All the King's Horses
Chapter 4: The Anti-
"The DTD?" Kairi and Riku asked.
His majesty looked at them with confusion before realizing the purpose of their confusion.
"Yes, the Door to Darkness, or DTD for short. I'm guessing that Sora didn't explain it to you. It's a computer in Hollow Bastion that was Ansem the Wise used while he was still the king there. At first, the MCP used it for evil purposes, but Sora destroyed the MCP and now it can be used for researching purposes," Mickey explained.
Riku sighed in disbelief that Sora had forgotten that detail in his story.
"Just recently, I've been using the DTD to create a universal wide monitor to inspect the darkness levels in the worlds. This way, I can eliminate any enemies that might become something like Xehanort's heartless."
Both Kairi and Riku nodded and waited for the King to go on.
"Over time, however, the darkness in Twilight Town has increased rapidly. When I sent you the letter, I was hoping you could help me with this problem. If everything would have gone to plan, then we would have been going to Twilight Town to seal the Keyhole. But since the Keyblade Master himself isn't here and we don't know where he is, the plans conflict with each other," he sighed.
Silence filled the room as the group let the information sink into their heads. Riku and Kairi were in tough positions. They could look for their friend, or save Twilight Town and then look for Sora. It was a hard decision and it will definitely involve heavy thinking.
"Your Majesty! The coordinates are right now being installed in the Gummi Ship. Everything should be ready by dawn tomorrow. We suggest you get a night's rest by then!" two squeaky voice's announced.
Heads turned behind them as two chipmunks began to walk up to the group. The King smiled and thanked them for their hard work. They smiled at the compliment and began to walk back to the hanger.
"Welp', you heard them. We should all rest for now. Tomorrow we'll decide what to do and how we'll do it," he suggested and walked off to his bedroom.
"Donald, Goofy, you should do the same." he demanded as he walked.
As the knight and wizard followed the mouse king, Riku wondered if this was all he had to say. He knew the King would never lie, but there was something he knew he wasn't telling them.
"Riku," Kairi called, interrupting Riku's train of thought. "What do you think we should do?"
The silverette sighed as he thought of what to say.
"Right now, I think we should just wait and rest. We don't know what'll happen tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. All I do know is that Sora can take care of himself for at least another day," Riku answered and walked to the guest room.
Kairi, a little comforted from the statement, exhaled and followed her friend out the door.
"Well based on that reaction, I would think the answer would be no," Kisuke assumed. Ichigo and Sora looked at the man, wanting to know answers.
"This is all very interesting, especially from you, Sora-kun," he smiled with interest. Sora was very creped out by the man while Ichigo growled angrily at him.
"Urahara, what happened?" he yelled.
The blond pulled out his fan over his face and smiled, "I don't know!"
The answer was rewarded with a punch in the face by the very irritated substitute Soul Reaper.
While the shop manager recovered from his nose bleed, Yoruichi began to explain.
"What Kisuke means to say is, that a lot of things could have happened. From what Sora said, these 'Nobodies' could be with Aizen. And that could bring all sorts of trouble," she explained.
"If they are with Aizen, then for all we know is that the powder was to poison Ichigo," the white haired captain said.
"Not quite," the manager responded. Sora was amazed at the recovery speed of the people of this world and wonder what would have happen if the man was actually hurt.
"From what I've gathered, the powder seemed to separate the inner personality and the outer personality apart. This would mean that both Ichigo and his Hollow are existing as separate entities. Now why Sora was so surprised of this is a mystery to me, but as of now Ichigo's Hollow is out there in Karakura town doing whatever he pleases."
Eyes were then pointed at Sora. This boy was of mystery and it was time they get some answers from him. Said boy was currently looking down, avoiding all eye contact as much as he could.
"Um, well, I see, and um," he began, being crushed by the reiatsu from everyone. When the Soul Reapers saw the brunette in discomfort, they decided to relax and wait for his answer.
"Back during my first journey, I became a heartless trying to save my friends. I turned back into a human, but that doesn't fix that something else was made. While I was a heartless, I guess a Nobody was formed. I didn't notice, but out there, he was living a life with no memories or purpose. He joined Organization XIII but after a year, he ran away.
"I was in a capsule because my memories were erased and were being put back. But I had to go to sleep during it. Then, something happened and I couldn't wake up without my Nobody. So after he ran away, he was caught and soon became part of me," Sora explained and saw Rukia busily scribbling what he had just said. Everyone else stayed quiet, trying to understand what he had just said.
Urahara, however, smiled at the explanation and brought out two soul candy dispensers. Both were shaped in form of a rabbit.
"Based on what our Hobo friend had just said," began Urahara, earning looks from Sora, "A Nobody to him is what a Hollow is to us. Then this new product should work perfectly fine!"
Sora saw Ichigo's wary look, and began to worry about what it might entail.
"It seems like the powder divided both of you in half. This pill will reunite the nearest half to the other. The problem is, that the distance between you and your half is must be very close. Remember, you only have one shot too. This will take precise planning," he explained and tossed the dispensers towards the teens.
"So this is going to put the other half of us together?" Ichigo asked, examining the pill.
"Exactly!"
Sora thought about the medicine, and it seemed like it would work. The problem was, he hadn't left off with Roxas on good terms and it didn't seem like Ichigo did either with his Hollow. This will probably lead into fighting when they meet.
"Well then, we should start off planning. Ichigo, Sora, I suggest that you go on and continue what little of a normal life you have until we can figure out a plan. For now, just a keep an eye on your other half. And if you see any suspicious figures, get them out as soon as you can. We can't have Aizen be siding with your Hollow, Ichigo. Who knows what he could do if he does!" Urahara exclaimed.
"But I'm worried what he's doing at this moment," Yoruichi whispered.
It was an odd sight.
An albino and a spiky blond sitting at a café enjoying a nice day with ice tea. Or at least that what it seemed. Both were sending death glares at each other hoping the other would die a fiery death.
"…"
"…"
They weren't very talkative either.
Just when it seemed like their eyes would give out, the albino began to speak.
"So wimp, what happened? Is there any time limit we can stay out here, or what?" he asked.
The blond, who was recovering from the death stare match, answered, "Well, we've been staring for at least an hour and nothing seemed to happen. So I'm guessing a no on the time limit. As for what happened, I don't know. The only way we could know if someone had seen it. And we seem to be running from the only witnesses who did see it and not think we're crazy, we really can't find the answer. And my name is Roxas, not wimp."
"No time limit eh," the albino smiled as he sat from his seat and began to walk to an empty park.
"H-Hey, wait!" Roxas yelled after paying the bill.
When he arrived, he watched in awe as the albino began to destroy all things possible with his sword. He fired blasts of energy and created craters on the ground. And somewhere deep inside, Roxas knew that this was just a warm up.
The sun began to set when the albino stopped his havoc.
"Haven't have this much fun for a long time," he smiled sitting himself next to Roxas, feeling better after his obliterating the park.
"So you don't have a real body either then," Roxas reasoned while watching the sun set.
"I don't have a heart either. Don't want one. Thought it might help with this empty feeling," the albino added. "It's not a good feeling. I hate it."
"I hate it too," whispered Roxas quietly, "I hate it… but I can't hate him. Being empty, always hungering for something and never feeling full... It's worse then being dead."
"Not sure about the dead part, but yeah I guess that's what I mean."
The sun setting seemed to calm both of them as they talked.
"Che. I'm getting soft. I need a fight soon," the bleached man complained.
"Hey, what is this place anyway?" Roxas asked. It began to bother him that he didn't ask the question sooner.
Gold eyes stared at him in disbelief. His mouth grew into a smile as he stared at the teen.
"'This place'? You really aren't from this world like Zangetsu said. Fine, I'll explain, but only once."
"Here in Karakura town, there are three people you need to know. Human, Hollows, and Soul Reapers. Humans are harmless. Hollows are what you and I are. And Soul Reapers are what will try to kill us. All you need to do is use your instinct to survive. King or Ichigo will try to kill us. Stay away from anyone who looks human but holds a sword. Oh your king, Sora or whatever, will try to kill us too probably." the Hollow explained.
Blue eyes slowly brighten as he heard more and more of the explanation. And he thought his world was crazy. This was just a wild goose chase.
"So I guess Ichigo is your other?" he asked.
"Other? I guess, but he's more like the king. He's in control of the body and doesn't feel like sharing with me," he complained, "Doesn't even bother to give me a name." He began to glare at the blond Nobody in jealousy.
The blonde Nobody shuffled as he avoided the other's gaze. "If Ichigo won't give you a name, then pick one for yourself."
Silence stretched as Ichigo's Hollow stared incredulously, eyebrows lifting into his hairline as Roxas glared mutinously back and crossed his arms. Suddenly, the Hollow threw his head back and laughed, high-pitched and cackling.
"...Che," it cursed, still snickering. "Whatever. But I ain't pickin' a name with a goddamn 'x' in it."
"No one said you had to," Roxas grumbled defensively, glaring even harder.
The bleached figure smirked knowingly. "I ain't makin' some stupid anagram neither-"
"Justpicksomethingwouldyou!"
"Eh, hold your horses. Let's see… It pondered quietly for a while. Opening his mouth to say something but then hesitantly closed it. It was about three more minutes of irritation from Roxas before he proclaimed his new name.
"How bout Kagetsu, it has a nice ring to it. And it's no sissy strawberry name either like Ichigo." he spat out.
"What does it mean?"
"Moon's shadow," he laughed, seeing the irony in it.
"You're weird," the blond confirmed, looking back at the sunset.
"Better than your name. Sky scrambled around with an 'x', like that has any meaning!" the newly named Kagetsu argued.
"Moon's shadow! And I thought you wanted to throw away all connections to your king. I'm pretty sure that would mean your sword," the blond yelled.
People walked by, watching the two argue till night fell. Some tried to break them up, but then they saw the mess the bleached man caused and reasoned to stay away.
"People are getting dumber everyday," a certain boy said as he walked by the continued arguing of the two teens. He adjusted his glasses as he walked on his own to his father's hospital.
"Their stupidity almost matched Kurosaki's," he whispered to himself.