Thank you all who reviewed! Anyway, here is the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean or Kingdom Hearts.
Chapter 10: Discovery
Our ship started making beeping sounds. There was a text box flashing on the main monitor. We were all snapped out of our thoughts and we looked at what it said.
"Twilight Town relocated?" I asked.
"Apparently it disappeared a little while back," said Donald.
"Disappeared?" I asked. A disappearing planet? I have never even heard of such a thing (that excludes planets disappearing because they were deleted.)
"Well now that it is back let's go check it out," said Sora.
"Good idea, let's go," said Goofy. Sora changed the coordinates for the ship and it launched off towards Twilight Town. It didn't take long to get there, maybe an hour or so. I wasn't keeping track of time. We landed and got off our ship. Twilight Town hadn't changed at all. It was the same lively town as when I had last been there.
"What a coincidence. We came to this world around the same time that it was when I was first here," I said.
"That's because it's ALWAYS twilight here," said Sora.
"Whoa, really?"
"Why else would it be called TWILIGHT Town?" Asked Donald.
"Good point." I looked to my right to see a little guy wearing a blue outfit and a large brown hat running down the street.
"Help! The Sandlot! It's Seifer! Somebody please help us!" Exclaimed the kid as he ran by.
"Sounds like trouble," said Sora.
"That's for sure," said Goofy. We ran off in the direction of the sandlot. We looked around to see that Seifer and his two buddies were lying on the ground with several Nobodies in front of them. We ran between Seifer's group and the Nobodies.
"We'll take it from here!" Said Sora. We pulled out our weapons and started fighting the Nobodies. Among this batch were some new Nobodies that I hadn't seen before. One of them was a large Nobody with a large object that looked like a combination of a mace, sword, and hammer. I happened to be one of the lucky people who got to fight this Nobody... go figure. It slammed it's weapon down at me in a flurry of attacks.
"I don't have the room to even launch a counterstrike. It's blocking of all possibilities with that oversized swinging weapon of death," I said in my thoughts. I jabbed my katana into the sand to block the swipe of the large weapon. Then I quickly pulled my sword out of the sand and shot through the enemy's opening. I stabbed the Nobody through the gut and it disappeared. I looked over to see that Sora, Donald, And Goofy had finished off the Nobodies they were fighting.
"Impressive," said a voice. We looked over to see a man dressed in an Organization XIII outfit. "By the way... have you seen a man named Axel? I expect he is here somewhere."
"Like I care," said Sora.
"Axel is no longer acting in our best interest."
"Is he with the Organization?" Asked Goofy. The man nodded.
"Yes." Then the sun gleamed on something that was on the man's hand. I looked over to see a familiar ring. I didn't know why but it reminded me of a Disintegration Ring. He raised his hand. "Don't let your guard down. Axel will stop at nothing to turn you into a Heartless."
"Thanks for looking out for us. But we can handle ourselves just fine," said Sora.
"Glad to hear it. Axel aside, it would break our hearts to hear that something happened to you."
"But you don't have hearts." Countered Donald.
"True we don't have hearts..." The man removed his hood to reveal long blue hair, yellow eyes, and an X shaped scar across the bridge of his nose. "...but we remember what it was like. That's what makes us special."
"That blue hair. It looks like... could it be?" I asked in my thoughts. The man seemed to notice my gaze.
"I can tell. You are thinking about the fact that my hair color is the same as that of an old friend of yours."
"Then are you... are you Maria's Father? She mentioned that her parents were members of Organization XIII."
"That's right. I am Saïx, Maria is my daughter."
"I see..."
"Alex. You are running out of time. HE is only giving you a little more time before we act. If you know what is good for you..." Saïx raised his hand and a portal of darkness appeared. "You had better join us willingly when we come to ask you again. If you keep on resisting us you may end up in a casket. Just like your father did."
"So it was Organization XIII that killed my father!" I said.
"Bingo. Don't you think it's strange that in a world with such advanced technology that your parents weren't able to get out of that burning house?" I didn't say anything but his words made sense. They should have been able to escape but they didn't. That explains one mystery. Saïx looked back at Sora. "Sora, you just keep on fighting those Heartless."
"Hey, let's jump in after him," whispered Sora.
"What?" Asked Donald.
"I am not sure. But maybe that portal will lead us to the Organization's World."
"Don't be reckless. Do you want to end up like Riku?" Asked Saïx.
"What? Riku?" Exclaimed Sora. Saïx bowed and walked through the portal. Then it disappeared. "What did he mean, end up like Riku?"
"You know, it's actually a good thing that you didn't try to jump into that portal," said a voice. We looked behind us to see Raxiel leaning against the wall. "I have been there before and I have to say that it is a very unpleasant place. You could be walking by and you would suddenly get attacked by Heartless."
"Why were you there anyway?" Asked Donald.
"Simple. I was spying on Organization XIII. Hoping to find a way to destroy them," said Raxiel. He looked over at me. "So Alex. I presume that you found out about the Genesis Circuit."
"Yes. I did. But how did you know about that?" I asked
"I have my ways. In any case be careful. I don't know what Organization XIII wants with you or why they care about Sora so much but I would advise all of you to be careful." With that Raxiel disappeared.
"What does he want? Why is he helping us?" Asked Donald.
"Beats me..."
"Hey, how about you get out of my town now? You've caused enough trouble," said Seifer as he got up.
"Fine, have it your way," said Donald. He looked back at us. "Come on guys, let's go." We turned around and were about to take the first step when Seifer raised his voice.
"Hold it." Donald whirled around and folded his arms.
"Make up your mind!" Seifer held out a Trophy. The main part of it was like a bunch of thick twisted blue vines. On edges of the Trophy stuck out little nodes where four colored gems stuck out. A blue gem, a yellowish orange gem, a green gem, and a red gem. On the side of the trophy was a golden plaque with a bat of some sort engraved on it.
"This goes to the strongest guy in Twilight Town," explained Seifer.
"Thanks but... we really don't need it," said Sora.
"Yeah, it is your Trophy, right?" I asked. Seifer quickly ran up to Goofy and shoved the trophy into his hands. Seifer let off a quick smirk and then ran off with his buddies.
"Oh! Sora!" Exclaimed a familiar voice. We all turned around to see Pence walking towards us.
"Pence... right?" Asked Sora. Pence nodded.
"Do you know a girl named Kairi?" Asked Pence. Sora almost jumped ten feet in the air as he heard Kairi's name.
"Kairi! I sure do!"
"Rather enthusiastic response," I commented.
"It's because Kairi is going to be his girlfriend in the near future," said Donald.
"They sure do like each other a lot," said Goofy. Sora turned around wearing a bright shade of red on his face. The look on his face was rather amusing.
"N-n-n-no, I-it's not like that! I swear!" Exclaimed Sora. I folded my arms and nodded.
"Uh huh. Sure I believe you. Whatever you say. But judging from the look in Kairi's eyes when she told me about you, I'd say what Donald said my not be too far from the truth," I said.
"Then you had better come to the station," said Pence. Sora charged towards the station like a bullet fired out of a gun.
"Gwarsh, I have never seen Sora run that fast before," said Goofy as we tried to catch up.
"It IS Kairi we are talking about. He would jump head first into a pit of Heartless if it was for her," said Donald. We finally caught up with Sora and we arrived at the station.
"Heeeeyyy!" Exclaimed Hayner as he ran over to us.
"So how do you guys know Kairi?" Asked Sora.
"Well..." Started Olette. She then told us how Kairi and a yellow dog that was called Pluto shot out of a wall through a portal of Darkness. They talked and she became one of their friends.
"So Kairi was here..." Said Sora.
"Yeah and she said she was looking for you," said Hayner.
"Where is she right now?" Hayner explained how a guy in a black coat came and kidnaped Kairi. Sora looked down with a sad look on his face.
"Organization XIII, no doubt about it," I said.
"It might have been Axel," said Goofy.
"Sorry..." Said Hayner as he lowered his head.
"Hey, it's not your fault. Cheer up," said Sora. But then he lowered his head a little bit. "I've gotta help Kairi!" Exclaimed Sora as he shot up. He accidently bumped Goofy with his elbow. Goofy stumbled back and the Trophy fell to the ground. The four gems came off and began to roll away. Hayner, Pence, and Olette both caught one.
"That was close," said Pence. Sora picked up the blue gem and held it out towards the sun. Hayner, Pence, and Olette did the same thing.
Suddenly Sora changed somehow. His hair changed color and it was spiked up. He wore a white T-shirt over a black outfit of some sort. On the shirt were checkered designs around the top and the arms. His pants were a mix of black and gray. And he wore different shoes.
"Sora?" I asked. He looked over at me.
"I'm Roxas. Sora is my other side," said the boy.
"Your other..." That's when I realized what he was talking about. "You are a Nobody!" Roxas nodded.
"That's right. As expected, you are very much like your Father. Well, that's what I have heard at least."
"You know about my Father huh? Are you with Organization XIII?"
"I was, but they were boring so I decided to ditch them. What about you? You are one of the few Nobodies who have ever rejected joining Organization XIII." I lowered my head.
"After what they did, I refuse to join with them." Roxas folded his arms.
"Can't blame you for that. They did do some bad things," said Roxas.
"Yeah, but how do you know about this?"
"I am part of Sora. I know everything that is going on."
"Sora? Alex? What's wrong with you two?" Asked Goofy. I looked over at Goofy.
"Why do you ask?" I asked.
"You and Sora began having a large starring contest but you didn't say a word," said Donald.
"Starring contest? But I..." I paused. How could this be? Didn't they notice that I was talking to Roxas just now?
"What starring contest?" Asked Sora.
"Um, it's nothing," said Donald. He whipped around and looked over at Goofy. "There is something wrong with those two," whispered Donald.
Suddenly Sora's gem started glowing. Sora did that opening of the gate thing.
"What was that?" Asked Pence.
"A new road has opened. And Riku and Kairi are somewhere along it," said Sora.
"Then you had better hurry," said Olette.
"You coming back?" Asked Hayner.
"Promise," said Sora. We left Twilight and started looking for a place to go next.
Meanwhile...
Fayt and the others had returned to the plaza after doing another search. They gathered together to discuss if they had found anything or not.
"I didn't see anything strange or unusual," said Fayt.
"Nothing out of the Ordinary," said Sophia.
"I found out this place is too big," said Dr. Leingod.
"Same here," said Mrs. Leingod.
"Well I didn't see anything at the train station. But those stupid brats should learn when to put away their toys. I accidently stepped on a skateboard, slipped, and ended up at the bottom of the hill on market street. That really hurt," said Cliff.
"Not a thing. But I did find this tasty ice cream bar," said Adray as he ate a bar of sea-salt ice cream.
"We found something we overlooked previously," said Albel.
"What did you guys find?" Asked Fayt.
"There is a hole in the wall at the corner of the Tram Common. We quickly reviewed the area beyond the hole to find a forest and beyond that a mansion. We didn't go further since we decided that everyone should check this out," said Nel.
"It reeks of suspicion. I'd say we may find something there," said Albel.
"Alright, let's go check that place out," said Fayt. The group headed to the Tram Common.
Back to Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Alex...
Hollow Bastion wasn't too far form our current position. As we got closer we noticed something strange about it.
"Huh? What's with all the darkness covering Hollow Bastion?" Asked Sora.
"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this," said Donald.
"Then we should go check it out," I said. We landed on Hollow Bastion and looked around. Suddenly a group of Heartless ran by followed by a few Nobodies.
"It seems like there are more Heartless running around now," said Goofy.
"Yeah," said Donald.
"Let's go check in with everyone," said Sora. We started walking towards Merlin's house where Leon and the others would most likely be. As we got near the next area Sora recognized someone else he knew. This person had blonde spiky hair and blue eyes. He wore a black outfit of some sort. On the left shoulder was a silver wolf's head pendant of some sort that was attached to the cloth. Behind him was a massively wide sword. How does he wield something that wide anyway? "Oh! Cloud!" Said Sora.
"Watcha doing?" Asked Donald.
"I'll get him. This time we settle it. Me, and the one who embodies my darkness," said Cloud. That sure is a way to say hello to someone.
"I thought you looked kinda different, Cloud." Cloud acknowledged what Donald said and looked down at his threads.
"If I do, it's his fault."
"Whose?"
"Sephiroth. Tell me if you see him."
"What does he look like?" Asked Sora.
"He has long silver hair and carries a long sword."
"How long of a sword?" I asked out of curiosity.
"It's about six feet long." My eyes widened up in surprise.
"Six feet? How is it possible to wield something of that size?"
"Sure. Well, be seeing you Cloud," said Sora.
"Be careful. He messes with your head. Make's you think that Darkness is the only way."
"Is something wrong?" Asked Aerith as she walked over towards us.
"Uhh..." Started Sora.
"It's nothing," finished Cloud in a very quick manner. Aerith took a step closer towards Cloud. "I don't want you involved."
"You mean you don't want me there when you go away again," assumed Aerith.
"Listen. Even if I go far away, I'll come back."
"Are you sure?" Cloud hesitated. "You don't look like you are." She smiled. "Well, I understand. Get things settled. I'll be here cheering for you. Okay, Cloud?" Cloud nodded.
"Okay," he said as he walked off.
"I wonder if he will be alright..."
"He'll be fine. I am sure there is still some light in him somewhere," said Sora.
"Yes, you are right." Aerith left and we continued heading towards Merlin's house. We got there about a minute or so later. What concerned me was the amount of Heartless that would randomly run by as we headed towards Merlin's house. There weren't so many of them when I was last here. We opened the door and everyone inside turned over to face us.
"Hey fellas. You're just in time. Got some good news for ya, so get yourselves over to Leon's," said Cid.
"What kind of news?" Asked Sora.
"We found the computer that Ansem was using!" Exclaimed Yuffie in her usual loud voice.
"Oh boy!" Exclaimed Donald.
"Ansem?" I asked in my thoughts.
"Yep. Should be able to get all kinds of info on Heartless and the Organization," said Cid.
"Maybe Ansem's Compute will be able to tell us where Riku and Kairi are," said Sora.
"And the King," added Donald.
"Go see for yourselves," said Cid.
"It can't hurt," said Yuffie.
"What do you mean?" Asked Sora. Cid shook his head.
"Nothing. Just get to the computer room through the castle postern," said Cid. We left and started walking towards the castle. In order to get there we would have to go through the bailey and then towards the castle. Well I am not sure about that but that's my guess since I don't know anything about this place.
"Excuse me, are you with the Restoration Committee?" Asked a sudden, small voice. We turned around to see three small fairy creatures of some sort. One had long blonde hair and green eyes. Another had grey hair and red eyes. The last one had short brown hair, a green eye, and a blue eye. All three of them shared one thing in common, their size, they were girls, and they had strange fashion sense. "What's Leon's gang up to?"
"They've got stuff to do over at the castle postern," said Sora.
"Scoop!" Exclaimed the blonde haired fairy.
"Huh?" Asked Sora.
"Scoop?" I repeated to myself.
"Let's report," said the grey haired fairy.
"To who?" Asked Donald. The brown haired fairy spun around in the air.
"Our leader of course," she said.
"Yeah you know... Malef..." The grey haired fairy suddenly zoomed over to the blonde haired fairy and covered her mouth.
"Malef?" I asked. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I looked at each other with confusion and then gave the three fairies a look of suspicion.
"Don't mind her. I assure you that we come in peace," said the grey haired fairy.
"Somehow I doubt that," I said. The brown haired fairy flew up to my face and glared at me.
"What you don't trust us?" She asked.
"Well it's kind of hard to since I don't know you... I don't even know WHAT you are." The brown haired fairy flew back away from me.
"I'm Yuna."
"I'm Rikku," said the Blonde haired fairy.
"Paine," said the gray haired fairy.
"The three of us make..." They said in unison as they spun around and started doing a bunch of strange motions. "Your friendly neighborhood something-or-others!"
"Something-or-others?" Asked Goofy.
"And you say that you come in peace?" Asked Donald.
"That's right," said Paine.
"You're kidding," said Yuna.
"Problem?" Yuna didn't say anything. "Okay then, you do the talking." Paine disappeared in a burst of light. Yuna looked back at us and bowed.
"So sorry about this!" She disappeared as well. Rikku did another strange pose and disappeared.
"I wonder what Riku would do if he found out that one of those things had his name," said Sora.
"So, does anybody have any idea what just happened?" I asked. The three of them shook their head.
"Your guess is as good as mine," said Donald.
"Could it be that Maleficent is their leader?" Asked Goofy. We paused for a second and pondered what Goofy said.
"Nah." We all said in unison.
"Maleficent would go insane if she had those things for subordinates," I said. Sora nodded.
"Yeah she can't stand happy, light things," said Sora.
"And she doesn't have the brains to make a good plan that will work," said Donald.
Meanwhile in Villains vale...
Maleficent suddenly let out a loud sneeze. Pete jumped back surprised, this was the first time he had ever seen Maleficent do something that wasn't shout at him, plot world domination, say a bunch of colorful words directed at Sora and his buddies, proclaim that darkness is supreme, or something on the lines of Heartless and destroying happy things like cute furry little bunnies.
"Do you have a cold?" Asked Pete.
"No. I just suddenly sneezed for some reason," said Maleficent. Maleficent walked out onto the balcony. "Things are going as planned. Soon it will be time to begin the attack." Outside of the castle were thousands of Heartless. They were filed into ranks and looked as if they were awaiting commands.
Switching back to Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Alex...
We continued walking towards the castle. We found a large circular platform and looked around. But there was no sign of Leon.
"Leon!" Exclaimed Sora.
"Over here," said Aerith. We looked over at Aerith.
"You guys found Ansem's Computer?" Asked Sora. Aerith nodded.
"Uh-huh. The King is very interested in it."
"The King?" Exclaimed Donald.
"He's with Leon."
"We get to see the King!" Exclaimed Donald as he started to get excited.
"Hooray!" Shouted Goofy.
"Is Riku with them?" Asked Sora. Aerith shook her head sadly.
"Oh well. At least I can ask the King, he should know where Riku is. And the Computer might be able to tell us something."
"Good idea! They're right through there." Said Aerith as she pointed over to the stair ways that lead to a dark corridor under the platform we were on. We walked down the stairs and through the corridor entrance. The corridors were dark and very much like a maze. We had a tough time getting around but we finally made it to a corridor where the color and texture changed and there was a door at the end of the hall. We opened it and walked inside.
This room was covered with broken glass bottles and test tubes, ruined equipment, bookshelves filled with books, wall decorations on the walls depicting the Heart and darkness. In the center of the room was a crescent moon shaped desk with a seat. The table was covered in books as well. At the far end of the room was a portrait of a man with long white hair that spiked up at the top and piercing amber eyes.
"Ansem..." Said Sora.
"So that's Ansem. Is he a friend of theirs?" I asked in my thoughts.
"Gawrsh, this must be his room," said Goofy.
"Where's the King?" Asked Donald.
"Hello?" Asked Sora.
"Hey you!" Exclaimed a sudden voice. We turned around to see a girl with long black hair and brown eyes standing in front of the door. She wore a black outfit with a black skirt and black gloves. "I'm looking for somebody. Have you seen a guy with spiky hair?" Sora pointed at his hair. The woman chuckled lightly. "Spikier." We all shrugged. "Then I will just take a look around." The girl started examining the room. Looking under shelves and turning things over. Then finally she slammed her fist into the wall, causing the room to shake. Damn, this girl is strong. "Sorry to bother you," she said as she walked past us.
"No bother Ma'am," we all said at the same time. She left and closed the door.
"So you made it," said Leon as he walked out of the shadows.
"Leon!" Said Sora. "Isn't the King with you?" Leon held a finger to his hand as if he was telling us to be quiet.
"You'll see him soon enough."
"Hey!" Protested Donald.
"This ought to tide you over," said Leon as he pressed a part of the wall. Suddenly that section of the wall disappeared revealing a passage way that lead somewhere. "Ansem's Computer Room," said Leon as he looked back over at us. We walked down the passage way towards Ansem's Computer. I didn't know why but the structure of the hall seemed very familiar. Perhaps I had seen it somewhere before... Oh right, the basement of that mansion in Twilight Town. As Ansem's Computer came into view I starred in shock.
"Wow that thing is OLD! I didn't know they still had computers that weren't holo-screens. Incredible," I said. Leon gave me a weird look.
"This thing is old?" He asked.
"Yeah, compared to what I am used to," I said.
"Where's Kairi? Where's Riku?" Asked Sora as he started randomly typing buttons. Nothing happened and Sora started slamming down the buttons.
"Easy, you wanna break it?" Asked Leon.
"Oh, sorry. Guess I got a little carried away..." Said Sora as he stepped away. I walked towards the computer.
"Let's see... how do I access the menu? Maybe this button..." I said as I started pressing buttons. I tried various things that I knew would normally bring up a menu or a set of options. But nothing happened. "That's weird. Why isn't it working?"
"Whoa!" Exclaimed Goofy as he pointed up. We looked up to see a blue creature of some sort sticking to the wall. It fell down and landed on the keyboard.
"Get off of there!" Exclaimed Donald as he jumped up and tried to knock the creature off. In the end he succeeded by then an alarm went off.
"Attention current user. This is a warning. Further misuse of this terminal will result in immediate defensive action," said a voice.
"Who's there?" Asked Sora.
"I am the Master Control Program. I oversee this system," said the voice.
"Master Control Program... wait! You are a program from this system?" I asked.
"That is correct, user," said the MCP. Donald moved his foot causing another button to be pressed down and start the alarm again.
"DONALD!" Exclaimed Sora, Goofy, Leon, and I.
"I'm sorry!" Said Donald.
"Decision gate reached. You are now under arrest," said the MCP.
"Arrest?" Exclaimed Sora.
"Listen up MCP! This is a clear violation of your programming. You cannot harm a user!" I exclaimed. The MCP ignored me. Goofy helped Donald off the keyboard.
"Run!" Exclaimed Leon.
"What?" Asked Sora as we began to turn around. Just as we did the power device behind us shot a beam at each of us. Then there was the feeling of being transported.
Our heroes are now on their way to a world unlike anything they have ever seen before. Will they be able to escape from the computer? Find out in the next chapter. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long as the previous one. Anyway, please review.