Tina and her friends

Hayner put Tine down when they arrived through a hole in the wall surrounding the town and protecting it from the woods. She found that she could stand a bit more steadily on her own, although she was still in a lot of pain. Tine made a mental note: wounds from the Keyblade did not heal quickly.

"Here's the town!" said Ollette. "What do you think of it?

"It's alright" Tine said, not knowing anything about it yet. She wondered how she was going to ditch these three and find a place where she could recover in peace, and plan her revenge on Sora and his friends. Her thoughts were interrupted, not surprisingly, by Ollette.

"Tina, come on! We're going to show you a Twilight Town delicacy!"

Tine sighed and followed. She noticed that the one called Pence was still eyeing her oddly, and keeping his distance. He hadn't accepted her as readily as Hayner and the Ollette. She wondered why. It wasn't as if there was anything obviously wrong with her. She looked like an average teenager, and had a full knowledge of everyday life concepts, although she was technically only four days old. She could do algebra and all sorts of complicated math, beyond her age. Maleficent insisted on an educated weapon, and added that to the magical download. She shrugged. Oh well. It wasn't as if he was going to do anything to her, and even if he was, it didn't matter. She was growing stronger by the minute. Already she was stronger than she had been in the mansion. Her strength grew even more, because she could sense that Twilight Town was close to the Dark Realm. She followed Hayner and Ollette to a booth.

"Four Sea Salt ice creams please" said Ollette.

"Sure thing" said the man in the booth, as Ollette gave him the munny.

"You'll love this" said Hayner. He held out a square blue ice cream bar on a stick.

"Ummm…alright" Tine said. She took it hesitantly. She wondered what it would taste like. With one more sigh, Tine stuck it in her mouth. Its salty taste immediately flooded her mouth. "Yuck!" she said. "It's salty, and…" then, with incredible speed that was matched only by its flavor, the sweetness came in the salt's wake. "It's sweet!" Tine gasped.

There was laughter. This time, even Pence joined in. "Everyone who tries their first Sea Salt ice cream says that" Pence said once he had gotten over his laughter.

"I like it" Tine said, licking the residue off her fingers. "So this is a Twilight Town delicacy, eh?" she looked around at the town. "I might like this place" she said. And that was when the voice called to her.

"Hey! You! Blood Head!"

Realizing that the voice was referring to her red hair, Tine turned, at the same time hearing Pence, Hayner, and Ollette groan. A boy in a long white coat and a black cap with some kind of silver symbol on it was swaggering toward them. Another powerfully built guy with a red shirt and black sweatpants was walking behind him. Further still behind them was a girl in a purple shirt and yellow pants. Her one visible brown eye glared coldly at them.

"Well, if it isn't the Loser's Club" said the boy with the coat, who Tine identified as the leader. "Looks like they've got a new member guys" he said. "Let's welcome her to Twilight Town!"

"Who are you?" Tine asked.

The boy with the red shirt walked all the way up to Tine, forcing her to back up a few steps. "He's Seifer, ya know?" he said. "Leader of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee, ya know? And I'm Rai, his number two man, ya know?"

"No, I don't know" Tine said sarcastically. "I'm new here."

Pence and Ollette gasped. No one smarted off to Rai, unless they wanted an ass kicking. It was just the way things worked with the three bullies who called themselves the Disciplinary Committee.

"Smart mouth" said the girl with the one eye.

"Yeah, Fuu" said Seifer, walking up to Tine, cracking his knuckles. "I know you were in the old mansion, off the town grounds" he said. "That's against the rules. Since you're new here, and you already look like you went through the wringer, I'll let you off with a few punches."

Tine shrugged, and then said "Fine. Hit me" and looked him right in the eye.

Seifer was about to give the girl a lot more than a few socks in the face, he was going to give her the beating of her life, but then he looked at her green eyes and saw something terrible. Something that was all insane darkness. Suddenly, the idea didn't seem like such a good one. And, although it was a hot summer afternoon, it suddenly seemed to be thirty degrees below zero, and he found that he was shivering.

"W-we'll see you get your punishment" he chattered. "Come on guys!" the three of them stormed off.

"What did you do?" Hayner asked. "What did you do just now?"

"You're some kind of god, I know it" said Pence. "I've never seen Seifer as scared as he was right now. And you didn't even touch him!"

"Bullies are just afraid of people standing up to them" Tine said, the downloaded bit of wisdom coming easily to her lips.

Ollette shook her head. "No, you don't get it. People have stood up to that creep and his goons. He jus beats them back down. This is a first. It's like seeing a miracle or something."

"Or chance" said Tine.

"Stop trying to downplay it, Tina" said Hayner. "You're going to be a legend around here, I just know it."

That would depend on how long I'm here, my friends Tine thought. Then her stomach rumbled. Tine suddenly realized she was hungry. She could go without eating for a period of four days, but it had been four days since she had been birthed from the tank in Maleficent/Vexen's lab.

"Don't worry" Hayner said. "Once we get to the Usual Spot, we can have the muffins Pence's mom made. She's a baker and her stuff's really good."

"Okay" Tine said. "Then what are we waiting for?"

The three of them made it to the Usual Spot. It was a nice place, Tine saw. It had couches and things, and it was hidden from the eyes of bullies like Seifer and his gang.

"So what do you do here?" Tine asked. "Is there anyway I could get a job or something?"

"Oh yeah" said Pence. "That's easy. You can just ask people if they need anything done."

"Not that you'll do it Tina" said Hayner. "You're injured. By that rat Sora, no less."

Tine suddenly noticed a bright light in the corner of the room. "What's that?" she asked.

"Oh, that?" Ollette said. "It's a Gumi Port. It let's people from Gumi ships teleport from the ships here. It's an old one though, and the only ones who use it anymore are Sora, Donald, and Goofy."

Tine's eyes widened. She scooted a little bit away from it. What if Sora came through the Port right now? He would be upon her in an instant. She might be able to get away, but it was a slim chance. More likely she would be killed.

"I don't blame you" said Ollette. She had seen Tine's momentary panic.

"It's not that…it's just….what if he comes back? You'll…" Tine made it seem as if she was debating with herself. "You'll protect me from Sora, right?"

"You bet we will!" Hayner said. "After what you did with Seifer, you bet!"

"Good" said Tine, and her eyes glowed yellow for a minute. Only Pence saw this and he shuddered. While he hated Seifer, and was happy that Tina had driven him away, he could understand how the bully had felt.