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.

30. Warnings - Part II

I already said this in one of the first chapters, but I'll say it again. There could be spoilers in this fic, so read with caution since I can't warn you of every single one and I don't know what manga/animes/films each one of you have watched or not. I'll do it now since the movie was released a month ago. There are spoilers from a certain Marvel movie in this chapter.

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Chapter XXX

Warnings – Part II

2135hrs, August 19th, 2024
Mysterious Tower

The fourth team, if you count Riku and Lea as one, was formed by Terra and Ventus. The world they had to warn about the evil Keyblade wielders was the Mysterious Tower, meaning that they had to inform Yen Sid, and the Three Good Fairies if they were there and not in Enchanted Dominion, about Vulpe and the other four. And besides that, they also wanted to ask the old wizard about Eraqus' whereabouts since the two of them were good friend so it was very possible Yen Sid knew where Eraqus was. After all, after Xehanort's defeat, Eraqus decided to stay in the Mysterious Tower to do some catching up with Mickey's old master.

I took them more time than it normally would, but Terra and Ven could reach Yen Sid's tower without much difficulty, although they'd probably disagree since they actually had a few problems with the Heartless on their way to the tower. Nothing they couldn't take care of, though.

"Perhaps we need more practice when it comes to pilot a Gummi Ship," said Ven as he and his partner climbed the last flight of stairs to Yen Sid's study. "You know, until we get our armors back."

"Ven, we just had bad luck," assured Terra. "Besides, it's not like we had a lot of trouble dealing with those Heartless. They just slowed us down a bit."

"Yeah, you're right." Ven sighed. "I guess I just miss travelling with my Keyblade Glider. Man, I don't know how Sora, Donald and Goofy could stand using a Gummi Ship for such a long time. It is sooo slow!"

"I suppose one can get used to it after a while," said Terra. An amused smile appeared on his face. "Then again, Sora got used to travel with a Keyblade Glider really fast. I can't blame him, though. I wonder if our armors are repaired already. Talking about it is making me miss it."

"I hope they're all repaired." Ven touched his chin and smiled cockily. "I don't want to brag, but I look really cool when I have my armor on."

Terra laughed. "That's not what I meant when I said I missed my armor, you know?"

"Huh?" Ven looked surprised at his friend. "But you look really awesome, too! With those pointy ears of your helmet and the cape you kinda look like a vigilante of the night who protects a dark, crime-ridden city full of corruption from villains and criminals."

"That was…a quite detailed description," said Terra a bit perplexed as he put his hand on the door that led to Yen Sid's study. "You sure have a wild imagination."

Ven smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment."

The brown-haired Guardian pushed the door and opened it. Then he and Ven walked inside Yen Sid's studies. It sure had been a while since the last time they were there; however, it didn't look different at all. The several shelves containing many books were still there, as well as the large wooden desk behind which Yen Sid was sitting at this moment.

"Master Yen Sid!" said Ven as soon as he saw the old wizard. He was kind of surprised to see the retired Keyblade Master there, even though it wasn't strange since it was his tower, but he and Terra had the feeling it would be empty. Fortunately, they were wrong.

And he was not the only one there. The man known as Eraqus, the master of Terra and Aqua, and who also served as the second master of Ventus, was also there.

"Master Eraqus, you're here," said Terra. Even though he had a serious look on his face, he was happy to see his old master again after two years.

"Terra, Ven," said Eraqus. He turned to his two old pupils as they walked to him. "It sure has been a long time. I am glad to see you again."

Terra nodded. "Likewise."

"It's nice to see you too, Master Yen Sid," said Ven smiling, which Yen Sid surprisingly returned along with a nod, although his smile wasn't as noticeable as Ven's. "It's been a while since the last time we heard about you and Master Eraqus, so it's good to see you are all right."

"Now, there's no need to worry about us, young man," said Yen Sid as he stroke his beard.

"We might be old, but we still can defend ourselves if the situation calls," added Eraqus.

"Ah, no, that's not what I meant!" said Ven as he waved his hands in defense. He hoped he did not offend the two old Keyblade Masters unintentionally.

"Relax, Ven, they're just messing with you," said Terra with a smile. He had to admit he didn't expect Yen Sid or Eraqus to poke fun of someone just like that. Guess even they had his humorous side. After all, if Isa had one, why not them?

"Oh…" Ven sighed and smiled. "All right, you got me there…Wait, since when do you two can joke around!?"

"Let's put that aside, shall we?" said Eraqus, returning to his usual serious self. He, then, turned to Terra and put a hand on his shoulder. "Tell me, Terra, how are you feeling?"

At first, the brown-haired man was confused, but it didn't take him long to understand why Eraqus asked that.

"Yes, I'm all right," assured Terra.

Eraqus nodded. "Good. I'm glad to hear that. Now, I think my old friend and I know why the two of you came here."

"You do?" asked Ven raising an eyebrow. "Well, I shouldn't be surprised at this point."

"You see, Yen Sid and I have been travelling around the worlds these past years," said Eraqus. He approached one of the tower's windows and looked at the sky through it. "After what Xehanort did when he opened the door to Kingdom Hearts, we decided to visit all the worlds we could to see how bad the damage was. Fortunately, it wasn't anything very severe and it did not affect many worlds. I also took the opportunity to close as many Keyholes as I could just in case the Heartless started appearing again."

"The Keyholes…" Ven crossed his arms and closed his eyes He had a thoughtful look on his face. "Ah, that'd explain why none of us have found any Keyhole up to now!"

"Indeed," said Eraqus. "As we said, there wasn't a lot of damage done to the worlds, but we couldn't let them defenseless to the Heartless or that could've changed."

"Well, it's good to know not many worlds were altered," said Terra, feeling more reassured.

"It seems that Sora could get Xehanort out of Kingdom Hearts fast enough so not many worlds were changed by him," said Yen Sid. "However, there is one world that was destroyed, but their residents were lucky enough to end up in Radiant Garden. I assume you've heard about them."

"Yeah, we know them," replied Ven. "Wait, so you've been travelling around the worlds for two years? I suppose saying you visited a lot of worlds would be an understatement."

"We've been in numerous different worlds, yes," answered Eraqus. "And we were really discreet, unlike some other Keyblade wielders."

"I think he's talking about you and Sora," said Terra amused, and Ven groaned.

"I'm referring to yo too, Terra," added Eraqus, making Terra flinch while Ven laughed at him. "And to the other Guardians of Light as well. However, I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. For some reason people being aware of the existence of other worlds is more common these days."

"I think that's good," opined Ven. "It makes our job much easier."

"The problem comes when there's conflict between two worlds," explained Yen Sid. "It has not happened yet, but it could happen. Remember to keep that in mind. As Keyblade wielders, you have to make sure to avoid that, but I don't think I have to remember you that anymore."

"Also, the protection of the Princesses of Heart is very important, too," said Eraqus. "That witch, Maleficent, is still out there and now that Xehanort is gone, she'll try to accomplish their goals by any means necessary."

"We already talked with Mickey about this," continued Yen Sid. "We could come up with a plan to keep the Princesses in check from time to time."

"Oh, so reopening that club was also your idea?" asked Ven, quite surprised by the fact.

"In a way," replied the wizard. "We also asked Mickey to talk with Donald's uncle."

"For what reason?" asked Terra.

"We needed him to create routes for Gummi Ships between the worlds again since, after I closed the Keyholes, most of them disappeared," explained Eraqus. "We knew the worlds will need you again, so we had to do something. And we did good asking him that favor, considering what's currently happening."

"Then you know about them," said Ven.

Yen Sid nodded. "Mickey sent us a letter along with this."

Mickey's old master put on his desk a small crystal sphere that Terra and Ven identified as the Lacrima that Naminé used to make copies of Hibiki's recording of the battle against Vulpe in Fiore. That meant that Riku already warned the king about Vulpe and the other four. Apparently, the two Guardians took longer than they expected to reach the Mysterious Tower.

"We're a bit late, then," said Ven before shrugging. "Oh well, the blame is on the Heartless. They were the ones who slowed us down."

"So, do you have any idea of who they are?" Terra looked at the two old masters with total seriousness. "Because we're pretty much blank about them and any information you can provide us would be really helpful."

"I am sorry, Master Terra, but we do not know anything about their identities," said Yen Sid. "I don't think we've heard about them before, so we know the same about them as you and the rest of the Guardians."

Terra sighed. "Great..."

"We know nothing, for the moment," stated Eraqus, and this caught the Guardians' attention. "Their names…Leo, Vulpe, Cornis, Ursus…"

"What about them?" asked Ven. "Do their names ring a bell?"

"I'd lie if I said they didn't," replied Eraqus. "I don't know why they sound familiar, but Yen Sid and I are working on it. If we figure it out, we'll let you know as soon as possible."

"Hey, it's better than nothing," said Ven optimistically. "At least we have something know."

"That's true," said Terra, even though he hoped to get more information in this visit. "Well, thanks for your help. We appreciate it."

"You don't have to thank us, Terra," said Eraqus. "After all, this is the least we can do. By the way, we also heard from Mickey that Sora actually ended up creating a guild. Light Guardians, isn't it? It's a good name."

Ven nodded. "Yeah, we've been official for almost two months."

"We're still working on making ourselves known," added Terra. "It'll take us some time."

"Everyone in Radiant Garden knows about us," said the blonde Guardian. "But that's most likely because Sora is pretty well known there."

"Well, we should focus now on those Keyblade wielders rather than making a name for ourselves," said Terra. "Oh, that reminds me…are the Three Good Fairies around here? You should tell them about these evil Keyblade wielders if you haven't already."

"They aren't here anymore," said Yen Sid. "They left for their world as soon as Eraqus and I returned. I told them to keep a check on Princess Aurora in case Maleficent decides to make a move."

"I see, that makes sense," said Terra. He would have liked to warn the fairies as soon as possible, but then he remembered two certain Guardians were going to visit Enchanted Dominion among other worlds, so he didn't worry about it.

"Now that you mentioned them, I remembered something…" said Yen Sid.

The old wizard stood up and walked to a shelf that was next to the door that led to the room Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather usually stayed when they were in Yen Sid's tower. He grabbed a somewhat big box that was on the top of the shelf, returned to his desk and put the box on it. Terra and Ven looked at it with curiosity.

"What's that?" asked the younger Guardian.

"Something Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather wanted to give to Sora," said Yen Sid. "If you don't mind, could you take it to Radiant Garden?"

"Sure, you can count on us," said Terra as Ven got closer to Yen Sid's desk. "Hey, Ven…"

"Come on, I just want to know what it is," said Ven as he opened the box. When he removed the cover of the box, he could see a red and black outfit, gloves and shoes included. "Ha, I knew it. It's the last set of clothes they made for Sora."

"Oh…" Terra took a quick look at the clothes. "Wow, they did a good job restoring them."

"They sure did." Ven closed the box again. "We'll make sure he gets them."

"If there's not anything else you want to tell us, then we'll get going," said Terra, looking at Yen Sid and Eraqus.

"There's something," said Eraqus, who had a piece of paper in his hand. "I just took another look at Mickey's letter. We forgot to mention that he said there are five of those Keyblade wielders out there, but that you are only sure about the identity of four of them. Why is that?"

"Oh, right," said Ven. "You see, there's a girl Sora met in Fiore, the same day of the fight against Vulpe. She was using a similar outfit to the ones Leo, Vulpe, Cornis and Ursus use, but she's not a Keyblade wielder."

"Aqua's Heart Perception didn't detect her," said Terra before Eraqus or Yen Sid could ask anything. "She could perfectly sense Vulpe and Ursus, so we assume that she's not a Keyblade wielder but it's obvious she's related to them in a way."

"Sora thinks she's a good person," commented Ven.

"That boy is sometimes too nice for his own good," said Yen Sid. "Make sure he's not just being deceived by that girl. The last thing we need now is to lose friends."

Terra chuckled. "I'm sure he's tired of hearing that. We'll make sure he doesn't go astray, don't worry."

"One more thing before you leave," said Eraqus, the expression on his face softer than before. "How is the rest doing? Are they all right?"

"Sure," replied Ven. "They have changed much. Xion and Naminé are more outgoing than they used to be, but that's good, if you ask me. The others are the same as always. Of course, everyone is far less tense than they were when we were in war with Xehanort, but that's normal."

"Good to hear," said Eraqus, glad to know that everyone was doing all right. "How's that Aqua didn't come with you, by the way?"

"She and Kairi are going to all the worlds they know to warn them about these Keyblade wielders," explained Terra. "Surely they are on their way to one of them at this moment."

"We divided in teams to warn the people we know about these guys," said Ven. "Riku went to Disney Town, Sora and Naminé probably are on their way to Death City by now, Roxas and Xion left for Amestris.

"I think Lea had some things to do in Radiant Garden, so he probably stayed there," added Terra. "And as I said, Aqua and Kairi decided to go to the worlds we know."

"Hold on…" Ven realized something. "What about Remnant? I mean, Cornis appeared there so they already know about them, but someone has to tell the people of Remnant how strong these guys are! They have to know about this and no one is going there!"

"Someone's going to Remnant, calm down," said Terra. He, then, realized he said something he shouldn't have said.

Ven's eyes widened. "Who…wait, don't tell me…"

Ven realized there were two Guardians who had good reasons to go to Remnant, and those were Aqua and Kairi. The redhead's reason probably was that she wanted to see the blonde girl who wrote on Sora's torso. Aqua, on the other hand, surely wanted to meet a certain bunny-eared girl. After processing all this, Ven bolted to the study's exit, or at least tried since Terra could grab him by the shirt before he could even start running.

"Easy there, buddy," said the brown-haired man as he brought Ven closer to him. "You're stuck with me for the time being."

"No, let go!" Ven struggled as much as he could, but Terra's grip was too strong. "I have to stop her!"

"Stop her?" repeated Eraqus. "What are you talking about, Ventus?"

"You see, Ven made a little friend in Remnant, if you know what I mean," explained Terra with a smile. "And he's afraid Aqua might say something embarrassing about him to her."

"I see," said Eraqus, the calm look on his face turning to a stern one. This made Ven kind of nervous. "Ventus, I know you are older know but let me tell you something..."

Ven's started to sweat. "Master, I…!"

"If you plan to start a relationship with a girl who is from a different world, then you must know that it'll be difficult," said Eraqus, and this took Terra and Ven by surprise. "I'm sure you've heard people saying that distance relationships are difficult, so imagine how complicated can be for a Keyblade wielder to find a romantic partner. I'm not going to stop you, but I want you to keep this in mind. I don't want my old pupil to be breaking ladies' hearts."

Ven was in shock. "What the heck…"

"I…totally didn't expect that," added Terra dumbfounded. He couldn't believe his old master said something like that.

"Let's say that your master speaks from experience," said Yen Sid with a smile on his face.

Eraqus closed his eyes and smiled. "Talking about this really takes me back. I still remember my travels as a young Keyblade wielder. Those were good times."

"I really want to get out of here now…" muttered Ven.

"Oh, and Ven…" said Eraqus. "I hope I do not hear from anyone that you are courting several girls at the same time. That'd be very cruel and dishonorable, not as a Keyblade wielder, but as a man."

Ven chuckled. "You should be saying that to S…"

Terra covered Ven's mouth with his hand. "C'mon, he has enough to deal with in that department, so let's not bring him more problems, okay?"

"Fine," said Ven smiling before turning to Eraqus and Yen Sid. "We'll get going now."

"Are you returning to Radiant Garden?" asked Yen Sid.

"Actually, we had planned to go to Olympus Colosseum first," said Terra. "We wanted to see some friends and see if we could ask one of them to give us some advice to improve our training. Maybe we'll participate in some games while we're there."

"All right, we'll stay in touch," said Eraqus. "Be careful out there."

"Got it, see you!" said Ven.

Terra walked to the exit and Ven followed him after grabbing the box with Sora's clothes. The two Guardians walked outside Yen Sid's study and started heading for the tower's entrance. There were some minutes of silence until the older one decided to speak.

"You're not planning on escaping and going after Aqua, are you?"

"What? No, of course not," said Ven sincerely. "I said I'd go with you to visit Phil and Hercules and I'm going to do it. I expect to be compensated, though."

"All right," said Terra smiling. "Seriously, you worry too much about what Aqua could say or do. You know she's the more sensible out of us. I'm sure she'll act perfectly normal in front of that girl."

Ventus narrowed his eyes. "She better."

-TLG-

1005hrs, September 5th, 2024
Beacon Academy, Remnant

Aqua and Kairi were the fifth and last team formed to warn the worlds about the threat of the five evil Keyblade wielders. The two decided to go to the worlds that all the Guardians visited at least once during the last years and tell them about their new enemies. After all, someone had to do it, even if it'd take them quite some time. After two and a half weeks, the two female Guardians could warn all the worlds on their list. Luckily, the routes between some worlds were short and sometimes they could visit two worlds on the same day. Otherwise, the whole task would have taken them one more week.

They met with some old friends and did some catch up, but didn't stay for too long in each world. The two of them would have liked to stay some more time, but they had to warn everyone as soon as possible. That's the reason they left Radiant Garden, after all. Well, Aqua and Kairi had another reason, but they didn't tell anything to the other Guardians, even though it is quite obvious if you take into account two things that happened in the Light Guardians Guild the day all the Guardians saw Hibiki's recording together.

Aqua's reason was Ven, or to be more specific, the Faunus girl who he defended from Team CRDL, a team made of bullies. She wanted to meet the girl her young friend befriended since it could be possible that the two of them will end up being in a romantic relationship together. That was just Aqua's daydreaming, but who knows? Anyway, Ven wouldn't have let her come to Remnant, so she kept it a secret, despite actually saying in the guild that she might travel to Remnant in order to meet the girl. Surely Ven didn't suspect anything since Aqua made it sound as if she was joking.

Kairi's reason was also to meet a girl, but a different one. In her case, she wanted to meet a certain blonde brawler who wrote a message across Sora's torso. Also, the redhead knew she was part of a team of four girls, and she wanted to meet them, too. During his stay in Remnant, Sora slept with them in the same room and this bothered Kairi. She didn't want it to bug her, but she couldn't help it. One thing Kairi didn't want Sora to think was that she was one of those girls who don't let their friends be with other girls. Actually, she didn't mind at all if Sora was with other girls. For example, it never troubled her when Sora spent time with the female members of Fairy Tail, despite how well-endowed most of them were, although it helped to not think about that, specifically. Kairi assumed her uneasiness was caused because she didn't know the girls from Remnant, and that's why she wanted to meet them. Anyway, she was sure they were nice. If so, what worried her more than them was Vulpe, but let's leave that for another moment.

The two Guardians landed some minutes ago. They walked through a long, wide avenue, the one that led to the main academy buildings and their large, impressive main doorway. They were now walking near a big fountain, getting closer to the academy's entrance. More students could be seen as they approached the building.

"This place is wonderful," remarked Aqua, impressed by the facilities. She couldn't help but smile as she watched the students in their uniforms, some of them were wearing different uniforms. Perhaps they were from a different academy? "Ah, the school life...Thinking about it always brings me back good memories. Staying up all night studying, essays, exams…"

"You know, saying that kind of things might be the reason Terra calls you a nerd," said Kairi with an amused smile, although Aqua couldn't see it since the redhead wasn't looking at her. The Princess of Heart appeared to be more focused on the students around.

Aqua pouted. "Is there a problem if I enjoyed that stage of my life? Besides, aren't you on my side? According to Riku, you're an excellent student."

"The best of my class," said Kairi, not giving it importance. Then she stopped looking at the Beacon students and turned to Aqua for a moment. "Wait, what else has Riku told you?"

"Mmmm, oh, he said you were the Student Council President." Aqua crossed her arms nodded in approval. "The creation of that position, along with the council itself, was a great idea. And, if you ask me, I think you fit that role quite well."

"If you say so," said Kairi smiling as she stopped and opened the academy's front doors.

She and Aqua walked inside the building and they reached the academy's amphitheater, which could be used for meetings of the student body or dueling practice. This area was, in fact, where Sora and Ven had their duel against Team CRDL. Although maybe calling it a duel wouldn't be entirely correct since it looked more like Sora and Ven were bullying Cardin and his team instead of having a fair fight. Then again, they were no match for the two Keyblade wielders, so that wasn't possible.

"This is amazing," remarked Aqua while looking at her surroundings. "It already looked impressive from the outside, but the interior design is also worth mentioning."

Then, something caught the blue-haired woman's attention as she observed the assembly area. Some students were looking at her and Kairi, or at least that's what she thought since, when she looked at them, they were talking to each other, so maybe it was just her imagination.

"If you like schools so much, then maybe you should think about becoming a teacher," commented Kairi as she continued checking out every student she saw. She looked at Aqua briefly. "Don't you think?"

"I'd love to work as a teacher," replied Aqua as she and Kairi continued their way. They were now walking aimlessly through some corridors. "However, my job as a Keyblade wielder is far more important."

"Well, maybe one day the worlds won't need us, so you'll be able to become a teacher," said Kairi. It was bold to think about the possibility of Keyblade wielders not being needed in the future, but hope was the last thing to lose, wasn't it?

"That'd be great," affirmed Aqua smiling.

The two female Keyblade wielders continued walking around the academy for around half an hour. Aqua kept admiring the academy while Kairi continued her strange analysis of every student. At first it wasn't very noticeable, but it was starting to be obvious that she only looked at the females students. Anyway, Aqua noticed that neither she nor her partner knew where they were going, so she put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her.

Kairi looked at Aqua. "What is it?"

"Do you know what we are looking for?" asked the bluenette.

"Uh…the headmaster's office," replied Kairi, even though it sounded like she was asking a question instead.

"And where's that?"

"I…don't know," admitted Kairi before she started looking around. "Probably we should…"

"What's wrong?" asked Aqua when Kairi didn't finish her sentence.

"I don't know if you noticed, but since we crossed the academy's front door, the students have been looking at us strangely," answered the redhead. She discretely pointed at a small group of students that was nearby. "I thought it was my imagination, but I saw that group looking at us. They looked away when I noticed."

"Maybe it's because you've been giving malicious glares to every girl you saw," suggested Aqua in a joking tone. "I think you were starting to scare them."

"I wasn't looking at them like that!" protested Kairi, then she realized she was admitted something she shouldn't have. "Wait, no, I wasn't—!"

Aqua chuckled. "Forget about that. Jokes aside, I think it must be because we stand out quite a bit. All the people here are using school uniforms, so our outfits are kind of conspicuous."

"I guess you're right." Kairi took a quick look at her clothes. "Well, as I was saying before, we should ask someone for directions before we get lost, although we kinda already are."

"You lost?"

Kairi and Aqua turned around and saw a boy with dark blue eyes and messy blond hair standing near them. It seemed that they found someone to ask about the location of Beacon's headmaster's office. Although it looked more like he found them instead.

Kairi smiled. "Yeah, looks like we are. Could you help us?"

"Sure!" The boy returned the smile and approached the two Guardians. "This place is very big so it's normal to get lost at the beginning. I used to happen to me…Anyway, where do you wanna go?"

"We were looking for the headmaster's office," replied Aqua.

"Right, that's easy," said the boy. "You two have been walking around the academy, right? Did you happen to see some elevators? They're not far from here. You just have to take one of them and you'll get to the headmaster's office, which is on the top of Beacon Tower…Well, not exactly the top, but you get the idea."

"Oh, I think I know where those elevators are," said Aqua. "We passed them a few minutes ago."

"All right, then." Kairi turned to the boy. "Thank you for your help. We appreciate it."

"You're welcome, ladies," replied the student, trying to sound like a gentleman. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to class. Actually, I think I'm a bit late…"

"Then I'd start running if I were you," said Kairi with an amused smile.

"Yeah, I'd better do that." The blond boy started running. "Bye!"

Aqua and Kairi said goodbye at the student who helped them and then they started heading for the elevators that would take them to the top of Beacon Tower. As Aqua said, they only had to walk for a couple of minutes until they reached the elevators. The two assumed Beacon Tower was the tower surmounted by a number of green spheres or lights that they could see from outside. It was Beacon's highest tower, so it was visible from any place outside the academy.

The elevator reached the headmaster's office and Kairi and Aqua walked out of it. The room was quite spacious, but it didn't have a lot of furniture, just a desk around which four people were discussing something at this moment. The two Guardians didn't want to interrupt them, so they just waited near the elevator. They could overhear some things, though. Something about someone called James and some kind of army. The girls didn't have to wait much since when the man sitting at the desk saw them, he quickly finished the conversation.

"Please, come in."

The other three people, who actually didn't notice Aqua and Kairi, turned around and saw the Keyblade wielders coming. They moved a bit to give them space.

"I hope we are not interrupting something important," said Aqua politely.

"Don't worry. It was starting to turn into a rant, anyway." The man sitting at the desk smiled. "Well then, how can I help you?"

"My name is Aqua, and this is Kairi." The bluenette introduced herself and her partner first of all before replying the man. "We were looking for the academy's headmaster."

"It's nice to meet you, Aqua and Kairi." The man he stood up, mug of coffee in hand. "My name is Ozpin and I'm the headmaster of Beacon, the man you're looking for. Oh, and these are my colleagues, Glynda Goodwitch, Peter Port and Bartholomew Oobleck."

"It's a pleasure," said Kairi smiling.

Port nodded. "The pleasure is ours, little lady."

"I assume you two are the supposed Keyblade wielders the students are talking about," said Glynda. She adjusted her glasses. "However, now that I look at you, I see that you are indeed Keyblade wielders. It looks like it wasn't just a rumor."

"What?" Aqua was completely taken by surprise.

"But we've been here for only an hour, maybe not even that," added Kairi. "Besides, we just talked with one student and that was just a few minutes ago. How could they—?"

"That's easy, young lady!" said Oobleck, raising a finger as if he just came up with an idea or something. He, then, pointed at the redhead's belt, more specifically at the badge she had there. "That crown on your belt means you are part of the group that boy leads, the one who came here the last month. Sora was his name, if I remember correctly."

"Oh, the crown, of course…" Kairi almost forgot they actually had somewhat of a guild mark. "It seems the guild is known around here."

"I suppose we can thank Sora and Ven for that," observed Aqua. She, then, turned to the headmasters and the professors. "I know how those two can be when they're together, so I apologize if they caused you any trouble when they were here."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, miss!" said Oobleck. "I haven't met them personally yet, but I didn't hear anything bad about them during their stay."

"Indeed, they were good boys," added Port. "Young Ven was always enthralled by my mighty tales, but then again, who isn't?"

"Their behavior was better than most of the students' here," admitted Glynda. "They did get into a fight with a team of students. It was one-sided, but they needed someone to teach them a lesson, so it's all fine."

"They didn't hurt them, so don't worry," said Ozpin before Aqua or Kairi could ask. "They knew what they were doing."

"Still, it's strange that those two picked a fight with some students," said Kairi, a bit surprised by the fact that Sora and Ven had a fight against Beacon students. "It's not like them to do something like that. I wonder what happened."

Port looked at the Guardians. "From what I heard, it seems the students they fought were bullying another student."

"All right, that explains it," said Aqua and Kairi at the same time. They looked at each other and smiled.

"It seems that you know Sora and Ven quite well," observed Ozpin.

"Too well I would say," said Kairi smiling. "I've known Sora for about thirteen years and he's not the kind of boy who likes to pick fights with everyone he meets. Stopping a bully from picking on someone is one of the few reasons that could make him start a fight."

"The same goes for Ven," added Aqua. "I'm happy to hear that he and Sora did something that noble. Then again, it is not surprising to hear they did it…Wait a second, could it be that the student being bullied is called Velvet, by any chance?"

"Oh, have they told you about her?" asked Ozpin.

"You could say that," replied Aqua. Then a mischievous smile appeared on her face. "I see, so that's how Ven met her. All right, now the only thing I have to do is—"

"Aqua, you're making a strange face." Kairi interrupted Aqua's thoughts. "I don't want to know what's going through your mind, but don't do anything to embarrass Ven, okay?"

"What are you talking about?" said Aqua feigning ignorance. "I'm not going to do anything."

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Suuuuure, whatever you say."

"Excuse me," said Glynda, drawing the two Keybearers' attention. "Would you mind telling us the reason you came to Beacon?"

"Ah, right, sorry for getting off topic." Aqua apologized and then the look on her face turned to a very serious one, which Ozpin and the staff members of Beacon didn't expect. "You see, Kairi and I came to your academy to warn you about certain people. You have connections with Shibusen and now that Sora and Ven helped you solving your problem with the Heartless, I think I can say without any doubt that you're also part of this. Just by the fact that you know Sora, it's enough reason for them to assume that you're connected to us."

"You are talking about those five Keyblade wielders who want to control the worlds?" asked Glynda.

"That's right," replied Kairi. "One of them appeared here in Remnant while Sora and Ven were here. According to the information we have, his name is Cornis."

"Yes, I saw him," said Glynda. "He and Sora talked to each other for a few minutes in the city. We've already informed about this person to everyone in Remnant."

"We also warned all the students to not engage with any of them," said Port. "Some of them didn't look very pleased when we told them to not do anything if they ever encounter one of these Keyblade-wielding warriors. I hope none of them do anything reckless."

"Please, you have to make sure not a single student tries to fight one of these Keyblade wielders," said Aqua, who sounded quite concerned about the students' safety, and no one could blame her for that. She knew how strong Vulpe and the other four were.

"And I don't want to be rude, but…" Kairi, at first, didn't want to say was she's about to say, but she realized she had to be direct and not beat around the bush. "Look, we've seen how strong those Keyblade wielders can be, and I don't think anyone from this world, whether they are a student or a full-fledge Hunter, should fight these Keyblade wielders, even if it's just one of them."

Port chuckled. "We appreciate your concern, young lady. You don't have to worry about us, though. You see, I've been in a lot of amazing battles, but even I know my own limitations."

"We are aware of the difference of power between us and Keyblade wielders," said Ozpin. "We will avoid them the best we can, and if we ever run into one of them, we'll just play along and not get in their way."

"Of course, if they try to do something that will put people in danger, then we won't just sit and watch," added Oobleck. "That's why I ask you to take care of these five as soon as possible."

Kairi was expecting them to take it the wrong way, but they actually didn't. This surprised the redhead, but then again, she was talking with adults. They weren't going to act like stubborn kids who protest when they are told not to do something. Knowing that they understood made Kairi feel relieved.

"As long as you don't try to arrest them or anything, I don't think they'll try to hurt anyone," said Aqua. "But that also depends on who we're talking about. There's one of them who enjoys fighting, so she could be one of the most dangerous of the five."

"That could be a problem." Glynda spoke and the others looked at her. "You see, we can assure you that we won't do anything reckless, but we can't control every student here unless we lock them up. Actually, not even that would work. It makes me wonder how the other academies are going to keep their students in check."

"We can give you something that might make your students think about it twice before trying to put their lives in danger," said Aqua, taking out the Information Lacrima she got from Naminé. She put it on Ozpin's desk. "This crystal has all the information we have about these Keyblade wielders. It has also has a recording of a fight that took place the last month, so you can see with your own eyes how strong one of those Keyblade wielders could be."

"I suppose Sora took part in that fight, right?" deduced Ozpin successfully. "Since the students here know him and have seen him fight, they'll know it'd not be sensible to face someone not even him could defeat."

Aqua nodded. "That's right. You should show the recording to all the students to get that idea out of their minds. I know how brash and reckless kids can be. And also how frustrating is when they don't listen to you. You're just trying to protect them, and they just ignore you. They'd get into less trouble if they listened to adults more often."

"Ah, you don't even know how right you are," said Glynda, nodding in approval. "No matter what I do, our students always find a way to get involved in something that endangers their lives."

"Yes, it's like they always want to do everything by themselves," continued Aqua. She put her hands on her hips and sighed. "If they would let us take care of the problem or at least help them, they wouldn't have to take so many risks."

"But kids need to run some risk sometimes," said Oobleck. "Otherwise, they wouldn't be prepared for more dangerous situations in the future."

"Of course," said Port. "What is life without a bit of danger, after all? Life is an adventure! I wouldn't be able to tell my incredible stories in class if I hadn't done anything risky when I was a young Huntsman."

"That's true," said Aqua, admitting that the two professors were right. "The problem is when it becomes a habit. It's like they can't be one day without putting their lives in danger. Sometimes I'd like them to rely on adults more."

"There she goes again…" thought Kairi rolling her eyes as Aqua, Glynda, Oobleck and Port continued their talk about how brash young people were nowadays.

"Excuse me, Kairi," said Ozpin, drawing the redhead's attention. He had the Lacrima in his hand. Apparently, he had been examining it. "Do you know how this crystal works? If so, could you tell me how to activate it?"

"Oh, you'll need magic, but people can't use magic in this world, right?" asked Kairi.

Ozpin smiled and shook his head in response. "I'm afraid not."

"That's what I thought. I could activate it for you, but you also need to show it to the students…" Kairi put her hand on her cheek and leaned on her elbow. Then, she saw something on Ozpin's desk that looked like some kind of communication device. "What is that?"

"Hmm? Oh, this?" Ozpin grabbed the device and showed it to Kairi. "It's a scroll. Every professor and student has one. They have a range of sensory and interfacing functions, such as relaying information from surveillance devices in real time and monitoring the health of multiple people at once."

"Home, search, mail," thought Kairi as she examined the scroll. She came up with something as soon as she saw the scroll could record videos. "It has a recording function, so I assume it can also play videos, right?"

"Correct," replied Ozpin.

"I thinking that, maybe, I could transfer the recording from the crystal to your scroll so you can send it to all the students," said Kairi. "It would be easier for you."

"That's a good idea," said the headmaster. "But how are you going to do that?"

"I'll use my magic, but I'd be the first time I do something like this," answered Kairi. She didn't know if she was able to do it, but she had seen Naminé do it and Hibiki also taught her some of his Archive Magic when she joined Blue Pegasus, so she should be fine.

"All right, then," said Ozpin smiling. "Be careful not to cause an explosion or anything."

"Oh, don't worry about that." Kairi returned the smile. "I'm quite talented when it comes to magic."

Kairi started to focus until her right hand started to glow with a bright aura, which moved to her index and middle fingers. Then, she lightly touched the Lacrima and the scroll consecutively, creating a connection between them so the info could pass from one to another. Both the Lacrima and the scroll glowed with the same aura that covered Kairi's hand, and after a few seconds, the transfer finished.

A victory smiled appeared on Kairi's face. "Aha, I did it! Not bad for being my first time, huh? What do you think, Aqua? Aqua?"

Kairi turned around to see what the blue-haired Guardian was doing, only to see that she was still talking with Glynda and the professors. Then, Port said something that apparently made Aqua quite happy for some reason.

"Really?" asked Aqua quite excited. "You don't mind?"

The gray-haired professor chuckled. "Of course I don't. If you're that interested, then you can attend to one of my classes as an observant. And if we have time, you could tell the students about one of your adventures. They're first-years, but don't worry, they're not too difficult to handle."

"Well, some of my adventures, as you call them, are not appropriate to tell in a class, I think," said Aqua. "But I can always offer your students some advice. Oh, but first of all…Are you okay with this, headmaster?"

"I don't see why not," replied Ozpin with a small smile. "What do you think, Ms. Goodwitch?"

"By all means, go ahead," said Glynda. "If you think you can put some sense into those teenagers then be my guest."

"Great, thank you." Aqua smiled gratefully. She almost couldn't believe she was going to experience what it felt like to be teaching class, even if it was just for a few minutes. "Kairi, do you want to come, too?"

"I'd like to go a walk around the academy, so I'll pass, sorry." Kairi turned to Ozpin. "All the information and the recording should be in your scroll now, but if you have a problem and can't watch it, just call me and I'll show it to you using the crystal instead. There shouldn't be any, though."

"Very well, then." Ozpin grabbed his scroll. "Ms. Goodwitch and I will watch it and analyze before sending it to the students and the faculty."

"Huh?" Aqua didn't expect to hear what she just heard. "Did you manage to transfer the data from the Lacrima to that device? Wow, I didn't know you could do that, too. It's impressive."

"Hmph, a bit late for that," said Kairi looking away, feigning apathy towards Aqua's praise.

Aqua blinked a few times, not sure how to respond. "Did I say something bad?"

Kairi laughed. "Forget it. As I said, I'm going to walk around the building to see if I can fi—I mean, to see how different it is from Destiny Islands' academy. Besides, we already warned everyone, so I could use some time to relax and stretch my legs. You just go and have fun. I'll see you later."

"Well, okay," said Aqua smiling. "Try not to get lost."

"I assume you won't, but avoid getting into a fight against any student," added Glynda.

"And if you do, try not to hurt them, okay?" said Ozpin.

"Got it," said Kairi smiling as she walked to the elevators.

The redhead called the elevator, but it was already there so its doors opened immediately. She walked inside and pushed the button to the ground floor. As the doors closed, she noticed that Aqua was looking at her with a playful smirk.

"Good luck finding her!"

Kairi couldn't reply with a comeback since the doors closed and the elevator started descending. Instead, she was left with her mouth hanging open which she closed a few seconds later to pout. She wondered why Aqua had to say that in front of Ozpin and the other three. She hoped they didn't ask about it since it would be embarrassing. She didn't want people to think that she came to Remnant because she was jealous, because it wasn't true. Well, maybe just a bit.

"Why do I always feel like a mess when it comes to dealing with you?" thought Kairi, touching her forehead as she walked out of the elevator. Then, a quick image of a certain brown-haired boy grinning passed through her mind, making her smile. "I guess I am as hopeless as you are."

As the elevator opened its doors after reaching the academy's ground floor, Kairi inhaled and exhaled slowly to clear her mind. She took into account what Aqua said before about her expression scaring some of the students, so from now on she was just going to walk around Beacon normally without staring at anyone. However, she hadn't forgotten why she came to Remnant. The plan was still in effect.

After walking for a while around the facility, Kairi had to admit it was as impressive as Aqua said it was. Both Beacon and Shibusen were outstanding, especially if you compare them to a normal school like the one in Destiny Islands. Thinking about the islands made Kairi wonder what her old classmates were doing right now.

"Maybe I should go to Destiny Islands after I'm done here," thought Kairi.

Kairi continued her tour around Beacon, but it didn't take her a lot of time to see everything. There was something that caught her attention, though, and it was the students. There weren't a lot of them around like before, but she assumed that's because they were in class. Anyway, what she noticed was that some students looked at her and started whispering when she walked near them.

The first thing that came to her mind was that they were upset in some way because of the look she was giving to some students before, but they looked more curious than anything. When she walked through a long hallway full of people, she had to start walking fast to turn around the corner as soon as possible. All those eyes looking at her were making her feel really awkward.

"I guess I deserve it…" said Kairi in a low voice.

She decided to go outside to see if there was anything interesting and to avoid being observed by more students, but before she moved, Kairi felt something tapping her leg. The girl looked down and saw something she didn't expect at all. There was a dog right next to her, looking at her with its bright gray eyes. It was a tricolor Corgi. Both of them looked at each other for a moment before the dog barked, making the girl's expression change into a happy one.

"Oh, a doggie!" said Kairi as she crouched so she could pet the animal's head. It looked like the dog really liked it. "What are you doing around here? Are you lost?"

"Woof, woof!" The dog barked, and then jumped at Kairi, who managed to grab him. Then, the animal started licking the redhead's face.

Kairi laughed. "Hey, come on, cut it out!"

"Ah, there you are!"

While the dog continued showing affection to Kairi in its own way, she turned her head to look at the person who just spoke. A teenage girl with long blonde hair and lilac eyes was standing not too far from Kairi. She was looking at the dog, so the Keybearer assumed it was hers. Besides, taking into account what she just said, it was likely that she was looking for the animal. The blonde girl approached Kairi and proceeded to greet her.

"Hi there," said the girl, raising her hand as a greeting. "I see you found Zwei. We've been looking him for a while, but he's really elusive when he wants to be."

"Well, it was actually him who found me," said Kairi smiling. She put the dog on the floor and looked at the blonde girl again. "You said Zwei, right? That's an original name. How's that he was wandering around the academy alone?"

"Good question." The blonde scratched her head. "My sister was taking care of this little troublemaker, but somehow he escaped. I tried to ask her how it happened, but she was so focused on finding him that she didn't hear me…or maybe she ignored me?"

"ZWEI!"

Kairi heard someone behind saying the dog's name quite loudly. It was clearly a girl, or a boy with a very high voice, but most likely a girl. She turned around a saw a young, silver-eyed girl with black-red hair who had an expression full of happiness as she looked at Zwei. Then, Kairi didn't know what happened exactly, but when she blinked, the girl vanished, leaving rose petals around the place where she was standing when Kairi saw her.

"What the…?" Kairi started looking around and was really surprised when she saw the girl crouching next to her and hugging Zwei. "Wow, she's fast."

"Where have you been?" The silver-eyed girl extended her arms so she could look at her dog in the eyes. "Actually, I don't care. Just don't do that again, do you understand?"

Zwei barked once in response and started licking the girl's face, much to Kairi's amusement.

"Speaking of the devil…" said the blonde girl.

"Sis, how did you do it?" asked the shorter girl. "I looked every nook and cranny in the academy, but I couldn't find him."

"It wasn't me the one who found Zwei," replied the blonde before pointing at Kairi. "It was her."

The silver-eyed girl looked at Kairi for a second before dashing to her. She grabbed Kairi's hands and looked at her with tears falling from her eyes in a comical way. This took the Keyblade wielder completely by surprise.

"Thank you sooo much!" exclaimed the young girl. "You don't know how grateful I am! If there's anything you need, then don't doubt in asking me! I'll do anything to repay you! I'll be your best friend! I'll buy you cookies!"

Kairi smiled. "Don't worry about that. It's not like I was looking for him. Knowing Zwei found his owner is good enough for me. However, if you want us to be friends, I don't mind."

"Yes, let's be friends!" The girl with black-red hair hopped happily. "We could hang out, go shopping for school supplies, and—! Uh? Aaah!"

"Woah, what's wrong?" asked the blonde.

"You!" said the silver-eyed girl pointing at Kairi.

Kairi blinked twice. "M-me? What do you mean?"

"That crown-shaped badge on your belt!" replied the younger girl. "You're from his guild! You're a Light Guardian!"

"Oh, wow, I didn't notice until now!" said the blonde really surprised as soon as she saw the crown. "Who would've thought there was a Keyblade wielder in Beacon today?"

"Hehe, looks like you caught me," said Kairi smiling. "Wait, I thought all the students knew we were here. That's what your headmaster told us."

"Really?" asked the younger girl surprised. "I saw a lot of people talking about something, but I was more worried about finding Zwei, so I didn't pay attention to them. Sis, did you hear anything?"

"Actually, I did hear something…" replied the blonde as she got closer to Kairi. She touched her chin as she studied the Keyblade wielder, who was looking perplexed at the student. "I thought they were talking about Pyrrha, but they also said it wasn't someone from our academy, so that means you must be that 'redhead beauty' all the boys are talking about."

"W-what?" Kairi was taken completely by surprise. Were the male students really calling her that? It was embarrassing, but the girl had to admit she was a bit flattered.

"Yeah, now that I take a good look at you I have to admit they're right," said the blonde. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes for a few seconds, thinking about something. She opened her eyes and looked at Kairi. "Before you said 'we', so that means another Guardian is here, right? That must be the 'stunning blue-haired woman."

"Boys…" said Kairi rolling her eyes.

The lilac-eyed girl laughed. "Tell me about it. They're all harmless, though, so you don't have to worry."

Kairi giggled. "Okay, if you say so. By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Kairi."

"Oh, right!" said the girl with black-red hair. "The name's Ruby. Probably you've heard of me from Sora."

"And I'm her older sister, Yang," said the blonde with a toothy grin. "Did Sora or Ven tell you about us? Maybe they mentioned our team. Does Team RWBY ring a bell?"

Kairi froze the moment she heard how the girls were called and the name of their team was like spark of electricity going through the redhead's brain, which made the connections that made Kairi realize that the girls she was talking with were the ones she was actually looking for. Actually, she hadn't heard about Ruby from Sora, but it wasn't hard to deduce she was from Team RWBY after hearing what Yang said. Talking about Yang, Kairi was quite surprise that the blonde girl was Yang. Finding her was easier than the redhead thought it would be, then again, it was just coincidence. Well, Zwei also contributed, of course.

"Ummm, Kairi?" asked Ruby. The Keyblade wielder had been in silence for almost an entire minute and she and her sister were starting to worry. "Is something wrong?"

Kairi snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh, sorry, I was a bit lost in my thoughts…"

Yang chuckled. "No kidding."

"Anyway, I do have heard about your team," said Kairi, putting a hand on her hip. Her voice sounded more serious, but not unfriendly at all. She, then, turned to the blonde. "So you are Yang, huh?"

"Oh, did Sora tell you guys about me?" Yang appeared to be quite pleased by this. She smiled contently. "I suppose he can't stop thinking about me. That's good to know."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Ugh…"

"Well, it would be difficult for him to forget about you considering what you did," said Kairi with her arms crossed while tapping her arm with her finger. "He was really surprised when he found out."

Yang blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Yang…" Ruby narrowed her eyes and glared at her sister. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" replied Yang. "At least, not that I remember…"

"So you're telling me you weren't the one who wrote that phrase on Sora?" asked Kairi with disbelief in her voice. "Your full name was on it, so…"

"My name?" Yang looked at Kairi with confusion before realizing what the redhead was talking about. It looked like she just remembered what she did. "Ooooh, you mean…Hahaha, a lot of things happened since he left, so I totally forgot about that. Then, he found out, huh?"

"I'm not even going to ask what you wrote," said Ruby with a scolding tone. "You'd better apologize to him."

"Hey, why are you acting like you're the older sister here?" asked Yang. "You're acting like I did something really bad to him. I'm sure he found it very funny. I'm sure you agree with me, right, Kairi?"

However, Kairi didn't look very amused at all. At first, her expression was serious and calm, but now her face showed some level of grumpiness that was easy to notice. This startled Yang, who stepped back a bit.

Yang smiled awkwardly. "Okay, you didn't like me writing on him, I get it."

"Actually, what you wrote bothers me more than the fact that you wrote on him," commented Kairi.

"Really? But why is th—?" Yang stopped talking when something crossed her mind, something that would explain why the Keyblade wielder she just met didn't like what she did to Sora. "Hold on…Don't tell you're his…Because that would explain a lot of things."

Kairi raised an eyebrow. "His what?"

"You know, his girlfriend," replied Yang, which left Kairi red-faced and with her mouth hanging open. The blonde brawler crossed her arms. "I'm sure that cheating on his girlfriend is something that would never cross his mind. I suppose that's why all my moves on him didn't work, even though I just did that to see how he reacted."

"Oooh, I didn't know Sora had a girlfriend," said Ruby, surprised by this new piece of information. "I wonder why he didn't tell us."

"Well, he doesn't look like someone who would brag about being in a relationship," said Yang. "Then again, he could have mentioned you at least once. Anyway, I understand why you are bugged about what I did. I don't want to get between two lovers, so I won't anything else from now on. Such a pity, though…You're really lucky, Kairi."

"G-g-girlfriend!? L-l-lovers!?" exclaimed Kairi. She shook her head as if trying to remove the blush from her face. "Y-you are getting it all wrong! Sora and I are just friends, nothing else!"

"Ooops, sorry about that, then," said Ruby scratching her head sheepishly.

"Seriously, why do people assume Sora and I are a couple?" thought Kairi kind of frustrated. This wasn't the first time someone jumped to that conclusion, after all.

"You aren't? Then why were you—?" Yang's expression changed from puzzled to mischievous. "Oookay, now I get it. You're not his girlfriend…but you like him, don't you?"

"W-w-what!?" asked a shocked Kairi.

Yang laughed. "Come on, it's obvious you do. Your reaction was enough to confirm it. Besides, you haven't denied it."

"I…uh…but…" Kairi stuttered, unable to find something appropriate to say.

"I knew I would have competition out there," said Yang. "And I can tell you'll be one of the hardest to beat. Say, could you tell me for how long have you known Sora? I'm curious."

"Yang…"

"In a moment, Ruby," said the blonde before turning to Kairi again. "Well?"

"We've known each other for thirteen years, more or less," replied the redhead after she recovered her composure. She wondered what the purpose of Yang's question was. "Why do you want to know?"

"I see, so it's you…" said Yang in realization. "The most dangerous rival of them all, the childhood friend."

"Eh?" Kairi was very confused by this. "What's going here?"

"Yang, stop with that," warned Ruby as she put Zwei inside the bag she had to make sure he wouldn't escape again. "If you go on, you'll get on her bad side, and I don't think you'd want that. Sora said he would like us to be friends with the members of his guild and that's not helping."

"Hey, I'm not teasing or anything," said Yang. "I'm being serious here."

"To think that he had to deal with her for a week…" thought Kairi, starting to feel a bit bad for Sora. "I think I won't tease him too much from now on."

The redhead sighed before glancing at Yang, who was arguing with her sister about something. Putting aside what Yang did to Sora and her continuous teasing, Kairi had to admit the lilac-eyed student appeared to be a good girl. She had been helping Ruby to look for Zwei and she even sincerely apologized for flirting with Sora, even though she just did it because she thought Kairi was his girlfriend. This surely meant that she was going to continue doing it, but Kairi decided not to think about that…much. From now on, she just needed to keep a check on Yang every time she was around Sora.

"Well, who do we have here?"

Someone's hand landed on Kairi's shoulder, making her look behind her. She saw a tall guy with burnt-orange hair and indigo eyes standing right next to her, perhaps a bit too close. There were also other three guys around her. All of them were wearing uniforms, so they had to be Beacon students. Kairi wondered if they were also Sora and Ven's friends, but that was not the case since they were Cardin and his team. Yang and Ruby noticed Team CRDL around Kairi and immediately stopped arguing.

"Hey, what are you doing?" asked Ruby.

"Cardin, get your paws off her," said a frowning Yang in a warning tone. "You guys had better stay away from her."

"Relax, blondie, we aren't doing anything bad, are I?" said Cardin before turning to Kairi. "Say, are you a new student? I haven't seen you before, and I assure you I'd remember someone like you."

"We can show you around the academy," said Russel.

"Good idea," said Sky.

"Yeah, come with us and you won't get bored around here," assured Dove.

"Ugh, I'm not in the mood for this…" thought Kairi with a mildly disgusted look on her face as she thought of ways to make Cardin and the other three leave her alone, but Yang did that for her. Not in a way Kairi would have liked, though.

"Well, you guys can do whatever you want, I guess," said Yang as a smirk grew on her face. "But just so you know, she's Sora's girl and I don't think he'll appreciate seeing you guys so close to her. I can assure you he will find out if you four continue pestering our friend here."

Hearing the name of the leader of the Guardians triggered something in the four boy's brains. They hadn't forgotten what happened when Sora and Ven were in Remnant. Cardin looked dumbfounded at Yang's smug face before looking at Kairi. It was then when he noticed the crown badge on her belt. He immediately stopped touching her shoulder and got away from her. Also, the small blush on the redhead's face was all he needed to check if what Yang said was true, even thought it was just a wrong interpretation.

"Oh crap, you really are his…" Cardin and his partners started to step back slowly. "Look, I didn't know! Honest!"

"Yeah, if we had known, we wouldn't have even gotten close to you!" added Dove.

"Please, don't tell him!" begged Sky.

Team CRDL didn't take long before running away, which left Kairi really surprised. She wondered what Sora did to them to make them react like that just by hearing his name. Meanwhile, Ruby and Yang couldn't stop laughing at how Cardin and his team fled with their tails between their legs.

"Oh man, that was so funny," said Yang, who was still laughing a bit.

"You said it," said an amused Ruby. "This would be a good way to keep those four in check so they don't bother anyone. We'll have to thank Sora and Ven for kicking their butts."

"Wait, those were the bullies?" thought Kairi surprised. "That'd explain it."

"That sounds good to me." Yang, then, looked at Kairi. "Sorry about saying that you are…you know. I was trying to come up with something to make them go away and that was the first thing that came to my mind. But hey, it worked, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose it did." A small smiled appeared on Kairi's face. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," said Yang before walking up to Kairi and putting her arm around the Guardian's shoulder. "So, how about we try to not start this with the wrong foot? Our friends are in class, so how about we kill some time in the dining hall while we wait for them? Come on, I'll treat you to something."

"School food? Really?" said Kairi, looking skeptically at Yang.

"It's good," assured Ruby, although she didn't look very sure about that, herself. "Well, most of it. Depends on your tastes, I guess."

"All right, I'll take your word for it," said Kairi. Then, she looked at Yang with a small smirk. "And just so you know, I'm still keeping an eye on you, Xiao Long."

"Oh, come on, don't be so cold," said Yang, faking a pout which turned into a grin. "We're rivals, but we can also be friends, am I right?"

Kairi sighed and smiled. "I suppose…wait, what do you mean by rivals?"

-TLG-

1900hrs, August 21st, 2024
Forest near Death Vegas's desert, Earth

After a delicious meal and managing to evade Blair's assault, Sora, Naminé and half of the Spartoi left Death City and headed for the castle where they fought Maleficent once. Right now they were walking through the forest where the castle was located. Sora had some bad memories about this place, but he just shrugged it off. Besides, the face Maka had at this moment was distracting enough to make him avoid thinking about what happened two years ago.

"Are you kidding!?" Maka's widened eyes were fixed on Sora. "You are even allowed to take Level 4 books from Shibusen's library!?"

Sora grinned. "Yup."

"That's so not fair!" protested the Scythe Meister. "Do you know how much time I would have to wait to have access to every book!? Not fair!"

"Look on the bright side," said Soul. "Now you won't have to ask your dad for his ID if you ever want to read a high-level book. You can just ask Sora."

"Oh, that's true!" Maka's face illuminated as she realized this.

"Woah, hold on." Sora wasn't sure if he heard right what just Soul said. "Isn't that supposed to be against the rules? Who would have thought that the strait-laced Maka would do such a thing?"

"Hey, I'm not strait-laced!" Maka pouted. "And it's not like I've done it a lot of times…It's been a while since the last time I asked my dad for his ID."

"Manipulated would be more correct," commented Soul, earning a glare from his partner. "What? It's true."

Sora chuckled amusedly. "Putting that aside, why do you think I'm going to let you use my Shibusen ID, Maka?"

"You won't!?" asked Maka kind of shocked. "But why!?"

"I don't know…I might get into trouble," said Sora, obviously joking. "You'd need a really good reason to convince me. Otherwise, I won't lend you my ID."

"Sora…" said Maka with an unamused face. She pulled a book out of nowhere and started tapping it against her palm. "I really don't want you to give you your first Maka-Chop. You'd better don't give me a good reason to do it."

"Okay, okay, let's not get aggressive," said Sora, raising his hands in defense. "I was just kidding. No need to hit me. I don't want to receive chops from you too."

"Wise decision," said Maka smiling victoriously. "Wait, did someone 'chopped' you already?"

"A girl from Fairy Tail who likes books as much as you," replied Sora. "It wasn't as hard as the ones you give to Soul or Black*Star, though."

"Lucky you," said Soul.

"It was Levy, right?" asked Naminé.

Sora chuckled. "Yeah, it was her. I kinda deserved that one, I guess."

"Say, Sora, are those mages strong?" asked Black*Star. "Kid's dad told us they were really powerful."

"They are, I can assure you that," answered Sora. "The members of the Fairy Tail Guild are especially strong. It's not called the strongest guild in Fiore for nothing. However, the strongest guild of them all is my guild, of course."

"Such confidence," said Liz smiling. "Well, I suppose you're right. You are one of the strongest people we know. Then again, now these new Keyblade wielders…Ah, forget I said that!"

"It's all right," assured Sora with a smile.

"Ah, that reminds me I wanted to talk with you about something, Sora," said Kid after hearing Liz mentioning the dark Keybearers. "Don't take this the wrong day, but during your fight against Vulpe, you looked…off. I've seen you fight and I know you have a lot of useful abilities, but you didn't use any of them in that battle. You did better in your rematch with Black*Star and I think you could've done better against Vulpe."

"Hey, Kid, don't be so harsh," whispered Liz.

"As I said, I don't want you to take this wrong," continued Kid. "I'm just saying this because I want to know if you're feeling all right. If there's something wrong, I…we'd like to know."

The leader of the Guardian wasn't very surprised that the young Shinigami noticed something like that. He was sure the other Guardians were aware that he didn't fight as well as he could have. It's not like he could have won that fight even if he used all the techniques he learned, but it was true he could've done it better.

Sora sighed. "Perceptive as always, huh? To tell you guys the truth, I wasn't feeling myself that day…I was lacking of sleep, the night before that battle I found out about these Keyblade wielders and something that happened in another world still has me worried…Don't worry, though. I'm feeling great now!"

"Are you sure you are all right?" asked Tsubaki worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine, really," affirmed Sora.

"Really?" asked Black*Star.

Sora nodded. "Yup."

"Completely sure?" insisted Kid.

Sora groaned. "Why are you guys asking so much?"

"Because we know that, even if you were feeling like crap, you wouldn't tell us," replied Soul. "You wouldn't want us to worry about you, so you'd keep it for yourself like an idiot."

"And you're not a very good liar, so we'd end up finding out," continued Maka. "And that would worry us even more."

Sora was shocked. "What the heck!? How did they…!?"

"Oh wow, they know you so well," said Naminé very amused. "It's kind of reassuring, actually."

Soul smirked. "Well, this guy is easy to figure out. He's like an open book to us by now."

"Sora, you dummy, you'd better not be lying," said Patty as she pulled one of Sora's cheeks a bit too hard. Then, she looked at the Keybearer with a grimace. "If you are, I'll break your legs."

"I'm fine, I swear!" said Sora, not wanting the younger Thompson sister to pull a Nora on him. "I'm still worried about all this, but I promise I'm feeling better! Please, don't break my legs!"

"Okie dokie~" said Patty with a cute smile.

Kid smiled. "Well, if you're feeling down, you know what to do."

"Right," Sora returned the smile. "Geez, am I really that easy to read? Well, I'll admit it's kinda nice to know how well they know me…but also a bit scary."

"You know, this brings me back some good memories of how we used to work together with you two years ago," said Maka. "It's been quite a while, but I still remember how much fun we had while you were here."

"It sure was fun," agreed Sora. "Especially the quests we did. Soul, you and I cleared a forest of Heartless. Then I went with Kid, Liz and Patty to that abandoned mansion…"

"That place sure was creepy…" said Liz, who didn't hold many happy memories of that mansion. "Well, at least there weren't any ghost there."

"Sis, you were so jumpy you slapped Sora in the face," commented Patty.

Liz laughed nervously. "I forgot about that too. Sorry about that, Sora. It was kinda your fault, though. You shouldn't have sneaked up behind me like you did."

"It's fine, don't worry about it," said Sora smiling. He also forgot about that, but now that Patty mentioned it, he could remember how bad that slap stung. "As for Black*Star and Tsubaki, I didn't really go on a mission just with you two."

"Meh, it's alright," said Black*Star. "Back then the Heartless were something new, but now they are just like pushovers to me. Well, they always have been. Now I want to fight really strong people, not just some puny monsters."

"I think Black*Star is happy enough to have dueled with you when he met you, so don't feel bad about not taking us with you on a mission," said Tsubaki with a kind smile. "Right, Black*Star?"

"Yeah, whatever," said the blue-haired Meister.

"However, I can understand why you didn't take Black*Star with you," said Kid. "He's so conflictive that it would have caused you a lot of trouble."

"Oh, come on, stop bringing that up!" complained Black*Star. "It's been almost a year since that happened! Besides, it's not like it was only my fault!"

"What is he talking about?" asked a curious Naminé.

"To put it simple, he got into a fight," said Maka. "You see, Shibusen is not the only organization dedicated to safeguarding the world from any threat. There are more out there. There's one especially famous. It's the Earth's foremost major organization of superhuman crime-fighters, adventurers and heroes."

"Oh, boy…" said Sora, who appeared to know what organization Maka was referring to. "Please, tell me he didn't get into a fight with the Avengers."

"Bingo," said Soul.

"You know them, Sora?" asked Naminé.

"It's difficult to not know about them, especially for someone from the Earth," replied the brown-haired Guardian. "Well, technically I'm not from Earth, but you know that Destiny Islands is connected to this world. I've seen them in the news a couple of times. So, who did you fight, Black*Star?"

"That guy with the hammer," replied the Shadow Weapon Meister, who looked kind of grumpy having to talk about that fight. "I'd have won if Kid hadn't stopped me and if I had known that hammer of his was like a Keyblade."

"Thor, huh?" said Sora. "I should have known you fought him considering he's a god, or so I heard. Wait, his hammer is like a Keyblade?"

"Well, not exactly," said Maka. "Only those who are worthy can wield it. To anyone else, that hammer can't be lifted from the ground. Black*Star tried to, but he couldn't even move it an inch."

"So, he's not the only one who can wield it, then?" asked Naminé. "It is like a Keyblade in a way. People able to wield a Keyblade are able to use another person's Keyblade. Then again, if the original owner reclaims it, it'd come back to him. Right, Sora?"

Sora, however, appeared to be very focused on something at this moment. It was obvious there was something important going through his mind, and this made the other curious.

"Something in your mind?" asked Kid.

"I was thinking…if you put the hammer in an elevator, it would still go up, right?" said Sora crossing his arms. "Wouldn't that make the elevator worthy?"

"Sora…" The Shinigami brought his hand to his face.

"I said wield it, not move it," said Maka laughing. "The elevator is not worthy."

"Okay, what if I picked up Thor?" It was easy to tell Sora was joking now. "If I wield Thor, who is wielding the hammer, then wouldn't I be wielding the hammer?"

Soul groaned. "Man, cut it out."

"Please, stop…" said Liz while her sister laughed a lot. "It's nice to see you joking since that means you're actually feeling okay, but do us a favor and leave the issue about the hammer for another day."

"If you're curious, you can always ask that man called Thor," said Naminé. "Knowing you, I'm sure you'll end up meeting him someday."

"You know, it'd be great to have them on our side," said Sora. "They're not an organization I'd like to mess with."

"Someone did it not long ago, though," said Tsubaki. "I heard someone stole something from them."

"Really?" asked Sora surprised.

"Yes, some guy who calls himself Ant-Man," said Kid. "He stole a device from an Avengers base. It led to a fight between him and Falcon. However, I think he's part of the Avengers now. I'm not completely sure. I investigated a bit about it, but that's all I know."

"Wow, that's interesting," said Sora.

"Hey, enough talking!" said Black*Star. "We've been walking for a while. Shouldn't we have arrived to that castle already? This is getting boring. I need some action. Are there any Heartless around?"

"Let's leave that to the Human Radars," said Sora, pointing at Maka and Naminé.

"What's with that nickname?" asked Naminé somewhat offended. "So mean."

"I know right?" said Maka frowning. "Just because of that, we shouldn't use our ability."

Naminé nodded. "Agreed."

"Awww, you know I'm just kidding," said Sora, putting his hands together apologetically. "I need people with good concentration such like yours. Could you please use Heart Perception to see if there are any Heartless around?"

Maka crossed her arms. "Well, since you asked nicely…"

"Wait," said Kid raising his arms. He was looking at his surroundings, as if he felt someone's presence. "I think that won't be necessary. I sense some people in that direction. There are a lot of them, actually. If I remember correctly, the castle is in this same direction."

"Someone arrived before us?" asked Liz. "Is it a witch?"

"They appear to be normal humans," replied the Shinigami using his Soul Perception ability to see if there was anything unusual about those people. "However, there's something different about them, and one of them is especially different. I don't know what it is, but their souls are not Kishin eggs or anything."

Soul looked at his partner. "Maka, what do you see?"

"I can't tell you anything that Kid hadn't said," said Maka, who had her eyes closed to help her focus. "It's true there's something different about them. Their soul wavelengths are average, though. We shouldn't have any problem dealing with them."

"Let's check it out, then," said Sora. He noticed Black*Star was still with the group. "Oh, I thought you'd have gone after those people to fight them by now."

"Why should I bother?" asked Black*Star. "They said their power wasn't anything from other world. Besides, normally problems come to you, so I'm keeping an eye on you just in case someone strong appears."

Sora sighed. "So it was that, huh?"

The group moved forward and in a couple of minutes they finally reached the castle. All of them remained hidden in order to check who the people that were around the structure were. They weren't going to attack without making sure there were bad guys. However, who else would be in a place that Maleficent used as a meeting place? Sora and Kid were the first to take a look at the people around the castle. All of them were wearing similar clothes. Some of them had a blue jacket instead of a purple one, but every one of them had a white mask covering their faces. The mask had a symbol that was familiar to Sora.

"Hey, that symbol…" said Liz, whose head was poking out of a bush. "Isn't it the same one Emblem Heartless have on their bodies? It's all black, but the shape is the same, isn't it?"

"What?" Naminé's head appeared next to Liz's. "Yes, it's the exact same symbol."

"But they're not Heartless," said Maka as her head leaned out of the bush too. "Otherwise, Naminé and I would have noticed."

"If they have that symbol on their masks, then they must be bad guys," said Black*Star. "I say we crush them and then we ask them who they are."

"That's how you always do things and it doesn't always end up very well for us," said Soul. "It could be a trap, so let's not rush in there without a plan."

"But Maka said they weren't very strong," said Patty. "We can kick their butts easily."

"She's right," said Sora. "Hey, Kid, which one of them is the one you said is different from the others?"

"None of them," answered the black-haired Meister. "He must be inside."

"All right." Sora turned to Naminé. "Any ideas?"

"Hmmm, how about we—?"

"Hey, what are you kids doing there!?"

Before Naminé could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by one of the people who were around the castle. It looks like they got caught before even been able to come up with a plan. Sora and the others were told to come out and show themselves and they obliged. None of them were worried, but they decided to play along for the moment. Now they were surrounded by quite a few of those unknown people, pointing at them with swords, lances and…staffs?

"Why there's a bunch of kids hanging out in this place?"

"Yeah, don't you know this place is dangerous?"

"What are we going to do with them?"

"Should we call him? He'll know what to do."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. He already told us what to do with intruders. We better take care of them before he and the rest get out of that place. I'm sure they'll finish soon."

"Uh, guys," said Sora, trying to draw the masked people's attention.

"What do you want now?"

"I wanted to ask if by 'taking care' you mean 'eliminate'," said the Keyblade wielder. "I'm just curious."

"Yes, obviously," replied one of the masked guys.

"All right, that's all I wanted to know," said Sora grinning, which confused the masked people around him. He, then, turned to his friends with a casual smile. "So, who wants to go first? Black*Star?"

"If you insist," said the spiky-haired Meister smirking as he cracked his knuckles. He started walking up to the masked men in front of him. "You guys shouldn't have come here, you know?"

"Hey, stay where you are or you will regr—!"

Before being able to finish what he was going to say, the masked man was punched by Black*Star so hard that he was sent flying away and crashed against the castle. This shocked the rest of the masked men, and Tsubaki took this opportunity and transformed into her Kusarigama form. The girl's Meister, then, used the chain of the weapon to trap one of the masked men and used him to knock away the ones who were closer to him.

After that, all of them charged at the group of teens. One of them tried to attack Maka from behind, but Soul was quick, raised his leg, which he transformed into a scythe blade, and blocked his attack. Then, Maka grabbed his partner's hand as he fully transformed into his weapon form and swung him against the guy who tried to attack her, hitting other two guys at the same time.

Liz sighed. "It didn't took us long to start fighting."

"This way's much better, Sis!" said Patty excitedly.

"You're gonna pay for this!"

Two of the masked men jumped and raised their swords to slash the Thompson sisters, but the two girls avoided being hit by the blades by transforming into their gun forms. This left the two men confused, so they couldn't notice that Kid was aiming his twin pistols at them. The young Shinigami started shooting, neutralizing the two men who tried hurting his partners, and without stopping, he managed to take down at least fifteen of the masked men.

"I approve of your symmetrical uniforms, at least until I noticed that something was off." Kid looked at his opponents with disgust. "The tips at the end of your cloaks make them lose their symmetry. All of you are unsymmetrical garbage!"

"Oh, my…" Naminé was surprised at Kid's reaction to something unsymmetrical. "Sora, shouldn't we try to calm him down?"

"Who? Kid?" Sora turned to see that the Shinigami was obliterating every single masked guy that was in his way. "Nah, he's fine. He'll calm down when we're done with these guys."

"Okay, if you say so." As she talked, Naminé stepped aside to dodge two masked men who tried to attack her, allowing Sora to knock them out with a Keyblade slash. "Thanks."

"You're not going to…one moment…" Sora stopped talking and approached Naminé. He put his hand on her shoulder to move her a bit so he could cast a Blizzaga spell on a group of masked men, giving Maka the opportunity to defeat them more quickly. "There you go. Aren't you even going to summon your Keyblade?"

"You know I'd rather not to," said Naminé as she looked behind Sora. "One behind you."

"And you say I'm too nice for my own good." Sora turned around and saw a tall muscular guy with a big sword approaching him without good intentions. The spiky-haired Keybearer managed to disarm the brute before he could even attack him and with a swift swing of his Keyblade, he sent the masked man into the air. "Black*Star!"

"Got it!" Black*Star leaped to the guy who Sora threw into the air and landed on him, making him crash against the ground. "The big guy is out!"

"Nice one!" said Sora, giving the blue-haired Meister a thumbs up. He turned to his blonde guildmate again. "You know, I'm just saying this because I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'll fight if I'm in danger or if any of you need help, you know that." Naminé smiled at Sora. "Besides, you're protecting me right now, aren't you?"

"Well, someone has to do it," said Sora, scratching his head sheepishly. Then, he raised his left arm, hitting the face of a masked man that Kid sent flying toward him. "If something happens to you, Roxas will kill me."

"Did he tell you that?" asked Naminé with curiosity.

"No, but I know him, I'm sure he would kill me," affirmed Sora, making the girl giggle. "Anyway, I'll continue smacking around these masked guys."

"Actually, I think they're already done," commented Naminé, pointing at the Meisters.

"What?" Sora looked around and saw that all the masked men were lying on the ground, some of them trying to stand up. "Oh, that was fast. I thought it was going to take us more time."

"Please, I eat guys like these for breakfast," said Black*Star confidently. "Even if more of them appeared, I could still take them on without breaking a sweat."

Then, all of a sudden, one masked man who was inside the castle came out of the front door asking what was all that noise. The moment he saw all his allies on the ground, he panicked and started calling for back up. In less than a minute, the two Guardians and the Shibusen students were surrounded again by their enemies. They weren't as many as the last group, though.

"Black*Star…" said Tsubaki, still in her weapon form.

"You just couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you?" asked Maka irritated.

Kid sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter. It was either us going inside or them coming out. Let's finish this quickly."

"Hey, hey, who the hell do you think you are, you brats!?"

"Yeah, talking highly like that. Do you really think we're going to let you off the hook after what you've done to our comrades?"

"But they started it!" said Patty.

"If they had played nice, we wouldn't have had to hurt them," added Liz.

"Hey, who the hell is talking!?" asked one of the masked men.

"It's their weapons, idiot," replied a different one. "These kids must be from that academy the boss told us about."

"Who cares where they come from!? Let's take them out already!"

"Wait! Hold on!" Before any of the masked men could attack, they were stopped by one of their comrades. He sounded quite nervous, or even scared by something.

"What now!?" asked one of them.

"That boy…" the man who stopped his friends pointed at Sora, who raised an eyebrow quizzically. "I've seen him before. Isn't he that Keyblade wielder from Fairy Tail?"

This not only shocked the entire masked group but also Sora and his friends. How did they know about Fairy Tail? Sora and Naminé knew that knowing about the existence of other worlds was becoming something more common, but if there were people who were still unaware of that was the people from the Earth, or at least most of them. Could it be that these guys weren't from this world? If so, how did they get here? And where did they come from? Sora had a hunch, so he decided to ask one of them to see if he was right.

"You guys…aren't from Earth Land, are you?"

All the group of masked men reacted the same way, with shock. At first they were all surrounding Sora and his friends menacingly, but now they were starting to slowly walk away from them scared.

"I'll take that as a yes," said Sora, still a bit surprised by the fact that there were Earth Land people out of their home world. "This is…unexpected."

"So they're really not from this world?" asked Maka, surprised as well. "But how is that possible? I mean, what did they do to get here?"

"I think I know," said Naminé. "However, I hope I'm wrong."

"Only one way to find out," said Sora before turning to the masked bunch of people. "And I suppose they're not going to tell us even if we ask nicely. Guess we'll have to do this the hard way."

Black*Star smirked. "I like how that sounds. Whose bones should I break first?"

Tsubaki reverted to her human form after Black*Star let go of her. The blue-haired Meister started to crack his knuckles as he walked up to the masked men, who were starting to freak out.

"Oh, crap, what do we do!?"

"Fight back? It's not like we can do anything else…"

"But look at the others. They're more than us, and they still were defeated by these kids."

"All right, show time," said Black*Star with an intimidating look on his face.

It had been a while since the last time the Shadow Weapon Meister beat someone to a pulp, so he was sure he was going to enjoy getting information out of these poor masked men. Luckily, for them at least, Black*Star was interrupted before he could even start. It wasn't any of his friends grabbing him or anything, but someone who just opened the castle's front doors. It was a man with red eyes and long, spiky blond hair that reached down to his lower back. He was wearing a yellow and dark blue skirt-like armor with a red waist ribbon that exposed the right side of his chest as well as his right shoulder, in which he had the same symbol the masked men had on their masks.

"Hey, what's taking you so long!? Those books aren't going to move on their own, you know!?" The red-eyed guy looked really angry at the masked men. Then he noticed the two Guardians and the Spartoi members. "Uh? Who are those kids? Wait, don't tell me these brats are giving you trouble!? Do you want me to burn you to ashes!?"

"But sir, they're really strong…" said one of the masked men, trembling in fear. He pointed at the brown-haired Guardian. "And look who's with them…"

"What did I tell you about acknowledging other people's power!?" The blond man appeared to be really angry. He was about to do something to the group of masked me when he saw Sora. The look on his face changed from angry to unusual pleasant surprise. "Well, well, if it isn't the Key-brat from Fairy Tail! Who would have thought you were here? Maybe this won't be so boring, after all."

"This guy totally looks like someone who's not exactly in good terms with Fairy Tail," thought Sora, who was prepared to summon his Keyblade if the guy in front of the castle's entrance tried something. "Who are you?"

"Zancrow," replied the man. "I don't think you've heard of me before, so you'll have to ask those puny fairies if you want to know more. I, however, have heard about you and your guild. I was told to withdraw if I ever ran into one of you Keyblade wielders. I'm not going to do that, obviously."

"I remember Roxas said that the man he encountered in Fiore said the same thing," said Naminé. "He must be affiliated with Maleficent, too."

Zancrow laughed. "You're pretty smart, girlie. Yes, I'm working with her. Doesn't the symbol on my chest and their masks give that away for you?"

"She…created a guild?" said Kid.

"Guild, army…whatever you want to call it." Zancrow started walking up to where some of the masked men were. "You know, I'd have liked to get back that fire breather bastard for what he did to me, but I think beating up Fairy Tail's Keyblade wielder is the next best thing."

"Oh boy, this is not looking good…" muttered Liz.

"Hey, if you wanna fight someone, then fight me!" exclaimed Black*Star. "I wanna see how strong someone from that world is!"

"Huh? You kids are from that shitty academy, right?" Zancrow looked at the Spartoi group with disinterest. "I'm not interested in fighting weaklings so why don't you leave? Go play in the schoolyard or something like that."

Black*Star's eye twitched. "What did you say!?"

"Calm down, Black*Star," said Kid. "Don't let him get to you."

"Alright, then…" Zancrow looked at his group. "Those who were picking up the witch's stuff get back inside and finish the job. The rest of you, stand up and make sure those preschoolers don't interfere. The Keyblade wielder's mine. He's not someone you guys can handle, after all. I can handle him myself."

"B-but look at them," said Tsubaki, looking at the masked men who she and his friends fought. They managed to regroup, but none of them were in a good condition to fight. "You can't make them fight us again. They can barely stand up."

"She's right," said Kid. "They can't fight anymore, so leave them out of this."

Zancrow looked at the injured group of people. "Tch, that witch doesn't need weaklings...and neither do I."

Suddenly, black flames appeared around Zancrow's arms, and then they passed to his hands. The red-eyed mage created a huge black fireball, which he threw at the masked men who fought against Sora and his friends. Zancrow showed no remorse as he threw the fireball. Instead, he just laughed maniacally. The Spartoi group couldn't believe that he would go so far as to kill his own comrades.

"Dammit!"

Sora started running to try and stop the fireball, but someone did it for him. A shield made of light blocked the fireball and protected the injured men from it. An explosion was produced from that, but no one was hit by it. As the smoke cleared, everyone could see that the one creating the shield was Naminé, who had her True Light's Flight Keyblade in her hand. The girl didn't look very happy at all after seeing what Zancrow attempted to do.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked the blonde Guardian. "These are your allies."

"Oh, Nami-chan looks so cool~" said Patty really impressed.

"Patty, focus," said Kid, even though he was getting a bit distracted by the noticeable asymmetry of Naminé's Keyblade. "Who designed those swords!?"

Zancrow laughed. "You're a Keyblade wielder, too!? Wow, this is getting even better! As for them, as I said, I don't need weaklings. And if they're not trying to make themselves useful at least, then they're better off dead."

"This guy…" muttered Maka, tightening the grip on her scythe. "How can he—"

"You…" Sora interrupted the Scythe Meister. He appeared to be genuinely angry, something that was kind of hard to achieve. "You've managed to piss me off, Zancrow."

"Oh, did I touch a nerve?" Zancrow smirked. "Good! Come on, go nuts and fight me! I'll enjoy burning you to ashes!"

"Natsu beat you up, right?" Sora summoned his Keyblade and assumed his battle stance. "Then I'm afraid you'll be the one biting the dust here. You won't even get the chance to—"

Interrupting his sentence, something appeared between Sora and his new enemy. A portal, to be more specific, but it wasn't a Corridor of Darkness. It looked like it was made of light, instead. Everyone looked perplexed at the portal, wondering where it came from and who created. It was then when Sora and Naminé realized they've seen before a portal just like that one. Naminé started feeling someone really powerful coming out of the portal, which was all she needed to confirm her suspicions.

"Ah!"

Maka suddenly felt as if someone put their hands on her shoulders and pushed her down. That and the trembling that appeared in her legs made her fall to the ground.

"Maka!" Soul returned to his human form as soon as he saw his Meister lose her balance. "Hey, what's wrong!?"

"W-w-what's this…" Maka's voice trembled. "I just…I just sensed someone with Heart Perception…and it was so overwhelming…"

"A person?" Soul looked concerned at Maka before turning to the portal. "Someone's coming?"

Kid readied his twin pistols. "Another enemy?"

"So many interruptions…" said Black*Star annoyed. "It's getting old already."

Then someone finally walked out of the portal, a young man wearing a light blue robe, shirt, sash, and robe with purple tassels and golden embroidering. Despite having his face hidden under a hood, he was immediately recognized by Sora, who had already met that person. Naminé and the Shibusen gang, however, hadn't met him until now but they knew who he was because they had seen an image of him not long ago.

Tsubaki observed the cloaked man. "That person…isn't him one of…"

The man looked at all the people surrounding him until his eyes landed on Sora.

"We meet again, Sora."

Sora looked at the man with sharp eyes. "Cornis."

-TLG-

---

Well, I wanted to put more in this chapter, but I think its length is good enough. I'll see if I can fit a fourth scene in the next chapter so I can fit each team's part.

Putting that aside, surely you all know about Big Hero 6 being in KH3 if you were watching the D23 event. Well, even if you didn't watch it, I'm sure you know about it already. Anyway, this means that Sora already knows Hiro and the gang in this story, so it's very possible they'll appear in the fanfic.

Also, I recently played and finished FF Type-0 HD and I loved it. I'm planning to add Class Zero and more characters of that game in this story. Just saying this because I remember someone asking me if I could use them, but I can't remember who it was.

To thrawn92: I'm glad you liked it. It had been a while so I'm glad I didn't lose my touch.

It is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Sorry to disappoint you but the characters from Shingeki no Kyojin won't take part in the tournament. They wouldn't be any match for the other participants. Not even Eren in his Titan form has a chance of winning. I mean, they're just normal humans if you compare them to the Keyblade wielders, the mages from Earth Land, and the rest. Besides, they wouldn't be able to use their maneuver gear in the arena.

To Anthony627AA: Thank you.

To animelover276: That scenario would have worked too.

To dfozerker: As you could read, it wasn't because of the world order, but to keep him safe. Also, thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying my story so far.

To Sunny Lighter: An interesting deduction. We'll see what happened soon.

To kingdom hearts guy: I liked the film. If you're going to ask if it's going to be in the story, then I'll tell you that it's not impossible, but improbable. I'm not planning to use a lot of Disney worlds in this story.

To StrongGuy159: Thanks. That's from Kill la Kill, right? I still have to watch that anime. I'm quite interested in it and it might include it in the story, but I won't promise anything.

To Neku Sakuraba: You mean making Sora use Senel Coolidge's Eres? Nah, I'd rather not. He could combine it with magic as you said, though.

To kingdomkey0703: It sure has been a while, huh?

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. I'm fine, nothing much to tell. Thanks for asking.

To Pandora the Ghost Elf: Glad to hear that updating this story brightens your mood. Yes, I'm going to use Ao no Exorcist in this story. What you said about Rin is right, and it's one of the reasons I'll make Riku go with Sora on that mission. Well, can't say anything more about it, otherwise I might spoil you accidentally.

Sorry, but I'm not planning on using a lot of Disney. As for animes, I've got a bunch I want to use and I still haven't used, so I'm pretty much served in that department.

Well, as you could read in this chapter it wasn't very intriguing XD It just needed to be fixed by the Three Good Fairies.

I'm very happy to hear that you like my stories so much. It really encourages me to write more. I hope I can keep up and improve. Also, thanks for being so considerate and worry about me. I always try to take it easy when it comes to writing. Otherwise, these stories would be kinda rushed and not very good.

To GuestWithIdeas: The training room is like some kind of gym with a virtual reality room. I don't think it has any similarities with the Hyperbolic Time Chamber from Dragon Ball Z, though. Don't worry, since Sora will stay in Radiant Garden for a while once he returns from Death City, he and the other Keyblade wielders will have more interactions with the people of that world. The idea of a church that worships Keyblade wielders is not bad at all. I might use it in a different way, if you don't mind.

To colossalblackening: That date is just a placeholder, although if it changes, it won't be very different. Sora will enter SAO around that time.

It'll be like when he goes into Tron's world. His body will be turned into data.

To Mishka-chan0.0: Some wall breaking is necessary from time to time. Yeah, I know it would have been really funny, but I realized Sora surely remembered what happened the last time and would be prepared for Blair. I can see Yoruichi trying to surprise Sora like she did with Ichigo, so it might happen. As for Matsumoto…I don't think Sora will be prepared for that, so let's wish him luck.

To AnimeMasterDub: 1. I think you know the answer to this question. 2. I think this chapter answered this question. 3. They weren't actually expected at all. 4. I'm sure she keeps a record. 5. If you mean a serious fight, probably not. 6. That's a secret. 7. Who knows? Maybe they won't be able to. 8. I don't know. 9. Yes, he will. 10. Who?

To Guest: What do you mean? Is it because he's fooled around in the last chapter more than usual? He needs to disconnect from time to time, you know? He can't stay serious forever like some other characters.

To Gaia force: It might take him some time to get strong enough, but who knows? Maybe he'll find a way to do it faster. Wendy in Pooh's world is something I can almost guarantee 100% that it will happen.

To Red John: I'd really like to talk about this, but I have to keep it for myself for the time being. Authors can't reveal all the details of their stories, right? I can tell you one thing, though. One of the things you said might be used by the Guardians to get stronger.

To anon: What's with you and gods lately? It's not like they haven't fought against any god before. Look at Hades, for example.

To Guest: Character development takes time. It can't happen from one chapter to another. Sora's mature enough at this moment, much more than he was in Dream Drop Distance, although that's not difficult considering how he was in that game. Besides, how can you know how mature he is in KH3 if the game's not even out?

To Mapleworld321: Of course I'm excited! That trailer is exactly what we needed after months without any news about the game. Yeah, he does look really powerful and I love that. I'm sure Roxas and the others will be saved.

To Guest: Doubt it, sorry. I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars.

To Daxen123: A bit soon for a time-skip, don't you think? If it happens, it would be much later.

To Guest777: I think it's the same guy, but I think he got the idea. However, if he brings it up again, I'll make sure to tell him to stop. Roxas would have been a good option, too. Maybe he'll be the next one, if not they'll just meet during the Tournament Arc. Yes, Sora will keep the forms with his new outfit in this story. Don't know what will happen in the game, though. Nomura is considering using Drive Forms again, but who knows. I think I'm going to go with Weiss. Regarding the future arc, I'd have to give it some thought. It's interesting, but usually it is complicated to introduce time travelling in a story. I already gave hints in the story about two worlds. I might give more hints later and yeah, there will be some cameos from other animes. Also, I like long reviews, so no need to apologize. I think all fanfic writers here like them, actually.

To NRG: Alright, I've checked the RWBY wiki and a height chart of the characters that Monty posted on his Facebook and I think I can give you the Light Guardians height approximately. Sora, Ventus and Roxas are 5'8'' (1,73m). Kairi, Naminé and Xion's height is 5'7'' (1,70m). Riku is 5'11' (1,80cm) while Aqua is 5'10'' (1,78m). Lastly, Terra and Lea are 6'3'' (1,91m).

To KissLoveyDovey: She was born from Kairi's heart and Sora's body and soul, two Keyblade wielders, so I think she has what it takes to be a Keyblade wielder. Besides, it felt kinda wrong to me leaving her without a Keyblade while being part of the guild.

To Kpop: 1. I'd need to watch Magi in order to use it in the fanfic. As for other worlds that have magic, yeah, it's very possible. 2. That's a tricky question. It depends on the mage and the Keyblade wielder. S-Class Mages are closer than other mages to a Keyblade Master, but it also depends on which ones we're referring to. As for the other five Keyblade wielders (Vulpe and the other four), they completely overpower any mage or Guardian at this point of the story.

To Gameboy: Who knows?

To Alpha Alchemist: That Keyblade Cannon looks very good. I might use it if Sora and Kid ever do a Heart-Soul Resonance, if you don't mind. Yeah, I also thought about the Soul Eater and Beacon characters doing combined techniques since Soul Wavelength and Aura are kinda similar. The one you mentioned with Yang and Kid sounds quite interesting.

To soul breaker: Okay?

To zackstone13: Exams, university, life…those kinds of things, you know? If you're going to ask me thing, I'd prefer if you used a Private Message. This is the review section, not the 'ask the writer why he doesn't update faster' section.

To Eren: I guess. I mean, I'm not going to write them saying it all the time they use a spell because it'd be repetitive. You just have to assume they said it.

To Guest: Maybe he will, maybe he won't.

To Aruton900: It's very possible I'll use Rave Master, but I can't confirm anything 100% yet. As for Keyblade Inheritance Ceremonies, that is very unlikely. I'm not planning to give Keyblade to characters outside the Kingdom Hearts series.

Thanks, I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the story.

To nick: I'm gonna stick to what I have planned.

To ice dragon: Yes, I watched MÄR a long time ago. As for the original world, you'll see.

To MnM: I think this chapter answered your question, although Giriko (a Soul Eater villain) appeared in chapter 13 and was implied that he worked for Maleficent. However, if you're referring to more important villains, then the only thing I'll say is to wait and see. I don't want to reveal anything from now on.

To red tail: Wendy will surely enjoy the change of roles, Sora being the younger of the two. Lucy would find it funny and cute, I think. Don't know how Erza would react, though.

To Just passing by: Well, this is after KH3 so he technically has all those abilities already.

To GREAT CELESTIAL-DRAGON: Glad to hear the grammar improved a bit. I know all of you are eager to read the Tournament Arc, but it takes time. There are still characters that haven't appeared in the story that I want them to be in Radiant Garden, and I don't want to rush it. As for Roxas, Xion, Lea and Naminé…I don't think they'll join any other guild, but that could change in a future maybe. Isa, as you could read in this chapter, didn't join the Light Guardians as a member in the end, so he won't be joining any guild.

It's a nice change since most fanfics use Xehanort or the Organization as the main villains, right?

I can assure you that it won't end up well. As you said, just Natsu would be enough to cause a wreck, but if you add more conflictive characters, then it will be much worse. Surely Leon and the committee will need to restore some parts of the city again.

To Blade master: I'm thinking about using Kill la Kill. I have to watch it first before deciding, though.

To Guest J: 1. I haven't started reading the last arc in the manga, so I don't think they'll appear in the Bleach part of the story. 2. I prefer not to talk about future visits. You'll have to wait and see what happens. 3. She'll find out, but probably not in the next visit. 4. I have plans for a restaurant chapter in a future, but it won't be Yajima's restaurant. However, your idea sounds good, so I might use it for a different chapter. 5. Yes, he will.

To blaze nova: Already thought of that.

To Binan: The Titans from SnK just need to be slashed in their napes to be defeated, so I don't think they would last long against any Guardian. Even if it's one of the "special" Titans, the difference of power would be still a lot.

To Brawl: Something similar to the arena where the Grand Magic Games take place, at least in size since there are going to be a lot of people in Radiant Garden, so something like Olympus Coliseum would be too small.

To Elizabeth: Yup, I watched the KH3 part of the D23 event.

To Guest2: I think I can handle this on my own, thank you.

To super sayian god: Already thought of that.

To Guest3: I think I'll pass. It's a good idea, but I'd rather use the same evil Maleficent and not change her to be like the one in that movie.

To sakura-hime: True, but the reason Aqua fought Kagura was because the mage received an order from her Guild Master to do so. Aqua respects people with high rank and their decisions, and that's why she didn't refuse to fight Kagura.