Part One - Hikari

Yu-Gi-Oh! Kingdom Hearts
Part One
Hikari

I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately…
Like…
Is any of this for real… or not…?

That damned pharaoh had his back turned to him.  It was not like this was something new – his royal highness-ness always did think he was all high and mighty because he served the forces of “good” – but the fact that the water the fern-head was facing was steadily rising into a tidal wave did concern him a bit.  The pharaoh turned to face him, reaching out a hand toward him, and he felt himself compelled to grab a hold.  He did not know why, though the excuse was rapidly forming in his head; this was the other self of one of his hikari’s best friends.  The last thing he needed was to hear his sissy hikari whining because he let Pharaoh Fern-head drown.

His fingers were just within reach of the pharaoh’s outstretched hand, when the water came crashing down on the two of them.  He felt himself being pushed back by the current, and he struggled desperately against it.  Looking up, however, he saw that damned pharaoh still standing where he had been, reaching a hand out toward him, unaffected by the water buffeting them.  Fighting with all his might, he stretched out, trying and trying to reach the pharaoh’s hand…

“Mou hitori no boku!  Are you sleeping again?”

Yami Bakura’s eyes snapped open in surprise, startled out of his dream by the voice of his hikari.  He stood up from the spot on the sandy beach he had fallen asleep on, shaking sand out of his spiky white hair as Ryou Bakura ran up to him.

“You lazy tomb robber,” Bakura said, so cheerful it made Yami Bakura want to vomit.  “You fell asleep again didn’t…”

Ryou trailed off, a horrified look on his face as he stared out at something over the sea.  Yami Bakura turned… only to see himself falling at a breakneck pace toward the ocean.  He had a brief moment to realize that his dream was not over yet, before he found himself crashing through the waves.

Down… down into the depths of the water he fell… and suddenly there was no more water, but an endless expanse of darkness.  Just when Yami Bakura was about to question where it was this dream was heading, his feet hit bottom… and that bottom exploded in a light so bright it forced him to shield his eyes for a moment.  When the light became more tolerable for him, he lowered his arm to see that he was standing on a stain glass picture of a woman with dark hair in a yellow gown surrounded by seven little men.  The light illuminated the glass from somewhere on the bottom, but Yami Bakura could not find the source.

“So much to do, so little time…  Take your time.  Don’t be afraid.  The door is still shut.  Now, step forward.  Can you do it?”

The voice spoke directly into Yami Bakura’s mind, surprising him, as only his hikari could do such a thing.  Too numb with confusion and shock, he took a few steps forward; not really thinking about it until three pedestals suddenly grew out of the stain glass ground.  A sword, shield, and a staff appeared on each platform; all three were adorned with a strange sort of circular design that he did not recognize.

“Power sleeps within you.  If you give it form… it will give you strength.  Choose well.”

Yami Bakura blinked.  “Whaa…?” he said aloud.  “What the heck is that supposed to mean?  Who are you?  Where the HELL am I?!”

His only answer was the echoing of his own voice.  Yami Bakura scoffed, kicking at the glass in frustration, before observing each one of the platforms.  The sword seemed the most logical choice, in his mind anyway.  If he had to fight something, or whatever, he would need something to do that with, would he not?  Nodding to himself, he reached up and took the hilt of the strange sword.

Holding it in his hand made the sword look like some kind of child’s plaything.  Though the edges of the blade were noticeably sharp, it was far too short for his liking, and the hilt consisted of nothing but bright colors.  Yami Bakura made a face, if dreams could get any stranger…

“You have chosen the power of the warrior.  Invincible courage.  A sword of terrible destruction.”

Of course, it just had to get weirder, as the sword suddenly disappeared from his hand.

“Your path is set.  Now, what will you give up in exchange?”

Yami Bakura looked around, still trying to figure out where that voice was coming from.  “Give up?” he asked the air.  “What do you mean, ‘give up in exchange’?  What the hell is going on here?!”

Again, nothing but his own echo answered him.  The tomb robber growled in frustration, before looking at his options.  Only the shield and that strange staff were left; a shield usually meant protection, and he would probably need that, but a staff…?  Staves were usually a symbol of magic, something that was not really his department, outside of summoning monsters that was.  Then again… magic also meant more power, and could sometimes be used as a defense as well.

“Aw, what the hell…” he muttered, going over to the shield and picking it up.

“You have given up the power of the guardian.  Kindness to aid friends.  A shield to repel all.”

The shield also disappeared from his hands as Yami Bakura rolled his eyes.  Kindness to aid friends, hunh?  If that was the case, then he was glad he chose to get rid of that.  You needed to have “kindness” and “friends” in order to defend them, both of which he was more than lacking in.

Suddenly, the platforms crumbled, disappearing into the stain glass from whence they came, and starling him enough to make him jump back.  Just when he was about to ask what was going on, a tinkling sound met his ears, and he turned in horror to see the glass slowly breaking apart.  Yami Bakura tried to back away, but he was too late, and he soon found himself falling through the endless expanse once again.

A new stain glass surface, this one decorated with the image of a brown haired woman in a bluish-white gown, was rapidly approaching.  Just when Yami Bakura feared he was going to hit the surface head on, something slowed him down and righted him, so that he landed on his feet with a dull clack.  Before he could get his bearings, however, the sword appeared in his hand again.

“You’ve gained the power to fight.”

“What, with this thing?” Yami Bakura asked, taking a few stabs at the air.  “I couldn’t kill a fly with this thing!”

Just for the hell of it, he took a practice swing.  Small and toy-like the sword may have been, but at least it had good balance.

“All right!  You’ve got it!  Use this power to protect yourself and others.”

As soon as the words died away in Yami Bakura’s head, a black stain appeared on the stain glass in front of him.  Curious, he took a few steps forward, only to end up jumping back as a small… thing jumped out of the glass.  It had a humanoid appearance with long antennae sprouting out of its head, and it was entirely black except for its glowing yellow eyes.  He backed up farther, only to have another and another sprout out of the glass floor.

“There will be times you have to fight.  Keep your light burning strong.”

“Easy for you to say!” Yami Bakura exclaimed as one of the black creatures jumped toward him.  He ducked out of the way, before swinging around, his toy sword lancing out and cleaving the creature in two.  It disappeared into the darkness, and its companions burrowed back into the ground.

Yami Bakura looked down at his sword, impressed.  “Well… that was easy…”

“Behind you!”

“Eh…?”

Yami Bakura turned, only to get a face-full of scratches courtesy of the dark things that had reappeared.  He growled under his breath, charging forward to attack.  His sword neatly sliced through all of the ones that dared to get in his path, leaving only one behind.  Turning toward it, he started to approach the final one, when it melted back into the ground, leaving a dark stain behind that started to expand out toward him.

Taking a step back, Yami Bakura suddenly found himself falling again, as he had accidentally stepped into a dark stain that had appeared behind him.  He struggled against it, closing his eyes, fighting against the pull and the pressure… and all of a sudden, it stopped…

Yami Bakura opened his eyes again, only to find himself standing on a brightly colored stain glass floor.  This one did not have a woman on it, but instead several strange heart and crown designs.  Across the way from him, an ornate white door stood, like one would expect to find at a palace or the like.  Getting up, he walked toward it; doors like that in dreams usually led to a way to wake up!

He reached out to put a hand on one of the golden handles, when the door opened on its own.  On the other side was nothing but a blinding light that he had to shield his face from once again.  The light faded shortly, though, and the roar of the ocean met his ears…

Wait, ocean?

Yami Bakura lowered the arm he had flung up over his eyes, to see he was once again standing on the beach, the island resort that he had been dragged to by his hikari and his friends in the distance.  Surrounding him, leaning against trees or sitting down in the sand, were Kaiba, his runt brother, and the mutt Jonouchi.

“Hold on.  The door won’t open just yet.  First, tell me more about yourself.”

Yami Bakura grumbled, wishing this dream would just end already.

“What’s most important to you?” Mokuba Kaiba asked suddenly from where he was sitting on a log.  “Being number one, friendship, or your prized possessions?”

Yami Bakura raised an eyebrow.  Kinda… personal questions, hunh?

“Being number one of course,” he replied.  Hell, beating out that damned pharaoh was one of his life – and afterlife – goals.

“Is being number one such a big deal?” Mokuba asked, before vanishing as if he had never been.

Yami Bakura’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline, but he did not have time to worry about the disappearing runt, as Jonouchi had a question for him.  The mutt yawned from where he was sprawled out on the sand, before he asked:

“What do you want outta life?  To see rare sights, to broaden your horizons, or to be strong?”

“To be strong,” Yami Bakura answered without missing a beat.  If you were not strong, then you did not last long in the world; that was what he had always believed ever since he was a child.

“To be strong, hunh?” Jonouchi replied, before he vanished as well.  Only Kaiba was left, leaning up against a palm tree, his trench coat billowing in the slight breeze.

“What are you so afraid of?” the businessman asked.  “Getting old, being different, or being indecisive?”

Yami Bakura blinked in surprise.  This question coming from Kaiba was more than a little… odd.

“Being indecisive,” he answered after a moment.  After all, he had been a thief in the past – still was, much to his hikari’s misfortune – and he had to make quick decisions.  It was either that or get caught, and he never got caught.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow.  “Being indecisive?  Is that really so frightening?” he asked, before he vanished as well, leaving Yami Bakura alone on the beach.

“You want to be number one…
You want to be strong…
You’re afraid of being indecisive…”

Yami Bakura nodded as the voice repeated his choices in his mind.  Yeah, that sounded just about right.

“Your adventure begins in the dead of night.  Your road won’t be easy, but a rising sun awaits your journey’s end.  The day you will open the door is both far off and very near.”

Again, there was a flare of light, and Yami Bakura was starting to wonder if all this light and darkness was going to make him go blind.  Once the light was gone, he was on another stain glass floor.  This one was of a blonde woman in a purple dress surrounding by thorny vines.  A dull light was shining near the head of the woman, invoking a sigh out of him.

“Now what…?” he muttered, walking toward the light.

At first, nothing happened, but a strange sound made Yami Bakura spin around.  There was another one of those black creatures he had met before.  Another strange sound met his ears, and before he knew it, the odd little creatures surrounded him.  Ducking out of the way, he lashed out with his sword, suddenly very grateful that he had it.  The creatures fell one by one, disappearing into the darkness once more, and leaving an exhausted yami behind.

“I hope this dream ends soon,” he muttered.  “This is tiring.”

As if in response to his desire, a staircase of stain glass panels appeared on the far end of the glass, spiraling up into Ra knew where.  Hoping it was a way out, Yami Bakura made a break for it, taking the glass steps two at a time, only to arrive on yet another stain glass floor.  This one had a sort of brownish-red headed woman on it, dressed in a golden gown and surrounded by various household items.  He swore under his breath.  Did this dream not end?!

“The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes…”

Yami Bakura’s eyebrow twitched.  He was about to come back with a rude remark, when he became aware that something was looming over him.  Turning around, he let out a shout of surprise to see that his own shadow was coming out of the ground, slowly twisting into something that looked barely human.  Yami Bakura took several steps back as the shadow towered over him, yellow eyes glaring, a giant hole in its stomach the shape of a heart.  He accidentally fell over as handfuls more of those smaller black creatures appeared around it, jumping about anxiously, as if they knew he was outnumbered.

“But don’t be afraid, and don’t forget…”

“Oh, fuck this!” Yami Bakura exclaimed, scrambling back to his feet and making a break back for the stairs…

Which were no longer there.

“Shiiiiiiiiiiit…” Yami Bakura moaned.

He turned to see that the huge monster had its fist raised, poised to pound him into the ground.  The fist came flying down, and he managed to roll out of the way at the last possible moment.  Where the creature’s fist hit, a dark vortex appeared, lancing out toward him.  Yami Bakura tried to scramble away from it, but from the position he was in, he could not move fast enough.  The darkness engulfed him again, pulling him down… down… the more he struggled the more he fell… until there was nothing but darkness…

”But don’t be afraid.  You hold the mightiest weapon of all.  So don’t forget: you are the one who will open the door…”

~.oOOo.~

Groaning as he opened his eyes, Yami Bakura found himself staring up at an endless blue sky.  He sat up, gazing around blearily.  There was the ocean… and the sand… oh, and there was the mutt playing some kind of tag game with unicorn-hair boy.  Sighing in relief, he muttered a thankful, “Finally,” before flopping back down onto the sand…

…only to find himself staring face to face with his hikari.

Yami Bakura yelped in surprise, bolting back up into a sitting position as Ryou Bakura giggled.

“I knew I’d find you snoozing here, yami!” Bakura exclaimed.  Yami Bakura crossed his arms, indignant.

“Cut me a break, hikari,” he grumbled.  “This is a vacation, as you like to remind me every single waking minute.  I’m allowed to lounge around and sleep.”

Except when I have hellish nightmares like that, he thought to himself as Bakura laughed again.  What was that all about anyway?

“This is true, tomb robber, but not when you agreed to help build tents so we could camp out on the beach tonight.”

Yami Bakura’s eyebrow twitched as he and his hikari turned to see the spiky, tri-color haired bane of his existence.  The pharaoh, who had combined his name with his hikari’s to form the oh-so-high-and-mighty name of Atemu Mutou, walked toward them in his usual confident swagger, several wooden polls tucked under his arm.  He deposited the polls on top of Yami Bakura, who fell over trying to catch them all, before walking up to Bakura.

“And you’re just lazy as he is,” Atemu pointed out with a smirk.

Bakura stuck his tongue out cutely.  “So you noticed.”

Yami Bakura growled as Atemu plopped down into the sand next to him.

“Go flirt with your own hikari!” he shouted at him.  Bakura blushed bright red as the pharaoh laughed.

“Yes, but your hikari’s much cuter when he’s blushing,” he joked, winking at Bakura and making him turn even redder.  Yami Bakura could have sworn he felt several veins pop in his anger.  It was not the fact that he liked his hikari, it was the fact that the pharaoh liked his hikari; that’s what irked him the most.

He stood up, brushing the sand out of his white hair.  “I’m going to go look for some supplies for tonight.”

Bakura blinked at him, confused.  “Why?”

Yami Bakura rolled his eyes.  “You guys want to camp out, right?  Then I’m getting us some food,” he explained, as if he were talking to a two-year-old, before walking off.

He had almost gotten to a little alcove on the far side of the beach, when he heard a shout from behind him.  Turning, he mentally swore when he saw that damn pharaoh running up to him.  Could he not just leave him alone for two seconds?  Atemu tossed something at him, and he caught it easily.  Looking down, he saw it was some kind of star-shaped fruit, with leaves on two of the points.

“You wanted one, didn’t you?” Atemu asked, that smirk on his face that made Yami Bakura want to slug him.

“What the hell is it?” he demanded.

The pharaoh rolled his eyes.  “Don’t you know anything?” he returned.  “It’s a paopu fruit.”

Yami Bakura’s eyebrow twitched, already having a feeling of where this was heading.  “And… this does what?”

Again, that damnable smirk.  “If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined,” the pharaoh explained.  “Or… at least, that’s what the legends say.  Thought you might want to try it.”

Yami Bakura felt himself go red, though he was not sure if it was in anger or embarrassment.  He sputtered for a response as the pharaoh walked away, laughing at him.  Growling, he tossed the stupid fruit away, muttering promises of Atemu’s death under his breath.

~.oOOo.~

The most important thing about being one of the most trusted advisors and mage to the king of all the worlds was that you never, ever panicked.  High Mage Donald Duck, however, made an exception in this instance.  Everything had started out as it normally did; the high mage had gone into the king’s throne room to greet him that morning, just has he had done every morning for as long as he could remember.  There was just one problem…

The king was not there!

Just as he was about to check to make sure the king had not taken ill or slept in, the royal dog, Pluto, emerged from behind the throne.  In his mouth was an envelope, stamped with the king’s seal.  What the note within contained was what sent Donald into a panic; he ran for the castle gardens, where he knew the captain of the royal guards would be sleeping.

Sure enough, he found Goofy stretched out on a hill, snoring away as usual.  He ran up to the dog, shouting frantically.

“Wake up, Goofy!  Wake up!” Donald shouted, his speech impeded by the fact that he was talking with a beak.  “This is serious!”

Goofy, however, just rolled over in his sleep.  Frustrated, Donald tapped his foot before pointing a finger up into the air.

“Thunder!”

A low-level bolt of thunder lanced through the air, zapping Goofy out of his sleep.  The dog sat up, dazed, still smoking a bit.  He turned his dim gaze up to the duck, smiling a bit.

“Hey there, Donald.  G’mornin’!” he exclaimed, seemingly not the least big perturbed by the fact that he had just been struck by lightning.

“We’ve got a big problem here, Goofy!” Donald exclaimed, not missing a beat.  “But you can’t tell anyone!”

Goofy blinked a bit stupidly.  “Queen Minnie?”

Donald shook his head.  “Not even the queen!”

Goofy blinked again.  “Daisy?”

Donald shook his head again, saying the word, “No,” though it came out very stuttered and drawn out.  “It’s top secret, Goofy!” he exclaimed again.

Goofy did not even seem to be paying attention to him.  He was looking at something over the mage’s shoulder, and suddenly started to wave.

“G’mornin’ ladies!”

Donald froze, hunching his shoulders slightly, before turning around slowly.  Behind him were none other than Queen Minnie and her handmaiden, Daisy Duck.  Donald laughed nervously; so much for keeping this a secret…

~.oOOo.~

That runt was watching him again, Yami Bakura noted furiously.  It was bad enough when the pharaoh bothered him, but when his runt hikari bothered him; now that was just worse.  Yugi normally did not say much, but usually he just sat up somewhere and stared at him.  That’s exactly what he was doing right now; sitting up on a ridge, watching him as he picked mushrooms.

The former tomb robber grumbled under his breath.  What was wrong with the pharaoh and his hikari?  Was there some rule out there that said they had to torment him every waking moment?

Discretely, Yami Bakura gradually made his way along the base of the ridge, toward a small cave in the side.  He ducked inside, away from Yugi’s gaze; walking all the way in to make sure.  Sighing, he slung the sack he was using to carry the mushrooms over his shoulder, before running his fingers through his hair.  If this was supposed to be some kind of vacation, he needed to stop letting the pharaoh and his runt get on his nerves.  The way he was going, he was going to die again from stress.

Sighing again, Yami Bakura walked deeper into the cave.  He had heard from one of the tour guides that the better mushrooms were supposed to be located in darker places.  While the cave was a bit lighter than he would have expected, it was dark enough to fit the guide’s description.

The tomb robber looked around as he reached the end of the cave.  It was just a small circular space at the end, mostly overrun by tree roots from the palm trees above.  There was a hole in the ceiling above, and Yami Bakura could clearly see the blue sky above.  It was just an ordinary cave, except for one thing…

There was a door embedded in the side of the wall…

You are the one who will open the door…

Yami Bakura shook his head, chasing the memory of the dream away.  There was no way that dream could be real; maybe this door was just a private storeroom or something.  No need to panic.

Spotting a patch of grass off to the side, he went over and bent down, searching through the greenery for some mushrooms.  He had managed to sack two of them, when the shuffling of footsteps caught his attention.  Whirling around, he faced the door as his hand dropped down to his boot, where he kept a dagger hidden in case of emergencies like this.

“Who’s there?” he demanded.

At first, Yami Bakura did not see anyone, but then another shuffle of footsteps revealed a hooded figure standing half concealed behind a massive tree root.

“I’ve come to see the door to this world,” the figure said in a deep voice that made even the tomb robber’s skin crawl.  Yami Bakura glanced at the wooden door, before turning his attention back to the figure.

“What are you talking about?” he demanded.

“This world has been connected,” the figure – it had to be a man; the voice was too deep – replied simply.

“Eh…?”

“Tied to the Darkness…” the cloaked man said, “soon to be completely eclipsed.”

Yami Bakura shuffled back a bit, freaked out.  “What?  Where did you come from?”

The cloaked man seemed to stare down at him with contempt.  “You do not yet know what lies beyond the door.  There is so much for you to learn.  You understand so little.”

The tomb robber froze, his eyes growing wide.

You will be the one who opens the door…

He shook away the memory again, glaring at the cloaked figure.  “What do you know?” he demanded.  “I understand plenty, and what I don’t, I learn.”

The man made a disapproving noise.  “A meaningless effort.  One who knows nothing can understand nothing.”

“Why you…!”

Yami Bakura got to his feet… only to see that the man had vanished.  He stepped forward slightly, looking around in surprise.  Where had he gone…?  He had only looked away a brief moment when he got to his feet; how had the man disappeared in that small amount of time?

“Bakura…!” Ryou’s voice came from outside the cave.  “Where are you…?”

Yami Bakura grabbed his mushroom sack, taking one last glance at the door, before running out of the cave as fast as he could.

~.oOOo.~

Donald,
Sorry to rush off without sayin’ goodbye, but there’s big trouble brewin’.  Not sure why, but the stars have been blinkin’ out, one by one.  And that means disaster can’t be far behind.  I hate to leave you all, but I’ve gotta go check on it.  There’s someone with a “key” – the key to our survival.  So I need you and Goofy to find him, and stick with him.  Got it?  We need that key or we’re doomed!  So go to Traverse Town and find Leon.  He’ll point you in the right direction.

PS
Would ya apologize to Minnie for me?  Thanks, pal.

Daisy gasped in surprise as Donald read the note aloud, surprised by its contents.  Queen Minnie stood next to her, an unusually solemn expression on her face.  Donald slowly folded up the note when he finished, stuffing it back in the envelope it came in.  Even Goofy was silent, all of them contemplating on the implications.

“What can this mean?” Daisy asked finally.

“It means,” Minnie began, “that we’ll just have to trust the king.”

“Gawrsh,” Goofy said, “I hope he’s all right.”

Donald nodded, before saluting the queen.  “Don’t worry, your highness.  We’ll find the king and this ‘key’.”

Minnie smiled, gratefully.  “Thank you, Donald.  To chronicle your travels, he will accompany you.”

The high mage frowned, looking around.  “He” who…?

“Down here!”

Donald looked down at a table next to the queen.  On it, a small, green creature was bouncing around, trying to get his attention.  He walked closer to the table, leaning over to see that the creature was a cricket in a tailcoat and top hat.

“Cricket’s the name!” the bug called up to him.  “Jiminy Cricket, at your service.”

Donald nodded his greetings, allowing the small cricket to hop onto the brim of his hat.

“Please help the king, Donald,” Daisy urged.  The high mage offered her a comforting smile, before noticing that Goofy was saluting him, as if sending him off.  His smile turned into a scowl as he grabbed the captain of the guard by the arm.

“You’re coming too!”

~.oOOo.~

Yami Bakura tucked his pajamas under his arm, muttering under his breath.  Of course, he had to be the only one that did not think of grabbing the garments that morning when they had set out for the beach, never mind that he already knew they would be camping out that night.  He must have left his brain behind on his pillow that morning, like he wanted to get more criticism from his highness-ness.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he made his way through the resort parking lot to get down to the beach.  He was not paying much attention to anything… until a sudden wind picked up, knocking his clothes out from under his arm.  Swearing profusely in Egyptian, he chased after the shirt and pants as they drifted up, up…

Yami Bakura slowly came to a halt, stopping and watching in mute horror as his clothes were carried along by the wind toward where a sinfully black vortex was swirling up in the air over the beach.  He shook his shock off as quickly as it had come, however.  His hikari was still at the beach, and he had to get there and make sure he was okay!

The wind seemed to gain in intensity as he made his way closer to the beach, and he almost lost his footing several times as he stumbled down the hill leading to the sand.  He ran as fast as he could toward where the tents they had worked so hard on to put up were nearly flattened.  Taking up a handful of cloth, he peeked under one of them to see if anyone was still left under there, only to have something slice across the left side of his face.  He dropped the fabric, holding the side of his face and turning to see a handful of Duel Monsters cards whipping up toward the vortex above.

“Hikari!” he shouted into the wind.  “Hikari!  Where are you?!”

As if in answer, something black started swirling about on the ground.  It was small, and there was only one of them… at first.  Then another appeared, and another, and another; and before Yami Bakura even realized it, he was surrounded by the same small dark creatures that had attacked him in his dream.  He yelped in surprise, ducking as one of them leapt toward him, wishing he had that sword from the dream world.

Opting to run for it rather than attempting to fight the creatures without a weapon, he barreled through the dark creatures, ducking as they jumped and yelping when they managed to get a hit on him.  He tripped trying to dodge one of them, and landed painfully on his back, staring up and over at the small ridge in the distance.  There, he could just barely make out the outline of someone standing there… and judging from the height, he was able to narrow that person down to either the pharaoh or his hikari.  They were not exactly his choice of people to run into, but right now they were better than nothing.

Scrambling up from the sand before one of the creatures could jump him, Yami Bakura made a mad dash for the ridge.  Reaching it, he started climbing up it without a second thought, ignoring the creatures that kept trying to swipe at his heels.  He vaulted onto the top of the ridge, and paused a moment to catch his breath, before looking up to see that it was none other than the pharaoh standing there.  His highness-ness’ back was to him, and he was looking up at the vortex above.

“Pharaoh!” Yami Bakura shouted over the roar of the wind.  “You all right?”

Suddenly, the wind drastically died down, enabling the tomb robber to hear the pharaoh’s softly spoken words:

“The door is open.”

Yami Bakura felt his breath freeze in his throat.  Now, all this talk about a “door” was just getting to the point of creepy; too creepy for even him.

“Nani?!” he demanded.

Atemu spun around, an oddly wild look in his eyes.  “The door is open, Bakura!  The door to other worlds!”

Yami Bakura took a step back in spite of himself.  That look in his eyes… the pharaoh never really freaked him out, but right now, he was doing a good job of it just by looking at him.

“What are you talking about?” he replied.  “Where’s my hikari?  Wasn’t he with you?”

“Ryou and the others have already passed through,” Atemu replied.  “Think about it, Bakura!  There are infinite possibilities in the worlds out there!”

The tomb robber grit his teeth; he just was not making sense!  “I think you’ve gotten into Marik’s pills,” he said coldly.  “Pharaoh, c’mon!  Let’s just go find the others.”

Atemu did not budge from where he was standing; instead, that damnable smirk of his quirked up on his face, making Yami Bakura growl in frustration.  Before he could say anything, however, the pharaoh reached out an inviting hand toward him…

…just like in the dream…

“Come, Bakura,” Atemu urged him.  “The door won’t say open for long…”

Yami Bakura stared at the pharaoh’s hand in surprise.  This could not be real, but was it another dream?  It all seemed too real to be a dream, yet too unreal to be reality at the same time.  Now, like in the dream, it seemed as if he had a choice.  One choice was clearly displayed before him, but what was the other choice?  Was it to not go beyond the “door”, and stay on a world being swallowed by darkness?  Or was there even another choice at all?

The tomb robber took a hesitant step toward the pharaoh, and a strange, drum-like sound filled the air.  The shadows at Atemu’s feet started to swirl, crawling up his body, claiming it as its own.  Surprised, Yami Bakura tried to rush forward to pull the pharaoh out of the darkness, only to find that his feet were stuck.  He looked down to see what was wrong, only to see that the shadows were creeping up his body as well.

“No!” he shouted, horrified.

“I’m not afraid of the Darkness, Bakura,” Atemu said quietly, seemingly unperturbed by the shadows.  “Are you?”

Yami Bakura wanted to shout at him, to say of course he was afraid of the Darkness.  He had just spent three thousand years stuck in the Darkness; he was not about to have a repeat of all that!  The words he wanted to yell just would not come out, however.  He was too preoccupied with trying to fight the shadows off as they crept up along his face, threatening to close his eyes off forever, that he could not form the right words.  His fighting proved futile, and the Darkness cut him off from the outside world…

I… I don’t want… to be taken by Darkness…  EVER AGAIN!!!

A light… pure and undying, it broke through the Darkness…  Like a beacon, it shined where he last remembered his right hand being… chasing away the shadows…

In the blink of an eye, Yami Bakura found himself standing once again on top of the small ridge.  Atemu and the shadows that had tried to engulf the both of them were gone.  He eased up slightly, disturbed that the pharaoh was gone, but grateful that he had not joined him.

It was then that the tomb robber noticed that he was clutching something in his right hand.  Looking down, he saw that it was some kind of giant key, about the same size as a small sword.  Golden guards surrounded the “hilt” that he was clutching, and a chain with the exact same odd circular design as the weapons in his dream dangled from the end.  He held it up before him, inspecting it in the dim light the vortex above gave off.

“What… what in the name of Ra is this…?”

“Keyblade.”
“Keyblade.”
“Keyblade.”
“Keyblade.”
“Keyblade.”
“Keyblade.”
“Keyblade.”

The answer to his question came in the form of the mysterious voice from his dream, echoing on the path of the wind that was starting to pick up once again.  Yami Bakura looked about, trying to find a source for the voice, before turning his gaze back to the Keyblade.

“Keyblade…?” he began.  “Is this supposed to be some kind of sword?  It can’t be; it has a round edge!”

Yami Bakura was about to shake his head in disgust, when a strange sound reached his ears over the roar of the wind.  Turning in surprise, he saw that it was one of those dark creatures, and it was leaping toward him!  Not even thinking, he let instinct take over and swiped at it was the Keyblade, before ducking out of the creature’s way.  It landed on the ground, and as he turned to stare at it, its upper half fell off of its lower half before the creature disappeared entirely.

The tomb robber’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline, and he held up the Keyblade once more, staring at it in appreciation.

“Yeah… that would be a ‘Keyblade’,” he said, nodding as if he was the one that named it.

He did not get much of a chance to ponder on it, as more of the strange dark creatures jumped him from out of nowhere.  Caught off guard, Yami Bakura could only defend, continually backing up until his foot encountered air.  He fell over the edge of the ridge, landing with enough force on the sand below to knock the wind out of him.  Groaning, he rolled over onto his side… and his breath froze in his throat…

There, over the entrance to the cave he had entered while looking for mushrooms, was the same ornate white door…

You will be the one who opens the door…

Was that door supposed to be “the” door?

Feeling apprehensive, Yami Bakura climbed back to his feet, still keeping a tight grip on the Keyblade as he made his way toward the mysterious door.  Reaching it, he hesitated a moment, before reaching out and flinging the door open.  Nothing had changed on the other side; it was still the same dark cave, made darker by the lack of sunlight.  Gritting his teeth, he made his way down the long tunnel, ducking to avoid the tree roots.

It was a little lighter at the end of the tunnel, in the circular root-filled room where that other door was, but not much.  The door was not the only thing there now, however.  Bakura was standing before it, his back to him, swaying slightly back and forth on his feet.

“Hikari!” Yami Bakura exclaimed, relieved that whatever the pharaoh had been blabbering about was not true.  He reached a hand out to his hikari, walking forward slightly.  “C’mon, hikari, let’s get the hell out of here before something bad happens.”

Bakura slowly turned to face him… and Yami Bakura took a step back in surprise.  There was an empty look in his hikari’s eyes… as if something was missing…

“’Kura…!” he exclaimed, reaching out as if to take his hand…

Suddenly, the door behind his hikari burst open, letting loose a harsh wind from deep within its bottomless depths.  It picked Bakura up as if he weighed no more than a piece of paper, blowing him toward the tomb robber.  Yami Bakura opened his arms, ready to catch him…

…only to have him disappear as soon as he was in his arms.

Yami Bakura shouted in surprise and horror, but he did not get the chance to figure out what had just happened.  The wind picked him up as well, sending him flying back out of the cave, banging against the walls as he went.  He winced when he landed on the sand outside, pain pulsating in areas he knew would bruise later on, if they had not started already.  Grumbling to himself, he crawled back to his feet, looking up… and gasped in horror.

There was not much left to the world he knew now.  He was standing on a small circular bit of land, barely large enough to fit a baseball diamond.  Behind him, what had once been the ridge threatened to crumble, and Yami Bakura had a sinking suspicion that once that door was destroyed, that would be end of the world.  Up above, the dark vortex had swallowed everything, even the night sky as it swirled about forebodingly.

The tomb robber ran to the edge of the land, looking out at the space beyond.  He had to find some way to escape from this, but how?  Could he just… jump, and hope that did the trick?  Making a face, he shook his head; better think of another way first before doing something that drastic.

And inhuman moan filled the air, cutting him off from his thoughts.  He spun around to see that darkness had formed on the ground behind him, as was gradually pulling itself upward.  It twisted and pulled itself apart, slowly becoming the hideously huge shadow that had appeared in his dream.  Yami Bakura grit his teeth, clutching the Keyblade tightly.  There was no way he was going to be able to avoid this battle, of that there was no doubt.

Almost immediately, the creature descended a fist upon him, fully intent on crushing him.  The tomb robber easily rolled away, only to end up in the middle of a handful of the smaller shadowy creatures.  He ended up taking several scratches to the face before he was able to fight back, and he just managed to defeat them before he had to roll away again, least he end up as a pancake.  When he came back up, he stared up at the creature, his brain ticking off ways in order to defeat it.  Too many of his options and ideas were being shaken off, however.  How the heck could he defeat something so big?!

Yelping in surprise, Yami Bakura was just barely able to dodge as the creature punched down again, and had to dodge once more to avoid the smaller creatures.  Something clicked while he was moving: the creature, while massive, was also slow and stupid.  The only thing it seemed to be able to do was punch at the ground…

As soon as he finished thinking that, the gigantic creature leaned its arms all the way back, fully exposing the heart-shaped hole in its body.  A swirling darkness appeared in the center of the hole, and the tomb robber just barely managed to stop staring and start running as a beam of black magic shot out at him.  The blast followed him around the remainder of the land until he managed to duck between the monster’s seemingly paper-like legs.  He breathed a sigh of relief, but even this sanctuary did not last long, as the creature raised one of its “feet” to step on him.

The tomb robber skirted out of the way, putting the Keyblade in his mouth – which was really uncomfortable, as the only part of it the he could fit in his mouth was the “blade” part, and with the strange hilt the weapon was horribly unbalanced.  He grabbed one of the legs, starting to slowly climb up the side of the creature.  It did not seem to realize what he was doing at first, which gave him ample time to get up past the monster’s torso.  The creature tried to take a swipe at him, but he just barely managed to climb out of the way.

Yami Bakura took the Keyblade out of his mouth as he reached its shoulder, vaulting up to he was standing on it…

“Hey, ugly!”

The monster turned its head toward him…

“Your face is open!”

Throwing his full weight behind the weapon, the tomb robber slashed the Keyblade viciously across the creature’s face.  It reeled back in surprise, almost sending him flying off of its shoulder.  He gritted his teeth, practically digging his nails into the creature to prevent himself from falling.  An inhuman moan erupted from the monster, and it reached up with its hands, trying futilely to knock him off.  Deciding that this was a little too dangerous, Yami Bakura decided to go back down the way he came… the insane way.  He slammed his Keyblade into the creature before swinging his legs over the side.  He fell the whole length of the way back down, the sword/key slowing his descent and leaving a gigantic gash in the creature’s back.

It thrashed about, obviously in pain; it fell to the ground with enough force to crack what was left of the land.  He fought to keep his footing, even as the slowly dying creature was lifted up from the remainder of the world.  The wind picked up, pulling everything toward the vortex above.  Yami Bakura tried to hold on, but the pull was too intense.  His feet lifted from the ground, and despite how much he dug his fingers into the ground, he could not hold on…

~.oOOo.~

The only person who occupied the bar that night was a young blonde boy with almost unnatural golden eyes.  He leaned back, letting out a loud yawn, not even bothering to cover it up with one of his gloved hands.  Nothing had been happening lately in Traverse Town, aside from the occasional attack from the Heartless… not that it really bothered him.  He was one of the few on the world that could handle the shadowy creatures, though he had a little help, of course.

With a metallic clack, he let his right arm dangle over the edge of the chair as he stared up at the nighttime sky.  That was when his thoughts of a peaceful night went south, as a star high above him suddenly flared up before going out.  The boy jumped from his seat, disturbing the flame of the candle on the table he was sitting at.

“Damn…” he muttered.  “Not another world… wonder if anyone survived?”

He set off from the bar then, deciding to scour the town to see if there was anyone traveling around confused.  Walking up the stairs that led up to Cid’s Accessory shop, he decided the start in the alley way near the shop.  People tended to appear there or at the World Entrance the most; the ones were lucky, that is.  The ones that were not so lucky ended up in the Second or Third District, where the more powerful Heartless dwelled.  In that case… it was lucky if they made it to the First District…

Ducking into the alleyway and pushing past barrels, he almost did not see anyone… and that was when he heard a soft groan.  Moving a box out of the way, he spotted someone resting up against the wall, but he was a bit… odd.  Though he did not seem to be any older than himself, his hair was stark white, and was spiked in such a manner that it almost looked like devil horns.  The boy was dressed in a pair of black cutoffs and black vest with a red undershirt.  Two belts were looped about his waist; one the conventional way through the loops on his cutoffs, while the other seemed to be a holster of some kind, and he could see what could only be a deck of cards in a small pouch on it.  There was a heavy-duty pair of boots on his feet, and he could just make out the silver top of a dagger hidden in one of them.  In the boy’s right hand was a strange sort of giant key, and he was clutching it tightly.

He leaned down before the boy, shaking him slightly.  “Oui, kiddo.  C’mon, wake up.”

The boy groaned again, blinking open bleary narrow brown eyes.  He shook his head a few times, before focusing an annoyed gaze up at him.  He gave a half-hearted attempt to push him away.

“Get out of my face, shorty,” the boy grumbled.

He felt a vein pop.  “Hey!  Who are you calling a little bean that doesn’t catch your eye?!”

The white-haired boy winced.  “Not so loud, Ra dammit,” he snarled.  “And I didn’t say that much.”

He calmed down slightly, frowning down at him.  Leaning down, he grabbed a hold of the boy and helped him up to his feet.  He grumbled slightly, but otherwise did not shrug off the help.

“Hey, you’re lucky you made it here, ‘ya know,” he said, leading the boy out of the alleyway.  “Not many people survive their world’s destruction.  I should know.”

The boy (was he really a boy?  He seemed so much… older) just snorted, slightly annoyed.

“I wasn’t the only one,” he grumbled, sounding very tired.  “Others made it off too… I think…  Gotta find my… hikari…”

The white-haired boy tried to move away, but he held onto him fast.  “Easy there, kiddo.  Whatever happened to you, you’re in no shape to be going anywhere.”

The boy gave him an annoyed look.  “My name isn’t ‘kiddo’, runt.”

He growled.  “And my name isn’t ‘runt’.  It’s Edward Elric.”

The boy just grunted.  Ed frowned.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

Ed felt another vein pop.  Man, did this person have an attitude.  “I gave you my name!”

The boy rolled his eyes, before grunting out, “Bakura.”

Ed nodded, even though he was frowning again.  Did this person talk like a normal human, or was he just like this because he was wiped out?  He did not get much of a chance to ponder on it, as Bakura pitched forward suddenly, passing out.  Ed sighed as he shifted about so he could easily carry the white-haired boy.

“I hope Cid has room in his shop…”

~.oOOo.~

Yami Bakura vaguely remembered being dragged into some strange place.  When next he woke up, he was staring up at a ceiling light, due to the fact that he was lying stretched out on a bench.  He groaned, trying to sit up, only to have someone pull him back down.  Groaning again, he tried to sit up once more, but who ever had pulled him down was keeping a hand on him.  Something was being pressed against his lips, and he pursed his lips shut, shaking his head.

“Easy, Bakura,” came Edward’s voice.  “It’s just a Potion.  It’ll help you feel better.”

Yami Bakura fought back a moment more, before finally giving in, allowing the “Potion” to flow into his mouth.  It tasted rather bitter, and he only managed to get on swallow in before he started coughing and sputtering.  He pushed the bottle away from himself, already feeling a little better, though not back up to his usual.

“Feelin’ better now, kid?” came a gruff voice from above him.  The tomb robber looked up, blinking, to see a rough looking man in simple white shirt and blue pants with a pair of pilots goggles holding back his fairly short blonde and gray streaked hair.  A half finished cigarette was clenched in his teeth, and despite his uncaring demeanor, genuine concern was in his blue eyes.

Instead of answering his question, however, Yami Bakura just sat up and glared.

“Where the hell am I?” he demanded.

The man frowned.  “Don’t miss a tick, do you kid?” he asked.  Yami Bakura just narrowed his eyes.  “This is Traverse Town, kid.  Closest world to the king’s castle world and one of the hub worlds.”

He frowned.  “Hub worlds?”

“Worlds where people go to when their own worlds are destroyed,” Ed said.  He was sitting on the bench behind him; he had been the one holding him down.  “This one was closest to your world, so you ended up here.”

Shakily, Yami Bakura got to his feet.  “Good.  That means my hikari’s here.”

“Whoa, where do you think you’re going?” Ed demanded as the tomb robber teetered slightly.  “You’re in no shape to be doing much of anything.  Plus, you’re unarmed.”

He was about to shoot back at the short blonde with a retort, when he realized he was quite right: the Keyblade was nowhere in sight.  The tomb robber grabbed Ed by his red coat, pulling him up to his eye level, the look on his face promising much hurt.

“Where is that thing I was holding?” he snarled.  “I know I was holding it when you dragged me out of that alley!”

Ed gritted his teeth, giving him an equally pain promising look.  “Hey!  I don’t know where it went!” he shouted.  “It disappeared not long after you passed out!”

“How the hell did it disappear, runt?” Yami Bakura demanded.

A vein popped on Ed’s forehead.  “Who are you calling a bean that you step on because you can’t see?!”

“You, you pipsqueak!” he shot back, on his last thread of patience.  “Now tell me what the hell happened to my –”

He was cut off as gruff hands grabbed them both, pulling the two of them apart.  The tomb robber looked up to see the man from before hovering over them, a deadly look on his face.  Yami Bakura found himself backing off slightly, a bit intimidated by the expression… but only a little.

“Knock it off,” he growled.  “Both of you.”

Ed backed up as well.  “Sorry Cid.”

Cid gave the two of them a critical look, but this time, the tomb robber did not back away from it.  Instead, he glared back, his determination plastered on his face.

“Whatever,” he snapped.  “Weapon or no weapon, if my hikari’s here, I’ve got to go find him and –”

“And what, kid?” Cid cut him off again.  “Go home?  You don’t have a home anymore.”

“Quit cryin’, kid.  You don’t have a home anymore.  Use yer legs and keep walking.”

Yami Bakura growled at the remembered words; that had been something that he did not want to recall… at all.  He spared the both of them another death glare, before stalking out of the shop.  Ed stared after him for a good moment, before turning his gaze up to Cid.

“I’m gonna go after him,” he declared.

“Careful, Ed,” Cid warned, giving the door a suspicious look, as if he could see Bakura on the other side.  “Weird things have been going on around here… what, with that brown haired kid with the big shoes showing up first.  And there’s something weird about that whitey kid.  He don’t feel right.”

Ed sighed.  “Honestly, gramps… I don’t think he’s a kid at all…”

~.oOOo.~

Yami Bakura ran back up the stairs leading to the Accessory shop, before going around the building itself and up another set of stairs.  He had looked around the entirety of the District he as in and had found nothing but locked doors.  It was clear his hikari was not here, nor were any of the others.  There had to be other areas to this world, though; the two large doors that were locked up near the “entrance” to the world had to go somewhere.  Now, if only he could find out where…

Running around to the back of the shop, he eventually found himself standing near another set of large doors.  Hoping that these were not locked, Yami Bakura went to go near them, when the shadows at the front of the door started to swirl.  He backed up in surprise as the small shadowy creatures that had been in his dream and at his world appeared.

The tomb robber backed up, gritting his teeth, as the creatures came closer to him, as if sensing he was defenseless.  He flexed his right hand, wishing that he had that Keyblade thing…

Sudden warmth engulfed his hand, and before he even knew what happened, the Keyblade had appeared once again in a burst of light.  Deciding he would ask questions later, Yami Bakura lashed out with the weapon, oddly finding it easier to defeat these shadowy creatures than it had been on that island resort.  Maybe the ones here were just lazy; after all, he had not seen many people who even looked like they could take the things on…

It was like a miniature explosion went off above his head.  One minute, he was fighting the creatures, the next minute there was a bang like a shotgun, and the minute after that he was sprawled out on the ground with his hair slightly singed from the blast.  Grumbling, he reached a hand around to the back of his head, patting his hair in an effort to keep it from actually catching on fire, while using the other hand to push himself up and see who it was that had nearly killed him.

His first thought was that the person had to be related to the pharaoh.  Leather and belts predominated the man’s outfit; the only part of it that was cotton being the white undershirt he wore under his half-length leather jacket.  While his hair was only one color, brown, it was long and worn down, though Yami Bakura assumed one good gust of wind and it would be standing on end.  An impressive scar cut across his face, starting from his forehead just above his right eye and coming down in a slant to end near the bottom of his left eye.  Those eyes where a frightening storm gray, and made the tomb robber gulp in spite of himself as he scrambled to his feet.  Those were eyes that had seen too much, and felt too much.

He knew those kind of eyes well…

“Another Keyblade,” the man said suddenly, his voice grave.  “This complicates things…”

Yami Bakura blinked.  “What do you mean, ‘another’?”

The man opened his mouth to answer, but a frantic shouting from the overhang above cut him off.

“Squall!  Squall, Squall, Squall, Squuuuaaaaaaaallllll!”

The tomb robber did not know how it happened.  One minute, he was turning around to see who was causing so much ruckus, the next minute, he was on the ground, staring up at someone’s yellow thong as they were sitting on his face.

The man’s voice sounded exasperated as the sound of pounding feet reached his ears.

“Rikku, how many times do I have to tell you and Yuffie?  It’s Leon.”

A strangled scream of surprise came as the pounding feet skidded to a stop.

“Rikku!  Why are you sitting on Bakura’s face?!” came Ed’s voice.

“Whoopse…?”

The thong-clad rear end was removed, leaving Yami Bakura staring up at the night air, dazed, with a small trickle of blood escaping from his nose.  He was having one hell of a day… first he has a weird dream, then he was attacked by a bunch of weird creatures, then his world was destroyed, which deposited him on another world, and now to top it all off, someone who was barely wearing anything had decided to plop down on his face.

Ra almighty, what had he done to deserve this?!

He glared at the girl that had dropped in on him as Edward helped him stand up.  As he had observed before, she was hardly wearing anything.  Her top was nothing more than a bra, and the only thing that hid the fact she was wearing a thong was a very short skirt and utility belt.  Her arms were the only part of her body that was completely covered; she wore some kind of strange sleeves with what looked like bows on them.  A scarf that was yellow on the tips and darkened to red as the color progressed toward the middle was wrapped around her neck, and her long blonde hair was partially pulled out of her face by a large blue headband.

Yami Bakura pointed at her.  “Are you even old enough to be wearing that outfit?”

Rikku looked highly insulted by that, but the man (Squall, Leon, whatever the hell his name was) cut her off before she could get the chance to defend herself.

“What do you want, Rikku?” he asked harshly.

“Um… oh, right,” she began, having to had to think about it a moment.  “That little Keyblade guy… um… Sora?  He’s in really big trouble!  He’s surrounded by a ton of Heartless, and he doesn’t have a way out.”

Genuine concern flashed across Leon’s face, before his stony, uncaring expression returned.  He started to head for the large doors before them, only to stop when Rikku shouted after him.

“No, Leon!  He’s all the way in the Third District!  We’ll never be able to make it to him if we go the long way!”

“Then what do you –”

“We’ll just have to go the short way!”

Everyone turned to Yami Bakura in surprise as he walked the overhang that Rikku had fallen from.  He paused a moment, looking down at the Keyblade.  After a moment, he opened his hand, letting go of the weapon.  The key/sword disappeared almost instantly, as if going back into his very soul…

Yami Bakura shook off the chill that thought had caused, before reaching up and grabbing hold of the overhang.  With a good heave and a grunt of effort, he vaulted up onto the roof the overhang was attached to, landing easily in a couch.  He turned around on his heels, looking down at the others below.

“Hey, stripper girl, short stuff!” he called down, a sadistic grin on his face.  “Get up here already!”

“Who are you calling a grain of salt?!”

Yami Bakura’s grinned widened, getting a really good look at Ed as Leon gave him a leg up (Rikku was making it up on her own just fine).  His teasing was well founded; Edward was short.  He could not have been any taller than Yugi for that matter, and that particular runt was only five foot.  However, where Rikku was wearing hardly anything, Ed was very modestly dressed.  He wore at black shirt (it seemed to be long sleeved) and pants trimmed with white, and the shirt was cut in such a manner that the tomb robber could see another black shirt underneath.  Over all that, Ed wore a long red, hooded overcoat, which had an odd circular and dagger-like pattern on the back.  He also had white gloves on his hands, and looking at the way his entire body was covered up like that, coupled with the fact that he seemed much older than he obviously really was, Yami Bakura could not help but wonder if he had something to hide…

Once they were all up, Ed motioned down for Leon to join them.  The scarred man just shook his head, however.

“I’m going to go warn the others,” he said, before nodding to Yami Bakura.  “You have a Keyblade, and while I don’t know how you have it as well, you seem to be more suited to it than Sora.  Use it well.”

Yami Bakura watched him leave, a frown on his face.  “What the hell was that about?”

Rikku giggled as she stood up.  “That’s just Leon’s way.  He was a leader on his world before it was destroyed by the Heartless, so… ‘ya know…”

Yami Bakura did not know, nor did he want to know either.  The three of them set off along the rooftops as fast as they could, Rikku leading the way.  She was surprisingly fast, considering her clumsiness, though the tomb robber had little difficulty keeping up with her.  To his surprise, Ed was not having problems either.  Maybe all those clothes he was wearing hid some serious muscle or something.

“So, these Heartless things,” Yami Bakura began, jumping over onto another roof, “are they those weird black things?”

“Yeah,” Ed answered from behind him.  “The little black ones seem to be the basic units.  They’re usually all over the place.  They get bigger though, and they’re not always black.”

“Then how can you tell it’s a Heartless?” the tomb robber asked.

“Well, when it attacks you…”

He turned his head slightly to toss the small boy a glare.

“All Heartless except the small Shadow Heartless have a symbol somewhere on them,” Rikku said, before another shouting match could break out.  “It sort of looks like a broken heart.  You’ll know it when you see it, trust me.”

Yami Bakura was about to reply, when the sound of fighting under them reached his ears.  He raced ahead to the next rooftop, and looked down to a small courtyard far below.  There, a small boy who could not be any older than fourteen was fighting with all his might, using a Keyblade that looked nearly identical to his.  Along side him were a duck d