I know everyone is excited to see Lea and Kairi again. But they are not the only people who will be showing up in this chapter. Hopefully I can toss a few surprises your way that you'll enjoy.

"Go, Seifer!" called Vivi from the edge of the practice area.

He grinned as he blocked Rai's strike with his bat. The best offense was a solid defense. Seifer immediately shifted the block into a retaliating combo, one that he'd been practicing for months. As soon as he finished, Seifer dodged to the left as Fuu tried to land her own blow. Two on one was just what he needed to remain sharp, after all. He even managed to twist around to hit her in the back. A few more swings while she was off-balance knocked her to the ground. Rai, while more difficult due to his height and weight, followed her shortly after. Crashing to the ground hard enough to kick up some dust.

They were all good, especially after their travels outside of town in order to train for a while. All three of them worked hard to get stronger and more skilled. They knew that there were dangerous pale monsters out there and even the weird shadow things in the woods. They had worked hard because they couldn't depend on that Sora kid to show back up next time. But Seifer was still the best of the three of them.

"I think you've won, y'know?" said Rai.

Seifer lowered his Struggle bat as his friends climbed back to their feet. None of them really worse for wear. Not even their pride bruised.

Taking that as a signal, Vivi ran forward to join them. Short, dressed in blue, and his face hidden beneath his large hat so that only his bright yellow eyes were visible, he was one of Twilight Towns more memorable residents. He tended to stand out in a crowd even when the little guy didn't want to.

He stopped in front of Seifer and stared up at him with adoration before some of his shyness won out. Vivi ended up ducking his head a little as he rattled out the compliments and praise about how strong Seifer was. He might be on the withdrawn and timid side, but Vivi was also Seifer's biggest and most loyal fan. Always cheering at every match, running errands for the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee without question, and even trying to mimic Seifer's moves. The older teenager tended to hold himself a little taller and show off a little more when Vivi was around.

It felt good to be the little guy's hero.

"Are you going to be in the tournament at the end of summer?" asked Vivi.

Nodding shortly, Fuu said, "Yes."

"We're going to be training for the entire break and be ready for one of us to claim the title, y'know?" said Rai, crossing his arms. "Of course, we all know it'll be Seifer. No one else stands a chance of the trophy this year, y'know?"

"Of course not," said Vivi brightly.

Seifer smirked proudly before reaching over to gently smack Vivi's hat with his bat. The boy squeaked in surprise as he tried to straighten it back up. He tried to join the Struggle matches occasionally and he was improving, but Vivi hadn't even made it to the top eight yet. It would be a long time before he offered a challenge for any of them.

Movement caught Seifer's eye from across the sandlot. A large group was slipping out of the side street, walking around the edge of the lot while clearly ignoring them, and heading for Tram Common. Three boys and two girls. All of which made Seifer grit his teeth.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette had been annoyances for years. Those three and Seifer's group were rivals to the point of nearly being arch enemies. It was simply the way that things had always been between them. Naturally, the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee always came out on top, but they could still be pests.

But things had only gotten worse with the addition of their two new friends. The girl, Xion, absolutely humiliated Seifer upon their first meeting. The swift attack from her Struggle bat caught him off guard and she was stronger than she looked. Seifer learned not to underestimate that one. And the boy, Roxas…

Seifer had seen Roxas sparring a while back against some other boy that he didn't know. And Roxas moved in ways that defied explanation. Stronger, faster, and with more skill than Seifer could ever hope to match. An admission that he hated to make even within the privacy of his own mind.

Roxas and Xion's mere existences, along with Sora and the strange monsters that lurked on the outskirts of Twilight Town, all proved that there was nothing that Seifer could do to matter. He would always be outmatched. He could respect their strength and abilities, but he hated how he couldn't measure up.

Avoiding them while pretending not to be purposefully avoiding them kept his ego from bruising any further. And kept his jealousy from growing worse. But he couldn't ignore the knowledge completely that he was practically a joke in comparison. Seifer had gone from one of the strongest people in Twilight Town to almost nothing. At least that Sora kid didn't seem to be local. Seeing or thinking about Hayner's group of friends only churned up those dark feelings more.

But there was nothing currently that he could do about it. He was powerless. The best that he could do was ignore the whole festering mess of frustration and focus on something productive instead.

"All right," he said as the group left the sandlot and disappeared out of sight. Raising his Struggle bat again, Seifer said, "One more round."

"Agreed," said Fuu, raising her own.


"Found the riddle," called Sora, waving his arm to get Vanitas's attention.

He rolled his eyes briefly at the enthusiasm, but Vanitas slowly stepped closer to the wall that the other boy was studying. His own anger had died down a little, but they hadn't seen any other Reapers since they reached the 104 building. Most likely trying to avoid him. But Vanitas did feel less murderous now that their progress wasn't being halted continuously.

That didn't mean he was as excited as his partner.

"Great. What kind of nonsense are we solving?" he asked.

It was a short message spray-painted on the side of the building. No one else seemed to notice the pain, just like they didn't notice the Players studying the words.

Well, the words and the series of parallel lines with various symbols scattered along them. Mostly circles with straight lines attached on one side.

"'Just as the Conductor directs and the Players perform, fill Shibuya with Music,'" read Sora slowly. "I guess they want a song. They even have sheet music scribbled here too. See? Those are quarter notes and eighth notes."

"So we figure out what song they wrote and play it for them." Vanitas shook his head and muttered, "There's probably a store with music around here. And I bet they'll have the song."

Sora frowned thoughtfully before suddenly digging through his pockets. Vanitas glimpsed a pink-and-yellow shape like the ones on the wall, one of the musical notes, combined with a circle containing a star. It was trailing a chain of more stars. Sora held it up briefly to confirm what he'd pulled out before summoning Kingdom Key.

Noticing Vanitas's confusion, he asked, "Do you know about Keychains?"

"I guess they never came up."

Or more likely, Master Xehanort never deemed them to be important or relevant for his living weapon to know about. Especially if it had anything to do with friendship or having a life of his own. The old man couldn't risk anything ruining his pure darkness.

Holding up the small trinket, Sora said, "This is a Keychain. They tend to be tiny objects that I've collected that are connected to important and emotional events, places, and friends." Pausing a moment, he admitted, "Okay, I can't remember any of my friends that are connected to how I got a Keychain. But the blank spots in my memory about how I got some of them must mean that it involved my friends somehow, right?"

"And why are you collecting Keychains? Are they useful or are they just kept for the memories?"

"Just watch," said Sora with a grin.

With a practiced movement, Sora switched the little silver trinket that dangled from the hilt of his Keyblade with the Keychain from his pocket. A flash of light and the boy was abruptly holding a very different-looking Keyblade.

The guard was a curved brown shape similar to a lyre or a cello with the handle serving as a string for the instrument. The blade was like a fountain of water shifting from blue to a paler cyan, but with yellow shapes similar to the eighth notes on the wall that Sora pointed out earlier. The teeth were a swirling shape the same colors as a sunset and topped by a starry and blue pointy hat.

"Basically, while my Keyblade is always Kingdom Key, I can change the appearance by putting a different Keychain on it," said Sora with a shrug. "This shape is called Counterpoint. I got it during the Mark of Mastery exam."

"So you are just changing how it looks rather than somehow gaining a completely new Keyblade? That explains a lot."

Including why Ventus and Aqua seemed to have different Keyblades each time that he fought them.

"Do you want to try one?" continued Sora. "I have a few others."

Shaking his head, Vanitas grumbled, "Get to the point. Why are you bringing it up now? What does this have to do with the stupid riddle about a song?"

"Right. Well, I can do different things with different Keychains. Boosting the power of different types of combos or certain types of magic, different Form Changes, and so on. But I got this one from one of the Sleeping Worlds called Symphony of Sorcery where me and…" Sora trailed off and shook his head briefly, frowning as the memory clearly remained partially out of reach. "Where me and someone important had to both fetch a Sound Idea. That world was different than most. It was in sheet music like how the 100 Acre Woods was in a book."

Sora spun the Keyblade in his hands briefly as he stared hard at the writing on the wall, studying the music painted with the riddle. Then he turned towards one of the metal poles that made the scaffolding structure for the sign in front of the 104 Building. Vanitas watched as Sora unleashed a rather unusual combo on it. Each hit focusing less on strength and more on the timing. And each strike rang out in a way that sounded bright and pure, like his Keyblade was an instrument.

Music had never been important to Vanitas. He didn't have much experience with it prior to ending up in Sora's heart. There was never a chance. But as Sora went through his carefully timed combos, creating an upbeat melody that rang out even over the surrounding noise, Vanitas couldn't help feeling… something. It tugged at his darkness-forged heart in ways that he couldn't explain. His head kept trying to nod to the beat.

He liked it. Vanitas was surprised to realize that he actually liked what he was hearing.

As Sora played his son via fighting against metal poles, Vanitas checked the timer on his palm. The numbers, glowing faintly red, faded away. Proving that Sora was correct in reading the musical notes, that he was correct at interpreting the riddle, and that the Reapers would accept this instead of them playing music from a recording or with a more traditional instrument.

"Between this and you unlocking the wall, I don't think they designed the Game for Keyblades," said Vanitas smugly.

Sora grinned as he switched the Keychains out to return his weapon back to Kingdom Key. Then he let his Keyblade vanish and tucked his hands behind his head.

"They still have five more days. I'm sure they'll figure it out," said Sora.

Still smirking, he said, "They'd better. Right now, it's mostly been a waste of my time. I don't know what that blond idiot was talking about you needing a partner. You could have dealt with this entire thing on your own so far."

Vanitas saw a flicker of something across Sora's face. His own smirk vanished when he saw it. It only lasted a moment, but he knew what it was.

Ventus might have spent a decade in the bright parts of that boy's heart, but Vanitas spent it in the shadows. Where all the darker emotions that Sora felt were pushed down, denied, and left to fester rather than face. Just as Vanitas glimpsed pieces of Sora's life while recovering there, he also grew familiar with those emotions that the boy hid behind his smile.

That smile was back as Sora said, "I'm sure tomorrow will be more exciting."

"We'll see what those Reapers can come up with," muttered Vanitas, already considering a few plans of his own.


They weren't in the Realm of Darkness anymore. That was Lea's first thought when he could see his surroundings again. They weren't in the Realm of Darkness, they weren't dead, and they didn't lose their hearts. Whatever that thing was, it didn't destroy them.

His second thought was that it was raining. Not heavily. Just a light misting coming down. If the round chamber they were standing in ever had a roof, it was long gone.

And his third thought was that he still had a hand on Kairi's arm from when he tried to keep her from disappearing because she thought reaching out for a mysterious thing in the Realm of Darkness was a good idea. And he was probably squeezing a little too tight at the moment. Lea tried to calm down enough to let go.

"Kairi," he said, trying to keep his tone even, "next time you see a weird and ominous beam of darkness practically churning out of the ground like a creepy fountain, please wait at least two minutes to figure out if it's safe before touching it. I'm not Sora. If your heart separates from your body, I don't know if I'm qualified to carry it around like he did. I barely possess my own heart, remember?"

"I'm sorry," she said, looking at least a little guilty for what she just put him through. "I didn't mean to upset you. But we needed to come here." Turning to look around at their surroundings, she said, "I could feel it. There's someone here."

"Magic friendship fruit powers or Princess of Heart powers telling you that?"

That earned him a flicker of amusement from her. But she didn't immediately answer. And while Lea continued to keep an eye on her while she was in that thoughtful mindset, he did spare a moment to look around properly.

While he would never match Vexen's exacting standards, he had run more than enough reconnaissance missions as Axel to know what to pay attention to in a new world. The heat and humidity told him that they were somewhere tropical, making him grateful that he didn't bring his black coat. Not tropical like the beaches of Destiny Island though. There was no scent of sea salt in the air. The leafy vines growing along the walls of the large, ruined chamber of some type of structure seemed to belong in a jungle. And while the ruins had certainly been empty for a while, it was clear that someone put a lot of effort into building the place once. Lea could see some mossy paving stones underfoot, the hints of statues half-hidden behind the greenery, and the perfect circle of the space all pointed towards it being a man-made structure and not some natural sinkhole in the middle of a jungle.

"It seems pretty deserted right now, Kairi. No one has been here in a while," he said after a moment, turning back towards her. "But if you're sure that someone is supposed to be around here, we can try looking if we're careful. There's got to be more to this place than some overgrown ruins."

He took a few steps, trying to see if the chamber still had an accessible entrance or if they would need to try climbing out through the opening of the missing ceiling. He didn't know for certain what she was sensing. Maybe it was Riku. Or maybe she had finally picked up a hint about where Sora was. But he trusted her enough to know it was something. Lea knew better than to doubt someone who was both a Keyblade wielder and a Princess of Heart when she claimed to sense something.

"Just wait," said Kairi, staring up at the sky with a thoughtful and distant expression. "She'll be landing soon."

And that short sentence set off a few alarms in his head. Kairi said "she," which eliminated Riku or Sora as possibilities. And "landing" suggested flight. Lea's hand returned to Kairi's arm and carefully pulled her towards the closest half-hidden statue.

"Axel," she complained.

"First rule about visiting new worlds. Don't let the locals see you until you're ready to face them. Reconnaissance first."

He barely managed to shove her out of sight before glimpsing something in the sky. The light rain died down as two figures landed in the middle of the former chamber.

One was a girl who looked to be close to Riku's age, taller than Kairi and with a slightly more muscular build than the scrappy Keyblade wielder. She had a somewhat darker complexion, long black hair, and dark eyes, looking around like she didn't feel completely comfortable there. She wore a yellow shirt, a brown vest that seemed to match her belt, and olive-green pants tucked into dark brown boots. Lea paid more attention to the face that she also wore a sword at her hip.

And then there was the one who carried her down. A long, spindly, and serpentine creature covered in sky-blue fur that reminded him of the statues half-hidden by the vines or even the ones that he'd seen carved all over the Land of Dragons. Not the type of dragons with wings, but dragons all the same. And still large enough to be dangerous. There were a few short fins along the back and at the tip of the tail, like the creature was meant for swimming despite the fur. There was a pair of dark blue horns on its head like a particularly ambitious unicorn that decided to double up and a thick mane of white-bluish fur made it look bigger than it truly was. But it certainly wasn't a dumb beast; Lea could see intelligence and awareness in those purple eyes.

"Sisu, why did you bring me here?" asked the girl as she settled on the ground.

"This is where it happened," answered the dragon, her voice solemn as she walked forward.

Sounding choked up and miserable, she said, "Yeah, I know. I was there."

"No," said Sisu. "This is where it all happened five hundred years ago."

She stopped and pulled some of the dangling vines to expose one of the statues better. The dark-haired girl gasped softly and followed, staring up at a stone version of another dragon.

"I want you to meet my brothers and sisters. The real mighty ones," continued Sisu, his voice almost wistful. "I miss them."

"I never knew they were here."

The girl raised her hands, her fingers coming together to form a circle that she held above her head. He didn't recognize the gesture, but Lea could tell it was a respectful or even reverent one.

As they suddenly turned to face one of the other statues, Lea pulled back a little further into the shadows. His clothes might protect him from the darkness, but they weren't quite as good at concealment as the black coat. Kairi's pink outfit would certainly draw the eye if they weren't careful. And he was still trying to decide if the sword and sharp fangs meant the pair were a threat or not before he would risk being seen.

Gesturing with her head towards the statue across the chamber, Sisu said, "See that classy-looking one over there? That's Amba. I get my glow from her. And that's Pranee. She's a shapeshifter. Jagan, fog. And Pengu." She turned back towards the one that they were standing the closest to. "He's our big brother. He brings the rain."

Lea felt Kairi lean forward, completely enthralled by what they were hearing. It sounded like those dragons had some individual types of magic. And apparently they were gone now. But he didn't know what happened to them. Was it connected to why this place had clearly been abandoned for a while?

"We were the last dragons," she described slowly. "All the other dragons had been turned to stone. We were drowning in a sea of Druun. But my oldest brother, Pengu, refused to accept defeat. This is where we'd make our last stand… united. So, one by one, they combined all their magic, creating the Dragon Gem. I don't know why they chose me. It could have been any of us. All I know is I trusted the…and they trusted me. And so… When they put their faith in me, it empowered me beyond anything I could imagine." Sisu smiled faintly at the memory. "The same can happen with Namaari."

"I really wish I could believe that," said the girl quietly. "I once thought that we could be friends."

Kairi took the smallest step closer to continue eavesdropping. But one of the cracked paving stones shifted under her weight. Which caused her to stumble slightly and Lea couldn't grab her in time to keep her out of sight. And that was enough. Two heads immediately snapped in their direction.

"Who's there?" shouted the black-haired girl, drawing her sword and holding it defensively in front of herself and—

—what used to be a dragon, but now looked like another girl with long, messy, white-bluish-violet hair. Dressed in an elaborately-patterned dark blue robe, loose gray shorts, and a thin purple belt cinched around her waist, she mostly looked surprised and friendly.

Raising a hand and smiling, clearly deciding to follow Sora's usual method of dealing with new people, Kairi said, "Sorry. We didn't mean to intrude. We're not from around here."

Well, there was no real point in trying to keep hiding. Lea stepped out into view to join her, trying to look casual without making it obvious that he would summon a weapon instantly if things went wrong.

"Obviously," snapped the dark-haired girl, glaring fiercely at them. "No one has been in Heart for six years. What are you doing here? Who are you? Where are you from? The Tail tribe? Talon? Spine?" Narrowing her eyes further, she asked, "Is it Fang?"

"No, none of them," said Lea. He could tell that none of those places would reassure her. "We're from somewhere much further away. We had to travel a long distance to get here. Now, we don't want any trouble. We're just looking for a missing friend or two."

The dark-haired girl's expression didn't grow any less distrustful, but the other one smiled brightly and dashed forward to shake Kairi's hand. Sisu was practically bouncing from her excitement and enthusiasm to greet her.

"Well then, welcome to Kumandra," she said. "We don't get a lot of visitors. The grouch is Raya and she is actually much nicer than she seems. And my name is Sisu." She paused a moment before adding, "And I am absolutely a human and not a dragon."

Lea and Kairi exchanged brief glances. Even if they didn't see the transformation, her tone and phrasing would have been enough to make them suspicious. But they weren't going to call her out on the obvious lie. Not right now.

Though from the annoyed look from Raya as she rolled her eyes, she knew exactly how unbelievable it was and probably wanted to shake Sisu a few times.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Kairi," she said, smiling warmly at the former dragon.

Nodding, he said, "The name's Lea. Got it memorized?"

While Counterpoint didn't technically play musical notes with every impact, that's what your Keyblade does when you're fighting enemies in Symphony of Sorcery. So I might have decided to extend that ability to the Keyblade that you earn from that world. Mostly because it amused me. Which is why I used it as a solution to the riddle instead of having them buy a CD from one of the shops. And if you're curious what song that Sora was playing, I like to think it was a version of "It's So Wonderful" from TWEWY.

The ominous beam of darkness that Kairi and Lea found in chapter 5? It's the same type of thing that Sora found near the end of the first game at the End of the World, a whole series of them that would transport him to a section of all those other different worlds to fight enemies (and a hidden lab place in Hollow Bastion). Basically, they are places where that world has been connected. Tied to the darkness. Which let them slip out of the Realm of Darkness into a new world…

Which brings us to Kumandra. As soon as I watched "Raya and the Last Dragon," I knew that it was the perfect world for Kingdom Hearts. As the daughter of the chief, Raya literally gets called the Princess of Heart, the Druun basically acts like Heartless (which were what attacked Lea and Kairi in that earlier chapter), and the Dragon Gem could serve to keep the Drunn out of that world previously the same way that the Cornerstone of Light kept the Heartless out of Disney Castle. So yeah, the entire movie, I kept thinking about how it was practically designed to be easily adapted to a Kingdom Hearts game.