A/N: I was planning to post another story after I completed this. It isn't necessarily a sequel (though you could say it is), but then again, its more of a story set after this that isn't a crossover.

Except this is two years before that one. Ah whatever.

Silent Searcher: Ah, Joshua. He's fun to write. And I agree. Though my favorite levels in KIU are Chapter(s) 6, 10, 22 and 23 respectively.

LoveDarkPit: Thank you.

Like usual, I own nothing except my OCs. Ruby and Sky belong to RubyDarknessAngel.

*From the last chapter, Symphonia is a character only in A Twist of Time with a Search and this story

Here's chapter 12.

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Chapter 12: General of Conquest

It was amazing how good with defense Jade was and how many traps she set just in the first stretch.

And it was hard to see the traps coming because she spaced them out pretty well, making it difficult to know when they'd find a trap next. And surprisingly, it didn't seem like there were many enemies…

…Until they were ambushed by something without realizing it. The ambush wasn't very noticeable until it was noticed they were taking a strange amount of damage…

And Jade had sent these creepy looking puppets out of them that they had to very quickly destroy.

"What position is Jade in again?" Roxas asked.

"Jade is in charge of capturing territory. Though I do have to say that she excels in defense too." Zexion explained.

"Agreed." Two unfamiliar voices said and the four stopped before taking out their weapons.

However, two female angels, one with light brown hair and lighter blue eyes with white wings and the other with wavy yet fluffy light green hair and brown eyes with yellow wings appeared.

"No, no. We aren't here to hurt you." The first said. This only stirred up confusion.

"I'm Symphonia, and she's Lyra. We're Miss Melody's assistants and highest ranked Angels in her symphony." The second angel stated.

And the two stirred up more confusion.

"If you're Melody's highest ranked angels, then how did she get captured so easily?" Neku began. "And if you're also her assistants, how did you escape?"

Lyra and Symphonia looked at each other before Lyra said it. "It's amazing how the Commander is so harsh to the Gods, but not the Angels. Besides that, without Melody, we cannot defend ourselves since she completes the orchestra we play to create the barrier and defeat those who attack us."

"Now I see why they went after Melody." Zexion murmured. "But why is it that the Commander is out for the Gods? Not the humans or anything else?"

"The Commander isn't Hades. And she isn't after everything. She only wants the heavens." Symphonia explained. "And we should stop talking, as Jade will find out you're here, though she knows. She isn't afraid of suddenly attacking out of nowhere."

Then the two proceeded to start moving forward, and stopping upon noticing the four weren't following.

"We know where Jade is. Follow us, please." The four angels decided to do so.

Neku seemed irritated about it though. "When did this become an escort mission?"

"I don't know. But we have to defend them."

For a while, Zexion, Neku, Dark Pit and Roxas had to disarm traps while defeating Jade's defense in order to protect Symphonia and Lyra, because without them, they were screwed.

Especially considering when they left the first bit. Melodia was a very confusing place, and it would take forever just to find their destination. And since it was far more open, it would be easier for getting attacked, meaning hat it was absolutely necessary to protect their escorts.

After a long amount of travel, they got to their destination- the palace gate, but it seemed locked.

And then Symphonia and Lyra sang for a bit before the gate opened. "Jade made it so the gate would only open if a familiar voice spoke or sang." Lyra explained before they got through the gate and stood before Melody's palace.

"Jade is inside the palace. We would help you, but the only problem is that if Jade knows we helped you, and then we will be in trouble." Symphonia explained.

The two finished by giving them good luck and staying by the gate. Oh, and luckily, there were Drinks of the Gods there for them.

Convenient!

So, the four healed up and went inside.

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Upon going inside Melody's palace, they saw Melody imprisoned near the back of the room, which appeared to maybe look like her throne area.

Melody noticed them and her eyes lit up with hope, but she had to be sure. "Come closer please." The four got closer and Melody understood upon seeing Dark Pit.

"So Viridi and Palutena have answered my prayers. Thank you for coming." Melody began.

Zexion ushered Roxas to summon his Keyblades. "All we need to do is get you out of that cage, right?" Roxas asked coming a bit closer, but Melody only panicked.

"Wait, don't come closer or she'll…" Roxas narrowly avoided a fireball, lighting, and an icicle.

From the left-hand side of the room, an angel with jade-green hair, cold eyes that matched, a more militarized outfit of sorts and jade-feathered wings came in, with three puppets that looked different than the others that guarded her.

"It appears you've arrived to save the Goddess of Music." She began in a monotone.

"Of course we came. So, you must be Jade, the Commander's General of Territory and Conquest."

It was hard to tell if Jade showed any emotion to that comment. "Yes, I am. You must be Palutena… and also Viridi's forces."

"Viridi didn't send anyone in though." Zexion stated. Dark Pit rolled his eyes at that statement.

"Mm-hmm? Then why is one of Viridi's officers with you?" Zexion, Roxas and Neku went quiet and stared at Dark Pit.

"You didn't tell us?"

Dark Pit shrugged. "I didn't need to."

Casually pulling out his Silver Bow, Dark Pit looked at Jade. "I'd suggest that you release Melody."

"And why is that?" Jade asked, continuing in her monotone and continuing to look emotionless.

"Because. Keep this up and we'll have to fight you."

It was surprising how Jade didn't smirk or bat an eye at that response.

"Really now? You just waltz in here and expect me to take your demands?" Jade questioned them. "Unless you've easily forgotten, I am one of the Commander's Generals."

They expected Jade to pull out a sword or something. Except that isn't what happened?

She pulled out two control pads, activating the red puppet on her right and the blue puppet on her left.

"You aren't going to perform a marionette show with those, are you?" Neku asked, face palming.

Jade didn't reply. "Plus, Minus." The two puppets looked at Jade.

"Get them."

The two nodded before going in front of Jade and glaring at the four.

At the moment, Neku, Dark Pit and Roxas couldn't take Jade seriously.

Until the puppets suddenly dashed at them, the red puppet, who appeared to be a girl, attacking with fire and melee attacks and didn't even look like a puppet at this point and the blue one attacking mostly will spell casting and he looked like a boy, and like the red one, didn't even look like a puppet either.

They looked more like humans, except freakier.

"What the…?" Dark Pit asked as Zexion proceeded to hit the blue puppet with his book.

"I forgot to mention she uses puppets to attack, except these three aren't puppets."

"Equal." Jade said to someone?

The third puppet, who now looked more like a purple haired boy began to attack now with electricity before shrouding himself in it and attacking.

So now, they had to deal with these things that Jade was controlling except for the third one.

Dark Pit went back and fired arrows at the third puppet, while Roxas and Neku fended off the red one.

And then Neku fired off lightning at Jade because he was starting to get tired of this, and he took damage off of her.

So, when they did attack Jade with arrows and magic, at seemingly halfway, all three of the puppets (?) paused.

Their eyes turned red and then it was almost like someone upped the difficulty to hard mode because the three went freaking insane.

And it took a lot of health off of them.

So, Zexion came up with the idea to attack Jade because at this point, the puppets would kill them if they tried to fight them off.

Now, don't get me wrong. The plan seemed brilliant for a bit.

…And it was. Until the puppets began firing a bunch of spells at them.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Roxas asked, frustrated at this point.

Roxas and Zexion were both at their limits, and then they unleashed their limit breaks (Event Horizon for Roxas and Meteor Mirage for Zexion respectively) on the puppets.

Then Neku and Dark Pit focused on Jade as the other two were trying to kill off the puppets at this point.

And then Jade finally went down as well as the puppets on their final blows.

"No…" The puppets vanished and as the four came back together, Jade weakly freed Melody, and before she collapsed, she was enveloped in a white light before she fled.

The cage vanished and the doors opened, revealing Symphonia and Lyra who ran in. "Miss Melody!" They shouted before both of them flew at her and hugged her.

Melody then politely asked them to get off and the two obeyed the order and stood beside the Goddess. Melody smiled at the four.

"I am in your debt for saving me. But first, Lyra, Symphonia? The healing song?"

The two nodded before playing some music and healing the four.

"Thank you. Anyway, I'll try to assist you against the Commander and her forces. You seem capable of handling her… at least for now. She was expecting you to defeat Jade."

Zexion didn't seem surprised. "It must be a part of her plan. Do you have an idea of where to go next?"

"From my knowledge from listening to the Commander's and Jade's conversations while she was here, I know they're planning to attack the Underworld and then the Organization."

"The Underworld? Why?" Roxas asked.

"Why wouldn't she? Hades is there." Dark Pit answered.

Neku frowned. "Didn't Hades get blown up?"

Dark Pit shook his head. "It's Hades. Besides, he did, but he's not dead."

"That's all I know. I'll send you back to Palutena and Viridi to bear the news."

Melody took out her conducting baton and played a melody which sent them back to Palutena's Temple.

Though Melody still had her fears of course.

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A/N: Wow. This is the longest chapter I've written in a while.

Also, I thank everyone for all those favorites and follows. I thought that Keyblade Ponies was the most popular, but I'm wrong. It was this story.

And with today's post, I'm also posting my new story which isn't a sequel to this, but isn't a spin-off either.

So, like usual, please review if you'd like, I'd prefer that you didn't flame and I will see you all in chapter 13!

Ciao!