Here's the legal stuff again. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.
All characters and locations are the properties of their respective copyright holders, be it Square, Disney or whoever.
Anyway…
Kingdom Hearts: Blank Slate
Part 9
World: The World That Never Was
Vexen loosed off another blast of Ice that smashed into the wall just above where Riku and Roxas were hiding. Naminé had been confined to a cage of ice to one side, and the entire chamber had been turned into a veritable ice rink.
"Do you still have the communicator?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"I think we need help."
On the Gummi ship, Sora was pacing the living area. Kairi was asleep, and Jon had finally managed to stand up, although his legs still felt stiff from being frozen, even after he'd run a fireball over them.
"Hey, Sora! You there?" The voce came from one of the blocks in his pouch. Sora pulled it out.
"Yeah. What's up?"
"Vexen's getting too much to handle, we need help."
"I'll be right there." He moved to leave. Jon attempted to follow.
"No. Stay here. It's too dangerous out there. And anyway, ten minutes ago you were nearly dead. Next time it could happen for real. Sorry, but I can't let you go."
"Alright. I get it. Just go."
Sora ran out of the ship and into the street, heading underground before following the sounds of battle.
In the chamber he found Riku and Roxas pinned down behind a broken wall across the way, with Vexen unaware that he was even there. Seizing the initiative, Sora jumped and smacked his Keyblade into Vexen's back.
"Did 'ya miss me?"
The three boys encircled Vexen.
"Alright. It ends here."
"Does it? For you, maybe." Vexen summoned a ring of icicles, that threw the trio into the air and sent them skidding across the ice on the ground.
Jon sat on the bed for a while, before making a decision.
Vexen stood above Sora, and raised his shield to drive the point of the top-most spike into his chest.
"Fire!" The voice was familiar. The fireball smashed Vexen in the chest, making him stagger back a few paces, allowing Sora to stand up. Jon leaped from an elevated position to the ground next to him, Keyblade in hand.
"I thought I told you to stay behind."
"You're welcome, by the way. I thought you could use the help."
Sora sighed heavily.
"Whatever. Now let's just finish this." The four of them closed on the slumped figure, who stood up, obviously in pain. Before any of them could strike a final blow, his body exploded into blue flame, and collapsed. Sora went to touch it, and the whole thing crumbled into a pile of white ash.
Behind where Vexen had been stood just before he died, a line of eleven people, all garbed in that same style of black cloak that had been so prolific not that long ago, waited for the four of them to make the next move.
"That's… That's impossible, isn't it?" Sora was shocked.
"They should all be dead…" Riku couldn't understand it either.
"Hello again, Sora." The leader stepped out of the line.
"You can't be the Organisation. It was destroyed."
"Almost, but not quite."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"All will become clear in time…"
And then the line stepped back one pace and disappeared into the same sort of portal that brought Jon to the world in the first place, taking Naminé with them.
"So what was that all about?" Jon started, but then collapsed. Evidently he wasn't ready for prolonged exertion yet. Riku picked him up, and checked his pulse.
"He's alive. Just."
The group then fled the chamber as pieces stated to fall from the ceiling.
World: Radiant Garden
"I don't get it. How can the Organisation be back?" Sora was still trying to get his head round this new development.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, last time I checked, Roxas was the only member left. The rest faded into darkness."
"It's possible they aren't actually the true Organisation." Leon seemed to have the answer.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Do you remember the Replica Project?"
"Seriously? They're Replicas?"
"It's the most logical explanation."
Below them, Jon was sparring with Riku in the Castle Gate area, trying to get the hang of using his Keyblade. Merlin had been able to stabilise him, so he wasn't likely to pass out again. He wasn't that bad a fighter anymore, but the shift from the Beam Sword to a Keyblade was still throwing him off a bit. Eventually, they decided to call time and headed back up to the Bailey.
"Well, it would explain the whole "Almost, but not quite" thing."
"Indeed."
"So how do we find them?"
"We can track some of the energy left behind when a portal is activated, and the concentration of that energy can give a rough estimate of when the portal was opened." Cid's latest plan seemed workable enough.
"So we just follow the chain to the common point?"
"Sort of. We just follow the last portal we know was opened, which is this one." Cid pointed at the screen at The World That Never Was, "And locate the other end." He tapped a few keys, and another world showed up. Twilight Town.
"Well, that's surprising."
"I can retrofit the Gummi ship with one of these sensors, but you'll still have to find the location manually."
World: Twilight Town
The Gummi ship flew cloaked over the town, circling until Cid's new sensor block located the portals of Darkness the Organisation had used to get there in the first place.
"I've got a reading." With five humans, a duck and something else in the cockpit it was getting a bit cramped. Jon had moved into the living area just forward of the cockpit, and was laying on one of the beds listening to his music player again. Considering what it had been through, it was a surprise it still worked perfectly well. He sat up as the ship touched down and the ramp to his left dropped, and everyone except Donald and Goofy stepped out onto the Sandlot. It was early morning, so there were few people around, and so no-one to notice five people stepping out of thin air. Behind them, the cloaked Gummi Ship taking off again kicked up a large quantity of dust, before the group headed off in the direction of the Old Mansion, where the signal came from. Sora had a green Gummi block strapped to his left wrist, which they could use to narrow down the location within the mansion, and track them if they went off-world.
The mansion's gates were as imposing as ever, and the building itself was silhouetted by the fixed sun which gave the town its name. Sora's Keyblade opened the lock without resistance, just as before. Inside the mansion, the block began to glow along one edge, showing a direction. Following this took them into the White Room. A lone Corridor of Darkness lay open before them. Roxas tried to enter, but Riku stopped him.
"Wait. It could be a trap."
"Maybe. But the only lead we have is on the other side."
"Well, either way we need to be careful…"
And with that, the entire group passed through, into the darkness and out the other side.
On the other side was the City That Never Was, except the whole thing was intact.
"Is this… A simulation?" Roxas was familiar with the concept, having lived in a simulation of Twilight Town for some time after his departure from the Organisation.
"Maybe. Be careful. It could still turn out to be a trap." Sora tried to keep a level head.
This scepticism was found to be justified when the group was surrounded by a swarm of Dusks. They were forced into a rough circle, Keyblades drawn.
"Well…" Sora began, but was cut off.
"If you say "I told you so", so help me I'll whack you." Jon was in no mood for sarcasm. Then the swarm charged at them…
A/N: Well, three chapters in just over a day. I'd also appreciate it if people who took the time to read this left reviews, if only to tell me what I'm doing wrong, but I'm not gonna force you to…
