who got Roxas his new body in KH3, huh?

I think the only other thing to mention would be the Keychains we saw today. I look back at the last story, and I see that while I did mention Sora getting some additional Keychains, he only ever really used two or three. Metal Chocobo, Oathkeeper, and Oblivion. This time around, I do want to at least mention them using other Keychains, which you kinda have to do since the Drive Forms are involved, so today, we saw them using other Keyblades. Just to be clear, most of the group will be back to using their standard Keychains by next chapter, and for the most part, you should assume that they are using their standard Keyblades unless I say otherwise or mention the blades by their specific name.

Speaking of which, how do you guys think Roxas and Xion's old Keychains are getting spread around in different worlds like this, hm? I mean, this is now the third time that they've found one such Keychain on a different world, and the second time that it ended up on said world under mysterious circumstances. How could that be though? Well, like the story said, it's just one mystery after another on this adventure, isn't it?

Oh, and there's also the matter of Sora's new, original Keyblade: Excelsior. You might remember it pretty well since he just got it a couple chapters ago. If you have a hard time picturing it, just think of a Keyblade with the guard of Dawn till Dusk, the blade of Nano Gear, and all colored in the stylings of Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor, with Mjolnir's head serving as the teeth, and an ARC reactor in the middle of the blade. I'd draw it out for you guys to see, but...well, you know.

Finally, we see a Keyblade from Ven's collection, and its his own version of the BBS Keyblade that you earn after visiting Olympus Coliseum. Not surprising huh? Just to be clear, among Ven's collection of Keyblades, you'll also find each of the ones you can only get as Ventus in the same game, plus Treasure Trove, Sweetstack, and Hyperdrive. Keep it here for a little later on when I try to give you all a full listing of all the Keychains each wielder has. I've been doing my best to keep track, I assure you, and I don't want you guys forgetting any time soon either.

Speaking of Ventus, it looks like we've got another entry from his journal today, and if you couldn't tell, it basically details the moment when Ventus started noticing he wasn't the only one helping out Namine and DiZ. Yeah, that would be indicative of the moment when Riku first joined in to help get Sora and the others back to normal, and it doubles as a little way of showing that Ventus truly did not know about Riku's involvement in things until that moment that we talked about in the final chapters of the Summer Vacation Arc.

Well, I think that covers everything, aside from mentioning the sweet little sibling moments between Sora, Roxas, and Xion that we got to enjoy, along with how we also worked in a reference or two in this chapter, so let's get to some review answers, shall we?

Starting things off is a response to "SuperSayainFever" from our lovely Xion.

Xion: Awww [smiles cutely for the compliment] Ahem, first off, I wouldn't bet on me putting an end to the teasing any time soon. Besides, there's no way the others are ever going to find me being as obvious about any love interest I may or may not take up at any point, so I don't think I've got much to worry about.

AN: Riiiight. [winks knowingly at the audience] Anyways, "Dragon Rider 66", I haven't really had the chance to look into the newest season of Clone Wars yet. I've been a bit busy with my writing stuff, the special project I recently mentioned, and, if I'm being honest, playing through Final Fantasy 7 The Remake. Great game, beautiful visuals, and in short, something everyone should check out if they haven't already.

"Hamm1999", I'm not entirely familiar with any of the games made by this Valve company you speak of, and even if I was, I wouldn't bet on seeing any crossovers with them from me any time soon. I've already got enough ideas that I'm going to want to do when I'm not swamped with stories/series, or just able to start on something else without feeling overwhelmed again. Sorry, buddy.

"Monkey D. Conan", one of our favorite regulars, my man! First off, in answer to your question about Roxas's fear of ghosts, that will be something of a genuine sub-plot for a little while, and we will get a little more into it when we get to Halloween Town. Also, I have made a decision on Roxas's form for that world, and I've got a pretty solid idea of what I'll be making Xion's. I know I heard a pretty good idea for the one that Aqua could have while on that world, but I can't quite remember what it was off the top of my head. As for the matter of summons, there will be a couple from the original KH2 canon that appear here, but since I'm planning to give at least one or two summons to each member of the team, you can bet that there will be plenty of original ones in there as well. Some you may find familiar, others probably not, but there will be some new ones in here. Also, in regards to the matter of including Tidus a bit more at least, there's already a plan in mind for him and the rest of the Destiny Islands crew; don't worry about that, but we won't be seeing any more details on that for a little while longer.

"SuperSonicBros123"...well, I guess I already answered your question with the last response, but I'll say it again anyway. There is a plan for Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie, but we won't see much on what it is until later on.

"Haxorus Knight", not right this second. I only really did that last gag because I had the Ninja Turtles on my mind, but you never know. It could be something we see sometime soon, or at least in Beyond the Worlds.

Next on the list is "yuutojaden", and holy crap! You've got a lot of questions. Okay, let's just take it one at a time then, assuming I can answer them without giving away any big spoilers. Ahem, whether or not Sora gets the Masters Defender Keyblade is a little up in the air right now, especially since Aqua's using it as her main Keyblade right now. I do believe that this chapter has answered the question of whether Roxas or Xion would be getting some of their own Command Styles sometime soon (at least partially). Roxas's actual Unique Tier One Style may be another chapter or so, but at least you've got this new version of Command Styles from him. Kairi will be learning some Command Styles, as we saw in the last story. At this point, it's kinda becoming a requirement for the whole team to at least learn the basic three. Namine getting a Keyblade and learning those powers though...you'll just have to wait and see on that. Yes, Sora will be getting all of his Drive Forms. There will be at least one other new world added into this story, that being the Star Wars world, but there may be another one too. And there will be a collaboration style between Roxas and Xion. Ventus and Sora is a bit of a maybe, but is probably pretty likely too.

"Spiderfan626", sorry, but I don't really have any plans to include the original worlds from the previous stories in this one right now.

"Guest" of 3/16/2020, there's a good chance you may see such a parent look(s) in the future, but again, it's a case of wait and see.

"fangs of death", yes, Tidus and Yuna will have a reunion soon. I'm hoping to make it at some point in this story at the earliest, but we'll just have to see how the cards are played there.

"Guest" of 3/18/2020, who asked those questions about my opinion regarding how KH3 could be more interesting if Sora had been revealed to be secretly jealous of Riku for being named a true Keyblade master...first off, that last thing you mentioned, we're trying to avoid any peeks into a Kingdom Hearts version of the Injustice Series. But in all seriousness, I'll admit that there are a few times when I feel like Sora may have been secretly jealous, or at least masking his disappointment with that whole thing, but in all honesty, no, I don't really think too much would change. Even if he is jealous of Riku, or anyone in general, Sora's still Sora, because he's just that kind, cool, pure-hearted guy, and the canon series just more than likely wouldn't feel right if that changed. Sure, it's cool to see stories like the ones I've written or others where Sora undergoes some small change from how he normally is, but he's still the same old Sora at his core in most of them too, so...Yeah, there's your answer on that.

"Guest" of 3/18/2020 who commented on Hades recognizing Sora; technically he did, he just didn't really get a chance to comment/act on it before like he did in this chapter.

"Guest" of 3/26/2020 who asked about the moment between Roxas and the Samurai Nobodies from an earlier chapter, there is a chance that one or two of the others may notice if and when they run across the Samurais again, but it won't be for a little while when that happens.

"Guest" of 4/5/2020, regarding your first question, you're pretty close in your guess, but not quite accurate. Otherwise, I'm not saying anymore than that. I'm not giving away any spoilers regarding Dreamer's Challenge right now. Or at least, I'm going to try avoiding them until we get closer to said story. As for your question about the events that unfolded at the end of Keyblades of Future Past and if they would be mentioned in an epilogue of this series' version of KH3, there is a very good chance of that, yes, but it is also just as likely that they'll be mentioned at the start of Beyond the Worlds as well. So there's that.

"Guest" of 4/8/2020, as you've probably noticed, Ven did not get a chance to mention Zack to Herc and Phil, and that's mainly because he was focused on their current task. It will come up later on, namely on the second trip to this world, but not in a direct way. You'll see what I mean when we get there.

"Guest" of 4/10/2020, I've actually been having a bit of a hard time of coming up with an idea for Kairi's Sleeping Worlds attire, so I'm actually pretty thankful for that suggestion you proposed. It's not a bad idea, and I may just run with it once I've gotten a few details worked out on just what it would look like. Thanks for that.

And finally, I'll turn it over to Donald and Goofy for the last review answer. Namely the review left by the "Guest" of 4/19/2020. Fellas...

Donald: Thank you. Ahem, I suppose in a way, yes, Della probably would be a KH equivalent of a White Mage, assuming she shows up in this series. She's pretty cool with me and Daisy dating. And as far as the details on Della herself in regards to this story, well...I don't know. lyoko Prime hasn't really told me much about how that would be in comparison to the Ducktales series yet.

Goofy: As for me, I think lyoko Prime's got it set up so that my full name is what it normally is in most series. And don't worry about how my reunion with Maxie will go. You may be in for a nice surprise when that comes up again.

AN: Couldn't have said it better myself. Now then, with everything regarding review answers and chapter details out of the way, it's time for us to move Onto the Preview!...

It has been confirmed: Maleficent is back! Even worse, she's somehow begun a slow take-over of Disney Castle! With her home facing such danger, Queen Minnie sends out a distress call to the Keyblade Legion, and the team doesn't hesitate to get there as fast as possible to try and help out. A little extra assistance from Merlin sends the team on what could possibly be their wildest and wackiest trip yet. Too bad they can't call it the most colorful as well, because the place they end up to find the solution is literally all black and white! Just what other kinds of craziness can the Keyblade Legion expect when they return to Donald and Goofy's home? And what sort of rewards will await them in the end? The only way to find out is to ride the rivers of timeless classics, next time!

Oh yeah. Things are getting pretty wild and cartoony next time around, but what more would you expect when visiting the world that's home to Mickey Mouse and his pals? Hope you all enjoy that chapter when it comes out, but until then, I shall simply bid you ado and say...

Please read and review, and see ya real soon!