Sora's Metropolis Adventure
"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."- Joseph Campbell
Had to rewrite whole chapter after getting computer fixed, sorry it took so long
(2 weeks after forming- Watchtower)
Onboard the newly formed Justice League's headquarters a certain spikey haired teen hero was busy in the kitchen making some lunch to help pass the time. He had just finished boiling some rice and was in the process of cooking some chicken and vegetables to add to it to make a lovely rice bowl, Sora hummed contently.
"All those cooking lessons from mom are really paying off." He thought to himself.
To say the last two weeks were exciting was the understatement of the century, he helped stop an alien invasion AND is now a founding member of a team of superheroes. Even with all the stuff he, Donald and Goofy went through in the other worlds, THIS was a new step.
Over the course of time since they stopped the invasion, Sora was allowed a chance to read up on his teammates as well as the long list of villains to look out for on this world.
The first was Superman, who is apparently one of the last survivors of the planet known as Krypton, when he was a baby his parents foresaw the destruction of their planet, so they placed him in a spaceship set for Earth, so he would have a chance to survive. Once he arrived, he was discovered by a couple of farmers, Jonathan and Martha Kent. They adopted him and raised him in the town of Smallville, as he grew he discovered his powers that apparently are because Earth's sun being younger than Krypton's. He learned of his origins from a recording of his birth father Jor-el, stored on the ship that brought him to Earth, eventually moving to Metropolis, becoming a reporter for the Daily Planet and choosing to adopt the identity of Superman.
Flash didn't explain much of his personal life, whole secret identity thing, but he explained how his powers stem from something called the Speed Force, allowing him not only to run at super speed but vibrate his molecules to pass through walls and other solid objects, even make tornados by moving fast enough. He was a funny person, bit of a goofball, but Sora could see himself and Flash getting along just fine.
Hawkgirl didn't get too much into her past either, her name was Shayera, she's apparently an alien too, from the planet Thanagar. All her people apparently have wings and advanced technology, priding themselves as warriors. Here mace was made of something called Nth metal, which is not only stronger than steel, it can disrupt fundamental forces like gravity and even magic, a magic resistant metal, who knew?
Green Lantern, AKA John Stewart was a US Marine before he was recruited by a group known as the Green Lantern Corp. An army of peacekeepers, hundreds of thousands of them each tasked with protecting a certain sector of space in the known universe, and all equipped with a special ring powered by will alone that could create constructs in the shape of whatever they could imagine, each ring choosing its bearer much like the keyblade. Their leaders were these blue skinned ancient beings known as the Guardians, and Lantern HQ was located on the planet of Oa, along with a thing called the central battery, used to recharge and power all Green Lantern rings. The fact he must protect not only Earth gives him and Sora something in common.
Now Batman didn't really share ANY information, aside from the fact that his home turf is Gotham city, it's apparently been a cesspool of crime for years, and some of the worst of the worst call that city home. Sora figured Batman just wants to keep his identity a secret to protect himself and his partners, Batgirl and Robin.
Newly named Wonder Woman told Sora tales of her home island of Themyscira, home of the legendary Amazons, warrior women. Sora could relate to Diana a bit since they both grew up on islands. Thousands of years ago the Amazons were enslaved by one of the Olympian gods, Ares the god of war. One day Diana's mother Hippolyta rallied the Amazons to claim freedom from Ares in a massive battle, Hippolyta was about to kill Ares when Zeus, his father intervened. He demanded Hippolyta spare the war god's life, much to her outrage, when Zeus's wife Hera arrived at the scene, she comforted Hippolyta and told her while Ares would live he wouldn't be unpunished. Hera bestowed powerful bands on Ares's arms which would prevent him from feeding on the psychic energies generated by war, the source of his powers. He would be kept as a prisoner to the Amazons on their home island of Themyscira.
Sora couldn't help but be amazed by the tales of some of his teammates adventures, and he thought the heartless were trouble to say the least.
'To think I'm a founding member of what could be one of the greatest teams of heroes ever.' Sora thought to himself as he exited the kitchen with his fried rice, veggies and trout lunch ready and hot on a plate. He made his way to the mess hall and sat down to enjoy his lunch, though the watchtower was quiet with almost everyone else handling different problems on Earth.
So, he was on monitor duty, the watchtower was also serving as his temporary home until he and the others could figure where he would live on earth. Everyone was equipped with an in-ear communicator to keep in touch with each other anywhere on the planet.
Sora is still kind of getting used to the whole 'secret identity' thing, he never had to worry about something like this on ANY of his adventures, especially since his enemies already knew who he was. Apparently, heroes here keep their identities secret because their enemies might try to hurt their friends and family, he could understand that. It made him wonder how they managed to balance their lives with their duties as heroes.
After finishing his lunch, he walked over to the main monitor station to keep an eye out for any new alerts, he leaned back in his chair and began to think back to when he told the others his whole story.
XXXXX
(Flashback-two weeks ago)
A few hours after agreeing on forming the Justice League, there was still some other business to attend to. The leaguers gathered around their youngest member as they waited for him to tell his full story.
Sora sat down at the table and took a breath. "Okay everyone here, well I guess I should start at the very beginning. It all started one afternoon on my home island…."
And he began to explain his life before the invasion, how he loved hanging out with his best friends Riku and Kairi, how he and Riku would always find ways to have a friendly competition and Kairi often being the spectator. They were always curious about the outside worlds, they had also heard tales of their being other worlds out there, it made their island feel real small. They had decided to build a raft, so they could go see the world together, just the three of them searching for adventure. Soon he got to what would lead up to the invasion of his home, he stopped at the memory.
Superman looked concerned "It's ok if you need a break." He consoled, Sora lightly shook his head and raised it to face his new friends.
"It's okay, I can handle this. It started out like any other night, but then It happened." He paused before continuing.
"I woke up from a loud banging and Ayria was screaming in her room, I ran down to make sure she was okay, not far behind my mom came in to see if we were okay. Then I went to go find Kairi and Riku after telling Mom to keep Ayria safe and indoors, outside it was just total chaos, and it wasn't just Destiny Islands, the entire freaking planet was under attack by creatures who thrive on darkness, everyone screaming and dying all over the world, and there's nothing you can do about it but run. I don't know how long it took for them to destroy Earth, but it was much faster and more hopeless."
He then explained how he battled the giant Darkside heartless and how Kairi had disappeared with Riku just before their world fell into the darkness.
The other League members couldn't help but feel sorry for him, to be so young and still have everything you cared about taken away, being left powerless to stop it. Batman and J'onn could relate to the young hero from personal experience.
Sora continued his tale, from when he first met Donald Goofy and Jiminy in Traverse Town along with the Hollow Bastion group, up until he had to battle Riku when he was possessed by Ansem seeker of darkness, and how he gave up his heart to free Kairi's, becoming a heartless in the process.
Diana was amazed by this story so far, Amazons always had a low opinion of men in general, but to hear a young boy willing to risk losing himself to the darkness to save the girl he cared for, the ultimate sacrifice. To find a person as noble as Sora especially at a young age, it's more precious than gold. Diana was truly impressed by the young hero, and she wasn't the only one. To think he experienced what it was like to become a Heartless and yet still fights on knowing it could happen again, incredible.
Sora began to wrap up his story.
"So Riku king Mickey I managed to close the door to Kingdom Hearts, with Riku on the other side. After that Goofy Donald and I decided to find Kairi and a way to get Riku back."
Green lantern still had a question that was on everyone's mind.
"One thing I still don't get, how did you come to our world in the first place?" He asked.
"Hmm" Sora lowered his gaze and rubbed his chin in deep thought, trying to think back to the events that led to his arrival and separation from Donald and Goofy.
"Goofy Donald and I were travelling down this path in the middle of a field looking for my friends…." Sora trailed off for a moment, a far off blank look on his face. He then gripped his head as his eyes twisted trying to concentrate before he looked back to the others.
"I can't remember! One moment I was with Donald and Goofy and the next I woke up in the forest! Everything between is just gone!" he exclaimed at the revelation.
His teammates looked at each other as J'onn left his seat and approached the young hero.
"Let me see if I can probe your memories, I might be able to uncover some answers." He proposed
"Okay, lets give it a shot." Sora agreed.
Placing his hands on the young hero's head, Manhunter began to look through his memories, from the battle in Hollow Bastion leading up to them walking in a field, he could just make out a shape ahead of them overshadowed by the sun-
SLASH THUMP
"AAAHHH!" J'onn screamed as he released his grip, a surge of some sort of energy making him reel back in pain.
"Ughh" Sora groaned, rubbing the sides of his skull as a sharp headache coming on, like someone had jabbed his brain with a sharp stick.
Flash rushed from his seat to hold the Martian up, he was wobbling like he was about to fall over.
"Are you okay? What happened in there?" He asked as J'onn began to steady himself.
"I…. I couldn't find any clues, it's as if an entire chunk of Sora's memory is missing. Like a page torn out of a book." He explained. Sora just finished rubbing his head as the pain dulled.
"Missing? Oh man, Goofy and Donald must be worried, I hope their okay. They could be in trouble! I've got to find them!" Sora said, his face showing a mutual worry for his two long time travelling companions.
Superman approached him, placing a hand on the young hero's shoulder and looking him in the eye.
"Don't worry Sora, we'll help you find your friends, together." He consoled.
Sora smiled, while he didn't notice Batman giving him a questionable look.
"Someone doesn't want him to remember something, but what?" he thought.
(End of Flashback)
XXXXXX
(Present Day)
Sora was leaning back in his chair recalling all that, still wondering how Donald and Goofy were doing, he couldn't help it. They had been through so much together, always having each of the trio protecting the other ever since they first met in Traverse Town.
Sora shook his head to escape his thoughts and returned his attention to the computer monitor, checking surveillance in multiple cities for any other threats, but with all the waiting around he was admittedly going a little stir crazy from boredom.
He was soon brought out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps. He turned to see J'onn approaching, he was also living on the watchtower until he got more acclimated to living on Earth, at least they could keep each other company. Sora grinned at his teammate and waved.
"Hey J'onn, what's up?" He asked simply.
"I am here to relieve you of monitor duty." He responded.
Sora's eyes widened a bit and he stood from the chair, perking up.
"Awesome! I've really been itching to do some exploring on this world ever since I came here." Sora beamed.
J'onn sat down and turned to the young hero.
"I believe Metropolis would be a good start, the Javelin is in the hangar, just set the coordinates into the navigation computer." He replied.
"No problem, once I get close I can find someplace to hide it outside the city." Sora said.
One thing he had enjoyed showing the others was how he was a surprisingly good pilot for one not yet old enough to even have a driver's license. He really had fun when they showed him the flight simulator.
He made his way to the hangar bay and approached the Javelin-7 excitedly. The justice league's main mode of transport to and from the Watchtower, especially for the members who couldn't fly.
He headed straight for the pilot seat, entered the coordinates like Manhunter said and exited the hangar to the blue planet below.
XXXXXX
(50 min later, Downtown Metropolis)
The hustle and bustle of the big city was a nice change from sitting in the Watchtower, not to mention the town on Destiny islands. Sora was enjoying the chance to explore Superman's home turf, not to mention on his other adventures with Goofy and Donald he didn't often get a chance to just relax and look around.
He was walking along the sidewalk trying to catch a glimpse at one of Metropolis's signature buildings, he wandered for 10 minutes before he spotted the giant globe of the city's famous newspaper, the Daily Planet. Sounded more like a global news name rather than local but still makes a good landmark, in case he got lost.
(Cue police siren noise)
Sora halted in his tracks when he heard the unmistakable wailing of police cars coming up behind him, he watched as they zoomed past down the road before taking a right at the intersection up ahead. His instincts kicking in, Sora decided to follow, sprinting as fast as he could, with the complex urban environment, he decided to improvise some shortcuts, heading towards the sound of the sirens.
He turned down a back alley and leapt onto a dumpster to climb a fence, all the practice free-running he did on the islands comes in handy. Hitting the ground in a roll before finding his feet and breaking back into a run.
He soon arrived at the source of the commotion, a line of police cars surrounding a 10-story building, and on top of it was a school bus being held halfway over the edge by what looked like a giant purple robotic ant.
Sora soon overheard a nearby news crew and listened in.
"This is Snapper Carr reporting live from downtown Metropolis, where the criminal known as Toyman has taken a school bus full of children hostage, threatening to drop the bus over the ledge unless he is paid a ransom of 2 million dollars." The reporter stated.
Sora turned his attention back to the top of the building, narrowing his eyes in determination.
"No one is losing there kids today on my watch." He thought to himself
He ran down an alley nearby, pulling his jacket's hood over his head and using a bandanna he had in his pocket to cover the lower part of his face…
XXXXX
Meanwhile a news copter was just arriving on the scene, it's passengers being the lovely Lois Lane and the red haired young photographer Jimmy Olsen
"Man, I hope Superman gets back soon." Jimmy said nervously.
"Keep the camera focused Jimmy." Lois instructed, trying to hide her worry for the kids.
"Okay coppers, you have got 10 minutes to cough up the money, or the little kiddies will have to take HARD way down!" Toyman announced over his robot's speakers.
"HEY DOLLFACE!" A voice yelled from behind.
Toyman turned his robot to the source and before he knew what was happening he felt something impact the outside of his cockpit, hard enough to send his robot stumbling away from the bus, before he regained his bearings, shaking his head to clear it. He looks to see what hit him and standing between him and the bus standing tall and proud was a hooded figure holding what looked like a giant key.
"You want to play? Then Game on!" the young voice yelled twirling his key.
Toyman raised his robot and charged at the young hero.
"Okay, let's play." he said.
He thrusts his robot's front right leg to impale Sora, but he easily jumps to the side and slashes, cutting it off at the first knee. Sora then jumps onto the midsection of the ant and aims his keyblade at the cockpit.
"Take this! Deep freeze!" An orb of blue light surges from the tip and collides with the cockpit containing the criminal, freezing it solid. But Toyman is still able to work the controls, he makes the ant shake throwing the boy off, and the eyes glow before firing two lasers.
Sora, having landed on his back rolls to the side to dodge the beams as they scorched the concrete roof where they hit and quickly returned to his feet, thrusting his keyblade skyward.
"THUNDER!" He cried out, and lightning came from the cloudless sky striking the robot in multiple places, stunning it from the surge of electricity. Sora seized his chance and ran at his opponent, with a flurry of strikes he began slashing at the robot, denting the hull and managing to chop of two more legs, as sparks flew from the clashing of metal against metal.
(meanwhile with ground news crew)
"This is Snapper Carr with an update on Toyman's attack, it seems there is a commotion on the roof, and lightning just came from a clear sky. What's that? (Holds finger to earpiece) I have just been told that a battle is taking place, a hooded figure is fighting Toyman, wielding what is described as a giant key. We may have a new hero in Metropolis, will keep you updated." The reporter said.
(meanwhile in news copter)
"Lois are you seeing this?" Jimmy asked as he took pictures of the ensuing fight.
"I sure am Jimmy, seen a lot of stuff in Metropolis but a giant key-sword really is something new." She responded with a grin, she finally beat Clark to something, something all reporters crave, a new story.
"New hero, new story, new Pulitzer." She thought to herself.
Jimmy, still photographing the fight, was intrigued by the way this new hero fought.
"Man, he's like some kind of samurai with that key." He voiced.
"Hmm, Samurai key huh?" Lois pondered, an idea forming in her head.
(Back with Sora and Toyman)
To say the fight was not going in Toyman's favor would be an understatement, His robot ant was dented all over, the glass over his cockpit as cracked and he was now down to 3 legs, Sora wasn't done yet as he leapt forward and landed on the midsection.
"Don't mind me! I'll just keep hitting until something breaks!" He yelled and began slashing at the robot.
"This game is not over yet." Toyman retorted, causing Sora to pause his assault and looked at him with a smirk.
"Uh, are you getting enough oxygen through that mask, your robot is on its last legs, literally. And I believe we've already established you can't beat me. So why don't you give up now before I show you what the bottom of my shoe feels like on your face?" he responded confidently.
"Maybe you've beaten me, you forgot my 'playdates'." Toyman retorted mockingly before pressing a button on his control panel. Sora raised an eyebrow in confusion as a compartment on the robot opened and what looked like a giant toy dart gun came out, Sora readied his stance when he noticed it wasn't aiming at HIM. His eyes widened, he had nearly forgotten about the BUS!
Sora sprinted to the kids just as the darts began to fire, he began using his thunder magic to intercept the darts, each strike of lightning causing the dart to detonate mid-flight, but a stray shot hit the concrete near the bus, exploding and causing it to crack under the weight, the kids inside began to panic as the ground starts to shake from their weight.
"Well you've got a choice now hero, catch me or save the kiddies, you can't do both. Hehehe." Toyman mocked, but Sora paid no mind, he had to save those kids somehow! Thinking fast, he ran to the tipping bus and grabbed the front with his left hand, using his right hand to stab his keyblade into the concrete to keep it from pulling him over, the metal creaked and bent as he kept a solid grip. Some of the kids rushed to the front, clamoring to see what was going on.
Sora turned to the kids, gripping the bus and his keyblade as hard as he could thanks to his magically enhanced strength, he noticed that the buses front door was still operational and leading to a section of undamaged cement, this was his chance.
"Get out of there! Hurry! I'll hold it!" he shouted, the kids in front nodded, and soon opened the door and led the others out to safety, the weight decrease also giving the young hero a chance to pull the bus from the ledge.
Metal groaned as he pulled the bus, using his keyblade as an anchor, pulling it out and stabbing it back in the cement with each pull, soon the bus was safe, and he finally let go, the kids were safe.
He caught his breath for a moment before walking over to the group, kneeling a bit. "Is everybody okay? Anyone hurt?"
The children shook their heads, some saying they were alright, one 9-year-old boy pointed behind Sora.
"But Toyman's getting away! Look!"
Sora turned and indeed could see Toyman's robot crawling as fast as it could with it's missing legs, but he simply smirked mischievously.
"Oh no he isn't." He then twirled his keyblade as Toyman reached the top of a building three blocks down before pointing it straight up.
"GATHER!" And a 10 foot wide ball of energy appeared, which then -began pulling Toyman's ant robot in like a magnet, suspending them in the air, while the keyblader leapt up and smashed the glass of the cockpit open with one quick strike, when the spell ended and the machine crashed to the ground, he walked over and yanked Toyman out by the back of his sweater vest
"I'd say playtime is over don't you think?"
The kids cheered for the new hero. Meanwhile in the news copter above Lois smiled, she finally had a new story.
"New hero, new story, new Pulitzer." She mumbled while Jimmy took photos of the aftermath.
XXXXXXX
(10 minutes later)
With the battle over Sora had escorted the children back to ground level to their grateful families while also carrying a tied up Toyman to turn in to the police, keeping his hood up and mask up.
"Time for you to head back to your nice warm JAIL CELL." Sora emphasized as he tossed Toyman into the transport, dusting off his hands as he walked away from the transport truck as it started down the road. "Keep up the good work officers." He called.
Meanwhile the news helicopter had landed nearby, Lois and Jimmy exited the chopper, not planning on missing anything on this new young hero, especially since Clark Kent didn't show up.
"Jimmy come on! This is going to be a great story." She urged the redhead as the new hero began to walk away.
"Wait, wait, just a minute!" Lois requested, waving her notepad to get the hero's attention. Sora turned towards the two reporters and complied, which made Lois smile. With Jimmy recording the whole scene; "You're the new hero who helped Superman and the others during the invasion, right?" she asked.
Sora nodded, "Yes, you could say I'm new around here. By the way, we call ourselves the Justice League." He responded, Lois quickly taking notes before asking the million-dollar questions.
"Who are you? What is that weapon?" she asked.
Sora lowered his head briefly in thought, before he raised his eyes back up and responded, holding his weapon hand.
"This is called a Keyblade and call me… Guardian." He answered.
"Anyway, gotta run!" Sora gave a two-fingered salute before leaping to a nearby building, running up the wall and out of sight. Lois grinned while Jimmy stood in awe, a new hero was in town.
XXXXXX
(2 hours later-back at the Watchtower)
"And now our top story from the Dailey Planet, a new hero prevents a potential tragedy. Earlier today the dangerous criminal known as Toyman took a school bus full of children hostage and threatened to drop them off a 5-story building if the authorities tried to rescue them. But then a new hero arrived and apprehended Toyman and rescued the children, returning them safe and sound, wielding a what he calls the Keyblade. The parents and kids are indebted to this young ally of Superman who apparently aided the Justice League in fending off the invasion weeks ago. He apparently goes by the name Guardian." The red-haired newswoman stated.
After the rescue, Sora took the Javelin back to the Watchtower to relax and was a bit surprised at how quickly he made the news; needless to say, he was pleased with saving those kids. His first real rescue in this world since the invasion and it was in Superman's home turf.
The elevator soon opened and entered the Man of Steel himself alongside Flash and Diana, smiles on each of their faces.
"Saw the news, sorry I wasn't there to help, earthquake in Indonesia." Superman stated
Sora simply smiled and shrugged "No problem."
"So, 'Guardian' huh? Interesting name, a little generic but not bad." Commented Flash.
"I like it. It suits you." Added Diana.
"Never used the whole 'secret identity' thing before, but I guess it's better than villains knowing what I look like while I'm here. Went with a name that sounded hopeful." Sora replied.
Flash simply patted him on the shoulder with a grin.
"Guardian it is then."
The group chuckled at that.
XXXXXX
(Gotham, random alley nighttime)
In the darkened alley of Batman's home city, a Corridor of Darkness appears, with no one around to notice in the shadows. And through it emerges an imposing figure, a green skinned woman in a dark cloak with a dragon horn like headpiece, carrying a golden staff with an ominous green orb at the end, accompanied by a crow.
Maleficent had arrived. She scanned the area with here lightless eye and held a hand to her head, sensing something VERY familiar.
"So, he's here, well Keyblade warrior, the darkness will have you yet." She stated with a small but devilish grin, before disappearing into the portal she emerged from for parts unknown.
The Darkness of Sora's past has managed to follow him, all the way here.
