After going through what seemed like wave after wave of Heartless, Sora found himself in the Third District once more, where his last visit lead him to no clues about the whereabouts of Riku and Kairi. This time, however, there was a different feeling in the air, one that seemed incredibly tense and as if something big was about to happen. Despite that, it was quiet, and quiet was enough for Sora to take a moment to catch his breath, leaning against the door he just came through for support, and allowing his Keyblade to dangle loosely in his hand.
He did not realize just how many Heartless would come the second time around, and searching for the leader was no easy task. The First District was secured thanks to Leon and the others, but the Second District was teeming with Heartless, so much that Sora was surprised he was able to withstand the attacks. It had gotten to the point where he had to flee to the final district in the hopes that the leader was there and ready to be destroyed. Unfortunately, for Sora, it was a bit more fortunate, there were no enemies in sight. It was just as empty and vacant as the last time he had come here, save for a few Heartless. Only this time, the air was different, and there were no Heartless in sight.
After a moment, Sora looked forward at the ledge leading to the stairs before pushing himself away from the door and walking toward it, gripping his Keyblade more comfortably in case there were more enemies nearby. When he reached it, though, he looked over to find there was not a Heartless to be found. It was almost similar to the First District. There was a rather familiar looking person walking at a seemingly cautious pace. Upon closer inspection, Sora gasped as he realized who it was. There was no denying the familiar-looking, dark colored hoodie that he had seen before. It was her! The girl who helped him! The same girl that he was supposed to stick with per Leon's orders!
"It's her..." He muttered as he ran down the steps in the hopes of catching up to her. Deep down, he had a feeling that he would run into her, but at the same time, he though she was so busy trying to take care of the Heartless that he would never see her. Nevertheless, he put those thoughts to the side. She was there, and that was all that mattered. Reaching the bottom step, and nearly tripping over it as well, Sora began running up to her. "Hey!" He called out to her as he became closer and closer. It was only a matter of seconds that, before he could get any closer to her, he had to stop himself from running face first into her Keyblade, which she had quickly pointed at him without missing a single beat. "H-hey! It's me! I'm here to help!" He immediately pleaded before she could make another move.
It was clear that she was staring him down as if he were an enemy despite much of her face being shrouded in shadow. After explaining who he was, however, her expression changed to one of shock before becoming one of annoyance as she sighed. Her weapon still pointed at him as if to make sure he kept his distance.
"So you are here," she stated coolly, almost as if she were anticipating his arrival but at the same time hoping it would not happen. "As expected."
"I've been looking for you!" Sora quickly spoke.
The girl looked at him as she asked, "Why were you looking me?"
"Because I..." Sora looked away for a moment before looking back at her. "I...wanted to thank you for what you did!"
Those words were enough for the girl to lower her Keyblade ever so slightly. The motion lead Sora to believe that she was taken aback by the sudden gratitude.
"You're...thanking me?" She questioned, earning a nod from Sora. After a moment, she vehemently shook her head. "Why bother thanking me? I couldn't save your friends or your island."
"But you helped me fight the Heartless," he explained. "You looked after me and did the best you could, and I'm grateful for-"
"Wait..." She slowly spoke, her weapon lowering even further, but it was still high enough to keep the distance. "You know about the Heartless now?"
It took a moment for Sora to respond, but he did so with a nod.
"Yeah, Leon and Yuffie explained everything that's going on," he told her.
That alone was enough for the girl to lower her weapon completely and turn to face him a bit more.
"And you found Leon?" She questioned. She sounded utterly surprised by that, almost as if she had spent some time trying to find him herself.
"Well, he found me, but that's beside the point," Sora quickly changed the subject. "He told me that if I found you, I should stick with you."
Within moments, the girl shook her head, placing her free hand on her hips, while muttering something along the lines of, "Of course he would say something like that." After a moment, she looked back at Sora. "Listen, kid..." She earned a glare from Sora at the name. "I don't know your name! Cut me some slack!" Before he had the chance to tell her, she continued, "Listen, ki-er...dude, I appreciate the fact that you're grateful...and that Leon sent you to help me...but I don't need it. I'll be fine."
Sora stared at her for the longest time as she turned around once more before he found his voice and said, "But this is the leader we're dealing with right now. Don't you think some help is okay in case something goes wrong?"
"In your case, it would be," she told him. "For me, though, I know what I'm doing. I've beaten leaders long before you even knew what Keyblades and Heartless were." She glanced around for a moment. "You're better off sticking with Leon and-"
"No."
The girl was interrupted by Sora's sudden, yet stern response. It was enough for the girl to look at him once again, noting the hard look he was now giving her.
For Sora, it felt like he was being talked down to as if all the had done so far meant nothing to her. She sounded like she was putting herself on this pedestal where she found herself to be better than him. Maybe in many cases, she was better, but it was unfair for her to treat someone she knew little to nothing about like she did know. Maybe it was not her intentions, but it certainly came off that way, and Sora did not like it.
"Excuse me?" The girl hissed, giving him a hard look of her own.
"I said no," he repeated. The girl looked around once more before looking at him.
"What, do you think this is a joke, a game to you?" She shot. "The Heartless you fought on your island, or even the ones in this world, are nothing compared to their leader. They're stronger than any of the small fry you've faced before." Sora was going to make a comment before she stopped. "That Darkside you fought was an exception cause of me. I helped you, and we didn't even kill it."
"There's nothing wrong with having help," Sora explained.
"It has nothing to do with you helping me," she snapped, clearly annoyed with his persistence. "You don't know what you're getting into. That's the problem."
"Leon explained everything!"
"Leon hasn't experienced what I've seen. There's a difference between knowing about an enemy and having experience in fighting them. You don't have that experience."
"I can learn. You can show me!"
With a frustrated sigh, she turned her back to him once again.
"Now is not the time to teach you how to fight. And now is not the time to be arguing."
"I'm not going anywhere," he told her. "I owe you for what you did for me, and I made a promise to Leon to stick with you no matter what."
"You don't understand..." She retorted, only this time her voice sounded a bit lower and less irritated. Was she...worried? "You can't be here because...because you're gonna get hurt..."
Sora stared her in surprise at the words that she spoke, noting the fact that her shoulders tensed up as well. It looked at if saying those words were difficult to express, and even now she looked like she was still on the fence about mentioning it.
Was that what this was about? Was she afraid that, because of his inexperience from her knowledge, he was going to get hurt? To her, it had nothing to do with him getting in the way. It was more of a safety concern to her than anything else. But why? She knew how well he could fight on his own, and he had even gained more experience fighting more than one type of Heartless. With that being said, was it still not enough for her to actually believe that he would be good enough to fight the Heartless alongside her? Did he have to prove it to her? Did he have to show her that he was more than capable of fighting both on his own and by her side? There was only one way to find out.
Before he had the chance to say anything, the sudden sound of screaming was heard. Both Sora and the girl turned around and looked up to find two figures falling from the sky right in their direction.
"Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me..." The girl whimpered under her breath at the sight, seemingly unfazed by what was happening.
Sora, on the other hand, made an attempt at getting out of the way. Unfortunately, not only was it too late for him, but he also ended up running into the girl as well, knocking her to the ground when the two figures landed on him from above. When all seemed to settle, the pile ended up with the girl lying flat on the bottom, her Keyblade fortunate to have been left spotless. Sora, unfortunately, laid on top of her, his Keyblade settled right next to hers. The two on top were in a bit of a daze for a moment before they came to their senses.
"The key!" The two exclaimed as the girl slowly came back to her senses and assessed the situation.
"Gawrsh, look! There are two keys!" One of them said.
"But the king said there was only one!" The other responded.
The girl, once fully back to her senses, glanced around, only to find that she was on the bottom of the unfortunate dog pile. When it hit her completely, she started to panic.
"U-um, can you all do me a huge favor," she started, though her voice was shaking a bit, "and please GET OFF?! I'm a little uncomfortable being trapped like this!"
Before anyone could respond, the ground suddenly began to shake around them. It was enough to distract the girl from the tight space and look around her along with Sora and the two new faces. Within moments, massive walls rose from the ground and blocked off every chance of exit that they had, leaving them trapped inside the area. As this happened, the girl wasted little time in pushing Sora and the others off of her body and getting to her feet along with them. As the last wall rose up and sealed the path, swarms of Heartless appeared on top of them and all around them.
"Should have known this was an ambush," the girl mumbled under her breath as she pulled her hood over her head to make sure it was on securely. When she realized the situation at hand, she inhaled through her nose and turned her head to Sora. "You wanna help me? Fine. You can give me a hand since you don't have much of a choice. Just do me a favor..."
"What's that?" Sora questioned, looking at her as well.
"Survive."
Without another moment to spare, the fight began with the girl running forward and attacking the closest Heartless while Sora followed suit. The two newcomers - whom the two noted were an anthropomorphic dog and duck - were quick to join them soon after. The duck seemed to be a well-trained magician, using a few elemental attacks against the Heartless, while the dog, seemingly more defensive than his companion, used a shield to ward off enemies instead of the standard weapon. Nevertheless, their sudden drop paid off, as there were quite a few enemies that had appeared and would have easily outnumbered both Keyblade wielders.
As the fight continued, Sora could not help but notice the girl occasionally destroying a Heartless or two that he may have missed before sprinting off in another direction to kill another horde. It was almost as if she was secretly keeping an eye on him and making sure that he was safe. Not only that, but she did that with the newcomers as well, dropping by and slicing through enemies before finishing off the ones she was initially fighting. He was surprised to see how quickly she was able to move from one person to the next, all while keeping up with her battle as well. Was she protecting everyone during the fight?
As he was thinking that, he did not catch a Heartless running at him from behind. It was not until he heard the girl shout, "GET DOWN!" that he watched her launch her Keyblade in his direction, similar to a flying disk. Without hesitating, Sora rolled out of the way and turned around just as the Heartless was destroyed. As that happened, the Keyblade vanished in a flurry of light and returned to its owner.
As soon as her Keyblade was returned, the silence was back. The four regrouped and continued to look around the area, but when they realized all the Heartless were destroyed, they took a moment to relax.
"Gawrsh, is it over yet?" The dog spoke as Sora slowly walked forward.
"Far from it, unfortunately," the girl responded, her gaze still glazing over the area.
Suddenly, the sound of metal clashing against resounded from behind them, causing them all to turn toward the fountain. Several metallic body parts - a torso, two arms, and legs - fell from the sky and slammed into the ground before they began to reassemble into a much larger Heartless. The torso appeared to be hourglass-shaped and was violet in color with a lilac diamond pattern around its waist. A Heartless emblem was visible at the front and center of the armor. The arms, or gauntlets, were violet with wide wrists and three lilac, segmented fingers on each, while the legs, also violet, were short and ended with large, hammer-like black feet. Once the entire body, save for the head, was assembled, it landed on the ground in front of them. It was not long before the head, violet in color and sporting three silver spikes and a faceplate littered with holes, fell from the sky and onto the torso, completing the process of being built.
Sora was both awed and horrified at the sight. He was expected a leader, but he was not expecting it to look like that!
"Guard Armor," the girl suddenly spoke while she remained in a battle stance.
"How do we beat it?" The duck asked as Sora looked at the girl.
"It's simple. The torso is its weakness. The limbs are a distraction, but they can all separate which makes it more difficult," she wasted no time in explaining. "The three of you go for the limbs, and I'll-"
"I'll go for the torso," Sora interrupted her once again. "You attack the limbs."
She looked at him with a look of shock.
"Are you insane?" She questioned. "You've never fought one of these before!"
He looked at her and got in his fighting stance.
"I'm gonna prove to you that I can do beat this guy, but I need you guys to help," he explained to her. "Do you trust me?"
She simply looked at him in utter shock at the statement but was unable to answer as the Guard Armor started to advance on them. Sora and the others wasted no time chasing it down while the girl remained behind and watched for a moment as they did just that; the dog and the duck attacked the limbs, and Sora struck the torso. It took her a moment to recoil and come back to her senses, but when she did, she realized the Heartless was preparing to use its arms for an attack. Within moments, she ran forward and, using her Keyblade, stopped the attack with a simple swing.
"He better not get hurt or I'll make him regret it," she mumbled out of frustration.
The battle had become extremely intense for the four, having to dodge and deflect numerous attacks. In many cases, the Heartless split itself, as the girl anticipated into three separate entities. Other times, it slammed its entire body into the ground, nearly smashing one of them every time. Despite being against the idea, she allowed Sora to attack the torso while she helped the other destroy the limbs one by one. Fortunately, the limbs were fairly easy, and the moment they were defeated, they vanished into nothing.
Sora, much to the girl's surprise, was handling the torso of the armor fairly well, dodging its spinning attacks with ease. As much as she wanted to assist him, she remembered him saying that he wanted to prove to her that he was more than capable of handling a battle like this. Still, even from a distance, he could tell that she was watching him as if she were worried that something would happen to him. Unfortunately, it was that worried feeling that left her open.
During the fight, Sora was hit by the attack and knocked backward. It was at this point that the girl had looked over to see what happened, but before she could run over to assist him, the leg had stomped its way over to her and was just moments from stepping on her. She tried to move out of the way, but the leg slamming into the ground was enough to knock her a few feet away. She landed on her stomach and was quick to try to get to her feet when she looked up and watched the duck strike the last limb with lightning and destroy it. Before she had a chance to be relieved, she watched the torso advance toward them and tried to attack. Within moments, she quickly got to her feet and was about to run up to it and protect the newcomers, but was stopped as she watched Sora appear from behind, Keyblade held high, and deal one last blow to the head.
The attack was enough to stop the Heartless from its rampage, and it gave the four enough time to regroup. As this happened, the torso began to rattle violently in a way that looked like it was ready to explode, but instead the head fell off and landed on the ground beneath it. From the top where the head once rested, a bright light shined from the opening, and along with it, a heart floated out. As soon as it appeared, though, it disappeared into the sky without a trace. Sora noticed the girl seemed to shift uncomfortably at the sight but said nothing as they watched the armored beast slowly disappear into nothing. The battle was over; they were victorious.
"You see?" Sora panted, wearing a cheeky smile as he looked at the girl. "I told you I could beat that thing! Did you see that?"
Instead of earning a response, he watched as she pulled her bag off and held it front of her.
"Hey, are you okay in there?" She asked the bag. Sora, along with the dog and the duck, stared at her for a moment, utterly confused as to why she was speaking to an inanimate object before they watched a small rabbit looking creature poke its head out. It looked like it was trying to catch its breath and needed fresh air. The look on Sora's face changed from confusion to surprise. Was it in there the whole time, and the girl knew this?
"Oh, I'm...I'm just fine," the creature spoke, speaking clearly and surprising the three of them even further. "I just...need to remind myself never to be in there when you're fighting Heartless."
Sora noticed a smile on her face for the briefest moments, appearing relieved that what he assumed was her friend was just fine, before looking at him. When she did, however, her smile instantly faded, but it was still evident that it was still there. She looked at him for the longest time before she sighed.
"To answer your question," she began, "yes, I did see all of that. And yes," her smile grew ever so slightly, "I am impressed."
