Alright, the first chapter to the new part of the series. It's time to start Chain of Memories everyone~! It's not particularly my favorite game, at least as far as actual game play. But I do enjoy the story, so that's mainly what I'll be focusing on. Though just as a heads up, this part of the story won't be very long since there is kind of limited material to work with. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy. And if you haven't read the first part of the story; Inverted Sky: Kingdom Hearts I...then I suggest you read that first and come back to this one afterward.
Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories
Chapter 1: Castle Oblivion part I
Sora slowly opened her eyes the moment she felt her feet on a solid surface once more. Though she quickly began to squint as it took a few moments to adjust to the bright light around her. Once she was able to see clearly however, the teen just blinked many times in confusion as to where she ended up. Her having just jumped into the abyss in the Realm of Darkness before arriving in this new and very strange place.
It being a fully white room with many strange markings on the walls, as well as a series of torches lighting the area as brightly as it was. Though there was a single set of doors on the far side, there was not any other method escape. Of which made the teen let out a huff in response while crossing her arms in suspicion.
"D-Did I really make it out? Or is this just some kind of illusion?" she muttered silently to herself, all while glancing at the pure white room and facing away from the door.
"I assure you..." a sudden male voice spoke up from behind the teen, to which she immediately pocketed the charm in her hand and summoned the Keyblade.
"...this place is no illusion." they continued as Sora turned around to face them with a fire in her eyes.
The person had the same appearance as the hooded figure she had met in Hollow Bastion, yet since his voice was different, she knew instantly that he wasn't the same man. "And you are?" she questioned as her gaze narrowed heavily on him.
"It's of no importance right now." was all he responded with, to which Sora pointed her weapon toward the man and seemed to focus on something.
Yet when nothing happened, the brown-haired girl blinked many times in shock as she looked at her Keyblade as if in disbelief. "What the...why can't I use magic?" she whispered silently before glaring at the hooded figure when he spoke up once more.
"The moment you set foot in this castle, you forgot every spell and ability you knew." he began with a gloved hand pointing toward her.
"Of course...the forgetting does not end there." the man continued as he then gestured to the walls around them.
"In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find. That is the way of things in Castle Oblivion." he finished, which caused Sora's eyes to widen as she recalled the Cheshire Cat's words.
'H-He knew all along that I'd end up here.' she thought to herself in shock and disbelief, something the hooded figure noticed and took advantage of.
The second Sora's gaze was broken from him, the man flew toward the teen at great speed. This frightening the girl as she brought her Keyblade out to defend herself, yet the hooded man simply passed right through her. The teen blinked many times as she swiftly turned around as the man came to a stop and then vanished in an oval-shaped flood of darkness around him.
Immediately following this, Sora looked around quickly before turning back around as the figure appeared near the doors once more. "How interesting." was all he said at first, it being clear he discovered something just now.
"What was 'that' supposed to do?" the teen all but demanded as she readied her weapon once more, yet she quickly started feeling nervous.
The girl understanding that if the man so chose, he could end her life at any second on a whim. But it then drew the question of why he hadn't done so already within her mind. Though, she didn't think further on this as the hooded figure spoke up once more while holding up a large blue card.
"I sampled your memories...and from them, I made this." he said while throwing the card toward the teen, whom caught it quickly with her free hand.
"This is the key to reuniting with those you hold dear." was the last thing he said before vanishing once more into an oval flood of darkness.
Once he was gone, Sora looked down at the card in her hand and saw the familiar picture of Traverse Town. This lead for her to look at the doors directly in front of her, to which she let out a heavy breath. "Well...I suppose there isn't exactly anywhere else to go." she muttered as she glanced at the rest of completely sealed room.
Upon walking up to the doors, the card in her hand began to glow brightly, to which they slid open on their own and allowed her to walk through. However, the next thing Sora knew, she was walking out of the 'room' she just came from with her Keyblade unsummoned. The teen blinking many times from this as she still felt like she had just been to Traverse Town, yet there weren't any solid memories of what just happened.
"Wh-What the..." she began, yet trailed off while looking behind her to the now closed doors.
"Enjoy your stay within your memories?" the man's voice echoed out as this new room was much larger than the last, him standing directly in front of the girl.
"What just happened? I know I just visited Traverse Town and met the friends I made there, yet I don't remember much else." Sora responded while narrowing her eyes as if blaming the man for this.
"As I told you, to find is to lose...and to lose is to find." was all he responded with, his tone alone making it obvious he was smirking under his hood.
"You gained something while in that world, therefore...you lost something of equal value." he continued, to which he pointed at the teen.
"Do you not have an ability you lost upon coming here?" the man stated, to which Sora blinked a few times and looked down to both her hands.
Of which took on a small black aura, it being clear that she regained a small portion of knowledge about her dark powers while in her memories. However, she couldn't recall what it was in the slightest as she had even forgotten the moment she achieved this. Though she quickly looked back to the hooding figure and narrowed her eyes once more.
"Just what do you want from me?" she more of demanded than asked, her feeling as if she was being lead around like a puppet since the man had known something that she herself couldn't remember.
"What do you have to give?" he questioned back while taking a step forward, yet quickly stopped when an oval flood of darkness appeared behind him and revealed another male.
This person wore a similar coat as the other man, yet his seemed to be more slender around the arms and waist. He also had his hood down, which revealed his long, yet very spiky red hair. It also showed Sora the purple, reverse-teardrop shaped markings under each of his emerald green eyes.
"Hello~!" he announced with a brief wave of his hand and a grin on his features.
The sudden intrusion made Sora blink many more times, her feeling even more lost than before as to what was going on. "What do you want?" the hooded man questioned in a calm tone, as if not entirely surprised by the interruption.
"No hogging the hero...well, I guess heroine would be more accurate, huh?" the other man said while continuing to smirk the whole time.
Immediately following his comment, the hooded figure threw what looked to be another blue card toward the red-haired man. Whom caught it with ease as he took a few steps forward, to which the other man turned away from Sora and walked past his 'comrade'. "Then perhaps you'd like to test her." he muttered out as he went by.
"Perhaps I would." was the red-head's response as the other man soon vanished just as he had before.
"My show now, Keyblade Master." he continued while looking to Sora, whom just watched this exchange in utter confusion.
"Who am I? The name's Axel, got it memorized?" this man questioned, him tapping the side of his head while speaking.
"Yeah...but just in the world is going on here?" Sora started in a low growl as she clenched her hands into fists.
"One minute I jump into the dark abyss, and then suddenly you guys show up telling me all these crazy things! I lose my abilities and spells, and now suddenly you're having me go through my own memories?! What for?!" she continued while grinding her teeth in a bit of frustration, it being the first time in a while that she didn't know anything of what was happening around her.
"What am I doing here?! What are you doing here?! Just what is this place?!" the teen demanded in a loud tone, her unable to remain calm anymore.
"Oh~...looks like you've already started asking questions." Axel began with a brief chuckle, to which he crossed his arms.
"That's good. But I'm afraid if you want to know something...you're gonna have to lose something in return." he continued, him gesturing around them with a hand before crossing it across his chest once more.
"Or did you not get the hint from the start?" the man questioned as he tilted his head to the side and leaned forward slightly.
Sora narrowed her eyes on him briefly before glancing to the door behind him; "So in order to figure out what's going on...I'm have to just keep on moving through this castle? The exact way that you guys seem to want me to go." she started while shifting her gaze back to the red head.
"Forgive my skepticism, but I don't really like that option. No matter what you 'promise' is at the end." she stated while readying herself to fight as the Keyblade appeared in her hand.
"Well...whether you like it or not, playing our little game is your only chance of getting out of here to begin with. So I'd suggest you make up your mind of what you'll do with the limited options you have." Axel claimed, to which he brought his arms up as a great heat wave flowed from him.
"But in the mean time..." he continued as a surge of fire flowed around him for a brief moment.
This producing a series of spinning flames to his sides, to which he then grabbed them and grasped a hold of what appeared to be twin Chakrams. These being silver and red in color, as well as had eight spikes, four shorter ones and four longer ones. "...lets see just how good you've gotten thus far." he finished before rushing forward with his weapons swinging at the girl.
There you have it, I'm going to be skipping all of the worlds Sora will visit...so I'm sure you can imagine that this part of the series is not going to be a particularly long one. But I will be filling it up with a lot of 'character stuff' for Sora. So hopefully, by the end of this story...you guys will like Sora all the more. ;) Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and will let me know in a review. Until next time everyone.