Author's Note:

Fighter belongs to 8-bit Theater.

"Um... we are... training for a school play!" Akane chuckled nervously. "Yeah, that's right, a school play, and I... am the heroine, so this is, logically, my weapon."

Nabiki gave her younger sister a look that screamed 'You've got to be kidding!'

Ukyo gave the Keyblade a confused look. "A prop weapon? But it looks so real... may I hold it for a sec?"

"No!" Akane blurted out. "No, I'm afraid you can't because... um... because..."

"Because Akane still needs to get used to holding this thing, and we only have this day to prepare for the play, so we reeaaaally have to go back to practicing."

"Strange, nobody told me about this," Ukyo muttered. "And what were you saying about going on a journey? Was that part of the play as well?"

"Um, no," Ranma spoke up. "See, I'm going on a training trip... and Akane is coming as well."

That remark Ukyo did not like. True, she had gotten used to the fact that Akane and her Ranchan had become closer over the past few weeks, but she secretly had hoped that this would just be a phase...

Then her face lit up. "Can I come too?"

"NO!" Ranma and Akane shouted at once, so firmly that Ukyo stepped back in surprise.

"N-no, that won't be necessary, Ucchan," Ranma grinned nervously. "Um... I didn't really want to take the tomboy along, but you know how our fathers are when they tell us to do stuff together... right?"

Akane gave Ranma a dark glare upon his 'tomboy' remark, but this time, she didn't say anything.

Now Ukyo felt a bit of relief. If Ranma still called her that, chances were big that this 'training trip' would end with the two not talking to each other for a month, giving her a new chance to win Ranma for herself. "Ah, I see... okay, then I guess I head back... I dunno if Konatsu will be able to take care of the customers all by himself."

Before leaving, she knelt down and petted Leormon's head fur. "A nice kitty you've got there, Kasumi!" she smiled. And then, she left.

The Tendo sisters and Ranma let out sighs of relief. Leormon would have done the same, but he was still blissfully purring from Ukyo's gentle petting.

"You know you are supposed to hide when we are having a visitor who doesn't know about our secrets," Kasumi scolded.

"Hey, it's not like I had the time to hide," Leormon defended himself. "Besides, I wouldn't have wanted to miss this for anything in the world... mmmmhh, that girl can pet..."

"I believe we should leave, and I mean very soon," Akane said. "If any more visitors like Ukyo arrive, I don't know if we can keep this charade up... and I don't want to know what Daddy would say if he found out."

"My guess is that he would be overjoyed that you two finally go on a journey together," Nabiki snorted. "Anyways, the Eva is ready for takeoff. You should all fit into the cockpit Gummi or whatever it is called. Anything you want to do before leaving?"

They all shook their head. Ranma had already informed his Senshi friends, Kasumi the Digidestined, and Akane definitely didn't want anybody to hear about her new role as the Keyblade holder... yet.

Nabiki smirked. "Well then, what are we waiting for?"

Ukyo looked up into the sky when she saw Unit 04 flying across the sky.

'That's strange,' she thought. 'Nabiki has already used that thing this morning... there never has been a NERV emergency twice a day before.'

It was pretty obvious that everyone in Nerima knew about Nabiki's occupation, since her giant Eva was hard to miss... but only a handful of individuals knew that Kasumi was a Digidestined, and only the Tendos and Saotomes knew that Ranma was a Senshi. But Ukyo had been suspicious about what was going in the Tendo household for some time, since she was a lot more observant than Shampoo or the Kunos. She didn't know about Cologne, though.

"There is no school play planned," Ukyo muttered. "I know as much, so what are you planning? But if they know about this, Nabiki and Kasumi must have had a reason not to tell me as well, so what is this all about? I need to get to the bottom of this..."

For now, she had to return to Ucchan's to make sure Konatsu would not be overburdened with his task of taking care of everything by himself.

But when she kept walking, she bumped into a boy who had appeared in front of her.

"Oh, excuse me..." she muttered, then she double-checked. She had never seen this boy before. Yellow clothes, silver-white hair... he was not a citizen of Nerima, that was for sure.

Riku smirked. He didn't know if this girl was one of those Maleficent had sent him for, but he was planning to find out.

"Say... I'm new to this place, and I'm kind of lost. Can you give me some directions?"

Ukyo couldn't help but blush. This guy was just too cute, and the way he was smiling at her...

She shook her head. No, never! Ranma was the only one for her, no matter what! Still, a girl was allowed to look after handsome boys from time to time, wasn't she?

"Okay, I've activated the interspace drive," Nabiki said. Although she was sitting in her own, secluded Eva cockpit, the others were able to hear her voice loud and clearly. "According to this page, the so-called 'Navi-G' will take us out of outer space and into interspace, allowing us to travel between worlds."

Ranma, Kasumi and Akane watched in awe when the stars and the darkness of outer space vanished around them and was replaced with the cloudy, multi-colored background of interspace. Brown and violet meteors were slowly soaring past them, and strange objects of multiple colors were floating in the distance.

Nabiki turned around Unit 04, and they all could see the world from which they had come. It kind of looked like planet earth, but with a miniature dojo standing where Japan was supposed to be, and a small moon with a tiny, itty-bitty moon palace on it.

"That's what our world looks like in interspace?" Akane sweat-dropped. "Looks pretty... abstract."

"Methinks it has a 'Ranma' theme going on," Nabiki mused. "A dojo, a moon palace..."

"Hey, I didn't come up with that, you know?" Ranma muttered. "Get that giant tin can moving already, Nabiki!"

Nabiki frowned. "Never - ever - call my Eva a tin can again! Understood, Saotome?"

And then, Unit 04 flew off, to boldly go where no Nerimian has ever gone before...

In the dark interior of Hollow Bastion...

"What are you saying?" Ursula shouted. "Cinderella and Snow White are not the girls we are looking for?"

"They may be princesses, but they are not Princesses of the Heart," Maleficent proclaimed. "You have let yourself be fooled, Lord of the Underworld."

"Bah! One teeny-tiny mishap, and you're marked for life!" Hades grumbled. "Even gods can make mistakes, you know?"

"But those mistakes might cost us everything," Ursula hissed, crawling towards the black-robed villain. "We have risked too much and have come too far to fail now because of your incompetence!"

"Hold your horses here, you big pile of sushi!" Hades grumbled. "I don't see you doing any better."

"Silence, all of you!" Maleficent shouted. "I have known this for some time and already did some research. I have the feeling that I already know the whereabouts of two of our missing princesses... and I've send the boy to take a look at them."

"Do you think the boy's heart is already filled with enough darkness?" Oogie Boogie asked. "What if he starts to question our motives?"

"You are forgetting that it was me who gave him back the body of his friend," the evil witch chuckled. "And if he ever wants to know how to get her heart back, he will do as I say."

"But you don't know anything about that," Ursula frowned.

"Yes, but Riku doesn't!" Maleficent grinned. "And when he has brought me all of the princesses... well, I already know what to do with him..."

"And do you think it's wise just to send the boy?" Captain Hook grumbled. "My ship and my crew are ready to set sail, you just have to give the word."

"You will stay here, we might need your ship for Sora and his petting zoo. Right now, my assistant is negotiating a contract with the owner of another suitable ship that can also fly through interspace... and it is much faster than yours, Hook!"

The one-handed pirate huffed.

Maleficent smiled. "And not only that, it also comes with a nice extra, a beast that once tussled with the mighty Monstro himself... and with the captain of that ship under my command, it will give me complete control over the entire interspace!"

Meanwhile, in Traverse Town, where a small group of freedom fighters was taking care of the refugees that had arrived from worlds that had recently been engulfed by darkness...

"And there was this strange thing in the sky, and those black monsters, and everything went dark..." the small, upset girl said.

"It's all right, you are safe now," Aerith Gainsborough said to her in a calm voice. "They can't harm you here."

"Not?" the girl in the yellow dress asked with disappointment. "Aw, and I still wanted to pay them back for what they did..."

Meanwhile, Leon was talking to a red-headed man. It seemed to be a young warrior, since he was wearing a sturdy armor and a sword on his side.

"...and then all went crazy, and I went 'WHOOSH' and Red Mage went 'TWANG', and Black Mage just said 'HADOKEN', and I went with 'ME-DOKEN'... and then I felt something at the back of my head... something stabbity... and then I was here..."

"I... see," Leon sweatdropped, wondering if the traumatic experience was a bit too much for the young man. "Still, you seem to be an experienced fighter, and we are in need of people to protect the civilians from the Heartless. Would you be willing to help?"

"Sure, why not?" he shrugged. "It's what Black Mage would have done, after all. Well, he wouldn't admit it, but I know he's really a good guy... and did I already tell you I like your sword?"

Leon glanced down at his gunblade. "Uh, thanks, I guess... say, what was your name again?"

"Fighter."

Leon blinked. "Um, yeah, I already know you're a fighter... but I meant your full name."

"Fighter McWarrior."

Leon decided not to ask. "Well then... Fighter... welcome to the team! And I'll make sure to call you when we find a sign of your friends."

The little girl had heard what Leon had said and came running over from where she had been talking with Aerith. "Hey, can I join you as well?"

Yuffie, who was leaning against a wall, chuckled. "I suppose you'd be a great help, but don't you think you're a bit small?"

"I may be small, but I can fight," Selphie proclaimed and pulled a skipping rope from her pocket. She twirled it around like a weapon. "See?"

Yuffie didn't want to admit it, but she was impressed. For somebody that young, the girl surely handled that rope like it was a dangerous weapon.

She grinned. "Okay, mistress of the nunchucks, why don't you come with me and we'll see if you can help Mr. Cid to guard his store."

Selphie smiled.

Leon scratched his head while looking after Yuffie and the girl. 'That's strange...' he thought. 'She somehow... looks familiar.'

Fighter, on the other hand, had only stared at Selphie's skipping rope, and the way she had handled it.

And it reminded him of his dream.

"Sword-chucks, yo!"

Unit 04 was standing at the bottom of a steep ravine, hidden from curious eyes.

Ranma helped his fiancee up the steep cliff. "What makes you believe that this is Cait Sith's homeworld?" he asked.

"Well, we have to start our search somewhere, right?" Akane said while climbing to the top. "You didn't have the idea to just ask him about it either, right?"

Liomon came jumping out of the deep canyon, carrying Kasumi on his back. The eldest Tendo daughter slid off the Champion Digimon's back.

"We all were a bit occupied with his passing away," she said. "We believed that he could show us the directions on the way."

She looked around the calm forest they were standing in. "Well, this world certainly looks nice and calm, and the air is very fresh..."

She turned back around and saw Nabiki working on her Eva. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us, Nabiki?"

"Naw, you go on ahead without me!" the Eva pilot said. "There are still a few things I wanna try out with those blocks... maybe we can fly even faster when I put the correct Gummis on the hull. I wouldn't be a great help after all. Outside of my cockpit I'm just a regular girl..."

"Well, if that is your decision... we'll try to come back at lunchtime."

"Gotcha! See ya later, sis!"

Liomon digivolved back into Leormon. "Are you sure it's wise to leave her behind? She's right, she can't fight by herself, and what if any bad guys show up...?"

"Well, maybe this world isn't so bad," Kasumi smiled. "Besides, didn't Cait Sith say that all the Heartless would be attracted to Akane's Keyblade?"

"That's right," Akane nodded while they walked through the woods. "If they want anything, they'll come after me... so I'm actually rather glad to have you guys with me. If it weren't for Cait Sith's help, they would have overwhelmed me the last time I fought them..."

"Hey now, I had to learn how to use my Senshi powers as well," Ranma said. "Just give it some time, Akane!"

Akane was about to answer, but was interrupted when several dark figures came jumping out of the thicket in front of them. Most of them had dark faces, glowing, beady little eyes and wore some sort of armor.

And Akane instantly recognized the emblem on those armors.

"Emblem Heartless!" she shouted and willed her Keyblade to appear. "So they're in this world after all."

Suddenly, another figure appeared in the middle of the Soldier Heartless.

"That's right, my dear little minions, keep them in check so we can bring them to the master!"

Ranma grimaced when he saw the little, toad-like creature with the green skin. "What in the world is that thing?"

"Creeper, at your service, dear travellers!" the little monster in the medieval clothes grinned. "Servant of the almighty Horned King... the ruler of the very land you walk upon. So if you know what's good for you, you better come with me... or even better, you tell me right away whatever you know about the Black Cauldron!"

"Sorry to disappoint you!" Akane grumbled and raised her Keyblade, while Ranma went into a battle stance and Leormon bared his fangs. "But I don't like any jerk-kings that sic Heartless on us."

"Well, it's gonna be your funeral..." Creeper hissed. "Get them!"