Author's Note: I do not own any Kingdom Hearts or Pokemon franchise characters. I do however, own Xecal. Matt belongs to bizzleb.

~Kingdom Hearts: The Dark Keyblader~

~Chapter 4: A Blast to the Past~

Mew used Teleport to take himself and Xecal to an enormous tree. But it wasn't really a tree, but a rock formation. It was more than enormous. The tree shaped rock formation was so large that it made all the other trees around it look like nothing more than a field of grass. It was large enough to be a small mountain.

'This is what the guardians of a world are for,' Mew explained, 'The three guardians act as a key, a lock, and a door. The key is unaware that they are a guardian. The key to this world is Pikachu, and he left. The lock knows that they are a guardian, but are unaware of what exactly they are guarding. He was a Lucario, the same one who died protecting me and the world. I am the door...and the only one who knows what's the guardians protect in this world.'

"And that would be?" Xecal asked.

'This tree...The Tree of Beginning,' Mew continued, 'It contains the very heart and soul of this world. If I were to die, this tree would cease to exist, leaving the heart and soul of this world exposed.'

"So this tree is in essence, the body of this world?" Xecal asked, "And without this tree, the heart and soul of this world would become disembodied. And if they were to become corrupted by darkness, the world itself would become a heartless."

'Although Lucario sacrificed himself, his essence is still part of this tree,' Mew said, 'So the lock guardian is part of this tree permanently...or so I thought. Lucario's presence has completely vanished.'

X~~~~~X

'Celebi, you will take me into the past,' The large cat-like Pokemon said. Then his eyes began to glow. In turn, Celebi's eyes glowed. Celebi was then in a trance, Under the large Pokemon's control.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash and the two of them were gone.

X~~~~~X

Xecal was watching Mew as he seemed to be talking to the Tree of Beginning. Finally after several minutes, Mew turned back to Xecal, 'Apparently, Mewtwo used Celebi to travel back in time to get rid of Lucario before he sacrifices himself!' Mew said frantically.

"But, if he's in the past and has killed Lucario, why didn't this time line change?" Xecal asked, "And who's Mewtwo?"

'It must mean that we still have a chance to stop him,' Mew said, 'Mewtwo is...or...was a friend of mine. But then The Organization found him and used his anger towards humans and turned him into...I believe you call then...Nobodies. A creature who's heart is no longer part of their bodies.'

"Why does he hate humans?" Xecal asked.

'He was created by humans to be a science experiment,' Mew answered, 'He was cloned from my own DNA. His anger towards humans was subsided. But it was still there. And that is why he became what he is now.'

"Wait! If Mewtwo is now a Nobody, then there should be a Heartless as his counterpart," Xecal pointed out, "Where could it be?"

'There's no time. I can combine my power with the power of this tree to send you back in time to stop Mewtwo,' Mew mentioned.

"Aren't you coming?"

'I can't. I don't have the power to send us both back in time,' Mew pointed out, 'Besides, I'm already there.' Before Xecal could argue, there was a flash of light and Xecal was gone, 'Good luck...Xecal, the Dark Keyblader.'

X~~~~~X

Xecal had arrived inside a gigantic catacomb. But it was more than just that. It was an oasis. Then he saw a group of six come out of an entrance of a tunnel in a rock wall down the hill.

One of them was in his teens. He wore a blue vest over a black t-shirt, tan pants, and a red cap. He had black spiky hair. The second wore a brown hiking t-shirt, brown hiking pants, and had brown spiky hair. He was a bit older that the first. The third was a girl about the same age as the boy. She wore a red t-shirt, blue shorts, and a red bandana on her head. She had long brown hair. The forth was a little boy with a green t-shirt, dark brown shorts, and glasses. He also had bluish hair. The fifth was a woman who wore a purple jumpsuit and high tech goggles.

The fifth was what appeared to be a dog-like creature that stood on it's hind legs. But had a blue and black coloration. He had spikes on his paws and his chest.

"Well gang, it appears to me we're right under the tree of beginning," Xecal heard the woman in a jumpsuit say.

"Is Pikachu up there?" The boy with the hat said.

"Right above us," The dog-like creature answered.

"YES! HERE I COME PIKACHU!" The boy with the hat exclaimed as he started running up the hill, followed by the dog-like creature. That's when the two of them noticed Xecal standing on the top of the hill, "HEY! WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"My name is Xecal," Xecal said, "And I am here because there is danger here." Xecal then looked at the dog-like creature. That must be Lucario. He thought to himself.

Lucario closed his eyes and began to focus. After a few moments, his eyes popped open and a look of fear spread across his face, 'Darkness...' Lucario said through telepathy, 'Nothing...but darkness...'

Xecal then realized that the boy was talking about a Pikachu. I wonder if the Pikachu he's speaking of is the same Pikachu.

The boy then introduced the group, "I'm Ash," he said. Then he motioned to Lucario, who had regained his composure, "This is Lucario. That's Brock, May, her little brother Max, and that is Kidd."

"We are here looking for a Mew who has taken Ash's Pikachu," Kidd said.

"Would you like some help?" Xecal asked, "I need to find and stop a danger anyway."

"Alright! Let's go!" Ash said, agreeing to Xecal's offer.

"Hey! Wait for us, you two!" May shouted.

As they were running up the hill, Kidd took something out of her pocket that looked like a robotic snake, "What's that?" Brock asked.

"Survey robots," Kidd said.

"You've got some impressive gear!" Brock commented.

Kidd took out a remote and pushed a button. Then the segments split up and turned into tiny helicopters with cameras, "When it comes to investigating, there's no such thing as being over prepared," Kidd said. Then the flying cameras all flew off in different directions.

Xecal overheard this and had a bad feeling, "I don't know about that," Xecal said to himself.

Kidd then pushed a button on her goggles and spoke into a mic, "Hey Banks, are you awake?" She asked, "I'm sending you some data."

As they were conversing, Xecal went with Ash and Lucario.

X~~~~~X

Each of the little cameras checked out the different crystals. Then stick pins into the crystals in order to take samples and get information.

But as they did, the crystals turned red and red globs appeared. The red globs absorbed the cameras and disappeared. The crystals then returned to their blue color.

X~~~~~X

Xecal, Ash, Lucario, and the others ran through one of the caves. They climbed over a rock that was in the way.

"These rock formations are amazing, Kidd!" Banks said through the goggles, "They're alive! I'm checking the data. But it's clear that the Tree of Beginning is part of the ecosystem! It's a living thing too! And I think it gets all it's energy from sunlight!"

"You made a great discovery!" Brock said.

"Sure...But..." She said, pausing as she climbed over another rock, "There's still a piece of the puzzle missing. We still don't understand where Mew fits in. It must be connected to the Tree of Beginning."

The group continued to run through the tunnel until they came to the exit. The view was breathtaking. Ash then cupped his hands and shouted, "HEY...PIKACHU...ARE YA THERE BUDDY?" Ash shouted.

They ran farther up the hill, "PIKACHU...IF YOU HEAR US, GIVE US A SIGN!" Xecal shouted.

Ash continued to shout, "PIKACHU!"

Then on a far off cliff, a shouting was heard, "PIKA, PI!" The voice shouted.

A large smile spread on Ash's face, "Ha! It's Pikachu!" Ash said as he started running in the direction that he heard the voice from. "Pikachu," Ash said as he tried to climb the edge of a rock, "I'm coming!" Lucario then followed, followed by Xecal.

Ash was stopped by another Pokemon. It had a crystalline form. Not only that, but it was black, "Regice. Re, Regice. Regice," The black Pokemon said. Then it shot a beam where Ash was just standing, creating an ice formation.

Ash was knocked back from the attack, "Regice! WAH!" Ash said as he landed, "A black Regice?"

"Re...gi...ice..." The Regice said as it shot another beam. Ash ducked for cover. But this time, the bean was stopped by a ball of energy that was thrown by Lucario. Lucario and Xecal then ran up beside Ash. Lucario was preparing another attack in his paws while Xecal was also doing the same.

"WHAT ARE YOU ATTACKING US FOR?" Ash shouted, "WE'RE JUST HERE TO LOOK FOR A FRIEND!"

"Re, Regice," Regice said as it shot another beam.

"SHADARA!" Xecal shouted as he and Lucario released their attacks at once, stopping Regice's attack, "There's no point trying to reason with it! That's a heartless! Let's backtrack!"

"Xecal?" Ash argued. But he was attacked again, causing him to run and follow Xecal and Lucario.

The rest of the group caught up and came out of the cave just as Ash and the others were running back down, "Go back, guys!" Ash warned.

"What the matter?" May asked.

"It's a black Regice!" Ash said as another beam froze the ground again.

The Regice Heartless came down the hill, following Ash and the others. But Lucario shot another blast at it to stall for time.

"Let's find a different path," Xecal said as he and the other ran in another direction.

As they came to another tunnel, Lucario jumped over to it and pointed, "In here!" He said, guiding them into the tunnel. Once they got in, the Regice Heartless shot a beam of ice, closing off the entrance.

As they ran, they ran out of the tunnel and into another catacomb. It was filled with large crystalline vines, extending from one side to another acting as bridges.

Out of a higher up tunnel, two other came running out. One was a man with blue hair, and the other was a woman with long red hair. They both wore white uniforms with a big red R on them.

As the two ran out, they ran right off the ledge and onto the ledge Ash and the others were on, screaming on their way down.

"It's Team Rocket," Ash said as the two got back up.

The woman then scrambled to Ash, "You know we're desperate if we're coming to you!" She said.

"Those brutes keep trying to kill us!" The man said as he pointed, trembling, to the ledge he just fell off of. Standing on the ledge were two more Heartless Pokemon. One was made of stone, and the other was made of metal.

The metal Heartless Pokemon shot a beam at the group. The group then ran across one of the crystalline bridges.

"That's a black Registeel!" Max shouted.

As the others ran by, Lucario and Xecal charged up their attacks to stop the two Heartless Pokemon. They shot their blasts, causing an explosion to delay them, allowing the group to escape. They ran into another tunnel and through it. When they came out, all there was was a rock bridge that spanned a drop that nobody would want to fall from.

Once everyone was across, Xecal shot a blast of fire to destroy the bridge so that the Heartless couldn't follow.

The members of Team Rocket ran ahead as the others questioned Xecal, "You called those black Pokemon, Heartless," Ash said, "What is a 'Heartless'?"

"Heartless are creatures that were created from disembodied hearts that have become corrupted by darkness," Xecal said, "And if I am correct, this is the doing of a Nobody that I'm chasing."

"And a Nobody is..." Max asked.

"A Nobody is what is left over when a Heartless is created," Xecal continued, "When one's spirit and will are strong enough, the body and spirit are left behind. The danger I told you about earlier is a Nobody. He is...or was a Pokemon known as Mewtwo."

100 virtual cookies to whoever can figure out what the scenes I was using (and altered) are from. Here's a hint. It was one of the Pokemon movies.

~The Dark Keyblader, Alec~