The Time Break Saga 3D: Asleep at Dawn

by The Unplanner

Organization XIII was defeated, Kingdom Hearts was destroyed, and the Time Breaks are all closed, but it's too early to celebrate. Unfortunately, it's also to early to send the newest Keyblade wielders off to war. Can Kairi, Lambda, and Xion stop tripping over each other's weapons in time to stop the Keyblade War?

7. Dream Bigger

Asleep at Dawn

Chapter 7: Dream Bigger

-"You'll Pay For This!"-

A/N: Wouldn't you know it, just as I was getting ideas to continue this, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 received a massive update and DLC pack that fixed almost all the problems with the vanilla game. So it pulled me back in for a while. My first playthrough clocked over 200 hours(!), so I expect New Game Plus to take almost that long.

I should probably warn everyone that Hazama and Terumi tend to swear a lot, in case you didn't notice.

Disclaimer: basically the same as every disclaimer you've ever read.

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The Training Worlds: Hub...

Roxas was there to greet the girls again as they appeared via a save point the center of the Hub room. Kairi just waved and stood next to him to wait for the others.

Xion skipped out of the green pillar of the warp effect and smooched Roxas on the cheek as a hello, catching him off-guard, but he recovered his wits before anyone else showed up.

Lambda appeared, then stepped aside and watched the warp point intently. Roxas asked, "So how was-"

Lambda interrupted, "Wait for it."

"What am I supposed to be-"

Hazama appeared facing away from the group as the save point disappeared, with one hand on his hat to pull the brim further over his eyes. "Hello, Training Worlds! Here's the man of the hour!"

Roxas' azure eyes bugged out. "He's here!"

Lambda giggled. "Roxas, meet our newest teammate, Hazama."

Roxas' reaction was exactly the same as everyone else's had been. "WHAAAT?!"

Hazama turned around and smiled his sneaky smile. "That's right! Roxas, was it? Before you accuse me of anything, this was Lambda's idea, not mine. No mind control or anything - she came right out of left field with the suggestion!"

Roxas raised one eyebrow. "...And you just said yes when she asked?"

Hazama shrugged. "Well, not at first, but then she rattled off every single reason to recruit me that I would have had in her situation. Of course, she had one or two heroic, nice extra reasons, but she nailed all the sneaky and pragmatic ones. She clearly meant what she said, too. It's true, after all; whoever this Xehanort guy you're all so concerned about is, he'd never have predicted this. Hell, I'd never have predicted this. Oh, and just FYI, Terumi is not on our team. He's pissed. And he'll be even more pissed when that potion bomb un-Stops over his foot!"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Meanwhile, in Lotus Academy: Mecha Hangar...

The Stop effect on the Trouble Brewer's last potion ran out just as Terumi turned around. The resulting explosion created a massive, spiky ball of ice that trapped Terumi inside. (It also ruined the cockpit of the disabled Gundam, much to the dismay of Lotus Academy's faculty.)

Terumi fumed inside his icy prison, which reminded him a little too much of the Kisaragi brat. "GAAAH! I am so pissed! They've gotten lucky for the last goddamn time!" He burst out of the ice with sheer strength and stalked through a Dark Corridor back to Midnight Town.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Back in the Hub...

"..." Roxas was dead quiet for almost a whole minute, looking between Hazama and the girls, all of whom had the same sort of I still can't believe it, and I was there, expression. Lambda, however, wore a confident grin. At length, Roxas sighed. "I suppose that's that, then. Welcome to the team, Hazama. Now that that's settled, there are a few things you should all know about the rest of the tests."

Roxas pointed at the next door in line, which had the label:

Training World 3:

Spring Falls

He explained, "As you can see, the next Training World is open." He pulled out another notecard. "Wisdom from the mouth of the Great Wizard Merlin: He has taken your comments about lack of originality in Midnight Town to heart and sent a poll to the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee and Disney Castle for world ideas. This one was Chip and Dale's submission, and it's a little...off the wall. Don't let the nice-sounding name fool you - this might be the weirdest world you'll ever enter. Still, King Mickey claims it's not without precedent. But before that, you might want to backtrack a bit."

Roxas pointed at the door to Midnight Town, which now read:

Training World 1:

RE: Midnight Town

He flipped to another notecard. "During your first visit to Midnight Town, you probably figured out that it's modeled after a world the Heartless had taken over without finding the Keyhole. There wasn't much there except ruins, right? But after you cleared that world and unlocked the Practice Keyhole, Merlin replaced it with a repaired version of the town. The restored Midnight Town has all the stuff you'd expect to find in a big town. You can spend the TP you've gained so far at shops, rest at inns, play some games to bet and win TP, and get in some practice on the Heartless that still infest the alleyways. You should check it out before you move on to the next world."

Kairi raised her hand. "Are all the people still generic NPCs with only one line of dialogue each?"

Roxas blinked. "What's an NPC? Well, the people are still the same, Merlin says. Some of them say new things, but don't expect a witty conversation."

Kairi shrugged. "Never mind."

Xion mentioned, "The first time we fought the boss of the last world, Terumi beat it before we could, and then time looped around to when we first entered the world. What was that all about?"

Roxas grinned. "That's Merlin's magic for you! He set it up so if you fail your objectives, the Training World you're in will reset itself to the last time you touched one of those green circles. You know, the ones that heal you and let you return to the hub."

Kairi burst out, "I knew they were save points!"

Xion rolled her eyes and explained for Roxas' benefit. "It turns out Kairi's into video games. She's been going on about how game-like this whole Training Worlds plan is since we first set out into Midnight Town. By the way, after the last world gave us all fake memories, I've been introduced to anime. I'd like to show you a few of the favorite shows 'Ion' remembers after this business with Xehanort gets settled."

Roxas took a moment to take in this information. "...Huh. I guess we'll have a lot of catching up to do. My time in here has been a bit boring, though. I bench-pressed a few thousand pounds, beat up simulated Organization XIII members, and worked on my Observation, but that's about it."

Xion clapped to congratulate him. "A few thousand pounds is 'about it'? That's amazing!"

Lambda told him, "Feats of strength aside, you should really try to perfect your Observation skills. If you get good enough at it, you can basically get a ringside seat to whatever Xion is doing at the moment, so we won't need to do so much recap after each world."

Hazama mock-gasped. "Isn't that a breach of privacy, dignity, integrity, and a bunch of other -ity words?"

Lambda rolled her eyes. "And you'd know all about that, Mr. Captain of NOL Intelligence. It's not like they have a choice...and I've got my eye on you, too."

Xion wondered, "Who says I have anything to hide?"

Hazama shrugged and dropped the subject. "Eh, no big deal."

Roxas got firmly back onto the original topic. "Anyway, about the resetting thing. It'll also happen if one of you dies or gets otherwise defeated. Merlin says this only applies to facets of the Training Worlds and the illusory Heartless he's conjured up, which means it does not apply to Terumi or any other outsiders. Don't let Terumi kill you...obviously. You should try to avoid relying on this feature at all, actually, because real worlds don't let you try again after dying. Oh, and Merlin left a hint that you may end up causing a lot of resets in the next world, but he didn't say why."

"How are you getting this information?" Namine asked. "Didn't Merlin send you in here so we wouldn't distort the Training Worlds by sending communications through?"

Roxas grinned. "Oh, he solved that problem...by sending a huge stack of notecards all at once, with answers to every question you could possibly ask. Just to prove it, the answer to your next question is on this card here." He tossed yet another notecard to Kairi like a ninja shuriken.

Kairi caught the little white paper inches from her nose and read its contents: Card 26-A: No, your adoptive father back on the Destiny Islands has not entered or tampered with your room during your absence. And no, I am not in touch with every old man in the worlds, just the world-traveling, non-evil ones. Kairi looked up and said flatly, "Yep, he got me. Twice. Merlin just gets more and more ridiculously powerful the more I hear of him. Remind me why he doesn't just blast Xehanort himself?"

Roxas smirked as he replied, "The answer is on Card 26-B." He tossed another card, which Kairi opened. Everyone else crowded around her as she read it.

Card 26-B: Because my magical mastery extends to everything except combat. That is what you all have Keyblades for. Unlike Yen Sid, I did not split my focus between the two disciplines, but specialized in weaving the fabric of the arcane to... The card ran out of space before Merlin's rant could really gather steam.

Kairi nodded sagely. "Well, that clears that up. So, I guess we ought to go shopping now."

Roxas tossed her yet another notecard, then waved goodbye. "Have fun, then. That's an explanation of how TP is tracked. I probably should have given you that one earlier."

"Well, at least you remembered before we needed to spend any. See you in a bit!"

"Hold on," Hazama held up a hand. "Did Merlin send you any technical manuals, spell tomes, history textbooks, that sort of thing? Could be important. After all, gathering information was half of my job back in the Azure Timeline."

Roxas shuddered. "Oh, yeah. Way too many for me to ever read them all. The girls were supposed to buy copies of whatever they wanted to read at the bookstore in Midnight Town. Come to think of it, Hazama, I'm not sure you can even rack up TP like the others. Even Merlin wouldn't have predicted you joining the team, but he is still watching, so maybe he set it up already."

Xion pulled open the door to Midnight Town. "Let's find out, then."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

RE: Midnight Town: Town Square...

The first thing the group noticed upon returning to Midnight Town was the noise. Generic brown-haired people chatted with each other, creating indistinct white noise, as they wandered up and down the sides of wide streets leading in the cardinal directions, while others drove cars and trucks that revved their engines in time with the flow of traffic and occasionally beeped their horns at each other. The girls stood in the middle of a circle formed by the roads skirting around a grassy lawn marked by a large, silvery statue of a crescent moon. At the square base of the statue was inscribed, "In Memory of Old Midnight Town."

Namine remarked. "That's an interesting monument. The residents of most worlds wouldn't remember its destruction, but this world wasn't destroyed completely, so the people had to rebuild. Perhaps we should mention it to the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee so they can do something similar for the old Radiant Garden and Hollow Bastion."

Hazama pointed at the cars. "The cars roll on wheels? And they're burning some kind of fuel, judging by the smoke. How inefficient; you'd think they'd have flying Magitek cars by now."

"There was a wrecked truck on the streets in The World That Never Was," Xion mentioned, "but only one, and no one in the Organization knew how it got there. No one cared enough to solve that mystery...of course. Still, it must be easier to drive a car than to walk all the way across Midnight Town. I wonder if there are any other options, like the public skateboards like they have in Twilight Town."

"It doesn't matter much if we can't buy anything when we get where we're going," Lambda pointed out. "Kairi, what does that card say?"

Kairi opened the notecard, which unfolded to five times its original length. After reading it, she summarized the TP system for everyone. "Okay, so each Heartless type gives everyone a set amount of TP that goes into a shared pool that can be spent on food, books, and common items, but there's also Bonus Training Points for performing new and/or impressive feats, and the Bonus TP score for each of us is tracked individually. Bonus TP is used to buy unique and powerful items to suit our personal styles. We can check our TP by pressing the big gold button at any store, or buy a TP Tracker at an appliance store."

Xion mused, "Good to know. Now we just have to find a store and get there through traffic." She was then struck by an idea and summoned her Sonic Blade to fly over the traffic. "I mean, I can just fly there, but the rest of you might have some trouble."

"What was that?" Hazama called from above the north road, where he was using Ouroboros to cling to a building. "Couldn't hear you from way back there!"

"It's a simple matter of figuring out the rules and following them." Kairi rolled her eyes as she crossed the street when a traffic light on the other side lit up green. The cars stopped moving, allowing her to pass. Lambda followed behind her. "We don't really have to stick together right now. Let's meet up at the Hub when we're done exploring. Just keep an eye out for Terumi!"

"Well, then, I'll see you girls later. Abominations to find, NPC reactions to experiment with, you know how it goes." Hazama kicked off the wall and fired Ouroboros repeatedly to swing away from the group like Tarzan on a vine. Xion flew in the same general direction, but not before changing her T-shirt's slogan to say, "Why Walk When I'm This Fly?"

"Is Hazama heading off to torture random citizens?" Lambda wondered.

Kairi shrugged. "That, or try and glitch their AIs by blocking their path, asking weird questions, putting a bucket on their heads, sticking them to a wall with his chain, things like that. It's part of the fun of big, sandbox-style games...if you're okay with cruelty to random strangers. There's no point worrying too much about the NPCs, though. Besides, you could just do that Observation trick you mentioned to Roxas and find out what he's doing in a heartbeat."

Lambda nodded. "Good idea. And maybe I can... Target located. I found Terumi. He's ripping up Heartless and snarling, but he's nowhere near any of us...and it looks like Xion got lost. Anyway, I think I'll stick with you. Lead on, wise shopping expert!"

Kairi giggled. "No complaints here; you're the one with the map, after all, although I'm pretty sure I could find my way around. It looks like Hazama and Xion went the wrong way, though."

Lambda blinked. "How can you tell?"

"The signs, silly!" Kairi pointed at the traffic light next to them. A sign sticking out of the pole sideways read, North Street: MoogleCorp HQ, City Hall. Then she pointed to the right, at a sign that read, East Street: Shopping District. "We're going that way."

Lambda facepalmed. "Oh. Duh." Checking the other signs, she reported, "Map data updated. I kind of want to check out the Entertainment District down West Street, and the Arena Pillar down South Street sounds important."

"Let's come back to explore those after finishing Training World 3," Kairi suggested. "Right now, I've got an unknown amount of TP burning a hole in my pocket."

"What pocket?" Lambda joked as they headed down East Street.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

East Street: The Food Room...

About twenty minutes of walking later, Lambda and Kairi came upon an oddly-named restaurant and froze when both their stomachs growled at the same time and pitch. They looked at each other sheepishly and came to an unspoken agreement to take a lunch break.

Inside the building was a typical fast-food restaurant setup, with a generic NPC behind the counter, a sign detailing the restaurant's menu over that, and several round tables scattered throughout the eating area with a box of napkins on each one. The NPC, dressed in what appeared at first to be a butler outfit - on closer inspection, it turned out to be a cheap T-Shirt and shorts with a design printed on them - greeted them, "Welcome to The Food Room, madams! Are you ready to order?"

Kairi replied, "Not yet, we need to check our money."

"Certainly, madam. Please take your time."

Lambda looked around and spotted a kiosk near the door. It consisted of a white-framed screen mounted on a metal stand at eye level, with a very simple control panel just under that. There was only one button: a big, gold circle marked "CHECK". Lambda walked up and pushed the button, and the screen came to life:

Shared TP: 2600

Lambda's Bonus TP: 450

"Neat; very user-friendly! It looks like we can't view each other's Bonus TP, though." Lambda glanced at the menu sign; the most expensive thing on the menu, "Royalberry Ice Cream," only cost 30 TP; no worries there.

Kairi checked her own score, which gave an interesting result:

Shared TP: 2600

Kairi's Bonus TP: 700

Namine's Bonus TP: 750

Namine materialized and pointed at the third line, asking, "Why do I have a score, too?"

Kairi gave her a kind smile. "You certainly deserve it; you've been really helpful! You helped Lambda get started with magic, you fixed my memories in Lotus Academy, and I noticed you've been keeping an eye out for enemies sneaking up behind us ever since we all fought Xemnas' dragon-mecha-thing. It's only fair that you get a reward for your support."

Namine nodded thoughtfully, then vanished. "That makes sense. I don't know what kind of bonus item would be helpful to me in this form, though."

"I guess we'll find out on this shopping trip," Lambda replied as she approached the NPC again. After a quick glance at the menu, she told him, "I'd like a medium-size, plain burger and a large pretzel, please. Oh, and a small Rocket Soda to drink."

"Certainly. And for you, madam?"

Kairi said, "I'd like a medium burger with everything on it, and I'd like to try these 'French fries' instead of the pretzel, in the smallest size you have, please. I'll just have a small glass of water to drink."

The NPC said again, "Certainly. And for you, madam?"

A startled Namine asked, "You're asking me...? Well, I don't really eat. I'll just share the sensations from Kairi."

Without missing a beat, the NPC replied, "Certainly. Your total is 25 TP; please pick up your food at the end of the counter when it's ready. Enjoy your meal." Of course, since the whole restaurant was an illusion, the food was ready instantly. It appeared in a puff of sparkles, already neatly arranged on a tray.

Lambda took the food to the closest table and set it out for herself and Kairi. Between bites, she mumbled, "So this is what burgers taste like when they're cooked right!"

Kairi rolled her eyes as she wiped some grease from the fries off of her lips. "Lambda, mind your manners! I agree that it's really good, though! As for the fries, they're really greasy, but delicious, and they're just the right size to pop in your mouth! What's the 'French' part, though? As far as I can tell, they're just sliced potatoes fried in grease."

Lambda explained what she knew. "France was a country that was mostly destroyed and covered in seithr by the Black Beast in the Azure Timeline. I'm not sure how Merlin would know about it, since the old name of the country is barely mentioned even in history books nowadays...and it was in the other timeline. Come to think of it, how do I know about it? I hardly think obscure history trivia like that would be necessary to download into a Murakumo Unit."

Namine theorized, "Maybe it's the work of that 'voice' that tells you and Kairi the names of places and monsters. I still don't know why you two can hear this voice and I can't."

"Maybe," Lambda agreed as she finished her soda (as for her pretzel, it was gone almost immediately). "I really want to figure out what that's all about. All in good time, I guess. We have a long to-do list before we can look into that mystery."

"Right." Kairi wiped her mouth on a napkin and stood up. The bags and cups disappeared in a magic poof. "First, let's check out some actual shops!"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

[Xion's perspective] North Street: Northwest Quadrant...

Meanwhile, Xion had promptly gotten lost by ducking into a side alley. Flying over the rooftops let her see that there was a big domed building at the north end of the city, next to a skyscraper with a sign on the side that read MoogleCorp (The "O" in "Corp" was replaced with a red ball which probably represented a Moogle's pom pom). There didn't seem to be any shops on the way there, however.

Rather than go back to get teased by Lambda right away, Xion decided to get some more training against the Heartless. She ducked into one of the many dark alleyways leading away from the main roads, knowing she could just fly up and find the Town Square to leave the world when she was done.

It wasn't long before a random gaggle of Soldiers appeared. Xion summoned Ouroboros to deal with them, and it suddenly occurred to her that Hazama and Terumi's chain had the same name as her jaw-sword. Jumping into battle with a chuckle, she mused, "I wonder if Hazama found anything interesting?"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

[Hazama's perspective] East Street: Good to Know...

Contrary to his apparently directionless swinging, Hazama had quickly charted a shortcut between North Street and East Street to return to his original stated objective of finding a book to read, which was how he ended up in a bookstore just a little further down the road from The Food Room. Poking the kiosk at the entrance just made it give him an ERROR message, but Hazama didn't care.

He found a few neat-looking books, like Magic Allocation For Dummies, a yellow pamphlet which contained instructions for compartmentalizing one's mana to prepare a set, or "deck", of spells and magic-boosted attacks that would recharge individually; There Goes a Keyblade Glider, which appeared to be a book for toddlers but would clearly be of great interest to the Keyblade-wielding girls, and The Official Prima 'Kingdom Hearts' Strategy Guide, a strangely-titled paperback book which seemed to contain a comprehensive breakdown of everything that happened to Sora a year ago.

Rather than pay for the books, he tricked the NPC shopkeeper by hiding behind a shelf and throwing his voice to the far corner of the store - just one of several useful tricks he'd picked up over many centuries of time loops. "Hello, can I get some help over here?" When the shopkeeper turned to look in the direction of the voice, Hazama slipped out of the store undetected, snickering to himself as the door shut. "NOL Intelligence expert versus idiot NPC? No contest." He settled onto one of the benches that lined the street at regular intervals and started reading.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

[Lambda's perspective] East Street: Seers...

Lambda and Kairi next visited a confusingly-named appliance store to pick up the "TP Tracker" that was mentioned in the notecard, and anything else that caught their eyes. The store's layout was as high-tech as their products; next to the TP kiosk were a line of similar kiosks, each with a touchscreen on the control panel and a round, black pad on the ground connected to the stand.

Lambda stepped up to one of the kiosks and touched the panel, causing a list of products to pop up. She paged through categories like Kitchenware, Washing Machines, and Furniture until she reached a promising category: Adventuring Essentials.

Touching that button brought up a bunch of wearable electronics like fitness trackers and smartwatches. Lambda figured her own internal functions were already superior to most of these gadgets, but a couple stood out: the "TP Tracker" she was looking for, and a "MoogleCorp Mobile Shopping Terminal". Ultimately, though, she decided to just get the TP Tracker, which cost a full 1000 TP. Since she and Kairi were the only ones spending points today, Lambda figured it was okay to spend that much. She pushed the "Buy Now" button, selected "Yes"...selected "Yes, Really"...selected "Shut up and take my TP"...checked the box labeled "Only confirm purchases once", and finally selected "Confirm Purchase".

A small cardboard box was teleported onto the pad next to the kiosk. Lambda griped, "That was annoying. Who would design a system like that?"

"Probably an old wizard with a personal grudge against computers and anyone who uses them," Namine replied dryly.

Lambda nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that makes sense. It's still annoying, though."

Meanwhile, Kairi was at the next kiosk over, looking at the Unique Items category, which only showed the items specifically designed for Namine and herself. There was only one item in this store's inventory: "Memory Flasher". The product picture showed a metal cylinder with a lens on the side and a red button on the bottom. Kairi touched an arrow and brought up a description: "This device channels and focuses Namine's powers. Simply point the lens at a person and press the button, and a flash of light will scramble the victim's short-term memory, leaving them in a trance-like state for a few seconds. During this time, Namine can implant complex memories into the victim with much lower risk. Caution: do not look directly into the lens. Keep the device pointed away from other people when not in use. Do not use repeatedly on the same person within a one minute period; permanent brain damage may occur."

Namine read the description, re-read it, and re-read it again. "This is..."

Kairi finished, "...Kind of evil, isn't it?"

Namine tried to find an alternate use for a handheld amnesia inducer. "But it would certainly be useful if you ever get kidnapped again, right? We could just flash the bad guys and walk away."

"Why did you have to bring that up? Not that it matters." Kairi pointed out the price tag: 2000 Bonus TP (Namine). "You might have enough Bonus TP after finishing a few more Training Worlds, if you actually want that thing."

Lambda unboxed her new TP Tracker, which was a tiny touchscreen that came with a strap to be worn like a watch. "What do you think, Kairi? Stylish and futuristic, or ugly and trying too hard?"

"Definitely the second one." Kairi took the TP Tracker and stuffed it in her hip pouch. "What we really need is one of those Bags of Holding."

"Maybe we could find one at another store. I saw a place called Ms. Wardrobe's Wardrobe across the street."

The girls left Seers and looked across the street. Kairi caught sight of a quaint little shop peeking over the traffic. "Nicely spotted, Namine! Let's check it out."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Later...

Kairi ended up spending a lot of TP on a Ribbon that claimed to resist all magic elements, but they did manage to buy four Pouches of Holding that looked just like Kairi's current hip pouch, but with color-coded ribbons: pink for Kairi, green for Lambda, blue for Xion, and black for Hazama.

"Can you imagine Hazama wearing this girly pouch?" Lambda mentioned as they left the store. She tied her new pouch's strap around her waist and cinched it up. "It looks pretty good on me, at least."

Kairi giggled at the mental image. "Oops, I hadn't thought of that! I suppose we could give it to him anyway..." She transferred her promise charm and the rest of her stuff from her old pouch to the new one, including the old pouch itself. "Ready to head back and tackle the next Training World, Lambda?"

Lambda nodded and set off toward the west. "Yeah. The save point's back this way."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

[Xion's perspective] The Training Worlds: Hub...

Xion returned to the Hub first, satisfied at having figured out how to target specific enemies with the many homing shots of Ragnarok. She'd figured out how to either concentrate all the shots on one target, or spread them out evenly so each bullet would seek a different enemy. Of course, the second way would only work if she faced a large enough group. Xion was sure she could refine the technique further, but fighting only Shadows and Soldiers got boring after a while, especially on her own.

She had just resigned herself to being bored for a while when Terumi showed up on the warp point, already licking one of his knives. "Y'know, I've been going at this all wrong. You 'power of friendship' types are so much easier to crush when you're alone!" He launched Ouroboros right at Xion's face.

"Eek!" Xion fell prone to dodge the chain, wary that Terumi might use it to launch himself forward, but it seemed that was mostly Hazama's way of using it. She summoned her ScimitArs and shoved herself up to the ceiling, then came down on Terumi's head with all four swords...

...Only to have Terumi vanish and appear behind her. "Venom...Bite!" Xion was suddenly entangled in Ouroboros and blasted by Terumi's slimy, green magic. The sheer power left her panting on her knees. "Hurts, doesn't it? Too bad there's no random bullshit here to save you!"

"Think again!" Roxas launched out of the Observer Training door Keyblades first, azure eyes blazing, and while Terumi managed to sidestep the rush due to the forewarning shout, he was caught by the pillars of Light that accompanied Roxas' every motion whenever he fought seriously. "Faith!" Roxas raised Oblivion over his head and conjured Light pillars in a circle around himself, which then swirled away from him throughout the whole room. Terumi hissed as the Light burned him, but Xion's wounds were healed. "I've been called a lot of things, but 'random bullshit' is a new one."

Terumi set Ouroboros spinning around himself threateningly...but defensively. "Shit shit shit! You're just the brat I kicked out of the way on my way in! Where do you get off being the big damn hero here? How did you get so much power?!"

Roxas smirked. "Sit-up, push-ups, and plenty of juice. Oh, and fighting three Organization members at a time. It really helps teach you..." Oathkeeper flew into position on its own to block Ouroboros, which launched out of a portal from the side of the room, "...how to deal with sneak attacks from multiple directions. While I was doing all this training, I finally figured out that Observation trick to see what Xion's doing. So I saw her getting attacked in the Hub, and here I am."

"Dammit! Gleaming Fang!" Terumi rushed forward at full speed, covered in slimy magic, hoping to overwhelm Roxas' defense, but he was caught up in the swirl of Light as Roxas sent his Keyblades spinning around himself like Sora's Vicinity Break move on steroids. Terumi was ripped up and blasted away.

"Feel free to slither away and save your skin any time now. I still have even more power to burn," Roxas taunted.

"Shit... I need more power! More hate!" Terumi seemed to turn into a silhouette that burst into green flames and vanished.

Roxas shrugged and turned away from where Terumi had disappeared. "Hate yourself, Terumi."

Where Terumi failed to catch him off guard, Xion totally blindsided him, glomping him with tears of relief shining in her emerald eyes. "Roxas, thank you so much! I thought I was going to die there!"

Roxas returned the embrace. "It's okay. I'm here for you. Honestly, though, I was hoping he'd try something like this; I was about to die of boredom."

"But what if he attacks in the Training Worlds? Could you get there in time?"

"I...I don't know. But there must be a way to handle him if you all work together. You all have your own specializations, and you're still getting stronger and finding new powers. Have faith, Xion."

"I will!" She kissed his cheek and pulled him down to sit with her as they waited for the others to return.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

A few minutes later...

Lambda and Kairi finally returned. "We're back! Bags of Holding and chocolates for everyone!"

Xion accepted the pouch with the blue ribbon and tied it around to her jean shorts as a belt. "You missed the fireworks, you two. Terumi was here."

"He what?! He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Xion bounced around and made swooping hand gestures as she recounted the battle. "He did, but then Roxas came barreling out that door and wiped the floor with him! It was like this and this and KAPOW! Between his floating Keyblades, Light element, and that Faith spell of his, Terumi didn't stand a chance. He got away, though, and we'll still have to worry about him when we're deep in one of the Training Worlds." She didn't even notice when Hazama appeared and started snickering at her antics.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool," Roxas agreed. "I've been training."

Lambda frowned. "More like we've been slacking. I've spent so long playing catch-up...am I ever going to be of any use?"

"Sounds to me like you're focusing on the wrong training," Hazama pointed out. "You hacked that Gundam like that, after all." He snapped his fingers for emphasis. "You could probably get some mileage out of your Drive, as well."

"Drive?" Kairi parroted.

Lambda blinked; she hadn't thought of that. She explained for Kairi's sake, "A Drive is a special power expressed by a person's soul. Generally, if a person breathes in enough seithr and doesn't die of poison, they unlock their Drive, although using it comes with its own risks of corruption. Grimoires for Ars Magus each have a built-in Drive as well. For example, my old Murakumo had the drive "Sword Summoner," which became "Sword Summoner EX" when I got the IDEA Engine. You've seen me shooting energy swords around, right?"

Kairi nodded. "Right, although they didn't seem to do much damage."

Lambda frowned at the memories. "They used to be a serious threat, but Murakumo didn't play nice with the Power of Light, so my weapon kept getting weaker as my personality got stronger. Relius mentioned that my entire soul has been rebuilt piece by piece; I bet my real Drive is entirely different now. It could be anything, but I think I know what to look for."

"What is this 'soul' you mentioned?" Namine asked.

Lambda scratched her head. "...No one can really define it. I know it's separate from my heart, mind, and body, but entangled with all of them. I think it's where magic comes from in this universe."

"Didn't you say using your Drive without a Grimoire is dangerous?" Xion asked.

"Yes, but I have the IDEA Engine and the Keyblade, and most abilities from the Azure Timeline function a bit differently here anyway; I'm sure it'll work." She wasn't sure how she was sure, but she could feel it.

Kairi asked, "So, what is your Drive? Do you even know?"

"I don't know, but a Drive is supposed to reflect one's personality and desires. And I know what I desire most: options." There! That word resonated deep within Lambda. She found it!

She summoned her Keyblade and held it over her head. "Option!" A white flash occurred at the tip of Elysium, and a construct of solid energy appeared. It had the size and shape of a chicken egg, with three triangular fins fanned out around the wide end that made it look like a futuristic attack drone. Adding to this impression was the round opening on the front; at Lambda's mental command, the Option fired a white energy bolt at a certain point on the wall, then a continuous stream of rapid shots.

"Whoa, cool!" Xion gave it a thumbs-up.

"Not much more useful than a normal Fire spell, though," Hazama pointed out.

"There's more to it." Lambda visualized a new design for the Option. "Fire!" Rather than launch a fireball, the spell transformed the Option into a new form, which now resembled a plastic model of a fireball streaking forward. It sprayed a stream of flames into the air. "Cure!" The Option changed shape again, becoming a green torus with white flower markings on it. It hovered over Kairi's head and shined a green light on her that would constantly regenerate her wounds. "It looks like I can make as many different Options as I can come up with designs for."

Hazama pushed, "How many Options can you make at once?"

"Option!" At first, making a new Option caused the old one to disappear, but Lambda soon got the hang of keeping two active at once, and she could transform them and control them separately. "Nngh...I'm sure if I train with this, I can make more. It's going to take some practice to get used to controlling more than one Option in combat, too."

Hazama pointed at the door to Spring Falls. "Well then, what are you waiting for? The Training Worlds await."

"Yeah. Thanks for the push, Hazama!"

Hazama smirked. "Glad to be of service. Really, though, you were pathetic up until now."

"That ends today." Lambda pushed open the door to the next Training World...

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

A/N: I was going to go right to the next world (for which I have an awesome gimmick lined up) but I mentioned in PMs to some of you that there would be stuff to do back in Midnight Town, so I felt like I should show that first, and then this took so LONG that I just wanted to post something.