Author's Note: I do not own ANYTHING pertaining to Kingdom Hearts. I only own Blastbone Clarkson, Charlotte Amaturie (to appear in later chapters), and their nobodies (and these Seekers).

Chapter IX: New Enemies

Inferno lunged at Blaster again, the Bond of Flame swinging wildly. Blaster ducked again just as the blade swung at his head. Inferno then ran right through Blaster, fading out and becoming pixilated as he passed. Blaster blocked the blade, and swung three times at the Seeker of Fire. Each attack was blocked, at least, to the best of the Hologram's moves. Blaster couldn't replace the Hologram with the real thing.

"Pegasus," Blaster said, watching as the Seeker of Fire stumble to a stop. "Reset scene, and increase the difficulty level to standard."

"Acknowledged," Pegasus replied.

Inferno disappeared, only to reappear facing Blaster, blade at the ready. Blaster's Thirteen Order Crystal got the icy remake of its look, with the purple teeth turning icy blue and causing the surrounding air to condense around it. Inferno charged at Blaster with nearly in-human speed, but Blaster's equal speed easily rivaled the armored man. Blaster swung sideways, creating another energy arc of ice. This simple move was easily dodged by Inferno, who, in retaliation, swung Bond of Flame, causing an identical energy arc, made of fire instead of ice, to erupt from the end. Blaster was quick to deflect it with a well-timed activation of his personal shield. The second arc was more powerful than the first, careening towards Blaster faster than the first.

This time, however, as Blaster prepared to raise is personal shield, the tendrils of the Dark Heart Curse flared again. The holographic flames pixilated and faded, as did Inferno. The battlefield that Blaster had setup was a barren wasteland, but even that disappeared, revealing the original gray of the hologram room. As soon as the tendrils faded, Blaster dropped to one knee, clutching his chest like he did when facing Riku when he was possessed by Xehanort's Heartless. Blaster gasped, releasing his hold on the blade, causing it to vanish in a shower of white, black, and blue sparks, as it was still infused with the Blizzard element.

"Thanks for cutting the program," Blaster gasped. Before Pegasus could respond, the ship rocked like it normally did when it exited hyperspace. "Why have we dropped out of hyperspace?"

"A new enemy vessel somehow latched itself to the exterior of the ship before we left, and it sabotaged the hyperdrive generators," Pegasus replied. "I suggest you get to the bridge. Sora is getting worried because we exited in the midst of a fleet of Nobody Ships."

"Tell them I'm on my way," Blaster said. He instantly got back on his feet, and sprinted down the hall to the stairs so that he could go to the bridge. He was about as fast as the Holographic Seeker, if not faster. By the time he reached the Bridge, Pegasus had finished letting everyone know he was on his way.

"How fast did you run?" Sora demanded.

"Fast enough," Blaster replied, plopping down in his chair.

"We dropped out of hyperspace," Nox said.

"The result of a foreign saboteur," Blaster replied, bringing up the manual targeting system for the hidden missile placements near the nose.

"We are approaching a fleet of enemy ships," Donald said, checking the radar, and comparing it to the view screen.

"Then man the battlestations!" Blaster said. No one moved an inch as he armed the two laser cannons on the wings of the ship. Blaster noticed this, and gave an annoyed, "NOW!" command.

Blaster's order caused chaos as the rail guns and the smaller MK 2 Energy Cannons were armed and manned. There were 15 energy cannons, and a large number of rail guns placed around the ship, and each one could be manned by a console on the bridge. Blaster took his first look at the view screen watching as the ships approached rapidly. A number of them were the standard Knight Head ships, but there were a number of Dragonflies, and a Reaper's Wheel. In amongst the enemies were new enemies. These new enemies were sleek looking ships, looking like a very large and high-tech dart. The wings were in the shape of an X, similar to an X-Wing from Star Wars, and were painted gold. The nose was shaped to a point, where Blaster thought the weapons fire would come from.

"Pegasus, can you get me a scan of the dart-shaped ship?" Blaster asked.

Pegasus didn't respond, but Blaster's data screen began to show the wire frame of the unknown ship. The interior of the creature, assuming it was a creature, began to show the makings of a power source, and weaponry placements, one on the nose, as Blaster expected, and one on the end of each of the four wings. The scan revealed the blue body, with the yellow nose, and the golden wings. An unknown symbol on the wings looked like a lightning bolt was separating the Heartless and Nobody symbols.

"Scan complete," Pegasus replied. "This creature is not a Heartless or a Nobody, but they are not unlike either. In fact, their energy signature is almost like a combination of the two. I would also say that they have been technologically modified."

"Weapons are armed," Nox said, switching on the targeting system. "They will be within firing range in 20 seconds."

"Any known defenses for that unknown enemy?" Blaster asked.

"I cannot detect any other defenses than the five energy cannons," Pegasus replied. "If they have any other defenses, I don't detect any."

"Firing range in 5 seconds," Nox replied, locking on to the nearest Knight Head.

"Raise shields," Blaster ordered. What appeared to be a green oval sphere engulfed the ship for a fraction of a second, and one of the three screens on Blaster's console changed to show the tri-view of the ship, surrounded by the green, bubble-like shield. Two seconds later, the fleet came within firing range and opened fire. The shots were easily absorbed by the shield. "Return Fire!"

The others were just too happy to oblige. Sora jumped the gun and started firing at the nearest Knight Head. The laser blast vaporized the enemy ship on contact, proceeding through three more Knight Heads and a Dragonfly. Donald lined up three cannons at once, all of which fired on the Reaper's Wheel, destroying it and thirteen other ships, including three Shield Nobody ships that appeared to protect it.

"Be careful with those cannons," Blaster informed. "They do pack a punch, but they will overheat. And I only have so much coolant."

Kairi had her hands full with the rail guns. She could only fire one at a time from where she sat, but she somehow had pinpoint accuracy, shredding through the agile Knight Heads like they were butter as they passed over the ship, as if they were trying to find a weakness in the powerful shield. Xarch was slightly different, shooting down Knight Heads and Dragonflies until half the fleet was destroyed, but with only two cannons. Riku was doing the same with the multiple rail guns he commanded from his post. He even seemed to be putting his own darkness into the guns, because each shot had a blackish tint to it. Goofy…was just being Goofy. Every time he shot, the projectile missed his intended target, but the target behind the one that the shot was intended for was destroyed. Clumsy accuracy he called it.

Nox was just like Xarch, shredding through the Knight Heads like they were nothing. Once he had destroyed a number of them, he turned his attention to the remaining two Dragonflies, which were destroyed instantly. This left Blaster, with his two large laser cannons, and his two missile bays, to take out the remaining enemies. Blaster launched 100 missiles, destroying a majority of the remaining enemies. All the 50 "Darts" remained standing, firing five shots at a time at the nearly impenetrable shield. Blaster watched as the regular lasers and the rail gun projectiles were either diverted or absorbed.

"Our weaponry is not strong enough to even scratch them!" Kairi said, trying to destroy one of the Darts by aiming all her guns on it and firing at once.

"Hold your fire!" Blaster said. "This will take a good amount of power, but should be strong enough to destroy them all."

The fire from the Pegasus ceased, leaving the only fire to come from the Darts, which were beginning to damage the shield.

"Shields are down to 91%," Nox shouted, trying to hang onto his seat as the ship rocked for the first time.

Blaster aimed at two large groups of the Darts and fired the large laser cannons. The two cannons shot large white beams at the Darts, engulfing each one as it passed. When the laser flew off into space, dicipating as it moved away, all the Darts still stood, but, one by one, they exploded. Across the viewscreen, each one blew up silently in the vacuum of space, one right after another, with the flames from the ships extinguishing due to lack of oxygen.

"From what I am detecting," Pegasus replied as the last Dart exploded, "the hull is of a very strange substance, but they do have an outer shield that deflects any fire, but each hit causes some damage to its generator, which is incorporated into the weapons. If we disable the weapons, we disable the shield, we disable the propulsion, and we destroy the Dart, as you call them."

"Thanks for that data," Blaster replied. "I hope you have enough data to create a simulation battle."

"There is sufficient data," Pegasus assured. "They are a new type of enemy."

"No doubt a follower of the Seekers," Sora added. "But they look and act similar to Nobodies and Heartless."

"Like they are partially Heartless," Nox added, "and partially Nobodies."

"Partially Heartless and Partially Nobody," Xarch repeated. "Like a hybrid?"

"We don't know about hybrids," Nox argued.

"Well, if I may put my two cents in," Riku said, trying to avoid a confrontation. "If they are partially Heartless, and partially Nobody, then why don't we name these things for what they really are."

"You wanna call them Heartbodies, or Nolesses?" Nox joked, earning a smack from Xarch.

"No," Riku replied. "They are Partials. Partially Heartless, partially Nobodies."

A few seconds of silence filled the Bridge.

"Pegasus," Blaster finally said. "Make an additional subsection to the log. Category Name: Partials."

"Creating subsection," Pegasus replied. "Should I remind you that the saboteur is still on board?"

"Have you found them?" Blaster asked.

"The enemy saboteur is currently in the main weapons storage room," the ship replied.

"Sora, Riku, Kairi," Blaster called. The trio instantly summoned their Keyblades. "Elevator at the end of the hall, go to the second floor, go right. It will be the giant doors on your left about halfway down the hall." The trio left. "Donald, could I get you and Xarch to go check on the engines? I'm sure that Xarch knows the way, being the Nobody of Char." Donald nodded and left, with Xarch in toe. "Nox, take Goofy and see if there is any damage that the sensors are not picking up. Doesn't hurt to make sure."

"On it, Captain," Nox said, saluting, before leaving with Goofy.

"That's General," Blaster said, powering down the weapons consoles.

ITFITFITFITFITFITFITFITFITF

On another world, somewhere in space, and shrouded in darkness, two people in armor stood behind a giant pool of magic, projecting a large 3D image of the Pegasus.

"The Hybrids were not a really great success," One of the armored people said. Their armor was yellow, and their helmet had lightning bolts acting as side fins. By the deep, yet cold sound to the voice, this Seeker was male.

"Those were the weak ones, remember," The other said. Their voice was high pitched and very feminine. The armor further proved the Seeker's feminity, bulging a bit more in the chest, but thinning into an hour-glass shape at the waist. Her armor was light blue, with what looked like snowflakes for the fins on the helmet.

"You two mustn't go for the small guys and gradually work your way up," Inferno said, seconds before he appeared in a sudden burst of fire. He still was helmetless, and he still clutched the hand that Blaster attacked him with. "We should send the big guns in next."

"Inferno!" the female exclaimed, looking at the hand. "How did this happen?"

"It happened when that Key-brat revived himself," Inferno replied.

"We know, we saw," the golden-clad male said. "I have not seen any regeneration like that in a long time." He then turned his attention to the injured hand. "I'll go get my med-kit for you." He promptly left the room via a yellow-tinted portal.

"We have to execute our plan to bring them back," Inferno said.

"ALL of them, or just the ones we can get to?" the female said.

"Roxas and Naminé are currently unavailable," Inferno said. The golden Seeker returned with a red bag. "I think that the revenge will be a very interesting thing to view. Even if it was an unorganized organization."

"Then the unofficial XIV will take the place of Roxas," the female said, watching as the gold-clad man tended to Inferno's "wound."

"Xion?" the gold-clad man said, surprised. "She was defective!"

"But, she was the same one who gave Roxas his unique style of fighting," the female said. "Is there any way to keep him from losing his second keyblade?"

"She wields a fake key," Inferno said, flexing his muscles as a small chunk of ice was removed from his injured hand. "It's kinda bad that our forefathers could build fake keyblades. They also built all the real Keyblades. All except for that one owned by that regenerative son-of-a-b…"

"Woah," the female interrupted. "Let's leave the analogies for a later time, ok?"

"Anyway," Inferno continued. "That Blaster character made his own Keyblade, and instantly transformed it into that Thirteen Order Crystal. I held it for a few seconds, and the power I felt in it…" Inferno trailed off, as if he was trying to place it with an analogy.

The other two nodded, looking at the magic projection, watching as the Pegasus entered Olympus Coliseum space.

"I now know that the Knights of the Elements are searching for the three who fought against Master Xehanort," the female said.

"They must know we are trying to revive him," Inferno said. "We must hurry if we want to prevent another war."

"And once we revive him?" the other male asked.

"Once we revive him, we will be all powerful," Inferno said. "And nothing and no one will stand in our way."

(Scenes from the next chapter.)

ON THE NEXT "INTO THE FIRE": Sora visits old friends (Sora and Hercules grasp each other's hands in a handshake). But, with the Lord of the Dead aligning himself with a Seeker (Hades and the Woman Seekser smile at each other), things could get ugly ("You are telling me that the ever so famous Titans are currently sitting in a prison somewhere in the ocean?" Hades asked//"Yes, Hades," the Blizzard Seeker replied. "And, with them, you could take over Mount Olympus."). Tune in next week for an all new chapter of "Into the Fire." Fridays at 9/8c.

VIRTUAL JOURNAL:

PARTIALS: A new enemy that seems to combine a Heartless and a Nobody. It is unknown how they are created, but they do seem to be a formidable opponent.

DART: A Space Partial. These creatures have an uncanny resemblance to the X-Wing fighters from Star Wars. They do have shield capabilities, but they don't fare well against high powered lasers. There must be more out there, and they could pose a worthy threat.