Chapter 10: Diorama.
Rourke and his crew had already attached the holding tank to what looked like a large hot air balloon to Sora.
"C'mon maybe we can catch him by surprise," Sora shouted to the others.
"Rourke is never surprised and he's got a lot of guns," Audrey called back.
This statement turned out to be quite true. The small invading party of heroes had to break apart to dodge. Sora saw a couple of Atlanteans go down from where he was seated behind Riku. Sora shot out fire spells, while Riku use dark aura spells against the mercenaries. Suddenly, they were struck by another hovercraft as it fell. Sora slammed into Riku, who somehow fired a shot of energy from the craft they were riding. Riku touched parts of the glowing control pad, and fired again. The others saw this and soon the tide had turned. On the ground anyway, Rourke was on the raising balloon and still laying out heavy fire at their opposition.
Milo flew beside them and called out, "Sora, Riku, You and me are going to be decoys. Sweet, Audrey, you cut Kida loose."
Riku and Sora swooped around the balloon and Riku shot Rourke's gun out of his hand. Then they continued to fire, with Riku using the craft's weapon and Sora using the spells he learned from Merlin, until they saw Milo jump off his hovercraft and hang onto the balloon as his deserted craft crashed into a smaller support balloon that was attached to it.
Sora watched in confusion as Milo appeared to be taking on Rourke, "What's he doing?"
"Audrey and Sweet had to back off; there was too much fire," Riku answered. "We have to take out the other support."
Riku brought their craft in a close sweep past the mentioned support balloon. Both summoned their Keyblades and struck as they passed. The entire balloon began to descend back down toward the ground. Sora jumped off the hovercraft and landed on the balloons platform. Rourke was attacking Milo with an axe and was about to strike when Sora blocked with his Keyblade. Rourke swung the axe again, this time at Sora.
"Sora!" Riku called as he hit Rourke with a dark aura spell.
Then Sora moved in while Rourke was distracted and knocked him off the platform. Rourke caught the holding tank and pulled himself onto it. Milo quickly grabbed a piece of glass that had broken off the holding tank during the battle and cut Rourke's arm. The glass had been glowing like the crystals, probably because of what the holding tank had contained. This saturation seemed to affect Rourke as well. His entire body seemed to turn into crystal. Unlike Kida's transformation, this one looked harsh and he did not appear to be alive. Riku hit him with another spell and he fell from the tank.
Milo landed with the tank and he along with his friends began to attach it to one of the hovercrafts.
"Sora," Riku pulled up beside Sora, who was still in the air on the platform.
Sora climbed onto the craft, behind Riku. He noticed that Riku was turning around, going the opposite direction of the city. Then he saw why. Rourke was still alive, though he still looked like a crystal statue. Sora and Riku landed and jumped off the craft. They hit the ground running and cut off Rourke before he could reach the rescue party.
Rourke shot a beam of energy, similar to the ones the hovercrafts fired, at the key bearers. Riku cast dark shield and the spell absorbed the energy beam as it shattered. Then the two boys combined their efforts and cast All's end. When the attack ended, Rourke landed and then exploded into thousands of shards and light.
Once they arrived in the city, they saw that the holding tank surrounding Kida broke apart and the pieces floated around her. Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy stood together and watched as Kida rose high above the city. Then the light radiating off her magnified until they could no longer see her through it. A beam of light cast down into the city, ending on the ground beside Milo. Kida, now back in her regular form, lowered down this beam. She smiled at Milo and hugged him. The crystal remained above, and suddenly the entire city was lit up. Waterfalls began falling from the cliffs behind it, clouds formed overhead. The people of Atlantis cheered.
The Keyblades appeared in Riku and Sora's hands and they brought the weapons' ends together. The breeze picked up, and the same familiar symbols appeared interwoven on the ground. A light formed where the Keyblades touched and shot out, telling them to move on. As they released their Keyblades, they noticed the Atlanteans watching in wonder.
"What was that?" Milo asked, looking curiously at the two boys, with Kida standing beside him.
"Another world is calling, and we have to answer," Riku stated.
"You must accept something as a token of our gratitude." Kida smiled at the two boys and their friends.
Donald perked up, but Goofy placed a hand on his shoulder. Sora and Riku glanced at each other before both shook their heads.
"You don't have to give us anything," said Sora. "Friends are supposed to help each other."
Both Milo and Kida smiled at them, "Well at least take these, as a token of our friendship and to show that you are always welcome among us." Kida held out four crystals on cords, the same as all the Atlanteans wore around their necks.
Sora smiled, "Okay, thanks."
Riku nodded, "Thank you."
"No, thank you, Key Bearers."
Milo decided to stay in Atlantis. Sweet, Vinny, Audrey, Mole, Mrs. Packard, and Cookie received a hero's farewell, as well as gold, jewels, and crystals of their own. Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy said farewell to everyone and returned to their ships.
"Ready to check out that black hole?" Goofy asked through the ships comm.
"Yeah. Oh…wait a minute guys, I have to check something first," Sora answered before turning off the radio that connected the ships. Then, he turned to Riku. "What about Akane? It sounded like he won't be a problem yet, but what does he want and how did he get here? I-" He stopped short when he noticed the expression on Riku's face, an odd combination of distance, concern, and shame.
Riku took a breath, and his expression softened as he looked at Sora. "He might be a problem soon."
Sora looked very concerned now, "What's going on?"
"Something happened... I think it's what brought Akane. Xehanort's gotten much stronger. If I…after we fought the stray memories, before Akane spoke to us...Xehanort was able to speak to me. He could never do that before. I was able to stop him after a moment, but I have to concentrate on keeping him like this now."
Sora's eyes were getting wider as he listened. Then he looked down, as if sorting his thoughts. Finally, he looked at Riku again, "Does it hurt more now?" Riku nodded. Sora took a deep breath. "Okay. So we have to find out how Maleficent is bringing him back and stop it from getting worse, and who she's working with, and-"
"We have to take care of the worlds," Riku finished the sentence differently than Sora had meant to, but he was right. "That's probably why King Mickey left. We can't save the worlds if we don't exist anymore." Riku stopped Sora before he could argue, which he had wanted to. "Not that I'm saying he doesn't care, it's just that this is more important."
"Then we need to find The King," said Sora, "and save the worlds. How can we do both in time? What if focus on Xehanort first? If we can destroy him before he gets too strong-"
Riku shook his head, "Two were missing. Maleficent though it was Xehanort and I. Organization Thirteen thought it was you and I. They were both right. Remember what Yen Sid said: there are two meanings."
"Riku, what is it? What aren't you telling me?" Sora sounded forceful, but he looked worried.
"He also said that I would understand all too well. He was right about that too," Riku sighed and looked down. "One that had a heart of darkness and would be trapped by the light; that's Xehanort. The other that had a heart of light, which would always be enshrouded by darkness, but never eclipsed by it; that's me. The light that's trapping him is my heart, it's his prison." He looked back up at Sora, who nodded to show that he understood so far. So Riku continued, "Sora, I don't think we're looking for a way to destroy him. I think we're looking for a way to keep him trapped there forever."
"What!? No! There has to be a way to defeat him, and we'll find it, together. We can't just leave him in you. What if this happens again? What if-" Sora stopped when he realized how harshly he was speaking to his friend. He did not understand why he was so upset by this. Suddenly, it all made sense... Because he knew it was true; everything that Riku said was true.
"We are going to defeat him, because we're going to make sure he remains trapped forever. But we have to do it together Sora," Riku voice was soothing and calm.
How is it, that he's the one calming me down? Sora thought to himself, but he realized that he knew the answer. Because he has to. I have to keep it together. I should be the one watching over him this time. "Okay. We'll do it together... But we're sending Donald and Goofy to find The King. Maybe he's found an answer, or another way. It's worth a chance. We can continue following the Keyblades... Alright?"
"Are you sure? You've never done this without Goofy and Donald. We can do both. You did say that they were your strength, once"
"If you could do this all alone, then I can do it without them. We have to do this together, and if Xehanort's getting stronger, then you're getting weaker; that's what Yen Sid said. We have to hurry. Besides, I said 'my friends are my strength' and you're my best friend, which means you're my greatest strength right?"
Riku blinked and for the first time seemed lost for words, but he quickly composed himself. "Alright, then send Donald and Goofy after King Mickey, if they want to go."
"They won't be happy about it, but they'll do it if I ask them to." Sora's smile returned, "We'll be fine as long as we stick together." He turned on the radio and spoke into it, "Donald, Goofy, there's something I need you guys to do for me…"
Sora had been right; Donald and Goofy were not happy to leave him, but they agreed with his reasons. They would all keep Chip and Dale informed on which planet they were located in via radio, so that they could easily find the others if something happened. Donald and Goofy were going to start by checking in with Yen Sid, Merlin, and anyone else that The King might go to for counsel. Sora and Riku would continue down the path that the Keyblades opened before them. Now they entered that strange black hole.
When Sora and Riku came out the other side of the strange black hole, they appeared to be in a smaller star system. Further out in the distance, they could see a cluster of planets with what looked like pirate ships from the storybooks they used to read as small children, flying between them. Closer to their current position was a lone planet with a pair of rings crossing around it.
"Let's check out that one," Sora pointed to the near planet. This new world seemed to excite him more than any of the others had. Whether it was because of how different it seemed from all of the worlds he had previously seen, or because it was the first world that he and his best friend would be exploring for each of their first times together, he was not sure. Quite possibly, it was a combination of both those reasons.
"Sounds good to me," Riku started punching in the coordinates for their arrival. "It's probably the one we're supposed to go to anyway."
Sora looked at him, a little amused, "What makes you say that?"
"We came out right beside it," Riku shrugged.
Sora thought about that for a second. The Keyblades did always lead them right to worlds that needed them or that they needed to learn something from. "You're right. If the Keyblades wanted us to do something on one of those other worlds, we would have ended up closer to them."
"You might want to take a look at this," Riku indicated the monitor.
Sora glanced at the reading. There was something strange on this world. Riku's coordinates placed them in the nearest clearing to the odd reading that still appeared safe. Sora noted that this was yet another thing, which Riku seemed to learn faster than he had. "Any idea what that means?"
"No. There's darkness here, but it's not what's causing those readings. Have you seen anything like this before?"
Sora shook his head, "No. Hey! Can we use the radio to ask Chip and Dale about it?"
Now Riku was looking at Sora in amusement. "You're asking me? You have much more experience with gummi ships than I do."
Sora looked indignant as he answered, "Well, you're just supposed to know stuff that I don't."
"Why?" asked the silver-haired boy. "Sora, I'm less than a year older than you are and you've travelled through just as many worlds as I have... Maybe more. Only you had guides."
"But you're the one that's always questions everything," the brunette countered.
"Where as you just question me," replied Riku.
Sora smiled, "That's right." Then he just sat there grinning at Riku, who stared at him a moment, blinked a couple of times, and then gave a small smile in return.
"Fine," Riku grabbed the radio, which did not seem to do anything. "Maybe it doesn't work in black holes." Sora was still staring at him, only the grin had faded. "Sora? Are you okay?"
"I was just thinking. You've always been stronger, faster, a better fighter, and a quicker learner than me." There was no sign of contempt or jealously in Sora's voice.
Riku looked slightly puzzled, "Okay…where are we going with this?"
Sora sounded a little concerned now, "I think you're the 'one true master of the Keyblades' that Xehanort's report mentioned. The Keyblade only chose me as a wielder after it couldn't choose you for awhile."
The shame and regret that laced Riku's features never touched his voice, "Because you're heart was stronger than mine. Which makes you a better choice for master in my eyes."
"You were able to take the Keyblade away from me in Traverse Town, before I…well, you know... And you're able to loan out a Keyblade temporarily. I can't do either of those things."
"Does it really even matter who the master is? We're both wielders." Riku was starting to sound exasperated.
Never the less, Sora was still pushing his point. "Maybe that's why Maleficent has always targeted you. Or why Xehanort's heartless chose you. Or why you never became a heartless."
Riku's usual confidence was back as he answered, "Maleficent targeted me first when all of this started because I was the only chosen wielder at the time. Xehanort's heartless chose me because my heart was weak at that time. I never became a heartless because I never lost my heart to the darkness. As for why I'm being targeted now, I'm not. They're after you too. I just have a weakness they can use."
Sora's usual stubbornness seemed to return as well, "That all makes sense and you're probably right, but I still think you're the true master."
"And that means…?"
Sora furrowed his eyebrows. What does that mean? Riku's right, why does it matter? Why does this feel important all of a sudden? "You're right; we don't know what it means. Not yet, anyway. It might not even matter." Sora sighed, and then his smile returned, "Okay. You ready to go?"
They both laughed softly and then disembarked for the planet. They arrived in a small clearing, in what appeared to be some kind of jungle.