DISCLAIMER: I don't own by any ways or means Kingdom Hearts or Sky High.

Chapter 34

Teaming Up

"All for one and one for all!"

-Sora, Donald, and Goofy at multiple times

There was a bright light in Disney Castle, specifically the audience hall and soon Kairi stepped out of the Keyhole-shaped portal. The king was sitting in his throne at this time and when he saw Kairi emerge he was, to say the least, more than surprised.

"Kairi! Where're Sora and Riku? Did you guys defeat Royal Pain?" Mickey asked rather quickly but Kairi took her time to answer both questions.

"Sora and Riku are still on Maxville so…no, we haven't defeated Royal Pain yet. We can't find them so I came here to ask Edge for some help. Do you know where he is?" Kairi asked and Mickey told her that he was currently in the library. Kairi therefore left the audience hall and strode along the colonnade until she reached the library. She entered the room and found Edge there, seemingly poring over some text. He looked up as she entered.

"Kairi? What are you doing back here alone?" Edge said as he saw her and she smiled at him.

"Hi, Edge, I'm glad to see you're doing good too." She leaned onto the desk and looked at him. "We need your help. We can't find Royal Pain though we know they're somewhere at this school we're attending. Only problem is, we only have an in with the students so we need someone to see if it may be one of the teachers."

"So you came to get my help?" Edge asked with a raised eyebrow. "And what do Sora and Riku think of this?"

"Oh, they have no choice but to accept your help. I'll make them behave, don't worry." Kairi said with a smile and Edge raised his second eyebrow in surprise.

"So you want me to be a teacher to see if one of the teachers might be Royal Pain?" Edge asked, making sure that he had his facts right.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it, and you're playing my step-father cause I am not having the last name Garibaldi…Kairi Garibaldi just sounds…wrong. How old are you?" Kairi said. She waited for a moment to see whether Edge would help them or not. After that minute was up, Edge got up from his seat.

"All right, I'm in…and I'm 32 so I'm guessing you'll want me to be older." Edge said. "But how will we find Sora and Riku." Kairi put a hand over her heart and Edge seemed to understand: Kairi was so connected with Sora that she could just use her heart to find them. Kairi summoned her Keyblade again and created a new portal back to Maxville. Edge, intrigued by these portals, followed in after her. However, when he emerged after only a short time he found he was now in the suburbia portion of Maxville, right outside the Stronghold residence. Kairi smiled at Edge and led him up the front walkway only to find Sora and Riku standing right outside.

"What are you guys standing outside for?" Kairi asked confusedly and they fixed her with a look.

"Oh…we were discussing Save the Citizen with Will's dad when, wouldn't you know it, Gwen turned up at the house for that little private tutor session…we got kind of shunted." Sora said with a shrug of his shoulders. Kairi nodded her head a bit. Sora finally noticed Edge and gave a nod and grunt in his direction.

"So, Edge is playing my step father and he's going to be looking for a job." She turned to Edge. "Oh, and 'mom' is angry with you right now and that's why you're kicked out of the hotel kind of thing..." Edge nodded his head a bit in amusement.

"Any more suggestions?" Riku asked a little forcefully. Edge cocked his head at him for a moment. "Kairi, exactly how long have you been planning this?"

"Since last night, I even have it down to detail that Edge's power is fire and therefore he'll be going after a Mad Science position." Kairi said with a smile and both of the younger men sighed. Sora then turned around and knocked on the door.

"Well, might as well have Mr. Stronghold call up after Mr. Medulla." Sora said and a few seconds later Steve Stronghold opened the door.

"Sora, Riku, Kairi, good to see you. Sorry about that whole thing with Gwen earlier." Sora and Riku just waved it off as he said this all. "So, what can I do for you guys?"

"Um, Kairi's dad just came to this town, he was a little later than the rest of us and he wanted a job at Sky High in the Mad Science department." Sora said. Steve nodded his head and adjusted the glasses he now had on as he pondered all of this.

"Okay, I'll call Mr. Medulla right away and have him meet you at the Paper Lantern, is that all right?" They quickly acknowledged the fact that it was. Thus it was that nearly a half hour later Edge was sitting in a booth across from Mr. Medulla on an interview while Sora, Riku, and Kairi were sitting at a table only a few feet away.

"You know…I really hate this whole deceit thing." Sora said with a slight amount of disdain. "Usually I'm so forthright about things…this just isn't my forte. I mean, the last time I did this was on my first trip to Atlantica."

"Oh, stop being a baby about it." Riku said as he sipped on his drink. Sora groaned a bit and sat back on his chair before he noticed somebody walking by.

"Is that…Warren!" Sora cried out and the black haired boy, who now had his hair tied in a ponytail turned to face him. He gave him a strange look before he noticed who they were.

"Oh…you guys, you hang with Stronghold." Warren said and Sora smiled at him.

"Well…hang is a rather strong word there I mean…we barely know the guy and…" But Warren had already moved on, leaving Sora standing there completely speechless. He slumped a little in his chair, especially so when he heard Mr. Medulla yell, "You've got the job!" But then Kairi tapped him on the shoulder. He looked in the direction she was pointing and saw Kairi pointing at Layla in a booth. He and Kairi then quickly got up and strode over to her table. "Hey there, Layla."

"Oh, hi you guys." Layla said with a smile though it seemed a little sad.

"What are you doing here?" Kairi asked Layla, though it should have been the other way around.

"Oh, I'm supposed to be meeting Will here." Layla said. Sora and Kairi looked at each other but decided not to say anything so as to not break the poor girl's heart. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh…you know, I love hanging out with Kairi and Riku hangs out with me way too much…not to mention Kairi's dad just got a job to work at Sky High with Mr. Medulla." Sora said cheerily, though inside he was truly peeved at Edge's arrival.

"Which reminds me…mom's pretty angry at dad so could he stay over at your house with me?" Kairi asked with a smile and Layla readily agreed. The two then left her to sit in the booth alone, saddened about what Will had just done to his best friend. Mr. Medulla had already left and so the four Keyblade wielders put their heads together to discuss tactics on finding Royal pain now that Edge was here. However, as the place started to empty, Kairi and Edge left while Sora and Riku remained in order to give Will more time to air the house out of Gwen. Thankfully, Layla was still here and so they got up to go and sit with her just as Warren walked up.

"Still working on that." Warren said as he came up and stopped when he saw Layla.

"Hi. We go to school together." Layla said, slightly embarrassedly. Sora shunted around and sat in the seat across from Layla.

"The one and the same!" He proudly announced.

"You're Stronghold's friend." Warren said with recognition and then he noticed the plate of food that was sitting there. "You want me to heat that up for you?"

"We're not allowed to use our powers outside of school." Layla said in a hushed whisper.

"I was just gonna stick it in the microwave." Warren said with a slight smile. Layla smiled back at him.

"Uh, I was supposed to be meeting Will here, but, um…would you like to sit down?" Layla asked with a smile and Warren obliged, seating himself next to Sora. Sora watched the two of them and their level of awkwardness and being in this sort of conversation so Sora decided to start a conversation.

"So, uh, Layla, how did you meet Will?" Sora asked, intrigued on this subject and wondering whether Will had ever flaked on Layla before.

"Well, you know how in first grade you grow lima beans in school? Will could not figure out why mine were growing so quickly. It was driving him crazy. So finally I took mercy on him and I told him about my powers and we've been best friends ever since." Layla had finished this statement with a smile and Sora was nodding his head.

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, and falling for him, was that before or after the lima beans?" Sora asked and Layla looked truly taken aback.

"I am not in love with Will Strong-is it that obvious?" Layla said with a very embarrassed look and both Sora and Warren nodded. "Great…"

"Why don't you tell him?" Warren asked with a slight amount of sympathy.

"Well, I was gonna ask him to the homecoming dance, but there's two problems: he likes somebody else and she's perfect." Layla said and Sora could truly feel her pain in his heart.

"Hmmm…" Warren said thoughtfully. "You know what I think, to let true love remain unspoken is the quickest route to a heavy heart." Both Sora and Layla looked at him impressed and Riku sniggered some feet away from them, almost amused.

"Wow…that is really deep." Layla said and Sora could tell that she, like he, did not take Warren Peace for a poet.

"Yeah, and your lucky numbers are four, 16, five and 49." Warren said while pulling out a fortune cookie slip. Sora stared at it for a moment.

"How many of those cookies do you have?" Sora asked. A few moments later and an argument with Layla as to which saying should be given to Will both Sora and Riku were heading back to the Stronghold's house carrying copious amounts of fortune cookies which they ate upon their arrival before crashing. The next day, they barely woke up in time to have the aging spell cast on them before they managed to meet Will and Layla at the bus stop, apologizing for being late. As they got there, it had seemed that Layla had already given Will the fortune cookie message.

"Oh God, oh. You must want to kill me." Will said, his look showing that of true mortification.

"Actually, just the opposite. I have something to tell you. But you first." Layla said with a smile and both Sora and Kairi looked at each other. Sora smiled before reaching into his pocket and beginning to drink from a water bottle he had smuggled from the Stronghold's house.

"OK, OK, it's about homecoming…I'm going with Gwen Grayson!" Sora immediately spat out the water and started choking, Riku thumping him on the back. They had not been granted this piece of information this morning or last night and they were not happy to have it sprung on them now. "Can you believe it? Me, a freshman, going with the most amazing girl at Sky High."

"That's awesome!" Layla said and they could all tell it was false. That was why they stuck with her through that whole entire day, as they knew that she was hurting deep inside her heart. At the end of the school day, Edge reported to them and said that he found nothing among the teachers but he would keep searching over the next day. All of them were fine with that because though they knew they had to find Royal Pain, Layla seemed to be lashing out and retaliating against Will by acting as though she was going out with Warren. It disturbed them so much so, that they followed her even after school…and much to their chagrin for they found that there was a party going on at Will's house.

"We didn't know about this, we swear!" Sora declared as soon as they saw it and Layla led the way up the steps, the other three following her inside. As they entered, many reproachful eyes were upon them, so much so until Penny stepped in their way.

"What are the sidekicks doing here?" Penny asked with a viciousness that would have scared anyone but them.

"Leaving." came the voice of Gwen as she stepped in front of Layla.

"Where's Will?" Layla asked with hurt creeping into every inch of her voice.

"Honestly. Avoiding you. Look, Will knows you have a crush on him." Gwen said with a venom.

"He does?" Sora started forward but Kairi grabbed him by the shoulders. He looked into her eyes and they spoke volumes.

"Everyone does. Will's too nice a guy to say he's not interested. Not that you can take a hint. I mean, hello? He's going to homecoming with me. He threw a party and didn't invite you. You're just embarrassing him. You're just embarrassing yourself." Gwen said with a finality that was disturbing.

"Okay, I understand. And , um, when you see Will again can you tell him that I never want to talk to him again." Layla said and she turned to go. But Will got there just as she attempted to. She left without a word, Will calling after her. Sora turned to go and pummel Gwen but once more Kairi held him.

"That little…Kairi, let me go!" Sora demanded but Kairi shook her head and pushed him backward. She started to stride up to Gwen as fast as she could.

"What's she doing?" Riku asked and Sora shook his head while shrugging his shoulders. Kairi strode up to Gwen with determination and slapped her right across the face.

"That was for insulting Layla!" Kairi shrieked and Gwen glared at her.

"Look here, Kairi, you and your Keyblade toting buddies stop meddling around. Will is mine." Gwen said with absolute hatred. Sora froze and looked at Riku. They had never mentioned that they wielded Keyblades. So far as anyone knew it was just an oversized house key…only one person could know that what Sora was using was a Keyblade…

"Why would I want Will? I have Sora!" Kairi proclaimed but Sora quickly grabbed her by the shirt and began pulling her away. Riku looked back at Gwen as they left and she flashed her eyes at them, confirming that she was indeed Royal Pain all along. They dragged a kicking and struggling Kairi until they had at last cleared the house where they saw that Layla had already left. "What was that for?!"

"Gwen is Royal Pain." Sora said simply and Kairi registered a look of true shock on her face. "And she knows that we know…she'll not let us out of her sight."

"Then what do we do? She must be planning something or else she would have shown herself by now…so what could it be?" Kairi said, pacing around back and forth in front of her two companions. Riku was the first to notice it.

"Homecoming…that's why she's going with Will. Remember Sora? Will's dad is the one who defeated Royal Pain the first time…and she probably wants revenge." Riku said with a stern look to both his friends. "Why couldn't we see it before?! And now we have to wait until she's ready to enact whatever plan she has in store for tomorrow night!"

"Then there's only one thing for it." Sora said with a near scary look cast over his features. "We need to split up. Riku, you and Edge will go to the Homecoming dance early with Layla and the rest of them so that you can stop whatever she's planning. In the meantime, Kairi and I will head to Will's house before the dance and try to convince Will to break up with Gwen."

"Whoa-ho! You are not sticking me with Edge!" Riku complained but both Kairi and Sora flashed him an evil glare and he was forced to accept it. The trio decided that they would most likely not be able to stay with Will after that little incidence and so when both Sora and Riku showed up on Layla's doorstep she was surprised but allowed them to stay the night.

The next day there was no school but none of them were allowed the chance to find where Gwen lived or even to see Will since whenever they got anywhere near his house, a band of heartless would start to show up. It was around five o'clock that Riku and Edge left with Layla to go to the Homecoming dance dressed in nothing but their normal clothing. Sora and Kairi resolved to try Will's house again one more time. This time they were lucky and no Heartless appeared so Sora could only figure that Royal Pain was close to completing their plan. At roughly five thirty Sora was knocking on the Stronghold's front door. It was Steve who opened the door.

"Sora, Kairi, good to see you, but what are you doing here? Aren't you going to the dance?" Steve said with a smile and both of them smiled right back at him.

"Umm…we just wanted to see if Will is ready to go." Sora lied, trying not to let on any piece of their mission slip away. Steve's face turned into a frown.

"Oh…Will's not going, he broke up with Gwen yesterday and she wasn't too happy about it. I'll let Josie know you're here so she can tell him." Steve then yelled for Josie and told her that some of Will's friends had arrived. He then ushered both Sora and Kairi into the living room where they waited. After a few minutes both Steve and Josie, dressed as the Commander and Jetstream appeared in the room.

"We're not sure if he'll come right away but just wait for a moment and I'm sure he'll come up. But we have to get going or we'll be late for the dance." Josie said with a smile to the two supposed teenagers.

"You guys are going?" Kairi asked, surprised that Will's parents would be going to his high school dance.

"Oh, Gwen asked us to, and a Stronghold always keeps their promise." With that, and another smile, he and Josie left the house. Both Sora and Kairi waited until the door had slammed shut and both of them were long gone before Sora summoned his Keyblade.

"Will's not coming up, so we're getting him out. He's a part of this too and I'm not letting him sit on the sidelines while his friends get hurt." Sora said. Kairi nodded fiercely as the two entered into a room with a bookcase on the wall. Kairi wondered what they were doing there for a moment until Sora pointed his Keyblade at the bookcase. A beam of light shot out of it and opened to reveal two poles leading downward. "You didn't think Riku hadn't checked this house out top to bottom did you?" Kairi smiled and the two got onto the poles and dropped to the bottom. Will whipped around the moment he saw them.

"Sora?! Kairi?! How did you get down here?!" Will said in shock and slight anger.

"That's not important!" Sora snapped to his younger friend. "Look-what are you looking at?!" Sora had noticed a book in front of Will and found it surprising that he was taking this time to read. Will shifted around a little bit in the chair he was sitting in as Sora and Kairi ambled over.

"Oh, it's my dad's old yearbook. Mom caught him sneaking out with it and gave it to me." Will said with a faint smile as he flipped through the pages but Sora noticed something on one of the pages if only for a fraction of a second.

"Whoa, wait! Who's that?" Sora said, stopping and pointing at a picture of a girl named Sue Tenny. All three of them leaned in towards the picture and noticed the same exact thing: Gwen Grayson. Will flicked through the pages until he got to another page with her on it…and she was holding some kind of a ray gun. Sora looked at it in utter bafflement but Will seemed to notice something because he ran out of his chair and to an area where many items were enshrined.

"Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, no!" Will said and he smacked himself on the head. "The Pacifier's gone! Gwen…she…of course! When I brought her down here last night she must have taken it and…we've gotta get to Sky High!"

"That's great!" Sora said in happiness that Will finally realized what he had to do. "How do we get there?!" Will reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Out of that wallet he pulled out a card. On it said "Ron Wilson, Bus Driver" and a phone number.

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The music was thrumming loudly at the Homecoming Dance at Sky High and both Riku and Edge were standing around nervously. They had to hope that they could get to Royal Pain before she could do any real damage or it was all for naught. Of course, the other aspect was that they pretty much loathed each other and it didn't help things in the slightest.

"You're sure that this Gwen girl is Royal Pain?" Edge asked disdainfully and Riku gave him a quick smile.

"She confirmed it herself, now shut up, Edge." Riku said. At that moment, bright spotlights shone to the entrance of the gymnasium on the Commander and Jetstream.

"Welcome Commander and Jetstream!" Principal Powers cried out from a podium at the top of the gym. "Good evening everyone. Now then, please help me to welcome the head of the homecoming committee, the girl who made all this possible, Gwen Grayson." Riku glinted his eyes at Edge to tell him that it was show time as Gwen stepped up in her purple dress to the podium carrying a small trophy.

"Thank you, Principal Powers. And a very special thank you goes to our guests of honor and recipients of our first ever hero of the year award: the Commander and Jetstream." The whole entire crowd erupted in cheers and absolute happiness at the announcement of these two famous heroes. "And to mark this occasion we've planned a special tribute to the most powerful super-being ever to walk the halls of Sky High: me!" Instantly, Gwen swished a cape around and was suddenly adorned in high tech armor. In the blink of an eye, both Riku and Edge had summoned their Keyblades and started making their way to the front. When they finally got up there, Royal Pain was holding the pacifier in hand and was firing out beams at everyone in the room. And to Riku's horror…it was turning them all into babies.

Royal Pain turned the Pacifier on them as many of the students tried to usher themselves out, only to find the doors to the gym closed by Royal Pain's cronies: Penny, Speed, and Lash. Royal Pain let off the blast and Riku instantly erected a reflect shield. The beam phased right through them and Royal Pain, grunted, handing the Pacifier to Stitches who was also at the top of the stage.

"Don't waste fire on the Keyblade wielders, I'll take care of them myself." Royal Pain said. Riku backed up a little and was pleased to see Warren, Layla, Zach, Ethan and Magenta escaping from the room through an air vent. Royal Pain's mask closed around their head and she flew at them. Riku fired a shot of dark aura at her but she pressed a button and a momentary shield appeared around her. Riku, thankfully, managed to leap over her and avoid her charge. Edge meanwhile, was taking his own offensive tactic. When Royal Pain had stopped and was beginning to charge at Riku, Edge leapt along the walls and after three such leaps he threw both his Keyblades like a shuriken at Royal Pain. They connected and sent her sprawling to the floor. But she was soon up as Edge landed. Edge smirked.

"Tremor!" Edge yelled, twisting his Keyblades around. A strange earthen symbol appeared between the two Keyblades and soon a large spire of earth struck up from under Royal Pain and knocked her towards the ceiling. Riku then took this moment to jump in the air and toss his Keyblade with high velocity at Royal Pain. But this time the duo wasn't so lucky as Royal Pain knocked the blade away where it spun and the blunt side hit Riku in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. Royal Pain then kicked off from the ceiling and jettisoned straight into Riku, knocking him out. Edge did a few flips in Royal Pain's direction but she used her hover shoes to dodge out of his way and subsequently knock him out.

Royal Pain wiped her hands as she landed. It was too easy for her now.

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At this moment, Sora, Kairi, and Will had arrived on Ron Wilson's bus right outside Sky High. After instructing Ron to call for help if they weren't back in thirty minutes they headed full force into the school. Many Heartless were in their way but Sora and Kairi easily cut through those, no longer caring that they weren't adhering to the rules they had placed on themselves in that world. They hoped that everybody in the school was okay and as they reached one of the hallways they saw a faint green glow coming from an air duct. Sora pointed his Keyblade at the duct and it popped off with a clatter to the floor. Zach soon emerged from it, followed by Warren, Magenta, Layla and Ethan.

"Guys, you're never gonna believe this. Gwen…" Will began but Layla managed to cut across him.

"Is Royal Pain's daughter." Layla said with a grim tone.

"Yeah, and she…"

"Stole the pacifier." Warren said in his deep voice before Zach came in.

"Oh, and she turned everyone into babies including your parents while Riku and that new teacher Edge stayed behind to fight her." Zach said and Sora, Kairi, and Will stared at him dumbfounded.

"Okay…I didn't know about that." Will said and Sora shook his head.

"Oh, and Maleficent is behind it all!" Sora announced and everyone was silent. The next words of the conversation issued forth from Layla.

"I think this is more than even the great Will Stronghold can handle." Layla said with a slight sneer which Sora thought was uncalled for.

"She's right, it's gonna take all of us." Will said with slight pride and yet a sense of modesty.

"All of who?" Magenta complained. "You and Warren? The rest of us are only sidekicks." Sora gave Magenta a glare but Will was already speaking again.

"Just because you have powers doesn't make you a hero. Sometimes it just makes you a jerk…makes me a jerk…and what I'm saying is…I've been a jerk." Will said in a very sad voice. Then he turned towards Layla. "Layla, in case my homecoming date ends up killing me tonight, I just want you to know…" He grabbed her in close and kissed her on the lips. Sora and Kairi shared a smile with each other before a much harsher voice broke up the moment.

"How sweet…I hate sweet!" Penny's voice came from behind them and they all turned to face her.

"Cheerleading brat…" Kairi spat out at the sight of Penny as both Lash and Speed laughed evilly.

"But, uh…Kairi, you were once a cheerleader too." Sora said with raised eyebrows.

"Shut up Sora." Kairi said before Will picked up the important thread of the conversation.

"You guys are a part of this too…why am I not surprised?" Will said with a chuckle laced into his words.

"Take care of Gwen." Warren ordered, taking off his tuxedo jacket and Will nodded. He then slammed through a nearby wall in search of Gwen. Kairi turned to Sora and cocked her head in Will's direction.

"You sure about this, Kairi?" Sora asked and she glared at him. He nodded and set off immediately after Will. Kairi held her Keyblade to bear with a sneer on her face. Speed then moved forward and whipped past them while Lash went to deal with Ethan and Penny chased after Layla.

"Warren, go take care of Speed…I have other things to deal with." Kairi said, and this was true, for just a short ways down the hall the darkness was coalescing into a single being. The creature had the traditional yellow eyes of a Heartless but was wearing a shiny yellow armor and holding a sword that seemed to thrum with electricity: the Techno Soldier. Kairi faced the advanced Heartless in a battle stance and then ran at it. She jumped over its head while The Heartless swung its giant blade at her. She landed as the Heartless came around in a circle. She blocked the blow with her Keyblade and grimaced. The Heartless moved slowly but it was powerful…she would use that to her advantage.

She sidestepped as the Heartless swiped at her and narrowly avoided the blow before she jabbed her Keyblade inward at the Heartless. However, it hit the armor plate and merely glanced off of it. She gasped in shock as the Heartless took its free hand and smacked her into the opposite row of lockers. She groaned and rubbed her head as the heartless ran at her. She quickly ducked as its sword was impaled into the wall. She began to run around, looking for a weak point in the Heartless armor while it was stuck but she couldn't find one, and soon it was free, swinging the sword at her with a heightened fury. That's when she noticed something. Every time the Heartless swung its sword it would thrum with more electricity that stemmed from its armor. Kairi smiled…all she had to do was overload the Heartless.

"Lightning!!" Kairi cried and the Heartless was soon loading up on electricity. As Kairi suspected the Heartless was soon overloaded on electricity and disappeared in a mighty puff of black smoke, a faint heart rising into the air. Kairi wiped her brow of sweat, slightly tired from the battle…and she could only hope that the others were faring as well.

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Meanwhile, Sora and Will had at last arrived outside of the school where Gwen seemed to be holding Will's father and talking to him.

"I take you back, my dear commander, to your senior year at Sky High, a time before anyone knew what a technopath was. So a brilliant but misunderstood girl named Sue Tenny was written off as a science geek and placed in sidekick class. She hatched a plan, so daring, so visionary, to start her very own supervillain academy and raise a generation of heroes from scratch as villains. But first she had to destroy the very institution which dared to spurn her genius! And now, so many years later, that plan is complete. My only regret: that this may be the finest supervillain speech ever given, and you don't even know what I'm saying."

"But we do." Sora's voice rang out loud and clear and Gwen whipped around to face the both of them. "And I gotta tell ya, I've heard speeches a lot better than that one from villains much higher up on the food chain than you."

"Yeah, so look, I'm sorry my parents destroyed your mom. Now put my dad down." Will demanded and Gwen chuckled.

"No one could defeat Royal Pain. When the Pacifier exploded I wasn't destroyed. I was merely turned into a baby. You see…Royal Pain wasn't my mother! Royal Pain is me!" Gwen announced and Will blanched at the thought of making out with an old lady as Sora rolled his eyes. Gwen then closed her helmet around her head and flew at the both of them after handing Will's dad to Stitches. Sora moved out of the way but Royal Pain managed to tackle Will. Sora then set off as fast as he could after them. After a few minutes of very quick running he managed to make it to the gym where Riku and Edge were both lying on the ground…but Edge was stirring. Sora ran up to Riku and checked his vitals.

"He's fine…just knocked out." Edge said with a groan. Then he latched onto Sora's arm to steady himself. "Sora, take care of Royal Pain, I'll take care of Riku." Sora nodded and ran to where Royal Pain and Will were now dueling.

"Hey Pain! Taste this!" Sora ran at Royal Pain, his Keyblade out in front of him and bolts of lightning pouring through it. Royal Pain didn't see it coming and was hit with it full force. Will then punched her as hard as he could and she flew upward and into the disco ball. She quickly broke the disco ball and dropped down to the floor where Sora swept her feet out with a single roundhouse kick. She grunted and fell. Sora then held his Keyblade at her throat, with a little smirk on his face and Will prepared to punch her in the face.

"Will!" Layla's voice called as she, Kairi, and Warren ran in. Both Sora and Will looked at the approaching trio but then Royal Pain activated something on her arm and punched Will out of the window where he began a long plummet down. Sora grunted as Layla screamed and ran to the window, jumping out of it. Royal Pain at last got up.

"And there goes your last chance of stopping me." she aid in her deep, digitally altered voice. Kairi held her Keyblade out.

"Well you've still got us to deal with!" Kairi yelled and she ran at Pain, trading a few blows with her before they separated. But then she looked up and saw two figures floating in the sky beyond the window. Pain turned around and saw them.

"Surprised, creepy girl with man voice!" Sora declared. "I got permanent pixie dust, so bring it!" With that, both Sora and the flying Will who apparent had inherited his mother's powers began flying at Pain. She looked at them with shock as Sora focused his mind on a freezing spell which encased Royal Pain in a sheer block of ice. he then sent flames out of his Keyblade to melt her and she stumbled around, a bit disoriented. Will then picked her up to the ceiling and let her drop before coming and punching her helmet off. "Oh yeah!"

Will ran up to Layla and the two hugged while Sora nodded at Kairi. At last, they had defeated Royal Pain. But something out of the corner of his eye caught his interest: Gwen was doing something on her arm pad. He turned around but was too late as a screeching noise was heard and the school began to fall out of the sky.

"The school is falling!" Kairi cried out. "Ethan, Zach and Magenta are on it but we need to slow it down!" Sora nodded and he and Will ran to the now open window and jumped out of it. Will planted himself at the very bottom and tried to hold the school up as much as he could. Sora flew many feet below him and using his Keyblade created a shield of light to try and hold the school up. Even with their combined strength it was difficult to even slow down the school but they tried…and just when it seemed the school wasn't going to make it…suddenly it flew back up into the sky. Will and Sora gave each other high fives…after all, that wasn't the worst thing that could have happened.

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About two hours later everyone was gathered in the gymnasium, enjoying their Homecoming dance at last. All the babies had been de-pacified and the award was given to all the sidekicks that had fought that night. Edge had gone back to Disney Castle with Jiminy Cricket in order to give his report and Riku was munching at the snack table, having recovered from his serious blow to the stomach. Sora and Kairi however were sharing a dance. They had already shown everyone there that they were really older and were in fact Keyblade Masters who jettisoned around the worlds and had apologized for deceiving them. The whole group was fine with it and had even allowed them to stay for the dance that night before they would leave in the morning. So it was that they were dancing, Will and Layla making out outside, Warren and some other girl were dancing and Zach and Magenta were dancing, bringing a smile to Sora's face. Sora however, was finding the courage to tell Kairi something.

"Kairi…" Sora said and he was glad that Kairi merely looked at him rather than saying anything. "I…after all this…I mean…" He took a deep breath in and exhaled out quickly. "Look, watching Will and his parents made me realize that they put their lives on the line every day to keep this world safe and to keep it safe for their son. I guess it made me realize that…"

"Sora…what are you trying to say?" Kairi asked with bewilderment.

"What I'm trying to say is…I shouldn't be scared that I won't be around if we decide to have children…so that if that's what you want, if that's what will make you happy, then I'll do it. We can start a family together, Kairi." Kairi hugged Sora tightly and held him close as Sora did the same. And as he held her there in his arms he knew that nothing else mattered to him in all the worlds but Kairi's happiness.

Author's Note: Wow, that was the first chapter of Part II without a semi-cliffhanger. So, there's Sora and Kairi's decision on parenthood, that when all this is over they will have children. In the meantime, we now only have one member left of the Hellfire Club: the Horned King!!! Dun-dun-dun…But we'll hold off for now since we have some surprises in store for our characters before Prydain. On a side note, I'd just like to say that my plan is to finish this story by the end of March since we only have 11 chapters to go anyway and I write pretty fast so yeah…Anyway, please drop me a review for what you thought of this chapter (in all honesty, did I assemble it well?) and the battles and Dare to Be Silly.