Kingdom Hearts; The Dark's Keeper

Chapter IV; Struggle

The entirety of Twilight Town seemed to have gathered in the Sandlot. The enclosed space filled with noise as everyone stood around an elevated platform that would be the place all the matches took place. Y stood among the crowd with Olette and Pence, the only two she really deemed as friends despite just being programs. When this was all over she'd have to try talking to the real versions of them.

"Who are you guys going to root for?" Pence asked looking to Olette and Y.

"Both of them silly." Olette said quickly. Y chuckled and looked back to the arena, though none of the combatants were yet visible. Y didn't know why, but she had a bad feeling about this tournament. She almost want to program in an excuse to skip it.

"No, I'm just rooting for Roxas." Y said earning a laugh from Pence and Olette.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Struggle-fiends of Twilight Town! It's time for summer's most sizzling clash!" The announcer said catching the attention of everyone in the Sandlot. His words meant it was almost time for the match to begin. "That's right! Today is the day for the Struggle and title match! Who will be the one to break through the ranks and take on our champion, Setzer!?"

"Seifer, y'know!?" Rai called from the audience to answer the rhetorical question.

"And who will leave today as our new Struggle Champion!?" The announcer asked, unfazed by the feedback.

"Hayner! Roxas!" Olette and Pence cheered.

"Setzer!" Roared the rest of the crowd. The crowd grew steadily louder, as if feeding off the energy filling the air.

"Yes, this crowd is fired up, so you know what comes next. Let's... Struggle!" The announcer yelled, the crowd bursting into cheers once again. He continued on introducing the four who had made it. Roxas, Hayner, Seifer, and, to the surprise of pretty much everyone, Vivi.

The first match was Roxas and Hayner. Roxas seemed kinda down, but Hayner quickly lifted his spirits. The struggle match went one way only. Roxas quickly got the best of Hayner, collecting all the orbs within moments. Luckily for Hayner, the match was called quickly.

"That was great Roxas!" Y said happily as Roxas and Hayner exited the arena and joined their friends.

"Thanks." Roxas said sheepishly.

"Hayner put up a great fight too." Olette said. She smiled encouragingly at Hayner who looked away in annoyance. Y smirked and put a hand on her hip.

"If you count losing badly. Roxas was the one to collect all of the orbs." Y said playfully. Hayner glared at her.

"Hey, no one asked you!" He said. Y giggled as she jumped away from a poorly aimed hit.

"Just joking." Y said quickly. They were stopped from continuing their fight by the announcement of the next fight. Seifer and Vivi.

The fight did not go at all as expected. Vivi had never really been a fighter as Y had seen. He had run away during the only fight she had witnessed him near. That was why it was so strange to see him suddenly capable of beating Seifer with absolutely no trouble. It was almost like Vivi was trying to kill Seifer rather than just win the match.

The match ended and Seifer exited the arena, Vivi going a different direction to wait.

"That's not Vivi," Seifer said as he passed by. Rai and Fuu were right behind him.

"Huh?" Roxas asked.

"Thrash 'im," Seifer said rather than explain himself any farther.

Roxas and Vivi's fight started with high tension. It was clear to Y now something was wrong. If the program noticed then something was really wrong. But she didn't know what. Vivi looked perfectly normal. He was just suddenly extremely strong. Roxas was still managing, mostly by avoiding as many of Vivi's attacks as possible. But he was managing.