Fans: -sigh-
Sora53: Okay, what can be depressing about paint?
Fans: -sigh-
Sora53: Man, you guys are annoying sometimes.
Joe: Maybe they just need a hug! XD
Fans: Hug us and die.
Joe: Man, you guys are bitter.
Corita: I BAKED COOKIES!
Roxas: Are you going into Mary-Sue mode?
Corita: Naw. If I was in Mary-Sue mode, the cookies would have to taste good.
Fans: THESE COOKIES ARE NASTY!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Tria and Corita...and her nasty cookies O.o
They looked at the ruins of the computer for a few moments, absorbing the joy that had come from demolishing it. One thing was clear to them: it would never work again. A mechanical whirring noise came from behind them, and they turned to see that another door was slowly opening.
"Let's go." Roxas said boldly, still carrying his Keyblade. He and his sister abandoned the computer and walked to the now fully open door. They both went in, and saw that it opened into a larger room. Like the previous area, this room was a mysteriously mechanical-looking area, and very dimly lit. There was, however, already someone in the room, waiting for them.
"Simply amazing, Roxas." Axel said bitterly, pacing back and forth across from them.
"Axel." Roxas responded softly as the door behind him and Tria snapped shut.
Axel stopped pacing. He now stood directly across from the two of them. He turned to face them. "You really do remember me this time? I'm SO FLATTERED!"
Flames erupted all around them; Roxas and Tria bunched together and moved several feet forward to avoid being touched by the fire. "But you're too late!" Axel roared angrily, gathering flames around him and summoning his weapons into his hands.
Tria inched away from her brother, knowing that he would need the space to summon his Keyblade and fight Axel.
"Just my luck." She muttered to herself. "I'm stuck in this circle of fire without a...weapon?" She said, curious. She had looked down to see that her brother now had 2 Keyblades, one black and one white.
"Two!" Axel said in shock. He spun fire around his chakrams, and threw them at the twins. Roxas easily blocked them, and lept away from Tria.
"YOU KEYBLADE HOG!" Tria yelled. Roxas grinned at her, and she grinned back.
"Watch out!" Roxas yelled, running in front of her and knocking away another attack by Axel. "Here." He said, handing her the white Keyblade.
"Thanks." Tria said. "Think we can take him?"
"It'll be good practice for the Struggle next year." Roxas responded. At that moment, several fireballs flew in their direction, and they broke apart once again. Axel, deciding that Roxas was more of a threat, turned to attack him. Axel and Roxas fought in close combat until Tria lept towards Axel and hit him several times with her Keyblade. Axel turned to face her, and Roxas quickly hit him with his Keyblade. Again, Axel turned back to face Roxas, and was immediately beaten on by Tria.
Axel gave a roar of rage and turned to leap into the flames behind him.
"Ha! Nobody can beat the twin terrors!" Tria said cheerfully. "Axel's such a pushov-"
A powerful jet of fire shot out between Roxas and Tria. When it faded away, they looked at each other for a moment.
"SCATTER!" Roxas shouted, and they ran in opposite directions. Jets of flame shot out where they had been standing moments before.
"Hot...hot..." Tria panted, stopping for a moment to take a few deep breaths. The temperature in the circle of flames had increased dramatically since the beginning of the battle.
"Roxas! There!" She shouted, pointing to a spot in the circle of flames. A shadow was visible amongs the fire, and Roxas lept towards it, slicing at the fire with his Keyblade. Axel tumbled out of the fire, and they both clashed together. Roxas seemed to be struggling until Tria tossed the Keyblade back to him. He quickly caught it and beat Axel back effortlessly. Axel fell to the ground, and the flames around them seemed to weaken. Axel seemed to be weakening quickly.
"Thanks." Roxas said gratefully, running back to her and giving her the Keyblade back.
"Oh, no problem." Tria said with a smile. Axel took this chance to shoot more fire at them, but it was knocked away by Tria. The twins split up again, and took turns slicing at Axel. Having been severely weakened by Roxas's dual Keyblade attack, Axel quickly succumbed to fatigue. He slouched over, and the flames surrounding them began to fade away. He dropped his chakrams, and they vanished into flames when they hit the ground.
Suddenly, Roxas remembered...
"You get on their bad side and they'll destroy you!" Axel called out to him. The city was still dark, and Axel's voice was getting increasingly desparate.
"No one would miss me." Roxas said sadly. He continued walking, leaving behind one of his only friends in the world.
"That's not true...I would." Axel said mournfully as Roxas walked away from him.
As the flashback faded away, Roxas blinked and saw before him one of the only people in the world that had ever cared for him.
"Axel..." Roxas said slowly.
Axel looked up at him. "Let's meet again in the next life."
"Yeah." Roxas said, nodding. "I'll be waiting."
"Silly." Axel said jokingly as darkness surrounded him. "Just because you have a next life..."
Darkness covered him, and he vanished into thin air. Roxas and Tria moved forward to where he had vanished. Tria turned to face Roxas.
"Roxas...what is..."
"I'll explain later." He said. "Right now, we have to keep going."
Tria nodded boldly, and they turned away from where Axel'd vanished. Another door stood at the other side of the room, and they moved towards it.
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The door led, not into another room, but a strange hallway. Thankfully, it was much better lit than the previous areas. There were tall, strange flower-shaped machines lined up along the wall. About halfway in, the hallway took a small turn.
Roxas and Tria were walking side by side, until Roxas stopped in his tracks. Tria turned to see what had made him stop, and she saw why instantly.
"This is..." She whispered slowly. "...Donald?"
"And...Goofy?" Roxas said as they looked up at 2 of the flower-shaped pods. Donald and Goofy were suspended in them, and they appeared to be asleep.
"So...if Donald and Goofy are here..." Tria said thoughtfully.
"That means Sora and Corita are, too." Roxas finished. "We're almost there."
Turning away from Donald and Goofy was hard, but they managed to do it. They continued down the hall until they reached another door.
"Ladies first." Roxas said.
"You're such a gentleman." Tria said jokingly, and she walked into the next room. Roxas followed behind her, and the door closed behind them.
This room was by far the brightest they'd seen so far in the mansion, and by far the strangest. It was large and circular, and the walls, ceiling and floor were all pure white. In the center were 2 large pods, and they were shocked to see the red-coated man, DiZ, standing before them.
"At last, the Keyblade's chosen one." He said as they walked forward.
"Who are you talking to?" Roxas asked angrily. "Me, or Sora?"
"To half of Sora, of course." DiZ replied simply. "You reside in darkness. What I need is someone who can move about the realm of light and destroy Organization XIII."
"Why?" Tria asked. "Who are you?"
"I am a servant of the world."DiZ replied. "And, If I'm a servant, then you two should consider yourselves tools, at best."
Roxas and Tria turned to look at each other for a moment with startled looks on their faces. Roxas's face quickly turned to anger, and he faced DiZ.
"Was that..." He started to say slowly, "Was that supposed to be a joke? 'Cuz I'm not laughing!"
Roxas summoned his Keyblade and ran at DiZ. He swung the weapon with all of his strength at his foe, but he and the weapon merely went flying through him.
Roxas turned around and looked at him with a shocked look on his face. Tria ran forward, and DiZ gave a soft chuckle.
"My apologies." He said. "This is only a data-based projection."
Roxas, frustrated and confused, finally snapped. He gave a yell of rage, and began slicing away at DiZ with all of his strength. Each attack merely went through him. He gave a final attack, and DiZ vanished. Tria ran over to him and helped him stand up, as he was hunched over with exhaustion.
"Roxas, it's okay." Tria said soothingly.
Roxas didn't respond. He leaned on her arm, trying to catch his breath. Behind them, DiZ had rematerialized closer to the pods.
"Come, over here." He said calmly.
Roxas's eyes flashed with anger, and he stood straight up. He turned to face his enemy once again.
"I hate you so much..." He said, trying to supress his rage.
"You should share some of that hatred with Sora." DiZ suggested. "He's far too kind for his own good."
Roxas gave another yell of rage, and lept forward to strike again. DiZ vanished, however, and a strange hissing noise filled the air. Roxas and Tria inched together and took several steps back as one of the pods opened...within seconds, the second pod had begun to open...
Roxas blinked as he looked up and to the left and saw the face of Sora emerge from the pod. He stole a glance at Tria, who was looking up at Corita with an equal look of shock.
Sora and Corita still appeared asleep, even though the pods were both open. Roxas and Tria slowly inched apart.
"They are..." Roxas said slowly. "They're lucky."
"Why's that?" Tria asked nervously.
Roxas turned to face her. "It looks like our summer vacation is...over."
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Corita yawned and blinked. The room she was in was very bright...she rubbed her eyes to try to get them to adjust quickly. As she came to her senses, she realized that someone was calling her name...
No...screeching her name.
"Corita!" quacked her magical rival, Donald Duck.
Corita looked down and saw that Donald and Goofy were waiting for her at the foot of her pod. She grinned and hopped out, yawning again and stretching her arms.
"Good morning, Corita!" Goofy said cheerfully.
"Good morning to you too, Goofy." Corita said cheerfully still stretching. "Where's Sora?"
Goofy pointed behind her, and Corita turned to see another pod, much like the one she'd just been in. It was slowly opening, and Donald was tapping his foot impatiently. Finally, the pod opened completely, and Sora became visible.
"Sora!" Corita called. Sora's eyes opened, and he blinked blearily.
"Wha...?" He said, still dazed.
"Wake up, sleepyhead!"
Sora stretched his arms, and lept out of his pod. As he landed, his knees gave way under him, and he had to be caught by his friends. They lifted him back up, and he grinned foolishly at them.
"What's that about?" Donald asked.
"Sora, look at you!" Corita squealed.
"What? What's wrong?" Sora asked.
"You must've grown at least 3 inches while you were asleep!" She said. "Your pants look like shorts!"
"Hey, you've grown, too!" He said. "But you're still shorter than me."
"Am not." She said. "It's just because you're hair is so spiky."
"Wait a second." Sora said. "We were...asleep?"
"We must've been." A tiny voice said from Goofy's shoulder. The 4 friends looked closely to see Jiminy Cricket perched there. "Otherwise I don't think we'd be feeling so drowsy..."
"When did we fall asleep?" Corita asked. The friends fell into a state of deep thought.
"Let's see...we defeated Ansem..." Sora recalled.
"Yup." Goofy said in agreement.
"Restored light to the world...rescued Kairi..."
"Hmm..." Goofy thought. "Hey, Jiminy. What's the last thing in your journal?"
"Let me check." Jiminy said, hopping carefully off Goofy's shoulder and landing on the ground, journal in hand. He carefully flipped though the last marked page.
"'Thank Naminé.'" Jiminy read.
"Thank...Naminé? Who's Naminé?" Sora wondered. The group fell back into a state of deep thought.
"Some journal that is." Donald said grumpily. Jiminy looked back at him, shocked that he'd insulted his hard work.
"Well, it doesn't matter." Sora said, shrugging.
"Let's go have a look around." Corita suggested. "Sora...your voice has gotten deeper, hasn't it?"
"Hey...you're right!" Goofy said in agreement.
"Has it?" Sora wondered.
"It used to be pretty whiny sounding." Donald told him.
"Donald, that's awful!" Goofy told him.
"I'm just kidding!" Donald said quickly. "Let's go look around."
"Thank goodness." Sora sighed. "This bright room is hurting my eyes."
Sora Fangirls: NUUUU! SORA'S PERFECT BLUE EYES!
Sora53: -rolls eyes-
Sora Fangirls: You're just jealous because your eyes aren't pretty like Sora's!
Sora53: O.o of course.
Corita: Okay, you know what? My cookies aren't that bad!
Fans/Roxas: -are lying in bed sick-
Fans: My stomach.
Roxas: I don't even feel like eating ice cream.
Sora53: WHAT?
Joe: I liked them, Corita...
Corita: Of course you did, Joe.
Joe: -faints-
