-1OK, wow! This is probably the longest it's ever taken me to write a chapter. How long's it been? A year? That's a lot of not writing. Anyway, this is the next chapter of Riku's story. It's Halloween Town. What? But I thought Halloween town was farther away from hollow bastion than Never land! Trust me, this was what I thought was best.

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Riku was on the ground in the Chapel of Hallow Bastion, panting. He had used an enormous energy transporting himself and Kairi from Never land to here. He was exhausted.

"You shouldn't rely on the darkness so heavily," Maleficent was telling him, "It could cost you your heart."

"Thanks for the heads up," Riku responded, ticked off that she didn't tell him earlier, "I'll remember that."

"Good," said Maleficent.

Roar! Roar!!!

"What was that?" Riku asked, surprised.

"A wandering heart; it came here after we destroyed his world, followed the princess."

"without a vessel?" Riku asked.

"Yes, it's amazing what the heart is capable of." Roar! Roar!! "Don't worry,' Maleficent said, noticing the concern on Riku's face. "He's no match for your power."

"My power?"

"Yes; the untapped power that lies within you. Now, child, it's time you awakened that power, and realized your full potential!" She raised her arms in the air. Riku saw an aura around himself and could feel the power of the darkness flowing through him.

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Riku looked at his surroundings, and immediately noticed that Hallow Bastion wasn't the darkest world there was. Halloweentown was bleak. Dark. Scary. Yes, Scary. That was the best word. It kind of reminded him of Halloween back on the islands. Scary decorations, spooky lightning, the works. He was quickly realizing that this world was very true to its name.

After Maleficent had awakened Riku's power, they began discussing on their plans for the finding of the final princess, and decided to travel to Halloweentown. This was not the first thing that came to mind, but Riku soon discovered that it was the last place available world for searching. When they got there, however, Riku found out that it was going to be difficult.

He looked at his clothing, and soon realized that he was out of place. He didn't look scary at all. "Maleficent," he asked, "I'm not gonna fit in like this. Think you can help with that?"

"of course." she responded. With a wave of her hand, Maleficent used her magic to fashion for Riku a suit. It was nearly skintight, and dark in color. The sleeves and sides of the torso were black, and the front and back was dark blue. It had red gloves with dark blue fingers. He wore boots on his feet that were also blue. Around his waist was a white sash that was tied with a blue belt and draped to his knees; it had a sort of raggedy look to it. But, the defining property, however, was the emblem of the heartless displayed over the chest.

Riku looked at the finished product. 'Perfect,' he thought

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He walked through the entrance to Guillotine Square, waiting. He had been hearing music, badly sung music, and he wanted to wait until it was over. When it seemed like it wouldn't let up, however, he thought, 'hell with it,' and entered the gate.

Inside the Square, there were many scary looking monsters, all of them singing and dancing, and having a good time. 'not like Halloween at home,' Riku thought. He looked around for something, anything, that could lead him to the princess. He saw a woman dressed like a witch in black in the crowd. 'A human?' he thought. She saw the logo on his chest and motioned to him too meet her towards the edge of the square, away from the crowd. Meanwhile, there was a scarecrow doing acrobatics while holding a torch.

Riku met the witch, who immediately introduced herself. "My is Lulu, and I am one of Maleficent's associates. She sent me here to look for the princess." While Riku suspected this, he also somewhat doubted it. Already, two people who claimed to be working for or with Maleficent had later revealed to be enemies of the sorceress. However, since he didn't have a way to prove that she was lying, he decided to believe her, for the moment.

"she told me that she would send someone to help, but she didn't say who.' Lulu elaborated.

"My name's Riku," Riku said. "so, where should we start?"

"If anyone knows where she is, Oogie will."

"Oogie?"

"Oogie Boogie. He's the resident Boogie Man. He's actually not that scary. I see you bear the heartless emblem on your chest so freely. If others knew about that, what would you do?"

"I think this was the best way to say that if anyone gets in the way of my goal, I'll destroy them."

"And your goal is?"

"To revive the heart of my friend, Kairi."

Lulu was actually starting to worry. 'so, this is the boy,' she thought, 'the one who Vincent and Paine were talking about. The one who controls the heartless.'

"Lulu?" Riku asked. "are you okay? You seem kind of out of it."

"Oh, sorry," she said. She hadn't realized that she was so deep in thought. "Let's go, shall we?" they walked the path from Guillotine Square to Oogie's Manor, and Lulu was surprised at the Heartless inhabiting the area. Then she remembered that he could control them.

Riku's ability to control the Heartless, as powerful as he was, was limited. He was worried that even though he was incredibly strong, some of the heartless would disobey him. He wanted to avoid that. He couldn't.

A group of Heartless, mostly wite nites and Gargoyles, appeared out of nowhere. 'damn,' Riku thought. He pulled out the Soul Eater, jumped in the air, and spun with his sword. In a flash of purple energy, all the heartless were destroyed.

"Wow," Lulu said, "Paine said you were strong, but I didn't think you were this strong." She soon realized her mistake.

Riku put his sword at her neck. "I knew you weren't working with Maleficent! That's why I warned you: don't get in my way."

"Sorry, I have to." she said. She pushed Riku with the Moogle that she used for a weapon, sending Riku flying. "Now, Kimahri!" A human-shaped panther with tribal-looking clothes and was holding a spear.

"So, you have a friend," Riku noticed. It doesn't matter, I'll destroy you both." he ran at Lulu, but he disappeared. He reappeared behind her, leaning foreword with his sword behind him. Before she realized what happened, she fell to the floor. Riku knew that Kimahri would be stronger, so he chose a more indirect approach. He stuck out his arm with his palm open. "Dark Firaga!" he yelled. A plume of dark fire emerged out of his hand and flew at high sped towards Kimahri.

Kimahri sliced through the fire like it was nothing, but in doing so, he had taken his eyes off of Riku. He was no where to be seen. Suddenly, Riku appeared behind Kimahri and tried to slash him but he dodged and stabbed at Riku with his spear. Riku dodged. He was realizing that these guys were going to be difficult.

He jumped backwards and grabbed the medallion around his neck. He called upon its energy. "Bruce!" he called. He was ready to summon Bruce the shark, given to him by Yuna. There was a white flash, and in a moment, a giant shark was floating in midair.

"Oh, 'ello, Riku." It said.

"I need you to help me, Bruce." Riku said. "These guys, they're bad people; they're trying to stop me from saving my friends."

Bruce hesitated, but only for a moment, because he smelled the blood from Lulu's cut. He went berserk. He immediately attacked where he smelled the blood. Lulu appeared to be defenseless, but as he approached, she said, "Thunder!" She used her magic to bring a lighting bolt from the sky and on top of Bruce. Riku called him back into the medallion.

'Damn!' he thought. 'I gotta get out of here or these guys are gonna beat me!' he opened up a portal of darkness with surprising ease. 'Huh, must be the new power,' he thought. He went into the portal, leaving Kimahri and Lulu alone.

"Damnit!" Lulu said, somewhat angrily. "He got away! Do you know what Maleficent could accomplish with him as an ally?"

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Riku appeared in the chapel. "You left me alone, again!" He said, somewhat angrily to Maleficent.

"I'm sorry, Riku," Maleficent answered, "I had to do some… research."

"What kind of research?" asked Riku.

"I have discovered…that Sora is not the true chosen master of the Keyblade. By some unknown force, the Keyblade missed its true target by a short distance, landing in Sora's hands, instead of yours. He's just meant to deliver it to you, give it extra power before it reaches its true chosen one."

"So, wait a minute… I'M supposed to have the key blade?" he asked.

"Well of course," Maleficent responded, "You didn't really think it would chose someone as weak as Sora, did you?"

Riku smirked. He might be able to save Kairi after all.

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BABOOM!!! Well, hope you like it. This is falkundude, signing off!