"I can eat fast," Matt assured him. "So can Helena."

"The real trick is keeping her breathing when she does eat," R.D. commented with a roll of his eyes.

At least Helena didn't have any problems with suffocating this time. Matt, meanwhile, ventured an unknown dish involving an animal called "cucco". Wasn't bad. Nice and garlic-y, and it tasted like chicken. He hated working around the bones, though.

After hearing about the deal Telma had offered Matt and his friends, Link went ahead and paid their tabs, claiming it wasn't a problem. Alasea wondered just how generous the man was, to go out of their way for them without asking for anything in return.

After a while, they were finishing up when Link spoke to them again. "You guys done yet?" he asked. "We need to get moving soon. I want to get to Lake Hylia before nightfall."

"I'm done," Helena said. Just before Link asked them, Matt caught a glimpse of her rolling her tongue inside her mouth to catch any straggling bits of meat.

"Me too," Matt said. He would've liked time to digest, but a mission was a mission.

Link had just begun to walk past them when the muffled noise level outside of the bar began to increase in volume, causing him to stop and give the door a strange expression.

"Do you all hear that?" he asked, a steel coming into his voice.

"... yeah," Alasea said, standing up. "Those... guys, those are screams!"

Link yanked open the door, and the sounds became clear. Terrified screaming was heard outside of the alley, causing Link, Rusl, and Ashei all to draw their swords within the bar.

"Dammit!" Link cursed. "Don't tell me they attacked here...!"

Link ran outside, carrying his shining blade in his left hand and his shield on his right arm. Rusl and Ashei tore past them and followed, leaving Shad to look apprehensive about what was going on.

"Let's go, guys," R.D. said, drawing his own sword. "Looks like trouble found us again."

Matt brought up his right arm before him in a dramatic pose, summoning his armor. "Let's party!"

"Hey!" Hugo's muffled voice shouted from his pack. "If you're gonna fight, lemme out of here!"

Matt stripped off his pack and tossed it at Helena, who caught it by the strap with one hand. "Get Hugo out for me!" He tore through the doorway, bolting after Link.

R.D. charged out after Matt, holding his sword in one hand. Alasea helped Helena extract Hugo from the backpack before nodding to the other girl. "Let's go," she said as she ran out as best as her skirt would allow.

Ileyna looked apprehensive for a brief moment before nodding and running out. "Honey, no, wait!" Telma shouted, unable to get out from behind the bar before Ileyna left. "Its too dangerous out there for you!"

People were running away wildly, fear evident in their faces as they looked back as they fled. Link pushed through them as he made his way to the main pavilion, ready to meet Zant's minions head on. As he came through, he expected to see the hulking, black forms with the flat metal masks as they looked about for prey.

The small, black, almost insectile creatures with glowing yellow eyes as they rose up from inky blackness across the stone ground was not what he expected. They looked like the kind of imaginary monster Talo would conjure up whenever he took off into one of his flights of fancy.

One of them leaped through the air at him, swinging a tiny claw. The Master Sword swept down, cleaving it in two and causing it to explode into black mist that quickly disappeared. At least they were easy to kill.

"Link!" Rusl shouted behind him, his own steel blade cutting down another black creature that approached. "What are these things!?"

"I don't know!" he shouted back, readying his sword. "I've never seen them before!"

Matt rushed up just behind Link, right as he felled one of the shadowy monsters. His eyes widened, and he looked up at the whole horder of immediately familiar creatures, some just black shapes of mass and others more complex with various colorful armors and designs.

"Ah, crap," he said. "It's the freaking Heartless!" He thought they were done with those! What the hell were they doing HERE?!

R.D. ran straight past Matt, jumping up and swinging into a cluster of Heartless, destroying them all with several swipes of his weapon. "Just keep fighting!" he shouted, running after another creature. "Don't give them an opening!"

Link nodded and ran into the fray. The Master Sword cut a bloody swathe through the dark creatures, while Rusl and Ashei both headed in different directions, attacking different Heartless. Link smashed his shield into one of armored monsters, dazing it and knocking it back--with a surprising display of acrobatics, the green-clad warrior leaped into the air, flipping over as he swung his sword through the creature and killing it.

Alasea skid to a halt as she, Helena, Hugo, and Ileyna arrived at the edge of the pavilion. "What are those things?!" Ileyna cried, having never seen the beasts before.

"Heartless!" Alasea exclaimed. "Dammit, why here of all places!?" With a gesture, she drew upon her power, and gestured with a sweep of her hand--lightning descended from the sky, blasting through several flying Heartless and eradicating them in explosions of black mist.

Hugo turned on the G-Stone and waved his pickaxe in preparation. "These are pretty easy to kill," he told Helena, not looking back at her. "Stay back and blanket them with fire. If you can hit the back ranks, do it - less people there."

Helena spread out her hands in a ready pose. "All right."

Hugo charged into the fray with help from his jump-jets. He burst past Link, right into the thick of it alongside Matt, who was finally springing into action. Matt leapt high into the air and fell down at the center of a large group. His attack smashed a sword-wielding Heartless into the ground, and the resulting tetonic shock spread outwards in a wave, knocking a bunch of the monsters aside.

An armored Heartless twirled through the air at R.D., who quickly rolled sideways out of the way as it streaked past. Pivoting, R.D. shot after it in a counterattack, impaling it on his blade before ripping it out of its side, destroying it in an instant. He turned around, only finding more Heartless rising up from the shadows. "Tch."

Beams of light suddenly crashed down from the air into the Heartless, knocking them away--R.D. looked up, and saw Ileyna high in the air, alight with her power. Winged Heartless in leather took to the air after her, and the girl quickly zipped away on her wings of light, not intent on getting caught by them.

"Watch out, Matt!" R.D. called out, readying his sword to finish off the ones that Ileyna had stunned. Out of the corner of his eye, R.D. saw Link spin in a circle with his blade, and more than half a dozen Heartless exploded in its wake. "Those things know how to fly now!"

Matt glanced up at the flyers. Some of them were dragon-like, soaring after Ileyna on leathery wings. "No problem!" He reared back to throw a blast their way, but someone already did - a fireball streaking at the fliers tore apart into a swarm of smaller flames and rained down.

After that attack, Helena carefully moved into the melee. She wounded up more fire in her claws and tossed the resulting ball like a baseball pitch to a distant crowd of Heartless, scattering them with an explosion.

As Hugo's Laser Options worked overtime to keep the weaker enemies at bay, the Mettaur called, "Anyone see any portals they're coming from?"

"What? Portals?" Link asked, sparing a brief glance at Hugo. Another Heartless leaped at him, and he had to strike quickly to avoid getting hit.

"I don't see any!" R.D. called out, flashing through two armored Heartless and destroying them. He turned and looked around. "Damn! Some of them are trying to escape!"

"I'm on it!" Alasea and Ashei both shouted, splitting off into the streets to the east and west of the central fountain, giving chase to the Heartless pursuing the fleeing townsfolk.

Matt raised his hand, brimming with fire. "Burning..." He launched towards the fleeing Heartless with a dashing fire punch, surrounding his body in flame and tearing through any gathered enemies in his wake. "Driver!"

A line of Heartless were quickly destroyed by Matt's charge, but the Heartless he pursued were able to evade him at the last moment--before Matt could reach them, several new ones appeared, with tiny heads and large bodies, each of them carrying gigantic, dog-faced shields.

The canine faces snapped hungrily at him as he was deflected off of them, eyes glowing a malevolent crimson. Across the pavilion, more appeared, cutting off the path to the rest of the city and making sure Ashei and Alasea fought off the Heartless they pursue alone.

Recovering from the deflection, Matt sized up the new Heartless. "Oh, we're gonna do THAT, are we?" A flick of his wrist shifted elements, and when he extended his hand, a hammer of solid rock exploded from the paved street and into his grip. With a yell, he swung a mighty swing at the dog-faced shields.

As Matt activated the Earth gem's power in the Genesis Arm, the Heartless spun their shields about and unleashed a frigid ice breath from the faces on them. As their attacks crashed against one another, R.D. and Link slowly cut their way around the fountain, their shining blades tearing through the Heartless with ease.

Link halted his advance as one peculiar creature shambled towards him; a pulsing, tubular creature with a gaping hole atop it, with rippling black skin flecked with dark purple, except for the heart-like red and black emblem in front of it. Steeling himself, Link charged and leaped, raising his sword above his head to cut it in two. The maw of the creature opened wide and snatched at Link's boot, using powerful muscles to suction him in. With a cry of protest, Link was swallowed up in an instant.

"Link!" Rusl shouted, halting his fighting for a moment. The Heartless' body writhed for several moments, contracting rapidly before spitting Link out. The green-clad warrior yelled as he was ejected, and hit the ground heard, now devoid of his shield. "Damn!" he cursed as he got up, the creature shuffling towards him once more.

Snapping his fingers, a spherical object in gunmetal gray appeared in his hands in a burst of shadow, with a lit fuse. Link tossed it, and the creature swallowed without a second thought. Moments later, the creature expanded and exploded as the bomb detonated, scattering black mist and Link's stolen shield, which he quickly swept up as he renewed his attack on the marauding Heartless.

Helena yelped as something wrapped around her leg - the tentacle of a slimy octopus Heartless crawling along the ground. As she noticed more slithering her way, the one that had captured her began charging power to the funnel protruding from its face. A heavy punch on its head knocked it unconcious, and kicking it hard sent the octopus flying into the ground, where it destroyed them all with the impact, along with itself.

Helena sighed, glancing down on her clawed hand and foot, which had torn through her outfit. And she liked this dress, too...

Shield-carrying Heartless advanced on Link as he attacked, the eyes in the faces on their shields glowing red as they spat fireballs in volleys. Link deflected the attacks back at the creatures with his shield, killing two of them with the reflected attacks and damaging the third. It recovered from the blow as Link charged, snapping with its shield face, but Link dove to the side, rolling around in a half-circle with surprising speed. Leaping from a crouch at the end of the roll, the Master Sword swept up and through the Heartless, destroying it.

Armored Heartless with spike-ended feet and swords extending from from their arms moved in with surprising speed, quickly surrounding Matt and Rusl as they fought. Grunting, the older man gripped his Ordon Sword in both hands as the creatures tightened their circle, until soon enough, he and Matt were facing the enemy back to back.

"These things aren't as stupid as I thought," Rusl commented, keeping his eyes trained on the enemy.

"Well, they're running more on instinct than smarts. They're pack hunters and they know how to make it work." A heavy punch from Matt's armored fist sent a Heartless flying into a bunch of his friends. "Then again, what'd you expect from demonic creatures hellbent on stealing people's hearts?" He turned his head to the side. "They can do that, by the way."

"Hmm. Well, I won't be taken down so easily again," Rusl said, grinning as he looked over his shoulder at Matt. "Think a youngster like you can take care of yourself in this?"

"I've been at this a while," Matt said. "Shouldn't be too bad."

"Looks like I'll have to show you kids this old dog's got some tricks left," Rusl chuckled, bringing his eyes back to the front.

In one motion, both of the combatants leaped at the circle, slashing and smashing at the Heartless with sword and fist. Caught by surprise, several of the armored creatures were slain before the rest reacted and fought back.

At the roofs of the buildings, shadows burst up and took form, becoming robed humanoids in various shades of dark colors, the black and red heart emblazoned on their front. Wide-brimmed hats shrouded their faces as they raised up sleeved hands and bombarded R.D. with waves of magical energy. "Whoa!"

He backpedaled out of the way, looking up at his opponents. Link also saw and brought out his bow once more, nocking quickly and letting fly with arrows--to his frustration, the arrows passed through nothing as the Heartless phased out of existence, only to reappear elsewhere.

Hugo turned around just as the robed Heartless vanished. Aiming his pickaxe at one of them, he charged his gun until firing a powerful shot, at even greater speeds due to the power of the G-Stone.

One of the creatures was struck by the bolt as it appeared with the rest, loosing a warbling scream as it was knocked into the air, where it exploded. The others seemed unmindful of its destruction, and continued to fire the waves of magic at them. R.D. leaped away, striking at Heartless as he passed, while Link did his best to ward the wizard-like Heartless off with his bow.

Ducking low to avoid a strike, R.D. slashed with his sword and twisted himself about, giving him a chance to scope the battle out as the Heartless was destroyed. His eyes widened at what he saw--another armored creature leaping up at Helena from behind. "Helena, look out!" he shouted, reversing the twist in his body as he snatched a Phase Blade from his belt. Activating it and throwing it in a single smooth motion, the crystalline blade speared through the air and into the Heartless as it came down at the girl. It exploded, and the Phase Blade continued on until it embedded into a pillar near a fancy-looking shop.

Helena yelped as the Phase Blade charged past, nearly grazing her. She carefully looked back up and found that the Heartless attacking her had been destroyed. "Thanks!" she shouted at R.D., waving. She returned to the fight with a burst of fire trailing up into a serpent that swept down and through crowds of Heartless.

More and more Heartless were coming--it seemed that for every one that was slain, two more appeared in its place. Or so R.D. thought, as he parried a blow from a Heartless' sword, only to get struck in the back by a blast from one of those octopus-looking monsters. He slipped his blade under the Heartless' guard and yanked it across, severing it in two. Three more Heartless rushed in to strike, forcing him back.

"Oh, to hell with this," he muttered. He swept his sword out to his side and drew upon his power. Particles of blue light trailed down and lit on his clothing, growing denser until it flashed, encasing him in the Dragon King Armor. A blast from another spitting Heartless bounced harmlessly off the gleaming metal, and R.D. swept around, cutting low to kill it before swinging back with the shield on his arm, knocking away another Heartless. "Bring it!" he shouted in challenge.

A blast from the Force Option gave Hugo an opening to get by Helena, and the two surveyed the situation.

"They're relentless," Helena said. She stood to Hugo's back, claws out and at the ready.

"I know," Hugo said. "It's pissing me off." Another volley of the Force Option to knock back attackers.

Helena slashed in a wide arc. While it tore through a massively fat Heartless in blue, it stumbled forward again until another kick sent it rolling. "All right, that's it. I'm turning all the way."

Hugo shifted his pickaxe and pointed it up. "Barrier Option." The Option burst out and unfolded, casting a dome shape of energy around them to protect them both. "Do it."

The Megami Tsurugi swept through the back of a giant fat Heartless, killing it instantly. "There, that's the last of them here," she said, turning her head to look down the street. She was back on the same road that Link had led them on, having followed the Heartless all the way down the bend.

She ran as best she could in her skirt, making sure she didn't trip herself in the process. Just as she made it back to the pavilion, something flew out of the crowd, and she ducked beneath it before flicking her wrist over her shoulder, shooting an ice bolt at the Heartless that leaped at her. "How are we gonna clean this mess up?" she asked herself. "I don't think I can pull off a Reckless Fire here... can I?"

A quick drawing of her strength confirmed that she couldn't. By being off of her home world, her power was severely crippled.