Marik appears next to Kairi " hey mrs. Kairi where is everyone?"

Kairi jumps. "Oh, Marik....you scared me." She says, leaning back in the chair she was sitting in. "Well according to Chip and Dale, Sora went to Olympus. Riku has disapeared and Axel and Mario have evacuated Mariya. Darren escaped and attacked. I'm not sure where Axel went though..."

Marik nods "can I help any of them?"

"I'm sure they'll be fine. But if you want to you can go find Riku. He was last headed to the Royal Knight Baraks.

Erik runs in and bows to Kairi. "The Heartless are retreating, your majesty. Darren seems to have left as well. All is going according to plan. Also, Sora has returned from Olympus."

Kairi smiles. "Thank you Erik, your dismissed."

Erik bows again, and runs off.

Marik nods "as you wish Mrs. Kairi" He disappears in a cloud of black smoke

Riku walks out of the barracks and sees a black cloud in front of him

Marik steps out of the cloud "Hey ummm mrs. Kairi was wondering about you, and ummm some guy named Darren escaped"

Riku nods "I know I was just making some preperations for his caputre"

Erik comes up then, and sighs. "Well apparently he chased after Axel when he left. The heartless are retreating as we speak." He reports.

Sora enteres the library and finds Kairi there. He fets a chair and sits next to her. He kisses her cheek, and smiles. "Don't worry, I'm sure Axel can handle Darren if it comes down to a fight."

"Let's hope so." Kairi says, trying not to look worried.

Riku and Marik walk into the library

Riku looks at Sora "find anything out Sora?"

Mairk looks around "ummm I think I'll go help out with stopping this Darren guy, I could probably beat him in a fight"

Kairi shakes her head. "If he comes back, you can go fight him, but otherwise it's best to stay here." She says, leaning on Sora.

Sora shakes his head. "Nothing important." He says.

Marik nods "I'll finally get to use my weapons!" He summons The Lost Soul

Kairi laughs, and leans against Sora more. "Why don't you go find Xamira? I'm sure she'd like to spar a little."

Marik looks confused for a minute"...oh the girl nobody, ok"He runs off to go find her

Xamira is still in the gardens, but she is staring blinklessly at the ground.

Marik walks up to Xamira "hey there I have a question"

Xamira doesn't answer at first, still staring at the same spot on the ground. She shivers after a moment, and looks up at Malik. "Alright, ask away." She says, before rubbing her face a bit.

Marik loses his focus until she speaks"ummm wanna have a sparring match with me? I need to burn off some extra energy

"Sure." She says, smiling. She then summons her Dragons Fury. She then goes to a wide spot in the garden, and takes up a defensive crouch, holding her Keyblades ready.

Marik smiles and summons his Lost Soul and Gate Keeper"ready when you are"

Xamira nods. She attacks at Merik, the keyblades coming at him in the same direction.

Marik swings his keyblades at her and moves to his left

Xamira jumps, avoiding the keyblades. She swings her kayblades again aimg for his left side, but at the last second, she swings the white Dragons fury at Marik's right side.

Marik gets hit and swings his Gate Keeper at Xamira's left side

Xamira dodges, rolling on the ground, and repeats her last action, but reversing it.

Marik jumps up and over Xamira and tosses one of his keyblades into the air "nice move"he swings his remaining keyblade backwards

"Thankls." Xamira says as she blocks.

The sword that Marik threw into the air comes falling down inbetween the two of them

Axel walks up to Chip and Dale "hey can i switch gummi ships and can you send mine to Disney Castle please?"

"Sure Axel." Dale says, before running over to Axel's gummi ship.

Chip runs over to a gummi ship. He disapears inside it and some noises are heard before he reapears. "It's ready to go!" Chip says, before jumping off the ship.

Xamira freezes, and stares blankly at the sword. After a minute or two, she shakes her head. "Uh...do you know where I can find Sora?" She asks.

"ummm yea sure follow me"He grabs the keyblade and walks towards Sora's study

Axel hops in to the ship "thanks you guys are life savers"

{Axel to Beast's Castle}

Xamira follows Malik, her keyblades disapearing after a bit.

Marik knocks on the door"ummm mr. Sora?"

"Come in." Sora says from inside.

Xamira goes unto the study, and shuts the door behind her. After a half-hour, she comes back out, pullig her hair back. "So, where were we?" She asks.

Marik looks up from what he was doing"huh, oh we were sparring"

"Right." Xamira says before going to the sparring grounds, once there, she finds a spot and summons her keyblades again.

Marik walks over and summons one keyblade takes a defensive stance

Xamira attacks, and rapidly stabs at Marik.

Marik blocks blocks a few of the attacks and then hops backwards

Xamira lunges at his, swinging her keyblades from different directions.

Marik swings his key blade straight down to intercept her path

Xamira jumps over Marik, and goes to strike his back.

Marik drops to the ground and sweep kicks Xamiras legs

Xamira jumps, but falls as she lands. "Ow." She says as she sits up.

Marik stands up"sorry about that"he extends a hand"hope i didn't hurt you"

Xamira takes his hand, and with Marik's help lifts herself up. "I fell on my own, stupid ankles buckled." Xamira mutters.

Marik smiles and pulls her up"ok"

"Well, you won that one." Xamira says, smiling.

"nah let's call it a draw" Marik smiles "your way faster you would have won"

"If you say so." Xamira says with a shrug before she sits on a bench, and rubs her ankles.

Marik sits next to her "so how long have you been away from the world that never was?"

"A long time....." Xamira mumbles. "Strangely, I really don't remember being there at all.."

A dark doorway appears inside the castle, opening as Mario rushes out, heading for Sora's study.

"oh I left a little while ago" Marik looks off into space "after the Orginization fell through"

Axel rushes out after Mario

Xamira gets a blank look on her face again. "Man...Sorry, I need to see Sora again." Xamira says, before running out. She stops when Mario and Axel run passed. "Where's the fire?" She mutters, before following them. Once caught up with him, she asks Mario. "Is there something I missed?"

Mario does not respond, rushing toward the study and bursting into the study. "Sora, we got a big problem," Mario states, and the look on his face is enough to tell the whole story.

Axel rushes in behind him with a mixed look of worry and anger

Marik nods and gets up to go find Kairi

Sora had been talking to Merlin and another man, but froze as he looked at Mario. "He didn't...." Sora mutters. He then composes himself. "Mario, Axel, this is Yen Sid." He says, motioning to the other man.

Yen Sid nods twords Mario and Axel before turning back to Sora. "As I was saying, there has been a disturbance in the universe since Darren's escape."

"I'm afraid I still can't track him down Sora." Merlin says, looking worried. "He's hiding himself well."

Sora sighs. "This can't be good." Sora mutters.

"If it helps...I saw her.." Xamira says.

"I beg your pardon?" Yen Sid asks.

"Xamira can, in a limited way, see the future." Sora says.

"I can't make out exactly where it is..but it looked to be a mansion." Xamira says.

"Twilight Town." Yen Sid mutters, before turning to Merlin. "We shall work on a way to keep Darren inprisoned."

Merlin and Yen Sid leave then, disapearing as the lift goes down. Sora stands. "You three head to Twilight Town. If possible...take Darren down. But be careful..we kow this much: In ways...he's not human."

Xamira nods. If Mario took the time to notice Xamira's heart felt significantly stronger. How could that be?

---

Kairi was walking down the hallway, and see's Marik. She smiles. "Did you have a nice spar with Xamira?" She asks.

Mario nods and turns to leave, but he pauses, glancing back at Xamira. "...Xamira, can we talk?" he asks.

Marik nods "but I think somethings wrong with your daughter, because I saw those two guys running towards Sora's study"

Axel nods " but I'd feel more comfortable with some more help"

Riku walks into Sora's study "hey whats going on?"

Kairi looks worried. "I'm sure they'll take care of things." Kairi says.

---

"Darren got ahold of Mariya." Sora reports to Riku. "Round up some volenteers for a rescue mission."

Xamira nods, and goes to the library, after checking no one else is there, she sits on the desk. "What's up?" She asks.

Mario follows Xamira and sighs. "Xamira, for some reason, your heart seems to be growing increasingly stronger. I don't know why, but there has to be a reason."

Axel leans against a wall and sighs

Riku nods "but all of the knights are on duty else where the only able fighters are you, me, Axel, Mario, Xamira, and Marik"

"You know if Kairi heard that she'd kick your but." Sora coments. "She might have not fought for awhile, but she can defend herself. But anyway, We'll have to settle with just the people you named."

Just then the computer on Sora's desk beeps. He sits up straight and types. "Mariya just sent an SOS from Twilight Towns computer. She says Darren's in town...."

---

Xamira seems to think. "I'm not sure why." She says before pulling a picture out of her pocket. She shows it to Mario, revealing a picture of Mariya at Sunset hill. "I think she's the one I'm looking for..."

Mario raises an eyebrow, looking at the picture. After a second, he begins to look back and forth between Xamira and the picture. "...Come to think of it, you do look a lot like Mariya...so does your heart signature..."

Riku laughs "I'd rather not involve her" he turns to leave "I'll let every one know" he walks off to find Marik

Marik was in the garden when Riku walked up

Riku taps his shoulder "we need you help getting back the princess" he turns to leave

Marik nods "ok anything to help out mrs.Kairi" he stands up and follows Riku

"Which possibly could explain why my heart got stronger." Xamira says, before pulling back her bangs. She pulls out a random photo album and sticks the picture between two random pages before putting it back.

---

Sora nods and leaves the study. Once he finds Kairi he kisses her. "Take care of Radiant Garden while we're getting Mariya, alright?"

Kairi nods. "Be safe." She says, before kissing him. Sora nods before going to the Gummi hanger to wait.

Mario is silent before he turns. "We'll discuss this later," he says before he walks away, having to meet the others in the Gummi hangar.

He soon arrives. "Sorry I'm a little late. Had to confirm something."

Marik and Riku both walk into the gummi hanger

Axel walks in to the hanger "sorry i'm late"

Sora nods. "Isn't Xamira coming?" He asks.

"I'm coming." Xamira sighs, coming into the Gummi Hanger.

Sora nods, and gets in his gummi ship. Xamira climbs in as well. He waits for anyone who gets in, before taking off.

{Sora to Twilight Town}

Mario gets in as well, putting his Royal Knight necklace back on after having found it downstairs for some reason.

{Mario to Twilight Town}

Riku, Axel, and Marik hop into Riku's gummi ship and take off

{Riku to Twilight town}