"Looks like Jaune's the rotten egg!"

Yang's teasing call toward the Arc child in question made his eyes widen with confused surprise when he and Pyrrha caught up with the others. "What?! I thought it was just your team!" A complaint which drew a laugh from Yang, and a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from Pyrrha. Something which...sort o helped him feel better.

But with that over and done with, the group found themselves in what looked to be some sort of gizmo shop. Giant gears, cogs and other machinery, presumably for making the clock tower function."Is that clock right?" Goofy asked, noticing the insides of it were the only parts not moving as the hands seemed to be stuck on 6:54.

"Guys. Back here." Ruby called out, standing beside another door on the other side of the shop. They had a tight fit because of the small corridor, but thankfully, back outside thanks to the door Ruby found, they found a ladder not too far away. One that seemed to lead to the bell itself. Sora was already climbing up it and Donald was below him with Goffy following suit, followed by Ruby and her friends.

"Hey! Check out this view! You can see the whole Second District!" Sora said from up top as everybody else gradually reached the top one by one. And sure enough, they had a very good view of the entire district. "Not like there's very much to see." Weiss said, ever putting a dampener on things.

Jaune noticed how close they were to the edge and backed away nervously. "Why are there no fences or something this high up? Obviously people can get up here. It's really dangerous to not have some sort of barricade." Pyrrha looked to Jaune with a concerned expression, theorizing, "Maybe there was one but the Heartless destroyed it. It seems unfortunately likely."

"Well, we're at the bell tower at least." Blake stated, turning to look at the bell in question behind everyone. And the obstacle in their way. "And just like Aerith said, it's all boarded up."

"Not for long it's not." Yang said eagerly, cracking her knuckles before leaping with a mighty yell. Sora, Donald and Goofy flinched as the wooden planks in their way was nothing but splinters now. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, and Pyrrha shrugged, shook their heads, or sighed at the yellow beauty's ever so blunt way of solving problems.

With that obstacle unceremoniously dealt with, the group looked inside to see a rope dangling under the bell. "I guess we pull that to ring the bell." Sora theorized, looking up at the object in question. "Gee, you think?" Donald asked with a deadpan expression toward Sora's obvious observation. Before Sora could protest with annoyance, the Schnee heiress spoke up with a tone of confusion. "But this place was boarded up. How did it even ring if nobody could get to it?" Weiss wondered. This didn't make any sense.

"Maybe it was a ghost! Oooooohhh~" Jaune said, earning a deadpan glare from Weiss. A look which shut him up almost immediately. "Useful theories only, please?" she said, turning away from Jaune. Instead of theories however, Weiss's only answer was Sora reaching up and pulling the rope. Before she or Donald could reprimand him for the impulsive action, the somewhat musical ring that came from the bell caught their attention. It sounded almost like a jingle of some sort

"Hey, look out there!" Pyrrha exclaimed, pointing toward the mural attached to the stairway leading back to the first district. A red mural adorned with lovely blooming flowers. As the bell rang, the mural suddenly shifted to the side, and what was assumed to be a fountain in front of it suddenly ignited like a hearth as the mural was replaced with a more abstract looking painting. One that looked ironically like some sort of underwater plants and creatures.

Everyone was surprised and awed by the unexpected sight. Looking back at the bell, Blake asked, "Did the bell do that?"

"It must have. But, how and why?" Weiss wondered. This was becoming more confusing by the minute. A bell that rung even though it was blocked off, a mural being affected somehow by said bell..."Let's do it again and see what it does!" Ruby said enthusiastically, immediately pulling the rope again.

Before anyone could reprimand her, the bell rang once again, this time...with a different, slightly lower overall chime. Sure enough, the mural changed again. A string of flowing lights ran along the sides and top of the mural which shifted to a picture of two bright, branch entwined trees.

"Is this the legend Yuffie was talking about?" Jaune asked curiously.

"I don't see what's so legendary about it." Donald said with a raised eyebrow and arms crossed.

"One more time!" Sora and Ruby said at the same time with big smiles then pulled the rope, together. As before, the fountain had something happen to it after the bell rang. The lights around it ceased and the mural turned once more. When it changed this time, the water from the fountain shot up from the pipes within and for a moment the mural was a newly blooming flower that hadn't even budded yet while surrounded with butterflies. It was replaced by a bluish-white light and a large, unusual shape at the center of it.

"Is that the Keyhole to this world?" Weiss stated in surprise.

"Keyhole?" Yang asked, out of the loop when looking to them.

"Basically, that is what leads to the heart of this world," Blake explained bluntly. "If the Heartless get to that, the mess with it, that world will vanish and so will everyone in it."

Sora looked in amazement. "Leon was right. This world has one, too."

"Well let's not just stand there staring at it! The Heartless could show up any second!" Weiss said urgently.

Realizing she had a point, everybody scrambled. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang and Pyrrha all made their own 'landing strategies' to get off the building and head to the Keyhole in case any Heartless showed up. The boys all looked from above in shame. "How are those girls so athletic?" Sora wondered, sharing an envious sigh with Jaune before he, Donald, Goofy and Jaune all went down the ladder instead.

"Well you guys sure took your time." Yang teased with a smirk. "Hey, come on. We can't do what you girls do." Sora complained with a small pout. Unable to help herself, Yang smiled and ruffled Sora's hair, saying, "Aww, don't be like that, Sora. I'm just messin' with you, that's all." Her attitude reminded Sora of Riku in some ways. If they had met on Destiny Islands, he had a feeling Yang would give Riku a run for his money on teasing Sora. Or maybe successfully tease BOTH of them.

Brushing off his embarrassment when Ruby got Yang to stop ruffling his hair, Sora summoned his Keyblade and prepared to lock the keyhole, and keep Traverse Town from being at risk of falling to the darkness.

However, just as things seemed to finally be going their way, from up in the sky, a familiar looking Heartless suddenly crashed down in front of them, forcing the group to jump away from the Keyhole. It was one they recognized almost instantly. The metallic limbless arms, legs, triple spiked helmet-like head, the cylindric torso, there was no mistaking it. "Not this thing again!" Sora complained, readying his weapon with everyone else.

Goofy's eyes shifted curiously at their familiar foe. For one, it didn't have varying shades of purple along its body. Instead, it seemed to have a wider and brighter variety of colors, including blue, yellow, and red along with a metallic white. "He kinda looks a bit different. Do ya think he got a haircut?" His assumption earned an unamused glare and whack on the head from Donald. But sure enough, different color or not, it was indeed a Guard Armor Heartless.

Immediately, the towering Heartless stomped over to them and rapidly spun its clawed hands around in a whirlwind pattern, forcing the group to scatter. "You've fought this thing before, Sora?" Jaune asked, raising his shield to defend himself.

"Yeah. Back when I first met Ruby, Donald, and Goofy." Sora remembered. Though this wasn't the time for reminiscing as this Heartless was determined to stop them from sealing the Keyhole.

"Don't worry, team! We beat this thing once, we can do it again!" Ruby cheered, switching Crescent Rose to sniper mode and opening fire upon it. "YEAH!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy cheered in agreement as they brandished their weapons and charged ahead. As Ruby and Donald provided fire support, Weiss, Blake, and Yang flanked both sides of the Heartless, pincer attack it. With its attention focused on Donald and Ruby, it reared its clawed hands back, intent on striking them, only to be intercepted by Jaune, Goofy, and Pyrrha forming a three man shield wall.

Picking up on the Heartless's vulnerability, Sora reared his Keyblade back, ready to dash into it and attack. He didn't notice the faint twinkle of light that shone from his weapon as suddenly, his whole form darted forward with the Keyblade in front of him. He moved in a flash of speed with the force of a battering ram, leaving a light blur behind him as the Keyblade sliced across the lower part of the target Heartless. As his blow struck true, all the pieces of the Heartless's body rose up then suddenly crashed to the ground, motionless.

"Whoa! Sora, how did you do THAT?!" Donald exclaimed. Sora, just as surprised as everyone else, looked down at himself and said, "I...I don't know." The maneuver he pulled off was...oddly similar to that thrust Cloud used against them. Could he have learned a similar technique from that little gem Cloud gave him?

Before anyone could comment further on the matter, the rumbling sound of metal made them look to the Guard Armor. Much to their annoyance, all its pieces rose back up to their normal position. But instead of attacking them, the Heartless suddenly stood on all fours with the torso horizontal between the feet and hands. More startling, the lower section of the torso rolled up a quarter of the way to be upside down as the hands remained where they were and the feet rose up to shoulder level.

The 'toes and heels' of the feet scrunched down, looking a little more like mitts or crustacean-like caws. The next instant, the visor of the helmet fell, showing a dark face with two glowing yellow eyes staring menacingly at the group as its new form hovered over the ground, eager to rip them to shreds.

"I uhh...I'm guessing it didn't do this last time?" Jaune asked, a tremble seeping into his voice as he and Goofy raised their shields again. Ruby shook her head with wide eyes. "No. No it didn't." Not only did it not do this before, but a moment later, the hovering, transformed Heartless floated toward them, rearing its limbless appendages back, lashing them outward, knocking Donald, Goofy, and Jaune back toward the other end of the district.

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora called out with worry.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out with equal worry.

Pyrrha didn't have time to worry as suddenly the big Heartless shifted its body to a more parallel to the ground, its new hands opening up like crab claws as it lunged for them. Ruby and Weiss braced themselves for the attack as Blake tried to intercept the claws. But the Heartless surprised them when suddenly, it flipped backwards and upwards, making its switched feet fling upwards in a summersault like kick, sending Ruby and Weiss flying. Blake barely managed to avoid the attack thanks to her semblance, but it was a close call.

Pyrrha quickly reacted, switching her sword to rifle mode, aiming at the Heartless and firing upon its limbs to get its attention. It seemed to work as the head rotated in her direction. Yang jumped up to throw a shotgun magnified punch of her gauntlets, Ember Celica, on the Heartless's crab-like arms while Sora hacked at the Heartless's clawed feet.

The Heartless was not perturbed by their assault as once again, it revealed another new trick up its sleeve. A moment later, it floated out of their range and stuck its limbs out around itself. Suddenly, the feet and torso moved away from the head and arms, and began to swing in Pyrrha's direction, forcing her to raise her shield. But while she blocked one, the other took advantage and struck her in the side. Blake rushed to aid Pyrrha, only for the torso and feet to turn to her, and for the feet to merge at the heartless insignia and spin around like a bladed fan, forcing Blake to back away. The revelation of its ability to focus on multiple groups at once immediately threw a bit of a wrench in their initial plan of outflanking it.

"Anybody got ideas?" Goofy said as he worked the kinks out of his joints.

"We might want to keep our distance for now," Jaune said after hissing in pain and cracking his back as he stood. "Donald? Use your magic but only if you have to or if you know you've got a clean shot. We may need your healing magic though so try to reserve some. With a slightly wobbly nod, Donald replied, "Got it." followed by shaking his head to banish the dizziness.

Jaune turned Goofy who raised his shield to protect Donald. "Goofy. How many healing items do you have left?" Searching his pockets, Goofy sounded a little worried as he answered, "Uh oh. I've only got one potion and one ether left. We'd better buy some more before after this."

"Then hold onto them for now." The Arc boy's face shifted to Yang who was hard at work pummeling one of the Heartless's hands. "Yang finding us couldn't have been better timed." Donald and Goofy both looked t Jaune curiously at that statement. "Why's that?" Donald asked.

"In our world, everyone has what's called a semblance. Ruby has speed, Weiss has her glyphs, Blake has her shadow clones, Pyrrha has control over magnetism and Yang's allows her to hit harder the more she gets hit herself." Donald and Goofy both gave a fascinated "Oooh." That explained those amazing abilities of theirs.

"What's your assembly, Jaune?" Goofy asked curiously. Donald looked to him with a deadpan face. "He said 'semblance', ya big palooka." the duck corrected. As for the question itself..."I... haven't unlocked mine, yet." Jaune said with a heavy sigh.

"Really? Do ya need some sorta key for it? Maybe Sora's could help with that." Despite Goofy simply trying to be helpful, his oblivious comment caused Donald to facepalm before running to rejoin everyone else. "Forget about that and focus on the Heartless!" Donald exclaimed, prompting Jaune and Goofy to with follow after him. They could think about this subject later.

Everyone else was having trouble against the new tricks of this Heartless. "So how did you guys beat this thing last time?" Yang said, punching away one of the hands that were now feet. "Well, I don't really know if this IS the same one, or if it's a completely different one! But we destroyed all of its limbs, one by one!" Ruby over the gunfire provided by herself, Blake, and Yang. "Will that work again?" Weiss asked, avoiding a swipe of one of the crab claw hands. "Maybe?" Ruby said, half-certainly.

The Heartless certainly wasn't giving them nearly as many chances to try, what with its constant movement and relentless attacks. For once again, the transformed creature revealed that it had yet another new trick up its sleeve. A moment later, its arms and legs converged in on its torso, which suddenly flipped parallel to the ground with its head raised up to look at its foes.

"What is it doing now?" Sora asked out loud, stepping back from the transformative Heartless. He got his answer when suddenly, a surge of energy gathered at the pitch black hole within the cylindrical torso. Immediately, warning bells went off in Ruby's head, having a pretty good idea of what it was doing. "Scatter!" she yelled.

And she couldn't have timed it better as the instant she yelled it, a loud, fizzing bang emerged from the Heartless as the shimmering ball of energy launched from its torso like a cannonball, heading right for them. Everyone scattered as she yelled, though Sora was not so lucky. He was sent sprawling from the blast. "Sora!" Ruby cried out as everyone looked to see the Heartless was preparing another blast. Sora wasn't getting up fast enough, and a moment later, the Heartless fired.

Sora winced, holding his Keyblade out helplessly, but when the blast impacted, he didn't feel any pain. Instead, he heard a more feminine grunt, and looked ahead to see, "Yang!" Ruby's big sister took the shot for him and was now sprawled on one knee. Sora felt a mix of worry and guilt, fearing that he may have been responsible for Yang getting seriously hurt. Even more so as Opposite Armor began drifting toward them again.

But both of them were wrong about one important thing. Yang was anything but vulnerable now.

Yang slowly stood, her head down and her hair glowing a brighter golden color while some strands billowed from whatever force was flowing through her. Her hair was glowing like fire as an eager smile touched her lips. The Opposite Armor sent the arms spinning towards her like a propeller at great speed but were stopped as Yang shielded herself from the sides with both arms raised. The recoil caused the rest of the Heartless's body to shake, as if its entire body felt the sharp, powerful counterattack she was treating it to. It seemed even if the parts were separated, the entire Heartless was still one being. As the Opposite Armor staggered, Yang's head rose and her sunny smile was replaced with one of focus and no-nonsense.

"Yang?" Sora said in a quiet voice of astonishment.

The next moment was followed with Yang pushing the arms back before leaping towards enemy, reeling one fist back as she let out a might yell and destroying one of the feet with a big red explosion from her punch. Donald and Goofy jumped back in surprise as Sora stood with the same demeanor as them.

Yang's assault wasn't finished. Once she landed on the ground again, she made a similar strike to one of the other foot of the Opposite Armor, destroying another limb. Doing so caused it to turn more savage and flail about with its own punches. Most missed as Yang stepped or weaved out of the way but one nearly hit her face. Something made Ruby, Weiss and Blake turn a little pale when noticing the very thing that signed the Heartless's death warrant. "Uh oh..." Ruby whispered as the rest of Team RWBY, along with Jaune and Pyrrha backed away.

Yang's expression shifted with shock as a small strand of yellow suddenly drifted down in front of her after she avoided the Heartless's attack. It was...her hair.

"You..."Like a stoked flame, her hair rose and glowed brighter. "...You JERK!"

Yang's lilac colored eyes suddenly turned to a bright red as she shouted so loud, the other two districts and everyone in Traverse Town itself must have heard her. Nevermind the fact that the the entire area in front of the fountain was illuminated by a veritable surge of energy the instant Yang slammed her fists together again and charged at the Heartless. Yang's speed and the power behind her attacks seemed to grow even more ferocious than they already were. She lunged and leaped and practically pounced at every limb she could see, destroying it with her fists alone. Only the torso was left as it aimed the bottom part at her for another blast of dark energy. When it fired however, Yang merely reared her fist back and thrust it forward in the heaviest haymaker ever, causing an even bigger burst as the shot impacted against its source.

All the while, Sora, Donald, and Goofy watched gobsmacked as Yang went completely ham on the Heartless. They almost felt sorry for it as the yellow beauty pummeled it with a vengeance.

"And I thought Queen Minnie was scary when she was mad." Goofy said, not sure whether to be awed or afraid.

"Queen Minnie? Yang makes Daisy look calm by comparison." Donald said, clearly veering more toward afraid.

"Yyyeah. When I said that her semblance was a double edged sword...I forgot to mention that if you damage her hair...she won't hold back." Jaune said, tugging the collar of his hoodie. He may not have experienced it much himself, but he knew full well not to mess with Yang's hair. As did Pyrrha who nervously nodded in agreement.

The unfortunate Heartless seemed to not be quite done yet as it drifted toward her still. "What!? You want some more!?" Yang yelled, raising her fists again. As it shakily tried to ready another blast, it didn't have the time as Yang suddenly leaped into the air.

Everyone's eyes followed Yang as she kept up, her fist reeled back, and poise to strike. A smirk brimming with confidence spread across Yang's face as she fixed her eyes upon the weakened Heartless, and sailed down toward it to finish her assault with a punch of titanic force. The resulting impact sent a tremor through the district. The Opposite Armor's body and head trembled and shuddered before going still and falling to the ground, with the head rolling off. As the remains of the Heartless dissipated, a giant heart floated pit of the torso, and into the sky, free of the grip of darkness.

And with their foe bested, Yang let out a small exhale, pounding her fist against her palm and stretching herself out. "Whew! Now that's what I call a workout." she said before turning toward her friends to see Sora, Donald, and Goofy still utterly gobsmacked. "What?" Words...couldn't even be formed at this moment as the trio stared at her and where the Heartless used to be. But fortunately, something managed to snap them out of their reverie. For upon the mural they'd revealed, there was the objective they came here for. The Keyhole. Which Yang turned to look at as well. "Whoa, cool. So this is one of those Keyholes you guys were talking about?" she inquired.

After recovering from their moment of shock and awe, Sora looked to his friends and gave a nod before raising his Keyblade toward the Keyhole. Noticing it, Yang stepped aside to give him a bit more room. With his weapon aimed at the glowing mural, a ray of light shot into the Keyhole. As the keyhole surged with light, they heard the locking sound once again, and just like that, the keyhole vanished, leaving only the butterfly mural in its place.

Now Traverse Town was safe from the Heartless and would remain a haven for the lost souls who needed refuge from the Heartless.