Hello, all! Sorry about the hiatus... again. The main thing that preoccupied me was that I was writing the first few chapters of another story (which my author followers should already be aware of). I will be going back and forth between this and that, and ideally also "Guardians: Properly Prepared".

Over the break since my last update, Re:Mind came out, and it was pretty good. What they did with Kairi, Xion, and the Guardians as a whole should have been in the base game. Those data fights were insane, and everything about Yozora was ridiculous. I'm excited for the next game (not Dark Road, though I'll see how it goes, but either KH4 or whatever they do with Kairi if they give her a solo game).

In the meantime, though, here's a new chapter. Read on, and let me know what you think in a review. But no flames. Flames and rude, nasty criticism are just Noise that will be Erased.

Chapter 122

Broken Rules

In a high-rising building that does not appear to exist in the Realground, accessed only by a tunnel hidden underneath Shibuya's Underground layer, three Reapers watched the city begin its Tuesday morning. One of them was Uzuki Yashiro, whose jaw had largely recovered from the previous day's blow, though she still held an ice pack for the persisting ache. One of the other Reapers was a man who appeared to be a couple of years older than Uzuki, with brown eyes and orange hair that was combed in the front with a strand on either side of his face but permitted to grow wild and unkempt in the back. He wore a white sleeveless undershirt, a black hooded, sleeveless, zippered jacket with a skeletal torso design on the front, a pair of brown slacks, white shoes, rectangular orange-tinted glasses, and a chain that looped from the belt at his left thigh, with links resembling spiked cross-points. He sucked on a bean paste-flavored lollipop and hummed one of the songs that BJ and Tenho had played the previous night, holding himself with an aura that suggested that he did not have a care in the world. The third Reaper was a man who, physically, appeared to be a year older than the orange-haired Reaper, although he was one of the most recent Reapers to be recruited. He had brown eyes and black hair, which he dyed a dark blue color, and there was a thin scar on the back of his right hand. He wore a pink hoodie with a white Reaper Skull design on the right side of the stomach, black jeans, white shoes that were blue on the front and back. He stared down over the cityscape with a cocky smile. All three were Harrier Reapers, ready to begin a new day of Player-hunting.

"Well, this week has gotten off to an interesting start," the orange-haired Reaper, Koki Kariya, commented.

"Tell me about it," Uzuki replied. "I can't believe that Neku twerp is in the Game again."

"I can't believe you let his partner slug you, Yashiro," the pink-clad Reaper, who called himself Yoko Imaga, teased.

"Hey! You watch your mouth!" Uzuki spat. Yoko grabbed his jaw, smirking behind his fingers, in a way to only mock her further.

"Well, you sort of had it coming for trying to trick him into Erasing his own Partner," Kariya remarked. "Which, if I recall correctly, you were specifically told off for doing last year. If you keep breaking the rules for cheap points, they'll never think you're qualified for Officer."

Uzuki shrugged. "Eh, whatever. I'll have my fun while I'm here."

"That's what I like to hear."

"Well, you two have fun. I'm gonna go set up my Noise traps and wall challenges, then I'm getting myself some sushi," Yoko announced. He flapped his wings and flew through the open skylight, heading out to the city.

Uzuki gritted her teeth and tugged at her hair. "Ugh, that newbie! He really gets on my nerves!" she complained.

"Everything gets on your nerves, Uzuki. And I think you mean 'she'," Kariya corrected.

"Pardon?" Uzuki asked.

"Yoko said she identifies as female, so she would prefer the pronouns 'she' and 'her'," Kariya explained.

There was a brief silence as Uzuki processed the information. "Whoops. My B," she said apologetically, expressing feelings shared by the narrator.

"I don't think she'll take issue with the first mistake," Kariya assured her.

"Right. Well, we should probably set out traps too."

"Ready to nab some Players?"

"Of course I am! Speaking of Players, what's with the cast?"

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't notice? That brat with the headphones is in the Reapers' Game again."

"You mean Neku? Yeah, that is weird, isn't it?"

"You think there's a funny reason for it?"

Kariya shrugged. "Well, last time he was in the Game, it was because the Composer chose him for his fun little contest with Kitaniji, right?"

Uzuki nodded. "Yeah. You think the snot pulled a fast one again?"

"Who knows? But I agree that something's fishy. I've heard bizarre reports from the other Reapers, and Takagi said that all of the Reapers should form Pacts."

"Huh. I wonder why he thinks we need to do that."

"I don't know, but all of the Officers are on edge. And there's something else that makes me think we need to worry."

"What's that?"

"That kid who slugged you yesterday, Sora. He just showed up and Partnered with Neku. Thing is, I'm pretty sure I've never seen him before."

"Shibuya's a big place, and there are a lot of people with funny hair like his," Uzuki argued.

"Yeah. I'm not the best with faces, so I figured the same thing at first. But then I noticed he was asking a lot of questions about Shibuya, as if he knew nothing about the city."

"But his memory wasn't his Entry Fee, was it?"

Kariya shook his head. "I don't think he's even from Shibuya."

Uzuki took a step back and drew a circle in her forehead, trying to make sense of it all. "If that's so, Kariya, then who is he? What's he doing here? And why is he in the Reapers' Game?"

Kariya smirked. "That, my dear Uzuki, is the riddle of the day."

Sora woke up to find himself on his side, with the ground appearing to be a few feet below him. Dead ahead, he could see the dog statue that he had seen when he first fled from the Noise, and immediately realized where he was. He pushed himself into a sitting position and noticed that he was on one of the benches surrounding the statue. Groups of people were standing around the statue or sitting together on the benches while individuals sat and appeared to be waiting for their friends. Thankfully, no one had decided to sit where he had been sleeping. He yawned and stretched his arms out as he stood up. Well, at least it's not in the middle of a crosswalk, he thought.

He looked around and saw Neku standing a few feet away, jamming to the music on his headphones. In spite of the purpose of headphones, he could still hear the music, which was one of the songs performed at the Def Märch memorial concert. Now, open your eyes the pieces are all over. Now, you should accept this / It is over. You, keep your eyes on this corruption. Come on, yes, you should watch this transformation. He wondered how loud the music sounded to Neku's ears.

He approached his Game Partner and waved when Neku noticed him. Neku lowered the volume so that Sora could no longer hear it, but he suspected that the song was still playing. "Morning," he greeted.

"Hey," Neku replied.

"At least they didn't dump us in the middle of the street," Sora joked.

Neku nodded in agreement. "Haven't woken up at Hachikō before."

Sora tilted his head in confusion. "What's that? Is that the dog?" Neku nodded. "What's the story?"

"Hachikō was a dog owned by a university professor who lived in Shibuya," Neku explained. "When his master was at work, Hachikō would meet him at the train station every day after his commute home. One day, the master died, and never made it back. But the dog still waited for him. He went back every day for nine years, until he passed away himself, waiting for his master to come home.

"That's so sweet," Sora commented.

"The statue of Hachikō was put up in his honor, and for decades, it's been a popular place for people to meet up."

Sora crossed his arms and smiled up at the bronze statue. He thought about how Kairi had waited at the beach every day for a year for him to make it back after he had closed the Door to Darkness, and how Roxas would always meet up with Axel on the Twilight Town clock tower for ice cream. Even after his friendship with Axel crumbled and he was placed in the Simulated Twilight Town with fake memories, he would still eat with his friends up on the clock tower, which was not a tradition that those friends shared in the real world. Maybe, even after all that had happened between them, whatever the problem had been, his heart still yearned for that reunion.

"That's why the Reapers picked this spot as a meeting ground for Players to form Pacts," Neku continued. "And it's where my friends and I met after we got out of the Reapers' Game."

Sora nodded appreciatively. "Sounds like a nice spot for that." He felt a sting on his hand, then heard a beep from his phone, signaling the start of the day's mission. He checked his messages and read the text. "'Balance the unrest at Towa Records. You have four hours. Fail and face Erasure. -The Reapers.' You know, that doesn't really sound like the guy we met yesterday."

"I think they're supposed to all read like that," Neku clarified. "I don't really know for sure, since the second week's Game Master was a nut and a maverick, and the third one didn't send out missions. She just posed a challenge in person and set everyone to try to kill us.

"Got it. Towa Records is the place we passed on the way to CAT Street, right?" Sora asked.

Neku nodded. "Yeah."

"I wonder what the unrest is about," Sora mused.

"Let's go find out."

They made their way up to Scramble Crossing, where they saw Shiki and Eri approaching from the 104 district, and veered off to meet up with them. When the girls saw them, they waved excitedly.

"Oh my gosh, wasn't that an amazing concert?!" Shiki asked, still in wild fangirl mode.

"Yeah. It kicked butt," Neku agreed.

"Def Märch rules!" Eri cheered.

"What was with the megaphone?" Sora asked.

Shiki shrugged. "I was wondering the same thing," she admitted.

"The band's microphone was stolen last year," Neku explained. "Joshua and I helped them figure out what happened to it, but they never found it. So they decided to use the megaphone that the thief left behind."

"Who's Joshua?" Sora asked.

"He was Neku's Partner in his second week," Shiki told him. "I didn't get to really meet him properly."

"Why was that? Did something happen to him?"

Neku shook his head. "No. He just… has his own things."

Sora raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, wondering what the real story was. He was aware that there was a lot that Neku was not telling him. While he would accept this mystery as a personal matter regarding a friend, he felt as though it was important to the situation at hand, yet something that was treated as being on a need-to-know basis. So, who was this "Joshua"?

Sora was distracted from his musings when he saw Riku, Naminé and Mickey enter 104. He pointed them out to the others, and they agreed to go in and say hello. They caught up to his friends and exchanged greetings. Mickey explained that Aqua, Donald, and Goofy were searching in a different part of town.

"Was Mr. H able to help you?" Neku asked.

Riku nodded. "Yeah. He told us all about the Reapers' Game. He also said to stay on guard, because whatever's happening in Shibuya might not be limited to the UG."

Shiki nodded. "That sounds about right. Eri and I are in this mess because of a monster in the RG," she confirmed. Eri shivered.

"You're given a mission each day, right? What are you supposed to do today?" Mickey asked.

"There's some kind of unrest at Towa Records," Sora answered.

"The yellow building near the café?" Naminé asked.

Sora nodded. "That's the one. We're supposed to get everything settled down in…" He checked the timer on his hand. Naminé winced when she saw it. "...three hours, forty-five minutes."

"What's supposed to happen then?" Riku asked.

Sora shrugged. "I guess we'll find out when we get there."

Riku crossed his arms as he was lost in thought on how he and the others could help the Players. Mickey held a finger up as he began to formulate an idea. "You can't talk to people in the RG, right?"

"We can only do that if we're inside a store, so we could probably talk to someone inside the record store," Neku clarified.

"And we can read people's minds outside," Shiki added.

"Really?" Naminé asked, amazed.

"How about we all check out what's going on. We can ask around, and you can read minds," Mickey suggested. "We'll meet back up in an hour and piece together what's going on."

"That's a great idea!" Shiki said.

Eri nodded in agreement. "We should do whatever we can to help."

"Where should we meet?" Naminé asked.

"How about Mexican Dog, on Spain Hill?" Neku suggested.

Sora, Riku, Shiki, Eri, and Naminé all nodded in agreement, though Mickey had an expression of confusion on his face, finding something odd about the name.

"Alright. Let's go check it out," Sora said.

Making their way to the district dominated by Towa Records, they found that a crowd had formed in front of the record store. In both planes, they could feel the tension building. Some stood around patiently while others appeared to be less patient. A few complained, whining about a "hold-up". The living party members were unable to move past the crowd and check the building out up close, so they elected to ask around.

"What's going on?" Riku asked.

"The new Odoriba Soul album was supposed to drop this morning," one man said. "But now they won't open the doors."

"What do you think the issue is?"

"I dunno, but I heard some people saying that the release might get delayed, or something worse."

Riku stared at him, having no idea how to react. He took a step back and turned to Mickey and Naminé. "Don't tell me this is the source of the 'unrest'," he remarked.

"It doesn't sound like much, but I can tell people are annoyed. Some are even getting angry," Mickey noted.

"True, but the way it sounded, it seemed like something that would lead to an angry mob," Riku countered. "This… looks like that would be… blowing things a bit out of proportion."

"Well the situation is supposed to be here. I wonder what Sora and Neku can come up with一"

"Excuse me." Riku and Mickey turned to Naminé. "I can feel something in the air all around us. Some kind of negative energy," the girl said. "I think I can feel it reacting with everyone's hearts."

"Like that weird energy you felt yesterday?" Riku asked.

Naminé nodded. "It's similar to the unstable kind, but it's different. It feels… hungry."

"Interesting. Let's see if we can get closer to the store and get a better look at what's going on in there."

"You see what I'm seeing?" Neku asked.

Sora nodded. "Noise. Everywhere."

"Well, now we know what's fueling the unrest. We just have to clear these things out to start calming people down, then we can work on solving the heart of the issue."

They engaged a string of three Noise sigils, clashing with a set of yellow wolves with purple tattoo limbs and a yellow shrew with gray tattoo claws, a set of red penguins with lightning bolts on the sides of their heads and red kangaroos with purple tattoo feet, and a red and black dragon with a red tattoo body, head and tail. The Noise became stronger with each fight, but they prevailed, finishing the Doom Metal Drake off with a Fusion attack.

"You know, Neku, I've been wondering: what's with the different colors?" Sora asked after they reunited.

"Different colors?"

"The sigils. You know how most of the ones we dealt with before were all red. But these are yellow. And I think I saw a green one earlier. What's that all about?"

"Oh. The red ones are the chumps, the standard issue Noise. The yellow ones are Negative Noise. They're similar to the chumps, but they possess people and objects in the RG. They feed on their imagination and flood them with negative emotions. Like, you know, anger, sadness, and resentment."

"I guess that explains the rousing rabble."

Neku nodded. "The greens, Pig Noise, carry special rewards for whoever can defeat them."

"Okay. Got it." Sora noticed a new shape moving around in the scan field. "So, what about the black and gray ones?"

Neku turned pale. "Black and gray ones?" he parroted. Sora pointed, and he turned to see what he was referring to. He gasped when he saw a large Noise sigil with a gray outline flying straight toward them. "Use the Light Puck! That's the only way we can fight一" he warned, right before the sigil reached Sora and pulled them into a battle.

Sora had a sinking feeling as the Noise materialized. They took the forms of the wolves and a bear, but they all were black and dark gray in color, with demonic-looking red eyes. Sora was immediately worried, as he could tell immediately that these Noise were not at all like the other breeds. Neku had said that they would not attack them unless a Reaper directed them to, but this batch sought them out all on its own. The fight had only just begun, but he could already tell that these Noise were more dangerous than the others.

The two wolves dashed toward him, faster than the others, leaving trails of black flames in their wake. Sora rolled out of the way and used Pyrokinesis on the wolves, only to see that it did minimal damage. He dodged a slash from the dark bear Noise and continued using Pyrokinesis until it ran out.

Okay. He said I'd need the Light Puck to fight these things. I guess we just need to build up enough energy in our fights until one of us gets the Puck, then we can pass it around and whoever has it can fight these things.

As he completed the thought, he felt a familiar glow, and realized that he had the Light Puck. He turned in time to see the bear slam its hand to the pavement and somersault toward him. In response, he thrust his hands out and fired a Nexus Ray, blasting it back across the street. The wolves made their way toward him again. Looking around, he saw a car parked not too far away, except he stood between it and the wolves. This did not worry him, though. Using Psychokinesis, he pulled the car toward him. He ran toward it, jumped onto the roof and off on the other side, and threw it at the wolves, sending them toppling. A few seconds later, he felt the warmth of the Light Puck fading and passing on to Neku.

Okay, these guys are all yours. I'll try not to die while you take care of things.

Neku nimbly avoided the Noise's attacks, although he was scraped by a few of them. Finding that the wolves were too fast to be caught in his lightning strikes, he focused those attacks on the bear while he raised icicles under the wolves' feet. One of the wolves lunged at him, but he blasted it with bolts of energy until it was Erased. The Light Puck was then passed on to Sora.

Sora started out by throwing the car at the grizzly, then using Pyrokinesis on the car, causing it to blow up as soon as it hit the bear. The fiery explosion consumed the Noise, Erasing it. The second wolf slashed at him, sending him tumbling to the ground. He rolled aside as the Noise made a lunge at him, then conjured fire around it. The wolf jumped out of the flames to attack, but he blasted it to ash with a Nexus Ray. There was a flash of light, and he and Neku returned to the UG plane.

"What were those things?!" Sora asked.

Neku clenched his fists and muttered a curse. "Taboo Noise. They're a special breed, so dangerous that the Reapers aren't allowed to use them," he explained. "Last time, a rogue Reaper used them to wreak havoc, Erasing a bunch of Players and Reapers alike."

"So why are they here now?"

Neku looked down, his bangs obscuring his eyes. "Is this why you came to me?" he muttered. "Is this why you wanted my help?"

"Mr. H said that the threat is something that 'shouldn't exist'," Sora mused. "You think he meant those?"

"It's possible. But there's no way they could be the monsters in the RG that attacked Shiki and Eri."

"Well, what else could they have been?"

Neku shook his head. "I don't know. But we should tell the others."

Sora nodded. "Yeah. And warn any other Players we run into. We need to make sure they stay safe."

"Really? That's it?" Shiki asked.

The manager of Towa Records nodded. "Yeah. It's a shame it happened. I'm not sure what we're gonna do about everyone," he replied.

"Well, thanks for the heads-up," Shiki said. She and Eri slipped out of the side door, through which they had entered the record store, and stepped off to the side, standing near the Miyashita Park underpass.

"Do you think we can fix this?" Eri asked uncertainly.

Shiki shrugged. "Well, if we can't find a way to satisfy everyone, we won't be able to do anything permanent about the Noise."

Eri nodded, understanding. "I guess you're right. Well, I guess we should meet up with the others and一 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

Shiki jumped in fright at the sudden scream. Eri pointed to something behind her, causing her to turn around. She jumped again and let out her own scream as she saw a black kangaroo with glowing red eyes hop toward them. They turned around and tried to flee, but it closed the gap in seconds. Black lightning crackled around them, and there was a bright flash of light as they were pulled into battle zones.

Shiki gulped as she stared down the monsters, which looked a lot like Noise, but seemed different. A horrible memory flashed before her eyes. Could… Could these be…

She swallowed her fear and set Mr. Mew to attack the monsters, running around to avoid being hit. However, she quickly realized that her doll's attacks were not harming the monsters. Great. What am I supposed to do now?

She felt the Light Puck generate and pass over to Eri, but she wondered if it would do any good.

At that moment, Eri was hiding behind a car, cowering in fear. She felt that she could barely manage to survive the regular Noise, but these monsters appeared to be much worse, much more terrifying. She felt the Light Puck energy flow through her, but she could not work up the courage to fight even with that extra strength. She felt a shockwave under her feet as one of the kangaroos jumped high into the air. She glanced up and saw that it was positioning itself so it was above her. Yelping in fright, she jumped up and ran, just in time to avoid the Noise as it landed. Rather than try to find a way to escape, she just kept running. She did not know if she could escape it, but she felt that she had to try. As she fled, tendrils of black lightning crackled around her, slowly fading.

There was a flash of light, and Shiki and Eri were back in the UG plane. Shiki looked around in surprise, wondering how she had been pulled out of the fight. She noticed that the Noise were looking around in confusion as well. Before she could process what was going on, she felt Eri grab her by the hand and pull her along.

"Run!" Eri shouted, sprinting as she dragged Shiki with her. When the smaller girl regained her bearings, she ran as fast as she could to keep up with Eri, though she stumbled a few times due to Eri keeping up a greater pace due to her longer legs. Pretty soon, however, she looked over her shoulder and realized that the Noise were nowhere to be seen. They slowed down and came to a stop, catching their breath.

"What were those?" Shiki asked, shaking at just the thought of the monsters.

"I don't know. But they looked a lot like一"

"How can that be possible?"

"I'm scared, Shiki," Eri admitted. "I know we're supposed to try and fight them, but I couldn't do it. I ran as fast as I could until we were out of there. I was too scared."

Shiki put her hand on Eri's shoulder supportively. "You might've just saved us both. I tried to fight them, but… Mr. Mew, he couldn't do anything to them."

"What's going on?"

Shiki shook her head. "I don't know. But we need to find Neku and Sora, and warn them!"

Eri took a deep breath to calm her nerves, then nodded in agreement. "Right."

The girls quickly found the boys and they explained the situation to each other. Deciding to stick together from then on, they spent the rest of the hour fighting Negative Noise and finding other Players and letting them know about the Taboo Noise. At the same time, Shiki and Eri shared what they had learned about the mission with Sora and Neku as well as the other Players. They finally made their way to Spain Hill to convene with Riku, Naminé and Mickey.

"Taboo Noise?" Riku repeated, not liking the ominous name.

Neku nodded. "I still don't know everything about them, but I'm pretty sure they were forbidden. Can't say I'm surprised. They attack their prey freely, and they don't care if they go after Players or Reapers. The only way you can survive them is if you fight with the Light Puck. I only ever met one pair of Reapers that shared one. Most of the other Players and Reapers that faced them were Erased."

"You said a rogue Reaper summoned them, right?" Sora recalled. "What happened to him?"

"Sho Minamimoto. He was the Game Master in my second week, but he went rogue almost immediately. He stopped giving out missions after the second day, and went to do his own thing."

"His own thing?" Mickey parroted, curious as to what sort of character the Reaper was.

"Building piles of junk in the middle of the streets, coming up with confusing math puns, and creating Taboo Noise to slaughter Players and Reapers so he can overthrow the Composer and Conductor and take over. Joshua and I defeated him, but he came back by fusing with the Taboo Noise, then tried to take them out himself. But he didn't get very far, and he was taken out."

"So, if he's gone, who could be behind this?" Riku wondered.

Shiki shook her head and squeezed Mr. Mew close to her chest. "I don't know, but those monsters… Those things attacked me and Eri last week," she said.

Neku, Sora, and Riku gasped. "What? Are you sure?" Neku asked.

Eri nodded. "They had the same black and gray colors and red eyes. I don't think I'll ever forget those eyes."

"But how is that possible?" Mickey mused. "You said that the Noise don't appear in the Realground, right?"

"Whatever's going on, we need to be on our guard," Neku declared. "The Taboo Noise are incredibly dangerous. If they're somehow in the RG, then you'll need to be careful, too. In the meantime, we need to focus on the mission."

Sora nodded. "Right. So, what did we learn?"

"The crowd is annoyed that the record store failed to release a band's album this morning," Riku explained.

"I still can't believe something like that can cause a serious situation," Naminé remarked.

Mickey shrugged. "I've seen people riot over a dipping sauce."

"Please tell me you're joking," Riku said in disbelief.

"If the Noise are charging their negative emotions, simple annoyance could explode into a total riot," Neku argued. "To calm everyone down, we'll need to get rid of all of the Noise."

"But we'll also have to figure out what to do about the album," Sora added. "If that's not taken care of, the Noise will still be drawn to everyone's annoyance, right?"

Shiki nodded. "We won't be able to Erase all of the Noise until everyone calms down."

"So, what's the problem with the album?" Mickey asked.

"The manager said that copies of the albums were supposed to arrive early in the morning, but they got a call saying that something happened and the people who are supposed to bring it won't be able to deliver," Shiki explained.

"You guys deal with the Noise. We'll check that out," Riku said. "Where is this, exactly?"

"Shibuki Main Store area," Eri replied.

"Okay. We'll tell some of the other Players, in case you need some help in the UG," Sora said.

"And we'll tell them to fiddle with something to let you know they're nearby, so you can ask about what's going on and they can hear you," Neku added.

"How do they do that?" Sora asked, amazed.

"The same way you threw that trash can on the first day. Players and Reapers can focus on touching and moving material objects in both the UG and the RG," Neku explained. "There's even a divination-type game built around it called 'Reaper Creeper'."

"Oh! I know that game!" Eri cheered.

"Alright. Thanks," Riku said. "We should get to work ASAP."

They finished their lunch and went their separate ways. Sora, Neku, Shiki, and Eri returned to Towa Records, telling the plan to whichever Players they could find, while Riku, Naminé and Mickey went over to the Shibuki Main Store area. The latter group spoke with the employees who were trying to set things right and get the album out, and worked out the problem to the best of their ability. The first group began fighting the Noise. Eri felt more at ease with her and Shiki fighting smaller Noise, and she began making use of the "Imagination Spark" that her Pin, "Dream Weave" allowed. She waved her hands around to shape her crackling sparks into a hammer, then swung it around to hit the frogs, which were a variant that was yellow with purple tattoo feet. When the frogs were destroyed, she let the hammer dissipate and formed a slingshot, which she fired at the purple bats. When she felt the Light Puck power her up, she felt a swell of confidence. She shot the bats out of the air, then formed a rake and ran it over the bats. Pretty soon, the Noise had been erased, and she and Shiki returned to the UG plane.

"Woo! That's it!" Eri cheered. "Did you see that?"

"Afraid not," Shiki quipped. "But I sure felt it. You were amazing!"

"Glad to hear you're getting a handle on this," Sora commended.

"That's good, because we have a lot more to push through," Neku added.

Eri took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. I'm ready."

They continued fighting Noise. From a nearby balcony, Yoko Imaga watched the Players clear the monsters out. Noticing that the swarm of Noise was dissipating faster than the Player count was, she conjured some of her own Noise sigils and sent them into the fray. She smirked as she saw some of the Players grow exhausted and eventually, unable to keep up, vanish. However, many Players remained, including Sora, Neku, Shiki, and Eri. The former pair carried most of the load due to their experience in battle.

"Is that seriously what the problem is?" Riku asked in disbelief. "They have a flat tire, and they can't change it because someone stole their lug wrench?"

"And they can't use another truck to deliver the crates?" Mickey added.

"It looks like the police are looking around the block. I think a few of them said something about junk being stolen all over the place," Naminé noted.

"What do the Reapers expect them to do? Find the thief? Get the lug wrench back?" Riku wondered. "I don't know how they run the Game, but that seems like a pretty weird way to run a mission."

"Hold up, now. What'd you just say?" Riku, Mickey and Naminé turned around to see two teenagers approaching them. They dressed in a similar way, and they both had the same blue eyes and blond hair. One was a tall, muscular boy, around Riku's age, while the other was a younger girl, around thirteen years old. The boy wore a white tank top with red lining, long beige cargo shorts, red-and-black shoes, a black bracelet on his left wrist, a large chain on the left side of his shorts, a dark skull necklace, and a black knit cap with a large grey skull design. The girl wore a long-sleeved coral-colored shirt with a black skull-and-crossbones design stylized in the shape of a heart, a pair of white overall shorts with the top half hanging down around her waist, sneakers that were similar in color design to Sora's, a necklace with a bell attached, and a black knit cap with a small white skull design. The boy had a look of annoyance on his face, though that might have been present before he elected to insert himself into the conversation, while the girl appeared more curious.

"Uh, can we help you?" Riku asked.

"Did you just say something about the Reapers' Game?" the boy repeated.

"Um, yeah. We're trying to help our friends Sora, Neku, Shiki—" Naminé began to answer.

"BWAH?" the boy gasped. Naminé jumped and let out a yelp in shock.

"You know Neku and Shiki?" the girl asked.

"Uh, yeah," Riku answered. "Are they your friends?"

"You bet! But if they're in the Game together, then that means…" the boy replied, coming to a sad realization.

"Don't worry. From what we understand, they're not dead," Mickey assured them. "And, technically, they aren't in the Game 'together'. Neku's Partner is Sora and Shiki's is Eri."

The girl gasped. "Eri too?"

"Wh-What do you mean they ain't dead?" the boy shouted, worried.

"Shh! Calm down! We'll tell you everything we can," Riku said. "Just let us explain, and don't shout it for the world to hear."

The boy took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm chill."

"Oh! Where are our manners? You can call me Rhyme," the girl said, introducing herself. "The big guy's my brother, Beat."

"Beat and Rhyme," Naminé muttered, amused at their names. Although, given the names that they have heard around Shibuya, they were most likely nicknames. "I'm Naminé."

"Riku."

"I'm Mickey. Nice to meet ya!"

"Back atcha. So, what's going on?" Beat asked.

Riku, Mickey and Naminé did their best to sum everything up.

"BWAAAAAAAAAH!" Beat blurted, having difficulty in processing what was going on. "That's crazy, man!"

"So, is there anything we can do to help?" Rhyme asked.

"Well, for starters, have you seen a lug wrench around anywhere?" Riku asked.

"Did the record producers have that stolen?" Rhyme guessed. "If only we were so lucky."

"Yeah. Some punk stole my skateboard, too," Beat griped. "We've been looking for it all day, man."

"Oh. That stinks," Riku said sympathetically. "They said that they called the auto shop, but they're unable to help because they're having some trouble of their own."

"Yeah. I hear the thief hit them, too," Beat confirmed.

"Gosh, do you have any other ideas?" Mickey asked.

"Ah!" Rhyme smiled as she thought of something. "We could use Dad's truck. It's a flatbed, so it can carry the album crates."

"Yo, Rhyme! You're a genius!" Beat cheered. He turned back to the others. "Wait right here. We'll be back in a minute." With that, he and his sister were off.

"Wow. That was very helpful," Naminé noted.

Riku nodded. "Yeah. I'm glad Neku and the others have them in their corner."

"While we're waiting, maybe we should look into the 'stolen junk' situation," Mickey suggested.

"Yeah. I would like to know what that's all about," Riku agreed.

"It's a lot of junk. It would have to go somewhere," Naminé mused.

"And for someone to keep making trips to grab the junk, it would have to be pretty close by," Mickey added.

"But somewhere the police haven't already looked. One would think to search in a garage or a warehouse." Riku paced back and forth, trying to think like a police detective. He stopped and snapped his fingers as something clicked in his mind. "I think I saw something suspicious on the way over here. Follow me."

He led Mickey and Naminé back the way they had come, weaving around the police officers, pedestrians, and cars, and approaching a crowd that had gathered around a strange object. "Here," he said. When they had first passed it, he was not focused on taking note of strange landmarks, so he had not paid much attention to it. However, he now realized that there was something suspicious about the structure.

It was an art sculpture, constructed and arranged to resemble a haphazard pile of junk. It was built out of various, seemingly-random items that looked like they had been ripped off of the street or out of someone's garage. If one looked closely, he could see a garbage can (with garbage still inside), a stepladder, an amplifier, three hubcaps, and much more.

"This might be it," Riku said.

"Look!" Naminé pointed to something that was sticking out of the pile. Riku grabbed it, lifting the junk above it to make sure that none of it fell, and pulled it out. He held it out in front of him and saw that it was a black skateboard with a white skull and the kanji for "bīto" painted on the top.

"This must be Beat's skateboard. This is definitely the stolen junk." Riku nodded to his friends and tucked the skateboard under his arm. "Let's tell the police. We'll give this back to Beat when he and Rhyme get back."

Beat and Rhyme returned in a black pickup truck ten minutes later, and they seemed overjoyed to have the skateboard returned. The police took their time sorting through the junk and returning the individual items to their annoyed-yet-relieved owners. The record producers thanked the party for the assist and began loading the crates into the back of the truck. With everything resolved, everyone involved with the mission went over to Towa Records. The crowd, largely pacified by the elimination of the majority of interfering Noise, finally calmed down, applauding as they watched the crew unload the crates. The store's manager apologized for the late start and promised that they will be all set in an hour. In the meantime, Sora, Neku, Shiki, Eri, and the remaining Players vanquished the last of the Noise. When the last Noise faded from existence, the timers on their hands disappeared, signaling that the mission was a success.

At dinnertime, the four Players, three living world travelers, and Beat and Rhyme met up in Ramen Don. The head cook, Ken Doi, waved, happy to see the group together. Beat pulled Neku into a bear hug, crying about how scared he was that he was dead.

"Loosen… up… or… I… will be!" Neku retorted, gasping for air. Shiki and Eri giggled.

"So, you were also in the Reapers' Game?" Sora asked, putting the pieces together.

Rhyme nodded. "Yeah. We all met in the same week. I partnered up with Beat, though I didn't remember who he was." Her expression turned somber. "I'm afraid I didn't make it through the whole week," she lamented.

"So, how are you here now?" Riku asked.

"You gotta thank Coffee Man for that, yo!" Beat answered. "He gathered what was left of Rhyme up and put her in a pin, then had me make a Pact with the pin. But I couldn't make the pin work and talk to her, man. So I joined the Reapers, and I got the power to call Rhyme back up as a Noise. Then I quit to help Phones survive the last week and end the Game. Yo, he never woulda made it without me!"

"He's right," Neku confirmed. Beat grinned proudly, then did a double take toward Neku.

"Then they gave us all back our second chance at life. Even me," Rhyme finished. "Although, I don't think I got my Entry Fee back."

"What was your Entry Fee?" Eri asked.

"We're not entirely sure," Shiki admitted. "From what I understand, Beat's Fee was Rhyme's memory of him. We still haven't figured out for sure what Rhyme's was."

"I still feel bad, yo," Beat lamented. "If I hadn't been so stupid and walked right into that trap, you wouldn't'a been Erased. Then you woulda gotten it back."

"Oh, don't beat yourself up over it, Beat. You didn't know then. And hindsight is twenty-twenty," Rhyme consoled him.

"We've all made our fair share of mistakes," Riku assured him. "We've all been our own brand of stupid."

"Besides, whatever I lost, I'm sure I'll be able to make up for it," Rhyme said cheerfully.

"I'm sure that, even if it is lost, a shadow will still be in your heart. So, maybe one day, you will unlock it again," Naminé said.

Beat scratched the back of his neck as he considered her words uncertainly. "Uh, I'm not too sure that's how it works," he replied.

Naminé shrugged, not bothered by his skepticism. "Well, I don't know how it works, so I'm just going off of what I know."

Sora nodded. "That's not a bad practice. So, Naminé? How was it, helping with the mission today?"

Naminé smiled. "It was fun. And it felt nice to help everyone out," she answered.

Sora smiled warmly. "That's good to hear. I'm glad you're enjoying it."

"So, then, what should we do about the bigger mission?"Mickey asked.

Neku shook his head. "We don't know enough about what's going on to know for certain," he said. "But the Taboo Noise are back, which means things really are serious in Shibuya."

"Could the pile of junk be related somehow?" Riku wondered.

Neku shrugged. "Couldn't tell you. Might be worth keeping in mind, though."

"Mr. Hanekoma seemed evasive when we talked about it, and avoided saying what the issue was," Shiki recalled. "Since we know that the Taboo Noise are involved now, he might be more willing to open up about what's going on."

Mickey nodded. "That's a great idea. We'll head over tomorrow morning."

"Okay. Tonight, we'll take a look around town," Sora said. "We'll scan around and track Noise patterns."

"Good idea. We'll meet up with Aqua, Donald and Goofy and see if they found anything out," Riku added.

"Alright," Neku said. The party finished their dinner and paid the tab. "Well, I guess we should get going."

Riku nodded. "Okay. See you."

The nine of them left the ramen shop simultaneously, but from the RG party members' perspective, their UG friends ran off as soon as they were outside, as the powers set in place by the Composer altered their memories so that they did not realize that they appeared to have vanished into thin air. Only Naminé, due to her own powers over memory, was unaffected, instead looking around in shock as she noticed how Sora and the others were no longer there all of a sudden.

"That is freaky," she mused.

"Well, let's go see if we can find the others," Riku said.

They went up the street, off to check the northern end of the city. As they made their way through the Shibuki Main Store district, they stopped as they heard a noise coming from a nearby alley. They glanced around, trying to locate the source, but it seemed to be hidden in the shadows.

"Who's there?" Beat asked. Mickey shushed him. They turned to the alley, squinting as they tried to make out a shadowed shape. They watched in silence, waiting for their stalker to make a move. The suspense seemed to drag out the seconds. Finally, two red dots appeared against the blackness, and they heard a snarl. Rhyme let out a scream. Beat stepped in front of her protectively. Naminé ducked behind him. Riku and Mickey conjured their Keyblades as the creature lunged out of its hiding place, revealing itself to be a wolf with black and dark gray fur and white skeletal forelegs. Beat let out an uninspiring scream of terror as he recognized the beast.

The Grunge Wolf threw itself at its prey, but Riku slashed at it, knocking it away. Mickey jumped into the air and cast a Pearl spell at another wolf that attempted to attack them from behind. The light bolt caused the wolf to stumble, but it regained its footing, and began to chase after Mickey, ignoring the defenseless teenagers, while the mouse jumped around to avoid the monster.

"Are these一" Rhyme questioned, horrified.

"How is this possible, yo?" Beat asked, panicking.

"Are these what Sora and Neku were talking about?" Naminé asked.

Beat nodded. "Yeah. They're the things that hunted us in the Reapers' Game last year. They're Taboo!"

While the two Keyblade wielders fought desperately to survive and protect their friends, a figure sat on the roof of a nearby building, grinning maliciously as he watched his handiwork. "Huh. I wonder who the new variables are. Whatever. They think their power[^] is greater than or equal to my Taboo? Ha! Their power[^] is garbage!" He punched is fist into his palm to emphasize his point. "CRUNCH! I'll add it to the heap!"