Chapter 6: Return of the Keyblades

Yozora ran up along the side of a building as if it were but a second nature to him and leapt off of it to land on the roof, racing across Traverse Town. The katana rested on his shoulders as he ran before, finally, out the corner of his eye, he caught vibrant sparks of energy.

"There it is..." he murmured, "Now how do I get all the way over there...?"

As if to answer him, in a flash of blue, crystal-like sparks, the fishing pole appeared.

"Huh-?" He caught it, realizing that, the way it was positioned, it was pointed towards the scene, as if telling him to...

"Well... here goes... something, I guess!" he exclaimed, pulling his arm back and throwing it straight ahead with a subtle curve upwards.

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Becca made it seeing, three people—one a man built like a brick wall, the other a teenage girl with red hair, and the third was a boy carrying…wait, was that a—? She recognized the thing he was carrying as a Keyblade. She looked at Joyex.

"Is that him?" She asked.

"Yeah, that's him." Joyex said, keeping his chain blade in hand, "And he's got his Keyblade."

"I guess you were right about the heart of a hero." Becca said, looking down. Something about those two rang a sort of bell with her…

"Yep." Joyex said to Becca, "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

He then jumped, using Magnetism to extend his upward trajectory before quickly dropping, his chain thrashing around. Becca was quick to follow, using her own Keyblade.

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Sakuzy looked at his Keyblade before swinging it at Heartless. He wasn't sure how, but he suddenly knew exactly what to do. Every strike came with a trained form he didn't know he had.

"STUN IMPACT!" Sakuzy shouted, creating a small field of energy that left the Heartless stunned.

"Hey, what about me?" Lucy asked. She made to follow, but Petross grabbed her shoulder.

"Know how to use this?" Petross asked, drawing a short sword and handing it to Lucy, "Learn. He's got a Keyblade, but he's still out-numbered."

Lucy looked at the blade he held out to her. Without any hesitation, she grabbed the sword.

"Don't worry, I know how to use this!" She said as she charged forward and, with a mighty swing, sliced a Heartless in half that was right behind Sakuzy.

"Thanks!" Sakuzy said. The two began darting around, attacking Heartless as Petross punched and slammed into them.

Suddenly, there were gunshots. Heartless began falling as something crimson streaked across the rooftops.

"There's back-up." Petross said.

"BANZAI!" shouted another voice as someone ran in, slashing with a katana.

"Stinkin' Heartless! Why'd ya hafta swarm on us?" asked a third person, a blast firing from his buckler.

The Heartless then began to ripple, forming into a massive swarm, twisting and winding in the air as it flew around like a massive tornado of darkness.

Sakuzy looked up as Joyex landed next to him. Without making eye-contact, the two ran in different directions, Joyex jumping up as Sakuzy began trying to circle the tornado.

Suddenly, flying through the air, right beside the tornado of Heartless, was…a glowing fishing pole? It cracked and sparked with blue light before, suddenly, a streak caught up to it in an instant.

Yozora yelled aloud as he swung his katana forward, straight at the horde as it fused together, with a powerful, forceful slash.

"GOTCHA!"

Becca threw fire at some as she landed. Fire kept bursting from her Keyblade as she danced around.

Sakuzy jumped around, continuing to slash and hack with his Keyblade. Joyex was running around, jumping from the rooftops, snapping his chain to make it stiffen. Going from a whip to a makeshift spear, which he began stabbing at the storm.

"DIE! DIE!" shouted the ninja as he hurled razor-sharp disks, "DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!"

"Ah great, da Lunar Lunatic." the one with the shield grumbled.

"About time." Petross said, "And looks like…"

"You three keep the perimeter." Said a low, gravelly voice. A man wearing a ragged, red cloak and headband walked by. His long, black hair, pale skin, and eerie red eyes gave him the appearance of some nightmare creature. Not helping that was his three-barreled pistol, "Keep Blader from killing Crescent, Petross."

The larger man nodded, "You can count on me, sir. Blader! Crescent!"

"Eh, things were gettin' a bit crowded anyway." Crescent said, "LATER, SWORD BRO!"

WHAM!

Blader belted Crescent over the head with his shield, "That's fer swipin' my leg!"

Petross picked up Blader by the shirt, carrying him away while dragging away Crescent's unconscious form, "Not now. Vincent gave us an order."

When they were gone, Sakuzy and Lucy kept attacking the Heartless as Joyex jumped around while snapping his chain whip. Becca looked at the group holding her Keyblade, but kept shooting off magic to hit some of the Heartless. Yozora's katana streaked through the air, becoming a silver line that cut any stray Shadows that fell away from the storm. He leapt up to avoid the hurricane of Heartless as it dove at him, engulfed in a hellish, red aura, only to land ATOP the mass.

"Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoawhoa-!"

He ran along it, the crackling energy it emitting stinging at his feet as he did so, before leaping off of its tail end…and noticing the bulbous mass of shadow INSIDE of it.

"Hey, that looks important!"

Lucy glared at a Heartless that was charging at her, she narrowed her eyes and grabbed the creature by the shoulder! She gritted her teeth and jabbed her sword into the Heartless' stomach, making it vanish into nothing.

"Ahh!" Lucy shrieked as another Heartless jabbed her in the side, making her feel as if she'd been poked with a needle!

"HOLD UP!" Sakuzy shouted, jumping and slashing at the Heartless that hit Lucy, "Keep your guard up."

"Guess we're even!" Lucy smiled as she resumed fighting. Vincent stood next to her and kept shooting at the Heartless.

Before Sakuzy could do anything else, he dodged another attack before jumping up, seeing the red core of the Heartless storm. He jumped onto the nearest rooftop and ran across it. While there, he saw this strange person with a katana.

The guy seemed oddly familiar, but Sakuzy pushed the thought aside. He had other things to think about...like jumping into the air, Keyblade raised up. Becca flipped up, landing right across from Sakuzy. She moved along with him, almost in perfect sync with him and the man with the katana. With a sudden flip, Yozora shot forward.

"Let's try this again!" he exclaimed, throwing his katana straight towards the glowing, red core of the Heartless storm.

The blade span through the air, glowing brightly with his azure magic, before he disappeared in a flash and reappeared, just in front of the core, using the momentum of his katana's flight as he caught it to deliver a heavy slash straight at it. Most of the storm began to dissipate. Sakuzy yelled as he lunged forward, slamming his Keyblade into the red core. While he did so, Becca shot magic as the core. When it began to fluctuate, Sakuzy, Yozora, and Becca flew straight through it. They landed in a perfect triangle formation before the red orb began to fluctuate and flash. It then exploded, the Shadows vanishing as they flew out.

Vincent looked at this with a simple grunt.

Becca let out a sigh of relief as her posture slumped a bit. She looked over and saw Sakuzy.

"So…" she said, tired. And in her exhausted mindset, that was all she could say.

Yozora panted briefly, before he sighed in relief. "Whew."

With a flex of his wrist, his katana was dispelled. Standing upright, he dusted himself off; for a brief second, his gaze fell onto the Keyblades and lingered.

For a minute.

"Cool." he complimented with a nod and a growing smile.

"Whew…that was intense…" Lucy said as she wiped her brow.

"Well." Vincent commented.

"Hey, Sakuzy." Said Joyex as he walked over.

Sakuzy looked at Joyex and arched an eyebrow. He couldn't place it, but this person seemed familiar. Unbelievably familiar…

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He was sitting at a desk, looking at his hands with a defeated expression.

"Hey, the teach really dug into you there." Said a boy Sakuzy met, a few years older than him with shoulder-length black hair.

"Yeah, things just kinda suck. And here I thought this would be awesome." Sakuzy murmured.

"Life and reality, am I right?" The boy said, "But seriously, why'd the old man dig into you like THAT?"

"Because…well, kind of related to the Wakened Warrior. Can't really keep out of the spotlight with THAT." Sakuzy said, sheepishly, "Means the teachers expect me to be some sort of prodigy and…no one really wants to get friends with the guy they think is just coasting."

"Well, how about I help you with the second half of that?" The boy asked, holding out a hand, "My name's J-"

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"JOYEX!" Sakuzy exclaimed.

"KOOZIE!" Joyex replied as the two ran at each other and shook hands, vigorously before slapping them, wiggling their fingers, and ending on a fist bump, "Wow, you remember that?"

"Somehow." Sakuzy nodded, "Did you HAVE to make things that complicated?"

"C'mon, Koozie, that was half the fun!" Joyex laughed.

Yozora just stared blankly at the scene. Really, what else COULD he do? The only word he could muster from his blank, bewildered state of mind?

"Welp."

Really, what else COULD he say but 'welp'?