A Certain Magical Keyblade Wielder

Chapter 12: Challenges That Await

*Disclaimer* - I do not own the copyright to the Kingdom Hearts or Toaru Majutsu franchises.

*Sidenote* In addition, all guest characters used are not mine and belong to their respective copyright owners.

*A/N* - Hey there hope all is going well. Last time we left off Sora was about ready to start adjusting to his new life involving school and adapting to the ordinary student life. With the addition of having to deal with monsters that go after hearts. No biggie. Moreover, Darkness is beginning to enact its plan while other forces both inside and outside of Academy City are starting to take notice of what's going on. Sora's about to be pulled into a whole new set of problems and he's sure in for a wild ride. Not to mention, Touma's story will continue alongside everything new happening in his world. Craziness meets ridiculousness. I'd also like to thank everyone for continuing to check this story out. Your reviews and feedback are truly amazing and while there is much work to be done on the story, I appreciate it all and hope you'll stick around. With that little bit of excess dialogue, I hope you enjoy it and take care.

*P.S.* The clown makeup has been taken off. No KH4 news at SGF. Was kinda hoping something would show up but nope. At least FF7 Rebirth got a trailer and release window which does give me hope that KH4 will be focused upon later in the year or next. Oh well... Maybe next time.

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Several days later

Sora was anything but an ordinary boy. That much was obvious. There were things that he had done and seen that nobody else would ever be able to comprehend or truly understand. His experiences range from traveling to different worlds and meeting all the unique and memorable people there or even transforming himself to match the structure of the world. Becoming a small lion or mermaid or even a toy that was somehow connected to a video game that had somehow become real... that bit didn't make any sense.

But what he was going through right now was certainly going to be considered one of the most difficult things he's had to ever do... and that was school.

After spending the day chatting and fighting with Mugino, he went back home to prepare for his first day of school in a long time. The whole prospect of returning to school even if it was not his school back home the idea still made his stomach churn and a sense of nervousness. And yet, there was a flicker of excitement in the idea. He had no idea what was in store for him, but he would face it head-on.

Besides, how bad could it get...?

Boy, was he in for a tough time.

His first day of school went as one would expect it to be. Many eyes were on him along with the struggle of paying attention to the lessons and finding his classes. The typical high school experience that you would usually hear about. Not to mention, so much attention was directed toward him due to his overall presence. However, this was his first real-time getting to experience that kind of lifestyle since for the last few years it was nothing but fighting against the Heartless and searching for his friends along with a whole bunch of other things to keep him preoccupied instead of attending school.

And now as he was working to get used to his new life, he couldn't help but smile a bit while finding comfort in that he had people around him he could consider to be friends. Dismissing the burden of being alone. Even if he knew that he wasn't truly alone.

Touma, Tsuchimikado, Himegami, Aogami, Fukiyose, Komoe Sensei, and Yomikawa just to name a few. They had certainly played a great part in getting him accustomed to his new school life.

Whether it was sharing notes with Fukiyose or idly chatting with Himegami who he thought was shy at first but after listening to her he got a better idea of how talkative she really was. Or even listening to Aogami talk about... things that he had no clue about especially since they revolved around aspects that he had never truly considered or at the very least confided in anyone else.

One such topic he remembered being asked about by the blue-haired teen switched from his clothing choice to...well...

"Sora, my good sir... You look like you have exquisite taste in things. Seeing that you have some stylish clothing and that necklace of yours adds a bit of character. Taking that all into account... What kind of outstanding qualities do you find in a woman?"

And before he could even muster up an answer, Aogami started ranting about other things relating to girls that he liked which... once again left the spiky-haired boy speechless.

Moreover, there was also Touma who was as friendly as ever while making sure to help him with as much as possible. The fellow spiky-haired boy also seemed to be dealing with his misfortune and showcasing it first-hand to Sora leaving him wondering if magic had a role in it, but with Touma's right hand able to cancel anything supernatural it did leave the Keyblade wielder a bit confused about what his so-called misfortune could be considered.

Alas, there was also Tsuchimikado who left him a bit defensive. It wasn't anything about who he was personally. Sora thought the blonde-haired boy was quite fun to talk to and the discussion of tips and tricks for getting around the city or various small shops that offered fun and unusual knick-knacks were located. However, there was something about him that the spiky-haired brunette couldn't wrap his head around. It almost felt like Tsuchimikado was watching his every move.

Which seemed redundant and pointless to think about since Sora knew he was affiliated with the magic side. He was probably even keeping an eye on him to see what his next move might be. A realization that felt surprisingly ... not that strange.

Maybe it was because Organization XIII always watching him from the shadows or a distance in his last two adventures?

Returning to his thoughts, Sora was also surprised by Fukiyose's change in behavior toward him since it seemed like she warmed up to him and was surprisingly friendly with him. He recalled her being somewhat taken back that he was trying his hardest to stay afloat with the class given that he could honestly consider himself slightly below average when it came to schoolwork. She proclaimed to agree with his idea and said that whenever he needed help with his studies that she would lend a helping hand.

Transitioning to the topic of exams, the mock tests presented by Komoe Sensei had painted a clear picture of his aptitude when it came to school, and while his results showed that he was a bit behind he was still somehow ahead of Touma's. However, that worked. But seeing that he was going to be in Academy City for who knows how long, he decided to work on himself and his studies. Plus, it would also allow him to start learning a bit more about his new lifestyle.

Taking all of this into account, the past few days had certainly flown by with him starting to get used to his academic life. There had also been no new sightings of the Heartless which left him a bit puzzled. It was like a double-edged sword. On one side he was sort of happy that he didn't have to stay up late and deal with the heart-stealing monsters, but that also left the other side of the whole situation. What were the Heartless up to?

Normally, when he visited another world, the dark creatures tended to cause mayhem daily, but now it was starting to leave him wondering if there was anything else going on. Something more devious and concerning that he just wasn't aware of.

*THUD*

"H-Huh?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Sora realized that Komoe Sensei had tagged something on the board for everyone to see and upon closer inspection, he noticed that it had something to do with mathematics.

The brown spiky-haired boy let out a silent sigh while glancing over at Touma and seeing the boy look like a deflated balloon based on how he was sinking into his seat. He also spotted a few other students looking desperate and glancing at the clock on the wall hoping that class was ending soon. It was not. Not even in the slightest.

Going back to the board and seeing Komoe start to write something, Sora wondered just what else was going on in the city. So much had happened in the past few days that he was starting to think that his life was beginning to relate to a roller-coaster. There were the calm moments and then the high and low parts. He figured that now was one of those calm moments leading up to an unexpected high scenario. What that was? He had no clue. But whatever it might be, he would be ready to-

"*Achooo! *"

Startled by the sudden sneeze, the boy figured it was nothing and that-

"*Achooo! *"

"*Achooo! *"

At this point, he had managed to gain the class's attention with everyone staring at him with somewhat puzzled expressions.

"Sora-chan! Are you alright?" Komoe asked, stopping her writing to check up on her student.

"Yeah... I'm alright. I don't know where that- *Achooo!*"

Many of the students let out a chuckle at seeing the boy go from talking and then sneezing. Aogami had muttered something which got a few other students to laugh which then resulted in him getting berated by Fukiyose.

"Do you have any allergies?" Touma questioned him.

"No. None that I know of."

The misfortunate boy took on a thinking pose before throwing out one idea for Sora's sudden sneezing fit.

"Hmmm. Think you got a whiff of Tsuchimikado's cologne?"

"Hey! Why are you throwing my name out there, Kami-yan? I haven't even done anything... yet" Tsuchimikado commented while supposedly glaring at the black-haired boy but... it was hard to tell due to his sunglasses.

Fukiyose on her part knew what was coming and could feel her start to ball up into a fist. The Delta Trio was about to distract the class again.

Rubbing a hand over his nose, Sora began to wonder just what was causing him to go on a sneezing rampage. He couldn't help but ponder if he was allergic to something or just picked up a smell that was irritating his nose. Therefore, he was thinking about saying something to the others when suddenly he started sneezing once more.

"*Achooo! *"

"Well, in your defense, Tsuchimikado, if Sora was allergic to your cheap cologne, then he would have started sneezing the first day of class," Aogami said while grinning.

"Oh? Sounds like you are wanting to start a little schoolyard confrontation downplaying a man's cologne" the blonde countered.

"Just stating the facts. Your bad smell is affecting our friend here."

"I'd be careful if I were you, you closeted neet. I can take any of your so-called insults head-on, but this cologne was handpicked by my dear and sweet loving sister." The glasses-wearing boy stated while cracking his knuckles. "And anyone who bad mouths my sister is going to end up on their ass!"

Eyeing the blonde teen up, Aogami let out an amused chuckle. "You're kidding? You? Ahaha."

"Alright, that's enough out of- "

Seeing the two members of the Delta Trio acting up again, Komoe was about to try and calm them down but was beaten to it by the all-time famous Iron Wall girl's hardened punch. Fukiyose was not about to let the Delta Trio cause another distraction today as they had already taken some time out of the beginning of classes.

*WHAM!*

*POW!*

Heads were slammed right into desks leaving a loud thud sound to ring out in the classroom. The rest of the students winced at the impact while Touma was silently sweating, and Sora couldn't help but feel slightly bad for them.

With those two out of the count for now, the focus went back to Sora's predicament which seemed to have no real next direction to go toward. However, a familiar girl with black hair raised her hand to gain the Keyblade wielder's attention.

"Huh. Uh, yeah, Himegami?"

"Could it be that someone is thinking about you?"

"Err..."

About to say something, Sora stopped himself as the more he thought about her idea the more it made sense. There was that old saying that whenever you sneeze it must be because someone is thinking about you. In the spiky-haired boy's case that was a bit... more believable given that he had quite a vast list of friends that were probably worrying about him. Not to mention, there were those that he got to befriend in the past few days of being in Academy City and this world in general.

It could have been anyone thinking about him really. Who knows?

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Meanwhile, in another high school in the city

Sitting at a desk and mindlessly not paying attention to the lesson being taught at the front of the class, Mugino Shizuri was currently doodling nonsense in the notebook that she had opened. Her attention had been away from the lecture for practically the whole time. Everything being taught was basic knowledge to someone of her standing which meant that she did not need to pay it any mind. Frankly, she didn't even really need to be there at all.

Not to mention the large ass elephant in the room... the upcoming Daihaseisai Festival was just around the corner meaning that she really did not want to be there.

Schools throughout Academy City were starting to prepare for the event in their own ridiculous ways. All of it was a shit show and the premise of it was so that the management committee of the city could collect data on the usage of students esper abilities. A basic free pass for old fucks to spy on students so that they can be used for scientific and monetary purposes.

Or mainly just for monetary expenditures so that they had even more reason to waste millions of Yen on equipment. She truly wasn't sure and to be honest... she didn't care.

However, due to her stance of being a Level 5, she was at the very least required to attend school for a short period. Or at the very least pop her head in once and a while. The school she was currently attending was a branch of the Kirigaoka Girl's Academy network which had connections with the dark side allowing for her plethora of absences to not affect her on that academic front as stupid as that sounded. It had something to do with the city's procedures of maintaining status on curriculum study and the involvement of its students. She truly couldn't give a fuck about any of that but in order to have access to all of the benefits of being a Level 5, she needed to at least show up every once in a while, which is why she was here. A complete contrast between her dark side appearance and the façade that she was displaying right now.

Besides, with everyone focusing on the Daihaseisai Festival it drove attention away from her which was something she relished. That way, she could just fly under the radar for however long she remained at school until she dipped out.

Speaking of contrast, her usual attire of a purple dress or stylish outfit was replaced with a plain old sailor uniform. If she had to wear this thing on a daily, lasers would be shot everywhere in fury, and truth be told somebody would probably end up dead on the spot. The school outfit did not match her style of clothing at all. Nevertheless, with her attention anywhere but the teacher who looked to be in her late 40s, the tea-color-haired girl couldn't help but scoff at her while going back to staring out the window and doodling in her notebook.

Within a few more minutes of background noise, the bell signaling that the class was over rang throughout the school indicating that she could finally move her legs around. She began to pull her phone out to see if there was any news that would pique her interest or if Kinuhata or Takitsubo had any new mission for them to take. At this point, anything was better than nothing.

Without even noticing it, several of her classmates had made their way over to her desk and politely waited until she took notice of them. Once she did, Mugino immediately switched gears and went into her fake-friendly personality.

"Hi, Mugino-san! It's good to see you again, and just in time for Daihaiseisai as well!"

One of the girls said while smiling warmly at her.

Another thing to consider about the shitty establishment that was currently hosting Meltdowner was that it was an all-girls school. Not as prim and proper as the spoiled brats over at Tokiwadai but something akin to the no male presence idea. Something that she saw as a pro and con. Not getting hit on was a definite pro but having to deal with all these damn maidens and their careless view of the world or the typical fairy tales and happy view of life was a definite con.

"Hello, it's good to see you all again" Mugino kindly responded... or at the very least tried to make it sound kind.

"We weren't sure when the next time you would show up to class. It's been a minute since you last attended" another of the girls commented.

The brunette's head was filled with numerous things that she wanted to say about the nitwits standing next to her but bit her tongue and continued to play the calm and collected persona she had in school.

"I've been busy. There are so many things that they require of Level 5's. Honestly, it's all a bit too much at times" she coolly said while thinking about lounging about at the pool or sunbathing or even relaxing in a hot tub.

The life of a Level 5 was rough... said nobody ever.

"I'll bet. But still, it's nice to see you again."

"Likewise."

It was then that one of the girls shot a glance down at her notebook and tilted her head before voicing her thoughts.

"Oh? I didn't know that you draw."

"I... don't..."

Not sure what the idiot in front of her meant, Mugino cast a glance down at her notebook and had to do a double-take at what she was seeing.

There on a clean sheet of notebook paper was a sketch of what appeared to be a crown, but not just any crown. The crown drawn very vividly matched a certain spiky-haired boy's crown necklace that she had encountered a few days ago. The details on the sketch were no museum piece but it was noticeable that some work had been put onto it.

However, the kicker was that Mugino did not do this purposely. Truth be told, she wasn't sure how the hell a drawing of that damn hero's necklace got onto her paper, but the only reasonable explanation was that during her boredom she must've unconsciously done that. Her attention had been anywhere but the classroom. Spite and frustration were starting to build up in her but seeing that she was still in her school persona, she did her best to bite her tongue and swore to herself while staying in character.

"Huh. I guess... I must've done that without really knowing."

"I'll say, it looks good for a first-time sketch" one girl commented.

"Are you interested in that boy from the news a few days ago?" another girl asked.

Seeing that these girls were not going to leave her anytime soon, she begrudgingly answered the question while giving a plain believable answer.

"To a degree. I happened to catch one of the videos online that showcased what he did."

'Tch. I did more than that,' she thought to herself while remembering her two fights with the boy.

Getting all excited, the girls looked at each other before turning their attention back to Mugino.

"So, what do you think about him, Mugino-san?"

Left on the spot, she responded with a basic answer while her tone of voice indicated that she didn't think much of him. Of course, that had been a bit of a lie.

"Not a whole lot has been presented around him. Leaving him a complete mystery."

The rest of the girls nodded their heads and began to turn the topic of the conversation toward the spiky-haired boy.

"I wonder what kind of esper ability he has."

"Do you think he's a Level 5?"

"Level 5? Don't you think a Level 4 is more believable?"

"What do you mean?"

"If he was a higher level esper, then wouldn't there be a lot of information known about him?"

Processing what was being said, one of the girls finally responded.

"That does sound a bit more plausible. I mean, if he was a Level 5, then wouldn't the higher-ups already know about his esper ability? Or at the very least information about his power would be out there now."

The students were conversing with themselves while the tea-color-haired teen girl was doing her best to hide the fact that she had a scowl on her face while her eyes seemed to display disdain and annoyance. It had been a few days since her last meeting with the boy and during that bit of time, she had come to the realization that she needed a new game plan to knock that bastard off his pedestal. Her defeat had not only left her in a foul mood whenever it was brought up, but it also painted her a broader picture of the differences between her and the mysterious boy. One of the distinct differences was something that she should have figured out at first but as the saying goes overthinking the most simplistic of things when the simple truth was the real answer.

The foundation surrounding experience was the difference between the two that she was solely focused on.

She had spent the last day coming up with new hypothetical ways of utilizing her beams of light and other new ideas she hadn't really considered before. This defeat did not sit well with the battle-fanatic girl as she had been craving a challenge as of late but this whole deal with the Heartless and Sora left her feeling... off.

A better description of what she was feeling could be explained as her knowing the battlefield and preparing to deal with many things that might come her way. However, with the monsters and spiky-haired boy appearing out of nowhere, it left her unsure of her next move. And that was a feeling that she despised most of all. Her personality of having things done her way or getting whatever she wanted to be done did not sit well with these two unknown forces just showing up. Control over everything was what she sought and when that wasn't viable, then it was a problem.

Coming back to the conversation, it looked like one of the girls was prodding Mugino by looking over at her waiting for a response.

"Huh? Sorry. I was lost in thought."

"Not a problem, Mugino-san. I was just asking what you think about that boy. Do you think he is a high-level esper?"

The tea-color-haired girl scoffed at that question and replied with a bit of snark in her voice.

"I don't give a crap about what level he is. What is more interesting is why no one knows anything about him. That's the only notable thing I have to say about him."

And with that, she ripped the page that had the drawing of the boy's crown necklace, crumping up the paper and getting ready to burn it to nothing with her ability. Unfortunately, before she could do such a thing one of the girls moved her head to look at Mugino's notebook and tilted her head while looking a bit puzzled.

"Um... Mugino-san?"

"What?" she responded with a dull tone.

The girl then pointed her finger down at the notebook leaving the brunette girl to raise her eyebrow before shifting her eyes to the desk. What she saw left her feeling undoubtedly angry with a hint of confusion. But overall, she wanted to punch a wall.

On the notebook paper was what appeared to be another drawing, only this time it was of Sora's ridiculous-looking weapon. The damn house key was sketched lightly while also including the small stupid chain. Granted, even though it was a simplistic-looking weapon there was still detail in her drawing.

It would be a minute until one of the girls decided to say anything.

"So... you're not interested in who he is?"

The Level 5's response was to stand up from her seat and grab her bag, leaving the notebook there and just walking out of the room. In any other situation, she would have left multiple bodies at the scene of the crime. Or practically nothing but burn marks would be left. However, she decided that she wouldn't waste her time dealing with those fuck tards and just leave. She had spent enough time at the school to be marked as appearing.

"Mugino-san?"

The girls said while they were stunned to see her sudden action of leaving the room and leaving the notebook. They weren't sure if it was the right thing to go after her or to leave her around, so they decided to go with the former. One of the girls also glanced down at the sketch of the boy's weapon and had to say that it was very similar to what was seen in the footage captured of him fighting the monsters. She must have been keeping a close eye on him.

_________________________________________________________

Throwing the school doors open, Mugino began walking briskly away while frowning and clenching her hand. She wasn't one to openly state her feelings or any sappy shit like that, but it was beginning to become apparent that her defeat at the hands of Sora had left her feeling many things. And one of those feelings revolved around eagerness. The spiky-haired brunette boy had managed to beat her and while most people would take that on the nose... she was not like most people. She wanted a rematch and this time she would win. Her battle prowess personality would not accept a defeat.

Alas, this desire of hers was also abruptly halted as she realized that she needed to come up with a new plan of attack. Her strategy of just barging in and blasting first wasn't going to cut it. She needed to go in with a new strategy in mind. One that would allow her to leave the shitty hero flat on his ass. But that meant that she needed time to get to work.

With that in mind, the tea-color-haired beauty set out to call up a pickup and take her back to her apartment where she suspected Takitsubo and the Kinuhata to be doing absolutely nothing. Frenda was out of the picture doing whatever the hell she does.

And yet, her mind transitioned to another subject. One that caused her to look behind her and stare at the ground. The high-positioned sun caused her shadow to become visible. It caused her to take a minute to ponder about something seeing the difference between the light and dark shadow caused by her. This moment was soon diminished as the sun now became hidden from a stray cloud and caused the rest of the area to darken. It was also at that moment that she spotted her pickup arriving in front of the school.

Wasting no time at all, Mugino stepped into the vehicle and signaled to the driver that she was good to go without even muttering a word. The subject of light and darkness weighed heavily on her mind along with the image of a certain boy. Followed by the arising desire to confront him and put him in his place. It was a nice thought... accompanied by another thought that appeared so appealing but disappeared before she could truly think about it. Such a strange thought.

_________________________________________________________

Back with Sora

Some time had passed since the small scene he caused in class with him sneezing like no other and now he was making his way back to his dorm. Everyone had gone their separate ways indicating that they had prior arrangements to get to. Everyone had their own lives of course.

To his surprise, there was a big event coming up that he had no idea about. It wasn't until it was announced in his class that he became fully aware of what was coming up.

_________________________________________________________

~Flashback to earlier~

"The Daihaiseisai Festival?"

Sora did not at all have a clue as to what Fukiyose was talking about. Komoe Sensei had stepped out for a quick second which allowed the dark-haired girl to take charge of the classroom and start discussing plans regarding this festival.

"Sora! Don't tell me that you're playing dumb with me. How could you... forget... whoops."

Fukiyose had a grimacing demeanor on her face. She realized that she had utterly messed up.

"Right, sorry. I forgot. You're not exactly used to everything going on in Academy City."

The topic of Sora's arrival to the city for the first time had been discussed during the few days that he attended class. Conversations revolving around the brown spiky-haired boy were common as he and the rest of his classmates had gotten along quite well. And without missing a beat, they were also a bit confused about the teen's entire situation of being new to the city yet having such a grasp of his esper ability. It seemed like anything relating to Sora was confuddled in confusion.

Coming back to the topic of the sports carnival, Fukiyose knew that she was starting to take on an angered approach toward the boy but remembered that he was not the one she should be angry toward. That approach was deserved by the royally known Delta Trio.

"It's all good. Besides, it now does make a bit more sense. On the way to class this morning I noticed a bunch of small little banners with the words Daihaseisai on them. I didn't have a clue then, but now I do" Sora understandingly replied.

"That's good to see that advertising is getting out. But still..." The dark-haired girl now turned her entire body to glare at a certain someone who did not look to be all there. "Kamijou!"

"Y-Yes? What is it?"

"Why didn't you tell Sora about Daihaseisai coming up right around the corner?"

The question directed to the boy left him in an awkward situation. One that only he would be able to understand even though Sora's circumstances differed greatly from his in this case.

"I... figured that you would tell him..."

A hard glare was sent Touma's way which caused him to come up with a response that didn't have much merit but still contained some truth to it.

"You know since it's you. I figured that you would want to keep him up to speed on everything. Plus, I wouldn't have done the explanation justice..." the spiky-haired boy said while silently hoping that his answer would be sufficient.

It would be a good moment that felt like an eternity until Fukiyose relented and let out a content sigh.

"*sigh* I want to ridicule you, Kamijou. But you're also right."

"Thanks... I think?"

"Either way, Sora, Daihaseisai is where students all throughout the city compete in a sports carnival where they use their powers in a plethora of events going on. It's also when Academy City opens to the public where parents visit and watch all the events happening. There are even television broadcasts of the events going on for everyone to see. A sort of eye into the city to improve its image around the world" Fukiyose explained.

Sora couldn't help but let a grin appear on his face. This was starting to sound like the games that went on back in Thebes where his friend Hercules participated along with where he fought and competed. A certain blonde spiky-haired man came to mind.

'This sounds like a whole lot of fun!'

"So, what does our school participate in?" the Keyblade wielder asked, becoming more interested in this event.

What he didn't realize was that the floodgate of answers that lay within Fukiyose's head began pouring out and he was somewhat forced to listen to everything she had to say while everyone else went back to minding their business. Aside from Touma who had gone quiet with his own thoughts revolving around Daihaseisai.

~Flashback over~

_________________________________________________________

Back to the present

Now thinking about what everyone else's plans were, it wasn't exactly discussed but with the realization that Daihaseisai coming up soon, it made sense. It sounded like something everyone had looking forward to.

Touma was the only one who specified his current situation to Sora, and it dealt with him needing to run a few errands before grabbing groceries with whatever money he had left. The Keyblade wielder could vividly remember the look of hesitation and unease on his friend's face. More in part with the returning home aspect. Seeing that Kamijou Touma was going to have it rough with his ever-hungry roommate, Sora lent him some much-needed praise for being able to take care of both him and Index... and of course, Sphynx as well.

The words of comfort managed to boost Touma's drive, and Sora could have sworn that he saw the spiky-haired boy walk with a pep in his step.

Now left alone, the teen from another world figured that it wouldn't hurt to do a bit of exploring around the city since he was still trying to get used to it all. There were so many things that he was discovering that each day left him a bit more excited than the last. He was tempted to use his Flowmotion and start running across the buildings to cover more ground but decided not to. He was still fairly popular whenever new people spotted him walking about. Everyone at his school had grown to his presence that the barrage of questions died down but there was still someone who wished to speak with him about the event. And truth be told he didn't mind speaking or meeting new people at all. It was something he enjoyed greatly.

Taking in his surroundings, he realized that he was near an open area with benches spread around and what looked to be a vending machine. The thought of having an ice-cold drink made him want it even more. Hence, he walked up to the machine and began to see what was available. Upon scanning the first few rows of drinks, he had his eyes set on what looked to be a flavored strawberry juice which sounded appetizing.

However, once his eyes shifted to the side of the drink, he had to blink several times to truly believe what he was seeing. After spending a good whole minute staring at the vending machine, he slapped his face with both his hands and shook his head. He wasn't daydreaming.

Sitting there in the vending machine was what appeared to be one of the keychains that he obtained in his most recent adventure. The keychain to Shooting Star.

Immediately reaching into his pocket to pull out his card, he was dead set on getting the charm out of there. How it even got into the vending machine in the first place was something he did not want to think about too much. His goal right now was to get-

*CLINK*

"Huh?"

Pressing his face into the screen of the vending machine, Sora saw that the charm was hooked onto the mechanism that ejected items within the thing. About a few moments away from panicking, he swiped his card again and watched the charm carefully. There was little movement seemingly moving the charm back and forth causing the boy to start sweating at how nerve-racking the scene was. What would happen if he couldn't get his keychain?

Would he break the machine? That seemed a bit excessive.

Could he open it with his Keyblade? The weapon of light could unlock the machine but that might get him in trouble.

Run around and find someone to help him? That was one sound idea but the possibility of someone seeing the charm and taking a shot at getting it was something that worried him.

Hence, he decided to stick with what he was doing and wait to see if the machine would function correctly and give him his keychain.

Unbeknownst to him, a girl with maroon hair color wearing a white and black dress with red pants and dark boots could be seen watching the boy a few feet away. She said and did nothing while watching the boy stare intently at the vending machine before finally making herself known by speaking to him.

"It'll work if you give it a little nudge."

"Aah!"

Scared at the sudden voice, Sora turned around rather quickly to see who had said that, and when he did, he was met with a friendly-looking face staring at him. A girl with dark red hair was seen looking at him while also a bit startled by his startled yell.

"Oh. Uh, sorry about that. I didn't see you standing behind me."

Shaking her head, the girl kindly responded.

"Don't worry about it. It's my fault for not saying anything and just watching you deal with the machine."

Ruffling the back of his head, Sora let a chuckle escape his lips.

"Haha, yeah. I don't think I've had this much trouble with a vending machine before. What was that you said about giving it a little nudge?" he asked the girl.

Making her way over to him, the red-haired girl looked to see what he was trying to get and could see the strange-looking blue charm hanging on the machine. She knew exactly what to do.

"Here, watch this." Going to the side of the machine, she started leaning into the machine and making it slightly rock back and forth. "This thing has given me and so many others a lot of trouble before. I even heard of a girl who kicks the machine to get her drink."

"Wow. Harsh much?"

"At this point, I think it's well deserved, haha."

Observing how the girl continued to sway the machine and cause everything inside to move more and more, Sora saw that his charm was just about to fall and be accessible when the girl gave it a hard push. The action resulted in him grinning widely while reaching down and picking up the Shooting Star keychain. One down more to go.

Examining the charm in his hands, he turned to look at the girl and offered her a bright smile.

"Thanks! I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't shown up. I might have still been feeding it my money."

"It's not a problem at all. I couldn't just watch the machine take away another person's money. This thing is truly something else" the girl stated while pointing over at the vending machine.

Realizing that he hadn't introduced himself, the Keyblade wielder set forth to change that.

"Mm. My name is Sora. It's nice to meet you, and again, thanks."

"You're welcome, Sora. And my name is Popola. It's nice to finally meet you" the girl now known as Popola said.

Surprised by what she said there at the end, the spiky-haired boy tilted his head in confusion.

"Nice to finally meet me? What do you mean by that?"

"It's nothing that deep. I had just noticed that you were the boy that was featured on the news a few days ago. Word about you is still spreading around even if the news has stopped covering what happened" Popola clarified.

"I see..."

Sora had a few thoughts on the matter.

'I'm kind of glad that attention on the Heartless attack has stopped. But... is there a reason for that? Is whoever is in charge of the city making sure to not let the people worry about it for too long? Am I overthinking this?'

These thoughts would have to remain in his head as there was no one who could really answer them. At least... for now that is.

"Is something the matter? You have a strained look on your face" Popola commented while observing the boy.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry. I was just thinking about what you said. I've also noticed that people aren't rushing at me for questions regarding the incident" Sora replied.

"I bet that has been quite stressful to deal with?"

"Not as much as you would think." Bringing both of his hands to rest behind his head, the brunette boy continued speaking. "At first it was a bit startling and worrisome but after some time I got used to it. Besides, the people who used to barrage me with questions stopped because I see them on a daily now. I've even become friends with them, so it works out."

Nodding her head at his answer, Popola decided to glance over at the vending machine once more before saying what was on her mind.

"Have a lot of people asked you about the... you know, monsters?"

Letting a moment of silence pass through the two, Sora voiced how he felt about the situation.

"Some have. Some not so much. The questions I've received mainly just gloss over what happened and how I was able to do all the things that were recorded."

"And yet, it sounds like nobody has truly asked you where those monsters came from," Popola said, clutching her arm gently.

Allowing a sigh to escape from his mouth, he answered her question sincerely.

"No. Nobody has asked that question. And to be honest, I don't even know where they came from. I've dealt with them before many times but to see them here and now... I don't know how that happened."

It was at this moment that Popola let out an audible sigh while bringing a hand through her hair. She knew was going to be in some trouble for what she was about to say, but she didn't care. It seemed like Sora needed a little push in the right direction.

"...Darkness."

Puzzled by what he just heard, the Keyblade wielder had to let a moment pass before saying anything.

"Err... I'm sorry did you just say- "

"Darkness."

"..."

"You're not the only one that knows of it here, Sora."

As if by routine, the boy's instincts told him to be wary of Popola but he still wanted to hear what she said. Hence, he did not react and merely kept listening to her.

"Right... uhm, Popola, who are you?"

Chuckling a little, the maroon-haired girl offered him a warm smile. One that conveyed that he needn't be worried.

"I'm nobody really just someone passing by who knows a thing or two more than the average person. And that includes seeing that what you are dealing with is something much more sinister."

Sora felt like his breathing had stopped so that he could truly hear what she was saying. A thumping in his chest could also be heard.

"Do you know what they are? The monsters that I fought" he asked Popola, getting an idea of just how much she might know.

The answer he got was a resounding no from her shaking her head.

"Not quite. But they... those monsters are different based on what I've seen of them" she replied.

However, there was something more she wanted to say but stopped herself from saying. That would be for another time... if time would permit her to elaborate.

Feeling like there was more to her answer, Sora simply let it slide.

"I see, that's good to hear that there are those who are somewhat aware of how dangerous those monsters can truly be."

"Mmm. And while I might not be of much help to you, Sora. I do hope that you will do your best to take care of yourself. Don't lose hope no matter what might trouble you" Popola sincerely said, showing that she was speaking the truth by her eyes never faulting away from his.

Processing her words, the boy couldn't help but offer her a reassuring smile along with a thumbs up.

"Thanks, Popola. I'll take your words to heart." Bringing his right hand over his heart, Sora felt happy. "It's nice to hear friends giving you, their support."

"I'm glad to hear that you consider me a friend."

"Of course! You managed to help me get back my charm. That's one definite way to start a friendship don't you think? Haha," Sora cheerfully responded.

"True enough. Don't think I've ever made a friend that way before. That's one for the books" Popola happily commented.

"Haha. Glad to hear." Pulling out his phone to check the time, he realized that he should be making his way. There were a few more things he wanted to get done before the day was over. "Well, I'm glad I could meet you, Popola. I hope we can catch up again and chat. It was really nice meeting you."

"Likewise, Sora. I enjoyed our chat. Do take care."

"Yep! See ya!"

And with that, the Guardian of Light began to casually make his way away from the area with a smile on his face realizing that he had the luck of not only finding one of his lost keychains but also that he had made a new friend. One that also lent him a bit of support in his endeavor to stop the Heartless from taking this city... this world.

_________________________________________________________

Watching the spiky-haired boy get further and further away from her, Popola simply let out a comfortable sigh while also taking a seat on the nearest bench. There was a great deal more that she wanted to discuss with the boy but decided that she had said enough. He had his own goals to worry about and she was merely an observer from afar. There was-

*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*

Her thoughts suddenly stopped when she heard someone coming up to her. Without even needing to look who was coming, the maroon-haired girl indeed knew who it was.

Coming up into view was another maroon-haired girl with similar clothing to her own. The only difference one could tell at first glance was the way her hair was styled. Other than that, the style and colors of her clothing matched Popola's. A strange situation one would think.

The new girl didn't say anything for a moment until she did.

"...He's a lot nicer than I expected."

"What did you expect? That it was all an act."

An outward sigh could be heard coming from the girl.

"You know that's not what I meant. Granted, we only caught a short glimpse into who he really is. And... this is the only chance we would have to talk with him."

A moment of silence passed until Popola decided to say something.

"I would have thought that you'd like to talk with him even if it was for a small amount of time," she asked the other girl.

"I figured not to. Plus, it looked like you two were having a good chat. Even if it'll be the only time."

Hearing the other maroon-haired girl say this, Popola let a sad sigh escape her lips. As clouded as that statement was... it was the truth. They had no real part in that boy's... in that hero's story. They were merely observers of it all.

"...Devola. Do you think I said enough? Or that I said too much?"

The other girl now known as Devola shook her head while staring up at the city's buildings. Thoughts were floundering around her head, and she wasn't sure what the correct answer should be.

"I believe that you said what needed to be said. Nothing good, nothing detrimental, and nothing to cause trouble."

Gathering her thoughts to find a sound response, Popola found her answer.

"I think that Sora is smarter than he gives himself credit. Although it was only for a brief moment that we talked, I could tell that he has a lot going on. However, he does not look to be giving up anytime soon" Popola stated clearly.

"Then there is no need to worry. We can leave knowing that hope is still in this world" Devola said while pulling out a small device and glancing at it before putting it away.

Looking down at the ground, Popola nodded but also realized that what Devola said wasn't the full truth.

"I think you might be wrong on that idea, sis."

"How so?"

"Sora's not the only one to fight back against the darkness."

Clicking her tongue, Devola hadn't really considered that realization.

"Are there others?"

"Why wouldn't there be? Just because Sora is the one that's actively taking a stand against the darkness doesn't mean that there aren't others doing the same thing. Be it in a different manner or different way others are fighting for this world" Popola explained, having hope gush throughout her voice.

It would be a good minute before either of the sisters said anything but when they did, they couldn't help but happily let out a relaxed sigh.

"Then we have nothing to worry about."

"Yeah." It was then that Popola took another look in the direction that Sora went and let a bright smile appear on her lips. She would do her best to send all the goodwill and fortune she could muster to her new friend. "Take care, Sora. And good luck."

With nothing else to say or do, the two maroon-haired sisters began walking away from the area while having their train of thought be on the spiky-haired boy who they had heard so much about in a short period of time. They couldn't wait to hear about the tribulations and challenges that he and the others of this world faced. It would be a story to tell... or rather a story to sing.

_________________________________________________________

Later...

After arriving back at his dorm, Sora let himself plop onto his bed while letting this moment of relaxation wash over him. It felt nice to be able to make a new friend and not to mention Popola helping him get his missing keychain back.

Speaking of, he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the Shooting Star charm, and gave it a look overtaking in its blue color and details all around. He then summoned his Keyblade and set to think about which blades he would have at a moment's notice. Since he was able to switch between the three different blades, he would have more versatility in his fighting with different moves and whatnot, but that did leave him with a heavy decision.

He wouldn't be able to grab a keychain from his pocket in the middle of a battle and would only be able to use the ones he had ready to go. Hence, he went with a more defensive and ranged plan.

Raising his weapon with the newly attuned keychain, Sora summoned the Kingdom Key and then Hero's Origin, followed by Shooting Star. The perfect setup for a balanced combat strategy of guns, shield, and blade.

Next, he moved on to what other things he needed to get done before the day was over and that meant homework. Luckily, Komoe Sensei hadn't given him that much to do. The same could not be said about Touma. Poor guy.

Sora's attention then moved to his regular clothing and how he figured that it wouldn't hurt to switch out of his school outfit. Taking a second to change, the Keyblade wielder checked himself out in the bathroom mirror and saw that everything looked to be in good order. He then began to reach into his pocket to check on his charms for Oblivion and Oathkeeper still curious about how they looked the other day. However, his attention was shifted as his Gummiphone started rigging out of nowhere.

Startled and excited by the action, he quickly grabbed the device and checked to see who was calling him. Upon seeing the screen, he was a bit surprised by what he was seeing.

There on the screen read the name- Moogla.

"Hello?"

"Sora! I'm glad you answered, kupo."

"Hey, Moogla, what's up? Is something wrong?"

"It's terrible, kupo!"

"Huh? What's wrong!?"

The tone of voice that could be heard from Moogla started worrying him.

"Something is going on in one of the districts where I have one of my cleaner bots located, kupo."

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Sora questioned, trying to understand what was going on.

"Everything was going fine until I noticed that the cleaner bot in District 17 was acting strange, kupo. Come to find out there was interference that was causing it to act strange and what do you think was causing that, kupo?" Moogla explained, leaving enough of an idea for Sora to realize what it might be.

"The Heartless."

"Yep, they were spotted around a railway cargo area, kupo."

It was at that moment that the spiky-haired boy jumped to his feet and scrambled to check himself with everything that he needed. There was no telling what might happen.

"Got it! Thanks for the heads up, Moogla. I'll be there shortly."

"Understood! Thank you and good luck, kupo!"

And with that, the phone call ended with Sora knowing what he needed to do next. Since there hadn't been that much chaos caused by the Heartless in the past few days, it led the boy to have a bad feeling gnawing in his chest. Things could get ugly if his past experiences were of any indication. He would stop them no matter what.

Now good to go, he ran right out the door and leaped into the air to come barreling across the ground without even breaking a sweat. He had to make sure that he got to District 17 in time even if that meant not being able to alert Touma about what was going on.

Time was of the essence.

Running up to a light post, the Keyblade wielder activated his Flowmotion and threw himself forward while imbued with blue light around his body while actively swinging around the pole at an incredible speed. Once enough momentum was attained, Sora flew forward at another post and continued to do so covering a lot of ground moving at a fast rate.

Such action was noticed by a few bystanders who were surprised by what happened but a few students who immediately recognized Sora tried to pull their phones out and film the boy moving but were too slow to catch anything. The boy was just moving too fast.

_________________________________________________________

Once he had reached another part of the district, Sora started slowing down to a jog and then to a total stop as he was looking for the best route to take to get over to District 17. That had been an area that he hadn't explored yet, so he was walking into unknown territory.

"Taking the train might take too long..."

Sora muttered this while bringing a hand to his chin to think about what his next move should be. He didn't want to let the Heartless get away with whatever they were doing and that meant the situation could change at a moment's notice. He needed to act fast.

Snapping his fingers, the spiky-haired teen had an idea.

Moving to get a better view of the city from his perspective, he spotted the railway that was used for the trains that went around the different districts. That would be his ticket to get around faster.

Rushing up to the train station in this area, Sora got onto the main platform and checked to see if there was a train arriving or departing any time soon. Upon glancing at the system screens stationed around detailing what times were available for a train ride, he was able to see that a ride was arriving within a few minutes but frankly, he didn't have time to spare. Hence, why he suddenly jumped onto the train rails causing many of the people waiting for the train to freak out at his action. One guy even yelled out to him about getting off the rail and was about to jump down and pull him out.

Not wasting any more time, he activated his Flowmotion and sped away on the train rail leaving everyone who was watching him become bewildered by the sudden action.

Flying along the train rail, Sora kept his eyes open in case something was coming his way. He also became worried about if he was heading in the right direction which is why he pulled out his Gummiphone to help navigate him to District 17. Glancing between his phone and the path ahead of him, the teen now had a better idea of where he needed to head next once the railway continued through another two districts.

However, his attention would soon be interrupted as he heard what sounded like a loud horn beginning to erupt a good distance in front of him. Shifting his head up, Sora spotted the train that was supposed to be arriving at the station.

Seeing that he was out in the open while riding on the train rail, the Guardian of Light couldn't help but let a smirk appear on his face. He was about to try something that should definitely not be done at home or even attempted.

With the train blaring its horn and the window for him getting out of the way becoming smaller, Sora threw himself up and with the Flowmotion energy swirling around him managed to leap over the front of the train. While in the air, he balanced himself so that once his feet touched the top of the train he was running along the top. An acrobatic yet show-off action that caused many on the train to try and poke their heads out to see the boy on top.

Still running along the top, he spotted a large pole that would be just what he needed to get a burst of speed to go flying in the direction of District 17.

"Here we... go!"

Soaring through the air, the Keyblade wielder positioned himself to come into direct contact with the pole and immediately started spinning until he let go and went flying through the air.

Everyone on the train was amazed at his acrobatics and some people had even managed to get a brief recording of the event.

Losing his momentum, Sora quickly scanned the ground below him and saw that it was devoid of any people. Positioning his body so that he was in free fall, the brunette came falling but instead of landing face-first, he landed with a simple roll on the ground.

'Piece of cake.'

Not wasting another minute, the boy continued to trek through the city while silently hoping that he would make it in time before the Heartless could cause any more trouble. Even if that was a hopeless idea since the Heartless were always known for causing problems.

_________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, with a certain black spiky-haired misfortunate boy

After walking around the city for some time now, Touma was tired beyond belief. The entirety of today had left him quite exhausted with what was coming up soon. The Daihaseisai Festival would soon be upon the city. A time for celebration... at least to everyone but him.

While everyone seemed to be eager and excited about the upcoming week, he was indifferent to it all. His thoughts were drifting toward the uncertain aspect of it all due to the loss of his memories. That was a topic he already pondered about but with Sora's appearance and involvement, it was a bit different compared to normal. Still though, if he was going to survive the upcoming week, then he would have quite the hill to climb. His train of thought then shifted over to his fellow spiky-haired friend.

'I doubt Sora will have to worry about anything. Though... outright wielding magic publicly in place of an esper ability... how long will that remain tight-lipped? I'm sure sooner or later somebody is going to become curious. Whether they are from the magic side or science side... Sora's bound to deal with some trouble even with all his power. Heh, I know how that feels...'

Putting aside his concern for his friend, Touma lifted his right hand in plain view for him to examine and couldn't help but be curious about his own power. The ability to cancel any magical or psychic powers with only a single touch.

Imagine Breaker.

Just what was this power of his?

Another question followed by an answer that he did not have insight into at the moment.

Letting out an audible sigh, Touma changed his focus to recall what had gone on today and remembered getting yelled at for setting up the tent that was both needed and not needed. Along with all the other bits of misfortune he ended up somehow getting involved in. Like every day in his life, it all was not enough to be described with a single "Such misfortune" at all.

In times of hardship, one could turn to the glory and appreciation that food could accomplish managing to take away the pain and tiredness one was feeling. However, with that in mind, Touma recalled that there most likely wasn't anything left in the fridge due to a certain roommate of his.

The desire to stop by the market was dear to him but for the benefit of his life, he did not have the required funds to stop there yet and would need to stop by his dorm to pick up more money. This left him with a bitter feeling of annoyance.

Alas, moving his head upward at the dorm, Touma spotted a familiar girl sticking her head out and trying to look for something. Her eyes seemed to dart around the place until she spotted him and started repeatedly waving her arm from one of the higher floors.

The girl he recognized happened to be Tsuchimikado's younger sister, Maika.

'Wonder what she wants?'

Touma thought while continuing to walk closer to his dorm not aware that his day was about to become a lot more complicated.

_________________________________________________________

Within the confines of District 17

Being on the Western side of Academy City there weren't that many spots one could conduct albeit suspicious activity in the day. At nighttime that was a completely different ball game. However, with current activity being anything but ordinary, then it was safe to say that people wouldn't have paid much attention to what was transpiring in that district.

Within this district, several different dark side teams were continuing their operation of capturing a monster and extracting it for a handsome amount of money. Suffice it to say, the stakes regarding this job had been increased twofold due to how difficult it was proving for teams to complete the task of capturing a single creature. Not to mention, there had been word spreading around that the monsters were extremely dangerous. Hence why the job hadn't been completed yet.

However, there were several teams currently within the railway cargo storage bay who had come to the consensus that a mutual beneficiary output might just be the best way to complete a task as difficult as this one was shaping up to be. A bit ironic that teams who affiliate themselves with doing a degree of bad things could opt to work together and evenly split the costs of a job in order to stay alive. Survival of the fittest as some would say.

Alas, what this team had also managed to involve themselves in was the disruption of a few of the maintenance robots around the area. One of those was a certain someone's who had managed to help a spiky-haired boy get used to being in the city.

Moogla's cleaner bot was one of the few who had been apparently acting up because as soon as the dark side teams arrived at the Switchyard, they spotted the machine being damaged by the monsters.

Gunfire erupted as the job highlighted that only one creature needed to be captured. Meaning that all the other monsters could be wiped out. Which left the sound of gunfire flooding the cargo yard.

And once the area had been cleared out save for a couple of monsters, the maintenance robots were tossed into a corner. Moogla's bot being within that pile-up.

Now all that was left was the process of capturing one of the few remaining monsters wandering around the area. Something that wouldn't be that much of a problem. Nothing would stand in the dark side team's way now.

_________________________________________________________

Back with Sora

Having just run across the side of a building and thrusting himself through the air before Air stepping into what appeared to be an antenna, the Keyblade wielder came to a stop and balanced himself out while taking in the new view before him.

What he was seeing could be described as a storage area with large metal-looking crates. Not sure if this was where he needed to be, he pulled out his Gummiphone and quickly dialed back Moogla.

*Ring* *Ring* *Click*

"Sora! Are you there, kupo?"

"Yeah. I at least think I'm at the right spot."

"What do you see, kupo?"

"Large metal-looking crates. Almost reminds me of a storage area."

"Yep! That's right where you need to be, kupo!"

"Good to hear." Taking a quick look at the area, Sora's attention was suddenly startled as he heard what sounded like gunfire taking place nearby. "Hey, Moogla, can your cleaner bot see what's going on at all?"

It would be a second before the moogle would respond.

"No, there's nothing on the screen, kupo. It almost looks like something is blocking its camera, kupo."

"Got it. I'll check and see what's going on. I'll fill you in later."

"Understood. Be careful, kupo."

And with that, the call stopped allowing Sora to put away his Gummiphone and check his gear one last time. His keychains were ready to go. Perhaps it was just his gut feeling this way, but he knew there would be a fight coming up.

'Best get to it then.'

Wasting no more time, he started running toward the direction of the continued gunfire and managed to leap over a tall fence rolling on the ground and picking himself back up. It was then that he summoned his Keyblade and turned the corner now entering deeper into the storage-filled area. As soon as he passed by a row of metal containers lined up like a wall, Sora could hear what sounded like chatter going on between multiple people.

Without realizing it, he turned the corner around one of the metal boxes and stumbled upon an interesting sight. One that made him realize that the city was still focused on capturing the Heartless as he recalled the night of his first encounter with the dark side operative and Item as well.

Several people were wearing what looked to be heavy dark clothing with firearms in their hands while a few others were holding nets of some kind that looked to be shocking the Heartless they had in their grasp. Their attention had been directed right at the spiky-haired boy as he looked like a deer in headlights staring at the group wide-eyed.

Nobody seemed to move a muscle for a split second before one of the armored people who had a large upper body build and gruff-looking face shouted out to the group.

"What the- Who the hell is he!?"

This resulted in various operators speaking out.

"I don't know."

"Don't think he's with us."

"Nobody said there were civilians in the area."

"Is he with you guys?"

"Nope."

Seeing that he was causing quite the commotion, Sora was about to try and talk his way out but spotted the Heartless thrashing around in the nets getting electrocuted and getting everyone's attention back at hand.

"Doesn't matter who he is. Get him out of here!" the gruff-looking operator shouted.

Not about to let that happen, the Keyblade wielder lifted his weapon into a defensive stance while glaring at the head honcho.

"Like that's going to happen." Sora retorted while glaring at the dark side members. "Do you know just how dangerous those monsters are?"

The strange question got a few of the agents to look at each other and shake their heads in confusion.

"What are you mumbling about? And why is he still standing there?!"

It was at this point that one of the dark side operators narrowed her glace at Sora and began to realize just who he was.

"Oh shit... Boss! Change of plans. We take him out now!"

As she yelled this out, the female operator loaded her assault rifle while aiming it right at the boy.

"Whoa! What are you doing!?" Sora yelled out.

The situation had gone from uneasy to outright dangerous in a matter of seconds. This girl looked like she would shoot at him and not hesitate at all.

"What the hell are you doing!?" the rough-looking man questioned the girl while glancing over at Sora to try and see what caused the sudden reaction.

"Look a bit closer boss. He's the kid from the new coverage a few days ago. He knows about these monsters."

Doing as the girl said, the other dark side members eyed the boy closely until another operator let out a small gasp as they also recognized the boy. This prompted another weapon to be aimed at the spiky-haired boy. Something that turned the entire mood sour leaving the brunette boy to be prepared.

"Well, I'll be. Didn't think we'd get a guest audience here."

Realizing that things were not looking good, Sora decided to play it cool and try to talk this situation down.

"There's no need to go all out on the decorations. All I want is to destroy that monster before- "

"Oh. Is that all? Well, sorry but to be frank that's not going to happen" the guy referenced as the boss stated.

The atmosphere surrounding the area was turning even more tense.

"By the way, no hard feelings. It's just... as they say... business."

And with that final statement, the gruff-looking guy gave a nod of his head which signaled to the others to take action.

Immediately once the signal was received multiple guns were firing at Sora which resulted in him quickly blocking the incoming bullets while also deflecting as many as he could. With his Keyblade's influence, most of the gunfire was blocked from hitting him. This left the dark side operators growing frustrated while the ones with the net around the Shadow Heartless were thrashing the monster around and trying to put it into a cage. Said action caused one of the members to lean forward too much and go tumbling on the ground resulting in the Shadow leaping at him and start slashing at his body with its claws.

The operator let out a pained yell followed by another operator coming to grab the monster off him. This sequence of actions would cause frustration and anger to arise in many of the dark side members. Something that... would benefit the Heartless appetite.

Still, on the defensive, Sora took a few steps back while deflecting as many bullets as possible that were sent his way. Due to his reflexes being attuned and used to rapid projectiles coming his way, the spiky-haired boy was doing his best to stay calm all while planning on what he should do next. From the looks of things, the dark-side operators were not going to stop their assault.

Which meant... he would need to stop them.

In quick succession of blocking the gunfire, he dashed to the side causing the operators to adjust their aim to track the boy but were finding it a bit difficult to do so as the teen was very nimble and had to focus on. Sora constantly moved side-to-side and even slid on the ground. It almost seemed like he was just toying with them.

"How the- How is he moving that fast!?"

Loading another magazine into her weapon, the female operator was starting to grow pissed at what was transpiring.

"How hard is it to hit him!?"

The answer to her question resulted in a swift kick to the face as Sora appeared in a flash of light managing to send her flying followed by a slash of his Keyblade at another operator managing to cut their weapon right down the middle. He then rammed the end of his Keyblade at the operator's chest and instantly twirled the weapon around to cast a Fire spell from the tip of the blade. The fireball hit the operator and caused them to go flying back.

This sudden action caused the other operators to continue firing upon him which resulted in Sora pulling out another one of his tricks to deal with the incoming attacks.

Raising his Keyblade up, he cast a Thunder spell to spread throughout the area causing a few of the enemies to become shocked while others were backing up and still shooting at him.

Rolling to the side, the brunette teen lifted his hand and let the Kingdom Key disappear but soon after another blade appeared in his hand only this time it started making a mechanical sound and the appearance shifted at an astounding speed. Once the sounds stopped the weapon in the boy's hand was now that of a shield along with his clothes having taken a yellow color all around.

Several of the operators were confused but kept their guard up. However, that was soon thwarted as the boy hurled the shield at them causing the wind to be knocked out of them followed by the mass of metal to disappear and then reappear in his hands. Many of the grunts were hit with heavy attacks and sent crashing to the ground. Moreover, sparks of light from the shield began to consume the area shocking anyone in the way followed by most of the operators getting taken out and thrown back either into metal containers or toward the ground quite forcefully. Either way, everyone was getting taken down.

The gruff-looking operator was sporting a concerned look on his face as he wasn't sure just what the boy had up his sleeve in terms of attacks. He had only gotten a glance at the boy from the news coverage but other than that he did not have a clue as to who he was. Just that he fought back against the monsters and was now causing a problem.

Speaking of the monsters...

Emptying his last magazine at the boy who continued to block the gunfire this time with his strange-looking shield, the suspected boss of the operation glanced over at the members who were supposed to hold back the monster and couldn't help but let out a curse.

"What the hell..."

The last time he checked on the capture team was when the boy arrived and caused one of the net carriers to collapse and be attacked by the creature. Now, however, there appeared to be three more monsters standing in place.

Where had the other capture team members gone?

In a split second, one of the other operators called out to him but it was too late.

"Boss!"

*WHACK*

A metal blade had come striking him right in the chest followed by getting hit again and again. The spiky-haired boy was right in front of him with what appeared to be blue energy surrounding him. He didn't get a good look as he was suddenly upside down now.

"Aaaahhh!"

Sora had unapologetically Airstepped to the boss and landed a few blows to his chest before maneuvering himself to side-sweep the gruff-looking man and sending him flying in the air with a clean vertical slash which caused him to flip around in the air. To finish off his attack, Sora leaped up at the man and grabbed part of his dark armored chest, and threw him at the ground making sure that he would land on his back.

Coming to a hard landing, the beaten man was knocked down and out for the count.

Turning his attention to several other dark agents who were reloading their weapons, Sora threw his Keyblade right at the agents before quickly resummoning it and calling out a Thunder spell to shock them. Allowing him to quickly run up to the weakened agents strike a them until they lost consciousness.

The rest of the operators were continuing their assault against the boy, but a few members noticed that there were more monsters than before. A startling number of monsters were now present.

"Hey, hey, hey! We're surrounded!"

The gunfire against Sora had come to a stop as the Keyblade wielder still had his shield form out while scanning the area and watching the operators closely.

"What's the plan now? Keep lighting him up?" another grunt asked while gesturing over at Sora.

"And what? Keep wasting your ammo. No, let's get the hell out of here."

Hearing the dark side operator casually announce that they were going to leave their allies and get out of there. It left him feeling upset and bewildered by how he could easily say all that.

"What's the matter with you!? You're just going to leave them!?"

Turning to the boy and aiming his rifle, the operator who suggested leaving simply scoffed at the boy while whistling at the others which seemed to signal something nonverbal.

"Tch. What does it matter to you hero? We're done here. Let's go!"

And with that, the remaining dark side operators simply gave the boy one last look before scrambling out of formation and retreating from the area while all the others that Sora had beaten were still lying around.

What a way to show comradeship.

_________________________________________________________

Seeing that many Shadow Heartless were starting to show up, the spiky-haired hero knew that he needed to act, and it had to be fast.

'I can't protect everyone that's left knocked out. Unless...'

Realizing that he now had the ability to deal with multiple enemies now, Sora stylishly twirled his Keyblade around but in a quick flash of blue light there appeared to be something different in his hands. With both of his hands extended out, two strange-looking weapons were now being held onto.

Two guns to be specific.

Not to mention, his clothes had taken a blue color with star insignias all around his jacket and pants adding a bit of flair to his appearance.

Shooting Star form.

"Taaaakee Thissss!"

Taking one step forward followed by allowing his other foot to be in mid-air, Sora began firing away at all the Heartless in the area while twirling around and managing to send light projectiles at the foes. The projectiles had also taken the form of blue glowing arrows which managed to lock onto the Shadows surrounding him. Gunfire rained all around the area with blue lights striking everywhere the monsters were located. Making it almost look like a light show of some sort.

Deciding to cover more ground, Sora began sprinting at one of the metal containers where Heartless were beginning to take the high ground. He would not let that happen.

Once he was close enough to the container, he felt energy course through him which allowed his Flowmotion to activate and let him wall run across the large box while still firing his blasters nonstop. The box he was still running along was connected to a long line of containers which gave him enough time to come up with his next move. Improvisation to be exact.

Continuing to run and shoot at the Heartless, he spotted what appeared to be a crane of some kind which could allow him to get a better view of the area around him. Hence, what he did next was a bit of a show-off move.

Aiming his guns right at his feet, he cast a Wind spell that caused a green glow to appear at the end of his weapons creating a small vortex which managed to throw him forward into the air followed by him using his Airstep ability to zoom up to the crane. The sequence of events happened all in one go.

As Sora landed on top of the crane and his guns disappeared from his hands, he spotted just how many Heartless had spawned all around the cargo area. There were too many for him to deal with while also watching over the defeated dark-side operators.

"Come on. Give me a break."

Worry was arising in his chest as he wasn't sure what he should do next. His next plan would need to get a lot done. However, in a stroke of luck, the spiky-haired teen spotted what looked to be an open metal container which gave him an idea. If he couldn't watch over everyone, then he could at the very least protect them all at once.

Clutching one of his hands, he summoned one of his guns and gripped the handle tightly. This would not be an easy plan, but it was still something he had to do. He would not let the Heartless win.

Summoning his other gun, Sora quickly transformed the two weapons into a larger one in a blast of light creating what looked to be a rocket launcher of some sort. Heaving the weapon over his shoulder, the boy aimed it down at the ground and started firing round after round of a large sphere hitting the Heartless and causing lights akin to fireworks to light up the area. He then started using elemental spells to clear out the area where the downed operators were located. Raining fire down upon the ground.

Once he figured that enough of the Shadows had been cleared out of the area, Sora heaved the large weapon in his hands and jumped off the crane and aimed the launcher at the ground causing one last shot to rock the ground and clear out any remaining Heartless.

Falling through the air and back to his regular clothing, he landed on the ground by rolling until he came to a stop and quickly got back up to carry the downed dark side agents to the open container he spotted. Using his agile speed, he made short work of picking everyone up and reaching the metal box. Due to having cleared the area, it was super easy to get the job done.

In a matter of a few minutes, every single fallen operator was packed into the metal container with Sora having picked up the gruff-looking boss last. He gently dropped him in there while also realizing that he didn't want them to suffocate in the box. Hence, he closed the metal door until there was a gap of space still available for air to reach them, and then he shot an ice spell at the door freezing it shut. That way the dark side members couldn't escape. He would deal with them later.

Now having that concern dealt with, the spiky-haired boy turned his attention over to the area where the Heartless was first spotted. There seemed to be nothing there now as he had probably killed the monster during his onslaught. This raised many red flags in his head about what was going on.

"Are there any more dark side agents around here?" He said to himself while twisting his head to the other side and saw a few more metal containers open.

It soon dawned on him that Moogla's cleaner robot was somewhere within this cargo yard.

"Now then, where are you at little bot?"

Breaking out into a jog, he started running past as many cargo containers as he could while checking to see if there was any evidence of the robot being there. But luck was not on his side as he passed so many metal boxes but was ending up with nothing. He was starting to think that he got himself into an even more tough situation.

Perhaps he would be left running around for quite some time. That is until he remembered the obvious answer to his problem. He could have just called Moogla for help.

Bringing out his Gummiphone, he quickly called her number and waited for her to pick up. To his surprise, he did not have to wait long at all.

"Hello? Sora? Are you there, kupo?"

"Yep! I'm here."

"That's good to hear, kupo! What's the situation over there right now, kupo?" Moogla asked, sounding a bit concerned over the phone.

"Well, once I arrived in the area, I came across a group of people trying to capture a Heartless again."

"Again, kupo?"

"Ah. Right, I didn't tell you about that. Sorry but to make a long story short, I ended up running into this guy who was affiliated with the dark side of Academy City as he described it. He also told me that there was a job posted to capture a Heartless alive" Sora explained what had happened to him a few days ago.

"The dark side of Academy City... that doesn't sound good at all, kupo."

"Did you know about the dark side?"

"Yes, but not that much about it, kupo. I had only heard small talk captured from my robots while they were wandering around the city at night, kupo."

Sora couldn't help but let out a sigh. The more he learned about this dark side of the city, the more he started to wonder just what kinds of things were being done. Plus, now with the Heartless wandering around the city, it made him frown knowing that somebody put a hit out on capturing a Shadow. His mood slightly dropped. However, he snapped back to normal when he heard Moogla speaking again.

"But if they are looking to capture a Heartless, then we will need to stop that from happening, kupo."

"Huh? Moogla, you'll help me stop the Heartless?" Sora asked into the phone.

"Of course! I won't just stand by and let you deal with this all alone, kupo. Besides, I also know firsthand how dangerous the Heartless can be and the idea that someone wants them captured is bad news, kupo. I might not be able to fight but I'll do everything I can to make sure you're safe while out there fighting, kupo" Moogla affirmed to the boy.

Smiling ear-to-ear, Sora nodded his head in pure happiness.

"Thanks, Moogla! Hey, switching topics but can you currently see where your cleaner robot is now?"

"Hmm. Let me see... Oh! Yes! I can, kupo."

"Great. Can you tell me where it is or anything that stands out which can help me find it?"

Taking a second to check and see where the cleaner bot was currently, Moogla tried moving it around but could tell from the small video feed being sent to her that it looked to be trapped. Not sure what she could do to help Sora, she started controlling the machine via manual mode and kept trying to wiggle the robot back and forth. The result she got was the sound of metal crunching into the metal which made her wince slightly in guilt.

But that was exactly what Sora needed.

"Hey! I hear something."

"Oh! Then that's the machine, kupo. I'm trying to move it around, but it looks to be stuck under something, but I can keep trying to move it around to create some noise, kupo."

"Yeah, keep doing that. I'm heading over to the noise."

Keeping one hand on his Gummiphone, Sora kept jogging over to where he heard the noise and passed by many corners and walls created by stacked-up containers. The more he thought about the more he realized that he was in a maze-like area. He would have been here for hours were it not for Moogla's help. And he did not have that much time to waste.

_________________________________________________________

Trekking around the corner of another large container, Sora now heard the cleaner robot loud and clear banging inside one of the metal boxes.

"Hey, Moogla, I found the container with the cleaner bot."

"That's good to hear, kupo!"

"Yeah, I'll set them free and give you a thumbs up signaling that everything is all good."

"I'll be waiting, kupo."

Ending the call, he put away his device and tried opening the metal container but realized that it had some kind of lock on it. This got him to smirk.

Summoning his Keyblade, he lightly tapped the lock with the weapon and a clicking sound could be heard followed by the lock falling off and hitting the ground. He then let go of his weapon and began opening the metal container expecting to find only Moogla's robot.

The look on his face could be described as complete bewilderment.

Many different-looking robots had been piled inside the small compact area. He would need to slowly take each machine out one at a time. Hence, a small sequence of him pulling each machine out and making sure that it was functionally running well. Save for a few minor cuts or scraps most of the machine looked to be working in good order.

His eyes lit up when he finally spotted a familiar-looking robot as it was Moogla's. Helping the machine out, he then checked to see the damage done to it and winced a bit at how hurt it looked. Alas, there wasn't anything he could do for it aside from giving the camera a thumbs up signaling to Moogla that all was well.

With his objective done, the spiky-haired boy turned his attention back to the cargo yard and figured that he would be on the hunt looking for wherever the Heartless moved to. A repeat of what happened on his first real night in this world.

However, before he could even make his next move something caught his attention as there appeared to be a dark mist appearing out of nowhere while floating in air and starting to gain traction in how big the cloud was becoming. His senses were being alerted internally as he recognized this sensation.

Darkness.

Throwing his hand out and summoning his weapon, Sora narrowed his gaze toward the dark mass and made sure to not let his guard down no matter what happened.

"...Well now..."

The brunette's eyes widen as he questioned himself if what he heard was real or not.

"It's a pleasure meeting you for the first time... Sora."

He was not kidding himself now. He heard that voice loud and clear even if it did sound a bit distorted. It was still able to be understood.

"Who are you?" Sora demanded.

In a suspenseful move, the dark mist started to conform to itself until it appeared to resemble a figure of some kind with no real distinguishing characteristics aside from looking like a person. This was the first time he had seen something like this.

"I think you know who I am, Guardian of Light."

This caused the Keyblade wielder to tighten the grip on his weapon as he was trying to remember if he had encountered something like this before. His thoughts went barreling through all his adventures and the challenging things that he went through. Nothing came to mind at all. Until... he remembered his latest quest to save Kairi. Going into the past and experiencing the Keyblade War again.

"Huh? Vanitas!?" he yelled out while watching the floating dark figure.

A small chuckle could be heard coming from the dark figure.

"That's a pretty good guess. But you're slightly wrong."

Safe to say, Sora was confused now.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"*sigh* It's true what they say about you. Stark and brave yet utterly stupid when it comes to understanding the truth of it all."

Gritting his teeth, he was getting frustrated with this figure's game.

"Enough! Just say who you are so I can kick your butt!"

Hearing this, the dark figure seemed to react in the dark mist surrounding them and appeared to grow even more while waving their hand.

"You already know who I am. Just give it a little more thought. You're almost there."

Glaring at the figure, Sora began to give some more thought to the Keyblade War and how darkness was heavily involved in the battle. Nothing was clicking until... It was then that he remembered venturing into Aqua and Ven's hearts where there was the aspect of...

He suddenly recalled venturing into Ven's heart and calling out to him only for someone or rather... something to respond to him instead.

'No, leave him be.'

'He's too pure... and a pure heart can be most careless.'

'...Darkness.'

Darkness...

Sora's breath became hitched as he now realized just who he was dealing with now.

"Wait... you're Darkness!?"

"Heh, there might be hope for you after all" the figure better known as Darkness commented.

Now knowing who he was dealing with, or at least a somewhat guess, the Keyblade wielder readied himself as he had a feeling this upcoming battle would not be an easy one. He could try to come up with a reasonable explanation for what was going on with the dark figure and why their name was Darkness later. Right now, he needed to be smart about his actions.

However, he would soon be stunned by what happened next. The dark figure simply raised one of its hands to stall the boy and get his attention.

"Now then, before we undoubtedly clash against each other... I feel there is something that first must be done."

"Oh yeah? Well, whatever it is I'm not interested!" the spiky-haired brunette shouted.

"Hmph. You're about to eat those words."

"Why?"

"Because it has to do with more or less a hypothesis of mine for why you came to this world."

To say Sora was stunned would not be the correct description of how he reacted. Puzzlement wouldn't even be enough justice to elaborate on his internal predicament.

Just what did this... Darkness know about him? And would it be worth it to listen?

These two questions were at the forefront of the Guardian of Light's mind as he continued to watch the dark figure. Waiting to see what might happen and how he would have to get himself out of this issue.

All bets were off the table now.

_________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, within a luxury apartment across the city

Sitting on her highly manufactured and stylish couch, Mugino Shizuri was not in a good mood at all.

Having come back to her place after dealing with the problematic situation at her school, the tea-color-haired girl wanted to simply cast her mind aside and indulge in any kind of entertainment that was playing on the television screen or whatever was within the magazine she had in hand.

Sadly, that was not happening at all.

Her mind was clouded with nothing but anger and frustration being directed at everything and everyone. Including herself for some unknown reason.

The desire of becoming stronger so that she could overpower her foes and come out on top every single time was being tampered with as she couldn't help but feel like something was off within herself. Something that wasn't exactly medical and more in line with being... emotional. As stupid as that sounded.

Granted, this was an entirely new feeling that she was dealing with and the idea of confiding in anyone else for their input into the situation was an absolute and resounding no. The only person she needed to fix this damned problem was herself and nobody else. Hence, why she was in a foul mood and could be considered an actual ticking time bomb.

At least, that's what her roommates had visioned her to be.

Kinuhata, Frenda, and Takitsubo had noticed how tense and short-fused the brunette beauty had been all day and knew that by pissing her off they would face a wrath of fury involving laser beams to the face. That was something the three of them wanted no part of.

However, amidst the antagonizing aura given off by their leader, Takitsubo was the only one who was brave enough to say anything to the long-haired girl.

While Mugino conquered the living room, the tracksuit-wearing girl was sitting in the kitchen talking with Kinuhata who appeared to be pouring herself a glass of juice. The topic of missions had been something that they were discussing along with what they would buy on their next payday. During this eventful chatter between the two, Kinuhata had gotten curious to look up any new missions available for them to take and was shocked to see something that affected them all.

"Hey, Takitsubo, you might wanna super check this out."

Sliding her phone to the black-haired girl, she looked at the phone and began reading whatever was on the screen immediately understanding what was being conveyed and knew that they had to tell their leader. Even if that seemed like a suicide mission.

"Do you wanna tell Mugino?" Takitsubo asked Kinuhata.

Shaking her head and taking a sip of her juice, the short-haired girl responded kindly.

"With all due respect, I would like to super keep my clothes from getting burned or damaged from tanking laser beams. I think you should."

Casting another glance at the older girl, Kinuhata let out a sigh.

"Besides, Mugino is super less likely to vaporize you than me and Frenda's out of the question. She would probably get thrown out the window instead of shot at with lasers" she added.

Letting out a muffled sound, Takitsubo braced herself to tell Mugino the news.

Walking over to Mugino who seemed to be disgruntled and even looked to be glaring lasers into the big television screen, she just said what needed to be said.

"Mugino."

"*sigh* What Takitsubo? I'm not exactly in the mood for you or Kinuhata or even Frenda's shit."

"...Look."

Holding up Kinuhata's phone so that Mugino could see what was on the screen, the tea-color-haired girl aggressively swiped it away and into her own hands beginning to read what was on the device. The owner of said phone weakly realized that she would probably lose that phone due to it being destroyed here soon. That was fine. She wanted a newer model anyway.

Coming back to Mugino, the battle-fanatic girl couldn't help but stand up from the couch and start gripping the device tightly all while walking over to the decorated part of the room that had all the gathered information on Sora. She took one long look at the wall and then back to the phone and then back at the wall.

It would be a minute before she moved or said anything but when she did it was a bit different from their expectations.

"Kinuhata. Did you see that there is a new model of this phone out now?" Mugino said to the girl in question.

"Yep. Looks the same as mine now but I kinda super want it."

"...Good."

The device was suddenly tossed over at the girl who caught it gracefully before looking a bit surprised at her leader's reaction.

Closing her eyes, Mugino began walking over to the couch and picked up her phone and what looked to be her purse while opening her eyes and searching for something inside the expensive-looking bag. Once she found what she was looking for which appeared to be a small wallet of some kind, she turned to look at the two and spoke with a calmness that worried them greatly. What was going on with Mugino?

"Want to go out and get it with me now?"

"...Uh...super sure."

"Takitsubo? You coming?"

"Y-Yeah. I'll come."

"Alright then. Let me get something really quick."

And with that, the Level 5 made her way to her room while the two other girls looked at each other wide-eyed. Something was not right.

"Kinuhata."

"Don't ask me. I was super expecting her to hurl my phone like a quarterback from the American sport Football."

Tilting her head to the side to see if Mugino was coming back yet, Takitsubo spoke in a hushed tone of voice.

"This might be a reaching guess..."

"Any guess is super ok in my book" Kinuhata jokingly commented.

"But I think Mugino's acting this way because of..." Shooting another look at the tea-color-haired girl's room to see if she was coming back, Takitsubo continued. "Sora."

"You read my super mind. Ah. Abort. Abort" Kinuhata hastily said as she spotted the door to Meltdowner's room opening.

Walking out of her room, Mugino's appearance did not change at all, and it looked like she did not grab anything at all. However, that was all a façade.

Inside her room, she had grabbed a bunch of her silicon cards and tucked them into her pocket while also arranging a few other things in order. One such thing was something that she had been off-handedly working on and now would be the best time to test it out. The thing she was so keen on was a small earpiece that sat snuggly in her ear while not being visible to anyone.

This earpiece was something she requested soon after her fight with Sora and had gotten Item's support team to make it happen. The special device was attuned to her phone via a hidden system that updated her on sightings of the Heartless since they had become such a hot topic within a short amount of time. But alas, she honestly couldn't give a damn about the dark creatures. The real reason she cared was because of what a sighting would mean.

Aka a certain spiky-haired boy showing up.

Her drive to outwit and beat that house key-wielding bastard was unwavering and as she mentioned before, she needed to come up with a new battle strategy. Hence, she was going to stay up to date on any crucial information being played out via chatter within the dark side of Academy City. She had paid a pretty penny for a device such as this but in all honesty, it wasn't even a drop in her financial bucket.

Moreover, based on what Takitusbo had shown her with Kinuhata's phone, the job order to capture one of the monsters had been successfully completed by another dark side team meaning that there wasn't anything else she could do about that. However, that didn't mean it was no longer in her interest.

Sora was still heavily involved with those monsters.

This is why she proposed to go out and get Kinuhata the new phone model so that if opportunity proved itself, then she would step aside and see if she could catch up to the boy's antics and continue her plan to counter him and the bullshit he managed to pull off.

And in all honesty, she couldn't help but like this sort of challenge, the boy was putting her through. To become stronger not just with her power but in a mental fortitude kind of way. It made her blood run and excitement flood her heart while finally having something to look forward to aside from her usual hobbies, but realistically, she was focused on her eventual rematch with the boy.

Coming back to the girls in front of her, Mugino put on a plain-looking face while addressing them casually like nothing happened.

"So then, shall we get going?"

Nodding their heads, all three girls began making their way out of the apartment and down to the vehicle currently being called in by their leader all while Kinuhata and Takitsubo shot each other confused looks. Something was up with Mugino, and they weren't exactly sure what it was. Only that it must have some significance to her, and that time would tell.

_________________________________________________________

Elsewhere deep inside an underground laboratory within the city

Sitting there inside an electrical cage was a lonesome Shadow Heartless who was simply tilting its head to the side while taking in its surroundings. It was currently located in a large white metallic room with computers, screens, and large testing tubes positioned around the space.

Many scientists were scattered all around the cage while holding either tablets or devices while observing the dark creature. Their interest was going through the roof all while speculation around the monster was being discussed amongst everyone. This was a situation that no one had predicted to happen at all and that was saying something.

However, standing in the back of the room was an older-looking man with a hunch and his eyes closed. There also appeared to be a birthmark on his right temple which was overshadowed by the unnerving smile appearing on his face. This man was better known as Kihara Gensei. Creator of the Ability Body Crystal which was a drug that induced an esper to overload their ability causing a temporary boost in power. Such a dangerous drug was seen as a complete accomplishment in the scientist's eyes to achieve something more.

The involvement and dealings within the Kihara family were anything but accomplishments.

Alas, Kihara Gensei was reveling in the fact that one of these mysterious creatures had finally been captured resulting in him having a hundred different ideas come to mind. The footage captured of these monsters in the past few days provided him alone with many new aspirations that could be tampered with and molded to fit his own goals and projects. The scientific theory of testing and testing until sufficient results were achieved.

The plans he had involving these dark creatures... just the thought made him giddy. And it was all thanks to the low-tiered dark side team for delivering this gift to him. He couldn't help but mutter out that the group might have a bright future. That is... if they don't end up dead.

"Now, now, we can all admire and relish the creature later." Walking up to the electrifying cage, the old man simply leaned down next to the creature and let a small smile appear at the corner of his mouth. "We have work to be done."

Time truly was of the essence as Kihara Gensei had many more projects of his to get back on track. He was, after all, an aspiring man with many insights.

Insights that would get him what he craved most of all... power and insight to possibility.

_________________________________________________________

*A/N* - Good to see you reach the bottom. I think it's safe to say a lot of things are in play now given that Sora has spent a good bit of time becoming accustomed to his new life in Academy City. Not to mention, the appearance of a certain pair of maroon-haired sisters. My intention of including Popola and Devola from the Nier series is simply for a guest appearance. Like in Kingdom Hearts, there are Final Fantasy characters appearing in the series while not entirely taking attention away from the story and being different takes on the characters. I wanted to do something like that for this story and hope it'll be well received. I'm even thinking about dropping even more FF guest appearances, but it won't always happen. Just a thought.

In addition, the bit about Mugino is something I came up with since we don't exactly know where she goes to school since it's never brought up. Hopefully, with the next addition to the Item Light Novel, we learn a bit more about her and where she goes to school since she is a teenager. Moreover, the bit about Touma is a direct link to where this is now in the timeline since we are still in early September. September 8th to be exact which is when the Orsola Aquinas Arc beings. With Sora's involvement, things are bound to change within the canon, and we will start to see it evolve more and more. Nevertheless, the True Darkness has now contacted the Guardian of Light. Things are about to get ridiculous. I hope you take care and until next time. See you.