To somehow ease my boredom, I decided to create another story, this time with Kingdom Hearts and a mix of other non-Disney shows. This is the first of the series. The story takes place a few months after KHII when Sora and Riku receive Mickey's letter, and one month after Chapter 201 of -man (I've disregarded Ch 202 and will break off from there). I decided to begin with -Man, with little reason why...

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix, and -Man belongs to Hoshino Katsura. This applies to all chapters of the story.

The Diabolical

Chapter 01 – The Other Worlds

"More worlds?" Sora asked. He really didn't like the sound of this.

Mickey nodded. "I apologize for telling you this too late, but we will have to postpone the Mark of Mastery exams. Leon had just called in to alert us about it, and we are afraid that these worlds are in grave danger."

"What's happening to them?" Riku asked.

"I suspect that Heartless are taking refuge in these new worlds, and we need to purge them as soon as possible before any havoc can occur."

"We will look to them as quickly as possible, King Mickey," Riku nodded.

"Thank you," Mickey bowed his head, but shifted his gaze to all four subjects. "However, you will encountered different environments. I'm not sure if these worlds are safe for road trips, but the people there might not be friendly with you as the ones in my kingdom here. These worlds are out of my jurisdiction. So, you might have to be careful with dealing with people."

Sora and Riku nodded, with Goofy and Donald following.

"But, since the both of you are 'trainees,'" Mickey smiled. "I grant you access to all areas of the Disney Castle and Gummi ships."

"Awesome!" Sora pumped his fists in the air, and Donald gave the boy a disapproving gaze. Mickey chuckled at the enthusiasm. He glanced at the clock, and leapt off his throne and onto the long crimson carpet.

"I'll have to take my leave immediately," Mickey walked towards the doors of throne room. "We can't stand around idly while worlds are in danger of being consumed."

The four of them were left in silence as the door shut on them. Donald sighed again, his hands falling to his sides.

"Another adventure… again…"

"Aw, cheer up, Donald!" Sora patted the duck on the back. "You enjoyed the worlds we visited last time."

"Speak for yourself," Donald folded his arms. "Goofy and I had to hound you all over the place like a mom chasing her kid in a zoo. You call that enjoyable?"

"Hey, I'm sixteen already!" Sora frowned. "You don't have be that overprotective!"

"Hmph," Riku smirked. "Remember when you got lost on the last day of school's field trip to the city? You sure bawled your eyes out."

"Now who said I was 'bawling?'" Sora attempted a punch at Riku's shoulder, but was evaded. More laughing and petty arguments continued, until Donald realized how much time they wasted.

"Come on!" Donald impatiently pointed at the door. "We can't keep the King waiting forever!"

"Donald, let me take the wheel," Sora pleaded. "I took driving lessons back at home."

"That's different!" the duck shouted. "A car is totally different from a Gummi ship! No! You will not drive!"

"Aww, give him some slack, Donald," Goofy grinned sheepishly, as usual. "Sora hasn't crashed the ship ever since we went to Deep Jungle. You let him drive a few times before this."

"I still can't trust him with it!" Donald folded his arms in defiance. Riku sighed in exasperation.

"Look," He grumbled, shoving all three of them out of his way. "I'll drive. Because Donald, you're getting old, and Sora, I'm older than you."

The duck and the Keyblade wielder gaped at the silver haired boy.

"Good idea, Riku," Goofy clapped his hands, and received glares from both Sora and Donald. "Hey, we're not arguing anymore, right?"

As soon as they were all seated, Riku started the engines, and they took off. Donald and Goofy gazed in awe as the silver haired boy was able to dodge the asteroids without rocking the ship. As soon as they passed the cluster of space junk, they found themselves in open space. Riku put the ship on auto-pilot and turned towards his teammates.

"The King said he's going to investigate those new worlds, and will see if they contain Keyholes," Riku told them. "And since we're helping out, too, we'll have to find someplace to land. We won't be able to identify these worlds' names because they're not in the register."

"So our job is to register them?" Goofy asked.

"It looks like it."

"But that sounds hard," Sora leaned on his chair. "We don't know where the Keyholes are. And who knows if one of the worlds is larger than the ones we've visited last time."

"That's right," Riku nodded. "That's why the King had all four of us coming along. We can split into pairs and start looking. No one will have to go by themselves, hopefully."

"What about Mickey?" Sora asked.

"The King can handle himself," Donald replied. "But still, we might have to look out for him."

Riku then turned around and with a quick intake of breath, he scrambled to the control panel again. Sora tried to get a better view of what was outside, but it seemed normal to him.

"Riku, what's wrong?"

"There's a big storm out there," Riku scowled. "We'll have to get through it to reach the other worlds."

And there it was, a large cloud of debris with some flashes of electricity going through it.

"That's not good…" Goofy shook his head. The ship was edging closer to the menacing cloud, and Donald began pulling at the tassel on his hat.

"Hey, aren't you driving?" He shouted.

"I am," Riku growled, pushing up more buttons and steering the wheel quickly. "But this storm is attracting the ship, and we can't get out of it."

Everyone wore anxious looks as they watched the many clouds of dust pass by them. Then panic came when a large asteroid came their way. Riku began to swear and tried pushing more buttons but to no avail.

"Everyone, brace yourselves!" Riku shouted. Donald and Goofy quickly jumped into their seats. Sora hung onto the armrests of his chair, his back against it. Instantly, the ship lurched, and everyone shouted and hanging onto their chairs. Sora lost the grip of his, and he fell "down" to the ceiling. Donald noticed the boy against the clear walls and began to quack furiously.

"Sora! Watch out for that emergency escape!"

"Wha-" The ship was hit again, and he slide sideways to another wall.

"Riku!" Goofy shouted. "Put the gravity settings back on!"

"I can't! The asteroid knocked out something when it hit us, and I can't get the gravity to work! All the controls went down from the storm!"

The ship rocked abruptly, and Sora was feeling like a tossed pancake when his face hit a third wall. Donald was screeching at the top of his lungs. Seconds later, the ship shifted sides, and Sora was flung into a door. He flailed his arms and legs, and the hatch clicked open.

A large gust of wind flew into the ship, and everyone began to cough and gasp for air. Sora realized he opened the escape hatch and struggled to close it again. His fingers fumbled for the knob. If he could just kick the air a bit and throw himself forward, he just might close it. His plans were stashed when his slippery fingers let go of the hatch, and he was too close to the door.

"Sora!" the others cried.

The ship was now spinning, and the Keyblade Master was sent flying out. He quickly made a grab for the edge of the door, and he tried to pull himself in. His fingers slipped again, and he was sent spiraling away, his ears feeling the distant shouts of name as he could feel the air leaving his lungs and then nothing.

A startling rumble of the dungeon cells woke its only prisoner, who scrambled to his feet and backed up into the corner farthest from the door. He tried to pull at the restraints on his arms, but nothing worked. He cursed loudly and backed up against the wall, hoping that the rocks will not tumble onto his head. Inspector Howard Link was running the best he could into the prison cell, his fingers fiddling with the keys as he sought to find the right one. The doors quickly opened, and the building immediately jerked sideways. The two stumbled to the floor.

"Walker!" Link shouted, "Get out!"

He wanted to ask what was going on, and he had no answer as the tremors increased, and he rolled to the side to dodge a boulder that broke the wall. Allen grit his teeth as he struggled to get up. He could hear loud rumbles and yelps of the people above, but he was immediately picked up by Link. He struggled as much as he could, only to be cornered right outside the hole in the wall. His chafed hands were numb from the weight of heavy chains dragging his shoulders down. Link made good distance between him and door, preventing the boy from going any further into headquarters. Allen cursed at the stupid tape on his mouth, which he could have used for swearing at the man, and instead, he shot the Inspector a dirty look. Link retorted with a glare just as feral, but he looked back at the closed dungeon cell.

"Go!" He angrily barked at Allen. "The Akuma coming after you, and we sure as hell can't let them take you or the 14th!"

Allen didn't budge. Akuma? They already found headquarters, again? But… how…? And that meant everyone was in danger! So why in the world was he not allowed to join his comrades?

"Go…" Link's furious steps kept him petrified. "You can't stay here. I'll rejoin you when my work here is done."

Before Allen could object, he was picked up roughly by the arm, and tossed unceremoniously out of the destroyed prison cell. Free fall and panic overtook him as his legs began flailing in the air, somehow wishing he could fly by just kicking. It wasn't long before his head connected with a hollow platform with the rest of his body. His head began to throb and soon after, his vision faded as soon as he saw soft hands pushing him up against the side of the boat.

Dahlia was an elderly lady, but her heart was just the same as it always was. She yearned for adventure, much to her late husband's dismay. Her husband… She had long since lost him since two years ago, and she felt nothing about it. The woman probably did, but she must have forgotten it.

She was sweeping the front of her small shop when a her eye caught a small streak of light falling from the sky. It was quick, and lasted only a few seconds. She concluded that it was near the forest. Immediately her strong urge to leave her evening work rose up inside her, as she felt a threat coming this way.

She looked back at her shop and to the woods. It was late evening, a bit too late for an old lady like herself to be running about. Oh, never mind that, anyways. She put away her broom, and lit the oil lamp next to the door. She took the lantern with her and closed the door from behind, and she hobbled onto the cobblestone path.

"Well, here goes nothing," She said to herself as she passed by the welcome sign of the town.

Blue eyes flew open followed by a strangled gasp for air. Sora sat up, clutching his chest from the previous sensation of suffocation when he was separated from his team. Come to think of it… where are they? He quickly got onto his feet, and saw no one in this strange dark swamp. He took a step in the dirty waters and immediately went knee deep into it. He sulked to himself, knowing that he'll probably be tossed into a long bath if he found a place to stay.

He trudged across the vast expanse of green algae, but he could not find anyone. Sora sighed and decided to find lodging and begin searching the next day, yet he was wary of the forest here. The depth of the water increased, and he nearly toppled in until he caught onto a bunch of logs and thick plants to walk on.

Then a rustle of leaves caught him off guard. He crouched lower, forgetting that fact that his clothes are getting soaked to chest level now. He unleashed his Keyblade and quickly shuffled behind a rock. Sora began to tense as he heard feet wading into the pond. The rippling water was growing stronger as the sound came closer. His breathing hitched momentarily when a larger wave passed by him.

"What are you doing here, boy?" An old lady's voice made him jump. "Come out, now. You shouldn't be playing around in the swamp at night."

Sora jumped out quickly, and met a wrinkly faced woman with a small boat. Her lantern flickered feebly and gave a strange untrusting feeling to her face. But Sora hurriedly swam to her, and climbed into the boat. As he exited the water, he felt the cold air hit him hard, and he began chattering his teeth when he fell back on the seats. The old lady chuckled, and she began to row.

"We'll have to take you to the inn," She laughed. "You'll need a long bath."

"Um… right…" He muttered, and he sat up carefully. In the direction she was going, Sora could see a small dock. Now why hadn't he seen that before?

The boat then stopped in the middle of the pond, and he looked at the lady with a confused expression.

"Wait… why are we stopping?"

"I can't let you pass… you see…" the old lady's back was turned as she stood up straight and erect, unlikely of any elderly person. "I have a small mission… to destroy little boys like you."

Fear flashed through Sora's eyes and he scrambled to his feet as well, and summoned his Keyblade. The lady laughed, and she didn't even look back.

"So, you do have an Innocence weapon, after all, little boy…" She continued. "Now, how about you see my own weapon!"

A gust of wind enveloped the lady, rocking the boat. Sora, unable to keep his balance, tumbled off, and burst out of the water. He swam to the more shallow parts of the area, and looked back at the boat. It was gone, and so was the old woman. Sora persisted, believing that she went somewhere and he had to find her.

"Looking for me, boy?" the old lady's voice seemed to echo behind him. Since when was there a cave near this pond?

Sora spun around, and saw nothing, and he tightened his grip on the Keyblade.

"Where are you…" he growled. "Show yourself!"

"I'm already in front of you, boy."

Before Sora could register anything, he felt pound deep into his stomach, and he was flung into a dead tree headfirst. His head began to throb painfully, and he shakily got up, his Keyblade still in his hands. His frustration grew, and he still couldn't see the lady.

"I see now," the lady taunted him. "So this little Exorcist seems to know how to stay alive a bit more than a useless Finder. Your Innocence didn't even shatter, it seems."

The new terms confused Sora even more. Exorcist? Innocence?

"What are you talking about?" He angrily shouted. "I am Sora, a Keyblade Master!"

"Oh, you made a new name?" the lady's voice echoed. "How arrogant."

"Stop being a coward!" Sora scowled. "Where are you?"

"Hm… I guess I'll do that…"

On a small island, the winds came back, and a strange metal body that resembled a snake rose from the small tornado. Its head was that of a deformed jester: mad eyes, wide grin, black stars. Sora gasped at the horrifying creature.

"W-What are you?" He crouched into a battle stance.

"I'm that same old lady, Exorcist." She answered. "Not really. She is long gone. I was only wearing her skin. But don't you know that… Exorcist Boy?"

"Don't call me that!" Sora jumped up and held his Keyblade up, planning a long strike down on her head. But her tail was faster and hit his stomach with such force he was tossed back into the water. He swam to the small islands, and summoned his Keyblade again. He tried it again, and dodged the tail, landing a blow onto the strange black stare on her forehead. He followed up with more attacks ranging from the neck to head, until he finished the combination with an impressive spin. He pulled back from the monster and watched it stand in awe, hoping it to explode. But he was answered with laughter.

"You really think that's going to stop me?" She turned to face him, unscathed. "Your Innocence must be very weak… Let me finish you in a quick way possible, and I brought some friends along for the party."

Out of the forest came crowds of people, the faces pale and expressions unnatural limp. Then all of them screamed and shouted as their faces stretched and twisted until metal wires and guns tore through their skin and eventually the entire body. Soon Sora was surrounded by strange balloon like creatures armed with guns and strange masks of agonized faces.

Sora was alarmed by the strange appearances of these new creatures. Guns were pointed at him, and he braced himself for rapid fire. The multiple series of gunfire began, and he quickly ran across the shallow shores of the pond, trying to find some way to destroy these things. He snapped into motion as he aimed for these balloon creatures. He whacked their sides and heads, but only small dents and nothing at all. He retreated to the middle of the pond. Why wasn't his Kingdom Key working on these? Weren't they Heartless? He aimed his weapon in desperation and watched it glow red.

"Fire!" He cried, and a ball of fire went straight through, leaving a hole in one of the demons, but it eventually wounded itself together. The snake-demon's grin widened, her eyes dilating in glee.

"Hm… what a weak Exorcist you are!" She cackled. "And here I thought I was a goner!"

Sora frowned. What did she mean by "Exorcist?" She had already called him that a few times, and that wasn't helping much at all.

"What are you?" He shouted. "Are you a Heartless?"

"Hm… so that's you call us…" the creature smiled, if she could.

"I need to put you out of your misery …" Sora growled, trying to think up of a good combination of attacks, but his train of thought was interrupted by an explosion of one of the "lower" demons. From the corner of his eye, another erupted into flames, yet he could see some bits of foreign metal splashing into the murky waters.

"Another Exorcist?" The snake cried. Both of them noticed a small hint of a person appearing behind the snake and disappearing again.

A strange yellow and green light zipped through the night, and a beeline of these spherical killing machines exploded. The snake-like demon swerved her head about, trying to find the intruder. Sora saw his chance to leap behind a nearby willow tree without her notice. With his back pressed against the wall, he held his Keyblade at the ready. He could hear the snake twirling about, agitating more of the swamp's water as she searched frantically.

Soon, gloved hands clamped of his mouth and restrained his arms. He bucked and writhed in his captor's grasp, even resorting to a loud muffled shout, but he was quickly shushed.

"Be quiet, will you?" the man's voice gruffly warned him. "You want that thing to notice you, or not?"

Sora said nothing, and he was immediately dragged across the waters. The demons were too busy standing around or looking for the new "Exorcist" to notice him and this mystery man move out of the pond, and as soon as they reached shore, he was let go. Sora felt a strong shove of the shoulders, making him break into an aimless run. He could hear the man running behind him, his feet almost in sync with his own.

They arrived in a clearing, where both fell to their knees, gasping harshly and feeling dizzy. Sora looked behind him and saw a man with braided blonde hair and two dots on his forehead. His red uniform was tattered and torn, from another journey, Sora assumed. Immediately, sharp brown eyes shot up at him, and Sora winced at his fierce gaze.

"What in the name of God were you doing facing against an Akuma, boy!" The man scolded him. "Do you have a single clue how dangerous and lethal they can be?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Sora jumped, facing the man. "And what the heck is an Akuma, anyway?"

"I don't have time to explain anything for you," the man growled, getting up as well, but faltering. "Miss Lee is buying time for us to get moving, especially you, brat. Go through those trees. There's a road down that way, and that'll lead you into town. Go!"

Sora disobeyed and knelt down, helping him up. The man's face turned angry red.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm helping you!" Sora shot back. "Your leg seems to be injured and you can't walk! Come on! Let me help-"

"I am perfectly fine!" the blonde man yelled into the boy's ear. "Now let go of me, or I'll have to restrain you!"

"And what am I going to do?" Sora argued. "Leave you hear to die? No way! I don't know you, but I can't leave people in danger!"

"You're only a civilian!" the man wretched free of Sora's hold, and was weakly standing on his feet. Sora wanted to say more, but another rustle of bushes alerted them, and they spun around. Sora saw the man draw out a long knife attached to his arm, and the man swooped down on him. The young Keyblade Master hit the grassy floor with a small grunt of pain.

"Shush," the man shoved a hand in his face. "Someone's coming."

The rustling continued, and out stepped a cloaked girl. Her short green hair seemed also messy, and she was panting heavily.

"I got rid of most of them," She reported with a shaky voice. "That Level Three was a bit of a nuisance, but she's gone. We need to get out of here, Link."

Link retracted his knife and yanked Sora up to his feet, and the girl's gaze fell on him.

"So, you're the little witness," She said quietly. "We need to get you to safety."

Sora nodded meekly, and he watched Link and the girl make a small scan of the area before getting ready to go.

"Miss Lee," Link frowned. "It seems that the Akuma were attracted to this boy before we came here. We need to get out of here before any more Akuma or the Order find us. Drag Walker out of the hiding place."

"Yes," the girl nodded quickly and she ran to a group of logs on the other side of the clearing, and with some surprising strength, she lifted the logs away, and lifted the body of another young boy. Sora took no hesitance to rush over and help carry the boy. Miss Lee looked at him with curiosity, and Sora sighed.

"I'll carry him, so it won't be hard on you."

She nodded and the three of them headed into the denser parts of the forest with Link in front cutting away branches. Sora tried his best to not let anything hit the boy he was carrying. He ducked under a large frond of leaves and winced as he heard the boy's head run into the branch. They finally found themselves on a small dirt path, where Sora could see some twinkling lights of a nearby city. They all sighed in relief.

"Hurry," Link shoved Sora lightly. "We need to get into town so the Akuma can't find us."

"Right." Sora pushed on ahead, but was interrupted by a shower of bullets blocking his path. He looked up and saw another one of those balloon-like monsters, or Akuma, as Link called it, flying overhead. Miss Lee scowled and ran past Sora, and launched into the air at an impossible height. Sora spun around to see another Akuma flying from behind, and gun was raised at him and the boy. Link was pushed him away from it's range just as the bullets began to rain down on them. Soon, both monsters were destroyed, and the cloaked girl landed in front of them, her long cloak gently billowing down.

"Link," She nodded to them. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah…" Link massaged his sore shoulder. "Hopefully those the last of them in the area."

"And you?" She asked.

"I'm a bit dizzy from falling," Sora got to his feet, while Link picked up the other boy. "I'll be-"

His arm seemed to be burning from the inside, and he yelped in pain, clutching it. Link glanced at Sora's arm and gasped. Miss Lee did as well.

"Y-Your… hand…"

Sora looked at the back of his hand, where a large black star was deeply imprinted in his skin. His palm felt like a thousand needles stabbing his skin and he winced, and his vision began to flutter. Was his body functions shutting down, too?

"Hey, boy!" Link shouted as he began to fade away.

The Keyblade Master collapsed on his knees and began to cough harshly, and he watched the stars on his arm multiply until his entire hand turned black. Panic arose and he was frozen in place, and his world went black.

A/N: Hehe... Sorry for the confusion of names. Lenalee does not tell Sora her name yet, and nor does he ask for it, so we're just following his logic that Link called her Miss Lee, so there we go. and just like most video games, apparently people, usually the hero, can survive really hard falls. Magically, Sora landed in the world of -Man unscathed, until he gets pummeled by the Akuma. Poor guy... he arrived in the world and had already gotten knocked out twice.