~Radiant Garden~

Maru jumped out of the portal with wands in hand. Merlin was in the room now, and he saw his old wand and went over to retrieve it. Flora did the same. Merryweather and Fauna sighed in relief. "We thought you'd been driven mad by the little troublemaker!" cried Merryweather.

Maru smirked. "He had a bit of fun with me, but I think my little bore-to-death act got him off me when he finally gave me a chance to do so," he replied. "He actually is sort of cute, and reminds me of someone I knew..."

"Well, dear," Flora said, testing her wand by producing a shower of sparks with a flick, "I think it's time to get things over with now before anything else happens."

Suddenly, Leon (the one who Maru met first here in Radiant Garden) burst into the chamber. "Merlin!" he yelled. The old wizard turned. "We've got trouble! Heartless attack!"

Merlin gasped. "What?" he cried in shock and disbelief. "Why on Earth—or wherever we are—?"

The three fairies sighed. Merryweather groaned, Flora put her face in her hands, and Fauna put her hands to her hips and said stern-faced to Flora, "You just had to say something, didn't you?"

Maru looked down at his "SERIOUS" pants and groaned. "Greeaaaat...I am going to have to fight like this?" He sighed in aggravation.

Leon flashed his eyes to him. "If you really want to fight, then be my guest," he said reluctantly. "But you don't look like you're quite up to it. You don't know how to use the Keyblade very well yet."

Merlin cleared his throat. "If I may?" he asked, holding up a finger. "Now, you remember when Sora came here to get his new clothes? He had to fight, too, and he was probably little better than Maru right at this moment, given the circumstances. Besides, look at the poor child," he added, motioning to the anxious-looking pokémon, "he's just begging for a fight!"

Maru nodded and smirked. "If there is ever a chance to fight, I will take it," he stated. "It's in my very genetic code." 'No kidding...ARGH! Okay, I give up, I give up!'

Leon nodded. "But there are thousands of them, and not even twenty of us," he argued. "You will need to fight in a group, unless you want to throw away whatever duty your Keyblade-bearer status gives you."

Maru narrowed his eyes. "I will not die," he assured with his commanding tone of voice. And before anyone could argue further with him, he charged out of the room. Leon and the others looked at him as he ran, then at each other.

"He'll be fine, dear," Merryweather said grandmotherly. "He's got quite a fighter's spirit."

Leon nodded. "I can see that. But having the spirit and having the ability are two different things. I doubt he'll survive alone." He then turned and ran off to fight for himself.

"He looks quite strong," commented Fauna.

"Though he didn't have to run off without at least letting us cast that charm like we were going to..." Flora groaned.

It took a moment for anyone to notice a portal opening up...

-)-D-0-O-0-C-(-

"Diiieee!"

Maru's bloodthirsty yells filled the deserted town as he charged off to meet the filthy beasts in the streets. His Keyblade slashed through one after the other enemy, and he noticed he was fighting more now instead of just Shadows. But he was fighting, and when Mewtwo fights, he fights fiercely. Especially when he has a vendetta against these beasts who devoured the only friends he'd ever really known. He was certain they'd gotten Mew, as well, but he didn't want to find out, either.

"Maru!" Leon shouted after him. "They're advancing up the gate, we can leave the city's defense system to these few who have made it up to the streets." He hurried past, enormous Gunblade obliterating any Heartless ahead of him with edge and bullet.

Maru nodded and raced on. He just dodge-dashed past anything trying to stop him. But when he saw the swarm after getting in view of the huge canyon, he stopped. A solid, squirming mass of black crept closer and closer. He dropped his jaw and nearly his weapon. Then he got hit in behind and snapped back into reality. He spun to hit the Heartless, but found a girl with a headband on instead. "Come ON, Mr. Serious-Pants!" she beckoned, and he followed after her.

After a while, Maru finally got to the bailey. By now, his adrenaline was on full blast. He was half-snarling, half-grinning at the multitude of creatures to destroy. This was a thrill he'd never had before, or one he was starting to feel...He didn't know what, yet, though. He was stopped by a bunch of Large Bodies, and so he had to deal with them while other, stronger fighters, from Final Fantasy games, raced past and ignored what they thought he could handle. So by the time Maru realized that the way out was blocked, as was the way in, by that same kind of barrier, he was alone. ALL alone.

Panting, he looked around as the barrier came up over and around him in a dome. "What? Again?" he mumbled, and suddenly, several Heartless appeared around him. Three Large Bodies, ten Shadows, seven Soldiers, and two Darkballs, with a Wyvern thrown in for good measure. He didn't know whether to drop his jaw or put on a maniacal grin. "Finally, an actual challenge!" he gleefully shouted through gritted teeth. And he was off, again forgetting he wasn't the strongest pokémon ever created anymore.

He hopped onto the back of a Large Body, locked on with his legs, and did his now-familiar barrage of slashes to the head. However, three slashes, and a Darkball slammed him right off. In the air, the Wyvern then paraded kicks down on him. As he finally fell down, a Soldier spin-kicked him right into a Shadow's weak, but salt-in-the-wounds sliding kick. Maru tumbled and rolled after this lethal combo, very much in pain. A lot of pain. He tried to get up and shouted in agony. "DAMN THIS WEAK HUMAN BODY!" he roared in rage. He shakily got up, trying to ignore the pain all over his body—the most of it being from the kicks of the incredibly strong-legged Wyvern—and readied his Keyblade. "I'm going to have to...try harder..." he groaned. But he knew that, unless he healed up, he was as good as dead. However, he could feel the magic of the Keyblade affecting him, strengthening his defense a bit. 'Wait...Merlin said something about how some Keyblades have Abilities...This one's must enhance defense in a pinch...which I'm most certainly in, hate to say...'

The foes came towards him. The aerial Heartless swooped menacingly, the Large Bodies lumbered along, the Soldiers did their silly little skip, and the Shadows cheaply swam along the ground. Face dripping with sweat, Maru wondered feverishly, 'Is this the end of me? Is this...really going to happen? No! This...this cannot be! I can do this!' "I CAN DO THIS!" he repeated aloud, and tried to move. One step, and he felt more tired pain. In game terms, this is the "1 HP left" state. In horror, he looked up into the face of a Shadow just getting up in front of him.

"Obviously, you can't!" a familiar voice mockingly observed. Before the Heartless could attack, a card soared headlong into it and burst in a small explosion of power. More of them came, hitting each one in turn. Maru turned and saw, remarkably, he wasn't alone.

Somehow breaking through the barrier (which had reclosed behind him), Figment, of all people, was now flying up beside the bewildered poké. He wore a yellow zip-up long sleeve shirt, intricate with all its extra zippers, pockets, and other little cloth or metal gadgets. 'How interesting,' Maru thought of the outfit. Also on the dragon was a belt with a case that held the same deck of cards as before, slung around what must have been the waist (it's always hard to tell on pear-shapes). The most interesting thing that he wore, though, was the expression on his face. Figment now had a feisty, excited, and wild look on his face. "You can't have fun alone, you know," he admonished Maru, landing. He drew a card from his deck, a blue one with a picture of a leaf on it. He raised it. "Maru!" he called. The card disappeared in his paw.

Maru tilted his head quizzically, but then a ring of green leaves appeared around his head, and he felt as if he'd been given a somewhat-stronger potion. He looked and saw many of his wounds were healed. He looked in wonder at Figment. "Did...you heal me?" he asked.

Figment grinned and drew a hand of cards, most of which were red. "Yep!" he affirmed. "Now, I think those Heartless have had enough with waiting," he commented, and got ready, bouncing energetically on the ground with his hand held back. "Now, please, don't be such a moron, eh?" he asked.

Maru narrowed his eyes at him. "Oh, shut up!" he said shortly, and turned to face the new foes. 'I suppose I have to fight with him...We'll see...'

The Large Bodies came at him, and one crouched. With a dash, Maru dodged, and Figment flapped his small wings, which didn't seem to work as well in reality, and jumped to evade. "HOTFOOT!" he shouted, and chucked a blue card with a flame icon on it. It became a fireball and struck the beast. It didn't work as well as expected, but it gave Maru the time to attack it from behind. He comboed it, then ran after and leapt on to give it a good Slashfest. He defeated it and fell to the ground as it disappeared. (The larger Heartless were actually quite low on HP for such powerful ones.)

Next, Figment chucked three red cards, one after the other, at one of the Darkballs. The Wyvern was coming at him from behind, though. Maru gritted his teeth and began running to him, but had an idea after seeing the situation. In a flash, he jumped on one Large Body, to the other, and finally got right onto the Wyvern. The dragonlike Heartless, unable to do anything except kick and do flying maneuvers, squirmed as the vengeful pokémon used a riding slash (not Slashfest, just attacks while he held on) to fight the huge-legged beast. It was cheap, but it was highly effective. Many times, he had to just hold on while the monster did stylish moves to throw its rider off, and also bat away a Darkball that occasionally escaped Figment's barrage. Below, he'd sometimes hear the little guy shout, "SNOWFLAKE!" "HOTFOOT!" and, during one attack that looked like Thunder, "STATIC!" The snowflake was actually that, a big snowflake. Other times, he'd hear some other things for the same attacks, which he assumed were the real things: "Blizzard," "Fire," and, well, "Thunder," respectively.

After a full thirty seconds of riding, he finally killed the thing. He fell, right into a Darkball's erratic bouncing about. He grunted as he landed on his feet, and had to focus on a Soldier in front of him. Figment had been working on air enemies, it seemed, but Maru had wanted to eliminate the most dangerous one, the Wyvern, before he could clear the ground. He evaded the spin kick and Round Blitzed, himself, and went on attacking. Meanwhile, Figment, who was out of MP by then, was now just attacking with attack cards. Sometimes, he'd let out just the worst little cry of pain when he got hit, but he was good at dodging, being so small.

Halfway through the fight, Maru and Figment stopped, panting, in the center of the postern. Maru was panting, but smiling at the good fight. Although they were back-to-back, he suspected Figment, because he was just a troublemaker by nature, was smiling a bit, too. "You are actually pretty good," he commented to the dragon.

Figment chuckled. "Fighting takes imagination, too, y'know," he pointed out. He drew a pair of heal cards. "HEAL! MARU!" he shouted, and the cards disappeared. Both of them got healed by Cure, thanks to Figment's special he described later on as Doublecast, which he figured out how to do on his own. (It even let him cast two Cures when both depleted all of his remaining MP. Helpful when it was too weak to heal multiple people automatically yet.) Then, with renewed vigor, the fight continued.

After two more minutes of fighting, the last Shadow was squashed. The wall of hexagons fell, and Figment jumped and whooped for joy. "We did it!" he cheered.

Maru sighed and stood, panting. "Yes," he agreed, "but there's still much left to do. We've got a town to save. And yes, I gave up fighting contractions a bit ago," he added before the dragon could point it out. He assessed his level now. He'd grown to level 12 already! 'Woah, that's good,' he thought. 'Those things WERE hard, though, so it makes sense.' A siren brought him out of his reverie, and he looked out into the vast canyon ahead. "Come on, there's more fighting to do," he said, and ran off. Figment smiled. Maru stopped and turned. "Well, coming?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Figment nodded. "You're takin' fightin' as a team better than I thought," he observed, trotting over.

Maru snorted contemptuously. "I'm only doing this," he explained, "because I can't fight these things alone just yet. Trust me, as soon as I'm able to, I'll be fighting solo." He felt a pang in his chest at this, so he added, "I don't mean to sound cold or anything."

Figment, who had expected that he'd prefer fighting alone as soon as he could, still hadn't expected him to be such a jerk with the "Trust me" statement. 'He's gonna be a tough nut to crack, ain't he?'

***Figment joined the party!***

At a circle of rock before the canyon itself—the Crystal Fissure—Leon called out to them. "So, made it this far, huh?" he noticed. He was behind a pillar of beautiful crystal (it appeared the canyon was made of crystal, to Maru's amazement), in his badass-crossed-arms-and-bowed-head-eyes-closed position. He looked up now, opening his eyes with a dry look at Maru.

Maru nodded. "Yes," he confirmed, holding a hand down to indicate Figment, who put his paws to his sides and stood proudly, smirking, "albeit with the help of Figment." He raised an eyebrow at the Gunblade-wielder. "You knew I almost got snuffed out of existence by those Heartless, didn't you?" he suspected, none too pleased.

Leon gave a "heh" and smirked. "I fight alone, and if you want to fight so badly, you'll have to be able to face whatever comes your way," he admonished. He pointed to a disc of white and green light a bit aways. "Stand in that circle of light, called a save point or save disc because of how much of a life-saver it is, and all your weariness will cease," he explained. He then pointed to a hologram of a moogle. "This here's the moogle shop. You can use munny dropped by enemies to buy items. And on that note," he added, pausing and rummaging in his pockets, and then tossed four objects, two each, to each of the young ones before him. He gave a straight-line-mouth look at them and said, "I'm feeling charitable. I gave each of you a potion and an ether. They—"

"Potions restore my physical wounds and ethers restore my energy," Maru interrupted him, stowing the two bottles in his cloak's collar (Figment transformed his into cards and put them in his deck). In response to the eyebrow raise and nod the FFVIII warrior gave him, he explained, "They have them in my world. I suspect that the potion doesn't restore much of my wounds compared to a higher-ranking one, just like how super potions heal more wounds than a normal potion in my world?" he asked.

Leon nodded. "Now, hurry up and restore yourselves here, as well as get any healing items that I'm certain you newb—ies, will need," he finished after a pause. He turned and walked off.

Figment and Maru both anger-veined and shouted, "HEY!" simultaneously. Maru shook his fist and retaliated, "I have had as much fighting experience as you have, hu—" He quickly caught himself, and hoped that it just sounded like he'd said "you" and decided not to say anything. He took a breath, lowered his fist, and quietly went to the circle.

***RECIEVED Potion (x2)***

Restores 30% of Max HP.

***RECIEVED Ether (x2)***

Restores all of your MP and 1 use of all Moves.

The circle was just like the spot with the swirling teardrops in his dream, working the same way. His energy, although he was built to have it be extremely hard to deplete, was thankfully restored, and all fatigue left him in the warm, green and white light. Figment felt the same thing when he stepped in it.

Before Maru ran off to battle again, Figment called after him. "Wait, Maru! I've got something, too!" Maru, who was halfway out the fissure, skidded and turned to gasp as a yellow card slammed into him, bursting into light. Sparkles washed over his clothes, and he felt a strange feeling within him...as if something unclicked.

"What...just happened?" Maru asked, looking himself over. "What did you do?"

"Not what I did, but what the fairies did," Figment shook his head. He smirked wryly and put a paw on his hip. "See, since you were too much of an eager beaver, they couldn't enchant your clothes the way they wanted to after giving you your makeover. So they asked me to take the spell in card form to you and use it on you when we were safe."

"Ah..." Maru looked himself over. He still looked the same.

"They wanted to be there to change your outfit, but they could still have me give you the spell," Figment chuckled. "They said that it's a spell to unlock the power within you."

"Unlock my power?" Maru jerked his head up. 'Now that I think about it, I feel...slightly more normal, yet not quite...'

Figment nodded and rubbed his chin. "How'd they put it?...The more you fight, the more tension you build up," he began. "When you reach your limit, you can use it to temporarily unlock your power. The stronger you become, the more tension you will be able to hold, and the more powerful you will become when you unlock your power."

"Huh..." Maru digested this information, hand on own chin. "I see. So I fight, charge up this ability, and then use it to unleash my power?" he summarized. "Sounds handy. What's it called?"

"They called it the Break technique," Figment shrugged.

"Break...Nice." Maru nodded. "Alright, I'll gladly put it to use. Let's get going, now."

"Right!" They turned and trotted out of the fissure.

***RECIEVED Rend Form***

Level 1 Break Mode form. Unleashes suppressed psychic power. Stats boosted and fighting style changes slightly. Gain Move Haste Ability (Moves reload faster). Costs 1 Break bar.

Maru stopped right before exiting the area, a sight just registering to him. He turned to a large, ornate chest he had seen earlier. He recalled hearing from Merlin how his Keyblade, which he had by then named "Wandereason" to reflect how insane life had become now, can open any lock. This included chests, which were opened by tapping on them. So, he got in front of the big chest, raised Wandereason, and...stopped. 'Heh...Big chest, big opening. Why not?' he thought to himself, shrugging and smirking.

"Hoh!" He twirled the Keyblade around him once before tossing it up, weapon twirling, and grabbing its grip with telekinesis to flick it down, bit-first, on top the lid, where it bounced off, up, and back. He snatched it with his left hand and transferred it to his right as the lid flew open, its contents floating up in a magic bubble envelope. Maru grabbed the bubble, and it burst, revealing a map. "This might help," he muttered, putting it into a pocket. "Okay, now let's go!" He turned and trotted off.

"Maru? Anyone ever tell you you're a showoff?" Figment asked as he ran alongside him as fast as his small legs could carry him.

"Yeah, and?"

"Juuust checkin'..."

***OBTAINED Great Maw Map***

Map of the Great Maw. The Keyblade icon indicates facing. Red lines indicate doors. Worldwide map part now viewable on the Touch Screen.

The Great Maw! Here, Maru felt the rush he'd been waiting for: A real challenge. But then, he remembered that he had gotten overconfident before, and that had nearly cost him his life thanks to that amazing combination attack dealt against his weak human form. 'I cannot wait until I can wield my true body again,' he kept thinking. Now, as he stood, Figment skidding next to him and gasping for breath, tons of Heartless came to invade the Radiant Garden. Regardless of how weak he still was, Maru smirked his Mewtwo smirk and drew Wandereason again. Figment readied some cards. "You ready?" Maru asked the little guy.

Figment gulped at the hoard of dark creatures before him. "Yeah," he lied.

"Then here we go!" Maru cried, and charged forward into the writhing mass of darkness before him, their fangs dripping and claws unsheathed.

The fight dragged on for what felt like an age. Maru was in the groove, seizing every opportunity to utilize the battlefield in any way he could. He kicked around projectiles, wielded a gigantic sword against its owner, knocked back a few Large Bodies and Fat Bandits, and Slashfested countless enemies, this time wary enough to get off and counter any aerial foes. However good he was, though, he still got hit. A lot.

Figment wasn't faring as well as he was. Physically weaker than Maru, and dependent mostly on his magic, he was having quite a time against all the enemies he fought. Several times, to his annoyance, Maru had to rescue him before he got hit by a fatal attack. However, in turn, whenever his magic cards were about to run dry until his energy returned and he could "reshuffle" them back, Figment would always cast Cure on both him and Maru which always helped. (Maru was amused to find he was not the only one who had to reload his more powerful skills, though somewhat envied the dragon for being able to use whatever spells he wanted. 'Maybe I should learn some magic, too...')

Nevertheless, the two fighters were eventually cornered. Backs to a wall, they were panting and facing a whole angry mob of Heartless, who were angry for the impressive total of 300 who had been removed from their ranks by the two. Again, Maru felt excited and angered and scared. 'Am I going to die...this time?' he wondered. 'Next to a being so humiliating to call a teammate?' He glanced down at the pale and scared Figment, whose pigment had gone from purple to lilac. '...Okay, I could have worse teammates,' Maru conceded.

Looking somewhat down, Maru noticed the growing shadow that was in front of them. He snapped up his head and instantly pushed himself and Figment as close to the wall as possible. Suddenly, a gigantic—enormous--green blob slammed down on top of a bunch of Heartless, creating a small crater in the ground. The Heartless instantly disappated, and when Maru opened his eyes from an effort to shield from any dust, he gaped.

Before him was one of the most rotund creatures he'd ever seen in his life. It had a great tail ending in a tuft of magenta hair at the tip, purple triangle spikes running intermittently up it and the spine of the creature; pinkish-purple, very basic wings, truly tiny compared to the rest of its bulk; darkish green scales covering its body with a lighter, yellowish-green banded underside, with irregular, definitely dark green spots here and there on the scales. The scales themselves were smaller than Maru had expected. Although he couldn't see the head—it was bent over and giving a great glare at the Heartless—he knew it was there. It was very tall, too, and was at least 18 or so feet in height. Assuming it to be a dragon, it looked much more like one than Figment did. Its legs, although short, were wide at the hips, and its arms, spread out and arced in a scaring pose (and he could hear a deep roar emitting from the beast's mouth in front), were large as well. The paws even ended in sharp claws.

Figment gasped. "Another dragon?" he asked in disbelief. "I thought they were super-rare..." Then, with an eyebrow raise of recollection and suspicion, he asked it, "...Hey, aren't you...?"

The great beast twisted its torso without moving its head, and Maru, having been the owner of a great and powerful, as well as downright useful, tail, himself, grabbed Figment and jumped at just the right time. He guessed right: The green dragon spun itself around and smashed its tail into tens of Heartless in a fantastic sweep. Its head came into view. Instead of horns, it had two pointed ears, currently back a bit though looking like they usually remained flopped down. On its head was a messy tangle of hair of the same color as the tuft on its tail. It had a large, fat, round chin, and a fang, although its teeth were bared at current, stuck out on each side of its mouth. It had large, vibrant eyes, currently filled with anger—but not quite fury. Strangely enough, it wore a pair of wedge-like black eyebrows on its scales (but, then, it had hair, so...). As its front came into view some more, you could see that it was indeed quite well-fed, owning a very protruding front.

Maru landed in the new space cleared from the sweep and looked up in amazement at the gargantuan creature before him, and a smirk of victory on his face. He held Figment with one arm up to his chest, the little dragon gazing up in awe at the big dragon. "Learn this and learn it well, Figment," he said in a respectful tone, "you should never challenge a gigantic creature that has great strength, obesity, and, especially in this case, the ability to breathe fire...?" He sort of questioned that last one, giving an expectant look to the dragon, who was looking down at the two with an expression that was like, "Why are you two just standing there!"

The green creature raised its eyebrows down at the pokémon-turned-human, then nodded and had an assertive look on its face. It turned, inhaled, and let forth, with a "RAAAWWRR!" that set Maru a little off-balance at the onomatopoeiacness of it, a great gout of flame, searing away a swath of Heartless. It stopped and gasped briefly, then smiled triumphantly, putting its four-digited paws on its chubby hips in victory and looked down at Maru with a look of proven worthiness.

Maru grinned. "Trust me, if there's anything worse than a grumpy snorlax, it's a grumpy snorlax who knows Flamethrower," he explained to Figment, whom he finally set down. He readied his weapon and looked up at the dragon. "Thank you for helping us breathe a little," he shouted, and returned to the fray, happy to have been reminded of a resident of his homeworld—whose formidableness he knew from an awkward personal experience when he was trying to build his non-psychic powers which he doesn't like to talk about (think "Spot, roll over!")—and invigorated to fight even more. That, and seeing that many Heartless go up in smoke—literally—made him feel a little excited to be able to get more experience so that he can essentially do the same soon. He wanted his powers back, and he wanted them now.

So, the Keyblader, the card-thrower, and the great dragon fought for a few more minutes, during which time Figment managed to heal them all (he considered the giant to be a temporary teammate at least). Together, they mowed down enough Heartless to bring the combined total up to 800 (counting the about 30 that the dragon had destroyed before). Then, however, came another time where spirits were smacked harshly down. Maru had just seen, for a full minute, Heartless seemingly flying left and right. He knew, however, that the dragon had turned itself invisible to confuse the idiotic foes. Sometimes, Mewtwo wondered how it'd be to be 15 feet tall with the strength of fifty men. Playing with his enemies would have a different definition, where instead of just flinging them places, he'd be playing golf with them. And soccer, and kickball, and football, and...you get the idea. But all of a sudden, while Maru mused over this in his mind (and kept an eye on his surroundings as well; this skill was getting back a bit more now, and he could sense enemies from three feet away, which, although not much, was helpful nonetheless), he saw a bolt of lightning appear from seemingly nowhere.

"AWAAARROOOOOO!" The deep-voiced cry came from the target, the now-visible dragon. It stood, paralyzed from the lightning...'Wait, is lightning usually...!' Maru realized that the "lightning" was the same light that he saw try and capture him that one night. But it was different...Instead of trying to take the dragon itself, something else was happening...Slowly, steadily, it began to shrink!

"A shrink ray?" Maru wondered aloud in disbelief, and spun to the direction of the beam. Sure enough, a figure in that same mantle was holding a ball in a black gloved-hand on top of a cliff. Its sleeve was black and hung down kimono-style. "Stop it!" he shouted, and fought through waves of Heartless to futilely get to him.

Figment, angered that one of his own kind was being threatened, was the only one who could do anything. "Hey, MORON!" he shouted, and tossed, with amazing accuracy, one card of each spell type at him. "BUZZ OFF!"

The man turned his head, and then had to break away from the capturing process in order to guard against the three spells coming his way. He got a small explosion, a burst of cold, and a lightning bolt all at once. The man then chuckled. "Tri Attack, I see," he said.

Maru growled. "That voice," he mumbled. "I recognize it!" He bashed away a shadow and pointed up at the man. "YOU! You're the one who stole everything from me!" he roared.

The man looked at Maru, said, "So I am," and disappeared in a portal of darkness.

Maru growled and jumped on top a Large Body. "Come back here!" he screamed as he tried to get to the man before he went, using Large Bodies as stepping stones, but the black-cloaked figure had disappeared before he was even halfway there. "Dammit!" Maru dropped down and slashed everything around him, baring his teeth and a look of rage in his eyes. "Dammit," his fists clenched, "dammit," he brought his arms close to his chest, crossing them, "DAMMIIIIT!"

With a sound of stoneware breaking, time slowed, and shards of energy flew from around Maru like glass as he opened out his arms. After a second of this, Maru stood in stance, frustration fueling his energy to cause his eyes to glow faintly. Every motion of his body seemed to leave a very short trail, just long enough to exceed a mere blur. Power flowed through him, crackling around his fists occasionally as he adopted a stance slightly more similar to his Melee pose. His wounds had healed, as well. 'This...This is Break!' he realized. 'I did it! I was wondering how...'

He went off, trotting slightly faster than normal. He tossed and caught his Keyblade after each swing, going right-left-finish in his combo, swinging with more vicious motions. For his finisher, he would either toss up his Keyblade while giving a mighty kick, then catch it with telekinesis and slam it down front, or he would basically do a Round Blitz, but quicker, ending by swinging an arc back in front, using telekinesis to make it look like his Keyblade was attached to his wrist by a rubber band. His air finisher consisted of a downward swing that orbited him once before he caught it. With the power of Break Mode, he could use these brief spurts of telekinesis without pain or penalty. He observed that his air finishers were slightly more powerful than he expected them to be.

Break Mode allowed him a few moments to vent his rage, though only a few. With each successful strike, he felt his tension lessen and lessen, while it also faded very slowly when he wasn't fighting. After about four good combos, Break Mode ended, and he felt his power return to its former level, sleeping once more. He looked at himself, blinking in thought. 'A full restore and a brief boost in power...short but sweet. Good...keeps from being too overpowered.' He blocked an attack and went on. 'Don't want things to be too easy, after all...'

Meanwhile, while Maru proceeded to throw a hissy upon discovering how to use Break Mode, Figment weaved in and out of Heartless, chucking cards here and there, to get to the dragon that had fallen down below the sea of Heartless. And just in time, too, since a Heartless had leapt onto the big roadblock to steal its heart. "Stay away!" Figment shouted, launching a pair of attack cards at the shadow.

The shadow was knocked away, and Figment skidded to a halt by the dragon's face. Now, he looked only to be about 6 or 7 feet tall. He patted his face (he was so short he didn't need to really kneel) and kept saying to wake up. The dragon opened his eyes and blinked groggily, looking at Figment, then sat bolt upright and looked at himself, standing up and looking around. His pupils went to little pinpricks as he realized he was much smaller now. Much smaller. He said something that was complete gibberish to Figment, knelt, and began to sob like a little hatchling!

Figment sighed and did something he hated to do, and that was smack the poor guy and say, "You can't cry now, ya big galoot! You're an easy target then!" He tossed a card at an approaching Heartless and shocked it. "Get up and fight! There's no time to waste sitting and crying, I'm sorry!"

The green dragon sniffed, then sighed and closed its eyes, nodding solemnly. He got up and, with a look of resolution, began to fight the now much-bigger enemies with his body.

By now, Maru had exited Break Mode and had calmed down. Together with Figment and the now-smaller—but still bigger than he was—dragon, the line was defended brilliantly. It felt like hours had passed since the beginning of the battle. And all the while, Maru felt more and more excitement, a true thrill. Several times he'd almost been killed, and several times he'd had to take a full minute with some enemies. 'This is something I have never felt before these events,' he realized. 'Never...But I have been fighting for all my life, so...why?'

Finally, there were only a few stragglers remaining. By then, many others had become visible, revealing that they've been fighting themselves, but had been lost among the crowd. It, admittedly, wasn't until Cloud came that things finally began to get better. Maru had gone up a couple levels, and was getting better at fighting with his new body, although he still had a ways to go before he considered using certain skills. The time to practice more advanced maneuvers such as throwing his weapon and bringing it back using telekinesis was not during a gazillion-Heartless brawl. He had gotten the hang of Break Mode—calling the state he entered Rend Form—and had accessed it a couple more times, though he preferred to save it for emergencies. The flow had stopped by now. At last.

Maru watched his final Heartless disappear. He panted, looked around, and crowed, "HAH-HAAH!" very loudly, pumping his arm. He'd been mentally counting, perfectly, too: "Over 350 obliterated at my hands, exactly a thousand obliterated together!" he informed, raising his Keyblade high and a triumphant smile on his face.

Figment, trotting over and panting, gave a weak laugh. "I...can't believe you...kept count," he gasped, looking amazed at Maru. Then he raised an eyebrow. "You're...lying, aren't you...?"

Maru smirked and shook his head. "I never lie about combat," he returned. He felt the ground shake and looked up in surprise to see the large dragon plod over, panting and wheezing with his head down to his chest, triangular tongue lolling out, his arms totally limp and hanging in front of him. Maru couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. He was so much smaller, it must have hurt his pride a lot. Respectfully, he said, "Thank you, large one," to him.

As he flopped down with a loud THUD, the dragon breathed, "~No problem,~" back. He fell back, lying on the ground.

Maru's eyebrows shot up. 'That dialect...Is he a pokémon?' "Well," he said, looking up and down at the spread-eagled, totally exhausted beast, "it must have been, since you did get shrunk down. I am sorry that happened..." He looked away. "I should have been able to fight better."

The dragon wheezed out a reply. "~No...I...wanted to...help you...It's...just who...I am...Hooo, I'm pooped...~"

Maru chuckled, breathing a little himself still. "We all are," he replied. 'I'll be nice to him, but when we're rested up, I'll go on my own again; one partner is one too many already.' He looked at Figment, who was looking in amazement at him and the dragon. 'Although, he is a fairly good fighter...And an interesting method of fighting, too, using cards and all...'

Figment raised a paw. "Can you..." he began, trailing off a bit, but then got on again, "Can you understand him...? He sounds like he's speaking a form of Simlish..."

Maru tilted his head, confused. "Wait, you can't understand him?" he asked. "He's a dragon, too, so I suppose..." Then he remembered. "Oh, you must be different from others, since you were created from the imagination rather than...natural means," he finished, feeling a pang in his chest as he reconfirmed his origin. He hoped Figment didn't mind as much as he did.

Figment shook his head. "I don't understand a word he says," he confessed very openly. "And you can?"

Maru nodded. "Where I come from, I can understand all sorts of creatures called Pokémon," he explained. "They always say just their names, but I can understand as if I were one, myself." 'Hope I didn't just give away my biggest secret...' "It's...a talent I was born with," he decided to add.

Figment nodded in understanding. "I see."

Maru turned to the other dragon, who had rolled over into a sitting position. His tail was sticking out from between his legs so as not to be squashed underneath his bulk. He sighed and looked over to Maru with a concerned look. "~Are you alright?~" he asked. His voice was gentle, concerned, and had an underlying jolliness. He still panted a bit.

Maru nodded. "I'm okay," he replied. "Figment? Are you alright?" he translated to the smaller dragon. Figment nodded. "The question is, are you okay?" he asked. "You look like you could pant for an eternity." 'I wonder, am I being a bit too nice to him? Maybe it is because he is not a human, or he reminds me of a dragonite or a snorlax...A large pokémon, regardless.'

The magenta-haired head nodded, smiling. "~Yeah, I'm okay,~" he replied in his odd language that others might have found annoying to listen to. But Mewtwo, as if he heard a pokémon, heard perfect English. He gave a deep chuckle. "~I just need to lose some weight, that's all!~" he replied. "~That, or really work on my sumo wrestling...~"

Maru raised an eyebrow. "You may need a person whose culture has him used to such an ancient sport," he mumbled. He saw someone approaching out of his peripheral vision and looked. Leon was walking forward to them, face straight and expressionless as the hilt of a sword. "How'd you do, Leon?" Maru asked, smirking. "I got over 350, and together we got a thousand."

Leon raised an eyebrow. "Nice. I got over a thousand alone," he calmly pwned. Maru secretly anger-veined at the fact he was not only beaten, but in such a mocking way. Leon looked to the large dragon. He narrowed his eyes. "Um..." He put a pair of fingers to his forehead for a moment, thinking. "...Elliott?" he finally asked. "So it's true you've been shrunk down to this size?"

Elliott nodded.

Leon let out an annoyed sigh and put his face in his hand. "Greaaat, there goes a very big living wall," he grumbled. "We were depending on your size to act as a fighting barrier in case this sort of thing happened," he admonished Elliott, who drooped his head in shame.

Before anyone could say anything, Yuffie—the ninja girl Maru had met earlier that day—came over and hit Leon on the arm. "Le-on!" she admonished. "You can't blame the poor guy, I mean, seriously, would you have expected to be zapped by that guy?" she asked, looking crossly at the Gunblader and crossing her arms.

Leon sighed and began walking past the three in front of him. "Okay, sorry, Elliott," he said as he passed. "Tell me when it wears off."

"It won't wear off," Maru said softly, looking down and clenching his fists.

Leon only said, "I know," as he walked away.

Yuffie came over and sighed. "That Leon! Always such a jerk!" she mumbled. She turned to Maru and the dragons and smiled. "Nice work, you guys," she congratulated. "Now, Maru, why don't you come on up to get your new outfit? Although..." She looked down at his legs. "Those pants totally suit you."

Maru anger-veined. "Oh, shut up!" he said shortly. Yuffie and Figment laughed.

-)-D-0-O-0-C-(-

Maru and Figment stepped into the wardrobe. Leon and Merlin were in there already. The three fairies gasped and flew right to Maru, all saying things regarding how they were so happy the poor thing survived, and how well they saw him fighting, and was he hurt? and so on and so forth. Maru just sweatdropped and brought up his hands. "Easy, please, I'm fine," he insisted. "But may I please get my new clothes, now?"

The fairies nodded and looked at Figment. They then looked at each other quickly. "You think...?" Flora asked.

"Maybe..." Merryweather mumbled.

"It'd be good for him..." Fauna agreed.

They all nodded in unison and looked at Maru. "Maru, Dear," Flora said, "I'm sorry, but...do you intend on fighting alone after all this?"

Maru looked at them with the "Uh, yeeeaahh" look. "Yes," he replied slowly. Figment whipped his head around to look at him in disbelief and hurt.

Merryweather tsked him, waggling a finger. "Oh, look at the poor thing, you've hurt his feelings," she scolded Maru, pointing to Figment.

Maru suppressed a groan and looked down. Figment stared up back at him with classic anime about-to-cry wavering-outline eyes. He sweatdropped. "Er...Sorry, Figment," he apologized, "but, as good a fighter as you are now, and as good as you could someday be, I prefer to go alone..."

Figment sniffed. 'Oh, please, let this work...Jerk!' "B-b-but..." he sobbed.

Maru wondered if this was Fake Tears, if it was sincere, or a mixture of the two. Before he could say anything, though, a large throat was cleared. Looking up, everyone saw Elliott, who barely fit in the halls, standing there with arms crossed and a thoroughly displeased expression, looking straight at Maru. "~And just what is going on here?~" he asked in that tone a mother would take when catching her kids in the act of something that would end up in one or more being scolded.

Maru, strong-willed as he was, couldn't help but feel a little like the guilty kids would. "Er..." was all he could say.

"Dear, you're going to have to learn to get along with others," lectured Fauna, and everyone turned to her. She had a stern expression on her face. "As you've surely experienced down there, you aren't invincible. You can and will get hurt."

Merryweather picked up, "Maru, we can tell you're a tremendously gifted warrior, but you can't possibly face all the enemies you wish all on your own."

Flora smiled at the young man who had saved her dress what felt like eons ago. "Maru, dear, I know you're a magnificent fighter; I've seen it myself," she began gently, grandmotherly, "but something's obviously happened to make you, and I mean this without any offense, weaker than before. I can tell. Or...am I mistaken? I terribly hate it when I make incorrect assumptions..." She knit her brow.

Maru sighed and bowed his head. After a moment, he nodded. "I was originally one of the strongest beings in my world," he finally confessed, head still bowed. Merlin smiled a triumphant smile. "I, in all truth, tried to take my world over," he further confessed, which made everyone gasp in surprise. "But worry not, for a lone boy sacrificed his life to stop the fighting, getting in a crossfire with me and the only other I would call my equal. Ever since, I have grown to be more and more compassionate towards...people. More concerned. I have even begun to want to help them. But my main goal in life remains to be finding my true purpose.

"One night, that same man I saw on the battlefield today, the one who stole the power and strength Elliott's size gave him, stole my power and, I think, nearly my heart, as well," he continued. He felt pain at the memory of loss. "And since, I have had to rely on a weapon to defend myself, at least against these Heartless. They stole my world, as well as the only ones I have ever considered my friends...one of them being the very same boy who had died—and been resurrected in the most moving way, before my very eyes—thanks to me; the very same boy who saved my life, once figuratively and another time literally. A favor I failed to return, and then some. I lost my world because I was not strong enough to stop those God-damned Heartless bastards!" He clenched his fist tightly, and a tear splashed down to the floor. He wrenched his face up, and was revealed to have a single tear falling down the side of his face. "I have to fight alone! It was my fault I did not successfully save Ash, and Brock, and Pikachu, and everyone! My fault I could not save my home! If I had not let my guard down that night my powers were stolen, I could have been able to obliterate every single one of the damn beasts!" His fist was shaking, and his eyes were glowing as bright as they near-invisibly could without Breaking.

Figment gaped up at him. "Maru..." he whispered in awe. Elliott, though uncomfortable with the fact he used to be a bad guy, was nonetheless moved by his story, the big heart he had.

Maru continued vehemently, "I must go alone! Only I can fix my mistakes, only I! I alone!" 'I...' He cut his hand across the air, opening it as he did. "No one must be with me if I am to fully atone for my mistakes! If this means that I nearly die in the process, then so be it! But I am fighting alone!" His cry echoed around the room.

Flora calmly waited for Maru to finish, then flew down to him. Maru suddenly found he had a glowing red spot on his cheek shaped like a hand, his head turned away to bare this spot to everyone. Flora crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, dear, but even if that's part of the case in your belief, it's not the real reason, and you're a young man, not a child!" she scolded, a hurt expression on her face. "You're being too proud. It's obnoxious." She lifted an elbow in the dragons' direction. "They both fought alongside you, and you saw how well they fight," she pointed out. "Especially little Figment! He's brave, Maru, and, although childish at times, more mature than you seem to be sometimes." She sighed and shook her head in disappointment.

"Maru, dear...you also have to realize that just because you think it's your fault your world was swallowed up by a force that is beyond many's power, it doesn't mean that it has to be just you who reclaims it in order for your 'sin' to be erased." She put the word in quotes verbally only.

"You can save your world with help," she continued to explain, opening her arms. "You probably can't do so without it! No one person could cut their way through swarms of Heartless and restore their world all on their own. Sora, Riku, and King Mickey all couldn't have survived alone, and they are all very strong fighters. I doubt even Cloud or Leon could do so alone." She sighed again. "Dear, please, don't you see? You have to put that pride of yours into a pill and swallow it, bitter taste or not. Yet, like any bitter taste, it will fade in time. You'll see. Of course, although I believe you'll never forget this, you must never forget that you must be able to defend yourself, should the situation arise. As for now, though, please...don't be stupid."

She flew closer to Maru, who was looking away now, quietly fuming. She put her hand on his shoulder gently. Maru wanted to push it away, but when he looked into her eyes, he just couldn't. Those concerned eyes, full of hope for him. "Dear. Please. I don't want to see you hurt. Nobody in here does," she said softly. "We want you to achieve your goals, but you can't do it without any help! There are just too many Heartless out there for one person to face alone and survive."

Maru looked away again; it was too hard for him. 'She's...she's right,' he knew, 'but...' He looked at Figment. Then at Elliott. Then at Merlin. Fauna. Merryweather. Flora. And then something hit him.

'...Ash would have said the exact same thing...'

Finally, he closed his eyes, bowed his head, and then opened them and looked up again. He nodded. "My friend would say the same thing," he admitted. "And it would not be fair to ignore the one I am trying to save."

Flora smiled. "Thank you, dear," she said, relieved. "You've just looked like a man, not just a young man...not only a man, but a mature one," she added, chuckling as she reminded Maru of his words when they had spoken in his world. "It takes a much more mature person to accept help than it does to reject it." She flew up and over to the other fairies. "Now, dear, please stand in the center, would you?" she asked sweetly, readying her wand.

Maru, embarrassed, wiped his tears and then stepped forth. 'Think I got a little too poetic, there...and I cannot believe I was just scolded by a fairy!' He stood and looked up at them. "Could you get this done with quick?" he asked. "I don't want to wear these tattered clothes much longer. But if you're going to touch the cloak, it'd better just be a touch-up," he added with an edge to his voice.

Merryweather and Fauna frowned, but Flora smiled. "Alright, then, dear," she said, and fired her wand at him. Maru, not expecting this, brought his arms up in defense, and got hit. A second later, he found he was wearing red clothes, somewhat fancyish. He sweatdropped.

Merryweather flew in front of her friend, saying, "No, no, no, he doesn't like that, he'd prefer a cool color, not a warm one." She zapped Maru then, and blue clothes went onto him. "See? They look much better on him!"

Fauna shook her head. "I'm afraid you're wrong, a secondary color would look better on him, by far," she argued, and zapped Maru, as well, putting green clothes onto him.

The three proceeded to take turns zapping Maru, one at a time, until their target, now quite annoyed, shouted, "Will you make up your minds?" and stopped them.

They sighed and nodded. "Alright," Flora gave in. "Girls? Together, now..." And, in one smooth, fluid motion, the three brought their wands up, back, and then forward as they zapped Maru one last time, but in unison...well, almost. Flora and Merryweather zapped a fraction of a second together before Fauna.

The result, instead of a black outfit that Maru would have been okay with, was a very surprising one, indeed. While his cloak remained the same—shortened but repaired back to its former, ripped glory, though—and his belt buckle was the exact same as when he'd won it so long ago, he wore a completely different shirt and pair of pants. His shirt was just a plain t-shirt with designs, but no pockets, or pauldrons, or zippers, or anything. The shirt was mainly pale lavender, but the front torso had a dark purple semi-circle with a pattern of triangles in black lines over it. The sleeves each had a sort of wave design, of three rows of semicircle "waves," one on top the other. Nearest the elbow was purple, farthest was black, and between was dark purple. His right shoulder bore nothing, but his left bore a single crescent moon.

His pants were much different than his old ones, and far different than his "SERIOUS" pants he'd been wearing for an hour and a half. He now wore deep purple shorts kept up by a black belt (under which the shirt was tucked), but over the shorts were light grey leggings, attached via zippers that went from the middle of each legging on front to the front of each on the back. On the leggings, also attached to the shorts, by hidden buttons this time, were a pair of large, encompassing pockets with no real fabric front, but only very loosely woven strips of black fabric, like a net. Below hung arrays of denim strips forming a brick-lined pattern that went for three "layers" before hitting the ankles with a final band. The leggings ended precisely so that the black shoes, with decorative zippers on the outside of them and a deep purple tongue, were visible, but the socks still weren't, and that the leggings wouldn't hinder them. They covered the back and sides a bit, but not too much. The leggings were loose and somewhat baggy, and comfortable to move about in, and didn't feel too binding.

On Maru's hands were a pair of palmless fingerless gloves, purple with a black and yellow triangle design over the top of them. A thin black belt attached them to the hand around the wrist, and a large faded-dark-raspberry-colored cuff with another brick pattern went down a hand-length from the belt. Maru looked very interesting, indeed.

He looked at his new outfit, holding up his hands and seeing the actually very nice-looking gloves, with the brick patterned cuffs, which had an odd darker brick here and there. He somewhat liked the brick pattern, since it reminded him of solidity and defense, as well as resistance. The leggings were quite interesting and intricately done, pleasing to the eye. He moved his legs a bit to test how binding the leggings were, and ran a little. 'And they don't restrict my movement, either, as big and baggy as they are,' he noted. 'Surprisingly very light, too.' His shirt, he was okay with. (He didn't care about his shoes, as long as they weren't pink or big and goofy.) He turned his head and smiled up at the fairies. "I like it," he declared. "Not bad."

"We're so glad you like it," Merryweather said, smiling. "Although, it was meant to be more black..." She looked at Flora. "Did we go a little too early?"

Flora nodded. "Probably," she agreed, "but purple is such a wonderful color for him." She and the other two smiled down at him sweetly. "But those clothes aren't just for looks, you know," she pointed out, as if she were hiding some extra surprise.

Maru looked up and furrowed his brow. "Do you mean that Break ability Figment relayed to me?" he wondered.

The fairies nodded. "Yes, dear," Fauna confirmed. "These clothes bear that same enchantment. When you reach for the power within you, your inner tension will snap, causing you to unleash your strength. It isn't exactly as powerful as the Drive ability we gave to Sora, but..." She frowned worriedly. "Sometimes, Sora would enter a Heartless-like form when he tried to Drive, which put his life at risk...not to mention gave everyone the scare of the century...Understand we don't want to risk something like that happening again, dear, please."

Maru raised an eyebrow. 'Drive? Wonder what that did...'

"But the stronger you get, the more power you can unleash by Breaking," Merryweather pointed out. "When you reach the peak of the enchantment, you could unlock enough power to perhaps put you close to your former glory, so to speak."

"We should enchant you, too, shouldn't we?" Fauna wondered, looking at Figment...and Elliott.

Maru jerked his head, said, "Huh?" and whipped around to Elliott. Elliott had his eyebrows raised, and a hopeful look on his face. His ears waggled a little bit cutely. Maru frowned, raising an eyebrow, and asked, "Who said Elliott was coming? I thought Figment was the only one to come with," to the fairies, whom he turned to again. Behind him, Elliott's jaw dropped in shock before he slumped and hung his head, ears hanging limply and a disappointed, hurt frown on his mouth.

Flora frowned at him. "Not again, Maru!" she admonished. "Elliott is an excellent fighter, and was trained by Goofy a few years ago. Goofy is the captain of the guards where His Majesty the King resides, and Elliott was a very good pupil of his. Just like how Figment was trained to use magic by Donald, the court magician who also accompanied Sora."

'I wonder if I'll ever meet this Sora person at some point,' Maru mused. 'I hear so much about him.' He sighed and nodded. "Alright. Elliott may come, too," Maru allowed. Elliott's ears and face perked up, a happy open smile on as he slowly straightened again. "Besides..." Maru looked back at him and smiled sadly at the dragon. "He and I both need to get our power back." Elliott's smile turned to a sad one, too...one that Figment thought held the slightest hint of deep-set worry.

"Thank you for understanding, Maru," Flora breathed in relief. "Now, dragons? Front and center, please."

Figment trotted over and Elliott, who suddenly looked quite nervous, stepped forth. Fauna flew down before Elliott. "This won't hurt a bit, dears," she assured them sweetly, raising her wand.

Merryweather flew down in front of a smiling Figment. "Now, hold still..." she instructed, raising hers.

Together, with an oblivious smile from Figment and a face-clenching flinch from Elliott, the fairies tapped their heads. Sparkles showered them, similarly to how they covered Maru. Elliott peeped an eye open before looking in wonder at it, and Figment looked himself over. Elliott gasped suddenly, and they turned to look.

"Oh, yes, Elliott—we have to bind the enchantment to something apart from your body," Flora explained, floating over and looking a little sorry. "I hope it's not too much bother."

The change was simple enough: Brown ankle- and wrist-belts with silver, circular buckles and end covers fit snugly on his chubby form. Around his waist, a wide, tri-braided dark brown belt with a silver, square buckle held up four dark green-side-of-teal-colored, black-belted-shut, varying-sized, squared side pouches, similar to cargo pockets, two pouches on each side. They hung via two metal links at the metal bits holding them at the corners of the bags and to the belt, where they fit under one of the strands to stay put. The belt itself finished the braid before reaching a length of plain leather with large silver eyelets. The buckle went through the last eyelet before the braid, and the remaining length, going to Elliott's left, wrapped once under the belt and hung out a bit off-center of his middle, long enough to show one more eyelet. A silver ring was attached to the end; it was wider than the buckle's interior, but it appeared as if it would fit if threaded through diagonally. (It's simple when compared to the other two's outfits.)

Elliott frowned uncertainly at the additions, especially the belt, which he grabbed and shifted around his roundness a couple times. The bags flew out a bit, flopping against his sides when he changed directions. "~It's...snug,~" he described, unsure. Maru translated. He swallowed, then looked comically resolute. "~But if that's what it takes, I'll break my vow of nudity and wear 'em!~" he declared in exaggerated duty. Figment laughed—he could tell from his tone he was being funny. Maru was surprised at this silliness; he'd thought of Elliott as a bit more serious than that, or at least not one to make such a joke. He (somewhat reluctantly) translated for everyone.

"Thank you, dear," Flora smiled, relieved.

"That reminds me," Merlin piped up, walking over to Elliott. He stopped and looked at him. "You don't fight with a weapon, correct?" Elliott nodded. "Then this should help you." Merlin flicked his wand, and in a puff of smoke and bright shapes, plain, silver and dark teal armor covered Elliott's front, tail, upper arms, and paws (covering the wrist belts). Elliott gawked at himself again. Merlin explained, "It's armor—Not only will it protect you in battle, but it will give an even bigger what-for to those dreadful Heartless!" He swung a fist to emphasize this last point.

Elliott raised his eyebrows. "~Really? Huh...~" He shrugged. "~Well, it doesn't hurt, so I guess...~"

"Snap your fingers when you want to don or remove it," Merlin instructed. "And don't worry, if you snap your fingers when you don't want it on or off, it won't do anything." Elliott frowned, paw to chin, before he tried it. In a flash of light, the armor vanished. He smiled and nodded energetically to Merlin, thanking him. Merlin chuckled and waved a hand, saying he was welcome.

"I hope our gifts help you regain your strength, your friends, and your world," Flora bade to Maru, Figment, and Elliott, who turned to the speaker.

"Thank you, ladies," Maru nodded, "for all of this. I am indebted to you." He bowed.

The fairies blushed and went, "Oohhh," together. "You are such a gentleman, Maru!" Fauna complimented.

"And you don't need to do anything for us little old ladies," Merryweather added, batting a hand. "You've more than earned this!"

Flora nodded. "But there's something else you should probably use," she said, raising her wand.

Maru sweat-dropped, and Figment groaned behind him. "What, more stuff?" the dragon whined. "We should get going, already! Sorry, but I'm getting a little impatient." He crossed his arms and tapped his foot.

Flora chuckled. "I see your mentor has rubbed off a little bit on you," she noticed, and then brought her wand down. A small flash of light emitted from it, and a trail of sparkles flew from it, around everyone's heads, and out the door. "And Figment, you should probably be quite pleased at this, then," she added.

Everyone had a curious look on their faces, but then a low hum was heard. The people in the room turned and gasped at the very blocky spaceship that hovered up into view out the sunset-filled window. Figment jumped for joy. "The Gummi Ship!" he squealed. He raced to the window to find a latch so he could jump right onto it.

Everyone except Leon and Maru laughed (those two not laughing because they're badasses and had to keep their image). "Now, you should probably say goodbye to everyone before you go," Merryweather advised. "Don't be so anxious to go somewhere so soon. You've got an incredible adventure ahead of you, and you probably won't be actually sleeping for a while. It'll be tiring on the mind, staying up and fighting constantly. One of you has to drive, and all of you have to keep an eye out for enemy Heartless ships as you go between worlds."

At this, Maru spun around, wide-eyed. "'Between worlds?'" he repeated. "Are you saying that..."

"Yup," Leon said, coming forward. "You're going to be going to other worlds. It's the best way to find clues when this world is deplete of them." Smart boy he was, he used a reason that would appeal to Maru; duty might not go well. He stopped in front of him, arms crossed. "It's a tough journey you've got," he told him. "You'd better be careful, especially after all the hell we've gone through to help you get dressed." He couldn't help but smile at his little joke.

Maru sweatdropped and chuckled sheepishly a little. He bowed to him a bit. "Thank you, Leon—everyone, thank you," he said, turning and opening his arms to indicate the room. "Thank you for...helping me, and for withstanding my personality for so long. As well, thank you for your hospitality," he added, bowing again. "And for teaching me some humility." He smirked at Flora. "I think this is still a bit much for simply beating off a few thugs," he joked.

Flora laughed. "Oh, you can never give too much," she dismissed. "As long as you really want to give it all." She smiled and waved. "Well, I suppose you'd better be off, dearies," she said.

Merlin smiled and strode over. "But Figment, you should take this, too," he added, and gave him a small book. "It's a journal. You should record what happens. Or, at least, someone should."

Figment sweatdropped. "Uhh...I...uh...I-I don't—have good handwriting!" he confessed hastily, grinning sheepishly. "Maybe Elliott?" He offered the book to his larger counterpart.

Elliott waved his hands and shook his head. "~Uh-uh! It's way too small,~" he reasoned, "~and I...um...~" He sunk his head in shame, cheeks darkening. "~...I can't write...~" Maru translated for everyone, feeling a small bit of joy at being the only one able to understand Elliott, though he felt sorry for his illiteracy. He hesitated, then awkwardly patted him on the side, smiling in nervous comfort. Elliott gave him a sheepish smile back.

Figment sweatdropped again. "Uhhhh...Maru?" he suggested, offering the book.

Maru sweatdropped as well. "Er, I don't like writing by hand, and besides, I'll be too busy..."

Figment anger-veined. "Y'think I won't be?" he asked.

But before an argument started up (already!), one single, small, piercing voice rang out a very familiar "HEY!"

Instantly, every head turned at the single voice, all registering "annoying" from that one word. What seemed like a small, floating orb of blue light with delicate clear wings like a fairy's was in the place the voice had came. It flew over, sort of making a twinkling sound as sparkles fell from its body and disappeared. "You know, I'd be glad to keep a journal," the little creature chirped. "I can hide with Maru and observe everything, which I'm really good at doing. I don't really have much use except for guidance and having an entire encyclopedia of random facts in my head—mainly about enemies—so I'd be great at this!" The little thing's high, light voice sounded feminine. She floated around in front of Maru.

Maru blinked at it, wondering what it was. "Err...and you..." Then, something startled him. He smacked his forehead. "SHIT! That reminds me! I can't believe all this talk of worlds and such hadn't reminded me before!" He rifled through his cloak, hoping—praying—he still had it. Finally, with a great sigh of relief, he produced a small envelope, bent and slightly torn. A red wax seal was on it, broken. He opened the flap and brought out the letter inside. "Still intact," he mumbled in relief, and put it away, smiling. He grinned at the ball with wings. "Now, if memory serves me well, you're Navi the fairy, correct?" he asked.

The blue ball bobbed up and down. "The one and only!" she replied, then paused and asked, "Wait, how do you know me?"

Maru smiled, and replied calmly, "If you're here, I suspect we'll be finding out eventually." He nodded. "You can accompany us as journal-keeper, just as long as you don't nag us about anything." He eyed her in a way that seemed to mean well, but Navi saw a fierce fire behind those eyes, ready to scorch her if she decides to pester him about anything.

Navi sweatdropped a tiny little bit. "Y-yes, Maru, I'll...at least try not to nag," she promised. "But if I figure out a way to beat an enemy quickly, I think I have the right to tell you."

Maru nodded. "That is, if I hadn't figured it out yet," he added. "But...you can't carry that thing, it's too—" he began, talking about the journal.

In a tinkle of light, a small notebook was produced by the fairy. It floated in front of it magically. "I have my own journal, thank you," she bobbed, "one I can shrink or grow to suit my or others' needs. If you need to look at it, just ask. But only after I'm done writing in it." She shrunk it in another sparkle and flew over to Maru's chest. "Er...anywhere I can get a good vantage point?" she asked. "I wish you wore a hat...though that hair looks like it'd more than work..."

Maru smirked. "You can just hide in one of the folds of my cloak's collar," he offered. "Just make sure not to move anything in there. I've got a potion left still and that envelope, which is very important, so don't touch it. Unless you can touch it up," he added. Then he sweatdropped. 'Great, now I'm starting to make puns...not a good sign...'

Navi chirped, "Okay!" and flew right in at the front. Her light disappeared from the room. Maru looked down and saw her just, really, disappear. He shrugged and turned to Figment and Elliott. "Well, let's say our goodbyes and get anything we need, and we can leave," he told them. He started walking out.

"Maru!" Flora called.

He stopped and let out a "heh." "What, some other thing I need?" he asked, turning his head.

Flora nodded. "A wish for luck." She waved. "Goodbye, you three! Good luck!" The other two fairies did the same.

"May fortune find you safe, young lad!" Merlin said, waving.

Leon just lifted a hand. "Don't get yourself killed, 'k?"

Maru smirked. "I'm not going to," he promised, then turned and strode out.

"Bye-ee! Bye!" Figment called, waving and walking out.

Elliott said his own goodbyes while he stood to wait to be in the rear, so as not to bump into anyone on accident backing out.

***Elliott joined the party!***

***Navi joined the party!***

***RECIEVED Journal***

Navi's Journal. Navi records all the events of the world, details on characters and enemies, and more. Check it in the main menu.

Maru looked up at Elliott as they walked down the stairs. "You really need that armor?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, your front and paws, I can understand, but your arms?"

Elliott nodded, smiling. "~It makes sense. It kinda hurts a little when you have to be a living shield, and swords and stuff hurt a lot more,~" he explained. He shrugged and smiled down at Maru. "~By the way, thank you, erm...~" He frowned and put his paw to his chin in thought. Maru supplied his name. Elliott snapped his fingers and nodded. "~Maru! Sorry, I forget some things sometimes,~" he apologized, shrugging and smiling sheepishly.

Maru shook his head. "We all forget some things," he reasoned, "so it is not all your fault." 'He's a bit...dorky, but I feel more relaxed around him. His aura is soothing to me.' (Maru couldn't see aura anymore (it was a skill that he never really used much), but he could sense them again during the fight. He was startled when he found Heartless gave off no aura whatsoever, yet still had a field of menace that stood the hairs on the back of his neck on-end.)

Elliott nodded again. "~Well, anyway, thank you so much, Maru, for letting me come with you,~" he continued. "~And I swear, cross my heart and hope to die, that I'll help protect you.~" He bent his upper body and put an arm over his chest in a mock bow.

Maru bit back the retort that reflexively rose up, that he didn't need to be protected, and instead said, "Thank you, Elliott. And I hope that this journey finds that bastard who stole both of our former power. I suppose it took quite some time for you to grow to that grand height, didn't it?" he asked. He knew that creatures that grew to be very large also often prided themselves in their size, and so he knew how Elliott must have felt.

Elliott nodded, but not solemnly or sadly or anything. "~I don't really mind that much that I'm shrunk down,~" he shrugged. He chuckled. "~At least I'm not going to make any more holes in school houses the size of a...a...really big tree!~" he compared, a little embarrassed he couldn't come up with anything better.

Maru thought a bit. "Oak tree?" he suggested.

Figment, who'd been listening to an exchange of normal speech and babble, now looked up in curiosity, a confused expression on his face. "Okay, what the heck are you talking about now?" he asked, raising an eyeridge. "First it was some emotional stuff, I thought, but now you're talking about trees?"

Maru tried not to laugh, and instead focused on striding out into the canyon, which now had the great ship (Kingdom model) in front of the city walls. "We were talking about his size, and he tried comparing himself to a tree," he explained. "But he couldn't think of a good kind. So I helped him."

Figment grinned. "Another victory for the imagination!"

Maru rolled his eyes. "Please, stop right there," he asked tiredly. "I just want to get on this ship and get to work."

"Yeah, besides, the readers are enough people getting ticked at this chapter's events, anyway," Figment mumbled.

Maru and Elliott blinked. "~Huh?"

Figment quickly shook his head. "Nothing, nothing! Just mumbling!" he covered, laughing nervously.

Maru sweatdropped. "Then again, I probably don't want to know," he muttered. They got to the ship. "What's this thing run on?" he asked. When no answer came, he looked down to Figment. "Do you—er..."

The dragon had donned a big, silly grin. Maru turned to Elliott, who was smiling great and broad, a very content and happy one. Maru's sweatdrop grew. "Smiles," Figment explained. "And I think you might need to do something more than just that smirk you use so much," he broke the news to Maru.

Maru's sweatdrop got as big as half his head and he stepped back. "I-Illogical!" he stuttered, chuckling a little. Figment laughed at the unintentional joke. "I mean, really, smiles generate no power! ...Well, no, I take that back, they are prone to generate emotions, which have a power all their own," he complied, tilting his head and looking up a bit, "but I've yet to see something that runs on emotions." 'But there's no way I can produce a full smile! I wouldn't be caught dead!'

Figment waggled his claw. "You're not going anywhere until you smile. You don't have to do it all the time, just now and then is fine." He smiled broadly. "C'mon, lemme see a smile!"

Maru looked helplessly back to Elliott, who nodded encouragingly. He tapped his collar, and Navi came out, tilted up and down in a silent nod, then went back. He gulped and looked to see if nobody was around. Alone. 'Here goes...' He pulled one end of his mouth up, then the other, but very slowly, twitching. A weak two-ended smile was on his visage, but it made Figment shake his head and make "more" motions. Blushing deeper and deeper, Maru stretched his mouth up more and more. But he let it fall. "I can't," he said, "I just can't."

Elliott frowned. "~Come on, it takes more to frown than smile, so why couldn't you be able to?~" he asked.

Maru sighed. "It...goes against my nature," he confessed.

Figment sighed. "Well, think of something that would make you laugh, or at least feel very happy," he suggested.

Maru nodded and closed his eyes. 'What would make me happy...' He imagined Giovanni blowing into smithereens, along with Team Rocket. That worked.

Figment shuddered, and Elliott let out an uneasy grunt. "Uhh...we're not looking for sadistic, here..." Figment informed him. "Happy. Think happy!"

Maru clenched his fist. 'What memories of mine are happy like that?' he wanted to scream. 'What happy memories won't make me want to sigh in loneliness? I...I have none...'

Navi flew out again. "Maru, you've got a lot to be sad about," she said plainly. "But you've also got a lot to be happy about now. Think. You're a smart cookie."

Maru looked at her. "Navi..." He looked at himself. 'I...I'm alive. I can fight. With the Keyblade's power, I can fight the Heartless. Plus I've got some cool clothes, and Break Mode to let me use more of my full strength. And I'm coming along well with my levels.' He looked at Navi, Figment, and Elliott. 'I hate to admit it, but I've got people who are willing to support me...comrades.' He looked at the ship. 'And I've got a ship to take me to different worlds...where I can find my friends...' A small, hopeful, even excited smile spread on his face. '...and a way to restore my world.'

Navi nodded, Figment clapped, and Elliott gave a sound of approval. "Yes! That's it! Wonderful!" the little purple draggy cheered. Maru smiled more, determined, as he clenched a fist, unwittingly resembling one of his friends. "I think the ship got a big boost, there!" Figment added, nodding to it. He stepped over and opened the cockpit. "Come on! And Elliott, don't worry, it's big enough for you!" he called, and hopped in.

Elliott smiled and, after a moment of figuring it out, clumsily crawled in, making the ship sag a little bit. Maru just vaulted into the cockpit, into the front seat. Navi flew over and back into his collar. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked Figment and Elliott, raising a sly eyebrow. He grin-smirked. "Show me how to fly this thing!"

-)-D-0-O-0-C-(-

Interlude

After Maru figured out the simple launch sequence on his own (the dragons had no clue what to do), the Gummi ship broke the atmosphere of the world, and a wondrous sight met Maru's eyes as he looked out of the cockpit window. It looked like space, sort of, but it was much different. Sure, there were stars and galaxies, but there were clouds of shine, swirls of vibrancy, and curtains of shimmer, as well. 'I expect nothing less from the world between the worlds,' he mused.

"Hello, there, Mr. Maru, sir!" greeted a chipper, squeaky voice. Maru looked at the dashboard and saw a little black-nosed chipmunk in a big-pocketed smock and a pair of deep raspberry gloves on top. He saluted him with a smile, bearing his single buck tooth. "Disney Castle Engineer Chip, at your service!" he introduced.

Another chipmunk trotted up top and stood next to him. He looked similar to his brother, but had a more relaxed expression, a small tuft of longer fur on top his head, and a round, red nose. When he smiled and saluted, he showed two buck teeth. "Disney Castle Engineer Dale, when yer ready!" he greeted.

"We're here to help you operate the Gummi Ship as you travel across the worlds," Chip explained, gesticulating. "The launch was simple enough, but the rest is a bit trickier."

"Yeah! We wouldn't wancha to blow up before ya even got to yer first world!" Dale joked. Chip sighed in exasperation.

"Hi, Dale!" Figment waved from his seat, grinning.

Dale grinned and waved back. "Hiya, Fig! Haven't seen ya in forever!" he called. "Yer goin' with Mr. Serious-Pants over here, huh?"

"Please, it's Maru," Maru corrected through gritted teeth. 'That's already gotten old...'

Figment nodded, then tilted his head, furrowing his brow. "Wait, aren't you guys supposed to be holed up in Disney Castle and guiding us from the control room or something?" he asked. "Why are you yourselves here?"

"Funny you should mention..." Chip said, frowning, at a loss. "See, a while ago, shortly after His Majesty sent Sora a letter, our world's barrier just up and...well, upped!"

"Barrier?" Maru repeated, tilting his head.

"You can't get through to other worlds normally because of the barriers," Dale explained. "We're able ta open up a hole in 'em with the Gummi Ship, 'cuz it's s'posed ta be made of the same stuff or somethin', as long as we've got the coordinates fer the world."

"For some reason, though, our world's barrier won't let anyone out," Chip continued, intrigued. "Or, in our case, in."

"We were just takin' 'er on yer standard maintenance flight after fixin' 'er up, gettin' 'er ready for Sora and Riku's big thingy, when suddenly, our signal back home cuts out!" Dale described, jumping to emphasize that last part. "So we headed on over ta Radiant Garden and talked with Cid about it."

"He can't make heads or tails of it," Chip said. "He said we should try to check in on Sora, but..."

"You couldn't get into his world, either, could you?" Maru asked, furrowing his brow. They shook their heads. Maru sat back, hand to chin. "Huh...That meant all the known Keybladers are out of commission, since King Micky is one, too..."

"Looks like you're the only one, Maru!" Chip pointed out. "Unless there are others we don't know of."

Maru hmmed. "Hopefully, this shouldn't be a problem, though, since the other...what, Big Bads, are they called? Sora took care of them, right?" he asked.

"As far as we can tell," Chip shrugged.

"I dunno, Chipper," Dale looked at his brother. "This seems awwwwf'ly suspicious..."

Maru thought a moment longer. 'Something's definitely up,' he agreed. 'It's got to be related to that guy in the masked mantle...the one that robbed me and Elliott.' "...We'll burn this bridge when we inevitably get there."

Chip nodded. "If you say so. Anyway, we got called over a while ago by Cid, who filled us in on your situation."

"We'd love to help ya look fer yer friends, Maru!" Dale enthused, jumping again.

Maru gave a small smile. "Thank you, Chip, Dale," he nodded.

"No problem!" Chip and Dale pumped their fists.

Maru looked back at his companions. "Where to first?"

"Well, it's your pick," Chip answered. He pointed to a little video screen on the right side of Maru's dashboard, or really control panel. It displayed a map of sorts, and a few globes that each had their own unique icon were present on it.

"The ship's sensors indicate two worlds we can go to," explained Dale enthusiastically. "You just touch a globe ta get info, touch the green circle that pops up ta set a course to that world, and hold on and try not ta doom us all!" He grinned.

Chip bopped his brother on the head. "Dale!" he scolded.

Dale chuckled and held his head where he was hit. "Yow! Heheh, sorry, Chip, couldn't help it!" He looked up at Maru again, who was raising an eyebrow. "Really, though, you'd better be careful. There's always been Heartless and Nobody forces trying ta destroy us as we travel ta different worlds. But don't worry!" He held a finger up as he stood straight and confidently.

Chip continued, "After you clear a path through the enemy's forces, you can warp right through to the world you need to get to." He nodded. "Just don't forget that, to avoid wasting any time!"

"Yeah, it's not like we have all the time in the world!" joked Dale, who laughed. Maru smacked his forehead and commented that that was pretty bad. Dale laughed and put his paw behind his head. "Aw, I don't care, as long as I think it's funny!" he replied, then scampered off, Chip close behind, to his station.

Maru nodded and cracked his knuckles. "Alright, then," he said, and looked at the map.

On the map was a beautiful cathedral surrounded by a medieval city. Colorful balloons came up from it. Maru touched it. Some data came up by it. It was mostly blank, but the ship's computer called it "Paris, France". Its battle level was 17. 'I'm level 14 right now,' Maru thought. (Though he'd defeated a lot of Heartless, they had given out pretty low experience, for some reason, and he'd only gained two levels since the first fight with Figment.) Two buttons came up, a green one that said "Set Course" and a red one that read "Cancel". Maru canceled.

Next to Paris, France was a world with steamboat in the middle of what looked like a swamp. Some dense marshy forest surrounded part of the world. Its title appeared to be "Devil's Bayou" and its battle level was 15. Maru canceled out again and sat back in thought.

'Where to?'

~Author's Note~

(Zeroth things zeroth: READ AT LEAST THE PART LIKE THIS IF NOTHING ELSE! I know there's a ton of stupid stuff here, but I feel like I have to explain myself, especially re-writing this whole thing.)

First things first...Yes. Snorlax can learn Flamethrower (via Unova TM35). Look it up. It made my day.

Second, yes, Moves have shots to them. They only have one shot at first level, though—Maru has to level them up like other Deck Commands (which will follow the system used in BbS because, do you really need to level up a Command so much and get so little gain each time, like in Re:coded? ...Okay, I admit I don't really understand Re:coded's leveling mechanics entirely, buuuut...). How many shots they have at max level depends on the Move—the more PP the move has, the higher its max, but the less, the lower. 5-PP Moves will only have a max of 2 uses, being 1 until at max level.

Third, on that note, I still have to figure out how Command Synthesis will work...

Fourth, ENORMOUS EXECUTIVE DECISION: The Drive Gauge system shall be replaced with the Break Gauge system.

(This means, I am terribly sorry, but no Mewtwo for a loooooong time. *ducks into bomb shelter and speaks through loudspeaker*)

I came up with it during the road trip portion of the 2011 Coe College Band Tour, and wrote down the basics. It's kinda like Drive, except that it can be done solo. That said, almost all player characters can do it. (This means not just Maru and Ash, but their teammates, including temp members from worlds. Pokémon can't do it, however. In this "game", the player will be able to control other characters than the Keyblader at any time, and will have to if knocked out during Tournaments. This also allows drop-in-drop-out multiplayer.) It's kind of a combination of Drive and Limit Break (from Days) in that it's an individual ability that gets progressively stronger the farther in the story you go that you need to fill up before use.

I'm going to explain in short how it works now, and will detail the basic effects of Rend Form for Maru. When either Maru or Ash gains a new Form, I'll detail its effects here. You can find this and more-detailed info on FerreWiki under the "Break_Gauge" entry.

1: There are a maximum of five levels (bars) of Break. Each represents a new level of power, each getting stronger than the last.

2: When you have access to the second and above Forms, you can choose which mode you wish to use instead of be forced to use the Form associated with the level. So if you have two bars full, you can still choose to enter Rend Form instead of the second Form (which I'll name when the story gets there ;) ). You can use more than the required amount to have more time in that Form, however, so if you're fine with the boosts Rend Form gives you but want to go longer, go right ahead!

3: You fill the Break Gauge's bars by either using an item called a tension (hi-)riser to fill one full bar (or three), by healing teammates, or by inflicting damage. Commands fill it faster than normal attacks.

4: The Break Gauge can be used for other things, too—not just Breaking. I'll reveal these as I get to them. I already let one cat out of the bag on the Break Gauge page on my wiki, though! ;)

~Maru's Rend Form: Uses a minimum of 1 full Break bar. Attack+, Sp. Atk+, Speed slightly+. Gives an extra 3 uses to each Move in the Deck. Maru fights fancier and more powerfully, combining telekinesis with finishing strikes. Sp. Def+ (aka, magic resistances). Maru gains an extra Support Ability based on his choice in his Dive to the Heart. (In this case, he gets Move Haste, which decreases reload time for Moves by 20%.)

Alright, what next...Oh, Maru's outfit. I changed it a little bit because I thought the leggings' hangings were a bit too complex, with the braids and all. So I changed them to the way they are now. It was either brick lines (which do match with his wrist cuffs) or criss-cross, which I wanted to avoid given how it's already there with the pockets. I also changed his cuffs' color because they bugged me a little—they didn't really match with the rest of him.

Sixth, Elliott's outfit. I never was 100% okay with him always being in armor like that, since it was his weapon and it always being out defied KH tradition (I mean, Goofy doesn't carry his shield out, soooo...). That, and I wanted to give Maru's teammates the Break Mode Ability, too. This required clothing. Again, I kinda wanted a way to get rid of Elliott's armor being his outfit—and thinking back on it, getting new armor would mean giving up the charm, which is kinda bad. But I didn't want to change Elliott's design too much—which is hard, given the fact he's naked. (Figment was easy—his yellow sweater is an official standard interpretation of him aside from his naked form.) And this is Kingdom Hearts, so of course it had to be more than basic.

So, after much faffing around and thinking, I came up with his current, relatively simple outfit. (I fear I'll have to draw him—and consequently Figment—now, though...and I can't draw Western cartoons very well without distorting them to my style O_O; ) It was that or throw a scarf on him, and I don't quite think he's that much of a scarf person outside cold environments (like BIG Mountain). In the process, I discovered his main belt fit the need for bags to hold items, a problem I just realized when redoing that part. Anyway, I hope you all don't mind! (Oh, and I gave him gauntlets because it's gotta hurt punching Heartless, which he undoubtedly does in addition to his body slamming and tail attacks.)

Seventh, I decreased the numbers of Heartless the group slays because I didn't quite want to do another Battle of 1000 Heartless. Plus, they're really low-level (though Maru's really high for this point in the game by KH standards, but then again he'd been training like hell, before (read: I didn't think about this very hard)), so...yeah. However, I kept the actual event because of what happens to Elliott.

Eighth, important important READ THIS NEXT PART EVEN IF YOU SKIMMED OVER THE REST! ...And now that I have your undivided attention—well, okay, I dunno how many tabs you've got open right now—I've got one more announcement to make:

Finally, WE'RE OFF! You know what that means? AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION! Since I'm gonna kinda be outta commission for a while (it's the beginning of the year, so naturally homework's light right now), I think that should give you all plenty of time. This is why I included the interlude to the next Piece at the end of this one. What am I talking about?

Please please please please PLEASE, even if you normally don't review or comment,tell me which world you want the story to go to next in a review if you have something to say or a private message if you have no comment! NO MAKING MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS TO MAKE THE ONE YOU WANT WIN, PLEASE. (If you do, then DAMN, you're sad to care THAT much about a fanfic, though I'll be flattered X3; )

When I'm ready to count the votes, I'll put a note here saying the booths are closed and whatever choice got most of the votes will be chosen. So check here before voting! That said, here are the choices!

A: Devil's Bayou

B: Paris, France

Paris, France is the world of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and was included last time. It is also going to be done in the upcoming game, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. The story will largely follow the way things went the last time around in the first Puzzle of Truth, but since they haven't joined the party, a certain character will not be around...at first. Sadly, I don't know if I can figure out a way to make Quasi a party member (though if I can, I most certainly will), given how most of the time, he's confined to the bell tower where he has miraculously not gone deaf. That said, Phoebus comes in too late to really be party member material, and Esmerelda can't fight. She's a spunky lass, that's for sure, but...Well, I'll burn this bridge when I get to it.

Devil's Bayou is an all-new world, and is the world of (I hate to spoil it right away, but) The Rescuers. I can't tell you much, but if you can guess something right about how it will be done, I'll tell you if you're right or not. That said, I'd better find a way to review the movie, even though I saw it relatively recently (well, a couple years ago). Fun Fact: At first, I was considering this for Ash until I saw something that would work better with Maru and decided to switch Sherwood Forest with this. (Though, damn, Sherwood was fun to do with Maru as a cat. Not like I really remembered it the whole way through...)

Okay, that all said, I'm saying this now: I'm going to update with Ash's story next no matter what. He's had a full day (Maru's party will rest while Maru decides which world to go to because it's been a really long day for everyone and I wanna give 'em a real break) and he's Made of Iron. (Speaking of, if someone started up a TV Tropes trope page for this fic, I'd be ecstatic. Just...they'd have to actually tell me because I've blocked TV Tropes from myself to increase my productivity. No, I'm not kidding.) Besides, we've had enough of Maru for a while, haven't we? Isn't this fic supposed to be about more than just him? Heck, speaking of, what happened to those stupid cheerleaders I love so much? Later on them, but you catch my drift.

Anyway, I should finish this up. Hope to see y'all soon with Ash's story (FINALLY) begun, and sorry for the super-long chapter again!

~8D OMAKE 8D~

Maru: *while brushing teeth on the Gummi Ship that night, thinking* They made me smile just to make me feel better or something, didn't they? This ship isn't powered by smiles. Peh. I don't smile. I never smiled before...not really, that is.

FT: *pops head down from ceiling* Then explain this. *holds out a promo card—not a TCG card, just a promo card—for the first movie*

Maru: *starts, then anger-veins at the author barging in on him and grabs the card. He looks at it and pales, freezing mid-brush for a moment. He spits out what he has in his mouth before speaking.* That's not a smile...that's a creeper face. I was young and foolish for the cameras.

*On the card is an image of him as Mewtwo, as he was back in the first movie, laughing in a very awkward position. It looks quite creepy.*

Not a great omake, but...really, if I could find that card somewhere, I'd write out a pseudo-link for you guys. Now, then, just another thing: It's Labor Day Weekend. That's why I posted TWO chapters at once. This will not be a regular happening. Just had to make that clear. Hope to update again soon, though!

Edit: How did a couple of recieve notifications make their way down here?...