Kingdom Hearts: The Light Guardians

by Keyblade Guardian

After Xehanort's defeat, the worlds were saved by Sora again, but that was just temporary. There are still threats out there, so the Keyblade wielders who fought against Xehanort form an organization called "Light Guardians" to protect and help those who need it.

26. Friend or Foe?

I'm reuploading this chapter (which I uploaded hours ago) because a reader was having some technical issues. If the problem persists and you still can't read it, then it is because of this site, so I'll suggest to wait some hours

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Chapter XXVI

Friend or Foe?

1800hrs, August 17th, 2024
Worth Woodsea, Fiore, Earth Land

After meeting up in Bob's Palace, the five teams of the five Mages Guilds who were chosen to investigate Worth Woodsea split up. Their actual task was to figure out why the Heartless started appearing in the forest before the dark creatures decided to move and attack the towns that were close to the forest. They were a lot of people plus three Keyblade Masters, so it shouldn't take a lot of time, or at least that's what they thought.

Since Fairy Tail's team was big, Erza had thought before leaving the guild about making different groups, one of them being Gray and Juvia. However, since Gajeel, Lily and Natsu left on their own, Sora and Happy were now part of Erza's group. They were now talking about Aqua and Sora's small reunion in the villa as they walked.

"Aww, but it was funny," said Lucy smiling.

"Not for me," said Sora with a grumpy face. "Seriously, she's like an annoying big sister when she does that. As if I hadn't enough with you, Lucy"

"Hey!" protested Lucy, who, despite not liking the adjective Sora used, couldn't help but smile since the Keyblade wielder referred to her as a big sister. The blonde, then, noticed that Erza let out a small sigh. "Erza, are you okay?"

Erza raised her head and looked at Lucy. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Say Sora, how long have you known Aqua?" asked Levy, who was curious to know more about Aqua. "You didn't tell us anything about her when you were here the first time, so I suppose you met her after you left."

Sora chuckled. "Well, actually she met Riku and me thirteen years ago. Riku was five and I was four years old. I think she was nineteen…"

"Wow, that's a lot of time!" said Wendy, who was as surprised as the others.

"How's that you never mentioned her when you were here?" asked a curious Happy.

"Well, the next time I talked to her after we met was two years ago, sometime after I closed Earth Land's Keyhole," answered the brown-haired boy. "I was just a kid, so you can't blame me for not remembering her. I didn't even know about other worlds or what a Keyblade was when we met."

"Wait a second," said Erza, stopping walking for a moment, which made the others stop too. "How old did you say Aqua was when she met you?"

"I said she was nineteen."

"And now she is…?"

"Twenty one," answered Sora. "She's a year younger than Terra."

"…"

"Do you realize that that doesn't make any sense?" asked Carla. "If she's twenty one years old now, it's impossible she was nineteen when she met you. Is there something you're not telling us?"

"Let's say that she went through the same thing as you," answered Sora, a tad of seriousness in his voice. "She didn't age because she was in a place where time flows different."

An expression of concern appeared on the mage's faces. That piece of information about Aqua made them feel really bad for her. They knew what it was to see how the people you knew aged while you didn't, so they imagined how she must have felt. As they thought about it, another question popped in their heads, and it was Lucy the one who made it.

"Say, what happened to her?" asked the Celestial Mage.

"She was trapped in the Realm of Darkness for twelve years," replied Sora, shocking the others. "That's what I can tell you. If you want to know more, you should ask her. Terra and Ventus should be older than they are now, too, but their situation was different."

"Poor Aqua…" said Happy with a sad face.

Erza clenched her fist. "She must have suffered a lot…"

"Hey, she's fine now and that what is important now," said Sora. "And as you could see, she's perfectly fine, so you don't have to worry about her. She's a strong person, so don't expect something like that to affect her."

Levy giggled. "Weren't you calling her annoying a minute ago?"

"That doesn't mean I don't like her," said Sora, scratching the back of his head. "She's very kind, intelligent, determined and an amazingly skilled Keyblade wielder. I respect her a lot, even after what happened before in the villa."

"Wow, I never heard you complimenting a girl so much before," said Lucy with a teasing smile. "I feel kinda jealous."

"See, that's why I called you annoying," said Sora pointing at Lucy, who pouted as she pinched and pulled the boy's cheek in response. "Ouch…yeah, this is not helping your case."

"Ah, Lucy-san!" said Wendy, who just remembering something.

Lucy looked at Wendy, still grabbing Sora's cheek. "What is it, Wendy?"

"Remember what your spirits said during one of our last jobs?" replied the Sky Dragon Slayer. "Maybe now is a good time."

"Oh, you're right," said Lucy in realization, letting go of Sora's face. "But maybe we should wait until we're done here."

"We've been searching for a while, so we can take a small break, if you want," said Erza smiling. "If there aren't Heartless around, then the thing luring them here mustn't be around this spot. We'll have to walk a lot, so you can summon your spirits now."

"What are you going to summon them for?" asked Sora curious.

Lucy smiled. "They wanted to meet you, the ones who still haven't, at least. I didn't summon them when you were here seven years ago, so they asked me to do it when you returned so they could meet you."

"That reminds me…Lu-chan's spirits knew about you before you came to Fiore," remarked Levy looking at Sora. "How's that possible? Do you know who could have told them?"

"Oh, that's true!" said Happy. "Loke knew things about you that we didn't know."

"Didn't they tell you, Lucy?" asked Sora, somewhat surprised to learn that none of the blonde's Celestial Spirits told her how they knew who he was.

"Nope, but I can ask them now," replied Lucy as she grabbed her keys. Then, she grabbed four golden keys, but when she looked at one of them, she immediately put it again in the small brown bag she used to keep her keys. "I don't think I should summon him now…"

"That was Scorpio's key, right?" asked Carla, a small smile on her face.

"Yeah," replied Lucy, lowering her gaze momentarily as she put another key back to her bag "I'll just summon Aries and Gemini. I don't want to waste my magic power. We're in the middle of an important mission, after all. I'll summon Scorpio and Capricorn in another time."

"You're basically scared of Aquarius," said Happy.

"Shut up, cat!"

Lucy, then, swung the golden keys she had in her right hand and they started glowing with a bright light. The gate that connected Earth Land with the Celestial Spirit World opened and the spirits Lucy summoned crossed it. The first spirits was actually two small creatures with blue colored bodies, two antennae and small, black, beady eyes with white pupils. The second spirit was a female spirit who resembled a young woman with pink hair, brown eyes and a pair of twisted horns on her head.

"Hello, Lucy!" said the two blue creatures at the same time.

"How can we help you?" asked the pink-haired female spirit. "I'm sorry."

Lucy waved her hand. "No, no, everything's fine. I just wanted to summon you so Sora could get to know you. Remember that you told me you wanted to see him the next time he visited us. Sora, these are Gemini and she's Aries."

"Hey there," said Sora grinning, and the spirits looked at him, surprised to see him. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too!" said the twin spirits as they flew around Sora's head.

"Ah, it a pleasure!" said Aries shyly. She stared at Sora for a few second, and the boy noticed, which made the lamb girl feel embarrassed. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to stare! It's just that you look a bit like Leo and I was surprised. I'm sorry!"

"Hey, don't worry, you don't have to apologize," said Sora, who had to admit that Aries was kinda adorable, but he wasn't going to say that out loud for obvious reasons. He also noticed that she tended to apologize, even when she didn't do anything wrong, so he had to try to not make her feel uncomfortable. "Say, that Leo you mentioned…"

"Oh, I guess you know him as Loke," said Aries in a low voice.

Sora laughed nervously. "Do I really look like him?"

"Hmmm, now that you mention it…" said Erza pensively as she looked at the Keyblade wielder. "I guess you could say the two of you look slightly similar."

"Perhaps it's the spiky hair," said Lucy jokingly.

"Just because of that?" asked Sora, not very happy with Lucy's comment. Then, he let Gemi and Mini land on his hands. He looked at them with curiosity. "So, what can you guys do? I'm kinda curious."

"We possess the ability…" began Gemi.

"…to mimic the appearances and abilities of others," finished Mini.

Then, the two little creatures started flying again and touched each other hands. A puff of smoke surrounded the two spirits, and when it cleared, Sora saw someone who looked exactly as him. It seemed that Gemini transformed into the Guild Master of the Light Guardians to show him their unique ability.

"Wow, awesome," said Sora, really impressed.

"Right?" said Gemini.

Sora blinked in surprise. "Even the voice…"

"Cool, huh?" said Lucy with a smile. Then she got an idea. "Gemini, why don't you try to summon a Keyblade?"

"Okay!" said the copy of Sora.

"Summon a Keyblade?" asked Wendy surprised.

"Do you really think that's going to work?" asked Levy. "It takes more than skill to be able to wield a Keyblade. Just because Gemini looks like Sora and have his abilities doesn't mean they can summon their own."

"It would be really useful if they could," said Erza.

Meanwhile Gemini tried to summon a Keyblade by swinging his hand, but nothing happened. No matter how much they tried, they couldn't make a Keyblade appear.

"I can't do it," said Gemini. "I'm sorry, Lucy."

Lucy sighed. "Well, it was worth the shot."

"At least you tried," said Sora with a reassuring smile, putting a hand on his clone's shoulder. "It would have been cool, to be honest."

"Sora, you shouldn't talk to yourself," said Happy. "People will think you're crazy."

"Hey, that's not…" said Sora before realizing that the blue Exceed was right. It felt strange to talk with someone who looked just like you. Even though it was not the first time Sora did something like that. "Okay, I admit this is a bit weird…"

Erza touched her chin in a thoughtful manner. "I guess that would explain why Gemini could transform into Sora."

"What do you mean?" asked the Keyblade wielder.

"Gemini's transformation is restrained depending on its owner," explained Lucy. "It can only transform into people with the same level or lower magic power as their owner. Anyone with a higher magic power than their owner will result in an incomplete transformation."

"Then, that means that Lucy has the same magic power as Sora if he wasn't a Keyblade wielder?" asked Happy.

"Or maybe I have even more magic power than him," said Lucy with a cocky smile.

"What's with that face?" thought Sora. "Well, when it comes to magic, I think any mage could be better than me. The spells I use are of a high level, but it's just because of the Keyblade."

"Lu-chan," said Levy, making the blonde look at her. "Gemini could also copy the thoughts of the people they transformed into, right?"

"Yeah, they will gain the transformed person's knowledge, abilities and their recent thoughts," replied Lucy. "The amount of information that they can access is, of course, limited to the knowledge that the genuine counterpart is actually aware of, and nothing more beyond that. Also, I remember that when they transformed in Gray, they knew what his opinion about me was…wait…"

"Then, that means we could…" said Erza in realization.

"What are you planning to do?" asked Wendy.

Lucy, Levy and Erza looked at each other before looking at Sora and Gemini. The Keyblade wielder didn't like one bit the way the three mages were looking at him and his clone. He could detect a glint of mischief in their eyes and, obviously, that meant they were up to no good. It didn't take the boy a lot of time to deduce what those three were planning to do.

"Don't even think about it!" said Sora, pointing at Lucy. Then he looked at his copy. "Gemini, don't tell them anything!"

"Why are you so flustered all of the sudden?" asked Erza, somewhat amused.

"I'm afraid of what you might ask him," answered Sora, crossing his arms.

"Oh, is there something you don't want us to know?" asked Levy smirking.

"Come on, we won't ask anything…too embarrassing," said Lucy, who had the same expression as the Solid Script Mage. "We're just curious to know some things."

"Oh, yeah? Let's see how you like it, then," said Sora before turning to Gemini. "Could you transform into Lucy, please?"

"Okay!" said Gemini.

"Hey, hey, wait-!" exclaimed Lucy.

Without wasting a moment, Gemini reversed his transformation of Sora with another puff of smoke. It wasn't going to be the first time Gemini transformed into their owner, so they didn't have to touch her in order to do it. As the smoke cleared, Sora could see that Gemini could transform into Lucy without problems, but there was something he didn't expect about the transformation and it was that Lucy's clone was only wearing a towel and nothing else.

Sora's eyes went wide. "Ah…"

"D-daring," said Aries, covering her mouth.

Lucy shrieked as an expression of shock and embarrassment appeared on her face. "What are you doing?!"

"They're still dressed like that…" said Carla. "You should have let them copy you again after your fight against Flare."

"You…are more shameless than I thought, Lucy," said Sora, looking askance at Gemini.

"It's not my fault!" protested the Celestial Mage, and then she ran to Sora and covered his eyes with her hands. "And don't look!"

"Wanna take a look, Sora?" asked Gemini, as they pulled a little the towel they were wearing.

"I SAID NO!" exclaimed Lucy before the Keyblade wielder could respond, although by the look on his face, it didn't look like he could have said anything. Then, as fast as lightning, Lucy closed the gate and returned Gemini to the Celestial World. "Geez, why do things like this have to happen to me?"

"It's not exactly you now, but it's true you tend to lose your clothes too often," said Levy, an awkward smile on her face. However, her expression changed into a grumpy one when she noticed the red face Sora had. "Hey, why are you blushing so much, pervert?"

"Don't call me that!" protested Sora. "That…just caught me off guard…"

"It seems that Sora's perversion has increased," said Happy. "You'd better don't start stripping like Gray does."

"Hey, I said that's not-!"

"With whom have you been hanging out these years?" asked Erza with a stern tone in her voice. The Keyblade wielder thought she was kidding, but she seemed to be at least partly serious. "They don't seem to be a good influence on you."

"Well, I admit Tidus and Wakka aren't…" said Sora before realizing that, if he started talking about his friends of Destiny Islands, he could end up talking about a certain event he didn't want to remember. "Argh, can we change the subject? Lucy, didn't you want to ask something to your spirits?"

"Right, almost forgot about that…" said Lucy, who seemed to be tired, most likely because of Gemini and their last transformation.

"What do you want to know?" asked Aries with a bit of curiosity. "I don't know if I could give you a good answer, but I'll try to do my best. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you know the answer to this question," said Lucy. "We noticed that you and the rest of the Celestial Spirits knew about Sora before he even came to Fiore for the first time. How is that possible?"

"Oh, he's well-known in the Celestial Spirit World," replied Aries before looking at Sora with a small smile. "The people who he summoned to help him during his first journey told us everything about him. They became spirits after their worlds were destroyed, so they used our worlds as a temporary home."

"Did she say summons?" though Lucy surprised.

"Ah, my explanation was correct, right?" asked Aries, looking at the Keyblade wielder. "I'm sorry if I made any mistake."

Sora waved his hand and smiled. "No, it was perfect. I couldn't have done it better. I have to say that it surprised me when Loke told me that you met the people I used to summon. Anyway, there you have the answer you were looking for, Lucy."

"Y-yeah, but-"

"Oh, if that was everything you needed I'll go back to the Celestial World, if you don't mind," said Aries. "I don't want to use too much of your magic power. It was nice to meet you, Sora. I hope we can talk again, if you don't mind."

"Yeah, of course," replied Sora smiling as Aries vanished and returned to the Celestial World. Sora, then, looked at Lucy, who had her mouth slightly open and her index finger up, as if she wanted to say something but was interrupted while doing so. "What? Is there anything else?"

"You can summon, too?" asked Lucy, who was still surprised to learn this. "Like a Celestial Mage?"

"It just that?" asked Sora. "I thought you were going to ask something different. Yeah, I can use summons too, but not the same way as you."

"I didn't know Keyblade wielders could summon, too," said Erza, wondering how many abilities the Keyblade wielders could have that she still didn't know about. "It's quite remarkable."

"Well, I suppose the others could do it too if they had a Summon Gem or a Summon Charm," said Sora, touching his chin pensively. "I mean, I'm not sure if the Keyblade alone has the ability to summon since I always used one of those when I wanted to summon someone."

"You don't need a contract like the Celestial Mages need?" asked Carla.

Sora shook his head. "As I said, it's not the same as summoning a Celestial Spirit."

"Could you show us?" asked Happy.

"Wait, now?" asked Sora, taken by surprise.

"Yeah, I'd like to see what you can summon," said the blue cat before he started drooling. "If you want, you could summon a big fish for me. I wouldn't mind, you know?"

"Sorry, but none of my summons is a fish or something similar to a fish," said Sora, giving Happy an awkward smile. "I wonder if he ever tried to eat Aquarius…"

"I'm with Happy, I'd really like to see you performing a summon," said Lucy, smiling and putting her hands together. "Please, Sora, show us."

Sora raised an eyebrow. "You look really eager. Why is that?"

"Isn't obvious?" asked Lucy as she got closer to the Keyblade wielder. "I didn't know you could also summon like me! I know you said it's not the same, but still! C'mon, Sora, just use one of your summons! Pretty please?"

"Did she just say…" thought Sora before an idea to mess with the blonde mage came to his mind. A smirk appeared on his face as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "All right, Lucy, how about this? I'll use one of my summons now, but you'll have to let me read that novel of yours. What do you say?"

"What!?" exclaimed Lucy with her eyes wide open.

"It seems like a good deal to me," commented Erza. "All right."

Lucy waved her arms. "Wait, don't decide that yourself!"

"I thought you said I was going to be your first reader…" said Levy with a small pout on her face and her arms crossed, looking at Lucy with indignation. "That's not fair."

"Sora's the one not being fair!" said Lucy, pointing at the boy. Then, she looked at him with a pleading expression on her face. "Come on, you can't really ask me to do that. Please, don't be like that."

Sora laughed. "Relax, I was just kidding…I think. Still want to read it, though. Anyway, since you all want me to use a summon, then I guess I have no choice, but we should return to investigate as soon as you're done talking with him. Don't take long, it's been a while since the last time I used a summon, so I don't know how much time he'll be here."

"You already thought about who you're going to summon?" asked Carla, who was also a bit curious to see what Sora was going to summon, even if she didn't look like it.

"Yup, I already decided," said Sora with a smile. He, then, looked at Wendy for a few seconds, which made her return the gaze with confusion. Then he started walking to create some distance between him and the others. "I'm going to summon a dragon."

"Oh, so you…wait…" said Lucy, who couldn't catch what the Keyblade welder said at first, but it didn't take her long to realize what he said. "Hold on, did you just say dragon!? What are you thinking!? Is that even possible!?"

Sora chuckled. "Hey, calm down a bit…"

"Wait, you weren't kidding just now?" asked Levy surprised.

"You thought I was joking?" asked Sora. "Well, I guess I can't blame you for that."

"So you were actually serious?" asked Erza. "I also thought it was a joke."

Happy nodded. "Aye, you never know when Sora's serious due to his twisted sense of humor."

"Hey, I don't have a twisted sense of humor!" protested Sora as he summoned his Keyblade. Then he picked up a red gem that was in one of his pockets. "All right, he's not a spirit anymore, so if I summon him this will actually teleport him here directly from his world."

"Then, are you really going to summon a dragon?" asked Wendy, looking at Sora with sparkles on her eyes. "For real?"

"Yeah," replied Sora. Seeing Wendy like that made him feel a bit uneasy since she was probably expecting a dragon like the one who raised her, however, the one Sora was about to summon was very different. "He's not as big as…Grandeeney, was it? But he's still a dragon."

"Oh, you remember!" said Wendy, surprised to hear that the boy didn't forget about what they talked two years ago.

Sora grinned. "Of course I do! Actually, the dragon I'm going to summon is the one I told you about when we talked that time in the train. All right, now let's see if I remember how to do this."

"I have a bad feeling about this…" muttered Lucy.

"You're the one who wanted this the most," said Carla. "You'll have to deal with it now."

Lucy lowered her head. "Well, yeah, but…"

Lucy sighed in resignation and looked at Sora again, who was now standing in front of her and the others. The Keyblade wielder, then, brought the small red gem closer to his chest and it started glowing bright red. After that, Sora grabbed his Keyblade with both hands and stuck it in the ground before rotating it a little, as if he was opening a lock with it. A lot of smoke started appearing around the boy, covering him completely. The amount of smoke was so big that now it wasn't only Lucy the one who was worried about Sora's summon.

"Perhaps we should've asked him to try another summon," said Levy.

"You should have said that before!" said Lucy.

"I think I'd better look for Natsu while you talk with the dragon," said Happy as he started flying away, but he was stopped by Lucy, who grabbed his tail before he could get too far.

"Not so fast!" the blonde mage said. "You're staying here with us!"

"This is strange," said Erza as the smoke began to dissipate. "We should have seen something by now…unless that dragon is actually smaller than I imagined."

"You're right," said Levy before a small wind stream cleared more of the smoke. The girls and Exceeds could see Sora again, who was waving his hand to clear some of the smoke around him. "Hey Sora, I think it didn't work."

"Oh no, it did work," said the boy.

"But there's no-"

"I liiiiiiiiiive!" shouted someone who was still inside the smoke, and this surprised Lucy and the others since now the smoke only reached their knees. Then, from the middle of the smoke, a small, red, serpentine creature emerged. "Who summoned me!? Great Ancestor, was it you!? What mortal needs my needs my protection!?"

Lucy looked down and saw the red lizard-like creature. "Eh?"

"Huh?" the small dragon turned to the Celestial Mage, also noticing the other people and cats next to her. "Oh, were you ladies the ones who summoned me, the most powerful of the dragons?"

"You're a…dragon?" asked Happy, now feeling relieved that a titanic fire-breathing monster didn't appear from the smoke.

"You got a problem with that, pussycat?" asked the small dragon. "The name's Mushu. Don't forget it."

"You're so…umm…" began Wendy.

"Intimidating?" asked Mushu. "Awe-inspiring, perhaps?"

"I think tiny is the word she's thinking right now," said Sora.

"Oh yeah? Why don't you say that to-" said Mushu as he turned around to face the person who mocked his size. What he didn't expect was to see the boy who he met three years ago, the same one who helped him and the young woman called Mulan in their world with Donald and Goofy's help. "Sora, my pal, it's you!"

"Hey there, Mushu!" said Sora smiling.

"Oh man, it's really you!" said the dragon as he got closer to the Keyblade wielder. Then he climbed to his shoulder and started talking again. "Hey, have you gotten taller? You look kinda older, too."

Sora chuckled. "Well, it's been two years since the last ti-"

"Exactly, two years!" exclaimed Mushu, pointing at Sora with an accusatory finger. "After you left you didn't even come to visit once! What do you have to say in your defense?"

"Did he just say that to scold me?" thought Sora. "I…I guess I have no excuse, sorry."

"You could have sent a letter or two, at least," said Mushu, crossing his arms. "If it wasn't because we've been seeing Donald and Goofy frequently these two years, we wouldn't even know that you're still kicking. Don't know if someone told you about this, but Mickey and his gang are running a club in Disney Town. Lots of the people you've met hang out there every week. You should come and let them see you, you know?"

"Yeah, I already know about that club," said Sora, remembering that Ven told him about the club called House of Mouse one day when they were still in Remnant. "I'll try to go there soon, but as you can see, I'm kinda busy lately."

"Busy hanging out with a four girls," said Mushu as the Keyblade wielder approached the mages. "Who would have thought…"

"You'd better watch what you say about me," muttered Sora, narrowing his eyes at the dragon. "Anyway, these are Erza, Lucy, Levy, Wendy, Happy and Carla. They wanted me to summon someone to see how it was, and I decided to summon you."

"Oh, I see," said Mushu before turning to the others. "I bet you didn't expect Sora to have someone as awesome as me as a partner. Man, we used to kick all kinds of bad guy butts together! I helped this guy out of a lot of tight spots, you know?"

"Is that true, Sora?" asked Erza.

"I've to admit he was quite helpful sometimes," said Sora, a small smirk on his face.

"Hey, what do you mean 'sometimes'?" asked Mushu frowning.

Lucy leaned slightly to take a closer look to Mushu. "Mmm, you're different from the dragons we've seen, but you have to be really strong if you've helped Sora before."

"Well, I'm travel-size for this guy's convenience," explained Mushu, patting Sora's head. "If I was my real size, you girls would die of fright. My powers are beyond your mortal imagination."

"What kind of powers do you have, Mushu-san?" asked Wendy with curiosity.

"Could you show us, if you don't mind?" asked Erza.

"Well, for instance, my eyes can see straight through your armor," said Mushu, leaning toward the redhead's chestplate, but before he could get to close, Sora grabbed his head, covering it completely so he couldn't see anything.

"All right, enough mighty powers for today," said Sora.

"Hey, I was only joking, let go!" said Mushu while trying to break free from Sora's grasp. "You didn't even let me show them one!"

"Good thing he can't make clothes disappear…" thought Lucy. "Anyway, I wasn't referring just to your size. You don't have wings either."

"Well, that's normal," commented Sora after letting go of Mushu. "Chinese dragons don't have wings, after all."

"'Chinese'?" asked the mages from Earth Land, a big question mark appearing above each of their heads as they looked at Sora with oblivious expressions on their faces.

Sora laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Ah right, you guys aren't…"

"China is a country from your world, right?" asked Levy. "Well, from the Earth, but since your world is also in that one…"

"Yeah, it'd be easier to say it's my world, so don't worry, you can say it like that," said Sora. "Still, I'm surprised you know about that. But now that I think about it, you knew about the Greek alphabet when I was telling you guys about the χ-blade. How do you know about that?"

"Oh, you know, I have a lot of books…" replied Levy, scratching her cheek nervously.

"That's true…I almost forgot her room at Fairy Hills is practically a library…" Sora crossed his arms and touched his chin. "Still, it surprising you could find a book about the Earth."

"It seems to me that she was intentionally looking for a book like that," said Lucy, hiding her smirk behind her hand. "Someone is quite interested in-"

"You're talking way too much…" said Levy, who was covering Lucy's mouth with her hand.

"Those two are acting kinda suspicious since we left the guild," thought Sora.

"Umm, Mushu-san?" said Wendy, and Sora turned to her so she could speak with the dragon. "Do you, by any chance, know other dragons?"

"Well, there's the Great Stone Dragon, the most powerful guardian of the Fa family," replied Mushu. "I haven't spoken to him once, though. He was a bit of a jerk, you know? Anyway, I don't know any huge and winged dragon except for that huge Heartless Sora and the others fought once. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I was just curious," said Wendy, lowering her head a bit disappointed.

"Sorry, Wendy, I know I told you there was a possibility, but…" said Sora, who was feeling bad for the young Dragon Slayer. "Well, you know they're from different worlds, so…"

Wendy nodded and smiled. "It's okay, don't worry."

"I know it wasn't very probable, but I was hoping he would know something…" thought Sora before turning his head a bit to look at the red dragon that was standing on his left shoulder. "By the way, Mushu…what was that scene you made when I summoned you? And who is that 'Great Ancestor' you mentioned?"

"Oh, he's the founder of the Fa family," replied Mushu. "Things are very boring lately, so I was excited when I noticed someone was summoning me. I'd have never thought it was you, but as I said, it's good to see you again, buddy."

Sora chuckled. "You weren't doing anything important, right? Say, how are Mulan and the Captain?"

"Married," answered Mushu bluntly. "Oh, and Shang was promoted to General, just for you to know."

"Oh, that's g-wait, what!?" asked Sora dumbfounded. "Married!?"

"Yeah, he proposed to her one month after you left," explained the small dragon. "It was obvious something like that was going to happen. I don't know why you are so surprised."

Sora sighed. "I guess you're right…"

"Everyone," said Carla, making the group look at her. "I think we should start moving. I remind you we're still on a mission and the sooner we finish it, the better."

"Almost forgot about what we were doing here," commented Happy.

"She's right," said Erza. "Let's start searching again. I wonder if the others could find anything."

"Oh, what are you guys looking for?" asked Mushu. "Since you summoned me, I'll lend you a hand. What's the mission?"

"The usual stuff," replied Sora. "There's something in this forest that is luring the-"

"Heartless," said Happy.

Sora nodded. "Yup, that's it."

"No, Sora, turn around," said Levy, pointing at someone or something that was behind the Keyblade wielder and his summoned partner.

Sora turned around to see a great group of Heartless behind him. "Oh, great…"

-TLG-

Aqua and the Mermaid Heel mages headed for the southern part of Worth Woodsea. The blue-haired Keyblade wielder could sense that Sora was heading for the northern part while Terra went to the west, so she and her team did well. This way they could cover more ground. However, the all-female team wasn't having much luck with their searching.

"I don't think that will work out…" said Aqua.

"Why not?" asked Millianna. "You're a member of our guild, so you're our best option if we need one more member for that tournament that will take place in the world where your guild is."

"I know, but surely Sora will ask me to be part of the Light Guardians' team in that competition," replied Aqua. "It would make me feel bad to let him down. I know he takes this kind of things seriously, so I think it'd be better if I'm your opponent when the tournament begins."

"Well, if you already decided…" said Millianna, a bit disappointed.

"I'm not complaining," commented Kagura, and then she turned to Aqua briefly. "We can finish what we started in front of the guild in that tournament."

Aqua smirked at Kagura. "I thought you never fight without a good reason."

"Settle unfinished business seem important enough to me," said the female mage.

"Okay, that was kinda scary…" thought Aqua. She knew Kagura could send chills to anyone's spine whenever she was serious, but the Keyblade wielder didn't expect that one. "I guess so…"

"It's a pity," said Araña. "With your help, surely we could get a higher place at the end of the tournament. In the Grand Magic Games we got the fourth place."

"That's not too shabby," said Aqua. "I mean, I know you told me there were only six teams participating at the end, but considering that Lamia Scale had a Saint Mage...Fairy Tail has a lot of strong people, too, and Sabertooth was considered the strongest guild at that time."

"We'll have to work harder this time," said Beth with determination.

Aqua nodded and smiled. "That's the spirit."

"Say, now that we're talking about guilds, there's a question I wanted to ask you, Aqua," said Araña. "It's about Sora."

"What about him?" asked Aqua turning to the green-haired lady.

"How did he end up being the Guild Master of the Light Guardians Guild?" Araña raised her hand to stop Aqua from answering and continued talking. "Before you reply, we already heard from Fairy Tail about what he has done for the worlds. I'm not saying that he's not fit for the role of Guild Master. I just want to know why you chose him."

"Well, the idea of creating a guild was his, but despite that, he wanted to decide who'll get to be the Guild Master by voting," explained Aqua as a smile appeared on her face. "Before he could realize, we already chose him. I don't know what he was expecting, but it was obvious to me that he would end up being our leader. We all trust him with our own lives. Personally, I don't think any of us could do better than him. There's something special about him…It's like he's a gift for leading and bringing people together."

"Wow, he's that great, huh?" said Risley impressed. "I suppose he's not someone to be underestimated. Still, you have to admit is a bit strange to see a seventeen-year-old boy leading a guild. If someone told me that you or that hunk who joined Sabertooth was the leader of the Light Guardians, I'd have believed them."

"Hunk?" asked a puzzled Aqua, raising an eyebrow. "Wait, you're not referring to Terra, are you?"

"Who else?" asked the chubby girl. "Come on, Aqua, drop the innocent act. I know you know what I'm talking about."

"I don't like where this conversation is going," thought the blue-haired Guardian.

"You should forget about Keyblades and Heartless from time to time and start thinking more about…well, you know," said Araña. "Have you ever gone on a date?"

"Eh?" Aqua's cheeks went a bit red. "W-why are you asking me that now?"

"You haven't, right?" asked Risley, making Aqua averted her eyes. "See, you focus too much on protecting the worlds, something that isn't bad, but it's making you neglect your own love life."

"I think you're depressing her…" said Millianna, seeing how Aqua now looked somewhat crestfallen. She put a hand on the Keybearer's right shoulder. "But don't worry, Aqua-chan, someone like you won't have any problems getting a boyfriend."

Beth nodded. "Lyon from Lamia Scale seems interested in you, for example. You're really pretty, so don't lose confidence."

"Right, almost forgot about him," muttered Aqua, who knew that the fact that Lyon liked her was going to be troublesome in the future. It didn't bother her, but she didn't have time for romantic relationship at this moment in her life, or so she thought. "Look, let's talk about…"

"Perhaps you should do it, too, Kagura-chan," said Millianna, surprising the others.

They didn't expect the cat-like girl to say something like that to the swordswoman. They started waving her hands, trying to tell Millianna to change the subject before it was too late. Even Aqua, who was the one in the group who knew Kagura less, could deduce that saying that to Kagura was risky.

"I'd rather spend my time doing something more productive than going out with a man," said Kagura with a serene voice that calmed down the girls.

"You say that, but I remember you told me you wanted a little sister," said Millianna, smiling mischievously. "If you have time for that, then why wouldn't you have time to date someone?"

"T-that's different!" protested Kagura, who was taken by surprise. She didn't expect Millianna to bring that up. "Completely different, I tell you!"

"You want to have a younger sister, Kagura?" asked Aqua, surprised by this fact. "That's kinda adorable coming from someone like her."

"Having a little sister or brother sounds nice to me…" admitted Kagura, unable to say and look at her guildmates at the same time. "Is there any problem with that?"

"No, not at all," replied the others, except for Aqua. "She sure has gotten softer than she was before the Grand Magic Games."

"Then, you want something similar to what Aqua has with Sora, right?" observed Millianna.

Kagura nodded slowly. "That sums it up pretty well…"

"Me and Sora?" asked Aqua confusedly before realizing what could have made Millianna say that. "Oh, it's because of what happened at Master's Bob's Palace, isn't it? I guess you can say we have a good relationship. I have to be careful, though. If I keep doing that in front of other people, he will get mad, even though it is very difficult to make Sora angry."

"Have you ever seen him angry?" asked Beth.

"Just once," replied Aqua. "It wasn't a very…pleasant experience. And I wasn't the one he was angry with. I guess it's because is shocking to see someone who isn't aggressive acting like that."

"It'd be like seeing Er-chan acting like me when I see a kitty-cat," said Millianna.

Aqua laughed. "That'd be something I'd like to-"

Suddenly, the female Keyblade Master felt something that made her stop talking and walking. Her Heart Perception ability triggered like crazy. Someone just appeared in Worth Woodsea, and it wasn't someone normal. Out of the four Heart Perception users in the Light Guardians, Aqua was the one who had her ability more developed than anyone else. She could know if a person was a Keyblade wielder just by using her ability, and to her shock, the person who showed up in the forest was one. It was unexpected for her since, normally, she needed to concentrate a bit before knowing if someone was a wielder of the Keyblade, but with this person, she didn't even need to do that. She could also feel that the Keyblade wielder's power was incredible and that was starting to worry her, not only because of that, but also because there was darkness in that person's heart, a very powerful darkness.

Kagura noticed the change in the Keyblade wielder's expression. "Aqua, what's wrong?"

"Someone just…" Aqua started turning her head, trying to find where the person she felt. It didn't take her more than a few seconds to know where was the place she had to head to. "Follow me!"

The Mermaid Heel Mages watched how Aqua started running through the forest. They looked at each other and nodded before following her. They had no idea what the blue-haired Guardian could've felt, but they were sure it was something big to make her run like that.

Kagura and the rest of the girls followed Aqua for a while until they saw she stopped in a quite wide clearing. Millianna approached the Keyblade wielder, wondering why she suddenly stopped.

"Aqua-chan, wh-" Millianna, then, saw realized why Aqua stopped. There were four injured men lying on the ground. "Those are the Trimens!"

Araña gasped. "What happened to them!?"

Risley approached Ren. "Hey, can you hear me!?"

Ren slowly regained consciousness. "Ugh…who…?"

"Looks like they're coming back to their senses," said Beth relieved. She was helping Eve getting on his feet since he didn't look to be capable of doing it on his own. "Take it easy, please."

"Aqua-san, you're a sight for sore eyes," muttered Hibiki while Aqua helped him. Then he winced in pain. "Argh…"

Aqua smiled at Hibiki. "I don't think you're in condition to be flirting with me right now."

"Ladies, there's still someone here who needs help," said Ichiya who, despite having bruises all over his body, was making a pose. "Sparkling."

"If you could stand on your own, then forget it," thought the girls, ignoring the Perfume Mage.

"Hey, Hibiki, are you able to stand on your own?" asked Aqua.

"Yeah, don't worry," replied the Trimens member.

"Okay," said Aqua as she let go of him. Then, Aqua summoned her Keyblade and walked to the middle of the clearing. "All right, enough hiding! I know you're here! Show yourself!"

"Oh, so you noticed, huh?"

The members of Mermaid Heel looked around as soon as they hear someone talking. They could tell that the person talking was a girl. Aqua and the others kept looking for her until they saw the girl appearing on a tree's branch all of a sudden. She was wearing a pink cloak with golden tassels. Her shirt and sash were a dark grey while her robe was white and her embroidering golden yellow.

"That girl…" muttered Kagura as she observed girl who was sitting on the branch. "Aqua, she's a…"

"I know," said the Guardian, not moving her gaze away from the cloaked girl. "She's a Keyblade wielder like me."

"A Keyblade wielder!?" The members of the Mermaid Heel team were astonished when they heard that.

The girl tilted her head. "Mmmm, blue hair and a Stormfall Keyblade…you must be Aqua. That'd explain how you knew I was hiding. Sheesh, it's not fair using an ability like Heart Perception, you know?"

"How do you know that?" asked Aqua, eyeing the girl carefully. "Have you been spying on me?"

"What?" asked the girl, as if Aqua just asked something crazy. "No way, that would've been sooo boring. I prefer to leave things like investigation to Cornis or Ursus. I'd rather do things that are more…enjoyable."

"Cornis and Ursus?" asked Aqua quizzically.

"Oh, you still don't know about us?" asked the girl, somewhat surprised. "Well, I guess I should introduce myself, then. You can call me Vulpe, nice to meet you~"

"'Us'?" said Aqua intrigued, and then her Heart Perception ability triggered again the same way it did when she felt the cloaked girl's presence. "What is going on here?"

"Seems like Ursus actually came here," said Vulpe before sighing. "He must have realized I didn't come here to take down the Heartless. He knows me too well…"

"Then, there are more Keyblade wielders apart from you," said Aqua, who decided to worry about the Keyblade wielder who was nearer her first. "And why should I know about you?"

"Well, I heard from Cornis that he had a small talk with that boy called Sora in a world called Remnant, so I thought he told all of you about it," said Vulpe as she got comfortable in that big branch. "You know, I came here because I've been told Sora was here. When I asked Cornis about him he didn't want to tell me much. He's always trying to avoid talking to me about him, so I grew curious."

"Perhaps Sora wanted to talk about this in Radiant Garden," thought Aqua. "You came here to fight Sora, then?"

"I guess so," replied Vulpe. "He's the one who took down Xehanort, so he must be really strong. Also, I wanted to find out why Cornis didn't want to tell me much about him, but I suppose you don't' care much about that, don't you?"

"You!" exclaimed Kagura to make the girl look her way. "I assume you were the one who did this to them. Why did you do it?"

Vulpe giggled. "Yes, it was me. I know those four participated in that tournament which took place in this world the last month, so I thought they were strong. Unfortunately, they didn't last as much as I'd have expected. What a disappointment…"

"Don't you think you went a bit far!?" asked Risley, not liking the girl's attitude one bit.

"You can't just beat up people like this for fun!" exclaimed Araña. "It's not right!"

"If you say so," said Vulpe, who didn't really care about what the mages were saying to her. "Anyway, you don't have to make such a big deal out of it. It's not like I killed them or anything, right?"

Aqua looked at Vulpe with bewilderment. The Guardian didn't know where the cloaked girl came from, or why she had a Keyblade, but she was sure of one thing and that was that she wasn't like her or the other Light Guardians. She was dangerous, so she had to decide what to do with her. Aqua thought about capturing her, but she wasn't quite sure if that was a good idea. Then, two people appeared in the clearing as she thought about how to deal with Vulpe. They were Gajeel and Pantherlily.

"Oh, it's Gajeel and the black kitty-cat," said Millianna when she saw the Iron Dragon Slayer and his Exceed partner.

Lily noticed the injured Trimens. "What happened here?"

"They were attacked by that girl over there," said Beth, pointing at Vulpe, who waved her hand at Gajeel and Lily. "She's a Keyblade wielder."

"That's interesting," said Gajeel, looking at Vulpe. "You must be that strange smell I detected when I was walking with Lily near this place."

"That's not something very nice to say to a girl you just met," said Vulpe. "I'd try to be nicer to me if I were you."

"Heh, looks like we're in for a fight," said Gajeel smirking before noticing Aqua. "You're also someone new. Who are you?"

"Aqua, a Light Guardians and Mermaid Heel member," answered the blue-haired woman. "You must be the member of Fairy Tail who wasn't present when the teams met up in Master Bob's Palace."

"That's me," said Gajeel. "So you're one of the members of the kid's guild. Say, you seem to be good with this kind of things. Is that girl strong?"

"Are you planning on fighting her, Gajeel?" asked Lily.

"Well, it's obvious she's not one of the good guys if she beat the crap out of those Blue Pegasus guys," said Gajeel, pointing with his thumb at the Trimens. "And she could know something about why the Heartless started appearing here, so I say we make her tell us what she knows."

"He seems to be like Natsu," thought Aqua, seeing how Gajeel preferred the aggressive approach. "It's not a bad plan, though. It is what I was planning on do, actually."

"You…Aqua, was it?" said Gajeel, turning to the Keyblade Master. "You seem to be good at this kind of stuff and since she's a Keyblade wielder like you, then answer me this. Is she strong?"

Aqua nodded. "Yes, her power is outstanding. If your plan is to capture her, it won't be easy."

"Good," said the Dragon Slayer, a smirk on his face. "The more challenging, the better, don't you think? If you want to have a piece of her, then I'm not going to stop you. Just don't get in my way."

"That's my line," said Kagura as she readied her sheathed sword. "If this girl has to do something with the Heartless, then it is our mission to stop her."

"We're with you, Kagura-chan," said Millianna while the rest of the girls also got ready to fight the cloaked girl. "She won't escape. If we all work together, she doesn't stand a chance."

Aqua, however, wasn't so sure of that. Unlike the mages, she could feel exactly how strong the girl called Vulpe was, and saying that she was stronger than Master Xehanort was an understatement. Also, she couldn't stop thinking about the other Keyblade wielder who appeared on the other side of the forest. She hoped Sora and Terra were all right. She would have looked for them, but now she had to focus on Vulpe.

"So you want to have a little fight, huh?" said Vulpe, and then she jumped off the branch and landed on the ground. She stood up and looked at Aqua and the mages. "All right, that's more like it."

-TLG-

Meanwhile, the Sabertooth group searched in another place inside the forest. Like the other groups, they weren't making a lot of progress, but as stated before, Worth Woodsea is an immense forest, so they weren't going to give up easily. Frosch and Lector were flying while the rest walked.

"You never thought they'd be here, right?" asked Sting. "I have to admit it took me completely by surprise, too."

"I had the feeling Aqua was still here, but not that Sora came," said Terra. "It was good to see them here, though. But it makes me wonder why Sora decided to come here after finishing his mission. That guy always appears when he's most needed. I wonder how he does it."

"If you hadn't stayed here this week, you wouldn't be here to help us with this mission," commented Rogue. "And Mermaid Heel's Keyblade wielder also stayed, so it's not only Sora the one who can do that."

Terra chuckled. "Well, you're not wrong."

"Terra-sama, what do you think is luring the Heartless here?" asked Yukino. "I know that why we're here searching, but do you have any idea of what could it be?"

"You already know about those Green Lacrima Spheres," said Terra. "That could be one of the possibilities. Another one could be that there's someone around here whose heart is filled with darkness, however…"

"Aqua-san couldn't detect anyone like that when she used that ability of hers," said Sting.

"Exactly," said Terra. "Also, Maleficent, the witch I told you about, could have sent the Heartless here like she did the first time Sora had to come here. That's the most plausible option to me. However, that makes me think...Why would she send them to this place, where there aren't a lot of people around?"

Sting sighed. "I guess we'll never know until we find whatever we're looking for. Say, Terra, you'll come back to Radiant Garden after we finish this mission, right?"

"I guess so," replied Terra. "Surely Aqua and Sora will do the same so I'll go with them. I'd like to see how the other Guardians are doing. And there's something I'd like to talk about with Riku, too."

"About what?" asked Sting.

Terra doubted at first, but he couldn't find any reason to not tell the Sabertooth mages about what he wanted to discuss with Lamia Scale's Keyblade wielder. It may have been only a week, but that was enough for him to create a strong bond with them. This might be difficult since, after what happened with Xehanort, Terra started to be more wary of the people he met, but he didn't turn into someone mistrustful.

"Before meeting you and Rogue, I was working in Radiant Garden with Riku and he sensed that someone was following us wherever we went," explained Terra. "Riku can also use Heart Perception, as Sora said before, so he could feel that that person had a lot of darkness in his heart, but he also had a lot of light. I just want to talk with him to know if he could sense him again."

"Someone you know?" asked Rogue.

"I don't think so," answered Terra, shaking his head. "Riku could actually see him, but he was wearing a tan cloak and had a hood covering his face, so I can't give you a facial description. Also, we believe he might be connected to another person who left a message to Sora in another world. The message said: 'Prepare yourself for the hunting'."

"That sounds really bad," said Yukino, a worried look on her face. "Sora-sama could be in danger if the person who left that message is after him."

"Knowing the luck us Keyblade wielder have, surely that guy's after him," said Terra before a smile appeared on his face. "But Sora knows how to take care of himself…to an extent. Also, I'll make sure nothing happens to him. I owe him a big one, after all."

"Oh, you and him are close buddies, huh?" asked Sting.

Terra smiled. "Well, I know I said 'I', but it's not only me the one who's looking after him. Anyway, to answer your question…I don't know, actually. He and I don't talk much, but we know we can count on each other, should the situation arise."

Sting smiled. "You Keyblade wielders are so connected to each other…It makes me wonder how you do it. Anyway, perhaps not with Sora, but I'm sure you and Aqua-san are pretty close, am I right?"

"Sting-sama, don't ask him that!" said Yukino.

"Hey, it's just an innocent question!" said the blond Dragon Slayer, waving his hands defensively. "C'mon, Yukino, I know you want to know it, too."

"You two are too nosy," said Rogue.

"I know Aqua since we were kids so yeah, she and I are close friends," answered Terra, who didn't get what Sting was referring to with his question. "Why are you guys making a fuss over that?"

"Terra-kun!" shouted Lector, making the four people on the ground to look up. "I think Sting-kun is referring to your romantic relationship with Aqua-san."

"Fro thinks so, too!" said Frosch.

"My what!?" exclaimed Terra with a shocked look on his face. "Hey, don't go shouting things like that! Someone could have heard you! Geez, did Erza tell you guys to ask me that!?"

"Did she ask you the same thing about Aqua-sama?" asked Yukino, and Terra nodded in response. "Oh…well, sorry about that. But, if you don't mind me saying this, it is not strange that people think like that."

"What Yukino is trying to say is that you two would make a good couple," said Sting. "Hey, if you ever want to start dating her and need some advice, don't doubt in asking me."

"You?" asked a skeptic Rogue. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, do you have any problem!?" asked Sting annoyed. "As if you were any better than me, punk."

"What did you say!?" asked Rogue angrily.

Yukino tried to separate the two Dragon Slayers. "Please, don't start fighting now!"

Terra sighed. "This must be what Sora warned us about that day."

The Guardian remembered that the day before he, Aqua and Sora left Radiant Garden to visit Earth Land for the first time, the Guild Master of the Light Guardians told him and Aqua to be careful with what they say or do in front of the people Sora met in Fiore. He would have never thought Sora said that because they could end up being continuously teased by the mages. Terra couldn't recall having done anything to make people think he and Aqua were in a relationship or to make them think they were interested in each other in that way. Now he wondered if Aqua actually said or did something…

"Perhaps you would be better off asking Sora-sama…" commented Yukino.

Terra snapped out of his thoughts. "Sora, you say?"

The Celestial Mage nodded. "According to what I heard, he…"

"Sting-kun!" shouted Lector, interrupting Yukino. The four people walking looked at the Exceed, wondering if he saw something. "We can see someone fighting not too far from here!"

"Fighting?" repeated Sting, and then he used his keen sense of smell to find out if it was someone he knew, and to his surprise, he could recognize the smell. "It's Gray-san…and Juvia-san is with him."

"Lamia's team is there, too," added Rogue. "It seems that they're fighting against Heartless at this moment."

"We should go and help them," said Yukino. "They have Jura-sama with them, but we can't just ignore them."

Lector descended, followed by Frosch. "There was a lot of magic coming out from there. There must be a lot of Heartless, so I think they could use a little help."

Frosch raised his hand. "Fro thinks so, too!"

"All right, let's not waste any time," said Terra. "Let's go!"

The six members of Sabertooth rushed to the place where Gray, Juvia and the team of Lamia Scale where fighting against the Heartless. It wasn't very far away from where they were since after being running for a few seconds, they started hearing some battle noises. They even saw some ice magic and earth pillars. Terra summoned his Keyblades, Yukino prepared her Celestial Keys and Sting and Rogue charged their Dragon Slaying magic, but just when they arrived, ready to fight, they saw that the Heartless were already gone.

Sting blinked. "Huh?"

"Looks like they're already done…" said Terra, looking at the group of mages.

Gray heard something and turned around to see Terra and the others. "Oh, it's you guys. What are you doing here? And…why are you posing?"

"You see…" said Sting awkwardly. "We're not posing, we were going to…"

"It appears that they came to assist us, but we finished before they could," commented Jura, a small smile on his face. "Am I correct?"

"That's it," said Rogue. "Lector and Frosch saw someone fighting here, and Sting and I detected your smell and the Heartless', so we came here to help you."

"Well, thanks, but we could take care of them on our own," said Lyon.

"There were lots of them, though," commented Chelia.

"Yeah, I hope the others are all right," said Sherry. "Well, they have Sora and Aqua with them, so they should be. Could you find anything, by the way?"

Yukino shook her head. "Nothing at all, unfortunately."

"We weren't lucky, either," said Gray, lowering his head a little. "Let's hope the others could find something, although something tells me that they didn't."

"Hey, Gray, where's Sora, Erza and the other members of Fairy Tail?" asked Terra, wondering if they separated voluntarily or it was because of the Heartless. "Did you split up?"

"Yeah, since our team was big, Erza made groups," replied Gray, slightly annoyed. Most likely because he was stuck up with Juvia, something that didn't bother him, but the Water Mage was being too clingy since they left Bob's Palace. "I suppose Sora, Happy and the girls are the other team."

"I see," said Terra. "Say, did the Heartless drop any…?"

"No, none of them had Lacrima inside them," answered Juvia. "That means that the thing we're looking must be something different, but we shouldn't discard the Lacrima. It could be in a different Heartless."

"It's been a while since we started searching," said Terra. "We should look for the others to see if they could find…"

"Terra, something's coming," said Sting. "A Heartless…"

"Where?" asked the Guardian.

Then, a huge ball of energy came from the forest, but fortunately, Jura used his magic to create a wall and blocked it. The collision created a big explosion, but the Earth Mage's wall was big enough to cover everyone from it, so no one got hurt. Terra looked at the place where the energy ball came from and saw a Powered Armor Heartless followed by a group of Stealth Sneak Heartless. The Keyblade wielder stood up and got ready for the fight, followed by the mages. No words were needed to know what they had to do now. Those Heartless were really strong, so the fight was going to last long…or not?

Before the Heartless could get closer to the Keyblade wielder and the mages, the earth started shaking, which startled some of them. Then, pillars of rock kicked out from the ground all of a sudden which destroyed every single Heartless in the area. The Powered Armor was shattered into pieces while all the Steal Sneak Heartless were annihilated by the rocks.

"What the…?" Gray looked confused at the place where the Heartless were before being destroyed. "Who did that?"

"Jura-san, was it you?" asked Sherry, her eyes wide out of shock. "I haven't seen you using that spell before."

"Because it wasn't my magic," said the Saint Mage. "Terra-dono, was this your doing?"

"I'm as shocked as you are," replied Terra as he started to look around, trying to find out who was the one who destroyed the Heartless.

"There!" said Juvia.

One of the rock pillars broke down, revealing a person behind it. The person appeared to be a broader young man whose face was covered by a hood. He was wearing a tan cloak with golden tassels and black embroidering. Also, his shirt, sash, and robe were light brown. It seemed that he attacked the dark monsters from behind, but even if it was a surprise attack, that magic was really powerful to be able to take so many high-level Heartless in one take.

"A man?" said Sherry.

"Hey, thanks for the help!" said Lector as he started to approach the mysterious hooded man, but he was stopped by Terra. "Hey, what's wrong, Terra-kun?"

"Look at his right hand," said Terra, a serious expression on his face.

The mages looked at the man's right hand and all of them were shocked to see the same type of weapon Terra had in his right hand, a Keyblade. The hooded man's Keyblade wasn't very long, its guard was a black steel blue while the shaft was mostly dark brown and had a symbol resembling the head of a bear. The Keychain had a small charm with a blue demonic eye upon it, similar to a Keyblade's Keychain that Terra knew well.

"A Keyblade wielder," said Gray in disbelief.

The Guardian walked toward the hooded man. "Hey, I appreciate the help, but now I'd like you to identify yourself."

"Normally, you introduce yourself first before asking someone their name," said the man with a calm voice.

"True, but I think you already know who I am, right?" replied Terra. "You wouldn't have been following me and Riku if you didn't know who we were, am I right?"

"Hmm, so the boy noticed," said the man. "I guess I should've expected someone with Heart Perception to detect me. Anyway, if you're interested in knowing the reason why I was following you two, let's say I was just curious. I wanted to see how the Keyblade wielders who were taking care of the worlds were now. It was disappointing, I have to admit. It looks like Leo was right, after all. We'll have to be the ones in charge now."

"Leo? Another Keyblade wielder? He's not the only one, then…" thought Terra, moving his eyes away from the man for a second, but he immediately looked at him again, not wanting to let him try anything funny. "How's that you…"

"I assume Sora didn't tell you and Aqua about us yet," said the man. "Strange, considering you three are in this world, but I guess he prefers to talk with you about it in private."

"Sora knows you?" asked a surprised Terra.

"One of us talked with him last night," replied the man. "If you want to know who we are, I recommend you to talk with him. And try to put some sense into his head, would you? I'm afraid he'll make a wrong decision, and he'll regret it."

"Hey, you…" said Gray, glaring at the hooded man. "You'd better hope that friend of yours didn't do anything to Sora. And I don't care who you are…Keyblade wielder or not, if one of my friends got hurt by you, then I'll personally take you down!"

"Gray-sama, please calm down," pleaded a worried Juvia.

"I don't think you should start a fight with me, Ice Mage," said the man. "Besides, I'm not here to fight. I'm here only because of the Heartless. I'd worry about my comrade instead, if I were you. She might look innocent, but she can be very dangerous if she wants. I suppose she's now with one of your friends…'having fun' as she would say."

Terra gasped. "Sora and Aqua…"

"Why would you tell us that?" asked Yukino confused. If that man and his companion were there to harm the mages and the Keyblade wielders, then he shouldn't have said anything about the other person. "It doesn't make sense…"

"As I said, my objective here is to take down the Heartless, not to fight you," said the man. "My comrade, on the other hand, didn't come here to eliminate the Heartless. If you don't want your allies to get hurt, then I'd recommend you to look for them. Consider it a favor."

"What shall we do, Sting-kun?" muttered Lector.

"I don't know…" said the White Dragon Slayer. "It doesn't look like this guy wants to fight, so if what he said is true, we should start looking for the other teams."

"Are we really going to let him go?" asked Rogue. "We should capture him and take him with us."

"Fro thinks so, too," said Frosch in a low voice.

Chelia gulped. "I don't why, but something tells me we shouldn't try to capture him…"

"Chelia, this is not the time to be afraid," said Lyon. "We outnumber him vastly. It should be easy."

Sherry nodded. "And the others can take care of the other one on their own with ease, too."

"No, we shouldn't engage him," said Jura, who was staring at the mysterious Keyblade wielder. This surprised the mages, who didn't expect him to say that. "This man's power…He's incredibly powerful. I cannot assure you we'll win, even if we attack him at the same time."

"Even with a Keyblade wielder and a Saint Mage with us?" asked Juvia, not believing what she was hearing.

"Oh, come on, are you serious?" asked Gray before turning to the Guardian. "Terra, you-"

"He's right," said Terra. "We shouldn't do it."

This took Gray by surprise. "You think so, too?"

"I don't know how to put this, but…" Terra clenched his Keyblade's hilt. "I have the feeling we'll lose if we start a fight against him."

The Keyblade wielder didn't know why, but his body was telling him to avoid combat. He wasn't a Heart Perception user, but he could feel that the Keyblade wielder in front of him was extremely powerful. He had a similar sensation two years ago, when Sora and Xehanort fought in the Keyblade Graveyard, but this one was on a total different level, enough to make him doubt. Where did that Keyblade wielder come from and how was he so strong?

"I will continue looking for the Heartless," said the man as he turned around. He started heading to a different part of the forest. "Surely we'll fight the next time we met, Terra, so try to become stronger than you are now."

The Keyblade wielder walked away from the group and disappeared into the forest. Everyone looked at him until they couldn't see him anymore. Terra let out the air he was holding in his chest and then looked at the mages, who appeared to be kind of frustrated.

"What the hell did just happen?" asked Gray, looking at the ground.

Lyon turned to Terra. "Was it really okay to let him go? I know you said we didn't have any possibilities, but it doesn't feel right."

"To think there are more Keyblade wielders…" said Juvia. "And he didn't look very friendly, even though he told us about the other one. Terra-san, let's look for the other teams together. They could be fighting against that Keyblade wielder's ally at this moment."

"You're right," said Terra, realizing they couldn't waste any time now. The Guardian turned to the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth. "Could you find out where Sora and Aqua are at this moment, please?"

"Already did it. Sora-san is in that direction," said Sting, pointing to the north. "Erza-san is with him. They are very far from here and it seems they separated from the other members of Fairy Tail."

"The Mermaid Heel Team is to the south," said Rogue. "It'll take us time to reach them. Also, the Trimens appear to be with them. Gajeel and his Exceed as well."

"Then…should we split up?" asked Chelia.

"We should stick together," said Jura. "We don't know if that man was telling the truth, so we must be prepared to the unexpected. Since Sora-dono is just with Erza-dono, he's the one most likely to be attacked."

"All right, let's look for him," said Terra.

"Wait, what is that?" asked Yukino, pointing at the sky.

The group raised their gazes and saw something like a fire ball that was ascending from the ground, something quite unusual. Then, it burst and created a big explosion that could be seen even from the other side of the forest.

"Fire?" said Gray confused.

"It could be Natsu-san," said Juvia.

"That came from the south," said Rogue. "The Mermaid Heel team, Gajeel and Lily are there."

"They probably need help," said Sherry. "It could be nothing, but after what happened here, I wouldn't run the risk."

"Then let's go help them!" said Lyon. "We must hurry before it's too late!"

"Right," said Terra, and then he and the rest started running to the southern part of Worth Woodsea. "Sora, Aqua, I hope you two are all right."

-TLG-

In a different part of Worth Woodsea was Lucy, who, after separating from her group when the Heartless attacked them, was trying to find them again. She didn't like how things turned out. She couldn't do anything now that she was alone, but she would've liked that someone was with her since she didn't know what she could find in the forest.

"Geez, how could this happen?" grunted Lucy. "Stupid Heartless, always appearing in the worst moments…"

The blonde Celestial Mage had been walking for a while and was starting to get tired of looking for her friends. She decided to look for some place where she could rest, but then she saw someone sitting on a rock not far from where she was. Lucy, then, thought it would be a good idea to ask that person about her guildmates' whereabouts. When she got closer, she could see that the person on the rock was wearing a light blue cloak and tassels over a darker blue shirt, robe, and sash, all featuring gold embroidering.

"Umm, excuse me?" said Lucy, trying to draw the cloaked person's attention. "My name's Lucy. Who are you?"

The hooded figure slowly turned to Lucy…

-TLG-

---

Cliffhanger? Sorry about that, but I really like them.

Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. I know it's been a while since I last updated, but I couldn't do anything about it.

To magical fan18: I think there was an omitted, recolored version of Midnight Roar that is similar to the one you've suggested. I'll have to look that up.

Roxas' Keyblade is Two Become One; he used it against Giriko in chapter 13. And I gave Oblivion to Xion, you could see that in chapter 13, too, when she summoned her Keyblade to show it to Edward and Alphonse Elric.

Since all the Guardians have their own Keyblade, I think Naminé will be the one using a Keyblade from KH Days. Well, I guess Roxas is using one from that game, too, but Two Become One also appears in KH2 FM.

To animelover276: I'm glad you liked it and yes, I saw the new KH 2.5 trailer. Not very interested in the game, but I have to say it's one of the best they've made.

To Guest: Well, perhaps a certain white-haired heiress will start to like him too, but if I make that happen, it will be a long process.

To Alpha Alchemist: You're welcome! I'm glad to hear that!

The SAO Mission will take place at the end of the Aincrad Arc of the SAO Timeline. Also, the SAO characters don't have any powers or abilities outside the games, so they won't be joining the tournament.

To Guest: How do you expect me to answer you if you're a Guest? This is the only way I have to reply to Guest's reviews and obviously it will be when I upload a new chapter.

To keys of fate: Nope, Kagura won't be on Sora's Harem.

To MagatsuIza: Haha, good to know! Tales of World Radiant Mythology, you say? Never heard of that game, but I'll take a look at it.

To Guest: I know some of the Tales games and I was planning to use some characters of those games, so I might watch those openings and search some info about that game.

To kingdom hearts guy: I decided to delete it since it didn't turn out as I'd have liked. Now, I'll only focus on this story.

To Guest: I haven't entirely decided who will participate on the tournament, so I can't tell you if that fight will happen until then. I know Ruby will be participating, but I'm not sure about Yang, at least not yet.

To Guest: In the tournament? I'm completely sure Lucy won't be participating in Radiant Garden's Tournament, so that fight won't happen. Also, I don't like that pairing very much, so I won't make it happen.

To Guest: I'm using Senran Kagura in this fanfic. One of the characters briefly appeared in chapter 11.

To Guest: I'm not going to use an entire game just for a fight between two characters. I'm not saying I won't use Tales of Symphonia, though.

To Guest: I don't like Terra x Lucy, to be honest. It's unlikely I'll make those two a pairing.

To Guest: I'm not going to use an entire game just for a fight between two characters and a pairing. I'm not saying I won't use Tales of the Abyss, though.

To Sunny Lighter: Yeah, they're a big group this time. Thanks, I'm doing my best!

To Star Trail: I'm glad you liked it!

To Mishka-chan0.0: If you're referring to the scene in the castle, it's very possible. Also, I think they already know Sora treats Wendy as a little sister, but I'll try to make a scene about that. In this chapter I had a lot of characters to deal with, so it wasn't possible.

To Guest: Yes, he will meet the Fairy Tail's first Guild Master.

To ADifferent Guest: I'm glad you're enjoying this story! No, the mages aren't weaker in other worlds, it's just that Keyblade wielders adapt to the worlds they visit, so their magic is slightly stronger in a world like Earth Land. This is just something I came up with. Anyway, yes, Zack and Rinoa will appear. Rinoa is in Radiant Garden, but Zack is not. I'm sure you know where he is at this moment. As for Digimon, I don't think I'll rewrite that story, so I won't use the Digital World in this story, sorry. Now I'm going to focus on The Light Guardians only.

To KH-Hardcorefan4483: Ah, no need to apologize, pal. Good luck revising that story!

I want to introduce other Keyblade wielders before he appears. It will take some time until he shows up. Sorry, but not even I can know the exact moment when he will make his debut in this fanfic.

Yeah, I read about an interview with the author. I don't know if he was trolling, to be honest…

To Ultima Z: What about a pretty tough bad girl?

To colossalblackening: There will also be fun and relaxed chapters, of course. And yes, he will get along with Kagura, of course.

Well, I still have to work out who will participate in the tournament, but that match sounds interesting.

Hange already knows about Ansem's study about the Heartless. As for Sora, it will be the other way around; Hange will keep him up all night asking him questions when she finds out something about a certain transformation of his.

To zackstone13: Sorry, I'm not a fan of Naruto, so I doubt it will be part of this story.

To yak952: Who's the Gravity Queen?

To Drag0n-0f-Shu: In this world always happens something comedic. It's inevitable.

To Ventusblade: Yes, Earth Land is an important world in this story; therefore, I'm going to give it more 'screen time' than other worlds. Death City is also important, so Sora and the other Guardians will spend more time there. However, I'll also give other worlds, like Radiant Garden and Remnant, more time.

To AnimeMasterDub: I can tell you that Jellal won't make an appearance in this visit.

To Red John: Ultear was an interesting character, but I'm not sure…I've been thinking on making her return, but I can't decide. I'll keep on writing until I make a decision.

Don't worry, Sora might not mention Shinigami to Chelia, but she will meet him in a future.

That would make a good filler chapter. I might use it.

To Guest2: Yeah, reading a manga is normally the best thing to do, so I guess I will do that.

That will depend on how the Tartarus Arc ends.

To Guest 3: This is Sora we're talking about, so I'm sure they'll eventually get along. I think this chapter answers your question about the hooded Keyblade wielder, mostly at least. The question about Aqua, Lyon and Terra was answered, too. Yes, they will take part in the tournament. Naminé still has her memory manipulation powers over Sora and those who are connected to him. Is very probable Juvia will do that.

I'll probably bring her back in a future, but I'd like to leave Second Origin to be something exclusive to the mages of Earth Land.

To warrior mage 03: I was going to use Nichiya and Jenny, but I didn't at the end. I don't know why I decided to exclude them for this mission, but surely it has to do something with the amount of characters that I'm already using in this part of the story.

To Guest: He met Aries and Gemini in this chapter. He'll meet the other two in another time.

To Guest: Yeah, surely there will be more moments like that one. As for Ace Attorney, I'm not sure, but it's possible. And thirdly, yes, I've watched the Legend of Korra and I have plans for it, but it'll be much later in the story.

To Guest: Senran Kagura's characters will be included. Actually, one of them appeared briefly in the story already.

To Guest708: Don't worry, the list of worlds for this first 'season' of the story won't change. If I add more worlds it will be for much later, for the second season. Now I'll focus on the worlds of this part of the fanfic.

To Guest: Thanks, and don't worry, I won't overwork myself.

To Guest708: I have some plans for Annie when Sora returns to Radiant Garden after this mission in Fiore.

Don't worry, the list of worlds for this first part of the fanfic won't be changed. I won't add any new worlds, apart from the ones I already decide I'm going to use, until the end of the Tournament Arc.

To anon: I don't know the manga called Needless.

To Alpha Alchemist: Well, I have a lot of time to think about the teams, so don't worry. Also, the teams of Earth Land will be competing between them too, so it's not unfair…in a way. RWBY Volume 2's finale was really good. It was amazing seeing Team CFVY in action, but yeah, I'd have liked to see Velvet more than just kicking some Grimm, to be honest. We didn't get to see Sage or Scarlet, but as you said, since they're not Beacon's students, they won't participate unless I change my mind.

To GuestWithIdeas: Yeah, there are a lot of abilities I haven't make him use, but don't worry, he'll use them when he needs them. Like, against another Keyblade wielder or someone above his level. Keyblade transformations will be more used in future chapters, too, especially in the Tournament Arc.

I can't use Minerva or Jiemma because of the manga. I won't spoil you since I don't know if you're reading it or not.

There will be more interactions with the AoT characters through the story, but I can't give you many details about it, sorry.

To Guest711: It's an interesting match indeed, but I still have to decide the teams who will participate in the tournament.

To kyle152091: As you could read, they were mentioned.

To mr.e: Sorry, but that seems like an unnecessary power for Keyblade wielders.

To 023601: His singing and dancing abilities will be mentioned. Not sure when, though.

To NRG: I'd rather make my own storyline than having Sora taking part in the battle against Aizen. Besides, there's already a KH/Bleach crossover about that, so it'd be better if I don't do the same. I think he'll go alone, but that could change.

To GenesisBlaze: Still some time till the Bleach part of the story.

To Nexus: Sorry, but I barely have time to write this story, so I won't accept that challenge of yours.

To OrionGold: That will be revealed later. I'm saving it for a filler chapter.

I haven't seen Cross Ange, so I'll have to watch it first to decide if I can use it or not.

To Great fan-M: Good to see you again, and merry Christmas to you, too! I deleted the Digimon Crossover because it didn't turn out as I expected, so I'm going to focus on this story only.

To Anonymous: Sorry, but I'm going to forget about Digimon for the time being, so I don't think it'll be in this story.

To boras1c: Well, as you could read, Mushu was summoned in this chapter. Also, I'm glad you enjoy my stories. I appreciate it. I also think Sora only has eyes for Kairi 'canonly', but there are too many SoraxKairi stories in this site, so I wanted to make something different.

What do you mean by 'throw in a Roxas Naminé'?