Chapter 7: Twilight Town: Organization's Flame

Like with Seifer, Vivi struck first. The small being made a feint to the legs that nearly got Roxas had Toshiro not tried something similar before and instead lifted the bat up to block Vivi's real strike to his shoulder. The blonde countered and knocked Vivi back, earning a few points. It continued like this, with Vivi making his quick strikes and Roxas waiting patiently to counter them, earning him a few points each time. But he was already wearing down, that much Toshiro could tell as the blonde began to sweat profusely and pant quite a bit.

The time warp came and Toshiro tensed, stepping closer to the platform. The Nobody would surely make its appearance now that it had Roxas trapped by himself. Well, almost by himself.

'If this gets bad I'll have to grab Hyorinmaru.'

Roxas looked around, realizing everyone but Toshiro and Vivi was frozen in place, closed off from them. He turned back to Vivi as the small creature lit up in a bright white light and began to grow. Once it reached the size of a person the glow went away and revealed the white bodied Nobodies. What's more, three others appeared and surrounded Roxas.

'Not good, I didn't expect more of them.' Toshiro growled and vanished with Flash Step to grab his zanpaktou.

Panicking slightly, Roxas turned to where Toshiro stood only to find the boy gone. Had they taken him away? He looked frantically for a way to escape his enemies but they were closing in on him with their strange hypnotic movements.

Light enveloped his hand and the Struggle bat was replaced with the giant key he'd used while training with Toshiro. With the strange weapon in his hand Roxas stamped out his panic and took his stance, fully prepared to fight off the mysterious creatures.

A few blocks away, Toshiro snatched his zanpaktou from his temporary room and leaped back out the window, racing towards the sandlot. Two of the four Nobodies were already dead but he felt another presence approaching, a stronger one.

"Get your act together, Diz, they're slipping through." He grumbled under his breath, putting Hyorinmaru onto his back before drawing the blade out.

With one more Flash Step he rushed into the sandlot just as Roxas took down another one, the last of them coming up behind to strike him while he was distracted. Toshiro took care of that quickly with a fell strike of his blade, the Nobody disintegrating into blue light the way Hollows did when killed instead of the white and black that appeared when felled by the Keyblade. He needed to look into that later in case that was dangerous.

"Is that all of them?" Roxas said between pants, still worn out from the battle with 'Vivi'.

"All of the small ones." Toshiro replied, turning towards the newest arrival just as the thin man in black started clapping. At the sound, Roxas whipped around to face him.

"Roxas. All right. Fight fight fight." The man's voice sounded cocky and Toshiro's eyes narrowed. At least he wasn't Diz's companion. "And you too, little guy."

"I'll slice you to pieces." Toshiro growled, eyebrow twitching at being called short. This seemed to make the man in black laugh.

"Who are you?" Roxas demanded, stepping up next to Toshiro.

"You really don't remember?" The man stepped a little closer. "It's me, Axel."

The hood came off, revealing a pale skinned man with crimson hair that spiked wildly to the back and bright green eyes, small black triangle marks underneath. When the hood came off Toshiro got a better feel of the man's Spiritual Pressure and scowled as he realized this Nobody had a fiery power. Fire and ice don't mix; he gripped Hyorinmaru tightly.

"I don't know you." Roxas replied to Axel's introduction.

"Talk about blank with a capitol B." Axel sighed. "Man oh man, even the Dusks aren't gonna crack this one."

He held his hands out to the sides and fire lit up in a bright circle, summoning crimson chakrams with silver spikes into his hands. The heat increased in the area and on reflex Toshiro let his Spiritual Pressure rise, cooling the area back off. Axel frowned and darted a glance to either side of him as if looking for something.

"Wait a sec!" Roxas held his Keyblade up. "Tell me what's going on!"

"By the looks of it he's here to kidnap you." Toshiro replied, readying Hyorinmaru.

"Bingo." Axel smirked. "This town is his creation, right? Which means we don't have time for Q and A."

He hardened his glance at Roxas and both boys tightened their stance.

"You're coming with me, Roxas, conscious or not. Then you'll hear the story." Axel spun the chakrams in his hand and smirked. "As for your friend I'll have to take him out."

"Good luck trying." Roxas muttered and Toshiro smirked ever so slightly.

The area around them warped and Axel straightened up, scowling at the glitches.

'Hurry up, Diz.' Toshiro growled mentally and leaped at Axel while his guard was down.

"Whoa!" Axel was much quicker than Roxas as he blocked the icy blade and countered with his second chakram, knocking the ice Captain back with fire. "Watch it now, that sword is sharp, ya know?"

"That's why I'm using it." Toshiro snapped back.

"Wait!" Roxas called out to Toshiro before turning a glare on Axel. "What's going on?!"

"Number Thirteen; Roxas." Axel replied and the blonde looked at him strangely. "The Keyblade's chosen one."

"Okay fine!" Roxas held the Keyblade up. "You asked for it."

"Way of Destruction Number Thirty-One," Toshiro chanted under his breath, "Red Fire Cannon!"

Fire shot from Toshiro's palm and towards Axel. The Nobody's eyes widened and he held his chakrams up in defense as the Kido shot hit him. Though it pushed him back a good distance, the fire did hardly any damage itself.

'At least I cleared that up; whatever type of power they have they are immune to it. For him, that's fire.' Toshiro mused and lifted his hand for a different Kido shot.

"I don't know what that was but it's useless!" Axel snapped. "And I'm not going to let you try again!" He lit up a chakram and threw it.

"Way of Destruction Number Four, Pale Lightning!" Toshiro used the blue lightning once more and knocked the chakram out of the air and a few feet away, only for it to reappear in Axel's hand.

"Quit that!" Axel growled.

The Nobody switched his attention to Roxas as the blonde struck at his side with the Keyblade. He prepared to throw Roxas off with his second chakram, the first holding back Roxas's Keyblade, when Toshiro darted forward and stabbed Hyorinmaru through one of the opening in the weapon and pulling it downward, leaving Axel trapped.

"Damn you." Axel snarled.

"Not done yet." Toshiro replied and released some of his Spiritual Pressure into Hyorinmaru. The temperature dropped and ice seeped from the blade onto the chakrams, rapidly freezing it to the ground and Axel with it.

Axel seemed startled at first at the rapid flow of ice before grinning and kicking Roxas away from him.

"Burn!" He shouted and Toshiro pulled away just in time as fire erupted on the chakrams and broke through the ice in an instant. "Ha, you've got a long way to go before you can beat me with ice, kid!"

"You've got a lot to learn if you think I'm done." Toshiro snapped back, twirling a silver chain in his hand with a sharp crescent shaped blade at the end.

"Hey…where did that come from?" Axel frowned, noticing the chain was attached to the end of the long blade in Toshiro's hand when he didn't remember there being a chain before.

Instead of replying, Toshiro tossed the chain forward and Axel threw a chakram to intercept. The crescent blade hit it midair before curling around it and freezing it solid, Toshiro pulling it over to him. With it being covered in Toshiro's ice, Axel couldn't summon it back, something the Nobody realized quickly and scowled at.

"My turn!" Roxas shouted out as he rushed at Axel from behind, Keyblade striking for the tall man's chest.

The strike was blocked with a chakram and pushed aside, Axel then lighting himself on fire and countering with the flaming chakram. Roxas blocked but was pushed back. With the blonde backed off, Axel lifted his hand and summoned a sphere of fire.

"Move, Roxas!" Toshiro darted over with Flash Step and grabbed onto Roxas before rushing them both over to the edge.

In that split second, Toshiro's hand brushed over the Keyblade and the Captain felt some of his Spirit Energy get sucked into the weapon. He let go of it immediately and took a step away in shock while Axel spun around to go for another attack. All three of them paused as the Keyblade glowed brightly with icy blue-white light that Toshiro recognized as the light of his own Spiritual Pressure.

"What's happening?" Roxas's voice came out panicked.

When the glow dimmed the Keyblade had changed shape. The shaft was now icy blue with spikes on the back that led up to the teeth end, which was shaped like a dragon's head, mouth open with ivory teeth and crimson eyes. The handle was just like the hilt of Hyorinmaru with icy wings around it, the keychain resembling a smaller version of the chain on Toshiro's blade, crescent-blade included.

'His Keyblade…it took on Hyorinmaru's powers!' Toshiro realized, eyes widening.

"Tch, so you got a new Keyblade form." Axel scowled. "But it looks like it's an ice based, which means it will be easy to win this!"

Just then the area warped again, bringing with it this time Diz. The man in red glared fiercely at Axel while Roxas looked at Diz with a confused expression.

"So it was you." Axel growled, spinning his chakram, the other still laying frozen and useless further away, and lighting it aflame before tossing it towards Diz.

Toshiro caught that one with the chain-blade too and pulled it towards him, catching it and tossing it back with ice still attached. The Fire Nobody scowled dangerously at the Captain while melting off the ice.

"Roxas, this man speaks nonsense." Diz turned to the blonde. "Stay with Hitsugaya."

"Ya kidding?" Axel snarled. "Don't let him deceive you, Roxas!"

"You're both liars." Toshiro snapped and lifted Hyorinmaru above him. "Leave!" He cut through the air and a wave of icy water rushed towards both figures before freezing over in an instant. Axel had used a dark portal to escape seconds before and Diz was truly just a bunch of data, the real one safe in the real world. It was the only reason Toshiro was willing to attack them both and he saw it as a good opportunity to earn Roxas's full trust.

The virtual world warped once more, Roxas looking around in panic, and Toshiro darted back over to his previous position after breaking the ice as time restarted.

The cheers subsided as reality registered for the observers with Roxas standing on the platform, Struggle Bat in hand, and Vivi out in a daze on the platform.

"What…What just happened?" The announcer's voice echoed in a confused tone. Toshiro and Roxas shared a glance, the former silently warning Roxas not to say a word.

Vivi stood and looked around in a daze before wobbling his way off the platform, wondering how the Hell he'd gotten from his room to the sandlot stage in the blink of an eye. Rushing past the confused creature was Hayner, Pence and Olette.

"Roxas!" Olette called out excitedly. "You did it!"

"Er, yeah." Roxas replied, putting on a fake smile to try and appease his friends. He still didn't quite know what to make of the event but he was willing to follow Toshiro's lead and act like nothing had happened.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Roxas! Our new top Struggler!"

Whoo! New Keyblade power! He'll figure out what happened later on as he starts putting things together (along with another conversation with Diz) so don't worry. Hope the fight with Axel was okay. Enjoy!