And we are back with a new chapter of the story I co-write with Hika-neko-chan.
Now let's get right to it, enjoy!

Also Note: Hika-neko-chan and I started writing this way before KH 2.8 was even out. So we didn't know anything about it. So this story can obviously count as a AU of some sorts.

Chapter 6

The next morning, in the boy's tent, Sora and Riku were in their sleeping bags, still fast asleep. Sora then turned from his side onto his back, letting his hand stretch out, smacking Riku in the face.

Riku groaned, "Sora...get your hand off my face…" RIku then shoved Sora's hand off before he had a chance to respond. Riku then yawned and opened his eyes a little, Sora was still fast asleep. As Riku's eyes began to focus he noticed something odd on Sora's head, a pair yellow pointy ears with black tips.

It was then Riku realized something felt off about himself. He brought his right hand up to head and felt something attached right below the hairline. After some inspection, he could tell it was sickle shaped. Not only that but he reach towards his lower back and felt that something was there too. Attached to the base of his spine was a scythe like tail that had managed to tear a small hole through his pants.

His eyes widen as he looked at Sora again, he started shake Sora's shoulder, "Sora. Wake up. Something's happened."

"Hmmm…" Sora mumbled in his sleep.

Riku shook Sora again, "I said wake up!" He raised his voice slightly, not knowing exactly how early it was.

"Hmmm….five more minutes…." Sora mumbled.

Meanwhile back in the girls tent, Hikari was just starting to wake up. In her groggy state, she noticed that her bangs had a more purple tint, but brushed it off as the lighting. It wasn't until she turned to face Claire and noticed that her hair was now more yellowish rather than brown. Hikari moved to wake Claire by shaking her shoulder and saying, "Wake up, Claire."

With her eyes still closed, Claire let out a sleepy grumbled and swatted her hand up at Hikari, slapping her cheek.

Hikari let out an annoyed hiss before slapping Claire back, although instead of the face, it was her arm.

Claire's eyes shot open as she bolted into a sitting position. Her eye's glaring harshly at Hikari, "What? What is it?"

"Your hair." Hikari said, pointing to the color change.

Claire blinked a few times before looking at her hair and then at Hikari's, which now looked like dark metallic purplish grey, "So...more changes...great." Claire said, adding sarcasm to the 'great'.

Hikari just shrugs her shoulders. "Well, there isn't much we can do about it right now."

The moment after Hikari spoke the girls heard a small shout of surprise and then immediately followed the shouting of a angry sounding Riku, "Sora! What the heck! You zapped me with electricity!"

The two decided to poke their heads out of the tent to see what was happening with the two boys. They saw Riku walk out of the tent, followed by Sora.

"I don't know what happened," Sora started, "I didn't mean to though."

Riku sighed, "Yeah I know, but it was just unexpected."

Claire turned to Hikari, "The same thing happened to them…"

"There is something strange with this world."

"Well I guess we should go talk to them. But first let's change into some clothes." Claire said as grabbed her bag and went back into the tent to change.

Hikari also reached out and grabbed her bag, a quiet squawk of surprise emanating from it before she also disappeared back into the tent after Claire.

Moments later the girls walked out and walked up to the boy, who were now sitting on the ground. They looked up to see the girls and greeted them good morning.

"Your hair looks a little different today," Sora commented.

Claire sighed, "Yeah… I guess it's just another one of the effects of this world...I see you guys also have changed."

"It's weird… I don't really know how to explain it." Riku said as he felt the horn on his head again.

"It feels like transformation magic, but different, and I haven't been able to counter it." After a pause, Hikari continued. "Hey Sora? Would you happen to have a tail?"

"Uhh…Yeah…Why?" Sora asked.

Claire sighed as she reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of scissors. "Here," She held them out to Sora, "It will probably feel better if the tail can move around easier."

"Oh ok. Thanks." Sora said as he took the scissors and headed back into the tent.

"We should probably have breakfast right? We can discuss more of...all of this...after that then." Riku suggested.

"That's fine then."

The girls started to pull out food from their bag as Sora soon came out from the tent, now with a tail sticking out from behind. The tail was lightning bolt-shaped tail with yellow fur, and at the base of the tail the fur was brown. After preparing food they all began to eat.

"Claire, do you think you're up for a proper spar after we finish eating? "Hikari asked between bites of food, before turning to the two boys. "The two of you are welcome to join us if you want."

"What do you guys do for your spar?" Sora asked.

"We just train our skills and stuff. Work with using magic and our keyblades." Claire commented.

Riku and Sora stared at Hikari and Claire with surprised, wide, eyes, "You two have keyblades?" Riku asked.

Claire nodded, "Yeah. I'm still pretty new at it. Hikari is a master though, so she has been teaching me."

"You're a Master too?" Sora asked, "Riku just recently became one"

Hikari noded. "I'm assuming that you're both keyblade wielders then?" She asked. "It's unusual for one of such a young age to gain the title of Master."

Both Sora and Riku nodded, and then Riku spoke, "There were certain circumstances that lead us to taking the Mark of Mastery exam early."

"Both of you took it? If it's alright with me asking, how come you didn't pass it Sora?" Claire asked.

Sora just shrugged, "There was some outside interference or something. It's okay though, at least one of us passed." Sora grinned happily.

"Well since we can all use a keyblade, we can all spar together." Claire suggested.

"Sounds good." Riku said as he continued to eat.

After all four of them had finished eating they headed back out to the open beach area. They all summoned their keyblades, the girls stood next each other, standing across from the boys. They spared for a bit, clashing keyblades with one another. After they took a break for a late lunch, they went back to sparring, until they noticed glowing yellow eyes lurking in the forest. They all stopped and looked at the forrest.

"Oh great….it's probably more heartless…" Claire muttered.

"There's heartless here?" Sora asked as he gripped his keyblade tightly.

Hikari nodded. "We encountered shadows and maybe a few possessors yesterday before you two arrived, although I couldn't tell cause Claire kinda set the forest on fire and then I caused a tidal wave trying to put it out."

"You set the forest on fire?" Riku asked as he looked at Claire.

Claire chuckled as she smiled sheepishly, "Heh...I was just trying to take out the heartless…but my fire was unexpectedly stronger than normal. It's probably another effect of this world. So I would advise not to use magic, because we don't know how what will happen."

"So let's just go and attack them then." Sora said as he charged towards the heartless with the others following closely behind. As they got to the forest's edge they saw that there were multiple shadow heartless hiding within the shadows of the forest.

Sora, Riku, and Claire ran into the group of heartless, attacking as they went, while Hikari stayed back. Holding her keyblade vertically in front of her with both hands, in a flash of light, it was replaced by a bow that resembled a pair of wings (similar to her keyblade's handguard) with what appeared to be an arc of light as the bowstring. Hikari began firing arrows of light from her bow at the heartless while the other three used their keyblades to eliminate them.

With the group of heartless eliminated, Sora, Riku, and Claire headed back towards Hikari. When the three of them were within earshot, Hikari spoke up.

"Maybe we should split up and search the island for more heartless."

The other three nodded and first headed back to their based. Claire and Hikari both reached into their bags and pulled out two walkie talkies.

"These are our walkie talkies. We only have the two, Hikari and I will split up so one of you will go with one of us." Claire explained.

"Alright, so who goes with who?" Sora asked.

"Seeing as Riku is also a Keyblade Master," Hikari began before turning to face him "Would you be alright watching over my student while we're split up?"

Riku nodded, "It's fine with me."

"I don't need to be watched over." Claire said rolling her eyes. "So who's going to cover what area, and how far should we search?"

Hikari hummed in thought. "How large was the island again, Claire?"

"Fairly large. I say that we scan this side of the island. We can check out the other half tomorrow or something." Claire said.

"Alright, let's get going then." Sora said as he stretched his arms.

"Very well," Hikari began walking in one direction. "We'll meet up back at the campsite around sundown then?" She called back at Claire and Riku.

Claire and Riku nodded as they started to walk off in the opposite direction. Sora ran to catch up with Hikari.

"So," Sora said as he placed his hands behind his head, "How long have you been a Keyblade Master?"

"It's been almost five years now if I recall correctly." Hikari answered.

"Whoa. That's awesome. In total how long has it been since you started using the keyblade?"

Hikari didn't answer immediately. "Hmmm… around nine years I think?"

"Wow, that's a long time. Riku and I only have been using keyblades for a little over a year or two." Sora responded.

Raising an eyebrow in surprise, hikari commented "A year or two is a really short time to learn how to properly use the keyblade to it's fullest. Tell me, who taught you two?"

"Uh...we kinda taught ourselves as we went along." Sora explained.

"Self taught wielders then. Who was it that gave your Mark of Mastery Exam then if you had no mentor?"

"Oh that was Master Yen Sid. Have you heard of him?"

Hikari gave a slight nod. "Yes, although I wasn't aware that he took up the mantel of Keyblade Master again after retiring for the second time."

"Well...it was kind of necessary that he help us, due to certain circumstances."

"What circumstances?"

"Uhh…" Sora said as he tried to think, "Well to start, have you heard of a guy named Xehanort?"

"He's still alive?!" Hikari practically shouted in surprise. "I could have sworn that he died over a decade ago."

"Well just a few months ago Riku and I defeated his Nobody, and before that I defeated his Heartless as well…" Sora went on to explain what Master Yen Sid had told them about finding the seven lights to fight the upcoming thirteen darknesses.

Hikari clicked her tongue in annoyance. "So it seems that not only doesn't he stay dead, but he's capable of possessing multiple people at once. I'm also unsure if the plan to find seven keyblade wielders of light will suffice as opposition, as the seven pieces of light from the original x-blade are now the hearts of the princesses of light. If his goal is to re-forge the x-blade, then the wielders will not suffice."

"We don't know what's going to happen. We just know we need to stop him." Sora said as they continued their walk.

Meanwhile, on the side that Riku and Claire were walking down, they also started off with a similar chat.

"So you only recently learned how to use the keyblade?" Riku asked.

Claire nodded, "Yeah, after I met Hikari several months ago, and saw her use the keyblade, I was determined to summon one and learn how to use it."

"Hikari also mentioned that you are part dragon, or something?"

Claire nodded again as she ran her hand through her hair, "Yeah. Uh.. You don't find that weird or anything, do you?"

Riku shook his head, "I've never really met anyone like that before, but no, it's not weird. I think it's pretty cool."

Claire smiled as her cheeks turns a faint pink. "Thanks. So, what's your world like?"

"It's a tropical setting, with many islands you can visit." Riku explained.

"Oh, it sounds very pretty."

Riku shrugged, "I guess. Though I spent many years wanting to get off my world. It's a long story though."

"That's okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Claire said, noting how he seemed to look off in the distant when he had spoke.

Both groups continued their walks on the island until they reached the other end, by that point the sun was starting to set, so they headed back. By the time they walked back and met back at the base, the sun was almost set to the horizon. They decided to start cooking some food for dinner, and created a fire to cook it over.

They all sat around the fire once it had started going, and they started cooking some food. After several minutes of eating, they heard some rustling coming from the forest behind them. Hikari's ears twitched at the noise as she turned to face whatever was causing the disturbance.

Claire's new fox ears also twitched slightly, "There's something out there."

"Heartless?" Sora asked.

Hikari shook her head. "I can sense a heart. So it's one of the native creatures, but this one feels...darker."

All four turned to look at the forest, there was some rustling coming from the bushes. Soon a voice coming from the general area spoke,

"I see you four have also been affected by this world." A male voice said.

"Who's there?" Riku called out.

"Just someone who has also been cursed, just like you all are." The voice responded.

The ears atop Hikari's head twitched in curiosity. "How long have you been here?"

There was a pause before the voice responded, "I have no idea… I have lost track. Several months maybe?"

"Do you recall how much time it took for you to become like…" Hikari gestured to the voice's location. "Like that?"

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, "I don't see him."

"Hmm...I remember that it was my fifth day here when I finally looked like this," The voice said before stepping out from the forest. It looked similar to a lion, but had black and blue fur, and a tail with a star at the tip, "And the same thing will happen to you guys in the next coming days."

And that's the end of chapter 6! Is it suspenseful enough? XD Let us know what you thought and stuff.

Also this story is getting long, it soon may be one of my longest stories currently posted.

Anyways, who is this mysterious pokemon? Find out next week!