Chapter 4 – My 7 Swords…

Sora, Riku and Kairi wandered the streets of the twilit city. Riku, who has never been here, looks around everywhere for the keyhole. They reached the clock tower and stopped as Olette ran out of the train station.

"Hey Olette!" Sora yelled, waving, but she ran right past him.

Hayner was blown out of the station, a gash on his forehead and a funny bent arm. Pence ran out of the station, a Struggle bat in his hand. He was followed shortly by Nobodies. Sora, Riku and Kairi all nodded, and dashed in different directions. Riku went after Olette, Kairi went to heal Hayner, and Sora went to help Pence. A person in the shadows smiled as they disappeared, leaving Heartless in their wake.

Sora dashed around Pence as he went by, ramming into a Dusk, sending it flying into a couple of other varying Nobodies. He flipped out of the dash, slicing a Berserker in half on his way to finish the Dusk. In one swipe, he downed 3 more Nobodies as Heartless swarmed him from behind. He pulled out a second Keyblade as his outfit turned red. Valor… Sora started slicing Heartless to his right and Nobodies to his left at break-neck speed.

XXXXX - Meanwhile - XXXXX

Riku was having a brawl of his own against the Heartless. Riku pulled out The Way to Dawn as the first Shadow struck. He slashed it, but it sank into its shadow form. Riku stabbed a soldier behind him and launched a Neoshadow into the air with an uppercut. A Shadow rose from the ground to strike, but it never made it to Riku. A lightning bolt struck it, and it faded away into darkness.

Riku looked over at Olette, who had a determined frown on her face as she cast more magic at the Heartless.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kairi was busy healing Hayner when a Heartless struck her in the back of her head, knocking her unconscious. Hayner tried to get up, but failed as a big Heartless picked her up.

Sora turned around to see said big Heartless and finished off the Armored Knight he was fighting, then attacked it. It blocked the Keyblade with its arm as another came from underneath its guard. It jumped back, a gash up its front. Its jagged mouth frowned as it looked from the wound to Sora. Its eyes turned from yellow to red as Sora finally thought up of a name for it.

A Juggernaut…

The Juggernaut charged at Sora, unceremoniously dropping Kairi to have free hands. Sora flipped above it, a battle cry rising from his throat, only for the Juggernaut to grab him and fling him into a wall.

Hayner finally mustered up enough strength to stand up, and he limped over to Kairi and picked her up. Nodding to Sora, he limped away from the heated-up battle.

XXXXXXXXXX

Riku cut down the last Neoshadow as Olette cast a cure spell on herself. She breathed a sigh of relief, then ran toward the street toward the clock tower, where Hayner was limping down the road with Kairi in his arms. After a quick explanation and a fast healing session, Riku and Hayner ran back up the street to assist Sora while Olette stayed to protect 'dead to the world' Kairi.

XXXXXXXXXX

The wall crumpled under the impact of a body as the Juggernaut beat Sora to a bloody pulp. Sora coughed up blood and did a quick 'Cura' spell before he faced the clearly boss-level Heartless. The Juggernaut roared as it charged at Sora yet again.

Clearly, jumping over will not work… Sora thought, crouching low to the ground. Right before the Juggernaut struck, Sora slid in a blur behind the Heartless, who then looked around for its prey. Sora chuckled and tapped it on the shoulder. It turned around and Sora smacked it upside the head with the flat of his blade, making the bulky Heartless stumble.

Riku appeared beneath it and plunged right through it, finishing it. The Juggernaut exploded, leaving only a black mist and a pink crystalline heart to float away. Hayner ran up to them, high-fiving Sora. "Awesome!"

"Uh…is it safe?" asked Pence, coming out of an alley.

Sora nodded, then ran down the street.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kairi and Olette were nowhere to be found. Sora and his friends looked around for them, but couldn't find them anywhere. Sora was growing frantic when a group of Neoshadows appeared to fight them.

Sora angrily tore through the Heartless as he searched the entire town. From the shadows stood a teen with a 'III' on his right fore-arm. He stared after Sora as he turned and went deeper into the shadows, simply disappearing.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Dammit!" Riku yelled, plunging his Keyblade into the ground, "Where the hell are they?"

Sora collapsed to his knees, utterly exhausted. It's hopeless… Sora thought, rubbing his hands against his eyes. "Damn…" He whispered in frustration, picking up his Keyblade as a man in a black cloak emerged from around the corner.

"…Hello…" He said. His voice was gruff and aggressive.

Sora frowned at the cloaked man, getting in a battle stance. "You're one of The Darkness, aren't you? Where's Kairi?" Sora asked, summoning a different Keyblade as his old one disappeared from his other hand.

The man chuckled as he threw off his cloak. He was a big guy, majorly muscled and had a huge broadsword on his back. He only wore a loose jacket, loose pants and shoes, no shirt was visible as to show off the number 'VII' above his navel. "Name's Edric, but you can call me Ed." He answered, brandishing his weapon of choice.

Sora growled in frustration. "You didn't answer my question!"

The man smiled, rather sadistically. "How about this?" He asked, moving with inhuman speed as he attacked Sora.

Sora barely blocked his first blow, dropping to one knee almost immediately. The man's smile grew bigger as he said, "If you defeat me, and I doubt you will, I will answer your question."

And with that, the battle began.

XXXXX - Meanwhile - XXXXX

Kairi and Olette were slung over the shoulder of another Juggernaut Heartless as a teen boy with black hair and yellow eyes emerged from the corner. The heartless stopped, as well as its small army. The teen looked at the heartless strangely, drawing his sword. All the heartless charged, dropping Kairi and Olette. The teen closed his eyes, crouching down low. When he opened his eyes, he was standing next to Kairi's body, picking her up. All the heartless imploded, destroyed in one attack. "Weaklings…" He muttered, picking up Olette and slinging both girls over his shoulders.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sora flew into a wall as Ed rammed into him. Ed laughed maniacally. "And you're supposed to be the Keyblade's Chosen One?" He asked with a laugh.

Riku flanked Ed, only to be flung into a wall himself. Sora pried himself off of his wall to go and attack Ed. He feinted from his original slash, which was easily parried. Ed sighed and jumped back several feet as Riku dropped off his wall.

"This is boring…" He muttered, with a scowl on his face.

He put his broadsword on his back, which changed into a short sword. Ed grinned sadistically, drawing it. He attacked Sora with renewed vigor, trying to take him down. He smacked Sora with the hilt of his sword, making him stumble and hold his head. "You're finished!" Ed yelled, laughing as he plunged the sword down to kill him.

He stopped mid-swing. He had a look of shock on his face, then he disappeared, leaving an injured Sora to 'lick his wounds'.

XXXXXXXXXX

Ed appeared at where he left the Heartless and started walking toward the darker part of Twilight Town. He stopped when he came to a rather misty area. He fingered the mist, rubbing it between his fingers.

"They're dead…" said a voice from behind him.

Ed turned to face the very same teen boy that had killed the Heartless in one swing. "Ah, Kyle…I thought that you may have been Adr-"

"Don't speak his name, you fool!" Kyle said, frowning.

Ed looked around at the mist. "I thought you were supposed to go kill the old man in the Tower…"

Kyle smirked. "I did go to the Tower…"

Ed's eyes narrowed as he looked at Kyle. His eyes widened as he drew his broadsword once again. "You killed the Heartless! You saved the two girls, including the Princess of Heart!"

Kyle clapped his hands. "Good, good…keep going!"

"That means…" Ed whispered, lunging at Kyle.

Kyle easily grabbed the sword with his bare hand. The blade cut into his skin, making his hand bleed. "That I…am a traitor…"

Kyle pushed Ed away as he jumped back a couple feet himself. Ed growled. "Wait until I tell Matt. Boy, will he be ticked off."

Kyle laughed, drawing his short-sword. "What makes you think you get to tell Matt?"

Ed roared, drawing a short-sword out of the darkness as he charged at Kyle. Kyle smirked again and ran his hand along the blade, from hilt to tip. His hand went farther, extending the blade. Ed stopped his charge and hopped back a couple of feet as Kyle brandished his new long-sword. Ed raised his eyebrow, "Didn't know you could do that…"

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me…" Kyle said, lunging at Ed.

XXXXXXXXXX

Six swords sat, stabbed into the ground as if they were disarmed from someone's hand. In the middle sat The Darkness' Number 7, Ed, a dagger plunged into his heart. His eyes were wide in an eternal stare of shock. Kyle panted as he ran his gloved hand on each and every blade, adding their designs to his collection. He then walked off, the two missing girls appearing on his shoulders, slung once again.

Kyle looked back at Ed as his body faded into darkness, the dagger falling onto the street. Kyle closed his eyes, then nodded and continued walking.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sora pounded his hand on the ground in frustration. "I couldn't even scratch the guy!"

Hayner nodded, un-winding his shoulder muscles. "And he was only number 7? Think of how powerful these other 'Darkness' weirdoes are!"

Beyond your imagination…

They all turned to the voice to see a teen with black hair and yellow eyes, with Kairi and Olette slung on his shoulders. They all ran to him, taking them off his shoulders to check on them. The teen cracked his neck, then started to walk away.

"Wait!" Sora yelled, drawing his Keyblade.

The teen turned around, staring at Sora with a blank expression on his face. Sora's eyes narrowed as he asked, "Who are you?"

The teen smiled, as if he found the question funny. "Isn't it obvious?"

Sora looked at the teen funny as said teen started laughing. The teen stopped laughing long enough to say one word. "Kay…"

He then disappeared into Sora's shadow, still laughing. Sora looked confused as he scratched the back of his head. "Kay…?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Kyle appeared on the ship Selvana, a hologram of a women appearing next to him, walking with a clip-board in her hands. "I have repaired the ship, as you asked, but we should make a landing in a world with proper facilities, so we can repair to the fullest extent."

"Thanks, Sal." He muttered, taking a seat in the pilot's chair. "Set course for Serenity."

The hologram, Sal, saluted and disappeared as the ship blasted out of orbit, heading off into uncharted space.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sora and Riku returned to the Midnight, Kairi still unconscious as Sora laid her in her bed. He then went into the 'hub' and set course to the nearest world. One with no name…

A/N – Well, I hope I did the fight scenes well enough. ^^ They aren't on par with LaredoTornado or Shadows Horizon, but I hope that they have a certain flare to them. My flare! ^^