vs Lurkers

It had only been a few minutes for Roxas, but for him it might as well been an hour.

He was sweating, had a few small cuts on his arms, and was more exhausted then what he first thought he was.

The Lurkers had not let for a single second. They kept lashing out with either fireballs, their claws, their spear like tails, or-

"Roxas, get down." Lightning ordered as a yellow glow filled the smoke.

The Nobody complied and barely dodged a torrent of lightning emitted from the Lurkers.

They also seemed to have the nasty habit of emitting lightning from their body at random and a strike from that was quite a bit more painful then their fireballs.

Add in the smoke, scales that even Oblivion could barely scratch, the ability to heal and absorb Thunder spells, fast enough to attack before he could cast Reflect and any higher tier spells, and their coordination made these Unversed difficult to kill. If it wasn't for Lightning then there was a slight possibility that it would have probably been over for him by now.

Speaking of which, it was a testimate of skills that she was only winded by these attacks. She was hardly hit by any of their attacks unlike him and her skills her blade actually felt more damaged to them. Still with their healing it was hardly making a dent in Unversed.

So for the past few minutes it has been nothing, but dodging their attacks while counteracting with blades, spells, bullets, and the occasional kicks. Every other moment was spent defending the other by either parrying and attack or launching a projectile to counter one of their attacks.

It has pretty much been a standstill at this point, but the Lurkers keep gaining ground little by little. It was only a matter of time until someone made a mistake.

Two fireballs were launched from the sides and a stay claw came careening towards Roxas's head.

The Nobody aimed his Keyblades at the fire balls and sent a quick Aero from the tips that bore through each of in turn blocked the claw strike.

Which Roxas paid back by blocking tail strikes from 2 of the Lurkers almost immediately. The Unversed pulled back before they unleashed a salvo of fireballs and lightning. The two of them split up, but that was a mistake.

The ranged attacks stoped and the Lurkers covered themselves with electricity. They left out in to the air and flew after the two and blinding speeds.

The Unversed didn't let up and Roxas and Lightning could barely dodge, their reflexes pushed to the limits. It was difficult to keep up with the Unversed, a single miss step could lead to serious harm by getting rammed into them.

So they spent about another minute dodging before Roxas noticed that all four of them gathered and tried to ram into Lightning.

"Water!" Roxas said, casting the spell from both of his Keyblades before performing Strike Raid for good measure.

The Keyblades flew into the spells and got coated in water before striking two of the Lurkers.

The Unversed roared in pain as the water now coating part of their bodies caused their attack to effectively short circuit and damage them. The Unversed stoped their attack and crashed into the other two, spreading the effect to them.

Lightning pulled out something from her pocket and pulled a pin before tossing the object towards the Unversed. A moment later the object exploded, causing the Lurkers to yell in pain some more. Lightning shifted her gunblade and unloaded the entire clip as the Unversed all crashed onto the ground the ground. Roxas retrieved his Keyblades and casted a low powered Blizzard, clipping one of the Lurker's tails.

It trapped the Unversed as the rest of its kind fled back into the smokescreen in order to heal.

It tried to pull itself out, but Lightning reload and fired three shots at the Lurker. It tried to launch a fireball at her, but the Nobody threw at it Oblivion. Causing it to force it's head and launch it into the smokescreen and a painful roar to emerge from one of the other Unversed.

Giving Lightning just enough time to shift her weapon back into its blade form and rammed the entire thing into the Lurker's mouth, the blade piercing the skull.

The Unversed let out a small roar, before it's eyes dimmed and exploded into a puff of darkness.

One down, seven to go.

The Lurkers took offense to that and with a loud roar unleashed a barrage of lightening bolts all over the place, forcing the two of them to duck down onto the ground.

This continued for a minute before the two of the Unversed coated themselves in electricity once again and proceeded to try and ram into them while the third one was taking pot shots at them with fireballs.

Roxas and Lightning jumped up from the ground as a fireball nearly hit them. For the next minute or two they were dodging the charging Unversed or the fire balls.

Eventually the fireballs stopped as the third Lurker switched to bombarding them with lightning while the other Unversed stopped their assault.

The Nobody sidestepped a few of the bolts before he felt his arms being bound. He saw that the other two Lurkers had crept up on him and were trying to wrap their tails around him and attempting to wrestle the Keyblades out of his hands.

Roxas tried to struggle for a few moments before he spots the third Lurker diving towards him, covered in electricity, intent to finish him off.

It never got the chance to as Lightning jumped in front of him and took a few shots, but the Lurker kept charging despite the shots all hitting it. So when it was about a foot away from her, she shifted her weapon once again and landed a powerful slash across it's eyes, blinding it.

The blinded Unversed pulled back as it roared out in pain, but not before lashing out with it's electrified tails at Lightning.

Both of them connected with her and she groaned out in pain as she crashed down to the ground, but not before landing another slash with her weapon.

As both Lightning and the third Lurker crashed to the ground, the other two let go of Roxas and tried to lunge at her, but he pointed his Keyblades at them.

"Aero!" He casted, pushing the Lurkers back and caused the two of them to crash into each other and down into the ground. The Unversed tried to untangle themselves, but Roxas was prepared for that and proceeded to pour most of his magic into a single spell.

"Reflect!" Roxas casted, focusing the spell over the Lurkers instead of himself.

A few moments later the Unversed untangled themselves, but were now trapped inside a dome of light. They tried to claw themselves out, but due to the amount of magic the Nobody placed into it it would take them a bit to actually break out.

Roxas dispelled Oathkeeper and reached into his bag to pull out one of his newly purchased ethers and downed it in one gulp. He then turned his attention to healing Lightning, but saw that she had already gotten back up and finishing up a potion.

"You could have done that earlier." Lightning said while pointing at the trapped Lurkers, cracks starting to appear on the barrier at their attempts to break though.

"Not really, these Unversed move faster then it takes to cast the spell." Roxas said, getting her to nod.

"Fair enough." She said, before dodging an incoming fireball and firing at the third Lurker. "Though could work on improving the casting speed."

"Cut me some slack, I only just got the hand on it not that long ago." Roxas said as he blocked the Unversed's claws with Oblivion, before pushing it back with an Aero. "Besides I can work on improving it after we make it out of this, can't let myself get rusty after all."

"Perfect response." Lightning said before jumping up and kicking the Lurker into the ground, cratering it.

She then launched about two more shots at the downed Lurker before it got back up and started to charge electricity.

Only for it two short circuit when it was once again hit by a water covered Keyblade.

Lightning landed next to the Nobody just as Oblivion returned to his hand.

The two then looked at each other and wordlessly knew what to do.

Roxas shifted into the stance that Terra taught him and rushed at the Unversed.

It swiped with it's claws, but Roxas blocked it and was pushed back a little bit.

As Roxas continued to block the attack, the Lurker was unprepared for Lightning who jumped up from behind the Nobody and shot it three times between the eyes. The Unversed roared out in pain and pulled back, but that turned out to be a huge mistake. Lightning shifted her weapon into its blade form and Roxas resumed his stance. The both of them slashed at it, with Lightning's momentum and Roxas's strength dealing extra damage to it.

The Lurker collapsed to the ground before Lightning once again shifted her weapon. The two of them launched a shot and fireball respectfully at the downed Unversed, making sure that it stays down this time.

It twitched for a second before exploding into a puff of darkness.

They didn't have a moment to rest as the barrier broke and the remaining Lurkers launched fireballs at the two. They side stepped them and launched a volley of bullets and spells at the Lurkers, scattering them back into the smokescreen.

Roxas summoned Oathkeeper and Lightning reloaded her gunblade. The two of them gave each other a nod before leaping back into the fray, intent on finishing the rest of the Unversed off.

"Looks like the Lurkers are going to need some more fine tuning then I thought." Vanitas said as he leaned back onto the roof.

He knew that they need some adjustments, but not like this.

Two of them were dead and the other two struggling against the combined might of Lightning and Roxas, two of them were struggling against Braig, one was having trouble getting the little Princess of Heart from the scientist, and the final one was having trouble keeping up with haired girl that kept pelting it with pebbles.

Clearly he needed to do a quite a bit of adjusting when he had the time if he wished to kill the Valkyrie.

Vanitas just sighed as he went back to writing in his book, he needed this done soon after all.

"Got to hand it to him, the brat did a good job with these things." Braig said before he teleported away from an oncoming charging Unversed.

These things were actually giving him a decent warm up, with a few minor adjustments he was sure that they could actually stand a chance at killing Lightning.

Something he was reluctant to do, but knew that Xehanort saw her as a threat and if she ever got word of what was truly going on, then it would be a massive hindrance of she interfered.

Shame that she was too damn stubborn to convince otherwise.

He was broken from his musings when he was tackled into the ground by one of the Lurkers. It then launched a fireball point blank at him.

"Well that was rude." Braig said as he teleported behind and upside down above the Unversed. It turned around, only to be pinned down onto the ground by laser arrows."I just got this thing dry cleaned."

He teleported away and brushed himself of before once again doing the same as the other Lurker launched a barrage of lightning at him. It looked around for a bit as it's target disappeared, before feeling something tapping on its shoulder.

It turned around, only to find itself being choked by Braig with a single hand.

"Any reason on why you want to kill me you little brat?" He asked, only getting the Lurker to growl at him. "I see then, how about I give you one then, a reason other then Xehanort."

The Lurker tilted it's head in confusion, a look possible mirrored by Vanitas itself.

"If you are wondering why, well things have changed...that and I could use a little fun." Braig said with a grin. "Now I just need something to kill."

A fireball promptly crashed into his back, and did absolutely nothing.

"That would do it." Braig said before throwing the captive Lurker, and with a flick of his hand was paralyzed. "You might not want to look away from this Vanitas."

The other Lurker tried to rush at him, but plummeted straight into the ground as gravity increased on it.

"You wanted your reason, well here it is!" Braig shouted before he released a small pulse of magic, enough for only the two Unversed to sense. He then looked to see the stunned expressions of the Lurkers and tapped his foot.

And the Lurker suddenly found itself impaled by rocky spikes. They rose up and down like the waves of a raging sea, impaling the Unversed with each movement. Add into the fact of the increasing gravity and all the beast could feel was immense pain as the spikes continued to bore further and further through it's body. A few seconds later a spike bore cleanly through it's skull and the Lurker was put out of its misery.

Another foot tap and the ground was restored back to normal.

"So how about that, hope you didn't miss it because I am a little out of practice. It has been years since I have cut lose even a little bit after all." Braig said with a grin, stopping the flow of magic and releasing his hold over the Lurker.

Which in turn let out a hate filled roar and in the distance he could sense Vanitas boiling over.

"So you did see it, well that is good." Braig said before drawing both of his arrowguns. "Then bring it on!"

The Unversed let lose an even more powerful torrent of lightning and Braig just grinned, this was going to be a bit more fun then he thought after all.

(With Vanitas)

Vanitas dispelled his book and was taking in deep breaths in order for him not to explode and alert everyone in Radiant Garden to his presence. Despite the wisps of darkness surrounding him threatening to burst.

He knew that magic signature quiet well after all, although he had never interacted with this one at all before. There was only two people who had ever had that same signature and he was quit familiar with the other person who had it.

The fact that she had long since been pronounced dead only confirmed who he was.

That fact combined with the fact he was still alive only made him hate him almost as much as Xehanort, almost. He needed to die for abandoning them all for that hellish war!

'My liege, what is going on?' The sentient Unversed conversed, slightly calming him down.

"About ready to level this city if I have to just to get rid of the traitor!" Vanitas spat out angrily. "Speaking of which, can you keep this line open, but do not contact me all the while."

'Of course my liege, but if I may be so bold as to ask you why?' The Unversed asked.

"Simple, just in case things go wrong. I want you not to speak with me again until I contact you again, even if I cut you off my. Do so and I will give you a reward no other Unversed has earned...a name. An actual human name. Do you understand?" Vanitas said.

'Of course my liege!' The Unversed said excitedly, before going quiet.

"Good now next time we talk, spill everything you see through your own eyes or through our link." Vanitas said, while chuckling at the Unversed's antics before frowning. "Now to the rest of you Lurkers-"

"Help me!" The ancient Keyblade wielder was broken from his orders as he saw the Lurker finally caught the black haired girl.

"...Okay then, the rest of you pull back and engage Braig, no the traitor alone. I want him dead at all costs!" Vanitas ordered, darkness radiating off him in waves at the last part.

He opened a Corridor of Darkness and walked through it, intent on blowing off as much as his anger as possible without flooding the city in Unversed. He need as much of a clear head as possible as he was sooner or later about to comfort a Foreteller after all.

(Back in the Town Square)

Roxas knew something was wrong when he sensed waves of darkness that obviously came from Vanitas along with a flicker of something inside of him. The closest he could describe was a sense of dread, but not from himself.

But from Ava.

He didn't have long to dwell on it as the flicker disappeared soon after and a minute later Vanitas himself.

However at that moment the two Lurkers let out a rage filled roar and halted their attacks.

Roxas and Lightning stayed on guard, just incase the Unversed tried anything else.

Instead the smokescreen cleared and there was no trace of the Lurkers anywhere. The two of them surveyed the surrounding area, before Lightning sighed.

"What did Braig do this time?" She said with a groan.

Following her general direction, Roxas wondered the same thing himself.

It the middle of the plaza was a massive column of smoke emitting fireballs, lightning bolts, and laser arrows every few seconds.

It seems like Braig has a habit of trolling people just as much as his Nobody did. But still, what did he do to piss off Vanitas like that?

He didn't get the chance to think about, as he sensed something else a miss.

"You have got to be kidding me." Roxas said as he looked up to see a Lurker flying above their heads, taking pot shots at the smokescreen while carrying a struggling Yuffie in its claws.

"Let go of me you stupid snake!" She shouted while kicking it in the chest, only annoying the Unversed.

Finally just to check all of his bases, he looked over to where he saw Even and the kids were and saw a Lurker with it's tails frozen to the wall that was trying to fly off towards were Braig was. Not faraway from it, an exhausted looking Even was being dragged along by Rosso and Weiss while the younger kids were running away.

So there where three areas to chose from and he was not to keen on helping out Braig that all, and judging by the look on Lightning's face neither was she.

The Nobody waited for a minute, waiting to see what was the plan of action, before Lightning winced and Roxas saw why.

And immediately wished he hadn't.

Even heaved himself to his feet as Weiss and Rosso helped him up.

He might not have been proficient in magic like Braig or Dilan, but he had a decent grasp of ice magic. Still he would admit his reserves were piss poor and had poured every last bit of them into temporarily freezing it's tails in place.

Thankfully now it seems to have switch its sights on Braig from Kairi, as he didn't know how much longer he could have defended her and the kids from the Unversed.

"Bloody hell geezer, you really need to lose some weight!" Rosso exclaimed as Even finally stood up on his own.

"Rosso, one more remark out of you and you are going to get it!" Even said sternly, getting g the girl to huff.

"I would like to see you try ge-" Rosso was cut off when the Lurker managed free on of its tails and sent chunks of ice everywhere, with one of them nailing her right in the head. Time seemed to slow down for Even as the girl crumbled down to the ground. Weiss rushed to check her and the eldest apprentice prayed to whatever out there that there was no blood.

However all hope was immediately turned to ashes as Weiss's pulled a hand back from here and there was a smidge of blood. Rosso woke up a second later and felt the scratch on her forehead. She lowered her hand once she felt the blood and started to do something that made Even's instincts to scream one thing and one thing alone. Run!

Rosso started to laugh.

A soft laugh that chilled his very heart to the bone.

A laugh not out of place from that of a serial killer.

Weiss made the smart decision to back pedal and get the hell out of there before grabbing Nero.

Even soon followed suit and grabbed Kairi.

"Wait, what about Rosso?" The girl questioned from his arms.

"I'll get here as soon as I grab the tranquilizers. I would be more worried about the Unversed!" Even shouted as he ran even faster, not wanting to be around when the girl progressed to the further stages of her blood rage.

Rosso just stood there for a moment before she started to pick with her scratch, spreading the blood around her forehead as the sound of her laughter increased and her face flushed red.

The Lurker broke out of the remaining ice and roared in annoyance at the girl's laughter, accidentally making eye contact with the girl. That proved to be a fatal mistake.

The girl's laughter stopped for a moment before a crimson aura appeared around her. As the Lurker looked on in confusion, Rosso vanished. It soon felt something pull on one of it's tails and was immediately slammed back first into the ground.

The Unversed looked up and immediately knew that it was fucked.

Rosso was crouched down on it's chest, staring at the Lurker with glowing crimson eyes and laughter coming from the feral grin that spread along her flushed face.

She continued to laugh as she tried to claw into the Unversed's chest and tried to draw blood from it to no avail.

The Lurker picked itself off the ground and flew off, hoping to shake the girl- no, the monster off and get back to its orders.

But Rosso was clinging on, intending to draw as much blood from the Unversed or herself as she possibly could, even if it meant for the the Unversed to died.

She couldn't die after all, there was so much blood out there to spill after all!

The girl just laughed harder out that, frightening the Lurker even more.

It was at that moment, that it knew that this girl would be the death of it.

"So that is what Weiss meant about not getting blood on Rosso." Roxas said, wondering what in Kingdom Hearts name was causing the girl to act like this.

He had never heard of a phenomenon like this and was pretty sure that if he had a heart it would be beating in terror at the sight of what this girl was doing.

"As you can see, we all try our damndest to keep blood away from Rosso. Otherwise she would fly into a blood rage and try to kill the first thing she locks eyes with. Even and Master Ansem are at a loss of words to figure out what is causing it. But what I do know is that we have nothing to worry about while she is keeping focused on that Unversed." Lightning said while cocking her gunblade.

"And she will be focused on whatever she sees next after killing it." Roxas sighed out, getting her to nod.

"Correct and that would be you." Lightning said, getting another sigh from the Nobody.

"So I take it that you help Braig and I deal with Rosso and the other Lurker." Roxas said, getting her to nod. "Alright anything I should know about Rosso."

"Just try to stay out of her way and keep her from scratching you or herself. The more blood smeared on her the stronger she seems to get. Also just hold her off until Even can get tranquilizers to knock her out, if she finishes with the Unversed first." Lightning said before she jumps into the smokescreen and starting to open fire.

"Noted." Roxas said, before seeing that the Lurker in question was flying around on the other side of the plaza with Yuffie still kicking its chest.

Now he had to figure out a way to get to the Unversed without it dropping Yuffie?

He looked around for a little bit before finding a solution, a fire escape on one of the nearby buildings,

"That will work." Roxas said as he rushed towards it, a idea formulating in his mind on what he was gonna do.

All he need was just the right moment for it to work.

(In the smokescreen)

Lightning moved through the smokescreen, trying to find her fellow apprentice. Despite no matter how much he might be a pain in that ass, they still worked underneath Master Ansem. Meaning there was a certain level of comradely between them, no matter how much she wanted to knock some sense into him daily.

Or how much she didn't really trust him anyway, she could never get a clear read on him after all.

After a minute of walking and dodging various projectiles and returning fire, she found Braig teleporting away from from a barrage of lightning bolts and two charging Unversed. She proceeded to open fire, halting the charging of the Lurkers, giving Braig enough time to unload a Both clips full of laser arrows at them and pushed the Unversed back into the smokescreen.

"Reload!" He called out before teleporting next to Lightning. "Took you long enough to get here. But still shouldn't you be keeping an eye on that kid from earlier"

"He'll be fine,, I've seen him fight. So I know that he can handle one of them unlike your sorry ass." Lightning said before ducking under a trio of fireballs.

"For your information I killed one of these things before the other two showed up. Still if you say so." Braig said before teleporting out of the way from a charging Lurker. "Anything else I should know."

"The kid is rescuing the little brat that keeps running over your foot." She said while dodging some more lightning bolt and charging Lurkers, getting Braig to groan in annoyance. Much to her small satisfaction. "Also he is dealing with the problem child."

"Don't tell me..." He said before hearing the familiar bone chilling laughter starting to emerge from the smoke. "Ah great and now she is triggered, could be all day with her."

"Hopefully not, Dilan is still complaining about his broken ribs." Lightning said as the Lurkers stopped firing at them as Rosso crashed the one she was attacking directly on top of one of them.

The Unversed picked itself up and frantically shot fireballs at the girl in an attempt to either get her off or kill her.

However Rosso was having non of that that and clambered onto its head and tried to pull its horns off. This caused the Lurker to start firing wildly, fireballs hitting everywhere. Crippling the other Unversed trying to fly out of the way, and for Lightning and Braig to dodge the random fireballs. With one of them hitting the latter mid teleport and sending him crashing into the ground.

Rosso kept this up for about another minute before jerking the Lurker's horns up and getting it to fly away, with one of its tails smacking the downed Unversed beneath it.

"I feel sorry for the kid if he has to deal with her in this state." Braig groaned out as he picked himself up and started to open fire on the downed Unversed.

"He'll be fine." Lightning said as she shifted the weapon and stabbed at Lurker's wings, clipping them. "Even is getting the tranquilizers."

"Fair enough." Braig said before shooting the Lurker in the eyes, blinding it.

It discharged a barrage of lightning bolts and forced the two of them back. It glowed green and most of it's injuries healed up.

Only to be fired at point blank by Lightning in the head. The Lurker roared out in pain, only for Lightning to shot it in both of it's eyes. It tried to back away, but a swing of Lightning's gunblade sent the Unversed crashing back into the ground.

Once again it tried to get up, a fireball forming in it's mouth. But Braig teleported above the Lurker and unloaded a barrage of laser arrows, the end result was it looking like a giant pin cushion with the sheer amount of laser arrows sticking out of it.

Still it fought through the pain and tried to attack Braig with the fireball still forming in its mouth.

Until Lightning impaled the Unversed where it's heart was with her gunblade.

The Lurker let out a defiant roar and launched it's under formed fireball at Lightning, only for her to pull out her blade and sliced it in half. The two halves collapsing onto the Unversed and forcing her to jump back as they exploded. A moment later the Lurker let out one final roar and it's eyes went dim before exploding in a puff of darkness.

Lightning flicked her blade before dodging the electric covered forms of the remaining Lurkers. They tried to fly back at her, but Braig's shots only drove them off.

"So any idea how to kill these two off, because I am starting to get sick of this." Braig said as he kept firing at the Unversed. "And please tell me that they don't involve Rosso showing back up, because I do not wish to be attacked by that hellspawn,"

"Quit your whining Braig, I already have a plan." Lightning said while shooting at the Lurkers, before pulling something out of her pocket. A grenade. "We just need to lure them into the correct position."

Braig did a quick double take before bursting out into laughter, figuring out her plan.

"Now that is a plan I can get behind!" Braig said with a grin before firing at the Lurkers with even more ferocity then before! "This is going to be so much fun!"

Lightning could only sigh at her fellow apprentice's antics before taking precise shots at the Unversed, setting them up for her plan to take effect.

(In the Town Square)

Roxas crept along the roof of a building, stealthy approaching the Lurker flying about with Yuffie still shouting and kicking at the Unversed. He had approached this Unversed a few times before with it flying away to snipe at the smoke column with fireballs.

Luckily it hadn't seen him or he didn't want to know what it would do Yuffie.

Still he crouched towards it, intent to act upon his plan. The Unversed charged up a fireball and the Nobody made his move.

He broke out into a sprint and kept off of the roof, grabbing at one of the tails. His weight caused the Unversed to jerk downwards and for its grip on Yuffie to loosen a little bit.

She looked down at the Nobody and grinned.

"Catch me!" She shouted before becoming a human misspelled and slamming into Roxas. He winced as felt one of his ribs was probably bruised from the impact alone. He adjusted his grip on her with one arm.

The Lurker finally caught site of him and was about to launch it's frieball at him when the Nobody sensed something and made a slight addition to his plan.

He channeled magic to the hand griping the tail and did something he had never did before.

He casted magic without a Keyblade, but it had drained more magic then what he usually did with a Keyblade.

"Fire!" The Nobody casted while releasing his grip, the spell hit it below the mouth and distracted it for a moment.

The single moment needed for Rosso to crash her Lurker into it and slammed the Unversed into the nearby building before pulling away, once again trying to claw her own Lurker to death and laughing all the way.

Roxas clutched Yuffie to his body with one arm as they fell, ignoring her screaming. With his free arm he summoned Oathkeeper and pointed it down wards.

"Aeroga!" The Nobody casted, generating a whirlwind beneath him and slowing down their fall. The intensity of the wind kept them a float for a few moments before Roxas gently land back on the ground, with Yuffie still screaming and clinging onto him.

"You can let go now." Roxas said, getting her to stop screaming. Yuffie looked around for a moment before burying her head back into his chest.

"Nope" She said, her voice muffled by his clothing.

Roxas could only sigh at that as he, with some effort manger to pry her off with one arm.

Only for Yuffie to cling onto that, the girl sticking her tongue out at him.

Whatever Roxas was going to saw was cut off by a massive roar. Looking up he saw that the Lurker had pried itself from the wall and was glowing green.

It focused it's gaze onto the two before letting out a roar and covering itself with electricity. It pushed itself off the building and charged at them, smoke trailing behind it.

Roxas rolled out of the way of the Unversed, making sure not to injure Yuffie.

He got back up and Yuffie hide behind him. The Nobody pulled out an ether and quickly downed it.

Just in time to block the claw strikes from the Lurker with his Keyblades. It roared in his face before pulling back into the smokescreen.

He needed to be extra careful while dealing with this one. It might just be one Lurker this time, but he still had to worry about Yuffie behind him. One wrong miss step and she could end up injured or worse.

"Look out!" Yuffie as she tried to push the Nobody down, which he allowed her once a bolt of lightning nearly grazed his head. The Unversed had started to rain a torrent of lightning from above them, and Roxas once again had to pick the girl up in order to avoid her getting hit by one of them.

This continued on for a few moments before it stopped, Roxas was once again on guard with Yuffie clinging to him. The Lurker appeared from above him, coated in electricity and trying to ram the two of them.

"Water!" He casted, swiping his Keyblade in an arc in order to to better chance of striking the Unversed. But it rolled out of the way and charged right at them, specifically targeting Yuffie.

Roxas placed the girl down and threw Oathkeeper towards the Lurker, but it dodge once again. The Nobody got in front of Yuffie and blocked the Unversed's attack with Oblivion, grunting as pain shot through his arms from the force of the attack.

"Take that and that!" Yuffie shouted as she threw pebbles at the Lurker, only for it to get annoyed and continue its attack. The Unversed continued to push Roxas back and to break through his block, until Oathkeeper returned and nailed it in the back of the head and dispelled the electricity.

Roxas caught the Keyblade and proceeded to wail at the Unversed. For a few moments he caught it off guard before the Unversed regained its composure. It fought back with it's claws and tail spikes in an attempt to either slash or skewer him.

However Roxas kept up with its attacks and blocked and parried the Lurkers attempts to attack him, only missing a strike from one of its tails and getting his shoulder cut. However he had managed to land some hits on the Unversed. This continued on for about a minute before it tried to launch a fireball at Roxas, only for a pebble to land down its throat.

"Bullseye!" Yuffie cheered as the Lurker choked on the rock.

Roxas took the chance to slam Oblivion into his head, but a sphere of magic appeared at the end of Oblivion much to his surprise. The sphere slammed into the Unversed head and a burst of magic pushed both the Unversed and Nobody away from each other and crashed into the ground.

"What the heck was that about?" Yuffie asked as Roxas crashed next to her.

"A technique misfiring." Roxas said as he got up and dusting himself off, the answer being true. Honestly he was a little surprised on that.

He had just used Gravity Break, a technique Sora learned during his first journey.

It was basically slammed a sphere of condensed gravity on the target and crush them under the increased gravity.

It was an effective technique, but it seemed to have one hell of a recoil if the pain in his arm was of any indication.

No wonder Sora only slammed it down on opponents and both arms for it. One more use like that and there was a good chance he would fracture the bones in his arm.

The Nobody was mulling over on where he had got the technique, he didn't get the similar feeling from Ava so he chalked it up to Sora. His Somebody did master the technique sometime before he was created after all.

Maybe he could ask Terra about it later, for now though he had to protect Yuffie.

"Neat." Was all she said, before screaming. One of the Lurkers tails wrapped around the girl and lifted her up.

"Let her go!" Roxas shouted, brandishing his Keyblades and was about to attack when that Unversed leveled its other tail at the girl and glared at him.

The message was clear, drop the Keyblades or else.

Reluctantly, the Nobody complied and dropped his weapons, getting the Unversed to relax it's tail.

However the Lurker gave Roxas a savage grin, and tried impale Yuffie.

However, it's eyes glowed gold and it roared in pain before it let go of Yuffie.

The smoke started to clear away and the Unversed cried out in pain before its eyes turned back to red, looking a little fearful this time. However the fear soon turned to rage as it tried to launch a fireball at Yuffie.

Roxas summoned his Keyblades and rushed at Yuffie I order to help her.

But she already had it covered.

"Take this!" Yuffie shouted as she threw a bottle at it's eyes. It broke and the Lurker roared out in pain as it tried to get the class out it's eyes. Roxas rushed next to the girl and raised Oathkeeper.

"Reflect!" He casted, forming a barrier around the two.

"Are you alright?" Roxas asked, crouching down to make sure there was no injuries on the girl.

"I'm fine." She said as the Nobody noticed that she was alright and pulled back. Causing her to pout for some reason.

Before the Nobody could question about that, there was a crash on the barrier. The two of them turned to see that the Unversed had tried to ram into the barrier, but had been repelled and crashed into the ground. It got back up and covered itself in a green aura, but it immediately shattered over it.

This had proved something the Roxas thought when he saw the Unversed's eyes glowed gold.

He didn't know how it happened, but he had a feeling Vanitas was behind it.

Obviously attempting to kill a child crossed a line with him, so he seemed to have stripped some of the Lurker's powers and left it to its fate.

It was still going to be a little difficult, even without the ability to heal itself or the smokescreen to hide in with Yuffie.

"So we just wait here until this drops." Yuffie asks while fiddling with an empty bottle.

"Correct." Roxas said before noticing the bottle in her hand, it was one of the ether bottles he had used earlier.

He usually kept these bottles on him as he learned from the Moogle that worked with Organization that Moogles recycle the bottles and filled them back up with the same contents and gave them back for half price. And considering the amount he had on stock and used for missions, the Moogle was glad for the business and eventually did the refills for free.

Although he also did say that Moogles also cared less if the bottles were broken or not as there were replaceable and the fact most people discarded the bottles after they used it. It just meant more money for them from unknowing customers as they hardly talked about this practice..

Still he should have really expected this from Yuffie, she did admit to Sora that she was a kleptomaniac once and that would explain where that bottle came from.

"Can you please hand me back whatever you took from me?" Roxas asked, surprising her.

"You found me out, that's a first." Yuffie said before handing him the bottle back. "That is all I took."

The Nobody just gave her a flat look.

"Alright fine." She said, pulling out the crystallized sea shell which he immediately pocketed.

He was about to admonished her for taking it, as he had no problem with her about taking the ether bottle when he got an idea. One that he thought that she would like to hear.

"Look of you are going to tell me wrong for stealing, go ahead." Yuffie stated.

"Not exactly, I have an idea that you might like..." Roxas trailed off, not wanting to let slip the fact that he knew her name due to time travel. It would be rather trivial to talk about that after all.

"Yuffie, the name is Yuffie. And what is it?" She asked, gesturing for the Nobody to get closer. He did and whispered his idea into her ear, getting the little girl to nod as they separated.

"I don't like your idea, I love it!" She shouted with a grin, swiping away the ether bottle once again. "A toast to your glorious plan..."

"Roxas, it's Roxas." He said before grabbing a potion and held it out to her. Yuffie did the same with her ether bottle.

"Cheers!" They chorused as they clinked their bottles together before Roxas downed the whole thing.

"This is going to be amazing!" Yuffie cried out as they placed the empty bottles down on the ground and began their plan.

Meanwhile outside of the barrier the Lurker stalked them, intent on pouncing and killing the two of them for it earning its king's ire.

Specifically the little girl.

It got its wish when the barrier dropped a minute later.

"Remember Yuffie-" "I know, I know. Stay behind you and I've only got two shots at this. Don't worry I got this Roxas." Yuffie interjected, getting the Nobody to nod as he summoned his Keyblades.

"Then lets do this." Roxas said as he threw both of his Keyblades at the Lurker, but it flew above them and coated itself in electricity. It dove down towards Yuffie, unaware of the two grinning.

Everything was going all according to their plan.

When the Unversed was directly over head at Roxas, Yuffie pulled out one of the bottles and grinned menacingly.

"Take this!" Yuffie shouted as she threw the bottle.

It crashed into the Unversed's head, shattering into glass shards and dosing the Lurker in water.

It roared out in pain as it's electricity worked against it and crashed down to the ground, collaiding with Roxas's Keyblade along the way.

The Nobody caught them and rushed towards the down Unversed for a few moments before it recuperated and pushed him back with it's tails. It tried to claw at him, by Roxas either dodged or parried each strike.

Roxas then noted that the attacks where starting to more frenzied after continuing for about a minute. The Unversed must have been nearing its end and without the ability to heal itself it was going to die. And it knew this.

He managed one more hit on the Lurker before it spat a fireball at his feet, forcing him back. It then continued it's barrage, intent on keeping Roxas as far away from itself as possible.

Roxas kept back, dodging incoming fireballs as it kept spitting them out, intent on making sure that none of them hit Yuffie.

All he had to now was wait for the right moment to strike.

The Lurker continued to shoot fireballs for about another minute, before deciding to switch tactics and began shooting out lightning bolts all over the place in an attempt to hit the two of them.

However, that turned out to be a fatal mistake.

"Your finished!" Yuffie shouted as she threw the second bottle, hitting it square in its chest and once again shattering.

The Lurker wailed our in pain as it shorted itself out, giving Roxas time to rush towards it.

But the Unversed was not so keen on going down like this and tried to spit out a fireball.

"Blizzard!" Roxas casted from Oathkeeper, the spell landing and freezing its mouth open.

While the Lurker tried to pry the ice off, Roxas dispelled Oathkeeper and pulled Oblivion back.

"Here goes nothing." Roxas muttered as he began to focus magic to the tip of the Keyblade, a sphere of magic formed at end of it. Once he was a few feet from the Lurker, he jumped up and proceeded to swing the Keyblade downwards.

"Gravity Break!" Roxas shouted as the Keyblade made contact with the Unversed's head, detonating the sphere.

The gravity contained poured down onto the Lurker's head, pushing it to the ground and breaking the ice inside it's mouth. The Unversed didn't even had the time to roar as it's head was effectively crushed to the ground.

It's body went limp soon afterwards and effectively vanished into a poof of darkness.

The Nobody just panted as collapsed onto his knees, he was exhausted from all the spells and the fighting.

It has been one hell of a night for him after all.

"That was amazing!" Yuffie shouted as she ran next to him. "The way you landed that final blow was especially awesome. It's like you're a pro at this!l

"Actually I kind of am." Roxas admittedly, getting Yuffie to get starry eyed.

"Can you please teach me. Please, please, please!" She yelled excitedly, getting Roxas to chuckle.

"Maybe when your older." Roxas said getting her to pout.

"No fair, everyone always says that." Yuffie groaned out.

"Maybe because they just want you to enjoy being a kid, hunting down things like the Unversed isn't exactly something I'd recommend for everyone. So for now just wait around before deciding such a thing." Roxas said, wanting the girl to continue to enjoy he normalcy until the day comes and this world fall to darkness.

If it ever happens in this timeline that is.

"I'll think about it." Yuffie said after a few moments of thought, getting the Nobody to smile.

"That is all that I ask for." Roxas said getting the Yuffie to nod, before her face turned into one of horror.

"Behind you!" She yelled, and Roxas turned behind him to see the fading form of a recently crashed Lurker.

And no sign of Rosso anywhere.

He scoured everywhere around him while moving in front of Yuffie in order to shield her from the blood crazed girl. After a few moments of searching he found Rosso, crouching on all fours like an animal and with quite a few more blood smears over her face and arms.

They stared down a minute, before she laughed and vanished in a burst of speed.

He didn't have that long to react as he felt her hands around his neck and her laughter in his ears.

She was trying to choke him to death from the behind.

Roxas dispelled his Keyblades and tried to pry Rosso off of him, with a frantic Yuffie throwing rocks at her in an attempt to get her off as she was now trying to claw his throat out.

This continued on for a few moments, before one of the pebbles hit Rosso square in the eye.

It provided Roxas enough of a distraction to grab onto the girl and throw her off of him.

Rosso hit the ground for a second before straightening herself up and focused on Yuffie for throwing the rock.

She let out a batch of laughter as she shot towards her, only for Roxas to get in the way and slam her into the ground.

However Rosso pushed him off and tried to claw at him. The Nobody barley dodged a few of her strikes before she grazed his arm and drew a little blood.

She laughed even harder while smearing it on her arms and tried to claw him again.

Only for the sound of a gun shot to emerge and something to strike Rosso in the back.

The Nobody looked in the distance and saw Even about halfway across the plaza, armed with a rife and took another shot at the girl.

And another.

And another.

By the fourth shot Rosso started to sway side to side, by the fifth her laughter died down, and by the sixth shot she collapsed face down onto the ground and her back lined with tranquilizer darts.

"Isn't that a little excessive?" Roxas questioned Even as he approached.

"When it concerns her, not really. Whenever Rosso gets like this she heals pretty quickly, otherwise she would have been hospitalized by the sheer amounts of infections she could get in that state." Even said, before shooting another dart into her twitching form for good measure. "A few hours and she will be up, hopefully still not in this state anyway."

"I see, well then will she be alright?" Roxas asked as the scientist picked her up and slung the unconscious girl over his shoulder.

"She will be fine, once it gets out of her system she will be fine. Sadly she will remember everything, but thankfully she never killed anyone before. I hope the two of you can forgive this girl, she has absolutely no control over this." Even sighed out.

"It's alright, it wouldn't be the first time." Roxas said, muttering the last part under his breath so Yuffie wouldn't hear. Though it seemed like Even did and gave the Nobody a concerned look.

Only making him wonder what happened to him, as Vexen was nowhere near this level of caring around other members of the Organization minus Lexaeus and Zexion.

"If Roxas forgives here, then so will I." Yuffie said.

"I'm glade to hear that, and so will Rosso when she wakes up." Even said with a small smile. "Anyway Yuffie follow me, your mother is back at the castle."

"What about my dad. Is he passed out drunk again?" Yuffie asked, getting the older man to sigh.

"Sadly he is, I swear with how much of a deadbeat Godo is your mother hasn't snapped yet." Even said, getting the girl to sigh before running up to Roxas and hugging Roxas.

"See you later Roxas." Yuffie said a little sadly, before Roxas returned here hug.

"Don't worry I'll be back, so I will see you then Yuffie." Roxas said, before separating from her.

"Okay then, so I will see ya!" Yuffie shouted while smiling before running off, getting the the Nobody to chuckle.

"Anyway please come back soon Roxas, at least for her's, Nero's, and Kairi's sakes. The later two have stated that they would like to see you again." Even said.

"Don't worry, I will." Roxas said, getting Even to nod before he walked away after Yuffie.

Once he was halfway across the plaza Roxas sighed and walked towards the remaining smoke column.

(In the smokescreen)

He had delt with Yuffie and Rosso, now he needed to deal with the remaining Lurkers If Lightning and Braig hadn't yet, then he could call it a night.

Lightning was starting to lose her cool as she swung her gunblade at on of the passing Lurkers as it tried to charge her.

Her plan involved corralling the two Unversed into a position were they could do the most damage, but it hadn't been going as effectively as she wanted as the two mainly picked on either her or Braig and kept them separated to fight them just one on one before disappearing into back into the smoke.

It had gotten to the point where she had one clip left and was not willing to us it without her plan being set into motion.

So she had to resort to using her blade in order to fight off these things when they got too close for comfort.

"Any idea when these things will let up?" Braig asked as he teleported out of the way of a few lightning bolts.

"The first chance we get." Lightning said as she rolled out of the way of an incoming fireball. She dodged a few other fireballs and was about to strike and incoming Lurker.

Before a black sword slammed into it's head.

A sword similar to the one Roxas had earlier.

The sword then went back to presumably it's owner and the Unversed both followed its course.

Giving them the perfect chance to act.

"Braig it is now or never!" Lightning shouted as she shifted her weapon's form and emptied her entire clip onto the Lurkers, each shot hitting its mark before throwing down her weapon.

The Unversed looked down and saw her throwing her weapon away. Coating themselves in electricity then dove down in order to finish this once and for all.

The Lurkers were right, but not for them.

In the middle of their descent Braig teleported above them and shot a barrage of laser arrows into the air above the two Lurkers before teleporting infront of them.

"Surprise!" He shout with a grin before pulling out the two grenades Lightning gave him, throwing it into the Unversed's mouths, and them teleporting away just as the laser arrows came raining back down onto the Lurkers.

They crashed onto the ground and were pinned down by the arrows so they couldn't move at all as the grenades exploded inside their mouths.

Braig teleported in front of the where the Lurkers crashed to see to his surprise that one of them was still alive, but barely. It rose its head up and began to charge up a fireball. Braig just raised an arrowguns at it.

"Bang." Was all he said before firing.

However a bullet hit the Lurker's head before his laser arrow, end the Unversed's threat once and for all.

Braig just shot Lightning an incredulous look as the smoke started to dissipate.

"I thought I had emptied my clip, turns out it had only jammed. Now it is empty." She said while sheathing her gunblade.

"Yeah, yeah spoil my fun by taking my kill why don't ya." Braig grumbled as he put away his arrowguns, before noticing Roxas sending them a quick wave before walking towards an alleyway, his swords dissipating in his hands. "Do you think we should go after him?"

"I will, you go back to the castle." Lightning said, reaching for her blade.

"I believe you should leave him alone." Someone said from behind them. Lightning and Braig turned around and saw Even while carrying an unconscious Rosso.

"7 shots, two less then last time." Braig said, with a whistle.

"It probably would have taken about the same amount to knock her out if she hadn't been engaging that Unversed and then Roxas. Speaking of which, you need to leave him alone for now Clair, I believe that he earned it." Even said with a sigh.

"And why should I. Hey obviously knew something more about this Vanitas then what he told us about, and in that note it said that he was targeting him next." Lightning said, getting Even to nod.

"I see, if that is your reasoning, then go and check the alleyway. But I doubt he would be there. If this Vanitas is targeting him next, then he will be gone. The kids all seem to like him, unsure about Rosso all that much and considering the damage the ruffian unleashed just to kill you Clair, imagine what he would unleash against Roxas. It would be safer for them if he had just left, as he wouldn't want to put the kids in harms way." Even said, getting her to sigh.

"I can get that, but what makes you think he will be back with Vanitas gunning for him?" Lightning questioned.

"He seems like the kind of person who can actually back up his promises, a rarity these days. So with that and the possibility of being half as stubborn as you are, I have no doubt that he will be back." Even said. "Speaking of which, Clair Master Ansem wishes to talk to you, about opening fire into an open crowd. Also Braig can you watch over Kairi until her grandmother comes, I need to run some tests over Rosso before I can check up on Nero."

"No complaints from me." Braig said, before letting out a chuckle at Lightning's predicament.

"Shut up." She said flatly, before walking towards the castle with Braig and Even in tow. The former with a grin marring his face.

Things were about to get interesting soon enough.

(Castle of Dreams)

A tired looking Roxas emerged from a Corridor of Darkness outside of Terra's tent.

He had completed his objective, fought a strong Heartless, gotten more questions then answers, fought some tough to kill Unversed, and finally tussled with a blood crazed girl.

It was time to call it a night.

He walked into the tent and shook the sleeping form of Terra, who woke up with a yawn.

"Time to switch then Roxas..." He trailed off as he noticed the scratchs on the Nobody's arm, the one he had gotten from Rosso that hasn't faded yet even after repeated uses of potions and Cure. "Unversed I take it."

"Yes, it was not that long ago and they were a bunch of strong ones." Roxas said, half truthfully. Omitting the fact about the Ras Al-Gul and Rosso. "I had it handled and you told me to get you if the Unversed proved to be too much, which they weren't."

"Alright you got me there Roxas. Anyway how long have you been awake?" Terra sighed out.

"Four or five hours." He said, getting the older apprentice to sigh.

"I see, well then get some rest then Roxas. You have more then earned it. You'll need it for the training tomorrow morning. Also new rule, if you see any Unversed during your shift wake me up. No exceptions, understood Roxas?" Terra asked.

"I understand." Roxas said, walking past Terra. "Good Night Terra."

"Good Night Roxas." Terra said.

He walked not even three steps away from the tent before hearing the sound of something collapsing. He turned around and saw that Roxas had passed out onto the tent's floor.

"Poor kid was more exhausted then I thought, I'll give him an extra hour to rest tomorrow morning." Terra said as he sat down next to the fading fire and began his watch.

(Chapter end)