Welcome back to A Time Beyond Time everyone! I hope you'll all enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing it!

Creativity: I still say there needs to be keyblades.

Author: I already told why it isn't happening. I want to write an origin story for the X-blade and kingdom hearts itself. I mean the big floating heart moon thing.

Creativity: The people reading this are still going to be annoyed and ask for keyblades.

Author: I will button you or use my awesome mind powers to turn you into a llama if you don't shut up.

Creativity: Shutting up sir! I'll start refilling the B.T.I. sir!

Author: Good man. Now where were we?

So yeah. No matter how much you cry or beg, I will not bring in keyblades. Not until much, much later anyway. So don't get angry. I warned you about this literally before the first chapter really started.

Enjoy!

"Oh come on! We're gonna be late!"

A boy, seemingling in his late teens and wearing black and purple clothing with jet black hair and purple eyes, called exasperatedly to another teen, female, who was lounging by a fountain. The boy had four others with him, all wearing different colour schemes of clothing. The girl lounging by the fountain was wearing blue and silver clothing and had blue hair that went just past her shoulders, as well as small silver earrings.

"Hurry up Leith! If we're late again, master Volcan is going to blow his lid again!"

The girl reluctantly got up and stretched.

"Oh, fine! You just want to show off at sparring practice again, Ryo!"

Ryo just rolled his eyes.

"No, that's Phoenix."

Another girl, this one wearing red and gold with short red hair with tips dyed charcoal gray, huffed indignantly.

"Oh sure. I just want to prove I know my way around a fight. Right Terrek?"

Terrek, the tallest and burliest of the group and wearing green, brown and grey with dirty blond hair crossed his arms.

"How exactly is that not showing off?"

Phoenix just huffed again and looked away. Another boy piped up. He was wearing bright grey and bright yellow clothes and had a wild mane of light grey hair.

"Look, we're just wasting time here! Let's go go go!"

The final member of the group, a girl with black hair, white and gold clothes and gold eyes shook her head.

"You're always in a rush aren't you. Seriously Tempest, can't you just sit still for a single moment?"

Tempest just shook his head, causing a breeze while doing so.

"Nope! Can't! Always need to move! Unless it's naptime! You'd think you'd know that after all this time, Shiori!"

Shiori just pinched her nose and sighed.

"Lets just go."

Wings of different sizes and shapes materialized in bursts of different colored light from their backs and they took flight to a large dome like structure. They hurried inside and quickly joined a few other groups who were standing at rapt attention around a large square sandpit. There was a sudden burst of fire and a man with massive, red draconic wings landed on the opposite side of the sandpit from the assembled group. The wings disappeared in burst of fire.

"Anyone late this time? The usual suspects? No? Good! First match, Lieth and Tempest!"

Lieth groaned as she stepped into the sandpit. She walked to the left side while Tempest jogged to the right. Once there, he swiped his hands backward in a flourish. A burst of wind and lightning surrounded his hands, forming claw like weapons. They were like gauntlets that also extended sideways from his arm and had three, two-foot-long blades attached to them and a dome on top of his arm with a yellow gem near the front. He hopped from one foot to the other in anticipation, holding one claw up in preparation to guard.

Leith performed a more graceful hand movement, raising her hand from the ground upward. A burst of water and ice followed her movement, creating a dual sided, double edged blade with a blue wire wrapped hilt, gold disk guards. The blades were coloured like ice. She spun the weapon a few times above her head before settling into a relaxed stance, the weapon held behind her with her empty hand held outstretched.

"Begin!"

Tempest struck the second the word was given, sweeping forward with small tornadoes around his feet, allowing him to glide over the sandpit with ease. He raised one of his claws and began firing bolts of lightning from the gem. Lieth countered easily, swiping her hand up and creating an ice wall between her and Tempest. She then thrust her arm forward, launching the ice wall straight at him! Tempest merely created a gust of wind to launch him over the incoming attack and started to swing his claws as fast as he could, which was pretty fast. Leith spun her weapon in front of her, creating a whirlpool in front of her which became lances made of water. She began to manipulate them into blocking Tempest's strikes while she held her hand out behind her, creating hail stones the size of watermelons! Once she felt she had enough, she swung her hand forward, two fingers pointing at Tempest. The massive supply of hailstones hurtled past her, straight at Tempest. He countered by using both his claws to unleash a barrage of lightning that blew up the hailstones before they could touch him. With an opening provided, Leith lunged forward, spinning her weapon beside her. She made for a stab, only to have Tempest bring his claws together to block with ease. He then pushed her back and created a miniature hurricane around him which started to pick up the sand around him. Lieth covered her eyes, trying to get a bearing on where Tempest was. Then she had an idea. She created a bubble of water around herself, clearing the sand from her eyes and her surrounding area. She then sent a wave rushing out in a pulse around her. The hurricane cleared to reveal a soaking wet Tempest. Lieth leapt into the air, creating a wave underneath her which carried her straight towards Tempest. She landed and levelled her blade at Tempest's throat.

"This match goes to Lieth! Well done! You haven't been able to beat him for weeks!"

Lieth smirked a little and helped Tempest to his feet.

"Aw man! Ah well, I'll get you next time!"

Lieth's smirk widened.

"Yeah. Sure you will."

Tempest suddenly pointed upward and struck a dramatic, but ultimately silly pose.

"CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!"

Lieth just groaned and dragged Tempest out of the sandpit. Most of the group just shook their heads at Tempest's antics. Volcan just rolled his eyes and called out the next match. It was between a fire user and an air user. The fire user was a little unique in that his fire was blue. The match was a quick one. The air user used wind to circle around her opponent as fast as she could before striking them with lightning and moving in the finishing blow.

"Phoenix and Shiori!"

The two girls each walked to opposing sides of the sandpit and summoned their weapons. Shiori's was a katana with a gold and uncharacteristically long blade, perhaps a half foot longer than standard. She swiped it in front of her before spinning it into a backhand grip and holding it in front of her.

Phoenix's weapon was a red and gold halberd. It had a red shaft with golden flames and a golden axe blade, whose sharpened edge was red. There was a spear point on either side of the weapon. She twirled it expertly and ferociously in front of her before slamming it into the ground. She then pried it out and settled into a fighting stance, the halberd pointed slightly towards the ground.

"Begin!"

Both girls rushed forward. Phoenix left a trail of fire blazing from her feet while coating the blade of her halberd in flame. She swung it hard in an uppercut strike, launching an arc of flame ahead of her as she leapt into the air, surrounding herself in fire as she went. Shiori sidestepped the projectile attack and swung her blade up, causing a pillar of golden energy to rise from the ground, colliding with Phoenix. Phoenix took this in stride and allowed the pillar to launch her backwards, flipping as she went. Shiori took this opportunity to launch a volley of gold orbs from her palm. Phoenix responded with a firewall, which she used as cover to launch of barrage of fireballs. She then burst through the firewall, engulfed in flames herself! Shiori responded by unleashing a pulse of gold energy which destroyed all the fireballs, but didn't stop Phoenix as she brought back her halberd for a heavy blow. Shiori held her sword in front of her and coated it in gold energy, creating a blade of energy around the sword. She twirled it a few times before meeting Phoenix's strike with her own. The energy from both strikes cancelled each other out. Phoenix smirked and suddenly twisted her halberd away and brought the spear point on the opposite side of the weapon straight up to Shiori's throat.

"Phoenix wins!"

Phoenix dismissed her halberd and walked back to the group with a smug look on her face. Terrek crossed his arms and lightly elbowed her, causing her to glare at him for a moment before turning to watch the next match.

This one lasted much longer. Both combatants preferred ranged attacks and as such, they had enough time between volleys to create defences as well. It ended when one of them created a fog between them and used it to get in close for a winning blow.

" Ryo and Terrek!"

The two friends stepped into the sandpit and summoned their weapons. Ryo's weapon wasn't as flashy as the rest of his circle of friends, sans Shiori. It was a black and purple single edged sword with a two-handed grip and a guard similar to that of a rapier or a cutlass. The blade was much wider closest to the handle and slimmed the closer it got to the point. He flourished it a few times before holding it high and pointed off to his right while bending his other arm so that his palm was facing the ground. Terrek's weapon was a club/axe hybrid, that seemed to be composed of overgrown wood and stone. The weapon was enormous and appeared similar to a sword, except for the fact that it had no sharp edge, save for the massive two-sided axe blade at the top. He hefted the weapon over his shoulder and slammed it into the ground before resting it on his shoulder again.

"Begin!"

Terrek made the first move, swinging his weapon in an uppercut strike that dug through the earth, causing a wave of earth to hurtle straight at Ryo. Ryo responded by creating an orb of purple energy in his hand and slamming it into the ground, using the force to catapult himself over the shockwave. He spun his sword to a backhand grip and began spinning like a top while careening downwards towards Terrek. Terrek blocked the incoming attack with the flat of his blade, hands on either side of his weapon. He then stomped on the ground, causing a pillar of earth to rise out of the ground and launch Ryo away. Ryo landed and spun his sword back to it's normal grip and held it in front of him. His eyes flashed purple and the blade become encompassed in a similar light. He began launch blasts from his sword with every swing, only for Terrek to charge him, smashing through the blasts with heavy strikes as he closed in fast. Ryo smirked and channelled purple energy into his hand, causing it to start glowing intensely. He pulled back his fist and let loose with a straight punch into Terrek's fast closing attack. The blast created a plume of smoke, in which there were several purple flashes and a yelp of surprise. When the smoke cleared, Ryo was standing behind Terrek with his sword held to the back of his neck.

"Ryo wins!"

Ryo smirked a little as they walked back to their friends.

"I guess it's forty-seven to fifty-six now?"

Terrek smirked in return.

"Of course. In my favour. And you only won because of your trickery."

Ryo just elbowed Terrek.

"Yeah, because I can just shove you around any time I like. While I'm at it, I think I'll go tell Volcan that his entrances are a little weak."

The two of them laughed a little at Ryo's joke at Volcan's expense before they made it back to their group. Phoenix was still smiling when they got back.

"So, it's forty seven to fifty six now?"

"Don't even start." Terrek jokingly warned. Shiori noticed that Ryo was rubbing his wrist a little.

"You okay?" She asked, a note of concern in her voice.

"Ah, it's fine. It's just that gathering enough energy to counter a swing from Terrek can leave you with a bruise or two. It'll go away in a bit."

Leith shook her head.

"That was very risky of you. I know that you're good and that Terrek wouldn't have killed you with that hit, but you still could have really injured yourself."

Tempest was just bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Oh man! That was awesome! I should try to do something similar with lightning! What do you think, Leith?"

Leith just shook her head.

"I don't know why I put myself through this."

Ryo just smiled and grabbed them by the shoulders.

"Because we're friends! As annoying as we may be at times, we wouldn't just upend that, would we?"

Lieth just rolled her eyes, but smiled a little.

"Sure, whatever."

Everyone just smiled. Then Volcan started yelling. Again.

"Okay, we're done for the day! Everyone clear out!"

Everyone left in a hurry. No one was eager to stick around when Volcan was teaching. The six friends took off to one of their favourite hangout spots. It was by a large pond with a miniature waterfall. They spent most of their evenings here. It was often quiet and they could laugh, spar, swim, compete over whatever they were arguing about that day, complain to each other, or just hang out.

"So, you guys feeling ready for the tournament next week?" Phoenix asked. Tempest was the first to respond.

"Oh yeah! Bring 'em on! I'll give 'em a taste of raw air power!"

Lieth rolled her eyes.

"Oh yes, you'll blow everyone out of their seats... Did I just pun?"

Shiori giggled a little.

"You seem a little thunderstruck by that."

Lieth groaned.

"Oh no, don't start, please. The moment someone starts than everyone just piles on."

Ryo started smiling.

"Well it's so easy to. I mean seriously, it's a breeze!"

Lieth let her face fall into her hand.

"What have I done?" She mumbled. Phoenix started grinning.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure it'll blow over pretty quickly."

Lieth's head shot up, a very angry expression on her face.

"One more wind pun and I swear I will bring a downpour down on everyone!"

Terrek just shook his head.

"No need to be so stormy over a few puns."

Lieth's mouth dropped open, completely at a loss for words. He had said that with a completely straight face, not so much as a twitch in the corner of his mouth. Was he punning, or was he just ignorant to the pun? Everyone else was just snickering and waiting for Lieth to get her bearings. Finally, she gave up and sat back down, grumbling. Everyone burst out laughing before Ryo got control of his fits.

"Okay, no more. Even I know where to draw the line."

Everyone agreed in their own time, as they all took varying degrees of time for the giggles to subside. Once they had all stopped laughing, they sat down on the ground and watched as the sun started to set. They sat for several minutes before they all went their separate ways for the evening.

It was the end to a perfect day.

So, what does everyone think so far? I think it's pretty good.

Creativity: I still want keyblades!

Author: Oh fine! (Closes eyes for a moment. Creativity transforms into kingdom key.)

Creativity: THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT!

Author: DEAL WITH IT! I WARNED YOU!

Sorry about that. So, I thought I'd do some more character and world descriptions down here because why not?

So, Ryo's name is based on the word ikiryō, which is just something I found when trying to find translations for "Wraith". If I'm wrong, feel free to let me know, with a source. Won't even think about it if it's without a source. Anyway, if you haven't figured it out already, Ryo controls darkness. You already know what color his clothes are. He wears a black tunic with a hood that has purple stitching. His pants are also black with purple stitching as well as decorative purple patterns. He also has black boots. His wings are also draconic, but not so much as Volcan's. His are slightly longer but not as wide.

Phoenix has control over fire. You already know what she looks like. Her clothes are red with gold fire patterns sewn in and her boots have stylized gold flames coming off the top. She will be due for a different look later. Anyway, she's the fighter of the group, always looking for a challenge. She has a bit of a competitive rivalry with Terrek and Ryō. She has red and gold phoenix wings.

Leith's name is based of the river from Greek mythology, though possibly not spelt the same. Pronunciation is the same though. The only connection is water. She's more laid back than the rest of them, with the exception of puns. She can't stand them. Her relationship with Tempest is like that of an exceptionally annoying younger sibling that you still care for. She has power over water, if that wasn't already clear. her clothes are a little more flowy and she doesn't wear shoes of any kind. Her wings are draconic and more elegant.

Tempest is best described as wily and impulsive, with a heart of gold. He's always rushing everything and will blindly walk into anything for a friend. His power lies in air, which I decided to include lightning in because this is my story. He wears a sleeveless tunic and short pants. He wears cloth tied around his feet instead of shoes. His wings are those of a falcon.

Terrek is the most level headed of the group. He keeps his hair short and tied back. If it wasn't obvious from his color scheme and his weapon, he controls the element of earth. He doesn't talk as much as his more vocal friends but isn't one to shy away from a joke. He does talk a fair bit, just much less, compared to his friends. his wings are owl's wings.

Shiori is best described as being nice for the sake of being nice. She isn't boastful and handles everything in a very calm manner, unless you've really managed to tick her off. She controls light and uses her element the with the greatest precision out of all her friends. She's a mediator by nature. Her tunic is white with gold on her shoulders and sides. She also wears white fingerless gloves that I forgot to mention earlier. She has white wings with a pattern of gold feathers in them

Whew! That was a long one! Well, seeing as this really starts my story. Next chapter, we get closer to the "Tournament." Oooooh, what could it be... Who knows? Oh that's right! Me! Yay me!

Okay, enough gloating! See you next week!