Again, sorry for the long wait!
I think they should've rescued Aqua mush sooner than they did in the game, so; I'm going with that.
Mickey?
Mickey: "gamePsycho11 doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney or Square Enix. This purely for entertainment, and airing grivances over the game."
Chapter 3: Saving Aqua
Sora, Riku, Mickey, Donald and Goofy walked the streets of the Dark City.
Sora was now wearing a black jacket with grey pockets and a stripe of the same color on each sleeve. The hood, sleeves and jacket had a red lining, and six buttons could be seen on the front. Underneath, he wore a black tanktop with a V-neck style collar and a white lining. His gloves were replaced with gauntlets with a similar color scheme to his jacket. The gauntlets had red linings and grey circles on the backs, with yellow buckled straps wrapped around his wrists. The palms of his hands were exposed. Hiss shorts were black, and were roughly the same length as previous outfit, with several grey pockets. A red band wrapped around each pant leg. His shoes also resembled last ones, with the blue straps and zipper removed. He still wore his signature his crown pendant.
Riku wore a black, hooded jacket that was left unzipped, with short sleeves, gold buttons, and a checkered pattern at the hem. The jacket had golden yellow stripes on top of the sleeves, and golden yellow pockets. Underneath, he wore a white shirt with a V-neck. He also wore blue cropped trousers that were hemmed with the same checkered pattern as the jacket, black glovelettes on each hand, and black high-top boots.
Mickey was wearing a black jacket, with the same checkered pattern as Riku's at the hem. Underneath, he wore a black shirt with a V-neck. He also wore red shorts with black pockets with a checkered pattern, and yellow, gray and black shoes. He still wore his signature white gloves.
They came to Memory's Skyscraper, where they felt a big pulse of dark energy.
"You feel that?" Mickey asked.
"Yeah, the entrance must be here," Sora said.
Right as he said that, a Keyhole appeared in the air. Eraqus's Keyblade started glowing, so Sora pointed it at the Keyhole. A purple beam of light shot from the tip of the blade into the Keyhole, creating a bright purple door.
"Alright, Donald, Goofy; you two stay here," Mickey told them.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" said Goofy and Donald.
Sora, Riku and Mickey walked through the door, then it vanished.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The three key-wielders found themselves in an eerie cavern-like area.
"Okay, now we look?" Sora asked.
"Now, we look," Riku nodded.
Sora took in a deep breath to calm his nerves before he, Riku, and Mickey trekked further inside.
"...Aqua?" Mickey called. "Aqua, it's me, Mickey!"
No answer...except his echo.
…
A few hours later, the trio still hadn't found any sign of Aqua.
But, they ran into plenty of Heartless!
Sora sliced the last Shadow to pieces,
"Damn, I don't remember the Heartless being this tough!"
"This is the Realm of Darkness, so they're stronger here," Mickey explained.
They eventually made it to the beach where Sora and Riku had ended up after defeating Xemnas; the Dark Margin.
"Back here again," Riku muttered.
Before he had time to reminisce, a large swarm of Shadow Heartless hurtled towards them. Even more alarming, the swarm was joined together in a twister-like formation!
"Watch it!" Riku yelled as the Heartless lunged toward them, forcing them to jump out of the way!
(Cue "Critical Deep Dive" from KHII)
Sora launched a Firaga at the swarm, which didn't seem to do anything!
"Regular attacks won't work on this!" Mickey warned him.
Sora then had another idea, before he looked toward his best friend,
"Riku!"
The silver-haired teen smirked, knowing what he had in mind.
The two charged forward at the swarm, "Out of my way!"
Sora delivered an upward blow that somehow knocked the swarm off balance. Riku followed up with two similar strikes that split it into two different waves.
The two Keybearers then took to the air themselves, and flew all around the two swarms of Heartless. They delivered dozens of lightning fast strikes at them, picking them off quickly one by one. Nearly half of them were gone, and they had only finished the first part of their Team Attack.
"Is that all you got?" Riku chastised, floating to Sora's side. They flew at the swarms again, not even giving it time to recover.
Their Keyblades flashed even faster, tearing the Heartless to ribbons. They unleashed a flurry of high-speed stabs into them.
They flew backwards quickly, and dismissed their weapons. They stretched out their hands, which were immediately covered in dark fire. It was white-hot, but outlined with faint traces of blue and black. They aimed at the Heartless, and football sized fireballs burst from their fingers.
They streaked at their targets and exploded on impact. The barrage of Dark Fire didn't cease for a long time, and when they finally did, one wave was gone, but one still remained.
"I'll take 'em." They placed their Keyblades together, and in a surge of energy they transformed into a single huge blade. It shone blue like Riku's dark fire, but was outlined in pure gold light. Riku took the sword first, rushing toward the Heartless with Sora floating behind his back.
He swung hard at the swarm of Shadows. The blade covered a huge arc, tossing them backwards. He swung so hard, he rotated completely around in the air and handed it off to Sora. He swung it again in the opposite direction, tossing them back farther still.
Mickey wasn't kidding when he said this would be tough.
Sora and Riku floated back to back and dismissed the blades again. Around them, thirteen scarlet energy blades rimmed with gold surrounded them, points facing up. They spun around them, then shifted to horizontal positions. As the two friends spun on the spot, so did the blades.
They cut through the Heartless like a massive floating chainsaw. Soon, there was only one hundred Heartless left, and it was time for the finisher.
Sora and Riku flew apart, and then swooped back at each other, tossing the Kingdom Key and Way to the Dawn into the air. They hung suspended in the air six feet apart with their points facing each other.
"Prepare to lose it all!" Riku shouted. The blades started glowing, Kingdom Key was gold, Way to the Dawn was blue. The magical energy sucked all the surrounding enemies into the gap between the blades as the glow became stronger and stronger. Until eventually, it became absolutely blinding.
When the light faded, all the Heartless were gone, and Sora and Riku landed softly on the ground. "Time's up!" They said, and bumped fists. (AN: Am I only one that misses that Team Attack?!)
"Good job!" Mickey congratulated them. But then he gasped, as a something was now lying on the sand, unconscious!
It was an 18 year old girl, with blue hair.
"Aqua!" he cried as he ran over to her and shook her. "Aqua! Wake up! It's me, Mickey!"
"She was inside that swarm," A mysterious, but familiar deep voice spoke out.
The trio turned to see a man in an Organization XIII coat, with the hood up.
"That voice...!" Sora whispered.
"Oh no!" Mickey exclaimed in alarm.
Aqua's body was slowly being covered in darkness!
"Aqua!" Mickey cried as he tried to reach out to her, but Riku pulled him back.
"No! Don't!" Riku shouted. "The darkness will consume you too!"
Sora started glowing brightly, before he grabbed Aqua's hand.
Inside Aqua's mind; she was floating in a dark abyss, falling deeper, and deeper.
"AQUA!" A voice called out to her.
She opened her eyes, and turned, almost blinded by the sunlight coming from above the ocean's surface above her.
"Who's there?"
Sora dove down, reaching out for her, "Take my hand!" His image changed to Ventus.
"Ven?!" Aqua gasped, before she reached for him.
At first, it looked like she wasn't going to make it...until Sora grabbed her hand and pulled as hard as he could!
He changed into Ven again, and spoke in his voice, "Let's go home, Aqua!"
The whole abyss started to disappear, turning into the ocean as they swam to the surface.
Once they made it, they were back in reality, and Aqua gasped for air and coughed.
"W...where am I?" she asked as she looked around.
"Still in the Dark Margin," Mickey answered.
"Mickey?" Aqua gasped, before she hugged him. Mickey laughed as he hugged her back.
"...I knew you'd come for me," Aqua whispered. "I...I almost gave up hope."
"You should know to never give up," Sora said.
Aqua gasped again when she saw the two teens, "Sora...Riku...look how you two have grown...!"
"Wait, you know us?" Riku asked.
Aqua nodded, "We met when you two were just children. Mickey, how long has it been since we last saw each other?"
"2 years," Mickey said, solemnly.
Sora turned to the man in the coat, "And, you are?"
"You know who I am...Sora," he said as he pulled down his hood.
The group gasped...for it was none other than Ansem the Wise!
"Ansem?!" Mickey exclaimed. "But, I thought...!"
"I did say 'anything could happen'," Ansem reminded him.
"We can talk about that later," Riku said. "Right now, let's find a way out."
Sora brought out Eraqus's Keyblade, and thought about the words from Kairi's letter that saved him and Riku a year ago,
'Thinking of you wherever you are. We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend. Now I will step forward to realize this wish. And who knows: starting a new journey may not be so hard, or maybe it has already begun. There are many worlds, but they share the same sky — one sky, one destiny.'
The Keyblade shot out a golden beam of light, creating a glowing door.
Sora turned to his friends, and offered Aqua his hand, "Let's go home." He said in Ven's voice.
Aqua smiled before she nodded her head and took Sora's hand, allowing him to help her to her feet.
They then walked towards the door, followed by Riku, Mickey and Ansem.
In a blinding flash of light, they were back in the dark city, and Donald and Goofy were still there waiting for them.
"You're back!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed.
"Yep!" Sora grinned. "And...we brought Aqua."
"A-hyuck, glad to see you're safe," Goofy said.
Aqua smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group was back at the Mysterious Tower.
"I'm glad that you are safe, Aqua," Yen Sid said. "But I did not expect that you would be in the Realm of Darkness as well, Ansem."
"I suppose I have some explaining to do," said Ansem.
"Yeah, that would help," Donald muttered, in an obvious tone.
"When my machine self-destructed, I did not know what would happen," Ansem said. "I expected to die, in fact, I was ready for it. But, I ended up in the Realm of Darkness."
"He told me all about how you saved the worlds, Sora," Aqua said. "Twice."
Sora rubbed his nose, in pride.
"Don't give him a big head, it's the last thing he needs," A familiar female voice, that Sora was waiting to hear again, spoke out.
Everyone turned to see Kairi and Axel had returned.
"So, how long has it been?" Axel asked.
"Only a day," Riku answered.
Sora barely heard them. He was too busy staring at Kairi's new look.
She had cut her hair, so it was now reaching slightly to her shoulders. Her new outfit was a unique hooded pink-and-black dress, with two small black cat ears. There were black ruffles on one side of her skirt and plaid on the other. Underneath, she wore a white halter-top. She also wore thick belted black boots. She still wore her trademark silver bead/pearl necklace.
Riku smirked as he looked at Sora before he nudged him in the shoulder, causing him to shove him in an annoyed but friendly way.
"Wow, Kairi...you look..." Sora couldn't think of the right word to use.
She just smiled and kissed him.
Riku only snickered, as did Donald and Goofy.
Aqua cooed at the sight, until she recognized the red-headed girl,
"Kairi?"
Kairi broke apart from Sora and turned to the blue-haired girl,
"You must be Master Aqua."
Aqua walked over to her, "Yes, but we've met before. And you've grown too, so beautiful."
"We met?" Kairi questioned.
"At Radiant Garden, when you were little," Aqua told her.
"Sorry, I don't remember anything from there, except my Grandma's story," Kairi said, solemnly.
"That's okay," Aqua said. "You were too young at the time."
Kairi smiled while brushing some of her hair behind her ear.
"So, Aqua," Mickey began. "We not only saved you because we wanted you back, but also because we need your help."
"A lot has happened in the 12 years you were in the Realm of Darkness," Yen Sid added.
"Tell me everything," Aqua requested.
Everyone spent the next hour or so telling her all that had happened: Ansem's apprentices betraying him, Riku letting his home fall to the darkness, Sora obtaining the Kingdom Key, meeting Donald and Goofy, Riku being manipulated by Xehanort's Heartless, saving Kairi and finding out she was one of the Seven Princesses, defeating Xehanort's Heartless and closing the Door to Darkness, Castle Oblivion, Naminé, Organization XIII and the Nobodies, Roxas, defeating the Organization, which resulted in Xehanort's return, and his plan to re-forge the X-Blade.
Needless to say...she was horrified.
"I don't believe this," she said. "How could all of this happen?! That bastard just won't stop!" She paced back and forth.
"Aqua, take it easy," said Sora.
"...You're right," said Aqua before she took some deep breaths. "Okay...I'm okay, now."
"With you, we now have five Guardians of Light," Yen Sid explained. "But we still need Ventus and Terra."
"We know where Ventus is," said Goofy as he looked to Sora. "Right, Sora?"
Sora nodded before he looked to Aqua,
"Ventus...is inside my heart."
"That's why you spoke with his voice," Aqua gasped.
"But, he's still asleep, in a sense," Roxas and Naminé appeared.
"Ven?!" Aqua exclaimed.
"No, sorry," Roxas shook his head. "I'm Roxas, Sora's Nobody."
"...Oh," said Aqua. "You...you look like him. I'm sorry."
"So I've heard," Roxas said.
"We know you hid Ventus's body so Xehanort wouldn't find him," Yen Sid said. "Where is he?"
"Castle Oblivion," Aqua answered. "I brought him there after our fight against Vanitas. It was originally my homeworld, the Land of Departure, but it was mostly destroyed by Xehanort. Master Eraqus told me to use his Keyblade to seal the world's Keyhole and change it into a labyrinth that only I could successfully get through. Ven is in a room that only I can find."
"So we'll follow you, then," said Sora.
"Let's not be too hasty, Sora," Ansem interjected. "Even if we restore the Land of Departure, and find Ventus's body; we do not have the means to free his heart from you."
"Oh," Sora said, slightly dejected.
"However, we CAN inform our closest allies at Radiant Garden of this threat," Ansem said. "If you'll permit it, Master Yen Sid."
"Good idea, Ansem," Yen Sid agreed. "We will need all the allies we can gather."
"This means we'll get to see Leon and the others, again!" said Sora.
"A-hyuck, I can't wait!" Goofy exclaimed.
The Gummi Ship, Highwind, appeared out the window, looking like it'd been given an upgrade.
It had two Mini Ships with it, and even a Fira-G cannon.
The cockpit was now on the bottom, and it was 2 times larger than it used to be.
(AN: I'm picturing Highwind Lv.7 from KHII; that was my favorite! And it's speed and mobility will be like the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars!)
"Is it just me, or did that thing get an upgrade?" Riku asked.
"Chip and Dale fixed 'er up!" Goofy answered.
"Highwind is better than ever!" Donald boasted.
Riku glared at Sora, "Hey, you stole my name for the raft!"
"Dude, it's a total coincidence," Sora defended himself. "Donald had already given it the name when I met him."
Everyone (Except Aqua and Ansem) saluted Master Yen Sid, then left to board the Gummi Ship.
And thankfully, there were more than three seats, this time.
"I call pilot!" Sora said.
"No way!" Donald quaked. "You'll just crash us again!"
"Oh, come on!" Sora argued. "I've gotten better, I swear!"
"Don't worry," Goofy said. "Luckily, all the highways are still open, so auto-pilot will take us straight to any Worlds we've already been to."
"The only new highways we'll need to make are for worlds we've never been to before," Mickey said.
"That's strange," said Aqua as she looked at the map, and she saw a lot of question marks on some places. "Some of these worlds aren't recorded."
"More mysteries of life, I guess," Axel said.
"Next stop, Radiant Garden!" Goofy exclaimed.
"Then let's get a move on!" said Sora.
So, Aqua's back! As well as Ansem the Wise.
I'll try to update more frequently.
Read and review, please!