- Chapter 8 -

Trouble in Twilight Town

Author's Note:

I forgot to mention this, but quite a bit of last chapter was taken from PrismRain13's story Reconnected, with some modifications to fit it in with my story. Prism, if/when you read this, my sincerest apologies for not giving you credit previously.

Aside from that, in case it wasn't obvious already, I'm just gonna come right out with it: yes, Hikari does have a crush on Sora. Sadly, it's doomed to be one-sided, since Sora only loves Kairi and just sees Hikari as a friend. Hikari understands and accepts that, though.

Okay, now that that's done...

Twilight Town, Sandlot

In the Sandlot, nonchalantly hanging out were three teenagers around Sora and Kairi's age. Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

Hayner was a young boy with brown eyes, light skin, dark eyebrows, and spiky, blond hair. He wore baggy, camouflage-print capris pants, a short, sleeveless, grey vest, and a black muscle shirt decorated with a white, crudely-drawn skull and crossbones. His shoes were the same camouflage pattern as his pants, but also sported white tips, grey soles, and each had two intersecting, black belts in place of laces. Hayner also wore a white necklace with a yellow "X" charm on it and a brown bracelet on his left wrist with several silver pins in it.

Pence was a rather heavy-set boy with light skin, brown eyes, and black hair and eyebrows. He held his hair up using a black headband with grey lining. He wore a short-sleeved, white shirt with dark cuffs underneath a red jersey with black and white lining. The jersey sported a black silhouette of a seemingly skeletal dog with three bones above it, with the phrase "Dog Street" printed along the left side in large, white letters. He also wears blue pants, blue and white shoes with grey soles, and a purple bandana around his neck.

Olette, the only girl of the trio, had bright green eyes, soft peach-colored skin, and brown hair that stuck out on the sides and two strands of hair that from either side of her head, just long enough to drape over her shoulders. Her clothing had a summer feel to it, consisting of an orange tank-top with a white floral design at the bottom, khaki-colored capris pants, and orange socks with white hems. She also wore cream, black and yellow shoes with black laces, a beaded sky blue bracelet on her right wrist, and a black necklace decorated with a spherical, sky blue charm.

Hayner was practicing his skills with the Struggle bat, Pence was looking over his photo album, and Olette was trying to work on their summer homework. Olette looked at them, slightly annoyed.

"I swear, you two do this every year," she said. Hayner just shrugged.

"Summer vacation just started, Lettie," he said. "We've got plenty of time."

Olette pinched the bridge of her nose, but before she could say anything else, they heard the sound of an engine, and all three of them looked up to see the Highwind flying overhead, headed toward the old mansion. The trio looked at each other, surprised, before smiles followed suit.

"Guys, that's the ship Sora uses!" Hayner said excitedly. "He's back!"

"C'mon, let's go!" Pence yelled, and the two boys took off running. Olette followed shortly afterwards with mixed feelings: part of her was annoyed that the boys had found another excuse to procrastinate, while the other part was just excited to see Sora again.

Twilight Town, Old Mansion

The Gummi Ship touched down in the courtyard of the old mansion that had once served as the hiding place of Ansem the Wise. The group filed out of the ship in this order: Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Max, Sï'Lea, Nixe, Lea, and Hikari. Sï'Lea, Nixe, Hikari, and Max had never been to Twilight Town before, and looked around at the peaceful world.

"It's gorgeous here," Sï'Lea said, looking up at the sky, perpetually streaked in twilight.

"Yeah, it's a nice place," Lea said, a nostalgic smile on his face. "I used to come here all the time, back when I was still a Nobody." Nixe was shaking with excitement at the sight of her first new world.

"This is so cool!" she yelled.

Before anyone could say anything else, a young boy's voice called, "Hey, Sora!" The group turned to see Hayner, Pence, and Olette running up to them. Sora and Kairi grinned widely at the sight of them.

"Hi, guys!" Sora said as the Twilight trio reached them. Sora high-fived Hayner, Olette excitedly hugged Kairi, while Pence fist-bumped Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, with Sora proceeding to introduce Sï'Lea, Nixe, Max, Hikari, Riku, and Lea to them. However, Hayner, Pence, and Olette stiffened at the sight of Lea.

"It's that Axel guy!" Hayner shouted, snarling, remembering Kairi's kidnapper from the previous year. He quickly drew his Struggle bat and started to advance on him, but Sora jumped in between them, waving his hands.

"Hey, hold it, Hayner!" he said. "He's on our side now." A few tense moments passed before Hayner lowered his bat.

"Okay..." Hayner said cautiously. He was still wary, but if Sora trusted him, then that was good enough.

"And just FYI, it's not Axel anymore," Lea said. "The name's Lea. Got it memorized?"

The others just rolled their eyes. "So, it's good to see you again, Sora," Pence said. "What brings you guys here?"

Sora and Riku, alternating between them, told the Twilight kids what had occurred six months ago, informing them of Xehanort's plans down to the last detail. The trio just looked at them after the story had concluded, in shock.

"So, have you seen anything out of the ordinary recently?" Sï'Lea asked. Olette, Hayner, and Pence all closed their eyes in thought for a moment, and then Pence snapped his fingers.

"I did see some people not from around here not too long ago," he said. "One of them was wearing a dark grey coat with a hood, the other was wearing a black coat with silver lining and had some kind of pet tiger."

"A pet tiger?" Mickey said, confused. The others exchanged looks.

"That doesn't sound like one of Xehanort's thugs," Hikari said. "Who could it be?"

"There's no harm in looking," said Nixe. "Where'd you see them?" Pence closed his eyes in thought for a moment.

"At the Station Plaza," he said, then turned to see Hayner and Olette looking at him.

"You mind explaining to us why you didn't tell us this earlier, Pence?" Olette asked. Pence laughed sheepishly.

"I... forgot," he said. Hayner face-palmed at that, while Sora just shrugged.

"Let's just check it out, okay?" he said.

With that, the group of eleven, plus Hayner, Pence, and Olette, made their way through the woods to the Station Plaza.

Twilight Town, Clock Tower

Atop the clock tower, the boy, hooded girl, and Tiger were still sitting, pondering their next move. The girl patted Tiger on the head as she and the boy looked across town from their position. It was a nice view.

Suddenly, movement from the street level caught their eye, and they looked down to see Sora's team enter the plaza. The boy looked at them, interested.

"So that's Sora," he said in thought, recalling the name from his travels through the worlds.

The girl, however, was more focused on the tall boy with silver hair, a figure she hadn't seen in two years and thought she would never see again.

"That guy," she said in surprise. "No... could it be... Riku?"

Twilight Town, Station Plaza

The group of fourteen entered the plaza. Pence pointed up to the top of the clock tower.

"That's where I saw them," he said. "But I have no idea if they're still up there." Sï'Lea looked up, holding up a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun.

"It's too high up to make anything out," she said.

At that very moment, however, a swarm of Heartless appeared around the group. They had a much more refined appearance than Shadows, appearing as noble knight-type warriors at first glance, though closer examination revealed them to be just as beastly as the other Heartless. Their muscular forms were clad in a bluish-black bodysuit bearing the Heartless emblem and purple inverted emblems trimmed in gold on the knees. They wore black, silver-trimmed shoes that ended in spiral toes, silver wristbands, and a silver knight's helm decorated with two angular, eye-like spirals on the front and a yellow stripe at the base of the curled silver plume. Finally, they had fierce blue and red-tipped claws, and their shadowy faces with bright yellow eyes and toothy maws. They were Soldiers.

"Somehow, I'm less than surprised," Sï'Lea said matter-of-factly as she and the rest of Sora's team drew their weapons. Hayner quickly drew his Struggle bat, while Pence and Olette grabbed the first things they could find, Olette grabbing a piece of pipe and Pence snatching up a stray board of wood. With that, the group charged into battle.

Sora and Kairi stood back-to-back as they hacked and slashed at the Soldiers. Max rode his skateboard through several of the Heartless, while Goofy charged through them with his shield. Donald cast magic spells everywhere he went, while Mickey, Sï'Lea, and Riku, working together, cut through their ranks. Lea, deciding to use his Chakrams instead of his Keyblade, threw them every which way and burned the Heartless with fire spells. Hikari also charged at a group of Soldiers, stabbing at them with blinding speed, her sword moving so fast that it left after-images (1).

Hayner, Pence, and Olette were trying their best to fight, and while they managed to take down a few Heartless, their respective weapons were largely ineffective against the Heartless (2).

Nixe held her Keyblade before her in her battle stance, similar to a kendo practitioner only with her left leg forward and her right leg back a little (3), her eyes closed in concentration. Suddenly, her eyes popped open, and her Keyblade glowed with light. "Here we go!" she shouted as she darted around the battlefield with lightning speed, sheathed in bright light as she cut through the Soldiers before floating in midair briefly, starting to sparkle like a shooting star. "Say goodbye!" she yelled as she slammed into the ground Keyblade-first, sending a bright shockwave of light through the area that wiped out several Heartless and injured those outside of its blast radius, with the light around Nixe's body fading as she finished (4). Sï'Lea smiled at that, her eyes shining with pride.

"That's my girl," she said before diving back into battle. However, the group was slowly starting to get worn down, and no matter how many Soldiers they took down, more just kept coming.

"Oh, come on!" Nixe moaned. "Enough already!"

Hayner, Pence, and Olette collapsed from exhaustion, and the rest tiredly raised their weapons as the Soldiers prepared to strike. However, before anyone or anything could move, a figure in a dark grey hooded coat jumped down from above, a small silver knife with a black handle wrapped in a yellow ribbon in her hand, which she plunged into the top of one Soldier's head. The Soldier dissipated just as two more figures jumped down.

The other newcomer was a boy with messy black hair, hazel eyes, and lightly tanned skin wearing a three-quarter length black leather coat with silver lining on the sleeves and down the sides over a dark green long-sleeved undershirt, dark blue jeans, dark green fingerless gloves, and black-and-white sneakers. Across his chest were two intersecting silver straps that bore several knives. At his side was a small, anthropomorphic cat-like creature with a silver fur with black stripes, blue eyes, a large spherical head, small pointy ears, and stubby arms and legs with a blue cape on its back and a red purse bearing a stylized white star emblem around its neck.

The boy held out his hands, and in them appeared two swords. The one in his right hand was pitch black with red trim, with a black-and-red handle connected to a hand guard that dropped down on the right side. The image of a red-and-orange flame was emblazoned on the flat of the blade just beneath the tip, with a similar image on the pommel of the blade. The one in his left hand was aqua-colored, with its grip being a darker blue color and completely straight. It led up to a hilt that was exactly perpendicular to the grip and was designed to look like a pair of conjoined dagger blades, with the image of a white and sky blue iceberg in the dead center of the hilt.

The boy swung his blades with lethal efficiency at the Soldiers, the black-and-red sword burning and incinerating them with fire, and the aqua-colored sword freezing them with ice. Before long, the Heartless were all destroyed.

"Is everybody okay?" the girl in grey asked as she pocketed her weapon. Taking notice of the familiar knife, Riku quickly walked over to the girl and lowered her food, his jaw nearly dropping to the ground at the sight of her face.

Her messy light brown hair was done in twin pigtails that reached her waist, and she had brown eyes and freckles danced across her face. She was older now, about sixteen years old, but there was no mistaking who it was.

"West?" Riku said in shock, backing up slightly. The other members of the team were just as surprised. "But how... you're..."

"Alive?" West finished for him, beaming at him as a tear of joy traced its way down her left cheek. "Yep. It's good to see you too, Riku."

As that was going on, Sora turned to the boy and his cat companion, sensing something familiar about the latter.

"And you are?" he asked. The boy gave a small smile as he dismissed his blades.

"Your reputation precedes you, Sora," he said, patting his cat on the head. "This is Tiger, my Chirithy. As for me... you can call me Zephyr."

Author's Note:

(1): Think like Dante's Million Stabs attack from Devil May Cry.

(2): Based on my belief that when Sora has to fight the Heartless without the Keyblade, it's mainly the quality of the weapon that makes him so weak. Think about it: without the Keyblade, Sora only uses toy weapons like wooden swords and Struggle bats.

(3): Kinda like Cloud Strife and Zack Fair's combat stances.

(4): Nixe's Limit Break: Falling Star.

Yep, that's right! West lives!

As for Zephyr, I originally intended to name him "Wind," but I thought Zephyr was cooler. His weapons are based on Kirito's swords from Sword Art Online, Dark Repulser and Elucidator, with my own twists and modifications.

The final scene was inspired by PrismRain13's work in Reconnected, again with my own modifications. All credit for the original dialogue and whatnot goes to her.

Also, I've decided to assign mental voice actors to the characters as I go on. The pre-existing characters will still have their normal voice actors. As for the OCs, this is who I "hear" them as:

* West - Alexis Tipton (Moka Akashiya from Rosario + Vampire, Sun Seto from My Bride is a Mermaid, Inori Yuzuriha from Guilty Crown)

* Hikari - Lauren Landa (Kasumi from Dead or Alive 5, Litchi Faye-Ling from BlazBlue, Leia Rolando from Tales of Xillia 1 and 2)

* Nixe - Cherami Leigh (Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tale, Asuna from Sword Art Online, Shana from Shakugan no Shana)

* Sï'Lea - Laura Bailey (Kid Trunks from Dragon Ball Z, Lust from Fullmetal Alchemist, Kushina Uzumaki from Naruto Shippuden)

* Zephyr - Sam Riegel (Mephisto Pheles from Blue Exorcist, Jude Mathis from Tales of Xillia 1 and 2, Tennessee Kid Cooper from Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time)

Please R&R. Until next time!