Leon stared out over Radiant Garden. It had been calm for a while, the heartless had not been much trouble as of late, and there had been no Nobodies to be seen. It bothered him more than a little, but not enough to not take advantage of the peace while it lasted. Leon looked over to Ansem's castle, where all of the trouble had started, and sighed. Yes, the peace would end soon enough, and Leon knew it . . .
*****
The dusk flew to the master as fast as it could. Entering the throne room of the castle, the dusk bowed low and reported it's findings. Another key, made of four, my lady. The second key has arrived.' It spoke through the darkness, making no true sound.
But the master understood, and she replied to her minion in a similar fashion. 'Bring them to me. The second darkness will awaken as planed.'
'Yes, my lady.' The dusk left the way it came, leaving the master alone. She pulled the hood of her cloak farther down over her face. Yes, the second darkness will awaken, she thought with a small chuckle. And not even the Keybearer can stop it . . .
Mike groaned. He tried to open his eyes, but couldn't manage it. He thought he heard someone talking, but before Mike could even try to figure out who it was, he lost consciousness again.
Aerith gasped as she tried to figure out who (or what) was lying on the floor of Ansem's computer room. Wondering what to do, Areith kneeled at his side and shook him softly. He groaned, and Aerith knew she had to help him. "Don't worry," she said softly, "you're going to be alright. I promise." He moaned again, and went limp.
"Hey! What're you doing?" said a chipper voice behind her. Aerith turned and found herself face to face with her friend Yuffie. Yuffie only had to look once to see the problem. "Wow." She gasped. "He doesn't look too good. Maybe we should take him back to Merlin's place; have him checked out."
Areith nodded, and each girl took a side of the green, orange banded stranger and started the trek back to the borough.
This time, Mike could open his eyes. "Dude . . " he moaned dizzily, trying to figure out where he was. It looked a little bit like a cottage. It was roomy, but filled to the brim with furniture, books, and stuff Mike couldn't even guess what they were. It mostly reminding him of Donnie's lab, but more, well, weird. "Toto, I don't think we're in New York anymore . . ." Mike quipped, getting up. As he looked out a window over by the door, Mike's eyes were met with more cottage like houses. "Yep. Defiantly not New York." He confirmed.
"Hey! You're awake!" cried a chipper voice behind him. "Feeling any better?"
"Ummm, a little, I guess." Mike said, turning quickly. The voice, he saw, belonged to a human girl not too much older than he was, with black hair, brown eyes, and a confident smile. She wore a short black shirt and what looked like khaki shorts, with tall black boots. But that wasn't what freaked Mike out; that honor went to the huge shuriken on the girl's back, which Mike swore was as big as he was. "Um, hi." Mike said, waving nervously.
"Hey!" she replied unphazed, waving back in return. "Well, you got a name or what?"
"I'm Mikey." Mike said warily, eyeing the giant weapon on her back.
"Cool! I'm Grand Ninja Yuffie!" The girl said, almost cheering. "Nice to meet ya'!"
"You too, dude!" Mike decided that he liked this girl (she didn't look like any Foot ninja he'd ever seen, so she couldn't be all bad), and shook her extended hand. "So, like, where am I? Defiantly not my nick of the woods."
"This place is called Radiant Garden." said a soft voice from across the room. Mike turned to face the source of the voice. She was tall, and wore a pink skirt under a red and white top. She had a red bow tied in her long brown hair, which was braided. Her calm green eyes were unafraid and trusting, and the girl herself seemed to embody a serene and unjudging aura. "My name is Aerith; are you alright? You seemed hurt when we found you."
"Um, yeah, I'm good." Mike said with a reassuring nod.
"And where are you from, Mikey?" Yuffie asked, leaning in close. "You said you weren't from around here."
"I'm from New York city, dudes!" Mike said proudly.
"Where?" Yuffie asked confused, arching an eyebrow.
"I've never heard of that world before . . ." Aerith said, equally bewildered.
"Huh?" Now Mike was confused. "World? I mean, New York's a big place, but it's not a whole world!"
"Oh boy . . ." Yuffie sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "We've got a lot of explaining to do."
"Sora? Sora! SORA!" Kairi called, putting her hands on her hips. She wore a pink mini-dress with a white shirt underneath. Her blue eyes showed her irritation, but no hint of anger. "Where are you, you lazy bum?" The young girl groaned, shaking her red haired head.
A soft snore was heard over the waves on the beach beneath her.
"Of course. He'd never pick anywhere else." Kairi sighed, rolling her eyes. She walked up to him, leaned over his face and . . . "SOOOOOORAA!" She shouted loudly, giggling as he thrashed about in suprise.
"GAH! Kairi! You gotta stop doing that!" He complained, getting to his feet. Dusting the sand off his black and red outfit and his spiky brown hair, Sora gave Kairi a pouting face.
"Then quit being late." Kairi accused. "Come on, Riku's looking for us. He's at the secret place."
As the two friends approached Riku, the silver headed teen turned to them, his face and green eyes giving off a kind of seriousness that only came with urgency. His arms crossed in front of his white and yellow jacket over a black shirt, Riku paced the small cave, his blue pants making a small, quiet 'swish' noise as he walked. He nodded to them as they waved. "Hey guys." Riku said, getting right to the point. "Remember that door that was back here? The one that went to other worlds?"
"Yeah." Kairi said with a nod.
"What about it?" Sora asked with a shrug, putting his arms up behind his head.
"Well, it's back." Riku answered, gesturing behind him. And sure enough, there it was. It was a large wooden door, with golden edging. All in all, it was rather unremarkable, save for the fact it was in the back of a small cave. "And when there's a way to other worlds-"
"Something is happening." Sora finished, getting excited and gesturing with his now free hands. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go already!"
"I'm with Sora on this one." Kairi agreed, although a lot more calm. "If we're gonna go, we should go together."
"Then let's go." Riku said with a nod. "Whatever's over there won't wait forever."
And with that, the three friends opened the door, and walked through . . .
Raph woke up to something dripping on his face. "Wha?" he moaned quietly, sitting up. His whole body ached, and he was extremely dizzy. Raph rubbed his eyes, confused. He seemed to be in some kind of cave, sitting in the middle of a small green puddle. As his vision cleared, Raph saw he was in a dark cavern next to a wide river. In short, Raphael had no clue where he was. "Hello?" He called out, slowly coming to a stand. "Leo? Don? Mikey? Where are you guys?"
"Maybe I can help you with that?" a voice said behind him.
Raph turned around and drew his sai at the stranger. "Who're you?"
"Boy, I knew I was unpopular, but I didn't think it was this bad." The man told him with a laugh. At least, Raphael assumed he was a man; He wasn't entirely sure what this stranger was. He was blue skinned, and his head was covered in flames.
"Wearin' a dress might be part of the problem." Raph said, obviously suspicious of him.
"You must not be from around here then; togas are the big thing." the stranger explained, waving off the insult to his blue garb. "The name's Hades. Lord of the Dead."
Raph immediatly tensed.
"Now, now! Don't be so uptight!" Hades said. "I mean, I understand it's a little unsettling, but seriously, I just wanna talk, you know, maybe . . . set up a deal."
"Deal?" Raph relaxed for a moment, but quickly went back into a defensive stance. "What kinda deal?"
"You know, you scratch my back, I scratch yours kinda thing." Hades explained. "Come on, we can go back to my place and talk about it."
Raph had a bad feeling about Hades. But he had a worse feeling about not finding his brothers. He put his sai away and followed. "Alright. Let's talk."
Leonardo was awakened to find himself in chains, attached to a large wooden pole. "Huh?" he moaned dizzily.
"Quiet, monster!" a man screamed at him, pointing some weapon at his chest. Leo thought it was a pike; he couldn't really tell right then. "You shall not torture our villages anymore!"
"What?!" Leo asked, wide awake now.
"Quiet monster!" the man cried again, hitting Leo this time. "The Emperor will give you the justice you deserve."
Defiantly not a pike. Leo thought, hearing the wooden tip thump off his shelled chest. Lucky me. Maybe we can talk this out? "What exactly is it that I did?" Leo asked, looking around for clues to find out where he was. "Assuming that I am who you think I am." Leo saw nothing but bamboo trees. Not exactly the clue he was looking for, but it did help a little.
"This is a trick!" The man accused, thumping Leo in the chest again. "You know full well what you have done to us! You sent your vile black creatures after us! You have destroyed our villages, tortured our people, and spoken death against our lord, the Great Emperor of China!"
Leo gulped. What have I gotten myself into now?
Don shook his head and opened his eyes. And then immediately wished he hadn't when he saw a human right over his face. "AAAAaahhhh!" He screamed, jumping back and drawing his bo. However, Don quickly realized that he wasn't going to be able to defend himself, seeing as he could hardly stand, let alone fight this powerful looking, albeit naked, dread-locked stranger.
The man looked confused as well, leaning away from Donatello. "Who . . . are you?" he asked.
Don looked around, hoping he could find a place to run and hide instead of answering the question, but quickly realized that he wouldn't be able to hide anywhere safely in this jungle he'd somehow appeared in. And before he'd even realized it, Don passed out again, leaving himself at the mercy of the strange before him . . .
