*Disclaimer* - I do not own the copyright to Kingdom Hearts or Toaru Majutsu no Index

*A/N* - Hello again. I do hope all is going well for everyone who's reading this and even for those who are not. Life can suck sometimes but at other times it truly is amazing. Now, regarding the story, Sora has gotten himself involved in what can only be described as a fight fest. With the new creation taking the name of a Mimic, he's going to be dealing with something that he's quite familiar with as well as not entirely familiar with. For those not as familiar with KH, there are a set of bosses you fight that are super maxed and true adaptations of who they are as characters and their abilities. Each foe has a unique set of tools at their ready. Sora's going to be in for quite the ride this chapter as well as setting up what happens afterward. The Daihaseisai Festival is soon coming up and the Toaru world is going to feel more of an impact due to the Keyblade wielder's stance in this world. Along with other characters reacting to what's going on in the city. Where one story is advancing, you can be sure another is as well. Once more, I do thank everyone for checking this story out. A crazy idea that I've come to enjoy writing even if at times it makes no sense at all lol. I also enjoy reading all the comments and reviews about what's going on and hope to continue to learn more and build this story up for the better. Nevertheless, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and how Sora is essentially going to get his ass kicked lol. Take care and enjoy the story.

*P.S.* – For this chapter, I also included small little notes regarding battle music that goes along with the Mimic's antics. Those who are familiar with Kingdom Hearts will obviously know what's playing while those who aren't… well, not to brag but KH music hits hard.

It just had to take the form of them.

That was the thought prevalent in Sora's mind right now as he stared right at the cloaked figure standing in front of him. The blue spiky claymore in their hand was also pointed at him while the mysterious figure still had the black hood covering their face leaving the teen no idea just who was under there. Sure, he knew who wielded that exact claymore, but he wasn't entirely sure about it all.

'Saïx… I mean, Isa. I defeated him with the help of Roxas and Xion but… it couldn't be him here. Right?'

Deciding to find out for himself, the brunette called out to the hooded figure.

"Hey! Isa, is that you?"

No response.

"Are you even a real person? A Nobody? A copy even?"

No response.

"Would you just say something?"

No response.

"Grr… What are you?"

No respo-

Suddenly, the hooded figure brought its free hand up to its head and near the open area where its face was supposed to be. However, what it did next left the spiky-haired boy even more confused about what was going on.

The figure wearing the black coat simply brought its gloved index finger up to what was supposed to be its mouth and nonverbally made the gesture of being quiet. It was almost as if the Mimic was telling Sora to stop talking.

Left aghast at what just happened, the Keyblade wielder suddenly felt a pit forming in his stomach as he knew one thing that was for sure. This was not Isa. This was something else.

Summoning his Keyblade and aiming it at the dark figure, Sora knew things were about to pick up. They always did. But this time, he was starting to wrap his head around this strange occurrence before him. A Mimic as Darkness had told him. The name alone gave him the impression that it had taken from Saïx's fighting style using the large claymore and his magical abilities.

A grin appeared on the boy's face as he had become familiar with the Lunatic's fighting technique from beating him multiple times already.

"Alright, fine. If that's how you want to play, then let's do this!"

*Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind DLC Music – The 13th Dilemma – Saïx*

Not wasting any more time, Sora shot forward right at the Organization XIII fake member with his weapon raised high while being held with both of his hands. His entire body moved with a newfound rush of adrenaline knowing that he was fighting a familiar foe. This would easily be over soon.

However, just before he was about to swing his weapon across the Mimic's body, the claymore in its hand began glowing. Adding to that sudden act, the fake Saïx let his arms extend out before swirls of white light appeared all around him giving off a strange wavy sight leaving his entire body glowing white.

Before Sora could do anything, the Lunatic shot forward with his claymore slamming down right at him causing the boy to instantly block the attack before several more slashes were sent his way. With quick reaction, the teen quickly blocked the claymore at every strike coming his way before taking the opportunity to dash around the hooded figure and land multiple slashes across his back.

"Not fast enough!"

Sending another strike across the Organization member's back, Sora suddenly had to block a rushed attack coming his way which had such force to it that he was launched back several feet before regaining his footing. At this point, Saïx had managed to catch him off guard and slammed the claymore right into the boy's abdomen causing him to yell out.

"Aaaah!"

Thrown back by the attack, Sora quickly got back into a defensive stance only to feel an immense weight slam right into him. The heavy claymore was now once again hitting him head-on and forcing him to try and block every attack coming his way. Launching a vertical slam with the heavy weapon, the fake Saïx started barraging the boy again but left a momentary pause between each attack. Sora did not notice this and assumed it was just the movement of the strikes but was unprepared for what happened next.

Thinking that the next attack would be another vertical slam, the Keyblade wielder raised his weapon to block an attack coming for his head but was sadly mistaken as he felt pain in his chest as the Mimic's claymore was swung upside down. Causing the boy to go flying back from the impact.

"Geeeh!"

Forcing himself to do a reprisal, Sora flipped in the air and was trying to get back on the ground but had to hurriedly block another incoming slash from the Lunatic who had jumped right at him and was once again hitting him with attacks that had weight put behind them. The fake Saïx showed no sign of stopping as it had performed a complete spin around while heaving the claymore around like it was nothing more than a regular sword.

Performing another spin attack, the recoil was greater as this time it caused the boy's weapon to be pressed right into him. Sora was then sent flying to the ground causing an impression along with cracks spewing in different directions. He shifted his head to see where the Lunatic was now but had to grit his teeth and hold up his Keyblade with both of his hands as the black-coated figure came screeching to the ground with his claymore glowing a bright light. Before he even could think, the spiky-haired teen was sent flying back down the street and landed right in the windshield of a car that was now wrecked.

Wincing at the pain coursing throughout his body and knowing that the car was probably destroyed, the teen was about to lift himself when he suddenly saw a bright purple light coming right toward his chest. Not wanting to feel what it would be like to get smashed by the incoming claymore, Sora forced himself to the right of the vehicle seconds and inches away from seeing the front end of the vehicle completely smashed and debris spraying all over the place. Glass and metal were torn and spread around.

Seeing the destruction, the Keyblade wielder quickly got to his feet and turned his head to the side only to see several more purple glowing claymores heading his way. Breaking out into a sprint, Sora continued running further down the street and seeing what other things were in the area. If Saïx was going to continue with his attacks then-

Suddenly, to his right, a large explosion caused debris to go flying and even caused several vehicles parked nearby to be pushed back. This caused the boy to roll to the side narrowly missing a car that appeared out of nowhere and was now completely smashed upside down several feet away from where he was just standing. He knew that this couldn't continue for much longer and decided to take a swing at the Lunatic and get him to stop his onslaught on the street.

Pushing off his back foot, Sora started running toward the Mimic making sure to keep his eyes open and focused on where the claymore was currently at now. As expected, the hooded figure raised the claymore above its head before slamming it on the ground causing lines of purple fire to appear out of nowhere and arch away from where the claymore hit creating a blast of dark fire to engulf the area. The fake Saïx continued to do so as he was marching toward the boy picking up the speed with every step, he took getting closer to the spiky-haired teen.

Dodging to the left and then the right, Sora was stuck in a rough spot as everywhere he turned, he was met with a wall of fire inches away from scorching him. It didn't help that the Claymore user was getting closer and closer leaving him seconds away from confronting the black hooded figure. With every moment that seemed to pass, another claymore was hurled his way causing a massive wall of fire to appear and scorch the area leaving him very little room to move around in. One slip up and he would be burned.

However, before he could react, the Keyblade wielder had to throw himself backward as the Mimic had thrown another claymore right at him with such ease you would have thought it was nothing more than a spear. Even so, the heavy-looking weapon was heading right for him, and he planned to easily block or deflect the incoming attack. Alas, Sora was playing right into the Mimic's hand.

This being born from the hand of Darkness was not just any ordinary monster but something else entirely. Something smarter and keen on adapting to his adversary. It would not only take on the fighting style of one of the Guardian of Light's past foes, but it would evolve into something that the teen had not encountered before in his many fights with the Lunatic Organization XIII member.

With a quick flick of its hand, the Mimic summoned another claymore to appear in its hand only this time, several other claymores appeared all around, and they each had a red glowing color to them. Immediately, all the claymores began spinning at a rapid speed before instantly hurtling toward the boy. This was something new.

Having just blocked the one incoming claymore that caused a blast of light to cloud his vision for a second, Sora was not quick enough to see the attack that would ultimately hit him with so much force and destruction that the area he was once standing in had been obliterated with debris flying everywhere as the multiple red projectiles had caused explosion after explosion of purple fire to consume the area. The brunette on his part had been sent skidding across the road and further away from the fake Saïx with his Keyblade disappearing in a flash of light.

Rag dolling back quite the distance, Sora finally felt his head stop spinning as he was now laying on his side with his entire body in immense pain. He then brought his hands up within his vision and saw them battered and even bloodied. Grimacing in pain, he forced his right hand to extend out and summoned his Keyblade once more before casting a healing spell on himself.

"H…Heal…"

With a glowing flower appearing over his head, the boy felt his body cry out in relief as a good majority of his bruises and injuries had been fixed but the sense of feeling tired got to him. But he would not stop any time soon.

Looking in the direction that Saïx was coming from, he saw the black hooded figure merely walking toward him with the claymore dragging across the ground emitting sparks to trial behind. As if by coincidence, the Mimic passed by several destroyed vehicles and paid them no mind. Not even when the sparks coming off the claymore which was still screeching across the road managed to light up a gas spill leaking from one of the damaged cars causing an explosion to occur behind the monster.

Sora had come to the late realization that the name "Mimic" did not exactly provide enough credit to the named creation he was staring at.

"Haah… It's called a Mimic because it picks up on other's fighting styles… but also creates its own. Just my luck" Sora commented while eyeing the hooded figure getting closer.

Understanding that he was now facing a completely unknown foe rather than continuing to think it was just a copy of Saïx, the spiky-haired teen let out an exasperated sigh before shaking his head. He also quickly reached into his pocket and took inventory of just what other potions he had on him as he felt that this would be a difficult battle ahead of him. Done with the inventory check, Sora also switched to his other Keyblades to make sure that Oathkeeper and Oblivion were ready to go at a moment's notice. Based on how things looked, he would need them at his beck and call while switching to his Light and Dark Forms.

"Here we go!"

Yelling that out loud, the boy shot forward and toward the Mimic which had also begun picking up its pace while still dragging along the claymore causing quite the crack on the road from the heavy weapon.

Not about to let this thing cause any more trouble, Sora would not lose. Not a chance.

Meanwhile, a few moments earlier

Yomikawa was standing right next to an Anti-Skill vehicle that had several screens propped up in the back of the vehicle next to a few of her colleagues trying to get a good visual on whatever was going on with Sora. The situation was labeled as unverifiable, and no one was to get too close to the area until it was confirmed that no civilians were present.

"Dammit! I can't get this thing to look straight" one of the Anti-Skill officers shouted while maneuvering what appeared to be a remote control.

On one of the screens, a video of the sort was being played while the visual was moving left and right as well as up and down. This was the point of view displayed from a drone that had been deployed by Anti-Skill to get a better view of what was going on in the area.

"Maybe if you gave the controller to someone who can actually control the darn thing, then we wouldn't be watching you crash the thing" another Anti-Skill member commented while having their arms crossed and shaking their head.

"Oh, go take a hike. This thing is harder to control than you think!"

"Grr… Yomikawa, do you know how to control one of these drones?"

Hearing her name addressed, the blue ponytail-haired woman turned her attention from the screen to where she heard her name called.

"Huh? Oh. No, I don't. But at this point, I'm willing to go through a quick lesson if it'll give us a visual of the situation" she replied in a slightly irritated tone.

"Oh, come on! Doesn't anyone else know how to fly this hunk of metal?" the Anti-Skill member controlling the drone cried out.

Before anyone else could ridicule him any further, an Anti-Skill officer with wavy dark green hair tied into a ponytail with glasses on her face appeared. She was also suited in a blue vest with a dark blue shirt and pants with black combat armor.

"Tessou! Where have you been?" Yomikawa questioned her junior.

Offering a nervous and timid laugh, the girl better known as Tessou Tsuzuri reported to Yomikawa.

"I-I'm sorry! I got held up trying to get a bunch of students who wanted to stay and find out what exactly was going on in the area."

"*sigh* Did you get them to leave?"

"Yes. I told them that I would be contacting their schools and telling them about their actions, and they didn't believe me. I then told them I would be personally contacting their parents and that got them to leave" Tessou replied, leaving out the bit about how the students thought that she was also a high school student sneaking into the area while wearing Anti-Skill equipment.

Nodding her head, the blue-haired woman didn't say anything else before she figured it wouldn't hurt to ask her junior the same question she had been asked.

"Hey, Tessou, do you know how to fly one of the Anti-Skill drones? If not, want to learn how to with me? Seems like no one knows how to really- "

"Yeah, I do."

"… fly one of these darn- … wait. What? Say that again?"

"Uh… I-I said yeah. I do know how to fly one of our drones" the green-haired girl repeated which earned her the awkward gaze from all her peers.

Nobody said anything, as everyone present, stared at the young woman with shocked expressions.

"W-Why is everyone looking at me like that?"

The Anti-Skill member still holding the remote control had his mouth left slightly open trying to find the right words for this situation.

"But… how?"

"How? What do you mean?" Tessou said, not sure what the member was getting at.

"How do you know to fly one of these?" the Anti-Skill member questioned.

Pushing up her glasses while feeling extremely nervous with all the sudden attention, Tessou cleared her throat as best as she could.

"During one of the days for Anti-Skill summer training, after I was done for the day, I got offered to try and fly one of the drones that had been distributed to our group. It was still an early-in-progress build but the superiors watching over the flight training helped me with it. Even if I did manage to crash the drone a couple of times…" Tessou whispered the last part of her explanation.

Amazement appeared on Yomikawa's face.

"You never told me that."

"I didn't think there was much to it. Most of the time we don't usually have access to the drone, so I just kept it to myself."

An immediate idea popped into everyone's head at that moment.

"Tessou! Can you fly the drone and give us a better picture of what's going on over there?" Yomikawa asked, getting within a few inches of the girl's face.

"I-I s-sure…"

"Aaah. Thank you! Now, hand it over."

Yomikawa directed toward the member who was still holding onto the remote controller.

"Fine, fine. Here you go. Stupid thing doesn't even work."

Having given up without a fight, the officer handed the remote over to Tessou who began examining the controller before walking over to one of the screens. She seemed to take a second to evaluate it before her fingers started pressing buttons rapidly causing the screen visual to go shaky for a moment before becoming a clear picture of one of the buildings nearby.

"What the- Forget this. I'm getting a coffee."

The defeated Anti-Skill member said while beginning to walk off. The other member who had been present also figured he would support his defeated buddy and listen to him complain about the drone.

Now left alone, Yomikawa was present right next to Tessou while also watching the screen carefully. The entire visual was so much better broadcasted than before that she could make out small details in the showcase. Even small things like what license plates were being displayed and details on buildings that weren't seen before.

"Right then, can you get a good visual on the area where all the chaos is going on?"

"Y-Yep. Just give me a second to get there."

Controlling the remote, Tessou managed to easily move the drone so that it was smooth sailing to the location where Sora was last seen thanks to reports coming in from other Anti-Skill branches monitoring the situation. This way, Yomikawa would be able to see what exactly was going-

"Wait… he's going to- "

*Boom*

There on the screen was the visual of Sora being hit and flying back into the windshield of a vehicle from what looked to be a giant claymore in the coated figure's hand. The situation had evolved once again only this time it appeared that the spiky-haired boy was fighting an Esper who they could not see the face of and only from a distance.

"That thing looks heavy…" Tessou murmured, examining the claymore.

"And yet, whoever is under the hood is wielding it like it's nothing. Can you get a visual on Sora?" Yomikawa asked, having a plethora of questions appearing in her head.

Adjusting the drone slightly, Tessou was able to get a clean visual of the boy which showed him wincing in pain from the attack. Yomikawa could feel her heartbeat pick up significantly while her hand started shaking slightly. It was different from being on the field compared to watching a crucial situation. On the field, she had the chance to make things right and save whoever was in danger. Right now, however, she could do nothing but watch. And that… did not sit right with her.

Suddenly, on the screen, Sora threw himself off the windshield onto the ground confusing the duo watching. But in the next second, the entire vehicle was slammed with what appeared to be another claymore. Tessou had to readjust the drone visual quickly while trying to catch what exactly was going on. The boy was once again being attacked, only this time it was from more claymores hitting the ground and causing explosions to rock the area, even tossing cars and debris all over the place.

Yomikawa was growing concerned by the second as she saw Sora having to dodge what appeared to be walls of purple fire appearing after each claymore that appeared from the cloaked individual who threw a weapon toward the teen. He was then forced to dodge as many attacks that were coming his way but that didn't last for long as the live footage being captured of the fight soon had Sora trying to engage in combat with the figure but was ultimately thrown back across the paved road and looking like he was seriously hurt.

At this point, Yomikawa was about to make a move but felt Tessou grab her shoulder which stopped the young woman from doing anything reckless.

"Yomikawa! Hold on- "

"There's no time. He's in trouble and- "

"That's precisely why we need to wait. We have no idea who this Esper is and what their power articulates around. If we go in there now, we will be causing problems for Sora-san!"

Tessou exclaimed while getting the blue-haired woman to calm down. Over the past few days, the green-haired girl had heard a great deal about this spiky-haired boy. Not the black spiky-haired boy but the one that was currently present in the fighting going on. She had also heard a few things about the other boy but that could wait for another time. However, based on how Yomikawa talked about him, Tessou could tell that she admired the boy greatly in the sense that he was out there fighting a monster that nobody had dealt with before, and yet, here he was standing up to some dangerous creatures and foes while getting dirty and hurt to make sure that nobody else had to deal with the troubles he faced. Not to mention, he wasn't exactly from Academy City in the sense that he already had a home or friends here and was doing this all by himself. Alone…

The green-haired girl couldn't imagine herself being able to do the things that Sora was capable of doing let alone being able to live and fight by himself. And yet, here he was doing that right before her eyes. Plus, from her point of view, Yomikawa could be seen as a sort of maternal figure to the boy as she briefly mentioned that she was one of the first few people to really help him get accustomed to the city. In addition, the two had also been together during the first Heartless attack and were fighting next to each other's side to help everyone get away. It was understandable that she would have a sense of wariness and protectiveness to her as she not only saw him as a student but… he was alone with no one else to truly care for him aside from his friends. But still… no real family was present or mentioned to be there for him. The thought made Tessou's chest tighten up as she realized how sad that sounded.

"*sigh* … You're right. That was stupid of me."

"No, it wasn't. You're doing the exact thing anyone in your position would want to do. Helping not only your student but your friend in this dangerous situation that they've found themself in. And we will help him… but once we make sure we know what we're getting ourselves into. You never know what might- "

Forced to stop talking, Tessou saw something peculiar via the drone caught her attention, even dragging Yomikawa to turn her head and look at the screen. The boy was now rushing right at the dark-coated figure with both of his hands on his weapon ready to clash with the unknown figure. The two Anti-Skill members could only watch as it looked like this fight was far from over.

Elsewhere in the same area a few minutes ago

Having just gotten out of ITEM's support team vehicle, Mugino, Kinuhata, and Takitsubo were now standing within District 17. However, they were as close as they could get to all the action before Anti-Skill closed off the area. Security officers were placed throughout the area as there were also other students trying to get a peek at what exactly was going on.

Brushing her hair back, Mugino pulled out her phone and began tapping away at a map she had downloaded of the district to get a better idea of where they could position themselves to see the fight up close. Her attention practically focused solely on the device in her hands and nothing else.

Kinuhata and Takitsubo were also checking the area out while the short-haired girl stuck her hands into her pocket. A sense of nonchalance filled her attitude.

"Well, where do we super go now? I doubt we can just walk up to one of the blockades and get in even if we do use force."

"I'd rather not fight" Takitsubo quietly commented.

"Why do you super say that? You never fight, Takitsubo, that's not your thing."

"You never know…"

"Are you… are you trying to be super funny for once!?"

Kinuhata was flabbergasted. Since when did the expressionless girl start to make jokes?

"…Kind of. Before we see something that's for sure going to leave me confused…" Takitsubo then commented.

"Oh. That's super something else. I can understand you on some level, Takitsubo, besides, if we just stand here and- "

"Would you two shut up! I'm working here!" Mugino screamed while having her eyes still solely focused on her phone to try and find an advantage point to the fighting going on.

At the same time, the tea-color-haired girl was listening to the dark side radio frequencies about what was going on and based on what she was hearing, it seemed like Sora was now fighting against some fucker wearing a dark coat with their face completely hidden. Not to mention, it also sounded like whoever this bastard was pulled a giant claymore out of his ass.

Again, details like this left the girl both confused and very eager to see what was actually going on down in the area of the fight. Hence, why she was hurriedly trying to find a location that-

"There!"

Catching the other two girls' attention, they walked over to Mugino who had a sly grin on her face.

"We'll head up to the fifth- no, fourth floor to get the best view of the fight going on" the Level 5 proclaimed while holding her phone for them to see where they needed to go.

"Huh. That's a super good spot to view the fight. That is if we even make it to see the fight."

"You'd better hope that we make it in time, Kinuhata."

The tone in Mugino's voice as she said that indicated that there would be heads rolling if she did not get to see the fight.

"We better go," the tracksuit-wearing girl said to move the conversation.

"Right, come on!"

And with that, the trio began running in the direction of where Mugino had planned for them to be to witness the fight currently going on. In the distance, the sounds of explosions could be heard which added to the intrigue of what exactly was going on down there where Sora was at. Just the thought of a massive fight going on caused Mugino to have a smirk on her face applied with an intense yet excited look in her eyes. A complete contrast between her beautiful, model-like appearance that so many girls wished they were born with and the dangerous, gleeful grin she had on her face.

Kinuhata stayed right behind Mugino while also making sure to not leave Takitsubo behind as she was the slowest runner out of all of them. That could be attributed to a great many reasons, enough to fill up a whole 200-page book, but alas, Offense Armor kept an eye on her friend to make sure she wouldn't trip over and pass out on the ground, and from the looks of things… that was slowly becoming a reality as Takitsubo was now jogging to keep up with them and even looked to be wobbling back and forth. This would be an arduous task for the girl who liked wearing tracksuits.

A few moments later

Having come to the front of a desolate-looking business building with nothing but glass windows, Mugino had a smile on her face as she could clearly hear the sounds of booms and crashing not that far away. Were she to play a risky move, she swore that she could have run over to get a front-row seat to the fighting going on nearby. However, that would be an unwise decision as she had no idea just what the hell was happening over there and decided taking a top-down view would be better.

Passing through the Anti-Skill security detail that had been placed around the fighting ground proved to be a cakewalk to get past as everyone seemed to have one eye and ear focused on getting civilians away from the fighting while the other focused on whatever was going on with Sora. Hence, that one blind spot was what she and the others needed to get here. Speaking of the others…

Turning her head around, she spotted Kinuhata helping Takitsubo walk as it looked like the girl was down for the count.

'Tch. Maybe if you got off your ass more, then you wouldn't be clamoring and out of breath' she thought to herself.

Nevertheless, the brunette decided that those two could catch up with her later. She needed to see what exactly was going on with all the fighting taking place right now. Breaking into a full-on sprint, the Level 5 shot forward into the building and booked it for the stairs to get to the fourth floor.

Watching as the sporty tea-color-haired girl took off without saying anything else, Kinuhata and the tired Takistubo didn't say anything as they watched their leader leave them like a young child leaving their parents to play on the swings at a park or run into a movie theater to watch the movie sooner. A sigh escaped Takitsubo's lips as she wasn't really surprised by Mugino's action. Kinuhata, however, had a different thought in mind.

"Hey, Takitsubo?"

"Yeah?"

"Mugino's super changed lately… don't you think?"

Confused by the response, Takitsubo summed it up as being nothing unusual.

"I mean, that can be argued. She's always- "

"Not super like that. I mean, her behavior has changed. Anytime the idea of Sora is mentioned, then she goes all ballistic and whatnot. Like dropping everything and going all attentive on him whenever he's mentioned. Kind of like how a gorilla goes crazy when something happens to their bananas" Kinuhata stated to the girl.

"…I think you're just letting your imagination go wild… and gorillas don't particularly eat bananas since they can't get to them" the tracksuit girl commented.

The black-haired girl wasn't sure what the short-haired brunette had to say but from how it was starting to sound, she could tell it was going to be something absurd and stupid.

"Maybe… or… super hear me out… Mugino has a crush."

"…"

Silence from the black-haired girl was apparent. Almost to the point that the distant sounds of explosions coming from the boy's fight even stopped due to the ridiculousness that was said by the Level 4 girl.

"What do you super think?" Kinuhata questioned the girl with a hint of excitement in her voice.

"…I think you've been watching too many C-classed romance movies on your days off and it's messing with your head."

An exasperated expression could be seen on the short-haired brunette's face.

"Now hang on! Don't super write me off yet! And don't diss those movies. You have no idea how bad they are so you can't say anything about them. Besides, I have some valid evidence to go with this idea of mine."

"I think I'll pass. We should probably catch up with Mugino."

Takitsubo started walking in the direction that her leader had taken off to with the Level 4 still trying to state her point.

"But think about it! You've super known her the longest compared to me or Frenda. You know what makes her tick and what doesn't make her tick that… ultimately does make her tick. Hence, you out of anyone else know how she reacts to things" Kinuhata reasoned to the girl.

"…Mugino's like that with a whole lot of other things."

"I call super bull crap on that. We both know how she can get with things that make her excited or happy and yet, whenever Sora's pulled into the picture, she goes all- "

"You're making my head hurt" Takitsubo commented.

"Just super think about it. Mugino barely shows her true feelings toward anything she actually cares about. Even I know that from what I've seen of her reacting to things. From an outfit she likes to the salmon she enjoys… she gets all interested and excited whenever it comes to Sora. There's got to be something there" Kinuhata argued.

Letting out a sigh, Takitsubo tiredly answered back.

"There is something there between them. Sora beat her in a fight. I don't know if we should count their first encounter as a real fight but she for sure lost against him once. We both know how she is when it comes to losing…"

"Exactly! There's a history between the two. That means she has to at least super feel something about him. Whether it's hate or even curiosity, there is something there for her to feel."

Hearing all that Kinuhata had to say about this topic, Takitsubo had one prevalent thought roaming in her head… this was tiring her out.

"… I think you should change up your movie genre."

"Hmph. Fine, we'll see who has the super last laugh when I'm proven right."

"Right, about what?"

"That Mugino has a super crush on Sora. Wait. Scratch that. To play a safer bet, she at least super feels something toward him that's not entirely hate or anger but something else."

The tracksuit girl felt like she was losing brain cells listening to this unfathomable conversation and figured that Mugino might have been wondering where they were… unlikely. She was probably focused solely on the fighting going on.

"*sigh* Let's go catch up with her…"

"Yep. Let's go super see what all the commotion is about. Maybe we'll also see something else?"

Not wanting to push this conversation forward, Takitsubo remained quiet as she walked on her own and right beside Kinuhata. However, a small thought began building up in her head and it was thanks to the short-haired girl next to her.

'Would Mugino even like someone… even Sora? She does seem to focus on him whenever his name comes up… but that's because she's looking forward to their next fight. She's a battle fanatic and can't take a loss at all… I've never even seen her interested in… there's no way of her liking someone… Mugino doesn't show her emotions at all… at least… not in a normal way… but she does get excited… eager and… dammit Kinuhata you and your dumb ideas.'

Takitsubo was now at odds with herself as she was also starting to put together unreasonable connections to things that made somewhat sense to things that made no sense at all. The idea that Mugino was developing something akin to a crush or fascination with Sora… She needed to stop listening to Kinuhata… but who else could she listen to? Frenda?

…That might just be an even worse idea. She would be susceptible to Kinuhata's idea even more.

Shaking her head of these thoughts, the tracksuit-wearing girl continued to make her way up the building to catch up with her leader and get a view of the fight that was happening right before them. What else could the spiky-haired boy find himself dealing with now?

Back with Sora

To say that the fight against the Mimic was going well would be… a lie.

Once he charged right at the coated figure, he was met with a barrage of slams from Saïx's claymore causing even more walls of fire to sprout out of the ground and leave scorch marks all over the place. Followed by the heavy weapon being twisted and turned at an incredible rate causing Sora to have to block or overtly roll out of the way from being hit. It didn't help that his attention was split between watching out for the fire and sudden claymores that appeared out of nowhere.

Blocking another claymore that had been sent his way, Sora ran forward for a moment before he stabbed his Keyblade into the ground and began spinning around it in a flashy manner to the point that once he picked up enough speed he shot forward letting go of the weapon and right at the fake Saïx.

Throwing his hand to the side, he summoned his Keyblade back and immediately blocked a swing of the cloaked figure's weapon before countering with a slash across its chest knocking the Mimic back a bit and allowing him to start slashing at the rest of the boy.

*Swoosh*

Strike after strike, Sora leveled his blade so that his weapon managed to cut across the Organization member's coat vertically, horizontally, and even diagonally making sure to get enough hits in before-

*Boom*

"Grrraaahhh!"

Getting launched into the air, Sora reprised himself so that he was balanced in the air before casting a glance at the area below and could instantly see what had caused him to go flying.

The fake Saïx had twirled his claymore upside down so that the heavier part hit the boy from below rather than normally from the top. The momentum of the great strike caused him to soar up into the air but that might have just given him the advantage he needed.

Recalling just how Saïx tended to be against different kinds of magic from his past fights with the Lunatic, Sora aimed his Keyblade and began casting Water spells right after another at the foe. Granted, his other elemental spells would also help him in this battle but for now, water was his best friend.

"Take th- "

Suddenly, Sora was hit by another claymore causing him to go flying to the ground and roll across the street but managed to get back to his feet quickly. A frown and glare were sent toward the Mimic as he wasn't sure just what else the dark creation had in store.

"Oh, come on. What is it with you and your creator landing cheap shots?" Sora commented with a bit of sass in his voice.

Standing in front of him, the hooded figure spun the claymore in his hand before pointing it right at the boy. With a bit of flair added to the mix, the fake Saïx held out his left hand which was free of holding the claymore, and gave the gesture of "Bring it on" to Sora.

This caused the teen to grit his teeth.

Followed by twirling his Keyblade in his hand and getting into his signature stance with his weapon at the ready. He had taken into account the being's movement and special little tricks that had been pulled right under him that he was now ready. Ready to finish the Mimic off.

Rushing at Saïx, Sora stayed aware of his surroundings and could see the Lunatic charging toward him as well while the claymore began glowing a bright purple color. The time of fighting was now.

Dashing forward, Sora swung his Keyblade right at Saïx's upper body which was easily blocked allowing for the claymore user to heave the weapon up before slamming down at Sora. Blocking the incoming attack, the teen quickly countered with a slash to the Organization member's leg, but that attack was also deflected by the claymore as it had arrived in time to meet the boy's blade. Not about to let this close encounter go to waste, he then enacted a quick slash to the Lunatic by spinning his body around while performing a clean slash to the chest. Alas, this was also blocked, and the boy's blade was shoved to the side as the claymore was shoved at Sora's face.

Forcing himself back, Sora aimed his Keyblade to shoot a fire spell at the Mimic hoping to get a reaction, but the spell was simply swatted away with the claymore. In return, Saïx hurled his claymore at the Keyblade wielder causing him to lunge to the side to avoid the burst of explosion that appeared behind him. Running up to the cloaked figure, Sora heaved his Keyblade down at the figure's head but was stopped as the claymore appeared in the Mimic's hand yet again and managed to bluntly hit him square in the chest right before his weapon could bash the foe's head.

Getting sent back, Sora let out a grunt before reprising himself back to his feet and once again charged at the Lunatic to attack again, only this time something different happened.

Waving his claymore in the air, Saïx summoned five other claymores around him that started to spin yet again only this time they took the color of a green glowing light rather than being purple or red.

Not sure what this meant, Sora stayed back and began casting a wind spell to try and disrupt the foe from casting whatever magic spell he was casting. With a green vortex starting to take form, the green glowing claymores remained afloat leaving Sora to wonder just what was going on. Deciding to take a risk, he charged forward ready to land a barrage of stabs toward the fake Organization member only to be hit with another explosive surprise.

"Gaaaaaaaah!"

All at once, the green claymores suddenly dropped from their suspended position and came crashing down to the ground right as Sora's Keyblade was inches away from slamming into the Mimic's side as he was engulfed in explosion after explosion causing him to go hurtling to the side. Rolling around on the ground and soon coming to a stop when he crashed into the side of a car, the teen let out a pained groan.

"That's new…"

Wincing, he stood back on his feet and rolled his shoulder back before examining where the Lunatic was now. To his surprise, Saïx began charging at him. Only this time, he was furiously slamming the claymore down on the ground causing a burst of fire to appear. With every slam to the ground, more and more fires consumed the area leaving Sora with but one thing to do. Use his own attack against him.

Raising his Keyblade into the air, he cast as many water spells as he could muster leaving large balls of water to have formed and come splashing right at the fake Organization member leaving him to stop thrashing his claymore around. Dashing at this time, Sora did not waste any time at all and began his attack.

Swinging his Keyblade back and forth in the formation of an X, he then switched to land a clean horizontal cut across Saïx's body before switching to a clean vertically cut that was unfavorably blocked by the claymore coming into the picture. Not about to stop there, Sora then countered the block with a heavy slash causing it to be deflected away allowing him to bash the end of his weapon into the face of the hooded figure before beginning to perform a barrage of stabs to the chest with his blade.

"Gottem!" Sora yelled out due to his attack making contact.

Stumbling back, the Mimic started waving the claymore forward at a ridiculous speed to try and slam into the boy only for the weapon to come to a standstill with the Keyblade blocking the attack. In the next instant, Sora countered the block with a quick jab at the hooded figure's shoulder which was then blocked followed by a swing at the teen's legs. Seeing this, the spiky-haired boy jumped up to avoid the attack but not before bringing his weapon to slash at Saïx's shoulder managing to land a hit. To follow up, he continued to land slash after slash taking on different angles with each strike causing the Mimic to try and block each attack but to no avail, it was not working.

Left with no other option, the fake Saïx heaved the claymore above his head before slamming it to the ground causing Sora to twist his body sideways to narrowly avoid a beam of fire from lighting him up. The sudden attack caused the hooded creation to rush at the boy while slamming the claymore back and forth causing explosion after explosion to consume the area.

Dashing away, Sora figured now would be the perfect time to switch things up as well. Saïx had also gone into a rampage, thrashing the claymore repeatedly while circling the boy. Twirling his weapon, he swung his right hand holding onto the Kingdom Key forward in front of him and let the blade go flashing in a bright light before bringing the same hand back across to his side summoning Oathkeeper in a flash of white light with the effect of white feathers appearing. Garnering enough strength within himself, he brought his left hand up to his heart before yelling out to the Organization member.

"Let's go!"

*Boom*

A blast of light consumed Sora and caused nearby debris to go flying along with a gust of wind to appear and immediately disappear. Standing there with Oathkeeper right on his shoulder, Sora twirled the blade while taking on an offensive stance with one leg back while the other was planted forward with his left hand out to his side and a confident grin on his face. He had entered his Light Form.

"Alright, let's see you catch up to this!"

In a flash of white light, he dashed right toward Saïx who had made his way back toward the boy and had summoned several red claymores to appear right above him. All at once, the two forces collided with each other as Sora shot forward and immediately cast a white bubble shield around him managing to block the barrage of slams spewing fire. With the attack ricocheting off the shield, Sora thrust his Keyblade up causing a burst of light to overtake the Mimic and send him flying back.

Wasting no time at all, he shot forward in a flash of light and once he got close enough, he heaved his weapon right into the side of the hooded figure before landing a fast-paced barrage of slashes and even took a step forward slicing through the Lunatic. Each attack managed to have some impact on the copy, but he was still standing upright.

Lifting his weapon into the air, Sora yelled out a spell that would buy him a moment before laying into the foe.

"Light!"

Suddenly, a beam of pure light shot right below the Organization member causing Saïx to flinch which allowed Sora to perform a substantial flurry of strikes. Slash after slash, the teen made sure to not let the enemy get a chance to move as he had cast a Thunder spell to paralyze the figure. Following that, he made extra sure to take this opening with much force by casting a Time spell to add him.

"You're not going anywhere! Stop!"

Slowing down, the Mimic was unable to do anything else as Sora was now treating it like a training dummy landing blow after blow with finesse and agility. With a small leap into the air and slamming his Keyblade across the foe's chest, several orbs of light appeared followed by beams of light all simultaneously striking the figure and causing him to now go flying back. Needing to slow down, the Mimic thrust the claymore into the ground to stop and ended up breaking apart the ground by lifting the pavement and making quite a mess.

Before the fake Saïx could even make another move, Sora was already there teleporting in a flash of white light with his blade slashing right at the arm holding onto the claymore. Due to the direct hit, the Mimic let go of the heavy weapon allowing the spiky-haired Keyblade wielder to do the one thing he was definitely familiar with… pick up the claymore.

With the heavy weapon in his hands, Sora flipped himself around so that the claymore was in front while balancing himself out. Getting the right adjustment on the weapon, Sora then pushed himself up off the handle of the claymore, and within range of Saïx, he started swinging away.

Taking a move out of the Mimic's playbook, he began performing acrobatic swings with the weapon managing to use it against the dangerous foe by forcing the claymore's weight to slam right into its original wielder. Bringing the heavy weapon forward and backward against the foe while making sure every hit counts against the faker.

"Not so fun being hit by your weapon huh!?"

Yelling this out at the Mimic, Sora twirled the claymore once more over his entire body before putting his all into this next attack by slamming the handle of the weapon right into the face of the fake Saïx before twisting his body around and landing a final hit causing the fake to go slamming into the ground causing a small crater beneath him.

Landing and rolling to the ground, Sora gripped onto the handle of Oathkeeper and stabbed the blade down into the ground causing a small blast of light to appear around him while also summoning several orbs of light to appear right above the Mimic. Jumping up to his feet, he dashed right at the creation while also casting another spell of light to hit the foe right as the beams of light were about to hit the fake.

With all the light-focused attacks commencing at once, the Lunatic was bombarded all around causing him to recoil back and stab the claymore down into the ground causing debris to go flying everywhere. Sora also took this chance to focus his gaze on the dark-coated figure and began preparing his Shotlock ability to launch a ranged attack that would be difficult to get away from.

"Got ya!"

*Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Cling*

Now armed with his Shotlock, Sora spun his weapon forward before a barrage of white light left the tip of Oathkeeper causing multiple white projectiles all to shoot toward the Mimic coming right into contact with its body and impacting it to the point that the hooded figure went flying back. The teen took this opportunity to prepare for the finale of this fight and ran forward while also casting several water spells one after another.

"I call Water!"

A massive splash of water hit the Mimic causing it to explode and wet a majority of the street and even staggered the Organization member which allowed for Sora to shoot forward and slam his Keyblade into the side of the fake Saïx. The feeling of a hit followed by light effects was seen but the teen's attack didn't last as he was met with a claymore blocking his way causing him to deflect the weapon and go on the assault of striking the face of the hooded figure. However, that didn't last as he had to block another attack from the Claymore user. The force of the weapon hitting him caused Sora to go flying back in the air which allowed him to quickly flip around and get centered before pushing his body forward and start swinging his Keyblade back and forth in a horizontal manner managing to get several good hits against the foe.

Suddenly hit with another blast of purple light, Sora was launched to the side and felt his head start pounding and a sense of dizziness settling in. However, he would not stop here and be defeated as he was ready to finish this fight.

Back on his feet, the Keyblade wielder decided to confuse the Lunatic by providing a distraction that would not only leave a nasty mark but allow him to get a clean strike against the menacing foe.

Raising his Keyblade up, Sora yelled out the spell that would help him now.

"BALLOON!"

The sudden appearance of several glowing colorful balloons would have left anyone confused but for Sora, he couldn't help but grin widely.

"Hope you like surprises!"

Beginning to spin around on his back foot, the boy cast a Wind spell to suddenly appear in front of the fake Saïx leaving the claymore user unsure what to do next but that's exactly what the teen was hoping for. Sora then aimed his Keyblade at the Organization member and shot a dark light right at him.

In sequential order, the glowing balloons began getting picked up by the wind and were now flying straight at the hooded figure who was ready to start destroying them by easily swinging the claymore. However, right as soon as the first balloon was about to be popped, a flash of white light appeared to dash left and then right and ultimately caused the Mimic to turn its head to the side but not as fast as it should have because another spell had been cast.

A Time spell to be specific as it had slowed the Mimic down just enough for Sora to finish it off.

"Hyaaaah!"

*Swwwwwiiiishhhhh*

*KA-BOOM*

A flurry of various colors covered the area as the balloons exploded due to Sora's influence from his clean slash against the fake Saïx. The cut had been across the being's side and right into the balloons that were close enough to cause a chain reaction leaving Sora to be standing there covering his eyes and waiting for the light to dim down.

Once it did, Sora looked ahead to see what the result was of the attack that he thought of on the spot. What he saw had him very concerned albeit letting out a sigh of relief as well.

Kneeling down, the fake Saïx still had his hood covering his face but looked to be greatly injured. To the point that Sora knew this would be his chance to end it all.

Not about to be stopped by some inconvenient situation, the boy ran forward and with Oathkeeper still in his hands performed a single clean cut right across the being resulting in him to now stand behind the Mimic.

Nothing seemed to happen as Sora swung his Keyblade from his left side to his right and stood upright while also turning his head to stare at the downed figure.

A moment of stillness was present and then…

*plat*

The hooded figure was now facing headfirst into the destroyed ground with no movement at all.

Sora had beaten him.

And yet, the Keyblade wielder had a gnawing feeling in his stomach that told him something was up.

Moving his body to look at the downed Mimic, he didn't see anything that looked out of the ordinary. Nothing was apparent on the hooded figure's body. Not even the mist of darkness appeared right next to-

"Wait a minute. That's not- "

Suddenly, the figure in the black coat was instantly clouded by a dark mist that prevented the boy from being able to see what exactly was going on. But deep down he knew that this was not spelling out a good thing at all.

Once the mist dimmed down enough for him to see what was going on, Sora saw something that left him frowning and got into a defensive stance.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

The spiky-haired boy yelled out as he now saw the hooded figure standing upright with their hands by their sides and just plainly staring at him with no reaction at all. That is until the Organization member lifted both of their hands and let a yellow trail of electricity wrap around their fingers. A woman's laughter could be heard loud and clear to the boy which made him instantly groan in frustration.

"Larxene!"

The sixth member of the real Organization XIII better known as the Savage Nymph. The closest relation Sora could put to her fighting style would be that of a ninja as she also commanded the Ninja Nobodies. Her use of lightning and rapid attacks was something that Sora hadn't exactly understood from his time fighting her in the past, but that didn't matter now.

It looked like the Mimic was far from finished.

Meanwhile, inside Tokiwadai Middle School

Sitting at a fairly large table, Shokuhou Misaki and her clique were all keeping each other company while discussing a variety of topics while having pleasantly happy expressions on their faces. Shokuhou also looked to be content as her starry eyes were focused on one of her clique members discussing what gossip she had heard being passed around the school grounds which was being listened to rather intently by everyone else. All in all, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves quite well.

Except… there was one girl who was surprisingly missing from the table. Hokaze Junko.

That girl was practically always seen by Mental Out's side no matter what the situation might be. Hence, for her not to be here right now sparked many concerns among the clique members, and even Shokuhou herself was starting to worry and thought about sending someone to go look for-

"My Queen!"

Hearing her name being called, the honey-blonde middle schooler turned her head to the side and saw the girl in question running up to her and the others.

"Oh? There you are. I was growing a bit worried" Shokuhou said while analyzing the girl's lively expression that was on her face.

"Oh! My Queen, I didn't mean to worry you at all. That also goes for you all as well but something urgent has come up!" Hokaze stated, getting everyone's attention on her.

"Hokaze-san? What's wrong?" one of the clique members questioned the girl.

Lifting her right hand and placing a tablet that she was carrying right next to Shokuhou, the blonde-haired girl was met with a screen that appeared to be showing a live feed being covered from one of the city's news stations. To say that she was surprised would be an understatement.

"Um… what is- "

"Forgive me for interrupting you, My Queen, but look again" the purple-haired girl politely demanded.

Doing as told, the Level 5 looked back at the tablet screen and waited to see what all the commotion was. Upon glancing at the screen, Shokuhou was about to say that she saw nothing new but that was abruptly stopped as she recognized a certain someone that she encountered not that long ago.

"Sora?"

Hearing the boy's name, the clique members suddenly raised their eyebrows and looked to their Queen for further clarification.

"Did you just say Sora, My Queen?"

One of the girls asked to which she received a slow nod from the blonde girl who was confused about what was going on right now.

"Is this being broadcasted right now?"

"Yes! It's all live right now. As I was returning from helping one of the girls with the sports equipment, I heard some others mentioning something happening on the news and decided to see what was going on. It was then that I saw Sora was being talked about all over the news followed by reports of him caught up in a fight" Hokaze explained to the group.

At this point, several of the clique girls started reaching for their phones and pulling up the news to see what exactly was going on. Shokuhou meanwhile was watching the screen sitting in front of her while Hokaze was right behind her with her eyes not leaving the screen at all. Her friend was in trouble, and she wanted to make sure that he was ok.

Before anyone else could say anything at the table, the sound of a news reporter coming from all the devices could be heard explaining the situation to everyone tuning in.

"…Reports are coming in that the boy who was heavily involved in the attack less than a week ago is now being engaged in- Hold on, he's… Ladies and Gentlemen, the fight looks to be over as the boy is…"

A sigh of relief could be heard coming from the purple-haired girl as she also brought her hand up to her chest and placed it over her heart.

"*sigh* Thank goodness. Sora's ok."

Murmuring could be heard from the other clique members as they also shared a sense of relief that the boy had come out of the conflict unharmed… or at the very least nothing life-threatening. The moment was met with a sense of happiness as each of the girls wore a happy expression on their faces. From their first short encounter with the boy, he had proven himself to be someone that they enjoyed being around. He was not only a good cook but friendly as well, making sure that everyone was enjoying the time they shared back at the restaurant. No doubt, he had made a good first impression on them.

However, that soon changed as the newscaster started talking again through the devices.

"Update on the current developing situation, it appears that there is no movement coming from… wait a minute. That's- Oh my- Ladies and Gentlemen, the hooded figure that was last seen on the ground is now surrounded by a dark cloud that is preventing any visibility on the situation. We are currently at a live developing… "

Listening to the newscaster say this, the happiness that was flowing through the room in all of the girls had come to a halt as they all looked intently at their screens. Hokaze who was the happiest out of everyone was now staring at the screen in front of her without even blinking. Shokuhou who watched her friend being concerned couldn't help but hope that the boy would be-

"Report! The hooded figure is now standing back up and looks to be shooting electricity out of their fingers. The boy also appears to be wearing a distraught and angered expression on his face. We will provide live updates on- *scream* What's going on!?"

The footage being shown on the devices showed a top-down view of the area where Sora was standing but it was suddenly pointed at a different position of the city leaving everyone watching to see the side of a tall building.

"Hey! What's going on?" one of the clique members exclaimed.

"The camera was moved?"

"But why?"

"What about- "

Suddenly, the newscaster started speaking again.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we apologize for the disruption but due to the ever-developing situation, we have to pull back due to safety reasons. The hooded figure that was presumed to be bested is now engaging in a fight with the boy and an electrical ability is being heavily used. We have been directed to stay…" the newscaster continued explaining the reasoning for diverting away from the commotion.

However, this just resulted in the girls commenting about what was going on and giving their own thoughts about it all. Junko on the other hand looked to be very worried and unsure what to think about what she heard. Just when she thought the fight that Sora was caught up in was finished, it appeared that something else was happening. Not to mention, hearing that electricity was being used in the area resonated a bit with the electromaster as she was unsure of the boy's fighting ability against an Esper of that kind.

Shokuhou on her part didn't know what to say or do and decided to keep on watching the live feed to listen to whatever was happening. Alas, she also had a curious thought come to mind about the current situation playing out in live time.

'Who is targeting Sora and why?'

There was no answer to this question and the only way to learn more would be to listen to the news coverage. Hokaze brought both of her hands together and clasped them while hoping that Sora got out of this problem safely. He would get out of this problem safely… right?

Back with ITEM several minutes ago

The phrase that someone says when a bunch of information or a large spectacle is happening before their eyes, and they want to record it all down hence needing a pen and paper could accurately depict the situation that the three girls of ITEM were feeling. As they had found a reasonable view from the fourth floor of the building, they were currently left with a great deal of confusion. Each of the girls' levels of intrigue was at an all-time high. Especially with the girl who had tea-colored hair.

Mugino was at a loss for words at what she had just seen. She didn't even care that Kinuhata and Takitsubo were standing right next to her. The Level 5 had a glint in her eyes followed by a devilish grin on her face. The fight she had just witnessed left her feeling a lot of things. One fact was that Sora was no pushover which resulted in him fighting unpredictably. And the other… well, that could be described in a plethora of words.

Using the enemy's own weapon against them, fucking hilarious.

Having a battle-focused face the entire time and not backing down from getting thrown around was absolutely entertaining.

Witnessing him not be a little bitch and finishing off the bastard with his weapon… just thinking about that moment again was causing her heart to swell and beat at a faster-than-normal rate. She didn't have the right words for what she was feeling but one thing was clear… she judged him wrong. How couldn't she, the spiky-haired teen himself alluded to the idea that he killed even while proclaiming that he was on the side of light. That made no sense. And yet, she just witnessed him end whoever was in the hood using the same style of fighting he used against her with the light-based attacks which gave off the idea of him using light to his side.

Mugino was not good at conveying complex emotions in public at all. Sure, showing a moment of contentment or anger was something she could do instantly along with putting on a fake smile or outright facade of a positive personality. However, the look displayed on her face right now had her grinning madly. To the point that it was starting to scare the other two ITEM members.

"Uh… Takitsubo…"

"…Yeah…"

"You should super talk to her" Kinuhata suggested to the tracksuit-wearing girl.

"No way. Not when she's like that" Takitsubo replied while glancing over at the Level 5 who still had a bright, giant predatory smile on her face.

"Then, what are we super going to do? I think Mugino's broken?"

Unsure what to do, Takitsubo had never seen her friend/leader like this before. Of course, there were other times when she wore a grin on her face in an intense battle or getting exactly what she wanted. But this was different. How different? Well, the black-haired girl couldn't exactly put into words how it was different. However, she could on good authority say that after being close to Mugino for quite a while now, the expression she had on her face was something new. Something that resonated with a different emotion on the tea-color-haired girl's face.

Alas, before either of the two girls could ponder about their leader's strange behavior, Mugino seemed to snap out of her train of thought and turned to look over at them.

"What? What the hell are you looking at!?"

Raising her hand and gesturing no harm, Kinuhata responded defensively.

"We were just… super curious about you."

"Curious? What the hell are you talking about?" she demanded from the two.

Shooting a glance over at AIM Stalker, Kinuhata seemed to nonverbally tell Takitsubo to respond.

"*sigh* You've been honed in on Sora even after the fight is over. Your expression says a thousand words, but we have no idea what they mean" reasoned Takitsubo.

"…Why the fuck do you care about what I'm thinking?" Mugino retorted, staring at the two with a pissed-off expression apparent on her face.

"You were still super staring over at where Sora is. It's only reasonable to think that you were thinking about something intently." Kinuhata said this while also deciding to play it risky and add more. "Plus, you had a scary grin on your face that is… new. To say the least…"

Folding her arms across her chest, Mugino was very tempted to do one of two things. The first was to march right up to the Level 4 girl and toss her out the window they were all standing next to knowing full well that would not be enough to kill her. And secondly, the other was to pummel her on the head for watching her and commenting on something absurd like the expression she had on her face. Either way, Kinuhata was getting hit. Besides, who the hell stares at people like that!?

"…Kinuhata."

"Yeah?"

"Choose. Option 1 or Option 2."

Unsure of what Mugino was asking her, Kinuhata peered over at Takitsubo who had a blank expression on her face taking a neutral stance on whatever was happening now. Even if she did have her own thoughts on the matter, she would keep them to herself and not face the gorilla-strength wrath that was known to be the Esper Meltdowner.

"Can I super know what each option is?"

"No."

"A hint?"

"Fucking choose, Kinuhata!"

Sporting a nonchalant look on her face, the Level 4 glanced out the window that was next to her while replying to the angered brunette.

"Ok, ok. Geez. Mention Sora and it's like I've got a bounty on my…"

The short-haired brunette suddenly stopped talking which earned a confused look to appear on Mugino's face.

"Why the hell did you stop talking?"

Raising her index finger and pointing it out the window they were standing at, Kinuhata muttered one word while still looking at whatever caught her attention.

"Sora…"

"What? What the hell about him? Are you going to keep using him as a scapegoat or something? Why are you wasting my time and just choose a goddamn- "

"Mugino."

"What now, Takitsubo!?"

The tracksuit-wearing girl also had her head facing the same direction that Kinuhata had hers only she gestured with her hand for the Level 5 to look where they were looking.

"Something's going on down there."

Seconds away from grabbing a chair and tossing it at her two teammates, Mugino was about ready to curse them until they were unable to comprehend normal conversation due to her inner sailor language ready to come blasting out of her mouth when she looked at what they were observing.

The tea-color-haired beauty bared her teeth and let out a stunned comment.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me. Didn't Sora kill that fucker?"

What she was referring to was the scene of Sora taking on a defensive stance while glaring at the hooded figure who looked to be untouched from the battle that just finished. Another thing to point out from their perspective being not that far away from the boy's location was that the body stature looked different compared to the claymore user.

"To be fair, we don't even super know if he did. We just saw him land a finishing slash right at the guy or girl while they were down. For all we know, he could have knocked them out" Kinuhata reasoned to the girl.

"He looks upset" commented Takitsubo watching the boy's behavior.

"Tsk. They're probably going to be spending the next hour talking it out since that shitty hero tends to- "

Mugino was abruptly interrupted as the scene drastically changed and played out with the hooded figure waving their hands forward with what appeared to be electricity appearing between their fingers. An electromaster.

"Whoa… wait what? I thought… what kind of Esper is he super dealing with? First that Claymore guy with his strange fire ability and now an electromaster… what's going on?" Kinuhata commented while pressing her face into the window to try and get a better view of whatever was going on.

The next thing that the girls watching from above saw was the hooded figure shoot straight at the boy while cartwheeling to his left and dashing right at him while swinging what appeared to be right at the teen's face before throwing their leg over and aiming to kick the spiky-haired boy in the chest. Sora quickly dodged to the side while keeping his guard up.

"…Or not."

"Holy sh- who super is that guy or girl!?" Kinuhata exclaimed while not knowing exactly what she was seeing.

Takitsubo on the other hand decided to make a move at this time and activated her AIM Stalker ability to see just who the hooded figure was and get a read on their AIM Field. Perhaps it was different compared to Kinuhata's idea of the claymore user being a pyrokinesist since the black-coated person was now using electricity at a rapid rate.

Seeing the black-haired girl using her ability, Mugino pulled her attention away from the fight currently going on to see what Takitsubo had to say.

"What are you getting?"

Taking a second to analyze the figure below, the Level 4 girl could detect a similar reading around the hooded figure as electromagnetic fields were identified. However, there was something else going on with the mysterious figure. It was almost as if… there was a wall hiding something else behind the faint traces of magnetic fields she could sense.

"Electromagnetic fields are something I'm for sure detecting but…"

"But?" Mugino repeated, looking eager to hear what she had to say.

"There's something else. Something that I can't really describe… no, wait. I can. It's like with the Heartless."

"Huh? But that's… that's super weird."

About to comment, Mugino was suddenly stopped as the sound of explosions started picking up down below indicating that the fighting was just still going on. Better yet, a second round was now taking place.

Back with Sora moments ago

Staring right at the fake Organization member before him, Sora was not going to underestimate the foe standing in front of him. He didn't like to admit it, but he thought he had a read on Saïx, and that perception cost him quite a few bruises and a tired body. Now, however, he was better prepared.

"Are you also going to be quiet and not say anything?" Sora questioned the black-coated figure.

Nothing was said as he figured it would be a repeat of his encounter with the Lunatic and be left in-

"Are you still a loser who can't do anything right?"

A woman's voice was heard causing the boy to go wide-eyed as he was not expecting a real answer any time soon. The hairs on his arm also became noticeable to him as hearing the girl speak forced him to have goosebumps.

"W-What? Larxene?"

Letting another laugh, the woman known as Larxene began waving her hand at the boy.

"Sadly, not the real one. But seeing how much you got thrashed around by that quiet sad sap known as the Lunatic, I figured why not egg you on a little. Besides, wasn't it boring to fight against someone who didn't say anything?" Larxene or rather, the Mimic responded to the boy while having a nonchalant tone in her voice.

"Grrr… Doesn't matter. You're going down whether you like it or not!" Sora roared back at the woman.

Still with her hood covering her face, Larxene's hand was now fully surrounded by electricity followed by the small blades in her fingers appearing to glow as well.

"Haha! Oh, this is going to be fun."

*Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind DLC – The 13th Struggle – Larxene*

Letting no more words be said between the two, the Savage Nymph shot straight at the boy while performing a perfect cartwheel to his left before dashing right at him and swinging her blades fitted to between her fingers right at the teen's face before bringing her leg over and aiming to kick him in the chest. This caused Sora to quickly move to the side while keeping his guard up. Thankfully, doing that allowed him to block several strikes coming right for him from the dangerous woman from the Organization.

Abruptly stopping her attack, Larxene suddenly jumped into the air and performed a spin with her entire body before slamming to the ground causing a massive explosion of electricity to consume the area that Sora was just standing at as he barely rolled away at the last second.

Barely getting to his feet, the Keyblade wielder was once again met with the woman's small blades gunning right for his shoulder resulting in him blocking the attack with his weapon raised horizontally and with enough push, forcing the Mimic to back off with a counter slash primed right for the chest. However, that was soon thwarted as Larxene leaped backward into the air before twisting her body to throw several of her small blades right at Sora's feet. Due to not realizing what was happening, once those blades hit the ground, bolts of lighting arched around in a line managing to hit the boy and cause him to yell out in pain.

"Aaahhh!"

Having been hit and thrown back, Sora hurriedly flipped himself around to perform a reprisal back to his feet and swerved his head back to see where Larxene was now. To his surprise, he found her distanced quite away from him which left him confused by her tactics. This was not the same Larxene he remembered facing and quickly assumed that she would have complex kinds of moves compared to her original fighting technique. Similar to how Saïx used his various claymore in moves against him becoming an even bigger threat than before. Whether it was the Mimic coming up with its own moves or just performing attacks that Larxene and Saïx had not used before but amplified them up by ten, Sora wasn't entirely sure, but he needed to be extra careful as he was crossing uncharted territory.

Raising her hand in the air, Larxene's right hand shined a bright white light before she threw her hand forward, and suddenly without even blinking his eyes a row of light pillars exuding electricity across the ground shot right at the boy hitting him and eliciting a pained groan from him.

"Gaaahh!"

Forcing himself to push past the electric shock coursing through his body, the Keyblade wielder reprised himself yet again before rolling to the side and dodging another array of light pillars gunning right for him. Another array of light came shooting right at the boy causing him to roll to the left again and jump back to his feet. Seeing that he missed the attack, Sora was then met with Larxene throwing her small blades at him again forcing him to block the electrifying attack while instantly realizing that she left an opening on her side that the threw the small blades.

With the barrage of lightning hitting his Keyblade, Sora shot forward while deflecting the electricity as best as he could dodge the attack and dash forward. Having gotten enough distance with his dash, he stabbed his weapon into the ground beginning to use it like a pole to spin around and use his leg to kick Larxene in the face several times while spinning around his Keyblade. Letting go of his weapon and rolling to the side, the spiky-haired teen charged right at the electrifying Organization member but was ultimately left puzzled by her next move.

"You're done!"

Arching her body forward, Larxene shot straight up into the air but rather than seeing her body floating in the air, she had taken the form of a bright yellow light jumping from point to point leaving both trails of lighting and orbs of light behind in her wake. The girl was bouncing around the area leaving Sora to have to move his head side-to-side to keep up with her fast speed and only able to see which direction she was going thanks to the orbs of light left behind.

He had seen her, the original Larxene, use this technique before with her zooming from spot to spot and leaving nothing but trails of electricity. It was a bothersome move of hers but nothing that would prevent him from dealing with her. He would not let anyone else get hurt by the Mimic's dangerous antics and bear the burden of hurt. Moreover, Sora continued to watch the girl's movement to see what she might do next.

The Savage Nymph was seemingly moving the fight further into the district and away from the battlefield Saïx had left behind. Not about to let her encounter anybody out in the district, Sora charged right after her, managing to run and jump at one of the nearby building walls and engulf himself in blue light all around indicating that his Flowmotion ability was activated. With his power ready, the Guardian of Light began wall-running across the building to try and catch up with the dangerous woman knowing full well she would hurt anyone who got into her sight.

"Stop Larxene!" Sora cried out to the hooded woman.

The response he heard coming from her while she was still zapping from spot to spot was gleeful laughter that he easily recognized from his time fighting her before. The Mimic was really playing with him now.

"Hahaha!" Larxene smugly laughed loud enough for the boy to hear.

Grunting in frustration, Sora tried his best to lock onto the teleporting woman but to no avail, he wasn't getting a read on her. She was just too fast to read. Hence, he shot forward to another building while correcting himself to continue wall running across the building wall with his Keyblade taking the form of Oblivion. This was going to be a cat-and-mouse chase.

Returning to ITEM

Having witnessed the electrifying fight before them, the three girls were unsure what to say aside from how badass the encounter between Sora and the hooded figure was. The constant flow of energy shot from side to side while the boy did his best to match the mysterious foe's speed. It left them both in awe and intrigue by what was happening. Notes were also made to investigate who this Esper was and how they were able to manipulate not just fire and electricity.

Mugino on her part was loving everything that she just saw and couldn't help but have excitement flourish all over her face. Her eagerness to see more was reaching the skies as she started running in the direction that Sora and the figure had zoomed toward. Takitsubo and Kinuhata not knowing what to do decided to follow her as she sprinted through the fourth floor of this building.

"Hey, Mugino, what's uh… what's the super plan?"

Kinuhata called from the side while utterly confused about what the long-haired brunette was planning.

"We're not going to lose sight of those two. Which is why we are chasing after them!" Mugino eagerly responded.

Takitsubo's eyes widened as she was feeling a wave of tiredness already hit her as she just knew it would be the trek to catch up to those two.

"They're moving fast."

"Not a problem. We'll be taking a bit of inspiration from their moves."

"…say what now?"

The two Level 4's immediately glanced over at each other with looks that conveyed only one thing.

'Mugino's gone crazy!'

Running in the same direction that Sora and the hooded figure went, the three girls were now met with a window located right next to a stairwell that would take them up or down. Staring out the window, the Level 5 could see a faint glow in the distance of the spiky-haired boy getting further away. Not about to let them get too far, Mugino immediately summoned one of her Meltdowner beams and shot the window out causing the glass to go flying everywhere.

"Whoa! Mugino! Don't tell me you're super doing what I think you are!" Kinuhata shouted while pointing at the window.

Takitsubo also had gone wide-eyed and instantly knew what the tea-color-haired girl was planning on doing and it resulted in her taking the chance to go building hopping.

"Have you done this before?" she questioned the Level 5.

"Nope. First time for everything."

"Yeah, for a lot of things, but not super this!"

"Shut it, Kinuhata! Now, are you two coming with me or not?" Mugino asked the two girls.

Shooting looks at each other, the idea of them flying did in a small way sound pretty cool, but on the other hand, there was the chance of flying through the air and landing headfirst into a building or worse. They did not want to risk that even if Kinuhata could protect herself it would be a bit harder to keep Takitsubo safe though. Hence, they both shook their heads.

"We'll super catch up to you on foot" the short-haired brunette responded to her leader's question.

"Tch. You're wasting my goddamn time."

And with that, Mugino took another look out the window and looked up to see that the building right in front of her was a bit taller than expected but due to her having experimented with her Meltdowner ability in a matter of allowing her to perform high-speed evasion similar to a rocket propelling her forward or whatever direction she calculated and aimed toward. She would try to replicate that idea but by sending herself propelling upward and near the top of a building otherwise… she could kiss her life goodbye.

"Grr…"

The model-like girl spent a good minute keeping her train of thought on the exact calculations that would be needed to perform her dastardly dangerous move. Her two teammates also knew that it would be a very bad idea to interrupt her as she was scheming her plan of action and messing with her now would surely result in a hole shot through them. Moreover, she hadn't tried this before at all but… she would sadly be making the grizzled bastards up at the top of Academy City proud in her experimenting with her ability.

"Fuck it!"

Taking a few steps away from the window, Mugino waited for a good second before sprinting toward the broken window with Kinuhata and Takitsubo watching her and silently hoping that her plan worked. Coming up to the window, the Esper known as Meltdowner summoned two orbs of light right behind her and let the blast help her achieve the goal she set out to do.

From a distance, someone would see a bright flash of white light appear out of the broken window on the fourth floor of the building as well as a trail of light soaring high into the sky.

Back with Sora

Continuing to run across the sides of buildings still covered in blue light, the Keyblade wielder was now entering an open area where the ground appeared to be flat and there were no buildings nearby. It looked to be a plaza of some kind where events could be held but right now there was nothing there. Such a strange location to be found in the middle of a large scientific city…

The boy's eyes went wide as he immediately realized something to consider. The Daihaseisai Festival was coming up. That meant that the city would be focused on promoting the sports festival and all the festivities for peers and guests alike to enjoy. Alas, he could ponder that idea later as it appeared that Larxene had suddenly shot right into the middle of the open area and looked up at him with her hood still covering her face.

Pushing himself off the building side and soaring through the sky, Sora fell gracefully from the sky resulting in him simply rolling back to his feet and glaring at the Organization XIII member with his Keyblade flashing and taking the form of Oblivion.

"You done running?" Sora questioned the Mimic.

"Hmm. I don't know. Have you grown out of being a brat?"

Letting out a muffled sigh, the brunette was getting fed up with the fake Larxene.

"…Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Don't play dumb. Why are you here? Attacking me."

As the teen said this, he carefully watched the hooded figure simply take on a pose of putting both of their hands on their hips while shaking their head.

"Does everything need a reason?"

"When it comes to the Organization, then yeah, everything has a reason" he proclaimed in a serious tone.

"Bwahaha! You're right about that. Hm… Alright, I guess I could humor you and say one thing…"

Sora unknowingly leaned a bit forward and kept his ears open.

"You have no idea what's coming. Our Master has seen what lies in store for this world. The people… they are weak. Scrambling in the Light and willing ready to sacrifice themselves to the Darkness in favor of power and knowledge. That goes for both the Magic and Science Sides" the Mimic explained to the boy while extending their right hand forward.

"It… it can't be that bad? You're just messing with me now!"

"…That's your mistake. I have nothing else to say to you, well, other than this. You need to expand your horizons in this world. Get a taste of how vile it is. At this point, we won't have to do anything but watch as it succumbs to Darkness all on its own" Larxene explained in a condescending tone of voice.

"Enough!" Sora yelled out while pointing his Keyblade right at the hooded figure. "You have no idea what will happen to this world in the future. And you're forgetting the most important part of it all."

The fake Larxene now tilted her head to the side while bringing her right index finger up to where her mouth would assumedly be and questioned the boy.

"Oh? And what might that just be, brat?"

Raising his left hand to his heart and closing it to a fist, Sora spoke what his heart was telling him to say in a confident and upright tone conveying not only confidence but hopefulness as well.

"The people who live here… in this city… and this world. They will not let this world fall to Darkness!"

A moment of silence found itself between the two and it wouldn't be until the Larxene let out a joking fit of laughter.

"Ahahahah! Ohh wow, you've really turned into a big boy. Well then, Mr. Hero, let's see if your heart is strong enough to get out of this!" Larxene shouted while letting electricity flash around her fingers and blades in hand.

"Bring it!"

Sora said while getting into his battle stance while glaring at the Mimic. He would make sure to end it here and now.

Off the bat, Larxene's entire body started glowing a bright yellow color all around her leaving the Keyblade wielder on high alert as he watched what she was going to do next. He would need to be quick to adapt.

In the next instant, the hooded woman disappeared from Sora's sight before a bright reddish-pink orb of light with black tendrils surrounding it appeared right in front of him. On quick reflex, he raised his Keyblade to his face with his right hand while his left was in front of the blade. Luckily, by doing that he was able to block the sudden attack coming from the hooded figure as she had now multiplied and shot outward in various directions.

"See ya!"

Another one of Larxene's usual gimmicks was to create duplicates of herself that followed whatever she ordered them to do while also backing her up in a sequence of attacks. This technique was seriously tricky to get ahead of as the Savage Nymph tended to try and confuse her opponents with her quick speed and agile reflexives.

Spinning his body forward, Sora commenced a wide spinning attack to try and catch one or more of the Larxene clones dashing around him hoping to hit the real one but was immediately countered by another one of the duplicates that ran right up to him and performed a stylish kick right to his face while landing on her hands and flipping herself around before dashing away. The recoil of the kick pushed the brunette back a step but allowed him to roll to the side and stab one duplicate in the side causing it to be knocked off balance. Before he could land a follow-up attack, another Larxene jumped into the air and threw her small finger blades right at the boy causing him to stand with his feet spread out and right arm extended and holding out the Keyblade to block the attack while his left hand was out to the side. The blades were immediately blocked.

Coincidentally, behind him, another reddish orb appeared which caused him to swerve his head around and barely perform a block to prevent himself from being skewered by another batch of duplicate Larxene's appearing out of the glowing orb. In addition, he managed to block one duplicate coming right at him and performed a counterattack by swinging his blade upward with such force that he lifted himself off the ground and landed a finishing cut downward all in one motion. The attack defeated the duplicate marking it as one down more to go.

"Worm!"

Larxene yelled before performing a stylish flip of her body and sending a bolt of lightning right at the boy who had to block the attack and tried to narrow in on the girl only to lose the original in the wave of duplicates flooding his vision. Another array of light pillars suddenly shot toward him causing the boy to dodge the attack before carefully blocking another strike from a duplicate which resulted in him countering it with an "X" shaped slash against the copy.

Rolling to the side after finishing his attack, Sora aimed his blade toward two Larxene duplicates that were sticking very close together. In a think later act now moment, he cast several Fire spells aimed right at the hooded woman only for his magic to be swiftly discarded as a bright glow appeared right in her hands resulting in the small blades lodged between her fingers turning into long claw-like blades. Landing a clean swipe with her hands on the fire magic, Larxene then turned her entire body to look right at Sora before propelling her body right at the boy while two of her duplicates started dashing toward him.

This sudden action resulted in the boy quickly leaning to the right and raising his Keyblade to block Larxene's dash attack which consisted of her swiping her claws right at his face while watching in the corner of his eyes the other duplicates. Moreover, as soon as her attack was blocked by his weapon, she suddenly shot upward in a flash of electricity before striking the ground right where Sora was standing and caused a huge blast of lighting hitting the teen and causing him to yell out while being pushed backward.

"Aaaaahhh!"

Not letting up, Larxene then continued to zig-zag up into the air in her lighting form to once again come crashing down to the ground leaving causing another blast of electricity further amplifying the range of her attack and how much damage it was doing to the Keyblade wielder.

"What's the matter!?" the hooded woman mocked.

Forcing himself to push past the pain he was feeling, Sora rolled to the side again and readied himself to go on the offensive. Gripping onto his weapon with both of his hands, he sprinted toward the closest Larxene unsure if it was a duplicate or the real one as it didn't matter. He was still going for the attack and had swung his weapon diagonally toward her chest before finding himself in a bind with her finger blades and his Keyblade clashing against each other. Quickly pushing his weapon up, he managed to perform a counter slash right into her leg causing the hooded woman to stumble for a second which gave him the chance to strike her across the face multiple times before landing a killing blow across her chest ultimately causing the figure to disappear indicating that it was a fake.

Alas, before he could do anything else, Sora had to speedily throw himself to the ground and roll to the side before being pierced with Larxene's claw blades that were aimed right at his head.

Jumping up to his feet, Sora then blocked another barrage of lighting directed right at him causing sparks to fly all over the place. However, before doing anything else, he was struck in the back by a piercing kick from another Larxene duplicate causing him to go flying across the ground. Landing on his back, he forcefully pushed himself up to roll backward and back to his feet narrowly escaping a blast of lighting hitting right where his feet just were.

"You're getting on my nerves!" she shouted while still out of sight from the duplicates covering her.

Getting up, the Guardian of Light then charged at the closest Larxene and began barraging her with stabs all across her body forcing her to call upon another duplicate that jumped right for his head forcing Sora to turn on his heels and cast a point-blank Ice spell at her freezing the duplicate and allowing him to land a heavy strike to the shoulder causing her to disappear. He then stepped to the side and blocked another burst of electricity zapping all around him before dodging to the left and activating his Shotlock right onto the hooded woman.

*Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Cling*

With Oblivion, still in his hands, Sora threw the weapon back with it glowing a purple color at the tip of the blade, he started spinning the Keyblade right above his head several times before grabbing onto the weapon's handle and throwing his body forward while multiple dark projectiles all started barreling forward and hitting the Larxene and her duplicates head on causing some of them to disappear evening out the battlefield.

Charging forward, Sora got right in the face of one of the duplicates and slammed his Keyblade to the ground causing a bright explosion of light to throw the copy back into the air before chasing after it and performing a spinning attack with his entire body in the air but his weapon slashing against her in a repeatedly fast manner before landing one last blow that managed to kill the duplicate. Falling to the ground, the Keyblade wielder was then grabbed by his hoodie and thrown up into the air where he was met with not only a kick to the face but a pair of claws slashing right at his chest. Two Larxene's were waiting to spring their trap on him and once they did the impact of the attack threw Sora back to the ground causing a bit of crater to appear under him with the ground cracked.

"I'm gonna break you!" Larxene shouted at the boy who was down.

Having the wind knocked out of him, the teen pushed himself back up but was ultimately met with a flurry of side swipes from another Larxene who had her small blades swiping right at him. Attack after attack, Sora couldn't exactly make out her movement as she swiped one set of blades right at his chest followed by immediately throwing her body around and kicking him right in the face before another duplicate took her place and slashed right at his arms. A nonstop sequence of attacks one after another. This barrage of attacks left him unable to lift his Keyblade to defend against the attack and ultimately resulted in him yelling out in both anger and frustration.

"That's it!"

What followed next could be described as a sudden blast of red energy that threw the Larxene duplicate backward and caused her to land on her back before pushing her legs upward causing her hands to touch the ground where she easily spun herself around so that she leaned forward and landed back on her feet in one fluid motion with her small blades primed and ready to strike at the boy again.

Standing there in the middle of multiple Larxenes all dashing side-to-side and even zapping from place to place was Sora. Although the spiky-haired boy had taken on a different appearance this time around as instead of a different color palette change to his attire, he was now drenched in darkness followed by his Keyblade taking on a darker tone. However, the one feature about him that stood above anything else different was that his eyes were a bright yellow now.

Rage Form.

"Oh look! The brat's actually turning to the darkness for help!" the Mimic Larxene yelled out while still being hidden amongst her duplicates.

Teleporting in a flash, the darkened form of Sora shot right at one of the duplicates and started bashing her with his Keyblade by repeatedly swinging his weapon up and down. It didn't help that he even threw his weapon right at the fake which slammed right into her face before teleporting right behind her and slashing her to the point that she soon disappeared due to how much damage had been done.

In a fit of lightning, several other duplicates all shot forward with trails of electricity bouncing off the ground and gunning for the boy only to have him clutch his heart with his left hand causing a blast of dark energy to surround him not just one or twice but three times causing three glowing red lights to appear around him. Sora then teleported back several steps to barely miss the duplicate's assault which was then stopped as he jumped into the air and began randomly attacking them with swipes and bashes to the point that every attack that was blocked was then discarded and followed up by another slash. This tactic managed to weaken the duplicate group before the Rage Formed boy teleported right into the middle of the group and jumped up into the air and started spinning around before falling and stabbing his Keyblade right into the ground causing a massive explosion of sparks and red orbs to appear around him. The sudden attack managed to finish the duplicates and caused Sora to quickly flash back to normal while also having to dodge and roll out of the way of a sudden barrage of attacks from Larxene coming up above.

"How do you like this!?"

Now back to his feet, Sora called upon the power flowing through his heart and released it all in a blast of dark light. Spinning Oblivion forward, the boy emitted a blast of purple light around him now taking on his Dark Form which helped imbue him with a bit of darkness into his attacks. His body glowed a bright purple color for a split second before he dashed forward in a purple light where he immediately threw his hands out creating a dark bubble shield with chains all around to protect him from a sudden shot of lighting. The teen's attire had also changed to match an all-black color palette with his pants sporting a white design at his knee on both sides. Offering a sense of seriousness to him in this ordeal.

Flash stepping to the first Larxene that came close to him, Sora then thrust his Keyblade forward managing to hit the hooded woman's arm before landing slash after slash against her body while also causing beams of dark light to appear right under the girl pelting her with even more damage. His flurry of slashes did not stop there as he shot forward one more time before teleporting right above her and slamming his Keyblade down causing a massive burst of dark energy to hit her and ultimately finishing off the woman who appeared to be a duplicate.

Coming back to the ground, even though his body and powers were a bit amplified while using his Formchanges, Sora was starting to feel the effects of tiredness running through his body. Sure, it wouldn't stop him from fighting but there was the chance that if this kept up and Larxene landed a killing blow against him, then it might spell bad news for him. However, he would not let her get the chance. He was ending it here and how.

"Gotcha!"

Activating his Shotlock ability, Sora's eyes shot from duplicate to duplicate making sure to take them all into account while his power built up. Nevertheless, as time seemed to slow down for him, he noticed out of the corner of his eye one of the Larxene duplicates gunning straight for him while she teleported too fast for him to see where she was coming from. But… he was ready to counter the incoming attack.

In a burst of energy, Sora's entire body was glowing in light before causing quite the blinding flash leaving him slightly floating in mid-air while several key features were different about him now. On his left was Oathkeeper while on the right was Oblivion which was also floating as he had his hands open and extending out. Additionally, his clothes had changed color again only this time they were a mix match of black and white seemingly taking inspiration from his Light and Dark Form changes. And right below him was what could only be described as a bright yellow light with a cloud surrounding him. From a top-down view, one could even speculate that the scene below Sora was that of a galaxy…

"Dodge this!"

However, in another burst of light multiple white projectiles started targeting the duplicates leaving behind trials of light and upon impact with the duplicates of Larxene caused blasts of light to cover the entire area. Following this, Sora flipped down to the ground while the galaxy-like effect and cloud around him seemingly shrunk into nothing leaving the boy standing there in his regular outfit with his Kingdom Keyblade in his hands.

At the same time, all the duplicates had been eliminated leaving only one Larxene left who was grasping onto her shoulder while sporting body language that conveyed that she was hurt as well as furious.

"Ugh… What was that!?

Stepping toward the Mimic, Sora pointed his weapon right at the hooded figure while carefully watching her to see if she pulled off some trick to get back at him.

"What? Didn't think I'd have any tricks up my sleeves as well?"

"Tsk. You really are a pain. *sigh* I can't believe I lost… to you of all people!" Larxene yelled out.

Frowning, the spiky-haired teen couldn't help but question her.

"Why do you say it like that? You knew there was only ever going to be one outcome out of all of this."

"That's a lot of big talk coming from someone who had to result to little tricks to save their hide. I can count multiple times when I had you on the ropes" Larxene retorted against the boy.

The Guardian of Light couldn't disagree with her on that. The new fighting style she incorporated was different compared to the real Larxene's style. It was more rampage-inducing and more on the side of confusing and fast-paced.

"Even so, look who came out on top" Sora replied truthfully.

Shaking her head with the hood still hiding her face, the fake Larxene merely let out a dissing sound while scoffing at the boy.

"…I'll give you that."

A moment of silence seemed to resonate between the two foes before she straightened herself up to stand across from Sora. Her right hand seemingly glowing as well as the small blades transforming into her long claws. The hooded figure's gaze never left the boy's face who also had his blue eyes watching her carefully.

"Well then, looks like it comes down to the last straw" Larxene commented while her claws began charging electricity all around.

"Yeah, I guess it does. No hard feelings when this is over" Sora kindly responded.

If there was one thing to be made known, it was that the spiky-haired boy's last interaction with the real Larxene ended on a good note. She had been defeated in the real Organization XIII's Keyblade War by Sora. Not to mention, her last confession of only joining the Organization because she was "along for the ride" and held no allegiance to anyone. Along with her not telling Sora who she joined with leaving it a complete mystery and her secret. No bad blood was between the two and for that… he couldn't help but have a sad smile on his face.

"What the- Seriously? What's wrong with you? Why are you looking like an idiot now?" Larxene demanded to know from the boy.

"I… I know that you're not the real Larxene but still… my last encounter with her wasn't so bad."

The hooded woman merely shook her head.

"You're an idiot."

A small smile graced Sora's lips as he could accept that comment.

"Yeah, I know I am."

Not needing to say anything else, the Savage Nymph and Guardian of Light dashed right toward each other planning to end this fight with one last attack. Both sides were going to give it their all and only one person would be walking away from this fight. One fought for a hopeless goal while the other fought to protect everything around him.

*Swwwiiissssssh*

It was clear who the victor was.

Standing with his right leg forward and left leg back, Sora had both hands on the Keyblade which was now placed by his side as he looked forward out into the night sky of Academy City while he did not bother to look behind him. He knew that he was the victor.

*Plop*

The hooded figure that had taken the form and persona of Larxene had fallen to the ground not saying anything else as the Mimic's body began to exude a mist of darkness all around leaving an ominous yet peaceful sight to behold.

Sora couldn't help but lower his weapon and look up at the night sky before him. Letting out a tired and hurt sigh, the spiky-haired boy couldn't help but realize just how much had happened today. One thing after another it was starting to get to him and yet, he knew that there was still so much more to worry about. If Darkness was to be believed, then he would need to start looking into a prison of some kind and see what the Magic Side was plotting within Academy City. Not to mention, Darkness was still out there looking into a situation that would soon involve himself in what capacity, he did not know. And that fact alone left him feeling anxious. He still had a lot to learn about this world. About its secrets and the problems going on behind the scenes. Sora slowly began to realize that… he was going to need some help.

However, that train of thought would soon be halted as he heard something going on behind him. It sounded like a sort of pulsating sound getting louder and louder. Turning his head around, Sora was met with nothing happening and began to look around the entire area causing him to stay on guard.

Whatever was happening… did not spell out good news.

Meanwhile, on top of a building located near the battleground

Looking down below at the field of battle that was all charred with burn marks and parts of the overall ground destroyed was Mugino Shizuri who had so many questions bouncing around in her head.

The tea-color-haired girl wasn't sure what to think at the moment but the one thing that was prominent in her head and causing her to grin widely had to do with what she had just witnessed. And it was glorious…

The battle that Sora found himself in with the hooded figure who had somehow managed to duplicate themself into many copies all of who were working to mess with the spiky-haired boy. Not to mention, the way the boy had managed to deal with being surrounded and fighting an outnumbered fight caused her great joy in the show she was watching. Her excitement in watching the fight even got her to start thinking about different ways she could start mixing up her own technique when it came to dealing with multiple opponents.

Moreover, her interest in battling was greatly exceeded as she couldn't help but recall all the times that Sora was pushed to the edge and had managed to come out of a deadly situation with all the various tricks up his sleeve. Mugino also remembered the gleeful smile that appeared on her face as she saw the boy use darkness to his side while wielding that dark weapon of his which she realized was a key factor to his various abilities as she thought back to his white clothes and powers that he used against her.

However, when the boy was coated in nothing but darkness with red energy surrounding him and his eyes taking the color of yellow… her interest in the boy skyrocketed to a point that she thought would never be reachable. And on top of that, when he instantly flashed back to normal and went back to kicking that hooded figure's ass… her heart started rapidly beating just thinking about that part of the fight.

There was so much more she wanted to say about the boy and that figure's different fighting methods, but she stopped herself as her mind suddenly dwelled on something she was not expecting. A topic that had been mentioned to her before but was now becoming vividly relevant to her.

Sora.

The boy's past words directed to her about choosing a new path in her life. One that was not entirely of Light and not enveloped in Darkness but… something else. Something that resonated close to who she was as a person. A new path that was invested in both Darkness and Light. Her own path.

She had pushed that thought to the side and not paid it any real mind ever since Sora said that to her. Now, however, seeing the boy wield not just Light and Darkness but even taking on a whole different appearance that looked to be drenched in Darkness. He was still back to fighting no matter what form he took. That alone was enough to catch the Level 5's attention.

Actions spoke louder than words in this case, Sora showed her outright that wielding not just Darkness but also Light would not make you weak or lose yourself, and in fact, it undoubtedly made you stronger. Again, Mugino could feel her heartbeat picking up in speed at the prospect of gaining a newfound power by listening to the boy's words again. Perhaps… she would need to have another talk with him. One where she would offer to hi-

Suddenly, something caught her eye as she looked down at the area where Sora was and could immediately see that he was not alone now as several Anti-Skill officers were standing next to him followed by all of them staring right at the area where the hooded figure was lay… no… where the hooded figure was now standing upright and on two feet with their hands behind their back.

Letting out a surprised swear, Mugino's attention exploded.

"Are you fucking kidding me? No, there's no way this fucker is still standing. The first time, yeah, I'm willing to believe that. The second time, maybe, it's possible Sora didn't end the bastard right there. But now… what the hell is going on? There's no way that's a regular person… who is that under the hood…"

Ideas were swirling around the brunette's head, but nothing was really resonating as a sound answer. Hence, the only thing she could do was continue to watch whatever was going on down there. Her questions would have to wait as it appeared that something new was happening.

A few minutes before the present

Having kept his eyes darting around the place, Sora was starting to think that he might have been expressing a sense of adrenaline rushing to his head causing him to believe the idea that he heard a pulsating sound. He was so stuck in his head that he did not see the bright lights that appeared behind him followed by the sound of boots hitting the ground and making their way over to him. Anti-Skill had arrived at the scene in a mobile truck and parked their vehicle a bit away while some members got out and others stayed on standby.

Rather than shouting out at the boy or making a loud commotion, one of the officers decided to take the lead and waved her hand down at the other officers indicating to them to stand down. Taking a few steps forward, the Anti-Skill officer decided to call out to the boy since it seemed like he was in some kind of trance or train of thought.

"Sora… Sora… Sora!"

Hearing his name called, the boy quickly spun around and had his Keyblade ready to deal with whatever called his name. Upon realizing his surroundings, he was met with a face he had not entirely expected to see right now and immediately let go of his weapon.

"Yomikawa?"

Running up to the boy and grabbing onto his shoulders, the blue-haired woman began checking his head and then body for any lethal injuries that might be apparent. Similar to how a worried mother would be looking after her child after finding out they were involved in an accident.

"Sora! Are you ok!? Do you need a doctor? Do you need- "

"I-I'm good, Yomikawa. I'm… good. Just tired is all."

Letting out a relieved sigh, the ponytail-haired woman could feel her body relax.

"*sigh* That's good to hear. Are you alright? What exactly happened? Anti-Skill was able to watch most of what went down following the Lion Heartless that appeared but then things got a bit difficult to comprehend when…" Turning her head to the side, Yomikawa and ultimately Sora both glanced over at the fallen Organization member who had been unmoving this entire time. "That individual showed up and started engaging in combat with you."

"It's… a bit of a long story. Believe it or not… that person, no, that thing over there is not a real person."

"What?"

Yomikawa was at a loss for words right now. To hear that the individual lying on the ground not that far away from them was not a real person caused her to pause for a moment before immediately remembering another situation happening in the city right now with an army of cloned girls all taking on the same appearance except for a certain younger one that hilariously turned out to be the most important one of them all. Followed by another teenager who was labeled as-

"I know it might not make sense but *sigh* that's not a real person. It's something else that was created out of darkness" Sora explained to Yomikawa who had a startled reaction.

'Okay… not really correlating with the Sister clones… but still, doesn't sound good' she thought to herself while processing what she heard.

"And… I take it that you managed to beat whatever that thing was?"

Glancing over at the downed figure, Sora wanted to affirm to her that he had dealt with it but deep down in his heart, he had a feeling that there was something else about to happen.

"I… I don't know. But- "

However, before he could say anything else, a blast of darkness began appearing around the hooded figure's body causing a black cloud to prevent any visibility to the spot. This caused several other Anti-Skill members to start running up to Yomikawa with Tessou handing the blue-haired woman her assault rifle.

"Sora! Get behind- "

"Not going to happen. You guys need to go. Now!" he yelled back.

"This is- "Tessou started to say but was stopped as the cloud of darkness suddenly faded away leaving everyone present to stare in wonder at what they were seeing now.

Standing there with their hands behind their back and on two feet was another hooded figure only this time the body structure was taller than before indicating that this was a different version of the Mimic.

Summoning the Kingdom Key into his hands, Sora aimed it at the dark figure and called out to it.

"Who are you now!? I just dealt with Larxene and Saïx. Who else are you going to copy from the Organization? Sora questioned.

Not saying anything but taking a step forward, the Anti-Skill officers immediately raised their weapons at the figure with Yomikawa starting to have a bad feeling forming in the pit of her stomach.

Raising their gloved hand for everyone to see, the hooded figure suddenly summoned a pinkish light to appear in the palm of their hand. That light soon dimmed down to now being what could be described as a beautiful rose floating there for everyone to see.

The officers were a bit startled by the sudden action but Sora on the other hand went wide-eyed and could feel worry start pouring out from his heart. His heart rate started picking up as he realized how bad the situation could get in a matter of seconds. Yomikawa and the others were in terrible danger.

"You guys need to leave!" Sora yelled out.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" one Anti-Skill officer questioned.

"Are you serious?"

"Sora? What's going- "

"Yomikawa! Please! Please go. It's not safe. As much as I want to protect you all, I can't. He's too fast for me to deal with and protect you all from his attacks at the same time. You all need to go now!" Sora exclaimed while turning over to look at his blue-haired friend.

The look on his face conveyed many emotions without even needing to have a word be said. Yomikawa knew that from her past experiences dealing with dangerous situations that called for Anti-Skill's help. Sora's look also conveyed that sense of danger approaching their way along with his eyes telling her that… her life would be in danger as well.

"…Pull back."

"Excuse me? Yomikawa, you're not seriously- "

"I said to pull back! We don't know what the situation is here, but Sora does. I trust him more than my own gut at this point."

Startled by the blue-haired woman's statement, the other Anti-Skill officers reluctantly gave in beginning to take a few steps back to try and not escalate the situation. Tessou was instantly in favor of avoiding finding herself in a very dangerous situation. It especially didn't help that Yomikawa also had a worried tone of voice about the whole thing. Everyone seemed to agree on the decision to pull back… except for one officer.

"This is stupid. Why don't I make things easier and put a bullet into his shoulder to take him down?" the Anti-Skill officer who was the one that tried flying the drone earlier said aloud while aiming his gun at the hooded figure.

"Wait don't!" Sora screamed.

"Stop!" Yomikawa yelled.

But it was too late. As the officer shot his rifle and aimed for the hooded figure's shoulder for a nonlethal takedown, everyone watching the scene playout was met with an astounding sight.

The hooded figure summoned what looked to be a large, rose pink, and dark green scythe to their hand and managed to block the incoming bullet at an incredible speed. Everyone could hear the bullet deflect off the scythe and disappear to who knows where.

*Bing*

Stunned by the sudden action, the Anti-Skill officer wore a distraught look on his face before aiming for the figure's leg and fired another bullet only for it to also be deflected.

*Bing*

Shock and awe were present on the officer's face as he now looked quite troubled by the mysterious figure's detection and deflection skills. Left unsure what to do, the Anti-Skill officer started to slowly back away fearful that the scythe wielder individual would attack him at a moment's notice. To his shock, before anything could happen, Sora dashed right in front of the officer with his Keyblade raised right by his side while glaring at the hooded figure.

"Alright, I guess it looks like you could call this round 3. Are you going to say anything or stay quiet… Marluxia" Sora questioned the Organization member standing in front of him.

Marluxia, the seventh-ranked in the real Organization XIII, was also better known as the Graceful Assassin which made sense given his personality being a bit of a mystery to Sora due to his memory mishap a while back. Nevertheless, the teen's last interaction with the pink-haired man also ended on good terms since it seemed like Marluxia was regaining his old memories back right before he faded away from their fight where he was defeated.

Now, seeing the scythe-wielder standing before him, Sora was feeling a little nervous as he was starting to guess after two fights already that this fake would have different attacks compared to the real one, he fought back during the Keyblade War.

However, before Sora could ponder about the pink-haired man any longer, a chuckle could be heard coming from the hooded figure.

"Haha… Oh dear, growing tired of our little charade, Sora?"

Still with his hood on, the fake Marluxia lowered his hand that was holding onto the scythe and raised his other while summoning a pink rose in the palm of his hand and beginning to admire it.

"I've got to be honest and say yeah, I'm getting really tired of it" the spiky-haired boy truthfully shot back.

"Pity. Knowing that you have bested two out of the thirteen fakes, it does make me wonder why I don't just summon all the others. I'm sure they would be happy to see you" the pink-haired man commented while closely examining the rose in his hand.

"Sora, what's he talking about? And who are you?" Yomikawa questioned the boy and then the mysterious figure.

Eyeing the hooded man closely, Sora did his best to give a brief explanation.

"Those two other figures that I fought… they are all part of an evil group called Organization XIII. I… I can't get into all the details right now but just know that there are ten more hooded individuals that have yet to show up. Each has their own abilities and are extremely dangerous" Sora explained to the blue-haired woman.

"As for who I am, you, madam, may call me Marluxia. Though I go by many other names, I would prefer it if you addressed me by name."

"…And what other names have you been called, out of curiosity, mind you" Yomikawa cautiously replied.

Raising his hand that was holding onto the rose, Marluxia lifted it into the air before letting it go and blowing away until the rose dissipated into tiny bits of red color. He then turned to look at the blue-haired woman.

"I've gone by many but… the most common one would have to be as the Graceful Assassin."

Hearing his voice caused the arm hairs on all the officers to go up while gripping their weapons tightly. Things were not looking good. However, Sora seemed to pick up on this and turned to look at the officers.

"You guys need to leave."

"But- "

"Now. It's not safe for you here" Sora directed to the Anti-Skill officers.

"He's right you know. I'd listen to what he has to say" Marluxia added.

Having a look of regret and understanding appear on her face, Yomikawa turned to her fellow Anti-Skill officers and gestured to them that they leave. This time, all the officers went back to where their vehicle was parked and met up with the others stationed back, and watched the entire encounter go down.

Left alone with Marluxia, Sora decided to see how much he could get out of the hooded figure.

"So, what's the deal with you taking on the form of the Organization members?"

"There are two answers I could give you. Do you want the simple or complex answers?" Marluxia asked the teen.

Feeling like he wouldn't like the complex answer, Sora knew that was the option he had to go for.

"Complex."

"Hmm. Very well. Our master was adamant that we… prepare you for what's to come."

"Prepare me? What for?" Sora asked, feeling unsure about what he was hearing.

With the hood covering his face, the boy couldn't exactly see the assassin's face but knew that he was probably smirking at how confused the boy was becoming. One of the benefits of messing with the Keyblade's Chosen One.

"You've already heard what we and our master have had to say about this matter. This world is different compared to the others that you have visited. Its connection to science and magic… is basically an open invitation for Darkness to come and seep its way into everything. There are also monstrosities that you have yet to ever encounter in your life that lie dormant here in this world or with our master" Marluxia answered.

"You all keep on talking about this same- "

"Because it is the truth." Marluxia interrupted Sora and then continued speaking. "However, there are other factors that this world holds that are quite interesting to my master. In time, I'm sure you will also realize just how fruitful and ever-evolving this world truly is."

Gripping onto his Keyblade, Sora was tired of all of this and decided that he'd had enough. Swiping his weapon forward so that it was now pointing at the Graceful Assassin, the Keyblade wielder only had one thing left to say.

"You might believe that… and in a way, you're right. This world has a whole lot more to offer that I have yet to cross the surface on. But deep down, I know that in my heart, even if there is Darkness in this world, there are others out there who will give it their all to make sure this world does not fall! And you can bet on me being there to help them!" Sora confidently stated to the hooded figure.

A seemingly quiet pause took effect between the two as Marluxia raised his scythe to the side and let out a small chuckle.

"Very well then, Sora. Let us see if your heart is strong enough to prove my master wrong. It's time to finish this!"

With nothing else needing to be said, the Graceful Assassin and Guardian of Light prepared themselves for a fight that would showcase not only their wills at play but also a depiction of Darkness versus Light. Neither would back down until there was only one left standing.

*Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind DLC Music – Lord of the Castle – Marluxia*

Staring at one another for a split second longer, Sora came up with a dozen different ideas for how the pink-haired man under the black coat would launch his first attack against him. However, that compilation of ideas would be utterly demolished as the scythe-wielding man disappeared right before Sora's eyes and then reappeared to his side swinging his long weapon right at the boy causing him to block the attack.

Alas, that would be his mistake as Marluxia instantly teleported out of sight and right to the left of Sora managed to bring his weapon across and slash the brunette in the side causing him to wince out in pain.

"Aaahh!"

Not stopping there, before the Keyblade wielder had the chance to make a move, the assassin teleported once again only this time right above the boy allowing him to strike Sora in the chest while his scythe left a pink trail after swinging it. This attack hit the teen causing him to go flying back while feeling the attacks start getting to him.

"Gah!"

Being thrown back, Sora rolled across the ground and jumped back to his feet before gripping the handle on his blade with both hands and charging ahead to confront the teleporting figure. Coming within reach, Sora then thrust his body forward and with enough speed, he then stabbed his weapon right in front of him before flinging himself around it like a pole and then threw himself in the direction of Marluxia. Having gained enough speed, he came right into contact with the man and bashed his Keyblade into the scythe-wielder's side causing sparks to fly.

Following this attack, he swung his Keyblade upward knocking the hooded figure's head before spinning his body around and side-swiping the assassin in the side again before beginning to land a barrage of stabs against the figure's chest as he was partially stunned by the sudden attacks. Sora's finish move would be to push himself off the ground and slam his Keyblade right in front of Marluxia causing an explosion of light to send the man flying back.

Quickly stepping back due to not knowing how the Mimic would react, Sora kept both of his hands ready in case he would need to block an incoming attack. As luck would have it, Marluxia regained his balance before vertically throwing his scythe causing the long weapon to start spinning at an incredible speed all while causing a trail of pink light to follow the tip of the blade making it look like a fast pink halo was zooming right toward him. Raising both hands to block the attack, the teen was able to do so but not before deflecting the scythe and watching it soar through the air and come back right to him this time in a horizontal matter. As if on cue, the Keyblade wielder blocked the attack again and saw the scythe reappear in the hands of Marluxia who had teleported right behind him.

Getting ready to block another attack again, Sora realized something was up as Marluxia flung the scythe right at him with the weapon spinning even faster than before. Instinct kicked in as the brunette rolled across the ground rather than to try blocking the vertical pink spinning halo coming straight for him. This proved to be a smart move from the Keyblade wielder as he now had gained some distance away from the assassin as they were now far apart from each other.

Watching the hooded man closely, the spiky-haired boy decided to play it safe and cast several Thunder spells to see how Marluxia would react to magical attacks.

Lifting his Keyblade, Sora began firing spells.

"Thunder!"

A sudden blast of lightning appeared right above the Graceful Assassin which caused him to swiftly raise his scythe and begin spinning it rapidly while managing to avoid being hit by any electricity. That was not what Sora was expecting. Hence, it got him thinking, and decided to straight up ask the Mimic a question.

"Hey, do you just amplify the Organization member's abilities, or do you create your own?"

"Haha, curiosity got the best of you, didn't it? To be honest, it's a bit of both" the fake Marluxia responded.

"Great to know" Sora mumbled back.

Without warning, the brunette then pointed his weapon forward and cast several Fire spells back-to-back while beginning to run around the scythe user.

"Fire!"

Each spell coming the assassin's way was immediately cut in half making it void of any danger. This also made the hooded figure watch as Sora got closer and closer to him which caused a smile to appear under the hood. Dashing forward, Marluxia met the boy halfway by swinging his scythe right at the boy's abdomen which was easily blocked and countered by a swift kick to the chest from Sora. The boy then rolled across the ground and activated his Shotlock ability to focus on the Organization member.

*Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Ting* *Cling*

Jumping right into the air and pointing his Kingdom Key right at the assassin, the tip of the Keyblade lit up in a bright light before blasting what could be described as multiple red projectiles taking the shape of hearts. Each projectile was locked onto the hooded man and hit him as he was trying to avoid the attack but ultimately failed.

This offered Sora the perfect chance of casting another magic spell at the scythe wielder, only this time he would pull a fast one on him. Pointing his Keyblade right at the Mimic, he yelled out the spell in question that would help him.

"Freeze!"

A shard of ice went flying right at the slightly dazed figure impacting him and leaving him slightly encased in ice while also leaving behind a trail of ice for him to jump onto and start sliding at an incredible speed. Once he was close enough, Sora leaped into the air and twisted his body around so that he was holding onto his Keyblade with both of his hands and spinning around while building up momentum.

"Take this!"

At the right moment, Sora slammed the weapon right into Marluxia's chest causing him to go flying back. This allowed the Keyblade wielder to roll on the ground and push off his back foot to dash right at the assassin while furiously swinging his weapon in diagonal patterns across the scythe user's chest and arms. He also followed through by landing a solid stab to the chest before his weapon was swatted away and Sora felt a slash hit his face causing him to go flying back. Reprising himself back up to his feet, Sora brought a hand up to his cheek and could feel something wet.

Looking at his hand, he noticed a small bit of blood appearing on his finger. This left the otherworldly boy to feel a variety of emotions. But the one that was most prevalent at the forefront of his mind was to be extra careful now. The other two Organization members had unique fighting styles that he hadn't seen before. It was safe to assume Marluxia would also have something up his sleeve.

Narrowing his gaze onto the assassin, Sora was about to dash toward him when all of a sudden multiple black swirls started appearing around the hooded man while a trail of red roses began floating all around the area. To top it off, Marluxia started to have a golden glow around his entire figure which resulted in him teleporting out of sight leaving the Keyblade wielder on edge.

Without any warning, Sora was then hit square in the back causing him to go flying across the battlefield and landing face first into the ground. Rolling to his side and then back up, he looked around and saw the scythe-wielder standing there smugly while also raising his free hand and causing several black orbs to appear out of nowhere.

"Ready?"

Instantly, the black orbs turned into what could be described as pink and black seeds that were aimed and primed to target the spiky-haired boy. Beginning to run to the side, the teen could see that the seeds or thorns or whatever they were had him locked into their sights. It didn't help that he had to keep watch on Marluxia who has now glowing red and-

Right in front of him now.

Rolling to the left and dodging a horizontal swipe that was going right for his chest, Sora then blocked another strike from the scythe that was primed right for his arm. Countering the slash with a quick swing to the leg, he was able to knock Marluxia back and cause him to stop glowing red. Seeing this as an opening, the Guardian of Light shot forward and whipped his blade right into the hooded figure's face before slashing across the assassin's chest and firing a point-blank Wind spell causing the two of them to go flying back due to the sudden green vortex that appeared between them now.

Having gained some distance, Sora saw Marluxia twirl his scythe in his hand while taunting him. This got the spiky-haired boy to grit his teeth and get ready to charge at him but that's exactly what the assassin wanted as the Keyblader's guard was down.

*Pweh*

"Gaaaah!"

Sora was shot in the side by one of the seed-thorn things which drew his attention instantly. At that moment, all the seeds started glowing a pink color and looked like they were going to do something. Not about to get hit again, the Keyblade wielder lifted his weapon and cast a quick Thunder spell managing to destroy them all with that one spell. However, Marluxia had now teleported right to the side of Sora and began to unleash a flurry of strikes with the claymore.

*Swwwwwiiissssshhh*

Without stopping for a moment, Marluxia's scythe cut right into Sora's chest once and then twice, and then a third time before dropping to his legs and managing to both slash and knock him to the ground. The brunette couldn't help but yell out in pain as he then felt the scythe clip onto his hoodie and throw him right into the air followed by the Organization member reappearing above him and slamming his entire body and scythe to the ground while latched onto Sora.

The impact of the boy hitting the ground immediately caused a loud shockwave to rumble the ground followed by cracks appearing all around the spot he landed.

Off to the side, the Anti-Skill members were grimacing greatly all while eager to try and help the boy deal with the hooded figure, but due to their weapons having the chance of hitting Sora and the mysterious figure being able to deflect bullets raised concern over the situation. Yomikawa on her part had a very worried expression on her face seeing Sora get thrown around easily and getting hurt all while this person or individual managed to cause the boy to get hurt. She also wanted to help but knew that when it came to Esper's getting involved in conflicts there was a chance you might also wind up getting dragged into a peculiar problem. Hence, all she could do was hope that the spiky-haired boy pulled through in this fight.

Getting himself up, Sora looked to the side and saw Marluxia standing there a couple of feet away while pointing his scythe right at the boy.

"What's wrong, hero? Sulking in defeat?" Marluxia said to the boy while having a two-fold tone in his voice.

"Grr… You wish! You're going down whether you like it or not!" Sora roared back.

"Haha! I'll scatter you to the wind! Well, what's left of you that is."

Glowing gold once again, Marluxia was about to teleport and strike the boy, but in just the nick of time, Sora dashed forward and drove his Keyblade upward managing to not only stop the assassin's attack but send him flying. Not about to stop, pushing on his back foot, Sora threw his Keyblade right at the Mimic with enough force that the hooded figure was sent recoiling back which allowed for the boy to dash right at him and perform a spinning slash right across the chest before transitioning into a full-on barrage of stabs to the arms and shoulders. Adding onto the attack, the Keyblade wielder threw himself forward and leaped into the air performing another spinning attack whereas this time his entire body was spinning around vertically and managing to whack the assassin back to the ground.

Falling to his feet, Sora looked on ahead and could see that he'd gotten a few good hits off the figure. Alas, in the next moment he had to quickly block an incoming scythe spinning right at him vertically and once the attack was blocked the weapon magically began spinning around horizontally aiming right for him. Blocking this next attack, the teen recalled this attack earlier and jumped right into the air narrowly evading another more powered attack from the scythe.

Back onto the ground, the spiky-haired brunette looked ahead and could see Marluxia standing there with his free hand waved up to the sky. The Graceful Assassin then tapped the bottom of his claymore onto the ground which caused a red light to appear right under the weapon. He then leaped right into the air while several swirling pools of red light appeared all around the area. Twisting his body around and twirling his scythe through the air, Marluxia then slammed right into the ground and seemingly disappeared through one of the red pools. Sora at this point was starting to sprint as fast as he could around the red pools making sure to not get caught in one of them.

Each one of the glowing red pools now started shooting out black swirls that were sprouting out in random patterns leaving Sora to barely dodge out of the way from being hit. The brunette then had to immediately throw his weapon to the side to block a strike coming from Marluxia who had magically appeared from one of the pools. Knocking him back with a clean slash and slam from his Keyblade, Sora pushed the hooded man back allowing for a gap of space to lie between them where he was now glaring at the assassin.

"Haha!"

Laughter could be heard as Marluxia instantly teleported out of sight causing Sora to look around the area to see if the assassin would pop out of nowhere. At the same time, red glowing petals were beginning to fall from the ground all around the Keyblade wielder making him anxious about what was going on.

Everyone else who was watching the fight could only stare in awe at what was happening. The sight of the red glowing petals falling to the ground and dissolving in light while Sora stood there looking serious offered a breathtaking sight.

However, in the next moment, everyone couldn't help but call out to the boy.

Appearing right behind Sora who was in his battle stance with both hands on the Keyblade and looking to the side, Marluxia instantly appeared right next to him and lowered his head right next to the boy's ear and whispered something. Something that no one but Sora could understand.

But as soon as Marluxia whispered to the boy, he instantly vanished while green thorns and red petals surrounded Sora while a strange glowing symbol appeared right behind him. The kicker to all this… was what was happening to the spiky-haired boy.

Sora immediately had a shocked look on his face while bringing his left hand forward and raising it in front of him while wearing a confused expression on his face. Soon after, all the petals, thorns, and glowing effects disappeared around him leaving him standing there. However, out of nowhere, Sora could see a number appearing right in front of him which caused him to look side-to-side and realize that the number was in his vision, and it read "15".

"It's time to finish him!"

Without any warning whatsoever, the area right under Sora turned black reflecting the night city buildings that were lit up along with leaving the boy sporting a grim look on his face. The area in the middle of the area had now become like a red pool with blackthorns popping out of the ground offering a menacing look to the area. About ready to start running around the area to find a weak spot to Marluxia's plan, Sora was forcefully pulled into the center of the pool where black swirls surrounded him.

Moreover, the teen was helpless as the Graceful Assassin reared his head back and twirled his scythe forward before rushing to the Keyblade wielder and landing strike after strike against his chest, arms, legs, and back with his weapon managing to throw the boy back with recoil.

Reprising himself from the recoil, Sora spun himself around and tried swiping away at the Mimic but was ultimately denied any opening as another slash of the scythe to his back shut him up. With another quick slash to his chest, Sora was sent sprawling down to the middle of the pool where he saw red glowing petals and black swirls turning into thorns surrounding the area. The brunette was then thrown up into the air while feeling massive amounts of pain in his body.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!"

What had hit him left all the people watching with their mouths open.

A giant skull appeared right out of the red pool with its eyes glowing red followed by the entire area lighting up with the red petals and black thorns growing at a rapid rate. As quick as the skull appeared, it vanished without a trace leaving all the petals to start growing black and fading away. Sora soon fell to the ground while biting down on his tongue to hold himself up. Fumbling into his pocket, he reached for a potion and was about to drink the whole thing when he felt his body go flying back and hitting the ground again while dropping the potion onto the ground causing it to break and spill.

Marluxia was now standing right where Sora once was and looked over at him before once again letting out a cruel chuckle.

"The beginning of the end… Your heart will be scattered!"

*Pweh – Pweh – Pweh*

Before he could even make a move, the assassin was instantly shot back with what appeared to be a plasma blast to the chest causing the hooded figure to stumble backward while looking up at what happened.

There slowly getting to his feet was Sora who held out his Keyblade which had the tip of his weapon glowing blue. The magical spell Triple Plasma had just been cast by him. He also weakly reached into his pocket and pulled out another potion before gulping the entire thing down in one go. Almost immediately, his eyes shot open as the healing potion was working its wonder on his body now. Though his tiredness was still at play, the teen felt a whole lot better than he did a second ago.

"I've had enough of you!" Sora yelled out to the hooded man.

Still seeing the number counter in his vision, the Guardian of Light could see that it had gone down drastically and was now at the number "4". This left him feeling a bit nervous about what would happen when it reached zero, but he silently affirmed to himself that would not happen.

"Well then, do something about it, hero."

Gritting his teeth and gripping his blade's handle tightly, Sora threw himself forward to perform a sliding dash as lunged his weapon forward and managed to clip Marluxia's arm as he was also appearing to spin around and slice him with his scythe. Seeing this opening, the teen then jumped off his back foot and performed a Quick Blitz by leaning his entire body into slamming the Keyblade down at the assassin which partially stopped him. Sora then started swinging away at his head causing sparks and stars to go flying lighting up the red pool before ultimately pointing his weapon at the hooded man and firing a Thunder spell to shock him. This also allowed Sora to gather enough strength inside himself and his heart to dispel the curse that had been placed on him by Marluxia which explained what the number counter he was seeing to appear.

"Back off!"

Throwing his arms out, a blast of light faded from the boy, and he no longer saw the number counter in his vision.

"Hyah! Settle down!" Marluxia shouted before disappearing.

Feeling his instincts kick in, Sora dodged to the side managing to avoid being slashed by Marluxia's which had come at a diagonal angle and could have hit him in the side.

Glaring at the hooded man now, the spiky-haired teen was about to send another spell his way but noticed something different about the hooded figure.

Rising into the air, Marluxia then started spinning his scythe around at an incredible speed managing to not cut himself with how fast he was twirling the weapon around. The Graceful Assassin then grabbed ahold of the weapon's handle and spun himself around before slamming right into the ground causing a massive pink light to appear and start spreading out across the ground in an expanding ring. The pink light also caused many red glowing petals to appear offering yet again another beautiful sight to behold.

Sora at this point raised his Keyblade with both of his hands and brought the blade close to his right side while also having it start to glow a bright blue color. The blue light was now reflecting off the boy's clothes and face giving off a breathtaking sight for everyone to see.

The pink glowing halo was close to reaching the spiky-haired teen's blue glowing blade.

Jumping high up into the air, Sora managed to pass right through the pink light and dashed right toward Marluxia who was also starting to glow pink all around his body. The two were then met in a binding clash between the scythe and Keyblade causing a flash of light to appear. Sora immediately backed off and tried swinging at the hooded man again only to be met with another blade bind causing him to deflect the long weapon and counter-slash at the man's face. The attack was instantly blocked. He then tried again to go for the man's leg but was met with another block.

"Haaaah!

The two then shot forward right at each other with their blades both glowing different colors and upon impacting one another a bright flash of light covered the area forcing everyone watching to cover their eyes.

Diving to the ground, Sora was now glaring at the scythe user who was gloating ahead of him with his hood still up but his black coat heavily damaged. Marluxia then looked ready to throw his weapon right at the boy, but due to the Keyblade wielder's quick thinking and wits, he cast a Light spell right at the Organization member causing him to be enshrouded in light. Once the spell died down, the assassin was now leaning heavily on one side while staring right at the boy.

In an unexpected move, Marluxia suddenly started rising to the sky with his scythe floating right behind him. An ominous tone was settling in, and Sora had no idea what was happening now.

Suddenly, the Graceful Assassin disappeared leaving the battered and tired Keyblade wielder to look around the area to see where he went when all of a sudden, he felt the hooded figure's presence right next to him. It became more apparent as he heard him whisper right into his ear again.

With the same effect taking place like before, Sora waved his free hand forward dispelling the thorns and petals while seeing a number counter that read "99" in his vision. Before even thinking about anything else, the counter was starting to go down at an incredible rate leaving the boy to start worrying greatly.

"Your end… has come!"

Marluxia yelled this out as he threw his scythe right at Sora while having the bladed part of his weapon start glowing a bright pink color. Once the weapon was thrown, the assassin disappeared leaving the scythe to start spinning and leaving behind a trail of red glowing petals. The weapon was spinning so fast that it was hard for Sora to keep a clear eye on it and had to instantly dodge to the side from getting hit. Doing that just resulted in the scythe taking a wide turn and spinning right back in his direction. At the same time, the counter was continuing to go down fast.

"85"

With each second that passed, Sora could feel his chest tighten and his breathing becoming rigid as worry was flooding his head followed by making sure to dodge every time the scythe came close to him. The teen even tried jumping out of the way but the glowing scythe continued to follow him leaving the brunette to fall to the ground and grow even more anxious.

"70"

Rolling to the side and then rolling back, Sora couldn't outright attack the scythe as it was too fast for him to do anything.

"63"

Raising his Keyblade, he tried blocking the scythe which he did successfully, but it immediately disappeared and reappeared behind him while shooting straight for him. He had to once again dodge roll to the side.

"49"

His options and ideas were running out and self-doubt was starting to run rampant in his head.

"30"

At this point, Marluxia appeared right above him and summoned his scythe to his hand again while raising his other which caused the ground to explode with a giant red pool to start spewing out blackthorns and red glowing petals all over the place. The ground changing threw Sora right up into the air and caused his body to go numb for a split second leaving him worried about how much time was left.

"19"

Deciding it was an all-or-nothing situation, Sora flipped himself in the air and pointed his Keyblade right at Marluxia while screaming out a magic spell that he hoped would help him at this exact moment.

"LIGHT!"

In a blinding flash, the entire area was blinded by two lights appearing out of nowhere. One was from Sora's magical spell and the other… came from Marluxia who had dropped his scythe onto the ground and started staggering backward.

"So, this is… your heart."

Those were the last words Marluxia muttered before the entire area started returning to normal with the red pools, thorns, and petals all starting to dissolve and fade away. Leaving the once dangerous yet breathtaking scenery to now return to the plain-looking area it was before in eerie silence.

Flopping to the ground, Sora started taking deep breaths while starting to cough violently.

*cough* *cough* *cough*

Bringing his hand up to his mouth, he saw something that would have normally worried him but after all that he'd been through on this night… he couldn't help but accept it.

A small bit of blood was present on his hand followed by the realization that he should give himself a look over. Forcing himself to stand, he started examining how dirty and battered his clothes were followed by his hands looking beaten up and bruised heavily. His body was also starting to make itself known that he was tired and needed a moment before doing anything else. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled another healing potion out and chugged the whole thing leaving nothing behind.

A soothing feeling began washing over him as he felt much better compared to before. Alas, his moment of peace was soon interrupted as he heard what sounded like a fizzling sound near him. Turning his head over, the teen saw the hooded Marluxia kneeling down on the ground while his scythe was next to him.

"Color me impressed, Sora."

"W-What?"

The hooded figure let a moment of silence pass they caught their breath before responding to the boy.

"I knew that I would ultimately lose to you, but… I don't care. I was allowed to witness something extraordinary. Something breathtaking. Something… beautiful. And it was all thanks to you."

Confused by what the fake Marluxia was getting at, Sora shook his head.

"I don't understand what you mean. I didn't do anything."

"Oh. That's the best part. You didn't have to do anything. All you needed to do was… be yourself. Your heart did the rest and let me tell you… it was a sight to see."

"But you- "

"I know that I am nothing but a pawn to my master. And yet, being an entity of Darkness has not only given me a will but the chance to witness something even grander. You. A being of hope… a Guardian of Light" Marluxia or better known as the Mimic said with earnestness in its voice.

Looking down at the ground, Sora couldn't help but feel a bit distraught now knowing that the Mimic was defeated and would die as it is now. Alas, he also realized that this had to happen otherwise innocent people could have been hurt or worse.

"You know… "

Sora started to say which grabbed the hooded figure's attention.

"As crazy as this sounds… I enjoyed our fight."

"…"

A moment of silence passed before-

"Ahahahah! You are a strange one, Sora."

"I try" the boy replied with a small smile on his face.

The fake Marluxia then raised his gloved hand to see it start to dissolve into nothingness indicating that death would soon reach him. Under his hood, the fake man… the dark creation couldn't help but smirk.

"Though this is the end of me… let it be known, Sora, that what my master and I have said on this night is all true."

Sora then narrowed his eyes on the dark being.

"What… Can you at least give me a hint or something? Your master, Darkness, didn't tell me enough to- "

"He did. There is a darkness to this world…"

The Mimic didn't finish what it was saying as the entirety of its body had now vanished into thin air leaving nothing behind. The only thing there in the area was Sora who was looking up at the night sky realizing that things were not what they seemed.

Unexpectedly, Sora spotted something right where the Mimic was just at and decided to check it out. Upon coming close, the boy let out a quiet gasp as he saw something very familiar to him.

"How did this get here?"

Reaching down to pick up the item, Sora was now holding onto a Heartbinder which was a special object that let him link and summon certain allies to his side during his journey. This was another one of the items that he lost upon coming into this world. He was now having many concerning thoughts in his head followed by thinking about what the Mimic said to him earlier and now.

'I… I shouldn't listen to them. I shouldn't. But… it's true that I have only seen the Science Side of this world so far… I have no idea about the Magic Side. Where do I even start looking? Who can I ask for help? Do I even want to involve others in this problem? No. I have to at least ask the others. But who do I even ask? Touma? Index? Kanzaki? I'm at a loss…'

Sora thought all this to himself while continuing to look past the bright city buildings. He had many things to consider but the one thing that he needed right now most of all was a breather.

"Sora!" a voice called out to him.

Looking behind, he saw Yomikawa and the other Anti-Skill officers beginning to make their way over to him. He figured that they would have some questions and right now, he wasn't entirely in the mood to answer them.

Coming up to the boy, Yomikawa could visibly see that he was exhausted from the fighting as well as banged up from the looks of things. Normally, she wouldn't do something like this since Anti-Skill required a detailed report of what exactly happened tonight. But an idea did pop into her head.

"Sora, are you ok?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm good… I'm good."

"*sigh* That's good to hear" Yomikawa kindly responded, happy to hear that.

"Who the hell was that guy?" another Anti-Skill officer who appeared to be the one who shot his gun earlier questioned the boy.

"He's…"

Sora stopped himself as he glanced into Yomikawa's eyes and seemingly told her that it was a complex topic to which she immediately understood his nonverbal message and decided to give the boy some space.

"Alright! We don't even know if the area's cleared yet. Start scanning the perimeter for any unusual activity. Questions can be answered later. Let's go, go, go!" Yomikawa yelled out.

Letting out a muffled sound, the officers began to walk away from the location and investigate the entire area while leaving Sora, Yomikawa, and Tessou still standing there.

"Sora, I take it this is a complicated subject?"

"More than you think."

"Wait. What's going on?" Tessou commented.

Glancing over at her junior, Yomikawa decided to introduce her at a better time to the boy.

"A conversation we can have later. Go, Sora. I'd suggest going to a hospital to get checked up on but… *sigh* you wouldn't be the first high school boy I know that avoids going to the hospital. At least go home and get some shut-eye. You've earned it."

A small smile could be seen appearing on the boy's lips.

"Thanks, Yomikawa. I promise I'll tell you all you want to hear later. Besides, there's… well, actually, I need to look into that problem as well but I'll for sure let you know what's going on."

"That's all I ask for. Good night, Sora."

"Night, Yomikawa. And good night miss…"

"Ah! My name is Tessou Tsuzuri. I'm currently assigned under Yomikawa-san for training" the green-haired girl replied.

"Nice to meet you, Tessou. Even if it was brief, haha…"

"Not at all. It was nice meeting you as well and thank you for your help dealing with… whoever that was" Tessou said while referring to the hooded figure.

"Mm. Well, I'll see you guys later."

And with that, Sora slowly started walking away from the scene while Tessou and Yomikawa decided to join the others in making sure the area was safe again. This area would soon be used in the Daihaseisai Festival coming up shortly. That was surely going to cause quite the spectacle to see this year. Especially with Sora's involvement in her school. Yomikawa was quietly growing very excited at the prospect.

Elsewhere, on top of a building nearby

Mugino did not have the words to describe what she was feeling. That had been a common reoccurrence for her throughout the night. Her intention of witnessing the spiky-haired boy caught up in a fight and seeing what abilities he used to deal with whatever he was dueling with was her primary goal.

Suffice it to say, that goal had been demolished after witnessing the boy's first fight with the claymore user. Then when he encountered the hooded figure using electricity in their fighting style while battering him left and right and to see him use not only light but darkness. It left her reaching a level of excitement that she's never experienced before. As she was the only one on top of this building with no one else around, the tea-color-haired girl could in all honesty say that she was on the edge of her metaphorical seat. She was even silently cheering the boy on whenever he landed a hearty attack with his weapon or used such force that the opponent went flying back. Her battle fanatic side was out in the open and she couldn't help but smile gracefully while remembering how intense the battles were becoming.

And then, when he started fighting against the scythe-wielding bastard or when the hooded figure switched up weapons again which was something to take note of, she couldn't help but be entranced by it all. The quick thinking and adaptability displayed by Sora along with his confident and determined fighting style that screamed endless possibilities… Mugino could feel her heart rate start to pick up again.

Alas, there was also the other significant factor about Sora's last duel…

It was beautiful.

The mix of red being associated with the red petals floating all around the arena and how that giant skull appeared out of nowhere, Mugino was starting to think that Sora just fought and killed an Esper who dealt with creating unusual objects and attack patterns due to how drastic of a change each fight had played out. Again, that was a guess on her part but still, the sight of seeing Sora with his weapon glowing blue going against the pink halo that was growing around the area. That would forever be something that would remember.

Just thinking about the boy caused her to unknowingly smile brightly while recalling how many new ideas came to her mind. In addition, she was also growing eager to become stronger due to seeing what the boy dealt with. She would need to hone her skills and abilities more than ever before. Not to mention, the shitty hero actually killed someone and this time she saw the body disappear for good. Meaning that he wasn't completely oblivious to things like death and whatnot. His usage of light and darkness was an entire subject that she would ponder about later but…

She couldn't help but feel more and more inclined and eager to learn all that she could about the boy that… without her realizing or even knowing about it… a small tint of red appeared on her cheeks.

It was then decided that she would learn more about this entire situation from the person caught in the center of it all, Sora.

Pulling out her phone, she immediately dialed his number and waited for him to answer her call. There was also the chance that-

*Click*

He answered her call instantly.

"Hello?"

"Sora! I think you owe me some- "

"Hey, Mugino, sorry. I can't talk right now. I'm a bit… busy at the moment. I'll get back to you later" the boy simply replied.

Blinking once and then twice, the dangerous laser-firing girl better known as Meltdowner started yelling into her phone.

"What the fuck!? What the hell do you mean you're busy!? I just watched you fight that hooded bastard!"

"You did?"

"YES!"

"Oh… um… you weren't caught up in the attacks, right?"

"NO!"

"*sigh* That's good to hear. Hey, we can talk about this another time. I really have to go. See you."

*Click*

The brunette girl simply looked at her phone for a minute before slamming it to the ground.

"THE NERVE OF THAT SON OF A BITCH!"

Leaving Mugino in a mood like this was an unwise decision for anyone to make. Kinuhata and Takitsubo were now in for a world of hurt as the brown spiky-haired boy had pissed their leader off. As the old saying goes, hell hath no furry like a woman scorned.

Meanwhile, back at Tokiwadai

Still sitting around the table, Hokaze had tears appearing in her eyes while she was wiping them away with the handkerchief she always carried in her pocket. The other girls also had relieved looks on their faces as they listened to the newscaster who was reporting that the fighting had stopped and that Sora was last seen talking with an Anti-Skill officer.

"Ah… I'm so relieved that Sora's okay" the purple-haired girl said while feeling an imaginary weight lift off her body.

"I wonder what he's doing now?"

"Probably going to get some rest."

"From what we heard; I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up at the hospital."

"You think?"

"Did you hear everything mentioned about his fight?"

Discussions sprouted around the table as each of the girls had something to say about their brown spiky-haired friend and the conflict he had found himself in.

Shokuhou meanwhile was both glad to hear that the boy had survived the fighting that was going on but also growing quite curious about the situation in its entirety. Whoever had picked a fight with the boy had wanted it to not only be a spectacle but also a message. To whom? She had no idea but suffice it to say, things were becoming rather strange in Academy City. It was only a matter of time before she found herself involved in something unusual.

Elsewhere inside the windowless building

Having multiple screens pulled up and watching the boy's fight in great detail, the two individuals in the room were silent for a moment before one of them said something.

"Well now, I have to say, I'm quite speechless followed by interested in this young man."

The one who said this happened to be the golden retriever better known as Kihara Noukan.

A small bit of laughter could be heard from the man floating inside the liquid-filled tube better known as the School Board Chairman, Aleister Crowley.

"It appears that you will be a great fascination to us all, Sora."

"Aleister. Correct me if I'm wrong but, you do have a plan in place regarding young Sora's Esper status?" Noukan asked the man.

"I have something in mind. I'll be overseeing the boy's progress myself. I can spare a moment of my busy schedule" Aleister replied.

"Hmm. Perhaps I will go ahead and meet him myself."

"Do be careful that you don't scare him off. It's not every day that everyone comes across a talking animal."

Noukan seemed to let his tail slightly wag before walking toward the exit of the room.

"Oh, I'll make sure to take the necessary steps to not traumatize the young man. I look forward to what comes next for him."

And with that, Aleister was left alone in the dark room while continuing to monitor the boy's actions. Moreover, he was also expecting to hear some news on another incident occurring right now that involved another spiky-haired young man. This night was truly an eventful one…

Meanwhile, back with Sora

Having reached the train station found on the border of District 17 and paid for a ticket to ride over to District 7, the spiky-haired boy was now sitting inside one of the compartments that appeared to be empty of anyone. At first, he was worried that something else was about to happen but then it dawned on him that everyone was probably heading to District 17 to try and see what exactly was going on. A coincidence of him being alone for a moment.

Now feeling the train start to move and head toward District 7, Sora leaned back in his seat and looked at the window right next to him. Seeing all the city lights brighten the nightlife around the visible area, he couldn't help but have a tired smile on his face. It was such a relaxing and peaceful moment that the possibility of falling asleep was really high.

However, Sora decided to check something out now. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the Heartbinder he found and began to examine the item closely. He didn't notice it before but this time around, he saw that the object was completely grayed out compared to the usual colorful appearance on his old Heartbinders. This left him scratching the back of his head while unsure what it meant exactly. However, that would be a problem to solve for another time.

Putting the item back into his pocket, Sora then pulled out his Gummiphone and stared at it for a good minute. His call with Mugino earlier was sure to get him into some trouble with the tea-color-haired girl but… he would try to make it up to her later. Maybe cooking something would work? Food always manages to make a bad situation into a good one.

Nevertheless, he wouldn't be able to answer anyone's questions at the moment due to his mind being focused primarily on what Darkness had told him. The bit about a school and prison being the prime locations for something about to happen because of the Magic Side's problems with Academy City. He was still hesitant to believe anything the dark figure told him, but deep down he was thinking that it could be possible. And that caused him to feel a bit stressed due to not being completely aware of the Magic Side. That would have to change.

However, that could wait because right now, the tired spiky-haired boy wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. The injuries on his body could wait for tomorrow. He just wanted to fall right into his bed and let slumber take him. Hence, he reached back into his pocket and pulled out another healing potion, and began drinking it. Over time, he had gotten used to the taste and didn't mind how the concoction tasted now. As strange as that sounded.

Taking a minute to finish the potion off and continue to stare out the window of the train, Sora then put the bottle back into his pocket and started calling someone on his Gummiphone. Right now, the person he was calling was his best chance of getting a better idea of what Darkness had said along with if any of it would be true.

*Click*

"Hello?"

"Hey, Moogla, can you talk right now?"

"Sora! Thank goodness you're ok, kupo!" the voice of his Moogle friend cried out.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't call sooner. Things… happened. And I think it would be a whole lot better to tell you in person."

"That sounds like a great idea, kupo."

"Great. Think I could stop by your place in the morning? Or anywhere that works where we can sit down and chat" Sora asked.

"Of course! I'll send you the coordinates on your Gummiphone here in a few minutes, kupo. My base is in District 7, so you won't have to travel too far into the city, kupo" Moogla explained.

"Got it. Thanks again, Moogla, and I'll see you in the morning."

"Right! See you later, kupo."

*Click*

Now glancing down at his device, Sora could see how late it was getting and realized just how long he'd been fighting. First, the dark side operators, then the Heartless Behemoth, and finally it was the Mimic who copied Saïx, Larxene, and Marluxia's fighting style and amplified their abilities greatly.

When he started to break down the fights, the teen couldn't help but start laughing all while his sides hurt making his laugh broken but still happy. He then started looking out the window yet again to take in the beautiful view of the night city. Suddenly, without warning, music started to play inside the train compartment letting Sora further enjoy the peaceful moment because honestly… he earned it.

"Heh… what a night…"

*A/N* - Well now, that was quite the long chapter. But before getting too deep into talking about all that, I'd like to say thanks again for checking this story out. Reading the reviews and hearing what works and what… sucks lol really has helped give this idea of a story form. Truly, thanks.

*Now, onto the meat of it all, combat. The Mimic took the liberty of copying several of Organization XIII's members and amplifying their abilities to become a real problem for Sora to deal with. Lore-wise, he did not fight the Data versions of the real Organization XIII from Kingdom Hearts 3, so this was a first-time look at buffed up versions of those members. In addition, for Larxene and Saïx I also took inspiration from Trueblade Seeker's mods for making those two have even stronger fights. Marluxia's fight was from the data fight found in the DLC. I hope the fights were written where it could be understood what was happening. The chaos that ensues in some of these fights is a bit difficult to depict in writing so I hope I did a good job of showcasing just how crazy the fights can get. And let's not forget how complex and developed the fights in Toaru can play out. The involvement of Magic and Science is bound to cross paths with the otherworldly magic that Sora has to deal with daily. Taking a bit of inspiration from the old Miki Kazuma quote, when magic and science come together, a story is to be told. Now add the nonsense from Kingdom Hearts and you get… something nobody quite knows lol.

*In addition, Sora also has a clue on what his next task will be incorporating as something seems amiss at a prison followed by knowing that the Daihaseisai Festival is coming up where things are definitely going to pick up on all sides of the city. Some obvious and familiar events correlating to the Toaru canon timeline followed by some new ones thanks to the Keyblade wielder's appearance in this world. I'm also thinking about developing a sort of friendly, family relationship with Sora and Yomikawa. Not in the sense that she'll be his caregiver or outright mother but… someone looking out for him in the same way that a mother would for their own child. It's a work in progress with how their relationship will continue to grow now that it's undoubtedly so that she has questions about the night's events. As does everyone else. Hence, the boy who connects hearts is going to have a lot of explaining to do. There's a bit more I'd like to explain but feel like that'll take up another 10k words lol.

*For now, I'd like to for the umpteenth time now, thank you again for checking the story out, and hope to see you again. Until next time, take care out there.