I have returned from deepest, darkest Minnessota! Naturally, it started pouring down rain around here to herald my arrival home. But enough about me, how is everyone?

Nehrut: "You done, yet?"

Pretty much. Anyway, next chapter!

Nehrut: "DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else at all. But he does own a fedora that he bought on a whim while he was on vacation."

You done yet?

Nehrut: "Pretty much."

!

Chapter 81: Party Crashers

Outside the castle, nearly a mile into the woods, all was quiet.

Suddenly, there was burst of fire, which set fire to a small bush nearby. Once the smoke from the flames had cleared, a figure garbed in a red cloak was revealed.

The Horned King took a few moments to observe his surroundings. He noticed the bush, and lifted his hand. The fire spread to cover the whole bush, before simply burning out all at once, leaving the charred, leafless remains of the shrubbery behind.

The sorcerer made familiar patterns with his hands, making swirling patterns through the air. There was a flash of bright red light, and the Black Cauldron appeared, scorching the ground where it appeared.

"Time to get to work." The Horned King said to himself. Without making a single movement, he summoned a handful of Heartless and Nobodies to him. He directly addressed the Assassin standing in front of him. "You and your fellows are to create a diversion. Distract the Keybearers and their allies. Keep them occupied, and out of the west wing of the castle."

The Assassin made a kind of hissing noise, and shot around the Horned King, all of its forces going after it.

!

The party was still in full swing. Mrs. Potts was playing a very slow song clearly intended for lovers. There were about a dozen couples on the dance floor, including Sora and Kairi, who hadn't left since the first song had started.

Kairi had rested her head on Sora's shoulder, her eyes half-closed contentedly. The two swayed back and forth across the floor, lost in each other. Sora ran his fingers through her hair, intoxicated by the smell of her shampoo.

Riku and Yuffie danced past them, and as they did, Riku shot a wink at his best friend. Yuffie had her arms wrapped tightly around him, letting him lead. Dancing wasn't her thing, apparently.

Namine had her head tucked under Roxas's chin while they danced. He was mirroring his other, by running his fingers absent-mindedly through her hair. He had a stupid grin on his face as he kissed the top of her head.

They nearly danced right through Nehrut and Bariss, who were definitely feeling the effects of the other's close proximity. They were close enough to breath in each other's air. They simply stared at each other for a long time, with slightly dazed and vaguely confused looks on their faces.

Seeing and feeling Bariss so close to him, in a beautiful dress, her eyes boring into his, and lips slightly parted was driving Nehrut slowly insane in the best way possible. And he was suddenly struck with the great urge to stop thinking all together, and kiss her.

This urge came out of nowhere, and it surprised him. But really, who was he to deny it? He began to lean his face down toward hers. As if she knew what he had in mind, Bariss began to stretch up to meet him, her eyelids fluttering closed.

Their faces were centimeters apart when their attackers appeared.

A woman's scream pierced the air, and just a second later, most of the guests in the ballroom were running as fast as possible toward the doors at the back of the room, pushing others out of the way, and more often than not, screaming their heads off.

The four Keybearers and Axel summoned their weapons to their hands immediately. The others started to do the same, before they realized that their weapons weren't on them at the moment.

"Shoot!" A Dusk charged at Nehrut and Bariss. He stretched out his hand, and the Dusk flew backwards into the wall as if hit by a wrecking ball.

Riku stood protectively in front of Yuffie, Way to Dawn in his hand. He was about to send a blast of Dawn into the Large Body running toward them, when a kunai flew through the air into its face, destroying it.

Riku looked at Yuffie, surprised. "Where were you keeping that?"

She shook her hips once suggestively, and winked at him slyly. Riku's face turned roughly the shade of a tomato.

"Newsflash: I'm a ninja! I always have concealed weapons on me!"(1)

"Donald!" Mickey shouted to his friend as he cut a Neoshadow in half.

"I got it!" The mage shouted as he ran away from a handful of Heartless coming at him. He waved his arms through the air in complicated patterns, his feathery fingers glowing with a faint blue light. After a moment, he leapt into the air, raising his arms high.

Everyone's weapons of choice came to their hands in flashes of blue light.

Donald stopped running when Save the Queen came to his hand. He twisted around (looking extremely proud of himself) and blasted the Heartless chasing him with bolts of sizzling electricity from the tip of his staff.

"That's more like it." Nehrut said, looking Presul over once before running it through the chest of a Lance Soldier. Bariss swung Rose Thorn in a wide arc, destroying three Heartless at once. She pulled out her shield (which was suddenly on her back, and still hadn't been re-named) and blocked the fist of a Large Body. Goofy's flying shield struck it in the back, bringing it to its knees where she could finish it.

"Cogsworth! Lumiere!" Adam shouted over the noise. Donald had conjured up a saber for him to use. While he wasn't particularly adept at using it, he was nevertheless holding the enemies at bay. "Get Belle and the guests out of here as fast as possible!"

"Oui!" Lumiere complied, running fearlessly toward the doors among the mob of people. He even punched a Shadow in the face. Cogsworth, on the other hand was a little more reluctant to comply.

He was hiding under the food table with two other guests, hoping that they would go unnoticed.

"Cogsworth! If you don't listen to me, you're fired!"

"Yes master!" While his voice was shaky, he got out from under his hiding place, pulling the two guests with him by the arms and toward the doors, through which Lumiere was already hurriedly ushering the guests.

"Get them to their carriages as fast as you can!" Adam shouted, parrying a strike from a Lance Soldier, and pressing its weapon to the ground. He quickly brought his blade up, slashing its head vertically in two.

"I think we should cover their escape." Kairi said with a sidelong glance at Sora. She brought her Keyblade up to defend herself from an Armored Knight's attack. She thrust her palm out, blasting a hole through its chest with Light. She was starting to regret that she was wearing heels and kicked them off (ironically, straight into the face of a Shadow).

"Yeah." Sora agreed. "Let's move."

He sidestepped a scarlet arrow-like projectile that a new breed of Heartless had fired at him. The Hunter Heartless were fairly large creatures that were roughly Adam's height. They had heavily muscled bodies, and carried weapons that looked like bows. There were quivers on their backs, which never seemed to be empty of arrows. Their chests were covered by a layer of scarlet.(2)

This particular one loaded three arrows into its bow, and let them all fly at once, directly at Sora. He dodged to the side again, and sliced down on the arrows, cutting them all in two. He then engulfed his blade in fire, and released it all at the Heartless. The flames exploded against its broad chest, destroying it.

The two Keybearers ran across the room, sidestepping the larger Heartless as they made their way to the evacuees trying to escape the room. As the Heartless closed in on the civilians who had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Sora leapt, destroying a Large Body, and distracting the rest of them.

The Heartless closed in on them, homing in on the Keyblades. They stood back to back, moving their blades to intercept any blows, including the ones that the other missed. But they were grossly outnumbered.

"Time for an intervention." Sora said, reaching into his suit pocket, searching frantically. "Please tell me it's here... Hah!"

He tossed his newest Summon charm into the air, the one with the lower case 'I' on it. He shouted, "Mr. Incredible!"

A man sat at his desk in his study with only a single lamp illuminating the room. He was possibly in his forties, with pale blonde hair. He was looking over a stack of papers from a company named, 'Insuricare' when suddenly there was a beeping noise from a manila folder on his desk.

He hurriedly opened the top flap, dumping a small, perfectly flat screen onto the desk. He picked it up, and looked inside, seeing none other than the Keybearer who was calling for his help.

He spun around in his rolling chair, until he faced a tall glass case on the other side of the room. Inside was a manikin. It was wearing a small black mask that would cover the area around the eyes. It also wore a bright red and black costume, with that same lower-case 'I' on it.

Seconds later, he had replaced his suit for the costume in the case. He slipped the mask over his eyes with a smile.

"Showtime!"(3)

Mr. Incredible dropped from the ceiling seemingly out of nowhere, landing right next to Sora. He got into a classic boxer's fighting position. When the first Lance Soldier lunged at him, ready to spear him, he simply grabbed the lance, and swung it, freeing it from the Heartless' grip. Then, he threw the lance directly into its chest as it began to get off the floor.

Two Shadows leapt at his back, but Sora leapt as well, taking out the both of them in midair. He landed easily on the other side of the 'super', taking out a Soldier with ease the second he touched down. He blocked a strike from an Armored Knight, taking it out a moment later, before dodging a Hunter's arrow.

Mr. Incredible charged at the same Heartless with more force than a rhino could hope to muster. He crashed into it, knocking it off its feet. He hoisted it up into the air, and smashed it down into a few smaller Heartless, destroying them all. A Dusk launched itself at him, but he simply reached out, and grabbed its scrawny neck, before smashing its head into the ground.

Sora was inspired by this show of brute strength, and let his Keyblade turn into the Keyfist. He rushed toward a Hunter, leaping over an arrow, and smashing his new weapon into its face. When he landed, he charged into an advancing Berserker Nobody, sidestepping its falling claymore, and sending a devastating uppercut into its chin.

The super ran into two Dancer Nobodies that seemed to slide towards him. He grabbed them around their necks, then fell backwards, smashing their faces into the floor. He leapt back into a standing position in time to punch an Armored Knight in its face, and then elbow a Dusk in its chest.

The Keybearer soon found out that his newer key-based weapons could channel magical energy just as well as their blade counterparts. He thrust out his hand, and a large ball of fire flew from it into the chest of a Hunter. The explosion on impact took out the weaker creatures nearest it.

Mr. Incredible swept the feet out from underneath an Armored Knight, then stomped on its chest when it hit the ground. He sent some quick jabs into the chest of a Hunter, then round-house punched a Dancer.

He and Sora then moved toward the center of the room. The Heartless and Nobodies were still surging toward them, but there was no doubt that there were significantly less than before. They looked at each other, and nodded.

Sora jumped into the air, and landed in Mr. Incredible's palmed hands. He tossed him high into the air, more than half-way to the ceiling.

The Keyfist began to gather energy to itself, shining so bright that it was blinding.

When the Keybearer was about one inch away from the extravagant chandelier, he began to fall back toward the ground. He raised his fist high, and let out a loud shout, as he plowed it into the ground just before he himself touched down.

A massive shockwave erupted from the place his fist struck the ground. Golden energy shot from that place, spreading and annihilating every last Heartless and Nobody in the room, yet leaving his super-strong ally unscathed.

When the light cleared, there wasn't a single trace of their enemies left.

Sora dismissed the Keyfist, and casually straightened his suit jacket. "Thanks, Mr. Incredible."

The superhero smiled at him, and patted a large hand on his shoulder. "Give me a call if you ever need help, huh?" And he vanished.

Now back in the room, his friends congregated around him. "Well, so much for our night off." Riku said, irritated.

"Seems like we're always on the clock nowadays, aren't we?" Sora agreed.

"Why did they stop coming, I wonder?" Mickey wondered aloud.

"Huh?"

"Think about it, they just stormed the party and fought us for a while." Mickey said. "They could have kept coming, though, if they had wanted to, anyway."

"A diversion." Sora suddenly blurted out. All eyes were on him again. "Xaldin sent Nobodies here last time so he could steal the rose..."

Everyone suddenly looked at Adam, who was now looking a bit pale.

"Is the rose...?"

"Still here." Adam said. "I kept it, but it's not really important anymore."

"Well, what's the worst that could happen?" Axel asked.

"You realize that whenever somebody asks that question, something goes horribly wrong, don't you?" Nehrut looked at him.

"Nice going, Axel!" Donald quacked, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"What! Calm down, alright? We don't even know if the thing is missing."

Belle took a few tentative steps back into the ballroom from outside, closing the door behind her. She walked toward the group, looking a very worried. Adam immediately went over to her and took her hands. "Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts are getting the guests into their carriages right now. Everyone seems alright. What's happened?"

"The Brotherhood of the Dark is on this world." Mickey said. "And we think that this attack was a diversion, like last time."

"Um..." She was biting her lower lip.

"Do you know something, Belle?" Kairi asked her.

"I was out there a few moments ago," She explained, gesturing to the doors, "While I was farther away, I saw a red light from one of the rooms in the west wing... It almost looked like fire."

"Go on..." Riku encouraged.

"Then, there was somebody there, wearing a hood and cloak." She said. "It was only there for a moment. But then it turned around, and I saw it holding something in its hand."

"Who wants to bet that the rose will be gone when we get up to the room?" Nehrut asked.

Adam immediately sprinted toward the doors to the hall, Sora and Mickey right behind him. He rushed right through the doors, took a right, dashed up the stairs, and entered the west wing.

He was moving so quickly that even Sora was having a hard time keeping up with him.

Eventually, they found themselves in one long, straight hallway lined with portraits. Sora was vaguely able to recognize this hallway as the one that led to the former Beast's room. Adam threw open the doors, and stepped inside. Sora saw him stop dead.

When he finally was level with him, he saw why. The glass case that had once held the enchanted rose the Beast had practically obsessed over lay on the ground, empty. The rest of the noticeably cleaner room was untouched, except for what appeared to be scorch marks on the rug in front of the case.

The whole group (including Belle, who had finally kicked off her heels in frustration somewhere down the hall) walked into the room. Belle placed her hand on Adam's shoulder.

"Good work, Axel." Kairi murmured.

"I don't understand." Adam said. "The rose's last petal fell weeks ago. Only the stem was left."

"But not without value." came a chilling voice. Everyone spun around, searching for the source of the voice.

"Horned King!" Sora shouted. "Show yourself!"

"Step outside a moment, my boy. I have something you and your beastly friend will want to see." Sora complied, despite what his better judgment was telling him. Adam followed, not enjoying being called, 'beastly.' They stepped onto the balcony past the table the rose had stood on.

The doors slammed shut behind them. Kairi and Riku immediately ran at the doors from the other side, but they refused to break or budge. There was a magical barrier blocking them off.

Sora and Adam looked over the side of the railing of the balcony to the courtyard below.

Far below them stood the Horned King, standing behind the black cauldron that Sora recognized from Halloween Town. It was filled with bubbling, deep violet liquid, and vapors of the same color were rising from its surface.

The Horned King held up a small object that the two could just barely see in the pale light. It appeared to be a card. More specifically, it was one of the Absent Silhouette cards.

It was marked with the number III.

The sorcerer dropped it into the liquid, which flashed, and shifted color from violet to jet black.

"Come down here a moment, won't you?" The Horned King said, as if inviting them to look at something very interesting he had just discovered.

Sora had no idea how he had done it, but he and Adam were suddenly on the ground at the courtyard, not three feet from the cauldron. For some reason, they felt out of breath, and they realized that the Horned King's teleportation magic wasn't limited to just himself and the cauldron.

Sora immediately summoned Oblivion as Adam brandished his new saber.

The Horned King merely reached into his robe, and pulled out what was left of the enchanted rose. He held it up as if examining it by the moonlight. "To think, Prince..." He said. "This rose once decided your fate. Now it will seal it."

He dropped it into the cauldron. The moment it touched the surface, the cauldron started belching pitch black smoke, which rose to the sky, obscuring the Horned King from view. But they still heard his voice.

"Show me your true form, Beast."

Something seemed to be floating above the cauldron in the midst of the smoke. And Sora saw the outline of a man wearing a black coat. He didn't even have to look at the face to know that he would see black dreadlocks, sideburns, and blue eyes. But he did anyway, and saw the Whirlwind Lancer Xaldin smiling horribly down at him.

Then, he too was obscured by the smoke, as it all began to migrate toward Prince Adam.

Adam dropped his sword and began to back away from it, but it hit him all at once. It seeped into his skin, flew into his nostrils and open mouth, and even his ears and eyes. For a moment, it seemed that this had done nothing, until he started to thrash around, dropping to his knees, clutching his head tightly.

"Adam!" Sora's voice was full of worry, he started toward him, but Adam held out his hand.

"Get back!" He ordered. But it wasn't his voice.

Sora backed away in shock, as he witnessed something horrifying. He thought later that if werewolves existed (they did, on some worlds), this was what one would look like when it transformed.

His hair was changing from light red to dark brown, and lengthening. His muscles were growing. His upper body was bulging out of his suit, and the seams were starting to tear. Through the new tears in his suit, a thick layer of dark brown fur could be seen. His entire face was growing the same thick brown hair, and small, sharp, goat-like horns were growing from the side of his head. Fangs were protruding from his mouth. His hands were becoming paws.

And in less than thirty seconds, the Beast let out a roar of anger.

!

Why did I do it? Because the story is so much more interesting this way.

1) Kindly remove your minds from the gutter, because it was only strapped to her leg.

2) This is as close as I will ever come to mentioning Gaston in this story, because I absolutely, positively cannot stand him.

3) Some people have suggested that I should have used Jack Jack instead. Maybe they were right…

Well, I hope you liked it. Please leave a review!