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.

32. Training and Thieves

Here you go, a new TLG chapter.

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Chapter XXXII

Training and "Thieves"

0956hrs, August 24th, 2024
Survey Corps' Training Yard, Radiant Garden

After the events that took place in Death Vegas' forest, Sora and Naminé returned to Death City with Maka and the rest of the group. The two Guardians wanted to make sure they arrived in Death City without any problems before leaving for Radiant Garden. After all, Black*Star and Kid were injured during the fight, especially the Shinigami. When they reached Shibusen, the Keyblade wielders said goodbye to the students and left.

They only found Riku and Lea in the guild, the others were still out there, warning their friends about the Dark Hunters. Riku and the pyro asked the other two if everything was all right and if they could deliver the message. Sora and Naminé, then, started telling them what happened in the forest. It shocked them, but at least none of them were hurt. Sora also explained Riku and Lea about why he didn't want any of the Dark Hunters find Maleficent and they agreed with him completely. Riku still called him an idiot for being so reckless, though.

Now it's been one day since Sora and Naminé returned. The rest of the Guardians still hadn't come back yet. Lea was starting to worry about Roxas and Xion, so he decided to pay a visit to Isa and the rest of the former members of the first Organization XIII to pass the time. Riku went to the marketplace because there were some reports of people being pickpocketed a lot lately. Naminé was on the computer doing what Sora would call 'complicated stuff'. Sora, on the other hand, was training. Yes, training. Normally he would be taking a walk around Radiant Garden or napping, but not this time. A few days ago, Sora asked Levi, the captain of the Survey Corps, to train him in close combat. The boy wanted to learn how to fight hand to hand since his fight with Vulpe. The Keybearer was glad that Levi was going to train him, but he didn't expect the captain to wake him up so early. He didn't even let Sora have breakfast.

Sora and Levi were now in the yard behind the Survey Corps' headquarters, which was the same as the Restoration Committee's as you already know. The Keyblade wielder didn't know how much time had passed since the first training session with Levi started, but he didn't care. The more he trained, the better he'll get. Before they started, Levi told Sora that, during their sessions, he was not to use his Keyblade or any kind of magic and the Guardian agreed. It wouldn't be a hand to hand combat training if he used weapons or magic, after all.

One would think that Levi was beating up Sora, at least someone who didn't know he was training the Keyblade wielder. The two of them were having a hand to hand fight, and it kind of looked one-sided in Levi's favor. The captain was barely hit while the Keyblade wielder had his face full of bruises and even had some blood. There were some soldiers watching them, and they were starting to worry about the young boy who, no matter how many times hit the floor, stood up and continued fighting. One of them couldn't stand watching anymore and decided to step in and stop the training.

"That's enough!"

Both Sora and Levi stopped the moment they heard a familiar voice telling them to. They looked to the person who was approaching them. It was the female member of Levi's squad, Petra, and she didn't look very happy. Levi wasn't very pleased, either.

"Hey, Petra, what do you think you're doing?" said the captain. "I thought you said you were glad I decided to help Sora. Why are you stopping us?"

"Look at him!" exclaimed Petra, pointing at a pretty beaten up Sora. "You've been hitting him for 4 hours! Don't you think that's enough for today?!"

"No, Petra, it's all right, really!" Sora tried to defend his trainer, but now that the adrenaline rush was gone, he was starting to feel the pain completely and was starting to think she was right. "Well, maybe not all right…but don't worry, I still can—"

"No, you don't!" Petra raised a scolding finger. "I'll be right back with a first aid kit. Don't you dare start fighting again or I'll get angry."

Sora looked at Petra as she left and then turned to Levi, who just rolled his eyes. He didn't like the interruption and Sora had to admit that, despite the pain, he would've liked to continue. Still, he appreciated Petra's gesture. Besides, he didn't want to argue with her. For being just a normal human, she could be pretty scary. Must be an ability women had.

"So, what should we do?" asked Sora as he wiped some blood off his face. "You're her captain, so…"

"Yes, but she's as stubborn as a mule, so I think we should do as she says or she won't leave us alone," said Levi. "Besides, she's kinda right. I think four hours are enough for the first session. I lost track of time. Guess punching and kicking you is more fun than I thought."

"Seriously, I don't know when he's joking or being serious!" thought Sora. "Okay, then. So…what's your opinion?"

"You definitely need to improve," replied the captain. "You seem to be a fast learner, so you shouldn't have any problem as long as you practice. Your swordsmanship is self-taught, right? Then you'll have to it the same way for this. Watch other people's combat styles and remember the advices I gave you today. Can you do that?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah, I will. I have to. So, how about another session tomorrow? Maybe at the same hour?"

"Are you going to be here tomorrow?" Levi looked slightly surprised. "Don't you have any missions or worlds to protect from the Heartless?"

"I promised Riku I would stay here at least for a couple of weeks," replied Sora. "He said I needed to rest. He'll take care of any important missions we get."

"Two weeks?" Levi started thinking about something before he continued talking. "All right, we'll train every day until you can leave again. What do you think?"

"That's perfect." Sora smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Levi."

"Don't thank me yet," said the captain before noticing her squad member was back. "Petra's here. Go and let her heal you. See you tomorrow."

Sora nodded before heading for the bench where Petra was waiting for him. The other four members of the Military's Special Operations Squad were with her. They probably saw her taking a first aid kit and decided to follow her to see why she did it. They understood the moment they saw Sora making his way to where they were. However, Eren apparently didn't know. You could tell by the look on his face.

"Woah, Sora, what happened?!" exclaimed a shocked Eren as Sora reached the bench and sat on it. "Who did that to you?!"

"Is it that bad?" asked Sora. "Well, I suppose it look as bad as it hurts. Your Squad Leader hits harder than I imagined."

Eren blinked, perplexed. "Captain Levi? What did you do? Make fun of his height?"

"What? No!" replied Sora. Petra started cleaning his wound and disinfecting them with alcohol, which didn't feel quite nice. "Ouch…that hurts!"

"I'll be done sooner if you don't flinch," said Petra.

"First training session with Captain Levi, huh?" Eld smiled sympathetically. "He sure did a number on you."

"Still, you seem to be doing much better than the other soldiers who asked him to train them," said Gunther. "Most of them ended up in the infirmary, barely being able to move. All of them abandoned after that. You, however, still can walk on your own."

Sora chuckled. "Well, I'm not planning on abandoning. Besides, I'm going to be here for at least two weeks, and we agreed that we would train every single day until then."

"Excuse me?!" asked Petra as she finished putting a bandage around Sora's head. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"Kid, do you have a death wish or something?" asked Oluo. "Captain Levi always goes all out when he trains someone. You'll die."

"And a lot of people will die if I don't do this," replied Sora, taking the soldiers off guard. "I have to get stronger. You know about the Dark Hunters. If I don't get stronger, then they will continue doing what they want. I can't allow that."

"I understand," said Eren. "People are counting on you and you don't want to let them down."

Sora smiled. "That's right."

"I see it's a very important reason, then," said Gunther. "I suppose that's why Captain agreed to help you out."

"However, you should take care of yourself, too." Eld smirked. "There's no point in dying before you start getting better, right?"

"Yeah, you're right," replied Sora.

Petra sighed as she put the last bandage. "I guess I can't make you change your mind, then. Well, it's also Captain Levi's decision, so I don't think I could've done it anyway. But seriously, he could have held back at least a little…"

"It's all right, this is exactly what I wanted," affirmed Sora. "I can't have him going easy on me if I want to improve. That's why I asked him to train me. Anyone else wouldn't have gone this far."

"Geez, Petra, you're always caring too much about the kids around here," said Oluo. "You're like an overprotecting mother."

"What's the matter, Oluo?" asked Sora with a smirk. "Jealous?"

"Why you litt—" Oluo tried to get closer to Sora, but he tripped with a small rock and bit his tongue, as usual. "Aaargh!"

"Idiot…" thought Petra as he handed Oluo a handkerchief so he could stop the bleeding. "Well, someone has to do it, especially with this one over here since I heard he tends to get into trouble frequently. Tifa and Aerith are busy right now and Aqua is not here, so it's up to me."

"Heh, you're a lucky guy," said Eld, patting Sora's back. "It must be great to have so many ladies taking care of you."

"More like suffocating," thought Eren.

"Yeah," said Sora smiling. He turned to the female soldier. "Thanks a lot, Petra."

Petra returned the smile. "Aww, you're welcome."

"Why did you bandage him up anyway?" asked Gunther. "Sora, can't you use some kind of magic to heal your injuries?"

Sora nodded. "I can, but…"

"Don't be silly." Petra put her hands on her hips. "If you always use magic to heal yourself, your body will get used to it and it won't be able to heal itself naturally at some point."

Sora was about to say something, but then started thinking about what Petra said. It actually made sense, but he had been using healing spells since he got his Keyblade and his body was fine, or so he thought.

"Did you just make that up?" asked Eren.

"Of course not!" replied Petra.

"Since when are you an expert when it comes to magic?" asked Eld.

"It's common sense!" said the woman.

"You never make any sense," commented Oluo.

"What did you say?!"

"I'd better not get involved in this," thought Sora. "I'm outta here."

The Keyblade wielder slowly walked away from the group as they argued. He managed to reach the back door of his guild and cross it without them noticing. He didn't even know why they started quibbling, but he preferred not to get involved since he knew that trying to stop them was of no use.

After making his way to the Light Guardians Guild, Sora headed for the main hall. He found no one there except for Naminé, who was still on the computer. She looked quite focused on whatever she was doing, but still could hear how someone approached her. The blonde looked to her right and her eyes went wide when she saw the bandaged boy walking up to her.

Naminé stood up. "Sora, what happened to you?! Where have you been?!"

"At the yard behind the Restoration Committee's building," replied Sora. "I've been training with Levi. He's going to help me improve my close combat skills."

"Are you sure he isn't trying to kill you instead?" asked Naminé concerned. "You look far worse than after your fight with Vulpe. Who put you those bandages?"

"Petra, one of the members of Levi's squad." Sora touched the bandage that was around his head. "She was watching us fight and ended up stopping the training. I guess she didn't like watching her captain beating me up."

"Seriously, you're hopeless." Naminé sighed. "At least there was someone there who cared about your well-being. You're lucky neither Riku nor Kairi are here."

"Well, you're here telling me off in their place, so everything's fine," said Sora with a smile and giving the girl a small pat on the head. "So, what were you doing?"

"Just adding some things to our database," replied Naminé. "The Dark Hunters, Maleficent's army, Zancrow and those soldiers…Also about that mysterious girl. I wonder who she was."

"Probably she's also with Maleficent," said Sora. "Zancrow seemed to know her. And she helped him escape from Cornis. Well…'helped'. Those guys who were inside the castle surely could escape with her help. Still…"

"Still?"

"Why did Zancrow call her 'ice cream head'?" asked Sora, making the girl look at him bewildered. "I don't get it."

"And here I was, thinking it was something important," thought Naminé. A small smile appeared on her face. "He's still such a dork."

"What do you think?" asked Sora.

"Maybe because of her hair?" said Naminé, and the boy looked confused at her. "You know, her hair was brown, pink and white. It's like chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. There's an ice-cream made of blocks of those flavors. I think it is called Neapolitan ice cream."

"That makes sense, I guess." Sora touched his chin pensively. "Also, she winked at me, so it's very possible Maleficent told her about me."

"She must be very strong," added Naminé. "She could even trick Cornis with that illusion she created. At least, I think it was an illusion. Anyway, regarding Zancrow, I think you should call Fairy Tail and ask Natsu about him. He might have some useful information about him."

"That's a good idea," said Sora. "Before I do that, what did you add about the Hunters?"

"Just small bits," replied Naminé. "The name of their group and that Cornis is able to use Heart Perception. You know, I still don't get it…I could understand that he can't see his own darkness, but he should be able to see his friends'. Aqua could sense Vulpe's and Ursus' darkness, but Cornis, who must have an even better Heart Perception than Aqua, can't? It's like…"

"Like?"

Naminé sighed. "It just doesn't make sense. I need to give it some more thought. Here, just press the 'Enter' key and wait until someone from Fairy Tail picks up the call. I'll be right back. We're out of Sea-salt ice cream and I want to replenish our freezer before Roxas and Xion are back."

Sora chuckled. "Right, Lea got the last one. All right, then."

The leader of the Guardians looked at the guild's computer as Naminé left the building to buy ice cream. He pressed the key his guildmate told him to and sat on the chair in front of the computer to wait for someone to respond. As he waited, he checked the bandages of his arms. Petra did a great job. The pain was starting to disappear, but it was still there.

"Who is it?"

A white-haired woman picked up the call.

Sora smiled. "Hello, Mira."

"Sora!" Mirajane was glad to see the Keybearer again. "Hello, how are you—Oh my god, what happened to you?!"

"I was training hard…really hard," replied Sora scratching the back of his head. "Don't worry, though. I'm fine."

"Oh my, you need to be more careful," said the S-Class Mage concerned. "I don't like seeing you hurt."

"Kids these always take everything too far."

Sora recognized that voice. "Master, are you there?"

"He's right next to me," said Mirajane as she moved the Communication Lacrima closer to Fairy Tail's Guild Master. "There you go."

"Hello there, Sora." The short, elderly man was sitting on the guild's bar as usual. "How are you doing?"

"Can't complain," replied Sora smiling.

"Sora-san called?"

"Yo, Sora! What's up?"

Now it was the turn of the two Dragon Slayers of Sora's old team to appear. The Exceeds weren't with them, though. That was strange since they were always together. The other members of Team Natsu weren't around, either. Or maybe they still hadn't realized Sora called.

Sora chuckled. "Hey, Natsu, Wendy, it's good to see you."

"Wait, what the hell?" Natsu brought his face closer to the Lacrima momentarily to take a better look at Sora. "You are all messed up! What happened to you, bro?"

"I was training," answered Sora. "It got a bit out of hand, I guess."

"You're even more hurt than the day we called you," said Wendy with a sad look on her face. "I don't like seeing you hurt…"

"Right?" said Mirajane. "I told him the same thing. Sora, you—"

"Please, don't do this…" Sora lowered his gaze. "I have to get stronger…We have new enemies and you know how strong they are. I have to do this."

"But…"

"Come on, don't make it harder for him," said Makarov. "You're making him feel bad for worrying you. What he needs now is encouragement."

"Yes, you're right," admitted Mirajane. "But he also needs someone who cares about his own safety."

"I wouldn't worry about that," said Sora smiling. "There are plenty of people around here who are keeping an eye on me. Anyway, thanks for your concern, guys, but I don't need more 'moms' right now."

"Aww, don't be like that," said Mirajane pouting. "I like acting as a motherly figure. And I'm pretty good at it, too. Want me to make you a demonstration? I just need some pictures of you when you were a baby and…"

"Mira, you're scaring me…" said Sora.

"You should've seen her some years ago," said Natsu. "Now that was scary. She was known as 'The Demon'."

This really surprised Sora. "Woah, really?!"

"Hey, don't tell him that, Natsu!" protested Mirajane. "You're mean."

Natsu laughed. "Sorry, sorry."

"I'm kinda curious now…" thought Sora.

"So, is there any reason you called, Sora?" asked Makarov.

"Ah, yes, there is," replied Sora before looking at the Fire Dragon Slayer. "I wanted to talk with you, Natsu. You know a guy called Zancrow, right?"

By the look on Natsu's face, Sora could tell that he knew the guy. However, apparently he was not the only one. Wendy and Makarov also looked very surprised when Sora mentioned the name of the God Slayer he met in Death Vegas' forest.

"I sure do!" replied Natsu. "I defeated that guy on Tenrou Island! I don't know where he is right now. I wonder if he escaped…"

"He's a Flame God Slayer," said Wendy. "He was a member of Grimoire Heart, a powerful Dark Guild."

"The guild was dissolved after we defeated them," added Makarov. "How do you know about him? I don't remember telling you anything about Grimoire Heart. Who told you?"

"I ran into the guy a few days ago," replied Sora, surprising the mages. "It looks like he's working for Maleficent now. There were more mages with him, but they didn't look as strong as him. Apparently, that witch has an army now."

Makarov looked troubled. "Could it be that the members of Grimoire Heart are now working with her? It would explain how those guys escaped without leaving any trace."

"Who escaped?" asked Sora.

"It happened before you came to visit in July," said Mirajane. "The members of Grimoire Heart who were arrested escaped from the Council's prison. They vanished. The Council is still looking for them."

"I see," said Sora crossing his arms. "If they used a Corridor of Darkness, they could've escaped without anyone noticing."

"Wait, you saw him in another world?" asked Natsu, and Sora nodded. "Dammit! It's not fair! He got to leave Earth Land before me!"

"Natsu, that's not the important thing here," said Mirajane. She looked at Sora. "Say, did you have to fight him? I remember that the members of that guild were really strong."

"I had to protect him actually," said Sora.

"Excuse me?"

"You what?!"

"Care to explain, Sora?" asked Makarov. "Who or what did you protect him from?"

"Cornis, one of those five dark Keyblade wielders," replied Sora. "They call themselves 'Dark Hunters'."

The elderly man nodded. "Right, Erza told me about that."

"He was going to make Zancrow take him to Maleficent's hideout so he could destroy her army, but I couldn't allow that." Before the mages could ask, Sora continued and explained the reason. "Maleficent takes control of good people and turn them to her side. I can't let them kill people who aren't actually evil and are just being controlled."

"You're so nice," said Mirajane. "Anyone would've let those Keyblade wielders deal with Maleficent without caring about that."

Wendy smiled. "That's Sora-san for you."

"That's me," said Sora with a grin. "One more thing, is there any more of these God Slayers around? Just curious since I didn't know there was actually a type of magic used to slay gods."

"Chelia is a Sky God Slayer," said Wendy.

"Sherry's cousin?!" Sora was taken by surprise. "Wow…"

"And one of the members of Sabertooth is a Lightning God Slayer," said Mirajane. "We don't know any gods, but their magic is really powerful for fighting for humans too."

"Well, I do know gods," said Sora. "That's why I asked. One of them is a demi-god, but I guess he also counts. One of them was with me when I met Zancrow. He got hit by his magic and it affected him more than he expected."

"You know gods?!" Natsu was impressed. "That's so cool! There must be a lot of awesome people out there!"

"Yeah, there are a lot of cool guys around the worlds." Sora started giving some examples. "Talking animals, gods, a man raised by gorillas, mermaids, a skeleton, ghosts, people who transform into weapons, a girl with magic hair, a healthcare robot member of a superhero team, a monkey guy, a bunny girl, a cat girl, a genie, a flying carpet, a pirate…"

"Hey, what about us?!" asked Natsu kind of indignant. "Aren't we cool or what?"

"Oh, you guys know you're the coolest," said Sora. Then he started hearing some loud noises coming from the Restoration Committee's building. "Listen, I need to go check something, so I'll hang out the call. It was nice talking with you guys."

"Very well," said Makarov. "Take care, Sora. Call again if you need anything from us."

"Bye, Sora-san," said Wendy. "Come visit when you have the time."

Natsu grinned. "See ya, man!"

"Goodbye, Sora," said Mirajane as she raised her hand to deactivate the Lacrima. She said something before doing it. "Don't think I forgot about what I said before. One day I'll see those pictures of you, so you'd better prepare."

The call ended after Mirajane said that.

"…" Sora started at the computer's screen with a blank expression. "Someone help me, please…"

The boy stood up from the chair and headed for the door that connected his guild with the RC's headquarters. The noises stopped, but now he could hear someone shouting, and he could swear it was Cid. Before he could reach the door, someone opened it. It was Terra, followed by Ventus, who was carrying a box. The blond Guardian closed the door as soon as he crossed it.

Sora was glad to see them. "You're back!"

"Hey, Sora, how are you?" Terra, then, noticed the bandages. "What the…"

Sora raised his hand to stop him. "I was training with Levi. I'm fine, so don't worry about me."

"All right, if you say so," said Terra, still a bit concerned. Then a loud noise, like a table hitting a wall, could be heard. "Good grief…"

"What's going on in there?" asked Sora.

"Let's say someone broke a Gummi Ship and Cid is a bit upset," replied Ven. Another loud noise. "Okay, very upset."

"I wouldn't want to be that guy," said Sora, knowing how angry Cid could get if someone broke one of his 'girls'. "So, how's everything? Could you find Yen Sid?"

"Yeah, and Master Eraqus was with him!" answered Ven. "We asked them if they knew anything about Vulpe and the other Keyblade wielders, but they didn't know anything."

"However, it seems that their names were slightly familiar to them," added Terra. "We might be onto something, so we'll have to wait. They'll communicate with us if they find out anything."

"Great, at least we're making progress, even if it's little by little," said Sora. "Anything else?"

"Yup, we have something for you from Flora, Fauna and Merryweather," said Ventus with a smile as he showed Sora the box he had. "Here you go."

Sora took the box. "The Three Good Fairies? Wait…Don't tell me it's my outfit!"

"You got it," replied Terra.

Sora opened the box and saw the clothes he wore during his third journey with Donald and Goofy along with a note. He walked up to the table in the middle of the guild hall and put the box there. Then he grabbed the small piece of paper and read it.

"What does it say?" asked Ven.

"They send us their greetings," replied Sora as he read the paper. "They could restore my outfit and they ask me to be more careful."

"Can't blame them for that," said Terra. "After the battle in the Keyblade Graveyard, your clothes were in very bad shape. You'd better take care of them from now on."

"Yeah, you're right," said Sora. "I have to thank them the next time I see them. Well, I'm gonna go change. Be right back."

Sora took the box and walked up the stairs that led to the second floor of the guild, where the Guardians' rooms were. Ven watched how Sora left as Terra sat on the nearest chair to him. When Sora was out of sight, Ven turned to Terra and started talking.

"He looks the same to me," commented Ven.

Terra was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Before we left, I talked with Kairi," replied Ven. "She commented me that she noticed Sora acting a bit strange…Like he's feeling down or something. I know that, considering what's been happening lately, it's normal he would feel like that. However, I haven't noticed anything."

"Well, you know he and Kairi share a close bond," said Terra. "Surely she notices things about him we don't. Still, I'm sure he's fine. Sora just needs some rest and he'll be as good as new."

Then, the guild's front door opened. Both Ven and Terra looked at the entrance of the guild and saw Naminé followed by the two Guardians who went to Amestris. Roxas was carrying a lot of bags, one of them was brown while the others were white. He was carrying a couple of them with his mouth.

"Sora, guess who I found…Oh, he's not here…" Naminé noticed the other two Guardians. "Ven, Terra! Welcome back!"

Ven smiled. "What's up?"

Terra looked at Roxas. "Why do you have so many bags?"

"I had the feeling we were out of Sea-salt ice cream, so I went to buy more before coming here," replied Roxas after putting all of the bags on the floor. "Now we have plenty."

"Dude, you have a problem…" said Ven, a bit shocked to see that Roxas bought so many ice cream. "Seriously, you need help."

Xion giggled. "Tell me about it."

"Oh, you think so, too, Xion?" said Roxas. "No ice cream for you, then."

"Wha?!" Xion's eyes widened. "Noooo!"

Terra stood up from the chair and went to grab all the ice cream bags. It wasn't very hot, but if they left them there, they will melt. He started carrying the bags to the guild's kitchen. Ven decided to help his friend out and, as he moved the bags, he noticed the brown one Roxas had.

"Hey, what's in that one?" asked Ven.

"Your armors," replied Xion. "All of them are finally repaired. You just need to take them to Merlin so he can restore their magic."

"That's great!" said Ven. "Did you hear that, Terra?"

"Yeah," replied the brown-haired man as he came out of the kitchen. "It'll be great to finally be able to travel to other worlds without having to ask Cid for a Gummi Ship. So, do you guys have anything to report?"

"Not really," said Roxas. "What about you?"

"There's something, but let's wait for Sora first," said Ven, who just returned from the kitchen. He looked at Naminé. "You went with Sora to another world, right?"

Naminé nodded. "Yes, we went to Death City, and we've got a few things to tell you. I'd rather wait for Sora, though. Where is he anyway?"

"Right here," said Sora, now wearing his red and black outfit. He walked down the stairs with a grin pasted on his face. "Hey, it's Roxas and Xion! Good to see you!"

As Sora reached the ground floor, Ven noticed that he no longer had any bandages on his body. He just assumed Sora used a Curaga spell on himself.

"Hey, love the new-old look!" said Xion.

"You got that outfit back!" said Naminé surprised. "Where did you get it?"

"I assume it has something to do with you two, right?" said Roxas, looking at Ven and Terra. "So, was Yen Sid in his tower?"

"He was," replied Terra. "And Master Eraqus was there, too."

"Good news, at last," said Xion. "So, did they know something about Leo and the other four?"

"Nah, they didn't," replied Ven. "However, it seems they've heard their names before, so we might get some new information on them. We just need to wait for Yen Sid and Master Eraqus to find out. They'll communicate us the moment they get something new."

"That's good to know," said Naminé. "Anything else?"

"After that we went to Olympus Coliseum to see how Phil and Hercules were doing," said Terra. "The coliseum was badly damaged after the last games and they are restoring it. It seems that someone stole your title, Sora."

"You mean someone defeat Herc in a fight?!" Sora was really surprised to hear this. "Who was it?"

"At first we didn't want to take anything for granted, but…" A troubled look appeared on Ven's face. "It's highly possible a Keyblade wielder."

The rest of the Guardians, except for Terra, were shocked to hear this. There was another Keyblade wielder? Was it one of the Dark Hunters or someone different? If it wasn't a Hunter, then was it a good or an evil Keyblade wielder? Hearing that Herc was defeated by a Keyblade wielder, worried Sora.

"Is Hercules all right?" asked the Guild Master.

"Yeah, don't worry, he was perfectly fine," replied Ven. "Although that battle happened weeks ago according to Zack, so I don't know if he ended up badly wounded after that fight."

"Zack Fair?" asked Naminé. "That boy you met when you first visited that world?"

Terra nodded. "He's changed a lot since then. We brought him back here. Apparently, he's from this world. He's even part of the Heartless Resistance group."

"That must be the guy who broke the Gummi Ship," thought Sora. "So, are you completely sure it was a Keyblade wielder?"

"Well, not one hundred percent sure, but Phil and Herc think he was using a Keyblade," said Ven. "And it's not like you can mistake a Keyblade with anything else. We also asked Zack for a description of that guy and his weapon. It really sounded like he was using a Keyblade."

"He has blue eyes and silver hair." Terra started describing the supposed Keyblade wielder's appearance. "He wears a white shirt and black vest on top, and dark grey pants. He also wears black boots and has red scarf around his neck, as well."

"It doesn't sound like anyone I know," said Sora. He sighed in frustration. "Great, as if we hadn't enough problems already."

"Actually, he might not be a problem," said Ven. This caught the others' attention. "Apparently, he's quite the nice guy. He didn't destroy the coliseum on purpose according to Hercules. And he even gave to Phil all the money he got for winning the games so he could afford the repairs of the coliseum."

"Really?" said Xion surprised. "That doesn't seem like someone evil would do."

"Don't let yourself be deceived by a few good actions," said Roxas. "It could be just a façade."

"I don't like thinking bad of people, but Roxas could be right," said Naminé. "That boy could be a Dark Hunter."

Terra, Ven, Roxas and Xion looked at Naminé. "Dark Hunter?"

"That's how they refer to themselves," said Sora. "The Keyblade wielders we will have to fight eventually. Quite the appropriate name, if you ask me."

"How do you know this?" asked Terra.

"Cornis," replied Sora. "Naminé and I were in a forest near the desert that surrounds Death City, looking for clues about Maleficent's whereabouts and he appeared there."

"What?!" exclaimed Roxas. Then he looked at Naminé and ran up to her. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her with concern. This obviously startled her. "Are you okay?! He didn't do anything to you, did he?!"

"Calm down, Roxas, I'm okay!" assured Naminé waving her hands. "Really, I'm fine! He didn't hit me once!"

"I see…" Roxas calmed down. "That's good."

"Ahem, I'm fine, too," commented Sora. "Thanks for your concern."

"What was Cornis doing there?" asked Roxas, still looking at the girl in front of him. "Was he following you?"

"He's ignoring me…" thought Sora.

"You see, we were going to investigate a place that could be one of Maleficent's hideouts, and we found there a group of people who work for her," explained Naminé. "There was also a Dark Mage from Earth Land called Zancrow. It seems that she's recruiting people from different worlds."

"How troublesome…" Terra said, crossing his arms. "Then, she's like building herself an army or something like that, right?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what she's doing," said Sora. "Cornis appeared there because he wanted Zancrow to take him to where Maleficent is hiding. Looks like the Hunters are also having troubles trying to locate her."

"What did you do?" asked Roxas.

"You tried to stop him, right?" said Xion.

Sora blinked. "How do you know?"

"You see, I've been thinking about it," replied Xion. "There must be people in her group that are being controlled just like that man you fought when you went on an expedition with the Survey Corps outside the city. I'm sure the Hunters would kill anyone working for Maleficent without caring if they were being controlled or not."

"That's exactly it." Sora looked at the black-haired girl with a silly happy face. "Ah, Xion, every day that passes I like you even more."

Xion smiled. "Aww, shush, you're just saying that."

"I see, it makes sense," said Terra. "That means our previous plan of letting them take care of Maleficent is out of the question now."

"You guys don't mind, do you?" asked Sora. "I know it'd be way easier to just let them deal with her, but…"

"Of course we don't," said Ven smiling. "It wouldn't be like us to let innocent people die. Besides, you're the boss and we have to follow your orders. Although it's not like we can do anything at the moment. We don't know where she is, either."

"And after what happened, she'll be even more cautious," added Naminé. "However, that also means the Hunters will have more difficulties trying to find her. That reminds me we still don't know why she's avoiding us."

"Must be because of the Hunters," said Roxas. "She knows it's impossible for her to win against them, so she must be waiting for us to take them down. Not like she can defeat us. And if we lose, the Hunters will definitely destroy her. She will be always on the losing end."

"Okay, putting that aside…" Xion looked around. "Are we the only ones in Radiant Garden at the moment?"

"No, Riku and Lea are here too," said Naminé. "Aqua and Kairi are still out there. It might take them a while to warn everyone about the Hunters, so we probably won't see them for a week or two."

Ven's eye twitched. "Tch…"

Roxas noticed it. "What's wrong?"

"He's grumpy because he knows Aqua will go to Remnant before coming back here," said Terra, trying to hide his amused smile. "Come on, buddy, let it go. Aqua is not that bad."

"I don't want to think about it," said Ven. "You guys wanna do something? I want to get this out of my mind."

"I'm going to Merlin's house," said Sora, raising the box he had in his left hand. Now his old black outfit was inside it. "I need him to link my armor to the clothes I'm wearing right now."

Xion looked at Ven and Terra. "Why don't you two go with him? You need Merlin to restore your armors' magic, right?"

"Good idea," said Terra.

"Oh, did Winry finish repairing all the armors?" asked Sora surprised. Then something came to his mind. There was something he needed to know and maybe Xion, who just returned from Amestris, knew the answer. "Hey, Xion, do you know…?"

Sora didn't even need to finish his question to let Xion know what he wanted to ask. The girl looked at him and then she smiled widely. She gave Sora a nod and a thumbs-up. A clear look on relief appeared on Sora's face. He let out a noticeable sigh and even his shoulders lowered. It was like someone lifted a weight off him.

"That's great," said Sora. "I'm so glad."

"What happened?" asked Terra.

"A friend of us who is from Amestris got severely wounded the last time we were there," explained Xion. "Thankfully, he's all right now."

"Oh, that's good to know!" said Ven. He looked at Roxas, Naminé and Xion. "So, what are you guys going to do today?"

"I'm gonna be training," said Roxas. "If any of you want to tag along, be my guest."

Xion smiled playfully. "Are you still bugged because of what I told you?"

"No, shut up," said Roxas annoyed.

Naminé tilted her head quizzically. "What did you tell him?"

"He's angry because Riku did better than us in the training simulation," explained Xion, finding the whole situation amusing, unlike Roxas. "Lea, Roxas and I worked together and could reach Level 100, but Riku made it to Level 105 on his own."

Sora chuckled. "I know that feeling. Always one step ahead of me. Yeah, it was annoying, but it helped me become stronger. That's what rivals are for, right?"

"Great, now Sora of all people is giving me a lecture," said Roxas. "What am I doing with my life?"

Sora frowned. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Come on, don't fight, guys," said Ven. "Love and tolerance…or whatever is called. Anyway, Terra, Sora, let's get going."

"Sure…" said Sora, still bugged. He, Terra and Ven left the guild, Sora with the box with his previous outfit in it and the other two with their respective armor plates. "See you guys later."

"We'll be back soon," said Terra as he closed the door. "Roxas, save a spot in the training room for me and Ven."

Roxas nodded. "Got it."

"Bye," said Naminé, waving her hand.

"Roxas, you should know better than to make fun of our Guild Master," said Xion with a raised finger. "An insubordination can earn you a week of solitary confinement."

Roxas crossed his arms. "Which side are you on, Xion?"

"I'm on my own side," replied Xion with a smile. "It's more fun that way. Right, Naminé?"

"She's not wrong," said Naminé shrugging.

"I wonder how I survived living with these two on my own," thought Roxas.

-TLG-

1415hrs, September 5th, 2024
Vale (City), Remnant

"You should've seen the look on your face!" said Yang, who was a giggling mess at this moment. "Oh god, it was priceless!"

While the blonde brawler tried to stop laughing, Kairi, on the other hand, was trying to hide her embarrassment. She looked all flustered, most likely because of something Yang did.

Aqua and Kairi had separated once more after meeting Team RWBY and half of Team JNPR. Aqua was going to look for a certain Faunus girl who befriended Ventus while Kairi was going to hang out with Team RWBY. First, Ruby and her teammates had to change into their regular clothes since they didn't want to walk around the city in their school uniform. Ruby also wanted to leave Zwei in her bed since the dog feel asleep while he was inside her bag. For some reason Kairi didn't know about, Blake got kind of jumpy when she saw Zwei. The Guardian thought it could be that she didn't like dogs very much.

As the girls changed, Kairi took a look at their room. The first thing that caught her attention was the bunk beds and the way the girls made them. One of them was attached to the ceiling with ropes and the other was situated on piles of books, somehow without losing its balance any moment, not even when Yang jumped on it.

That aside, there was another thing Kairi noticed and it was making her feel incredibly uneasy. It was the reason Yang was now laughing while the redhead was all abashed. In the room there were four beds…but no sleeping bags on sight. Considering that Sora used this room, there was two different conclusions one could come up with. One, he slept on the floor without a blanket, a mattress or anything…Or two, he shared a bed with one of the girls. However, Kairi knew Sora wouldn't do something like that, but what other explanation could there be? There's no way Ruby and her team would let him sleep on the floor, so where did he sleep during that week?

After she finished changing, Yang noticed that the redhead Keybearer had a troubled look on her face. She was also mumbling something, but she could barely hear anything expect something about a sleeping bag. That was everything Yang needed, though. It was at that moment when she realized what Kairi was thinking about.

The blonde cleared her throat to make Kairi look at her. The redhead raised her head and saw Yang, who was on her bed, looking at her with a mischievous smile. Kairi responded with a confused expression, not understanding why Yang was looking at her like that. Then she saw how the lilac-eyed girl patted her bed and then pointed at herself, as if she was trying to tell her something. It didn't take Kairi long to put all the pieces together. Now instead of confused, she was looking wide-eyed and with her mouth hanging open at Yang, who had a huge grin of satisfaction all over her face.

Fortunately for Kairi, Blake saw everything and decided to help the Keybearer out. It turns out that the sleeping bag Sora used was under the black-haired girl's bed. This caused Kairi to feel really embarrassed while Yang just couldn't help it and started cracking up. They were now in the city and she was still giggling.

"Geez, will you stop already?" said Weiss, who was starting to get annoyed. "I don't even know what's so funny, but you're starting to get on my nerves."

"Sorry, sorry," said Yang, finally calming down. "It's just that I didn't expect Kairi to put that face. I thought she wasn't going to believe it."

"Believe what?" asked Ruby, who didn't understand the situation either.

"Please, let's not talk about that…" Kairi wanted to forget about all this as soon as possible. "Someone change the subject."

"Awww, there's no need to be embarrassed," said Yang. "It was just a little payback for that spell you used on me. You're free to retaliate, if you want."

"You're really pushing your luck, Yang," commented Blake.

Weiss sighed. "Let me tell you, Kairi, that I deeply admire the amount of patience you have. It is something remarkable. I'm surprised you haven't snapped at her yet."

"Kairi, you can do whatever you want with Yang if she continues teasing you," said Ruby, showing support to her new friend. "As the leader of Team RWBY, you have my permission."

"Hey!" protested Yang.

Kairi giggled. "Thanks, Ruby, but that's not necessary."

"See, she likes me despite what any of you might think," said Yang. "So, Kairi, how do you like the city? I know it must be nothing very impressive, especially for someone who travels to many worlds."

The redhead took a look around. The cityscape of Vale seemed to have a type of build similar to modern cities. However, Vale appeared to have very narrow roads, suggesting that the city was old enough to formerly have had traditional roads. Kairi liked it, despite what Yang said.

"It's really nice," said Kairi with a smile. "Besides, I haven't travelled to as many worlds as Sora has, so I'm easier to impress. Your academy was especially extraordinary. The school I used to attend is nothing compared to Beacon."

"Well, it is one of the best academies here in Remnant, after all," said Weiss proudly.

"We heard from Sora that there was an academy out there that is awesome too," said Yang. "You've been there? Is it true?"

"That must be Shibusen," deduced Kairi. "Yes, Sora took me there a couple of months ago. It is incredible, too. And there are a lot of strong people attending it."

This caught Ruby's attention. "Oh, you wouldn't happen to know a girl called Maka, would you?"

"Maka Albarn?" Kairi was surprised that Ruby knew about the Scythe Meister. "Yes, I know her. She's a good friend of Sora. Why do you ask?"

"She wants to fight her," said Blake. "Sora said she was a strong scythe wielder and Ruby got a bit jealous."

"What?! That's not true!" exclaimed Ruby. "Well, that first part might be a little true…"

"Ruby, you don't even know her," said Weiss. "Are you really going to ask that girl for a fight the moment you meet her?"

"That's exactly what Black*Star did according to Sora," thought Kairi.

"Uh…well, not right away, but I thought she could be a good rival…" said Ruby, scratching her head. "You know what they say about having a rival. It is a good way to become stronger."

"She's not wrong," said Yang. "Kairi, what do you think? Does my little sister have any chances against that girl?"

"To tell you the truth, I don't know," Kairi admitted. "I haven't seen any of them fight, so I don't know how strong they are. My advice for you, Ruby, would be to take into consideration that Maka is part of an elite group formed by, probably, the strongest students of Shibusen. She won't be an easy opponent."

"Yeah, I had that assumed," Ruby said, shuffling her feet a little. "Sora considers her to be strong, so she must be tough. I'm also curious to see how different her scythe is from mine. I'm sure Crescent Rose is cooler."

Kairi, then, remembered something. "Oh, now that you mentioned her scythe…There's something else you should have in mind when fighting Maka or any Shibusen student. You would be fighting against two people at the same time, so you'll need to be extra careful."

"Two people, you say?" Weiss looked confused. "What does that mean?"

"You see, there are two types of students in that academy, Meisters and Weapons." Kairi explained. "The Meisters are people who fight and battle using the students who're able to transform into weapons. They are paired up to form a team and—"

"WHAAAAAAAAAT?!" Ruby shouted, not believing what she just heard. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"

Kairi jolted. "T-that there are people who can transform into weapons. Maka's partner is a boy called Soul who can transform into a scythe."

"WHAT IS THIS?! WHY DIDN'T I KNOW ABOUT IT BEFORE?! OH MY GOD, I CAN'T EVEN—!"

The emotion Ruby felt when she found out about the Demon Weapons was so overwhelming that she couldn't take it. She started to feel dizzy and ended up falling to the ground.

"Guess that was too much…even for her…" Yang looked at her sister trying panting on the ground. "I admit I'm really surprised, too. Sora didn't tell us about that."

"I think I know why," Blake said, also looking at her team leader. "Well, she was going to find out sooner or later."

"Oh, for crying out loud…" Weiss place a hand over half her face out of frustration. "Ruby, pull yourself together! People are starting to look at you!"

The silver-eyed girl, however, wasn't getting up. Yang decided to carry her until she recovered. She picked Ruby up and put the young girl over her shoulder. Then, the group continued walking.

"Sorry about that." Kairi apologized. "I didn't know she was such a weapon enthusiast."

"Even enthusiast would be an understatement," Yang said. As she and the others walked, the brawler could start feeling how her stomach asked for some grub. "Hey, I'm kinda hungry, why don't we stop and eat something before we continue showing Kairi around?"

"Sounds good to me," Blake said.

Weiss nodded. "I concur. And I think Ruby also needs to eat something if we want her to come to her senses."

"What about you, Kairi?" Yang asked. "I know I treated you to some food when we were in Beacon, but it wasn't very much."

"Yeah, I'm a bit hungry, too," Kairi said. "Besides, I need to replenish my energies. These last two weeks have been a bit exhausting."

"It's decided, then," Weiss said. "I know a good place to eat. It's on me."

"Wait, really?" Yang was surprised. "What's the occasion?"

The heiress smiled. "Well, Kairi is our guest, so it's only natural that I treat her to a meal. Consider it my way to say 'welcome to Remnant'."

"Awww, thank you, Weiss, but you don't have to," Kairi said gratefully.

"Nonsense," Weiss said. "It's the least I can do."

Blake popped in. "You didn't do it for Sora, though."

"Way to go, Ice Queen," Yang said, giving Weiss a thumbs-up. "Continue giving Sora the cold shoulder and he'll end up avoiding you completely…Oh, who am I kidding, he wouldn't do that. It doesn't change the fact that you should be nicer to him, though."

Weiss put her hands on her hips. "For your information, I did the same for him, too. Don't go assuming things just to make fun of me."

"Oooh," Blake said, looking straight-faced at Weiss.

"Hey, you could at least give a better reaction!" the white-haired girl protested.

"Hold on, are you serious?!" The lilac-eyed girl was shocked. She almost dropped her sister. "Why was that scene cut off? When and where did that happen and why wasn't I informed?! "

"Why would anyone inform you about that?" Weiss asked as she started heading for the restaurant she mentioned. The other followed her. "If you really want to know when, it was the same day you and Ruby went to the city's underground with him. I came to Vale after my classes ended, bought a good meal, and returned to Beacon to give it to him. Who's the Ice Queen now, huh?"

"That's so nice of you, Weiss," Kairi remarked. "I'm sure Sora was really grateful."

"Well, he was one of the two in charge of protecting us from the Heartless," Weiss said, trying not to give it much importance. "We can't have a poorly nourished guardian protecting our home. And as I said, it was also my way to say thanks for coming all the way here to help."

"Aww, that's so sweet," Yang gushed.

"Shut up!"

The group continued following Weiss around Vale. Apparently, the restaurant she spoke of was a bit far, but walking wasn't a problem for them, especially for Ruby since she was still being carried by her sister. They were in the commercial district, so walked past a lot of shops, but not even one of them caught their attention. However, they stopped when they were near a clothing store. Kairi only stopped because Team RWBY did, though. She was going to ask why, but then she noticed they were looking at the two people coming out the shop, so it was possible Yang and the others knew who they were.

One of them was a teenage girl with fair skin and short, dark brown hair. The first impression Kairi had of her is that the girl had a really good fashion sense. The redhead especially liked the dark brown beret and the pair of black, wire-rimmed aviator sunglasses the girl was wearing. The other person was a tall and athletic-looking young man with shaved-short black hair and slightly tanned skin wearing mostly pale-green attire. He was carrying a lot of bags. They were so many that you wouldn't be able to see his face if you looked at him from the front despite how tall he was. The brunette noticed the group standing in front of the clothing store.

"If it isn't Team RWBY," she said, ignoring the fact that Ruby was out cold. "Fancy meeting you here. Looking for some new clothes?"

"'Sup, Coco?" Yang said, waving her free hand. "Nah, we were just going to eat something. Though I see you got yourself some new garbs."

"Yes, I heard they got some new products and they were actually really good." Coco pointed at the boy carrying the bags with her thumb. "Good Yatsuhashi here is helping me out."

"Are you okay there, Yatsuhashi?" Blake asked.

The boy simply gave the girl a thumbs-up. He did it quickly since he had to free one of his hands to do it and he didn't want to drop Coco's stuff. The girl with sunglasses, then, realized there was someone in the group she hadn't seen before. And there was something about her that caught her interest.

"Well, who do we have here?" The brunette lowered her glasses a bit to take a better look at Kairi. "I believe we haven't met before."

"Oh right, this is Kairi," Yang said, putting her free hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Kairi, these are Coco Adel and Yatsuhashi Daichi. They are members of Team CFVY."

"It's nice to meet you," Kairi said with a smile.

"Likewise," Coco said while Yatsuhashi simply nodded. "I must ask where you got that outfit, because I don't think I've never seen something like it in any of the clothing stores here in Vale. It doesn't look like it's from Mistral…Is it from Atlas? Vacuo, perhaps?"

"I don't think you can find clothes like hers here in Remnant," Weiss said. "Kairi is not from here. She's a Light Guardian."

Coco removed her glasses. "A Guardian, you say? You mean like those two who came here the last month, right?"

Weiss nodded. "That's right."

"Good, I was hoping one of them would come here soon," Coco said before looking at Kairi. "Could you do me a favor? I'd like you to deliver a message to one of your fellow Guardians, if you don't mind."

"Sure, tell me," Kairi said.

"It seems that Velvet, one of my teammates, has taken an interest in one of the Guardians who came here," Coco explained. "She's old enough to choose who she wants to go out with, but tell that friend of yours that if he ever hurts her feelings or does something she doesn't like, I'm going to go after him and your group will lose a male member and gain a female one."

Kairi gulped. "A-all right, got it. I'll tell him as soon as I can."

"Poor Ven," Team RWBY thought.

"All right, then," Coco said with a content smile. "Now that that's cleared up, it's time for Yatsuhashi and me to go. Thanks, Kairi. Listen, if you ever need some fashion advice, let me know. I'd be glad to share my knowledge with you."

"Oh, thank you," Kairi said as Coco and her teammate left. "It's was nice to meet you."

The leader of Team CFVY waved her hand as she walked. Yatsuhashi followed her with the bags. He gave Kairi a nod and a smile when he walked near her. The redhead returned the gesture. He appeared to be a nice guy at first sight, although not very talkative.

Yang slightly leaned towards Kairi. "I know that sounded a bit too threatening, but she's just looking out for Velvet."

"I know," Kairi affirmed. "It's the same reason Aqua wanted to meet Velvet…Well, one of the reasons…I'm sure she isn't going to threaten her, though."

"Good, because Velvet already has enough to deal with," Blake said. "Fortunately, thanks to Ven no one has been bothering her since he left."

"Do a lot of people pick on her?" Kairi asked, sad to know that Velvet was the target of many bullies. "Why can't they just leave her alone?"

"Yeah, wish people were more tolerant toward Faunus," Yang said.

"Faunus?" Kairi tilted her head. "What's that?"

"You don't know?" Weiss asked surprised. "Did Sora or Ven even tell you something about Remnant before you came here?"

"I talked with Ven a little about this world," Kairi replied. She averted her eyes after that. "As for Sora…Well…"

Kairi didn't have the opportunity to talk with Sora about Remnant or anything. That's because after she snapped because of Yang's little mischief, the boy ran off and didn't return to the guild before Aqua and her left. She only could talk with Ventus a little about the friends they made, but nothing else.

"Oooh, did you two get into a fight or something?" Yang asked, kinda worried. "Mind telling us why? Maybe we can help…Unless it was his fault."

Kairi squinted at Yang. "It is your fault, actually."

Yang flinched. "Hehehe…I see…"

"Seriously, what did you do to him?!" Weiss asked. "After everything I told him about trying to do anything funny to us during his stay in our room and you go and do something to him instead!"

"Oh, c'mon, it's not like I did something to him that could make this story change its age rating," Yang said. "I just wrote in his belly that he was of my property…With my full name included…And I did it with a permanent marker."

"Yang…" Blake said. It almost sounded like a hiss. "What were you thinking?"

"Nothing at that moment," the blonde replied. "Why does it bother you? You tease him a lot."

"Writing on him with a permanent marker is crossing the line," Blake countered.

"Come on, don't fight," Ruby said, surprising everyone. "I'm sure Sora is not angry or anything."

"About time you recovered," Weiss said. "Do you have any idea long you've been like this?"

"Not much, actually," the silver-eyed girl answered. "When Kairi and Coco were talking I was already fine. I didn't say anything because I'm kinda comfy here."

"Oh, you're welcome," Yang said. Then a mischievous smile appeared on her face. "I'm surprised you don't mind that guys can see your panties if you're in this position."

"WHAT?!" Ruby started wriggling and flailing her legs. "Let me down, Yang! Please!"

After letting her struggle for a couple of seconds, Yang put her sister on the ground. Ruby didn't look pleased at all. The girls continued walking until they finally reached the restaurant Weiss told them about. It looked a bit fancy from the outside, but if you looked through the window, you could see that it was just a normal family restaurant. They were going to walk inside, but were stopped by some people talking to them.

"'Sup, ladies?"

Kairi and Team RWBY looked to their left and saw four guys. One of them was Sun Wukong, the boy Sora and Ven met while they were slashing some Heartless at Beacon's courtyard. Neptune was next to him. The third boy had red hair that came down over his right eye, with the left side of his head being shaved. There were some red markings around his left eye. The fourth one had dark skin and yellow eyes. His hair was sage green and he also had tattoos on his chest and neck.

"Hi, guys!" Ruby said, greeting the male group.

"Hey, Team SSSN is here," Yang said. "How are you guys doing?"

"Great!" Sun replied. "We were training a bit. Preparing ourselves for the tournament, y'know? Arslan and her team sparing with us…At least until Sage here knocked out Nadir."

"It was an accident!" the boy with green hair protested. "You're saying it like I did it on purpose."

"Well, in the tournament you'll have to do that but intentionally," the redhead guy said. "But not to the people of our academy."

This peaked Kairi's curiosity. "Is there going to be a tournament here?"

"Yes, it's a competition between the four kingdoms of Remnant," Weiss explained. "It'll start in a few days. If you're interested and have some free time, you can come and watch."

"Ahem, ladies, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" Neptune asked since neither Team SNN nor Kairi had met before. His tone sounded kind of flirty and it bothered Weiss a bit. "I believe I haven't seen her before."

"Ah, right, guys this is Kairi," Ruby said. "Kairi, these are Sun, Scarlet, Sage and—"

"Neptune," the blue-haired boy said, interrupting Ruby. He smiled seductively. "It's a pleasure."

Kairi smiled. "It's nice to meet you too."

Seeing that his attempt to flirt with the new girl was a failure took the blue-haired boy by surprise. Could it be that she didn't notice? Maybe it was because she was already dating somebody.

Sun put a hand on Neptune's shoulder. "Man, forget it. She's waaay outta your league."

Neptune rolled his eyes. "Oh, what do you know?"

"Hmm?" Kairi looked at the boys with an oblivious smile, wondering what they were talking about.

"He's not wrong, you know?" Yang said. "Our pretty friend here is a Light Guardian. You'll need more than a flirty smile, Nep. You'll need to try especially hard with this one, actually."

Kairi blushed a bit. "Come on, cut it out…"

"Wait, a Guardian?!" Sun asked surprised. Then he noticed the crown badge on Kairi's belt. "You have that badge, so it has to be true…This was unexpected."

"Indeed," Neptune said.

"So you're like those two boys who were here the last month, right?" Scarlet said, touching his chin. "What were their names again? Zola and Venous?"

Kairi suppressed a laugh. "Sora and Ventus."

"What the hell, Scarlet?" Sun asked dumbfounded.

"Well, sorry," Scarlet replied. "It would be easier to remember if I had met them. Wait, if a Guardian is here does that mean there are Heartless attacking us again?"

"No, no, I didn't come here because of the Heartless!" Kairi said as she waved her hands. "I had to talk with Beacon's headmaster and now I'm just hanging out with Team RWBY."

"With that Ozpin guy?" Sage asked. "What for?"

"Did you guys get a mail recently?" Weiss asked. "Our headmaster sent it to all the students of Beacon, but I assume he also sent it to the other headmasters so everyone was informed. Kairi and another Guardian came here to deliver that message."

"Oh, yeah, that," Sun said. He scratched the back of his head. "I guess you watched the video, right?"

"We did," Blake replied.

"How is Sora?" Neptune asked. "It must have been tough."

"He's fine," Kairi affirmed. "He's not the kind of guy who gets all depressed because he lost a fight. I'm sure he's training hard as we talk."

"Well, that's good to know!" Sun said with a smile. "Anyway, we should go. We still haven't signed up for the tournament."

"Don't you wanna eat something before?" Yang asked. "We were just going to eat in this restaurant. Want to come with us? It's on Weiss!"

"Wait, what?!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Really?" Sun asked surprised. "Wow, that's so nice of you, Ice Queen! Don't mind if I—"

"You know, I saw a lot of people registering for the tournament," Kairi commented. "I'd hurry, if I were you."

"Oh, crap!" After hearing that, Sun put aside the free meal. The tournament was now more important. "Guys, let's not waste any time! Hurry!"

"But Sun, we—"

"I said hurry, dammit!"

Team RWBY and Kairi watched how Team SSSN started running as if their lives depended on it. They obviously didn't want to lose their opportunity to participate in the Vale Tournament. After Sun and his team were gone, Yang realized something about this was strange.

"Wait a sec, you didn't know about the tournament until we mentioned a couple of minutes ago," Yang said. "How could you possibly know that there were people…? Oh, you dirty party pooper…"

"Who? Me?" Kairi looked at Yang and winked at her while poking out her tongue playfully. "Well, I just wanted to help out Weiss. I know how much boys can eat. She would have run out of money in the blink of an eye."

Weiss grabbed Kairi's hands while tearing up. "How can there be someone so nice? Where have you been all my life?"

"Weiss, come on, you don't have to cry!" Kairi said, surprised by the heiress reaction.

"Hey, what about me?!" Ruby said feigning indignation. "I'm so nice you could die!"

"Nobody denies that, Ruby," Blake said.

"Good!" Ruby said satisfied.

"Can we get to eat now?" Yang asked. "I'm starting to get really hungry."

"Fine," Weiss replied. "But you're paying your food. That'll teach you."

"Awww, no mercy for me…" the blonde said.

-TLG-

1146hrs, August 24th, 2024
Marketplace, Radiant Garden

If you asked anyone from Radiant Garden what place in the city is the more frequented, most of them will say Radiant Garden's marketplace. Located near the center of the city, the marketplace was usually full of people. There was always something going on there. This wasn't a bad thing at all. However, it was making things more difficult for Riku.

The silver-haired Guardian was now sitting on a roof of a tall building. He could watch the entire market from there. Why was he there, you ask? As previously stated, there had been some reports of people being robbed without them noticing when they were buying in the market. Leon asked Riku if he could check the market and see if he could find the culprit. The Guardian accepted and started looking for the thief. Three hours had passed since then, but he was patient. No need to rush things.

"I hope this doesn't take me the whole day," thought Riku. "I'd like to train some more."

Riku was thinking on leaving the roof and start searching on ground level instead, but before he could stand up, his best friend appeared from behind. Riku turned around and saw Sora walking up to him. He was a bit surprised to see him with a different outfit.

"There you are!" said Sora.

"Hello, Sora." Riku turned again to look at the market, not wanting to miss anything going on down there. "I see you got your old outfit back. I assume Terra and Ven are back."

"Yup!" Sora sat next to Riku. "Roxas and Xion are here, too. All the armors were repaired. Ven and Terra took them to Merlin so he could restore their magic."

"Good to know," said Riku. "Did you tell them about the Hunters?"

"Yeah, I did," replied Sora, lying down to rest for a moment. "Also, Terra and Ven were in Olympus Coliseum before coming here. They told us about something that happened there…"

"Tell me about it later." Riku was focused, not looking away from the marketplace. "I need to find whoever has been robbing people around here. It's starting to bother me."

"Need a hand?" Sora stood up and smiled confidently. "How about we team up? It's been a while since the two of us worked together, after all. What do you say, buddy?"

Riku raised an eyebrow. "You look more cheerful than usual today. Did something good happen?"

"You could say so," said Sora grinning.

"All right, then, I guess I could use your help," said Riku with a small smile. It always made him feel good seeing Sora so chirpy. "I need someone to make the thief come out, and you are the perfect bait. I'm sure no one could resist robbing a sap like you."

Sora looked at Riku unamused. "You shouldn't make fun of someone who's trying to help you, y'know?"

"Sorry, I can't help it when it comes to you," said Riku, patting his friend's back. "Now, go down there and start walking around, please. Act normal. We don't want the thief to suspect anything, so don't draw any attention."

"Sure, sure," said Sora, waving his hand as he walked to the edge of the roof. "You just make sure I don't get actually robbed."

"Got it," replied Riku.

Sora nodded and jumped off the roof. Riku watched how he made his way to the market. There were still a lot of people, so he had to make sure he didn't lost Sora or the plan will fail. Although it was actually quite difficult to lose track of where he was since a lot of people approached him as he wandered around the market.

First it was what it appeared to be a couple and their baby. It looked like they were thanking Sora for something. After that, a group of kids ran up to Sora and asked him to show them his Keyblade, which he did. The group of children was amazed when Sora summoned the Kingdom Key. Their parents then appeared and they had to leave. Now Sora was 'assaulted' by some teenagers who asked him if they could take a picture with him. Sora obviously agreed without thinking about it.

"Geez, so much for the plan…" thought Riku. He smiled. "Well, it's not like it's his fault. And he's clearly having a good time. I can see his goofy grin all the way here. I guess it was just my imagination. He's all right…Wait, who's that?"

Meanwhile, Sora said goodbye to the group of teens. He was surprised that people started to approach him as soon as he appeared in the market. Normally they would just wave at him, but apparently today was different. It was nice, he had to admit. All those people considered him a hero and were counting on him to protect their world. As Eren said, he couldn't let them down.

"Okay, I'd better keep walk—Wait a sec…" Sora noticed that one of his pockets felt kind of lighter. He started palping it and realized that his munny pouch was missing. "Uh?! When!? How!? Dammit, I got too distracted!"

"Sora."

The brown-haired boy turned around and saw his childhood friend walking toward him. He was carrying someone like a teacher carries a troublesome student who just got caught doing something bad. Sora took a look at the person Riku was holding. It was a girl with dark brown hair tied in a medium sized ponytail with a white ribbon bow. She had waterfall of tears streamed down her face in a comical way, although surely she didn't find funny the situation she was in.

Riku and Sora were now in a nearby alley with their prisoner. She was on the ground, bound with magic chains created using a Binding spell. Her tears disappeared and now there was a pout on her face along with puffy cheeks.

"Seriously, you didn't even notice," said Riku, tossing the stolen pouch back to its owner. "Selphie will kill you if you lose it."

"I know, I just got distracted, that's all," said Sora, feeling a bit bad since he almost lost the hand-made pouch Selphie gave him a long time ago. He, then, too a look at the girl Riku was holding. "Hey, I think I've seen you before…You already tried to rob me, didn't you?"

The girl didn't respond. She just averted her eyes. However, she was very expressive and Sora could tell that he was right just by the look on her face.

"Oh, is that so?" asked Riku in a rather intimidating voice that made the girl flinch. "Then I guess you're the one who has been taking the people's munny around here, right?"

No response from the girl.

Riku sighed. "Not gonna talk, huh?"

"Should we take her to Leon?" asked Sora.

"That's what I was going to do, but I've changed my mind." Riku started cracking his knuckles. "I'm going to solve the problem the Restoration Committee has with the Thieves Guild right now. I just need to make her tell me where they're hiding. It doesn't look like she's going to do it willingly, so I'm gonna need to be more…rough."

The girl's eyes widened as her body began trembling. She tried to move away from the Keyblade wielder, but the only thing she did was getting closer to the wall behind her.

"Hey, hey, hey, what do you think you're doing?" said Sora, putting a hand on the silver-haired boy's shoulder. "I know she and her friends have been robbing people's munny, but that's no reason to hurt her. That's not the way we do things."

"I know that." Riku got closer to Sora so the girl couldn't hear him. "I'm not going to hurt her. I just wanted to give her a little scare so she would tell us where her hideout is."

"Well, you made it, she's frightened," said Sora, looking at the pale-faced girl. He sighed. "Look, how about you let me handle this? I think I can convince her to take us to her leader without having to traumatize her."

"All right," said Riku stepping aside. "Go ahead."

Sora nodded and approached the trembling girl on the ground. She had her eyes closed, waiting for whatever was coming to her. She wasn't hearing or feeling anything, so she slowly opened one eye. The first thing she saw was one of the boys, the spiky-haired one, crouching just in front of her.

"Eek!"

"Hey, relax, I'm not gonna hurt you," said Sora reassuringly. The girl looked at him confused but still a bit afraid. "Look, I know my friend here might be a bit rough, but he means well. A lot of people have been robbed around the city, and he was asked to find the culprit. Now he wants to know where your hideout is, so he can put an end to this problem. I, however, think maybe we could come to an agreement so no one gets hurt. Would you at least hear it and think about it?"

The girl was a bit disconcerted by the sudden kindness. She couldn't let her guard down. The boy with spiky hair appeared to be nice, though. Maybe she could trust him. She decided to hear him out.

"Okay…"

"Hey, you can talk!" said Sora with a smile, making the girl look down embarrassed. "Okay, here's the deal. You take me and my friend here to your boss so we can talk. We won't arrest you or any of your friends. I'm sure we can work something out."

"I can't do that…"

Probably she was told that no one could know about the hideout, but Sora already expected that.

"Would you rather let the people from the Restoration Committee do this?" asked Sora. "They won't be as benevolent as us, I can assure you that."

The girl looked confused. "Aren't you from the Restoration Committee? You mentioned the man who leads that group. What would be the difference?"

"Wait, you don't know who we are?" asked Sora, and the girl shook her head. "Oh…"

"Well, this is a first." Riku crossed his arms. "I could understand you don't recognize me, but what about him?"

The girl looked at Sora carefully. "No, sorry. Should I?"

It was incredibly strange that someone from Radiant Garden didn't know who Sora was. There were two possibilities here. She wasn't originally from Radiant Garden, or she had never seen his face before. This was also a bit strange since people from around the city and even the new Military knew the Keyblade wielder. This would explain why the girl tried to steal Sora's munny twice. Someone who knew who he was wouldn't have dared to do it.

"Well, let's say we help the Restoration Committee sometimes," said Sora. "I'm an honorary member, but let's leave that out for the moment."

"Unlike them, we don't have a grudge against your group," said Riku. "That doesn't mean we like what you thieves are doing, though."

"You got it all wrong…" muttered the girl.

"What was that?" asked the silver-haired Guardian.

"I'm not a thief…"

"You're not?" asked Sora confused. "You should've said that before. Then what are you? And why have you been robbing people?"

"I can't say," replied the girl before shutting her mouth tight.

Sora sighed. "Fine, but are you working alone or are you part of a group? If it's the latter, could you take us to them, please?"

The girl still had her doubts. She didn't even know how these people were. She thought of trying to escape, but the silver-haired boy could easily catch her like before. After some inner conflict, the girl decided to agree, but first she had to make sure that what Sora told her before wasn't just something to convince her.

"You promise you won't arrest or hurt my friends?"

Sora smiled. "I promise. And I'll make sure my friend doesn't try anything. You can trust me."

Riku frowned. "Hey…"

"Okay, then, I'll take you them," said the girl. She tried to stand up, but it was proving to be quite difficult with the bindings around her body. Sora noticed and grabbed her from the arms and helped the girl get on her feet. "Thank you. Could you untie me, please? I promise I won't try to escape."

"Sure, turn around," said Riku.

There was no need for her to turn around in order to remove the chains, but Riku didn't want her to see his Keyblade since it could make her change her mind. He didn't know if her group had a grudge against Keyblade wielders. It was unlikely, but better safe than sorry. The girl turned around and the Keyblade Master summoned his weapon and cut the chains around her. He dismissed the Keyblade just after that.

"By the way, do you have a name?" asked Sora. "We can't be calling you 'thief' after all, don't you think?"

"Uh?" The question took the girl off guard. "Yeah…I'm Asuka."

"Asuka, got it," said Sora. She had the same name as Alzack and Bisca's daughter. Then again, Sora knew a lot of people, so it was normal that there were a couple of them with the same name. "You know, what you said before was really nice of you. You really care about your friends."

"T-thanks," said Asuka a bit flustered, but with a smile. "I really do."

"Oh god, he's doing it again…" thought Riku as he touched his forehead. He leaned toward Sora's ear. "Hey, buddy, watch what you say, would you?"

"What did I do now?!" said Sora.

"Nothing, I'm just warning you!" replied Riku. "Geez, his obliviousness is at the same level of his laziness."

Riku and Sora started following Asuka through the city. They brought some attention to them. People were wondering what there were two Light Guardians following a girl. The first thing they thought of was that they were helping her with some 'Heartless problem'. It was a bit suspicious, though, especially since some of them saw Riku grabbing the girl while she was running. However, it wasn't their business, so they shrugged it off.

Apparently, wherever Asuka and her friends were hiding wasn't exactly within a child's walking distance. Riku and Sora had to walk a lot, practically to the other side of the city, where none of them had been before. It was kind of different from the part of the city where their guild was. There weren't as many people as in the other areas of Radiant Garden, but it wasn't deserted, either.

The silver-haired Guardian started suspecting the girl because she was taking him and his friend through several alleys. It was like they were just going in circles. He was about to say something, but Sora stopped him, telling him to have more confidence in Asuka, although it was obvious Riku still didn't fully trust her. No one could blame him for that, though.

After walking for what it felt like two hours, Asuka finally stopped in a remote alley. She walked up to a wall and, after making sure there was no one around except Sora and Riku, she pushed one of the wall's bricks, a really small one. The brick moved, along with part of the wall, creating an entrance. The Guardians were surprised at how well hidden the access to Asuka's hideout was. No wonder the committee had trouble finding it.

Asuka walked inside the secret passage and Sora and Riku followed her closely, the latter checking his surroundings continuously to make sure there weren't any traps. Everything looked fine, nothing suspicious at first sight. The spiky-haired Guardian noticed his friend uneasiness.

"You're too paranoid," Sora said.

"You're too carefree," Riku countered.

"But I'm cooler."

"And I'm smarter."

"And I'm funnier…You know, this is kinda boring if Kairi isn't here to take part."

"Yeah, you're right," Riku said with a smile. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you something before. How are you going to convince these people to stop robbing?"

"Don't worry!" Sora grinned. "I maxed out my speech skill last night!"

"…" Riku looked straight-faced at Sora. "You're an idiot."

"Dude, it was a joke…" Sora said. He could hear stiffed giggles coming from Asuka. "At least someone here appreciates my humor."

"I think she's laughing at you, actually," Riku said. Then he saw a wooden door at the end of the passage. It had a small window, and light could be seen on the other side. "Look, I think we're about to arrive. Are you going to tell me what have you planned or not?"

"Just play along, okay?" Sora said.

"Alright…" Riku replied. "Oh, and my Keyblade is bigger than yours."

Asuka opened the door and got inside of what appeared to be a room of a traditional Japanese house. It was very clean, as if someone was currently living there. It was like the rooms of those resorts people usually went when they were on vacation. There were four people sitting at the table in the middle of the room, four girls to be more specific. They heard the door opening and saw the girl standing in front of it.

"Hello girls," Asuka said.

"Ah, you're back!" one of the girls said. She had pink hair adorned with three black ribbons that tied it into two pigtails. Her outfit was reminiscent of a student's gym class uniform.

"About time!" another one said. She had blue eyes and long blonde hair with a thin blue ribbon across the top, knotted with bow on both sides of her head. Her outfit was some kind of school uniform.

"How did it go today?" a different girl said. This one was a girl with fair skin and long white hair tied into twin-tails with what it appeared to be a small shuriken. She also had her right eye covered with an eye-patch.

"Well…" Asuka smiled awkwardly. "It could've gone better…"

"What happened?" the fourth girl asked concerned. She had blue eyes and long, straight, black hair flowing down to her lower thighs and flat cut bangs resting on her forehead. Her outfit was almost identical to the one Kagura from Mermaid Heel used.

Asuka didn't respond. She simply pointed at the two boys who were behind her, walking inside the room and looking around curiously. This shocked the girls at the table.

"This place is nice," Sora commented. "I was expecting some sort of cave when we entered the passage, but not this."

"Yeah, this is more…cozy than I expected," Riku admitted.

"Intruders!"

The four girls in the middle of the room stood up. It took them off guard seeing the two Guardians, but they quickly recovered. Three of them were ready to fight while the one with pink hair looked nervous, but she also looked determined to help her friends. Sora and Riku were a bit disconcerted at first since they weren't planning to fight, but when they saw that the black-haired girl was holding a sheathed katana that changed. They had to defend themselves, at least. Fortunately, Asuka intervened before anyone started fighting.

"Wait, hold on!" Asuka stood between the Guardians and her friends with her arms raised. "Don't fight!"

"Asuka, why did you take these boys to our hiding place?" the white-haired girl asked. She was holding some kind of umbrella, aiming it at the two Guardians.

"W-well, I was kinda caught doing…you know…" Asuka rubbed her arm sheepishly. "I'm sorry…"

"You didn't tell them about the plan, did you?" the black-haired girl asked. "You know she told us not to tell anyone if we wanted it to work."

"You two!" the blonde said as she approached the boys. "What did you do to Asuka to convince her to take you here?! Answer me!"

"We did nothing," Sora said. "I promise."

"Lies!"

Riku groaned. "Seriously, we—"

What happened next took the Keyblade wielders completely off guard.

"I'm sure you started to do a lot of naughty things to my poor friend while she was all defenseless." Then all of a sudden, the blonde groped and started fondling Asuka's female attributes, shocking both Sora and Riku. "I'm sure you enjoyed every second of it. Who wouldn't really? These are so firm and bouncy at the same time. It feels great to the touch."

"Nooooooooo!" Asuka whimpered. "Don't do this now! Not in front of them!"

The Guardians were speechless. They weren't used to this kind of situations. Probably it was the first time something like this happened in front of them.

"Sora, I think this might be a dangerous place for us to be…" Riku said.

"Y-yeah, you're right…" Sora agreed.

"Hey, why are you making so much noise?" someone said.

Sora and Riku looked to their right. There was a sliding door that led to another room. They could see the silhouette of someone on the other side that was getting closer to the door. When said person moved the door, Riku's and Sora's eyes widened when they saw who was there. It was Yuffie. Things were starting to make sense.

"Ah, Master Yuffie, you were here!" said the pink-haired girl.

"Yeah, I was trying to take a nap," Yuffie said as she rubbed on of her eyes. "What's going on here?"

"We have guests," the white-haired girl said.

"What?" Yuffie turned her head, and then saw the two Keyblade wielders who were in the room. This surprised her a lot. She approached the girl with the katana and whispered to her. "Hey, Ikaruga, what are those two doing here!?"

"It seems that they caught Asuka," the black-haired girl answered. "They must be really good."

"Yes, they are…" Yuffie pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "God, Asuka, out of all the people you could have robbed, why did you have to choose them?"

"Sorry…" Asuka said while the blonde continued harassing her. "Wait, do you know them?"

"I do…" Yuffie replied before looking at the Guardians, who were looking at her with unamused expressions. "Hehehe…How are you doing, guys? You're looking good today. How may I help my two favorite Gu—?"

"Run," Sora said. "Run really fast."

"Hey, hey, let's not get hasty," the ninja said with her hands raised. "I can explain."

"It'd better be a good explanation," Riku warned.

"All right, then first let me introduce you to these girls to make things easier," Yuffie said. "The blonde pervert is Katsuragi, the refined one is Ikaruga, Yagyū is the stoic, quiet girl over there, the adorable one is Hibari and you already know Asuka. Girls, these are Sora, the spiky-haired boy, and Riku, the scary one."

"Am I really that intimidating?" Riku thought.

"Those were some curious descriptions…" Ikaruga commented.

"They were accurate, though," Katsuragi said shrugging.

"Yeah, I know," Ikaruga admitted. "Wait a moment, Sora and Riku? I think I've heard those names before…"

"It'd surprise me if you didn't," Yuffie said. "I know you'd hear about the Light Guardians even after I told you to not go to the part of the city where their guild is."

"Light Guardians…" Yagyū muttered. "Then they are those Keyblade wielders we heard about."

Yuffie nodded. "Yup."

"What?!" Ikaruga looked at the boys and then at her katana. She quickly hide it behind her and bowed. "Please, accept my apology!"

"W-we didn't know, please forgive us!" Hibari said, hiding behind Yuffie.

"That's some change of attitude," Riku said.

"Yeah, to think they were about to attack us a moment ago," Sora said. He noticed the pink-haired girl's scared face. "Now I feel kinda bad…"

"Come on now, Hibari, they don't bite or anything," Yuffie said as she grabbed the young girl and put it in front of her. "There's no need to be nervous."

"Really?" Hibari asked.

"Yeah, I promise," Yuffie replied. Then she smiled mischievously. "Besides, considering the way you girls fight, I'm sure you could subdue them easily. If you know what I mean."

Katsuragi smirked. "Oh, really?"

"I feel a disturbance in the Force…" Sora said. "Did you feel that too, Riku?"

Riku, however, seemed more focused on another thing. He was taking a quick look at the girls in the room. They didn't look like they were from Radiant Garden. They looked out of place. Then again, some members of the Restoration Committee also did.

"Excuse me." Ikaruga said, now standing in front of the silver-haired Guardian. "You're Riku, right?"

Riku looked at the girl. "Yes, what is it?"

"I've heard a lot about how many times you've helped the people of this city with the Heartless," Ikaruga said with a smile. "I just wanted to say that it's admirable. Your hard work is worth looking up to."

"Uuuh, thanks," Riku replied.

Riku never thought he would be praised for doing something like defeating Heartless. He knew he had taken a lot of Heartless extermination requests from people of Radiant Garden, but normally the one who got the recognition was Sora. He had to admit it felt nice. Not that he did it for the compliments, of course.

"At this rate you'll get a new fan club in no time," Sora said jokingly. "So lucky."

"I don't want to hear that from you," Riku said.

"Did I say something bad?" Sora asked. He, then, noticed that Asuka looked troubled. He approached her and saw that she had a dreadful look on her face. "Hey, what's wrong, Asuka?"

"Y-you are the leader of the Light Guardians…" Asuka said, while looking at the floor. "And I tried to rob you…twice. People here are gonna hate me for that…"

"Hey, that's not going to happen!" Sora said. "Besides, I'm not going to tell anyone, so don't worry."

"Really?" Asuka asked. When Sora nodded, she looked happy. "Waaah, you're such a nice person!"

"Wait, how do you know I'm the leader?" Sora said. "You said you didn't know who Riku and I were."

"I hadn't seen your faces until today, but I heard your names and the things you've done for this city," Asuka explained. "You didn't tell me your names before, so how could I know you were Light Guardians?"

"We didn't introduce ourselves?" Sora asked surprised and Asuka shook her head. "Sorry about that…"

Asuka smiled. "It's okay."

"All right, that aside…" Sora's expression changed suddenly to one that startled the brown-haired girl. "Why were you robbing people?"

Asuka started stuttering. "Umm, w-w-well…t-that's…"

"Ah, right, I should explain you guys about the plan," Yuffie said. "Not that I have any options now…So, you know about the Thieves Guild that have been giving us problems. Well, I was assigned to take care of this problem."

"Of course," Sora said while nodding approvingly. "Who better to take care of a group of thieves than a thief itself?"

"Shut up and let me finish," Yuffie said annoyed. She cleared her throat. "I tried really hard, but it was no use. I haven't been able to find any of those thieves, so I had to come up with a plan."

"You told these girls to rob people around Radiant Garden to get that guild's attention," Riku successfully deduced. "Not a bad plan, I'll admit."

"That's it," Yuffie said. "You catch on quickly…unlike your partner over there."

"You're gonna get it…" Sora said. "For this and for robbing people. Couldn't you have come up with something different? I hope this wasn't just an excuse to get some loot."

"We return everything we stole," Ikaruga said. "You can trust us."

"Yeah, we are not thieves," Katsuragi added. "We're ninjas, just like our master here."

"Master?" Riku asked before looking at Yuffie. "Why do they call you master? Hibari also did it, if I'm not mistaken."

"Why, you ask? Because I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie. That's why!"

Sora and Riku looked at Yuffie without saying anything, and they the two of them sighed at the same time. This annoyed the girl to no end. She was thinking of throwing something sharp to them, but Riku interrupted her thoughts.

"One more thing," the silver-haired boy said. "Is there a reason for you to be using this place? I mean, it's very far away from the Restoration Committee's building."

"I wanted the girls to remain in the shadows as much as possible," Yuffie answered. "If we want this plan to work, we can let those thieves think that Asuka and the rest are working with the Military, the Committee or you guys. Also, I didn't want Sora to distract them, you know?"

Riku smiled. "Yeah, I get it."

"Sometimes I feel like I'm the target for comedy moments around here…" thought Sora.

"By the way, no one followed you here, right?" Yuffie asked.

"I made sure no one did!" Asuka assured.

"I didn't feel anyone, so I can confirm that," Riku added.

"Good," Yuffie said. "So, what are you guys going to do? Are you going to tell Leon or…?"

"What do you say, Sora?" Riku asked.

Sora sighed. "Well, if you're doing this to catch the real thieves, then I guess it's okay…As long as you return what you steal, of course."

Yuffie grinned. "I was wrong, Asuka, you were lucky these guys were the ones who caught you. Well, actually you were lucky Sora was one of them."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked, crossing his arms.

"Come on, don't act dumb," Yuffie said. "I know you wouldn't have turned these girls in. You're too nice for that. I'm sure you'd have helped them instead. However, I don't think that'd be a good idea. I'm sure that guild knows who you are, so you'd better stay out of this. Don't worry, we can handle this."

"If you say so…" Sora said.

"She's not wrong about you," Riku said smiling while Sora just groaned. "I think it's time for us to leave. Yuffie, I know I said it was a good idea, but make sure they are more careful from now on. As you said, you were lucky it was us this time."

"Yeah, I got it!" Yuffie said. "See you around, guys!"

"It was an honor meeting you," Ikaruga said.

Hibari waved her hands. "Bye and thank you!"

"You'd better not tell anyone about this!" Katsuragi said.

Riku nodded. "We won't. Come on, Sora."

"Right," Sora said before looking at Yuffie and the girls. "Goodbye."

"Thank you for keeping your promise," Asuka said.

Sora smiled and then he turned around and followed Riku to the exit. What Yuffie said got him thinking and he had to admit she was right. Even though he didn't like the method they were using, he wouldn't have turned them in to the Military or the Committee. Besides, as long as they don't keep what they steal, it should be fine.

"Hey, Riku, do you think I'm too nice?" Sora asked.

"Definitely," Riku replied as he stopped to open the door to the passage. "But that's the way you are, so it's fine."

Sora smiled. "Alright, thanks. By the way...I'm not sure if you noticed, but...The atmosphere around here is kinda bouncy and perky, or is it me?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Riku said. "Especially around those girls, right? However, is all plain and dull around Yuffie, don't you—"

"I HEARD THAT!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"Dammit, run!" Sora said.

-TLG-

---

Since Radiant Garden it's an important world here, we'll see more of it in the next chapters before Sora goes on a new (world) mission. It'll also give me the opportunity to introduce more characters and places from the city and the rest of this world.

To shadownight819: Glad you liked that part. Even someone like Cornis has his 'derp' moments. As for Sora's Anti-Form, I can't say much, but I'll tell you that it will be very important at some point in the story.

To Coral the Leviathan: Yeah, embarrassing for him and also for poor Velvet.

To thrawn92: Yup, that's it.

To AquaTitaniaMiyuki: Thanks a lot! Also…damn, you're smart. Or I'm really bad at not making things obvious XD It's great to see there is someone else who knows about Ephemera.

To StrongGuy159: Thanks.

To StarTrail: Of course! If Aerith is alive, why not Zack, am I right?

To zackstone13: Not really. I didn't know there was a guild called like that in that game since I don't play it.

To KeybearerSky13: There's a beach-themed chapter planned. It won't be in Destiny Islands, but everyone will be in that chapter.

To Red Diz: Thanks! You mean Okami, right? I haven't played that game, so it's unlikely.

To MagatsuIza: If Aerith is, why not him? I'm not sure what hero you're referring to…Care to specify?

To AnimeMasterDub: 1. Probably or probably not. A friend of his can always read it for him and tell him what's in it. 2. She will, eventually. 5. Relatively soon. 6. I answered this question a lot of times already. Without a second heart inside him, a Keyblade wielder cannot use two Keyblade of his own, no matter how strong they are. 10. Don't know. 11. Wait and see. 12. Maka will most likely improve on her own as she did with the Soul Perception ability. 13. Yes, they will.

To OrionGold: I'd rather not say anything about those characters. You'll have to see all the details in the story. As for what you said about Disney, yup, that's why. I also wanted to have more variety.

To AnaFey20: Thank you! Yes, it's very possible they will work together.

To MarcelinaRose: Maybe she works for more than one person. Who knows? She's very mysterious.

To Hyun: Good question. You'll have to wait and see, though. I don't want to reveal anything.

To Guest J: 1. Yes, I still don't know when exactly, but they will. 2. I haven't thought about that yet. There's still a long way until then. 3. I can't say anything about him. You'll have to wait and see. 4. Not all of them. It depends on who visits Earth Land, too. 5. I really can't say anything about this. It's something very big and I don't want to spoil anything.

To XXXxxxXXX: He'd better refuse, then.

To Silverking619: Thanks a lot. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yes, Adam will be in the story. There will be more anime worlds, of course. One of the four you mentioned will probably be included. It's possible they'll visit Remnant, but I haven't thought about it yet. Yes, I'm watching Vol. 3. You mean the scene where she blushes when Sun winks at her?

To Vanguardblast3: Thank you. Sure, you can do it, I don't mind.

To Guest: Glad you liked it! The reason Cornis can't see his friends' darkness and his own will be explained later in the story. I don't want to reveal it yet.

To Red John: As you could read, I wrote the scene he suggested. Not exactly as you thought, but Coco can still run into Aqua and ask her to be a second messenger.

To anon: Sure.

To Mapleworld312: Yes, I have.

To rwby: And he has taken damage. When he fought Black*Star, he was hit a lot of times and took damage. If he fights a mage from Earth Land, he would also take damage. Against the characters of RWBY, he would take damage depending on who he's fighting with. Yes, he and Ven defeated Team CRDL without taking damage, but Pyrrha did the same and she was only one. The characters who are overpowered here are the Dark Hunters.

To Mishka-chan0.0: Thanks, I'm glad you loved it. Your theory is good. I thought her powers have something to do with reflections or something like that, but light works too.

To Kuroko: Yes, there will be a team made of Final Fantasy characters.

To colossalblackening: Certainly. Thanks for the suggestions.

To crazyfan: Nope, sorry, One Piece won't one of them.

To NRG: That's a nice theory you have there.

To Wayward Son: They won't unfortunately. Something will happen at certain point in the story and they won't be able to take part in that battle. As for the Tournament Arc, I've already solved that, but thanks for your suggestion.

To Guest 2: Yeah, I'm watching RWBY Vol. 3 I'm not having trouble with the Tournament Arc. At this moment I'm focusing on the current arc since it's still a long time until the tournament. I'll start thinking about it when it gets closer.