I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW!! Sorry for the wait. And the sucky chapter.

Kairi picked at her breakfast in silence. Sora had moody all morning – even moodier than his new self. He had spoken to no one since his little flip-out that had woken Kairi up.

What did you expect? He saw you in the closet with Riku. Namine reminded her. Kairi shook her head.

That's not it. He would only be cold-shouldering me and Riku. He's cold-shouldering EVERYONE. Kairi fretted.

An earsplitting crash jerked Kairi out of her reverie. Everyone looked up from their food; Axel's chakrams were in his hands in a flash of fire. Another crash sounded from above them and plaster fell from the roof, dusting the table completely in a matter of milliseconds. Then there was silence.

"…What was that?" Lifelle asked after a moment. They didn't have to wait very long to find out. With a bloodcurdling cry, the roof was lifted by a gigantic, monstrous dragon. It was pitch black, red eyes leering at them above rows of jagged teeth. Its body was long and angular, with its enormous wings flapping almost lazily, sending clouds of dust at them with each beat. Hooked laws too long for the dragon's paws jutted from its fingers. Darkness emanated from it, swirling and coiling in the morning light.

"Did you guys already seal the keyhole?" Axel asked, running along with everyone else to the field in front of the apartment. Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and Iruka were bewildered.

"Yeah! We did!" Sora grunted, calling his keyblade.

"Obviously, that wasn't the keyhole!" Darran spat, facing the dragon. It seemed to grin at them from the air, as if saying come and get me.

"You asked for it, jackass!" Axel said, grinning. His chakrams were suddenly ablaze and whirling through the air, right towards the dragon. They hit the mark, each one ripping a hole through the leathery wings of the dragon. It cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Everyone with a keyblade sprang forward, prepared to attack the dragon with everything they had. Before they got too close, though, the flying heartless –they could see the insignia on its chest- was up in the air again. The perforations in its wings were tiny pinpricks now, and they were gone in another second.

"Regeneration…" Kairi whispered.

"Want some help?" asked Sakura, pulling out a kunai. Kakashi, Iruka, Sasuke, and Naruto followed her example. Lifelle nodded. Axel was already bombarding it with fire once more.

"So if that wasn't the keyhole, where is it? And what-" Kairi broke off, dodging a slash from the heartless' spiked tail, "-Did that keyhole do?"

"Hell if I know," Riku answered, shooting lightning bolts at the creature.

Nothing was working. They could have been throwing pebbles at the heartless for all the damage they were doing. It was just toying with them; that was apparent. It seemed to be enjoying itself.

"Nothing's working!" Naruto complained. He was out of kunai and already sporting many shallow cuts from where the dragon's tail had grazed his cheek.

"Not even my sharingan is effective," Kakashi stated calmly. Kairi gasped; it was the first time she had seen his right eye, (left to her) which was glowing red with curious black symbols around the edges.

"Nor mine," Sasuke added angrily. She noticed he had the same phenomenon, only it was both eyes instead of just one.

"Has your… sharingan… ever failed before?" Kairi asked. Both Sasuke and Kakashi shook their heads.

Another roar from their opponent stalled any further conversation. It dived at them like a black bullet, jaws open wide.

"Duck!" Axel yelled, hitting the ground. Kairi could tell that even if she did move, it would still hit her. She opened her mouth, a scream starting, when someone grabbed her as they flew past her. She reopened her eyes and saw Sora on top of her, breathing hard. He was bleeding badly; it's jaws had snared one of his legs.

"Sora! Are you okay?" She asked as he attempted to stand up. He cried out in pain and fell, but Kairi caught and steadied him.

"Here, let me heal that," she whispered. The tip of her keyblade glowed green before little clovers danced above his injured leg. The blood disappeared instantly.

"Thanks…" he said awkwardly.

"Look, about last night-" Kairi started. Another roar cut her off.

Right.Dragon. She thought to herself. It opened its jaws and pure darkness spewed out. Riku darted in between Kairi and Sora and the dragon, creating a shield between them and the darkness.

"Guys, move! This isn't easy," Riku roared. Kairi and Sora flitted to the left, as did Riku a second after them. They ran to a bush where the rest of them were crouching, discussing the best way to defeat their seemingly invincible problem.

"I have an idea," Sora said quietly. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Why doesn't everyone hit him in the chest with their weapons at the same time – it seems like that'll be the only part of him that won't regenerate. Kairi, Riku, Darran, Lifelle, and I will throw our keyblades, Axel his chakrams, and you guys can throw those knives," Sora said.

"Kunai," Sakura corrected. Sora nodded.

"On three, then. One… Two… Three!" Sora whispered. They darted from behind the bush and threw their weapons at the airborne heartless. The melee of keyblades, kunai, and chakrams struck it in the middle of its heartless insignia. Darkness pooled around it as it fell, and soon after a single, glittering heart rose into the sky and evaporated. Everyone's weapons returned to their hands, with the exception of the kunai.

"…So, do you guys care to explain why that little trick of yours yesterday didn't work?" Kakashi asked, his voice muffled as always by his mask. There was a very long pause.

"I have no idea," Sora said hopelessly.

I know. It sucks.