Out in the courtyard Roxas and Terra were on either side, studying the other and predicting what the other was going to start.

Ven and Aqua were sitting on the castle steps cheering for either one. Eraqus was at the bottom of the stairs, ready to start the spar.

"The rules for this match are simple. The both of you are only allowed to us basic techniques and lower tier spells only. There will also be no Shotlocks or Command Styles. The match will end when either one of you surrender, are knocked out, or when I say it ends. Do the both of you understand?" Eraqus said with his Keyblade raised.

"Yes Master/Eraqus." The both of the replied while getting into their stances. Roxas briefly wondered what Eraqus meant by Shotlocks or Command Styles, but it could wait. Roxas decided to summon Oblivion while Terra summoned his Keyblade.

It was short in reach with a tempered dark brown shaft with brass edges. For it's teeth one side had two prick like shapes on it and two hammer like protrusions on the other side. It's guard was light blue in color and was circular with a similar color cone shape for the handle. It's Keychain was a few silver chain links to a reddish rock.

"Very well then. Begin!" With that Eraqus sent a sphere of light into the air, starting the match.

Both rushed into the center. Roxas tried to get a good hit on Terra, but he seemed to slide away from him. The eldest apprentice saw an opening, but his strike was blocked by Roxas. But it had pushed him back about 2 feet.

'Okay he is strong.' Were the thoughts of Roxas. Terra had some power behind his swings. Getting hit by one of those would deal some damage.

Terra continued to try land another three strikes on him, but Roxas blocked the first two hits and parried the last one. Roxas tried to land a blow, but Terra blocked it. Before Roxas could get in another strike Terra lept into the air and slammed his Keyblade into the ground to create a shockwave that knocked him back.

Before he could get his bearings Terra unleashed a barrage of powerful strikes and then sent him flying with a spinning attack. He managed to recover mid air as he saw Terra was trying to strick from him above.

'Perfect.'

"Strike Raid!" Roxas threw his Keyblade at Terra. The force of the impact plus gravity sent the young man crashing down onto the ground.

'Ow.' Was all that Terra could think of at the moment. He had to admit, Roxas was a good fighter. His stance was unorthodox from what he has used to training and had some openings that he could exploit, but then again he was mostly self taught before crashing into Ven's room. Speaking of which Roxas was nearly as fast as Ven, but had more power in his strikes.

With some effort he rose back to his feet. He saw Roxas coming back at him to attack. Terra resummoned his Keyblade to parry the strike. He resumed his attack on the reverse swing when Roxas rolled out of the way and resumed his stance.

"Not bad Roxas." Terra said as he also got into a stance. "You just need to work on fine turning your style and a few other things and then you could probably be ready for the Mark of Mastery in about a year."

He was speaking honestly. He thought that Roxas was close if not a bit above Ven in terms of skill and that was after a year with constant training by himself. A year of tutelage under Master might have both him and Ven ready for the next exam.

"Thanks Terra. You're not so bad yourself." Roxas said smiling.

He had to admit so far Terra was a tough opponent. So to hear that from him was well earned praise. Of course Roxas was still exhausted from traveling through time and was only fighting with one Keyblade, but even he doubted that if he used both of them it would make that much of a difference as he was right now.

Both of them jumped back into their battle. Terra aimed a blow to his head, but Roxas parried it away. Terra kept coming at him not leaving any openings to counter attack. Roxas was pushed to the wall of the courtyard when he took a chance and kicked the taller man in the chest. Now with some room to work, Roxas went a few jabs at Terra pushing him back.

"Blizzard!" Roxas casted. The ice shard hit home, but Terra blocked it

"Not bad Roxas, bit try this." Terra said as he pointed his Keyblade at him. "Blizzard!"

Terra sent a larger chunk of ice at Roxas. It was too big to dodge easily so he had to change tactics.

Silently Roxas switched to Oathkeeper. Using the magic boost the Keyblade gave him, he silently casted Fire. To silently cast a spell is a tricky thing to do. You must practice it time and time again in order to successfully cast it, and even more time to perfect it to the level were it would be on the same level vocally. It was also quite risky with healing spells unless you had the experience to use it. Roxas had used Fire so many times during his existence that halfway through his time with the Organization that he was able to silently cast it. Now with the boost provided by Oathkeeper it was about the same level as when he would vocally cast it.

The spells cancelled each other cause a cloud of steam filled the courtyard. Taking the chance Roxas silently sent another fireball Terra's way.

"Fire!" Apparently Terra had the same plan and both were knocked onto their backs.

Eraqus had set up a silencing barrier as soon as the spar started, not wanting for the fighters to be distracted by Aqua's and Ven's cheering. Both of his other students were rooting for Terra and Roxas as they wanted it to be fair.

Throughout the fight he analyzed Roxas and his fighting style. It was surprisingly balanced with speed nearly that of Ven's and with a good deal of strength behind each strike. He also noticed that when presented a chance to strike, the boy wasn't afraid to take it.

Still he had to smile at Terra's analyze of Roxas and agreed wholeheartedly at his analysis of the boy. If given some training he might be able to take the Mark of Mastery exam within a year or two.

Now not only was he surprised that he switched between keychains that fast, but he also was able to cast Fire silently to that level.

Of his students only Aqua has mastered silent casting. Terra was still working on geting to that level and has almost mastered the basics. But he can tell that the Keyblade he was using was boosting his magic quality somewhat. But to master a spell on his own to be able to silently cast it in a year with no formal teaching was impressive.

Eraqus shook his head from his musings to focus back on the match as both Terra and Roxas had gotten back up.

Both of them dusted themselves off. Both Roxas and Terra had the wind knocked out of them by a fireball and were waiting for the other to strike.

After a minute of waiting Roxas was the first to strike. He charged at the older teen who was prepared to block. Halfway to Terra he jumped into the air, catching the older apprentice by surprise. Roxas preformed a jumping slash with his Keyblade and in the next moment switched back to Oblivion and unleashed a combo of rapid attacks on Terra. The older apprentice waited for a an opening while blocking Roxas. After half a minute of being bombarded he found his chance.

"Thunder!"

A ring of electricity surrounded Terra. Before Roxas could process what was going on a bolt of lightning blasted him to the other side of the courtyard.

Roxas broke into a roll as he straightened out his landing. The moment he regained his composure he barely dodged a strike. Terra began another spin attack.

"Reflect!" Roxas casted. Terra looked in surprise as the familiar energy shield appeared, but it proved useless as Terra smashed through it and hit Roxas square in the gut.

"What kind of spell was that? It kind of looked like Barrier that Aqua uses, but I've never been able shatter it before." Terra said with his guard still up.

Roxas just groaned in pain as he got back up. It took him a minute to compose himself before he spoke to Terra.

"It is called Reflect, it has higher tiers, but I only know the first one. I think it probably works like Barrier except for that it is weaker from what you said." Roxas said simply. While he was talking to Terra he silently dispelled Oblivion.

"Do you think that after the Mark of Mastery exam you might teach me that?" Terra asked. It wouldn't hurt to have another means to defend himself. Roxas just shrugged his shoulders at that.

"Sure, but let us just get back to the spar for now." He said getting into his stance.

"Agreed."

Terra was about to strike him again when Roxas summoned Oathkeeper and began to pelt him with Fire. The eldest apprentice was forced to dodge the initial onslaught. After that Roxas got his second wind and continued to spam the spell. All Terra could do was block or dodge the fireballs, but a few of them had hit home. Eventually Roxas noticed that he was starting to run low on magic. So he settled on rushing towards Terra.

He managed to block Roxas's attack and used Counter Hammer to push him back again. He need to get some distance away from the blond to recover a bit as the both of them were starting to tire out. So Terra had an idea.

"Blizzard!" "Fire!"

Terra copied Roxas earlier strategy, but instead using Blizzard as well and spreading them to keep him at a distance. Roxas was forced to keep dodging the spells for a minute. After he blocked a fireball he saw an opening and took it.

"Aero!" Roxas casted. The gust of wind sliced through an oncoming Blizzard spell and knocked Terra off his feet. Before Roxas could reach him, Terra was back on his feet and began to cast both spells again.

Roxas switched back to Oblivion again and proceeded to dodge the incoming spells rushing towards Terra. The eldest apprentice stopped the barrage as he was almost out of magic. But the moment he stopped Roxas managed to get a good hit in, sending Terra skidding back a few feet.

He managed to regain composure an blocked another strike from Roxas. Both of them began another clash of Keyblades with Terra at first struggling to counter Roxas's rapid slashes. But as it continued he began to block more and more of his attacks. Eventually Terra was able to get in a lucky blow and sent the Nobody flying back to the other side of the courtyard.

"Cure!" Roxas groaned out. It helped heal his some of his injuries, but he had almost run out of magic now. As soon as he got up he had to block a strike from Terra. He tried again, but Roxas just parried it away.

It was then that Roxas rushed in. He unleashed another series of rapid strikes that gave Terra no room to counter. He was losing stamina fast so he needed to finish it now. He speed up his attacks and after a few seconds he switched to Oathkeeper and unleashed Fire point blank at Terra's chest. While the older Keyblade wielder was disoriented he sent another two fireballs at him. Terra was knocked onto his back while Roxas had run out of magic.

'Is he knocked out?'

"Cure!"

'Well that answers that question.'

Terra groaned as he got back up. He had use the last of his magic to heal himself from Roxas's latest assault. While he was in some pretty bad shape, the younger Keyblade wielder was a bit worst of then he was. Looks like Roxas hadn't finished recovered from being attacked yesterday like Master said.

'It's time to finish this.' Terra thought. When he was back up Roxas rushed at him also ready to end the match. He managed to parry the oncoming strike and got back into another clash. They kept alternating between attacking and blocking withTerra's strength giving him and edge against Roxas who was using his speed to counter his strikes. They continued this stalemate for a few minutes when Terra noticed that Roxas had dispelled his Keyblade. Having seen him switch between his keychains like several times,Terra knew he had to strike.

"I'm sorry about this Roxas." He said.

Before Roxas could figure what he meant or summon Oblivion, he was flung into the air by the impact of Terra's Keyblade into his chest.

As Roxas was coming down Terra swung his Keyblade with all his might and connected with the back of the blonde's head.

With a mixture of exhaustion and the blow to the back of his head, all Roxas could see was black as he was caught midair.

"Roxas!"

Eraqus dispelled the silence barrier as soon Roxas was knocked out. Terra had caught the boy midair and his other two apprentices rushed to check on the boy's condition.

"Terra!" Ven said as he and Aqua rushed up to their friend. "Is he alright?"

"I've already checked him Ven. Roxas is alright, but I don't think he would be waking up anytime soon." Terra said, exhausted from all facing the young Keyblade wielder. "Aqua do you think heal him? I ran out of magic during the fight."

"Alright." Was all Aqua said as she started to cast Cura on the downed boy.

While they apprentices were talking over and checking on Roxas, Eraqus was evaluating the boy's skills.

Roxas was a surprisingly balanced fighter. He was nearly if not as fast as Ventus, had a good amount of power behind his strikes, was an excellent spell caster, and if he wasn't already exhausted a good amount of stamina. This was all from being mostly self taught for over a year.

The boy could almost match Terra with the restrictive conditions of the spar and still not fully recovered was impressive. If both were going all out, he was sure Terra wouldn't be so lucky to knock him out.

One thing that concerned Eraqus was his fighting style. Sure it needed a lot of polishing, but it was adequate for someone who didn't have any formal Keyblade training. But there was something off about. Something which he will confront Roxas when he wakes up.

Besides that the boy was skilled in swordsmanship and spell casting from what he has seen so far and if he has learned all this in the course of a year was impressive. If spoke of the potential within the boy.

He wouldn't be surprised if the boy was able to take the Mark of Mastery exam in at least a year and a half.

But for now he would focus on that later. He had to deal with an unconscious Keyblade wielder.

"What is Roxas's condition?" Eraqus asked his apprentices.

"He won't be waking for a while Master. Other then that he is covered with bruises and should make a full recovery soon." Aqua answered after she was done healing him. She then moved to heal Terra. He might not have been as banged up as Roxas, but he still needed some healing for the burns caused by being bombarded with fireballs.

"I see." The Keyblade Master said. Hopefully the boy would wake up before the exam.

"Terra." Eraqus said getting the young man's attention."You have preformed laudably against Roxas. I will expect that both you and Aqua will give the same effort for the exam tomorrow."

"Of course Master." Terra said with Aqua nodding in agreement.

"Well then. There will be no more training for the rest of the day or for the rest of the week." Eraqus said getting his apprentices to nod at that. "I will take Roxas back to his room." Terra nodded as he handed the unconscious boy to his Master after that they began to head back into the the castle.

"Master, what were you going to do with Roxas after he wakes up?" Ven asked. Everyone stopped in their tracks and turned to face Eraqus. He could only sigh at the question.

"If you are worried about anything happening to him, dismiss those concerns now Ventus." He said before turning to his youngest apprentice. "The only thing that I am going to do is make him an offer."

"What kind of offer?" Ven asked curiously. Eraqus could only smile at his student.

"I was going to explain to everyone after the match, but Roxas is currently asleep. So for now I will explain my offer when we get inside Ventus". Eraqus said. Ven just nodded and everyone proceeded to enter back into the castle.

"Interesting."

In the shadows of one of the castle's towers a figure watched the match. He had managed to sneak out of the gaze of that old coot to scout the castle. It was a really dull place and held nothing that interested him until he saw the match.

Someone who looked exactly like that weakling was fighting against the eldest apprentice.

It wasn't anything like that geezer had expected, but he could care less.

Still that lookalike, Roxas felt a lot stronger then the weakling and he could tell that the lookalike was holding a lot back.

Terra only managed to knock him out through a mixture of exhaustion, luck, skill, and a really hard blow to the back of the head. Still that wasn't the only thing he got from Roxas.

Although it was faint, he could tell that he had the same light as the weakling. That just brought a smirk on his face at the possibilities that it could bring. But he would have to wait.

"Better head back before that old coot suspects something." The figure said before he summoned a Corridor of Darkness. While he could have grabbed Roxas here and now it would have caused an incident that he really didn't need right now. So for now he would wait til the right moment.

"Tomorrow." He said as he looked at the setting sun. "That's when it will all begin."

After that he started to chuckle as he entered the corridor. It vanished soon afterwards, leaving only a feeling a negativity and emptiness lingering around that spot.

(Chapter 11 end)