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That was you?! Wow, this name changing thing will never stop confusing me.

I may be purple now, but I shall always love my orange avatar.

Yeah, I haven't been on much... I don't know a lot of people on here anymore. Which is probably why I'm up there. And if I feel like I want to win this thing then I am the winner of the thing. Regardless of actual fact.

It just makes sense.

You're just jealous because I'm winning.

If I get no votes, does that mean I win?

I don't know. I'm only one eighth of the people.

Hooray! I'm forgotten!

Haha, guess who forgot to post here again!? Crap. In my defense, I was working. ANYWAYS. Next chapter will be on Friday, I promise. Enjoy!

Spoiler: Chapter 24 - Descent

Jason groaned and stretched. Getting to his feet he asked, “Now can we go? Still not happy leaving Gotham in the darkness.” Sora, Riku, and Dick began fastening their cloaks. Yen Sid nodded solemnly, then stood himself.

“Speaking to your darkness was necessary. You are correct however. Accomplishing your goal quickly is the most effective option at this point. Your connections to your world are still strong, but the longer we wait the quicker they will fade.”

The man snapped, and a few bags appeared on the table between them. “These are provisions for your journey, which I have no doubt you will need. Once you have saved your world, I believe a doorway of light will swallow Gotham and return it to its proper place amongst the worlds, with you four in it. However, it will be extremely difficult to find another way out of the Realm of Darkness, so I suggest you be successful in your mission.”

“Save Gotham, or die trying.” Jason clarified as he swung his pack over his shoulder. It was heavier than he expected. “Got it.”

“Master?” Sora asked, pausing once he had fastened his cloak. “Do you know what we will be facing once we actually find the fallen Gotham?”

The man sighed. “Unfortunately, I cannot say for certain what you will find. All I am sure of is that the evil that originally existed in that world will be drastically elevated.”

“Good thing Gotham was such a wonderful place to live to begin with.” Dick groaned.

“All right Master.” Riku said, glancing at his companions. “We're ready whenever you are.”

“Hold up!” A girl’s voice preceded its owner through the door. A red-head in a pink dress and leggings walked through the door, followed by another red head in a black cloak. The first one, the girl, had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and was breathing hard, as if she had been exercising. The other one, male, had hair that defied gravity, sticking up in points that put Sora's to shame. He also seemed tired. The girl opened her mouth, her blue eyes fierce. “You are not going on another adventure without me! I’m coming with you!”

Sora sputtered. “What? Kairi, no, it’s dangerous and you’re not trained and- ”

The girl, Kairi apparently, pointed her finger between Sora’s eyes. “Yes Sora. You said I needed training, but sparring with Lea for days on end isn’t getting me anywhere. What faster way for me to learn than to go into combat? That’s how you and Riku learned!”

So this was the infamous Kairi. The one who had hugged Sora back to light. Jason liked her so far. She had spunk. He sidled up to Dick and whispered, “Ten bucks on the chick.”

Dick snorted. “Yeah right. She’s obviously going to win. Sora’s a push over.” Based on the way the conversation was going, Jason could only agree. Especially since Riku and Lea (?) were just leaning against the wall, matching amused smiles on their faces while they waited for the inevitable.

“We didn’t start by jumping straight into the Realm of Darkness!” Sora started waving his hands around, trying to emphasize his point. “Well, Riku did, but that’s beside the point.”

“It is not. I’m coming, and that’s final.” Kairi crossed her arms.

Desperate, Sora looked over to Riku and Lea. Lea just raised his hands helplessly, smile still affixed to his features. Riku tried and failed to put a more serious expression on his face. “Sorry Sora, you’re on your own on this one.”

When Yen Sid didn’t say anything about it, Kairi smiled triumphantly. “That’s settled then! Lea, did you want to come?”

“No can do little red,” the taller red head drawled, his smile turning down into a rueful expression. “Merlin was going to start me on Ice magic this week. It’s my weakest element, so I need the practice.”

While Kairi went to visit the Point for a refresher and Dick retreated to a side room to put on his Nightwing suit, Riku asked, “Does Kairi need a cloak too, or will the darkness not affect her?”

“She would be fine in the Realm of Darkness.” Yen Sid waved his hand anyways, a fifth cloak and bag appearing in Sora’s arms. “But she should have one anyways. I hear the Realm of Darkness can get quite chilly.” There was a spark of amusement in his eyes.

Sora grudgingly held out the provisions to Kairi, still grumbling at the lost argument. Dick came out and Jason took his place, stripping off the civvies as fast as he could and throwing on his shirt, pants, belt and boots. The jacket wouldn’t fit properly under the cloak-cape thing, but he refused to leave it behind. He left the room and with all five of them ready, Yen Sid nodded and again, raised both his hands. Jason could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He instinctively drew his cloak closer around him.

“Good luck.” The old man growled.

The next moment, a huge twirling gate of black grey mist formed in front of them. All of Jason's instincts told him not to step forward, to back away, but he saw Riku stride towards the dark mass, and so reluctantly followed. In a few seconds, the portal had vanished, and the room was empty but for a red head leaning against the wall and a sad looking old man.

“Be safe young ones,” he whispered.

~*~​

Sora opened his eyes with a groan. He sucked in a breath and instantly regretted it. The air was heavy, oppressive. Shifting so that he was on his knees and elbows, he looked around. He was laying on a dirt path; just a path, floating in space. Kairi was still out, Dick was groaning himself awake and Jason and Riku were standing, peeking down over the edge of the path. Getting to his feet, Sora took a look of his own.

Everything was dark, which wasn’t really surprising. There were other paths, both below and above them, and pillars of darkness, vast spiralling structures soaring out of sight. He gave a low whistle. This was his first time in the Realm of Darkness, not counting the time he and Riku had gotten stuck in the Dark Margin, and so far, it was pretty impressive. Scary, but impressive.

Ripping his eyes away from the abyss, he turned to his companions, specifically Kairi. He knew she could handle herself in a fight, but this probably wouldn’t be like other fights. He had gone into Hollow Bastion’s heart and ended up fighting a Behemoth. And that was with Hollow Bastion still in the Realm of Light. There was no telling how many impossibly strong Heartless they would encounter while they were here.

As Kairi shifted awake, Sora’s mouth tightened in determination. He would keep her safe.

Dick and Jason were both stretching, Dick doing a one armed handstand and Jason doing some more simple leg stretches. The latter looked up, following the former into a hand stand. “You three might want to stretch too. We have time now and it might save your life in a fight.”

Sora blinked. “I’m not sure I can do handstands…”

Dick bent his spine backwards, his feet pulling towards the ground until he could stand upright. “Don’t worry. That’s standard fare for Bats, but we can take you through some stretches better suited for your fighting styles.”

They did so and Sora had to admit, it did help. He had wrenched his shoulder during that last fight in Gotham and while he had healed it up really fast, it had been stiff. The stretching loosened it up. Maybe he should start doing this more often.

Standing up from his last stretch, Riku asked, “So, Dick, Jason, where to?”

Dick crossed his arms under his cloak. “I’m still not entirely sure what we’re supposed to do.” Jason nodded in agreement.

“Hm.” Sora thought about what Yen Sid had said. “You know Gotham, right? And I mean, know Gotham. You should be able to feel that and pick a direction from it. I think.”

“Of course.” Jason closed his eyes, remembering. “I’ve lived there for my entire life. The way the streets sound, the way the air feels, the smell of the docks in summertime, the way it seems like Crime Alley is watching you…” As Jason spoke, Dick closed his eyes as well. With both of their eyes shut, they didn’t see, but Sora, Riku and Kairi did. A small spark of light flickered beneath their cloaks, right near the heart. Immediately, their eyes snapped open and they pointed in the same direction.

Following their hands, Sora frowned. Their path didn’t go in that direction. At all. He looked at the other paths above and below them. “There.” Far below them, one path went in the general direction of where they were pointing.

Looking down at the path, Jason followed it with his eyes. “Looks good enough to me.” And with that he leapt off the edge, Dick following close behind.

Riku gave Sora a jaunty mock-salute before he fell off the path backwards. Turning to Kairi, Sora offered his arms. “Kairi? You haven’t learned how to glide yet.” She nodded and he stooped to grab her under the knees, the other arm curling protectively around her shoulders. He stepped off the path just in time to see the others land.

Riku landed perfectly in the center of the path. Dick was very off of his target, looking more likely to plunge into the darkness than land safely. This was probably on purpose as Dick laughed when he pulled his grapple, firing it onto a nearby path and swinging gracefully to the one he wanted. Jason sped past the path, firing his grapple onto it as he sped by. He swung in a circle and landed on the dirt with a thud. Sora landed gently next to him and set Kairi on her feet.

“So, that way?” Riku pointed and set off. Dick and Jason followed, discussing possible strategies when dealing with large groups of Heartless versus single strong enemies, frequently asking Riku for advice and weaknesses.

The silence at the back of the group was heavy. Not because of the participants. Sora and Kairi were perfectly comfortable with silence around each other, even with that argument still hanging in their minds. But the Realm of Darkness had a way of making every step a trial, every silence waiting to steal your next words away. Finally, Kairi broke it. “So Sora, tell me about your new friends.”

Starting eagerly on the anecdote, Sora soon had Kairi nodding solemnly as he recounted Jason getting taken over by the darkness, laughing at chasing Jason around the manor, smiling at Dick’s obvious care for his brother and gasping at the horrifying episode on the gummi ship when Dick had had to hug him. Gotham and the rest of the Bats filled the otherwise oppressive silence of the darkness, the laughter and smiles seeming so foreign to the space. But so incredibly necessary. With every bit of light they brought into the conversation, Sora could feel his steps get lighter.

By the time Kairi had been caught up and started on telling Sora how her training had been going, the other three joined in. Riku threw in a few stories of his time in the dream world, nothing new to Kairi and Sora but Dick and Jason were very keen to compare it to their own experiences in the darker half of the dream world. Eventually, Jason started sharing some of his adventures with Roy and Kori and Dick was recounting a particularly embarrassing scene from before Jason’s death involving a pie, Alfred and seventeen paper clips.

They had had to stop their stories twelve times when Darksides and Neo Shadows attacked them. Yup, the stretching had definitely helped. Sora was really happy to see Kairi had gotten past the “flailing the Keyblade like a stick” thing she had had when she had first held her Keyblade. Now she moved through the Heartless like a dancer, landing quick devastating hits before twirling away.

After hours of walking, they came upon a slightly wider area of the path. Riku set down his pack, calling for a break.

As he cracked open a can of juice, Sora flicked his cloak over his shoulder. He had been having problems with it during the fighting. The hood portion hadn’t really been getting in the way, but the cloak bit had been flying in weird directions. It only reached down to mid thigh, but that was still long enough to flap into his face. But Jason and Dick moved like they were used to it. “Hey guys, any tips with these?” He held up one corner of the cloak.

Dick looked over. “Depends. Does the cloak need to be in front of your shoulders for it to work, or is just wearing it enough?”

Sora turned to Riku, who though for a moment. “With the old cloaks, they had to be worn head to toe and closed at all times to prevent the darkness from leaking in. But Yen Sid said he had upgraded them. Since they’re shorter now, I think just wearing them makes them work.”

Jason nodded, shoved his apple between his teeth and started playing with Sora’s cloak. Not even a moment later, it was pinned back over his shoulders, exposing his chest and arms but keeping the cloak very much out of his face. Scooting over to Kairi, he did the same for hers while Dick tended to Riku.

“That should hold you.” Dick sat back with a smile. “Me and Jason spent most of our teen years wearing something like this. You learn to manage.”

Snorting, Jason pulled the apple from his mouth. “We still ditched the capes as soon as we could though.”

Suddenly, both of the Gothamites stiffened. Sora jumped as they leapt to their feet, grabbing up all the food and shoving it into their bags. “Dick, Jason, what is it?”

Jason turned his eyes to the other three. “You don’t feel that?” Something in his tone seemed almost happy.

“Feel what?” Following their lead, Riku started packing up as well. Sora and Kairi looked at each other in confusion for a moment before doing the same.

Dick’s grin was so wide and bright that they probably couldn’t call this place the “Realm of Darkness” anymore. “Gotham! It feels like Gotham and it’s close!” He was dancing from foot to foot, unable to keep still. Even Jason seemed like he was in a hurry, his eyes flicking back and forth between the Keyblade Wielders and the next turn in the path.

When everyone had their packs slung over their shoulders, they broke into a run. Half way to the turn, Riku called out “Sora, race you!” Sora laughed as he poured on the speed. Kairi, after all of her training, was keeping up with them really well. Dick couldn’t resist putting a few flips into his run. Even Jason had a rare smile of true happiness on his face. Not a sarcastic one, or one put up because it’s what he thought Dick needed to see. Actual happiness.

As Dick raced around the corner, his laughter died a bit. There was Gotham, not as he knew it, but how he had come to expect worlds to look during his travels in the gummi ship. The sphere, buildings jutting from the top, Wayne Tower, Ace Chemicals, Arkham, Gordon’s precinct. Clouds hung low, touching the top Wayne Tower and the Batsignal was displayed on them. Connected to it was the docks and a path that lead down to Wayne Manor on the bottom of the sphere. It was dark. Sure, Gotham had always been dark, but never this dark. All of the buildings were black. The clouds were black. Even the Batsignal seemed to radiate darkness rather than light.

Sora strode up to him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Come on Dick. Let’s save your city.” With a smile that seemed to inspire hope, the teen led the way to Gotham.

[DOUBLEPOST=1437770976][/DOUBLEPOST]Haha, this one's on time! Yeah! Some violence happens children. Avert your eyes. Actually, pretty much all of the chapters after this are violent. So don't read them.

Oh, and in the comics, Roy Harper (also known as Arsenal, he hangs out with Red Hood all the time) and Killer Croc have an interesting relationship. Roy was going through some crap and being all drunk and tried to take on Croc. Instead of beating him up, Croc took him to AA. So yeah, there's that.

Spoiler: Chapter 25 - From the Deep

As soon as the group entered the dark world, they knew something was very, very wrong. That was to say, more wrong than usual. It was as if they were passing through a sort of force field which made the world heavy with gloom. All of the confidence and happiness they had felt just moments ago to evaporated slightly. Everyone sagged with the effort of stepping into the dark, lost place.

Sora immediately summoned his Keyblade, the cold steel which formed in his hand slightly reassuring his frayed nerves. He glanced around at the rest of his friends. Kairi was pale, but her eyes were fierce, and her face determined. She too had taken out her blade instinctively upon arrival. Jason and Dick were standing close, obviously wanting to protect each other against whatever evil force was emanating from within the depths of the black city. Dick had his escrima sticks clutched tightly in his hands while Jason's All Blades seemed to form of their own free will, due to the pure evil that hung in the air. Riku stood next to Sora, a frown plastered to his face. He was staring intently into the black depths of the buildings in front of him, as if by looking at them, he would know what they would be facing.

They stood there for a few seconds, everyone frozen as they slowly adapted to the overwhelming presence of hostile darkness all around them. It was Kairi who decided to take the first initiative step forward. It was probably due to her determination to prove herself, or her new-found stubbornness, but whatever the reason there was no way Sora was going to let her take the lead of their little procession. With a reasonable effort, he jogged forward towards the darkness to catch up to her. She gave him an exasperated look, followed by a slight eye roll, but then returned his smile as he fell into pace with her. Within moments they were all walking forward together in a group, wondering what awaited them in the city ahead.

They had not appeared in Gotham itself when they entered the world. Instead the travelers were standing in the outskirts of the city, buildings towering in front of them like giants. It was quite odd for Dick and Jason, because they both knew Gotham extremely well, but at the moment, they had no clue where they were. Their surroundings were not familiar at all. Sure they recognized Wayne Enterprises well enough, towering above all else in the outlines of the city, but it was as if small details about Gotham had been changed, making the place unfamiliar, and more importantly, uninviting. The twisted dead grass, black sky, and absence of twinkling lights in the nearby city didn't help. The only light either came from the huge moon hanging in the sky, or the faint yellow the blackness seemed to emanate.

“This isn't right.” Dick whispered. “Don't things just seem...wrong?”

Jason nodded slowly. “The whole place feels different from the actual Gotham.”

Soon enough, as the looming shapes of buildings grew larger with their approach, the sound of rushing water could be heard. Both Dick and Jason were filled with relief at the familiar sound. It was nice that not everything had changed. Hopefully, they would be able to better pinpoint their location in relation to the city if they could figure out which river they were at.

Sora glanced over at Riku as the sound of rushing water grew nearer. “Should we, try to go around it?” He voiced the question they were all considering.

The procession slowed to a halt as the boy merely shrugged. “We might be able to glide over it. Though I guess Jason, Dick, and Kairi won’t.” He stared into the blackness ahead of him, but the shadowy landscape was still hiding the water from view.

“Crossing it depends on the river.” Jason said. “There are a few spots shallow enough to wade through, but most of them are deep and have fast currents. We'll have to wait and see.”

“Makes sense,” Kairi and Dick said in unison. The two looked at each other and grinned.

It didn't take them long to find the source of the noise. It was indeed a river, but one of which the likes they had never before laid eyes on. The water wasn't clean and clear, nor was it a polluted dirty brown. Instead, waves of blackness lapped at the banks as the angry tide swept by them. The river was at least 30 feet across, but with the swirling darkness running past them instead of water, it was impossible to guess its depth.

Riku sighed. “That would be really risky to glide across, even without taking someone with us. There's no way we can carry Jason or Dick. I doubt we could get to the other side ourselves Sora.”

“And there's nothing to grapple onto near us.” Jason put in, staring dully at the surrounding stretches of dead shrivelled grass. “So what, are we just supposed to swim across?”

They all stared down at the churning black liquid with sinking hearts. No one wanted to go near it., let alone dive into the stuff. But it could take hours to find a bridge or good place to cross. Dick edged forward near to the bank, and crouched down to take a closer look at the water. Sora tentatively came up beside him, and dropped to his knees, staring down into the swirling pool of black. He could just make out the reflection of his face amongst the dark waves. Kairi came to investigate too, and stood next to him, observing the water from a slightly further distance. Sora would have rather she stayed back with Riku and Jason, and tried to swallow his concern. Kairi was a Keyblade Wielder in training. She could take care of herself. She could!

A small gasp had Sora snapping out of his trance and once again focusing on the water. As his gaze met the black shiny surface, he only had time to take in a terrorized breath as he laid eyes on a scaly face and two enormous glowing eyes, staring up at him.

Dick was trying to push Sora and Kairi out of the way frantically. “Killer Cr-”

His voice was cut off in a rasping choke as an enormous green hand shot out of the blackness and clamped around Nightwing’s neck. The hand was followed by the head and shoulders of a huge revolting lizard looking creature wrapped in spirals of darkness. Its forked tongue flicked in and out of its gaping jaws furiously. The vigilante gasped, dropping his weapons as his hands flew up to the claws that were now digging into his skin as he tried to take a breath.

The situation seemed to hit everyone at once. “Nightwing!”

Sora was on his feet in a second, his blade swinging forward, but he stopped his attack at the last moment as Dick actually got in the way. The huge scaly monster was dragging a thrashing Nightwing down towards the water, the latter gasping and pulling at the thick fingers clamped around his neck. Kairi sprang forward too, and instead of attacking, grabbed onto one of Nightwing's arms and pulled him backwards. Sora's stunned brain couldn't help but wonder how this would be any help against the huge crocodile who had Dick in a death grip, but it seemed to slow Dick’s descent a bit, and seconds later Riku appeared next to Kairi and grabbed Dick’s flailing arm as well.

A gun shot rang out and the crocodile man snarled as a bullet embedded itself in his exposed shoulder, but his grip didn't loosen.

“What the hell are you doing Croc!?” Jason growled. “Sora, help me get him off of Wing!”

Blinking confusingly, Sora managed to compose his thoughts enough to nod and once again run forward. The older teen took aim with his gun and fired again. The creature howled in pain, but its grip still didn't loosen. Dick's energy was fading fast, and his face was turning a scary shade of blue. His left foot was dragged into the water and instantly his eyes snapped open, his mouth open in a silent screen. Strands of the dark liquid were crawling up his leg from the river.

“Don't make me do this Croc!” Jason yelled, pointing his gun at the monster menacingly.

But the mutant didn't seem to be listening. In fact, it seemed as if he couldn't even hear Jason at all as he sunk deeper and deeper into the depths of the black river with his prize.

Sora reached the monster holding Dick and thrust upwards with his blade as more bullets flew past his head and dug themselves into the crocodile's arm. This time, Sora's attack connected, leaving a gash across Killer Croc’s chest. That and Jason's bullets should have at the very least been enough to force the creature to relinquish its grip, but it didn't. Dick was now completely still, both legs engulfed by the black water up to his knees despite Kairi and Riku's best efforts. Panicking, Sora slashed again at the creature’s chest, and Jason ran up to him, this time aiming for the monster’s head. His bullets were not digging too far into the creature’s flesh due to its tough, scaly skin, not to mention the shield of darkness that seemed to be covering its entire body. Finally, after what seemed like hours, though it couldn't have been more than a few seconds, the crocodile man seemed to have had enough, and let Dick slide from its bloody hand. Kairi and Riku barely caught him as he slumped lifelessly to the ground. With a roar the crocodile flipped backwards into the river, a huge tail flicking up out of the waves as it descended, causing an assault of dark water to splash on Sora and Jason. As soon as the water touched their skin, it sizzled and spat like acid, and they both yelled and backed away, pulling their hands over their faces protectively.

Jason was the first to turn around and face his fallen brother. “No, no, NO!!” He shouted, running up to the lifeless form. He dropped to his knees next to Kairi, placing his hands on his brother’s shoulders. “'Wing!” He said shakily. “Come on man. You're okay! You gotta be okay!”

But he never got the chance to find out how okay Dick was, because the next moment, an enormous roar followed by the distinctive sound of streams of water splattering the ground erupted from behind him. Everyone excluding Dick turned to see a very angry Killer Croc, wrapped in darkness and bleeding badly from his chest and arm, standing on the shore facing them. The monster had blood-lust in its eyes, and stared at them for a long moment before the blackness surrounding him seemed to melt off his skin.

“I knew it!” Jason yelled. “That wasn't Killer Croc! He was probably being controlled!”

They watched, mesmerized, as the real Killer Croc fell limply to his knees, then the ground unconscious, a fading growl rumbling up from his throat as his darkness formed into a cloud in the air and transformed itself into a close replica of the mutant. Once formed it fell to earth, making the gravel tremble as its huge scaly feet touched the soft earth. It was all black now, with the addition of six inch claws and huge spikes lining its back. Without a moment's hesitation, the doppelganger charged forward right towards the group huddled around Dick.

Sora was the closest to the water, as he was still standing in the same spot from earlier, digesting all the events of the last five minutes. When he saw that the angry creature was hurtling towards him, he acted purely on instinct. Clenching his teeth, he ran forward, jumping into a dive, which had him sliding inches away from the monster’s huge feet. With one swift movement, his blade had slashed deep into the dark Killer Croc’s right calf. The monster stumbled, and fell feet from where the rest of the group were now just drawing their weapons.

The Heartless thrashed, enraged as it pushed itself up onto its feet. Jason took a swipe at its head with his All Blade, but the sword got caught in the creature’s mouth. Wrenching his head sideways, dark Killer Croc threw both Jason and the sword off balance, then turned to face Riku and Kairi who were now standing defensively in front of an unconscious Dick.

“Watch out!” Sora yelled as Killer Croc pounced. The two Keyblade Wielders were ready though. In one fluid motion, they stepped forward simultaneously and swung upwards in a double strike, smacking dark Killer Croc with so much force that he flew backwards. It was then that Sora's and Jason's eyes both caught something. Where the Keyblades had hit, the darkness seemed to have been forced away from that area, leaving it less protected. “Riku, Kairi, did you-!?”

“Yeah,” Riku shouted, while avoiding a vicious swipe from the monster's tail. “You guys thinking what I'm thinking?”

In an unspoken agreement, the four warriors charged forward, surrounding the Heartless with a plethora of blows. The monster fought valiantly, thrashing its tail and snapping its razor teeth whenever it had the chance, but it was clearly overwhelmed in the flurry of flashing metal.

From somewhere in the chaos, Jason's voice could just be heard calling, “Its chest! Aim for its chest”

Sora took that as his time to move, and pushed off the ground, his Keyblade aimed directly at dark Killer Croc’s armoured chest. He felt a claw tear through the flesh in his arm, but the surrealism of the moment dulled the pain. He hit his mark hard, along with Kairi's and Riku's strikes. As expected, the thick darkness which had been acting like armour, receded around the Heartless’ chest. Jason took his moment and leapt forward, driving his blade deep into the monster with a twirl of his wrist, finally able to penetrate it due to the lack of protective dark scales.

The monster gave an agonized inhuman howl, before Jason stepped backwards pulling his sword free, darkness trailing from its tip. They watching as the dark mass fell to the ground. The four of them were panting heavily, and stepped back abruptly as the huge scaly body started to dissolve into the air, blending into its bleak surroundings. No shimmering heart lifted into the sky however.

Jason sighed. “Lucky that thing decided to ditch Croc’s body and fight us head on! Roy would have killed me if I had had to waste him.” He shrugged at the other three’s questioning looks. “Forget it.”

With a jolt Jason remember his brother and turned around to face Dick. He ran the few steps towards him, and dropped to his knees, the All Blades clattering to the ground. Sora walked over and dropped down too, just then realizing how much he was trembling. He was followed by Kairi and Riku, both of whom looked shaken. Dick was breathing, but shallowly, and there was an angry purple bruise around his neck. His boots and uniform were covering any damage done to his legs, but from what Sora had felt from merely being splashed, he guessed it wasn't pretty. It was strange how the dark water didn't affect clothing, only human flesh.

Jason was now bending over Dick, checking his pulse and opening his glazed eyes to peer into them. Dick just lay there, unmoving. With a gasp Kairi summoned her Keyblade once more. Sora automatically turned around to see which enemy was there to attack them this time, maybe Killer Croc as Jason called him, had gotten back up. But the girl simply cast a high level cure spell. Both Sora and Riku face palmed. Why hadn't they thought of that?

It seemed to take forever as lights danced around Nightwing’s still body. Sora summoned his own Keyblade and was about to cast another healing spell, but Riku pushed his blade down again. “We're probably going to need to preserve our magic Sora.” He said grimly. “Why do you think none of us are healing any of these minor wounds?”

Remembering his arm, Sora looked down to see a fairly deep cut running across it. The bleeding had already stopped however, so Riku was right. There was no need to waste magic. Living with minor injuries now could save their lives later. Sora glanced over at Kairi and saw a few scratches on her face. His stomach gave an uneasy lurch. Maybe just a little magic?

Suddenly, Dick twitched, then bolted straight up!

“Killer Croc!” He yelped with more than a little panic in his voice.

Jason didn't even bother answering but launched forward in a rare moment of self-initiating affection and hugged his brother tightly. This shocked Dick enough to render him speechless, and the next few minutes were spent filling him in on what had happened while drinking some normal water from their packs and munching on fruit. Dick's strength seemed to slowly return over time, and within five minutes, he seemed to be back to full health. The party gathered their belongings and stood up, trudging over to the river once again, crossing by the unconscious Killer Croc on their way. Jason looked over and was relieved to see the steady rise and fall of his huge chest. As far as villains went, Croc wasn't that bad.

They came to a stop, this time a few feet from the river’s edge, and once again stared into its glossy depths, contemplating what to do next.

Kairi pulled her head away first. “So, do you think there’s a bridge nearby?”

Dick swung his head wildly around. “Depends. Where are we…? Ah!” Behind them was a vast sprawling complex, long roads surrounding it. “I didn’t recognize it at first, but that’s the airport.”

“Then the closest bridge is the Trigate.” Jason waved to a monolith a little ways off, swathed in dark fog. It extended partially over the water before abruptly ending. The gap between the two halves of the bridge was still too wide for gliding. “After that, there’s the Kane Bridge over that way,” he pointed the direction, “and the Brown Bridge on the other side of the Trigate,” pointing in a completely different direction.

Sora noted the directions and jumped. If he could get high enough… Settling into a stationary glide, he looked over where the Kane Bridge was. Frowning, he swung his head over to the Brown Bridge. He was still frowning when he landed next to Kairi. “The Kane Bridge is broken too. And the Brown is covered in some sort of… plant? I think it was a plant.”

Jason cursed. “Ivy. Damn. If it was just me and 'Wing, we could take her.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Sora bristled. After all they’d been through, they thought they couldn’t handle themselves in a fight?

Nightwing held up his hands in a placating gesture. “It’s not like that Sora. Ivy uses poisons. Mostly mind controlling, but some are fatal. Hood and I have built up an immunity over the years, but I don’t want to risk exposing you to that.”

There was silence for a minute. “Well now what?” Riku finally asked. “None of the bridges are usable and we can’t exactly swim across the water.” The quintet shuddered at the thought.

The air was suddenly filled with voices, all speaking over each other with a different theory. Sora wanted to try gliding across the bridge with a really long rope, ignoring that they didn’t have a rope long enough to stretch the gap. Riku thought they could freeze the water and walk across it. Kairi pointed out that they needed to conserve their magic and the spell would probably wear off before they could cast the next one. Dick tried calling the Batwing or the Batboat and when that didn’t work, suggested borrowing a plane from the airport. Which, based on a quick glance, had no planes.

Jason was strangely quiet throughout. He simply stood, arms crossed, helmeted head cocked slightly. Sora stopped talking halfway through a mad plan to Firaga the Brown Bridge and hope the plants burned away before they could get poisoned (“We need to save our magic Sora,” Kairi reminded him helpfully) to watch him. After another minute of silence, Jason nodded and pulled off his helmet. “Don’t panic,” he stated, just loud enough to be heard by everyone.

Before anyone could ask what they weren’t supposed to panic about, Jason’s eyes started glowing yellow through the lenses of his mask. Small black lines appeared around his mask, hairline and neck. Pulling two fingers to his mouth, he let off an ear shattering whistle which could probably be heard halfway across Gotham.

He didn’t clap his hands to his ears even close to soon enough. “Hood, what…?” A great screeching sound filled the air before Sora could finish his question. A vaguely familiar screech. Looking up, he caught sight of three of the bat-like Myotises racing towards them.