Luxord: And the winner is!! (Pales) a…a…DRAW!?
All: WHAT!?
Me: Wow...who da thunk that Sephiroth and Xemnas would have been an even match.
Xemnas: Refund them no.11!!
Luxord: (shrugs and refunds everyone their money…plus an extra dollar as a bribe not to hurt him)
Me: Oh well…Let's continue the story.
Beast's Castle
"So…you're looking for Ienzo huh?" Zexion said as he took his lexicon back from Riku.
"Yep…we're trying to figure out why all the Nobodies are starting to reappear." Sora explained.
"Well that's easy." Zexion explained, "When a Nobody fades back into darkness, they really just join their other. Your still alive and therefore so is Roxas. The only way to prevent this is if your other is dead then when your Nobody fades into darkness…" Zexion lowered his head.
"Oh…so…Ienzo is still alive?" Sora asked hopefully.
"Yeah, he's in a secret room in the castle dungeon." Zexion said as a loud roar shook the castle.
"Uh-oh, it's Beast!!" Roxas yelled and sure enough the ballroom doors slammed open revealing the Beast crouching back, ready to pounce when Sora ran up to him.
"BEAST WAIT!!" Beast stopped as he saw the Keyblade master running towards him.
"Sora?" Beast asked disbelievingly, he recognized Riku, he thought the girl was familiar, the other spiky haired kid looked a lot like Sora, and there in the middle, in his light blue dress shirt and khaki pants, holding his lexicon was…
"ZEXION!!" Beast charged at him but was blocked by a reflect spell cast by Sora.
"Beast wait…he's ok!" Sora said as he grabbed beast's arm.
"Sora why are you with him?!" Beast said as he pointed at Riku. "He tried to kill you!!"
"That was a long time ago, Riku's changed, and the darkness inside of him is gone now." Sora reassured the beast, who returned to his slumping posture.
"Beast…is everything alright?" a familiar female voice asked from the doorway, it was Belle, "Oh…Hi Sora, it's great to see you again" the princess of heart asked as she entered the ballroom.
"…and Kairi, how are you doing…goodness you've grown." Belle said as she recognized her fellow princess of heart, she then noticed Riku trying not to look at her, but to no avail.
"…and Riku," Riku flinched, all the guilt that he had after having kidnapped her had finally started bubbling up to the surface.
"…you've grown quite handsome yourself." Belle said with a smile as she put her hand on his shoulder. Riku was surprised to receive such a merciful response from the woman he once kidnapped, and turned to look at her, he then started to smile, and was about to apologize when she compassionately put her finger to his lips.
"Shhh…it's ok, I don't blame you, I blame the darkness." Belle said as she finally removed her finger.
"Thank you." Was all Riku said.
"Umm…what about us nobodies?" Roxas said as he crossed his arms. Beast took a closer look at Roxas.
"You smell like Sora." Beast said quietly. Sora shrugged and decided the jig was up.
"That's because Roxas is my Nobody, he was created back when I lost my heart back in Hollow Bastion." Sora explained as Beast nodded and turned to Zexion who nodded…
"Yes beast I'm a nobody too…just like Xaldin and Roxas." Zexion said as Beast hunched back over.
"Then…what you said is true…Not all nobodies are evil." Beast said as he looked back at Zexion.
"Why would I have taught you to read if I was evil?" Zexion asked as he placed a hand on the beast. After a moment Zexion lifted his hand and said.
"Beast I need to cash in that favor you owe me." "What is it?" Beast asked back.
"I want you to release the red haired man in the secret dungeon." Zexion said as beast nodded with a smile.
"Follow me." Beast said as they all marched towards the dungeon.
When they finally reached the dungeon, they found a large empty hole in the dungeon wall, leaving beast and Zexion wide eyed. As they got closer, they found it was no longer a dungeon…but a tomb.
"No…IENZO!!" Zexion said as he ran towards a black coffin with a familiar purple lance sticking out of it.
"XALDIN!!" Zexion shouted as he realized that Xaldin had murdered his other.
Zexion then slumped over and started to cry, as the rest of the group lowered their heads in remorse.
Later out on the bridge where Xaldin had been defeated. Beast heaved the coffin over the bridge and into the river at Zexion's request.
"Where will you go?" Sora asked the nobody who was now in his Organization XIII robe with the hood up, but not enough to cover his face."
"I don't know…now that I'm on my own now, I can choose my own fate." Zexion said softly.
Roxas turned and looked at Sora and shrugged as if expecting an answer. Sora knew what he was waiting for.
"You know Zexion, we've been talking and we've decided that you can come with us if you wanted to…right guys?" Sora asked as his friends nodded with a smile on their face.
"Really? I wouldn't want to intrude." "Hey, Ienzo gave you a second chance at life, now it's time to give yourself that chance." Riku said as he smiled at the Nobody who waited and thought, long and hard about it.
"Alright…count me in." Zexion said as he pulled the hood down behind his head.
After saying good bye to Beast, Belle and the others, the Heroes boarded the Gummy ship which immediately tore off into space.
"So how did things go down there guys?" Namine asked as she spun around to face them from the controls. Then she saw Zexion.
"Oh hi Zexion…welcome aboard." "Namine?!" Zexion was surprised the witch was still alive.
"How are you still here? I thought you had vanished after that whole Castle Oblivion incident." Zexion asked as Namine smiled and turned to Kairi.
"I never died, I simply rejoined my other." Namine said as Kairi walked up beside her. Zexion looked at the two and quickly understood their relationship.
"So where are we going?" Zexion asked as he took a seat.
"We're heading to one of the places where we saw one of the former Organization members…" Riku said as he punched in the coordinates, "We're heading to Olympus Coliseum."
Radiant Garden
Reno, Axel, Larxene, and Rufus burst out of the elevator dissing Demyx furiously while the Nocturne was rolling on the floor laughing his fool head off…of course he had farted in the elevator, and was very lucky that Axel didn't have an open flame at the time.
After the five had recovered (and nearly throwing Demyx over the railing) they entered the control room to find a confused looking Cid, who had temporarily paused his work on his dream gummy ship, and some other secret project.
"What the heck is going on with you boys…and girl?" Cid said as Larxene ignored the gummy ship builder.
"Cid I hate to throw you off the computer but this is definitely Committee business." Rufus said as Cid quickly saved his work and relinquished the computer.
"Sure…ya mind telling me what it is though?" Cid asked, as Rufus nodded.
"You'll see." Rufus said as he turned to the computer. "Tron?"
"Greetings user Rufus Ansem…It has been a long time since your last accessed this system." Tron greeted, unaware of Rufus's name change.
"Tron please change my user account name to Rufus Shinra" Rufus said as he typed in his password.
"Acknowledged Rufus Shinra…awaiting instructions." Tron reported happily.
"I need you to search the D.T.D. for any and all references about the 'Room of Sleep" Rufus instructed as the program began searching.
"Stand by." Tron reported as the following appeared on the screen
"Searching…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Found 7 related files"
"0 files accessible by this user"
"7 files accessible by System Administrator: Ansem the Wise"
"WHAT!? CLASSIFIED!!" Rufus was enraged to say the least. "Tron what do I have to do to access these files?"
"One moment…It appears that the files can only be accessed through user: Ansem the Wise's personal user account." Tron reported
"Then switch over to it." Rufus demanded
"One moment…" "…If I hear that thing say 'One Moment' one more time, that thing is gonna need a surge protector!" Larxene threatened as Demyx and Axel attempted to quell the Savage Nymph's temper.
"I'm afraid his user account requires a series of passwords to access." Tron replied, displaying a red circle with seven blanks arranged around it, under each of the six blanks on the sides were a single letter, while under the top blank was the letters A.T.W.
"I haven't a clue what the passwords are…and Elena's my best hacker, and even she can't get through dad's security protocols." Rufus said as he realized he couldn't access the required files.
"Wait a minute…" Larxene said as she put her hand to her chin as if in deep thought, "Who says you have to access the files?" she said as a smirk swept across her face.
"You know something we don't Larx?" Axel asked as she continued.
"Actually Elena knows something, she overheard your father explaining that only he and his assistants could access his account…which probably means that one of them could give us the password." Larxene said Rufus began to understand.
"…so when Sora finds Ienzo, he can give us the password." Rufus said as Larxene gave him a pathetic look.
"Actually I was thinking that one of their nobodies could give us the password…like Zexion, he was one of the original six apprentices' nobodies, so he should know the password." Larxene said as Rufus looked out the window towards the factory.
"Let's just hope that Zexion is in a mood to talk." Rufus said hopefully.
Olympus Coliseum
A bright light appeared outside the newly rebuilt Olympus Coliseum, and where it appeared stood our five heroes.
"Whoa, Hercules has been busy!" Sora exclaimed as he looked around. Roxas in the meantime was looking around for any sign of Xigbar, and didn't notice a familiar man in a black pen striped suit approaching them from behind.
"That's right Sora, and it cost him a pretty penny." An older male's voice with a hint of an English accent said from behind them causing them all to jump and draw their weapons.
"Easy lads…and lass, I mean you no harm, its bad sportsman ship to try and get revenge on one who defeats you at your own game." The Gambler of fate said as the gang slowly put away their weapons.
"…and Zexion, it's good to see you again, and Roxas, you haven't changed a bit." Luxord said with a smile.
"Luxord, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Neverland trying to take ownership of Capt. Hook's pirate ship." Sora asked the nobody.
"Bah I thought about it and I realized that I had no use for a pirate ship, so I gave it back to him." Luxord said still smiling…that is until he heard the familiar voice of a certain pint sized Satyr.
"Hey Lux! I's gots a problem over here, quit talking to the guests and get to work!! What am I payin you for, huh? Hobnobbin?" Phil said, irritating the nobody.
"PHIL!!" Sora yelled, as the Satyr stomped…or clopped over towards his employee.
"Wha?! Well well if it isn't the junior hero." Phil said coming to a dead stop.
"Junior hero, I'd say Sora is an honest to Pete hero." Riku defended.
"Yeah, have you saved the worlds before?" Kairi asked.
"Well I…"
"Have you ever brought down a major Organization of evil Nobodies bent on obtaining hearts for themselves at all costs?" Roxas poked.
"Well no but…"
"Have you ever survived the thirteen floors of Castle Oblivion?" Zexion added
"But I don't…"
"Guys! He's not the hero, he trains heroes but he's not one himself." Sora said as he defended the Satyr.
"Oh…then who is the hero?" Riku asked.
"That would be Hercules…" a stoic, yet familiar voice said from behind.
"Auron!!" Sora said as he ran towards the once dead warrior.
"Sora…glad you're still alive…unlike some of us." Auron said largely despairingly.
"Hey chin up Auron; you can still fight can't you?" Sora encouraged.
"Yes, so?" "So, what Sora means is you need to fight death." Zexion said with a smile, causing Auron to give a slight chuckle.
"I already did, and I won." Auron said, referring to his, Hercules, and Sora's fight with Hades.
"Then it sounds like you're off the hook." Roxas said as he walked up beside his other.
"I have been feeling a little…more lifelike than usual lately." The red cloaked guardian said with a slight smile.
"Whoa, happy ending man." A surfer like voice said from nearby causing Roxas to smile and roll his eyes. Sure enough out of the shadow of one of the columns walked the Freeshooter himself.
"Have you been a good boy Roxas?" Xigbar asked in his usual surfer like attitude.
"Oh please with Sora as my other, how can I be good?" Roxas laughed.
"So what brings you little dudes and dudette to the Olympus Coliseum?" Xigbar asked.
"We're looking for you two actually" Kairi said referring to Luxord and Xigbar.
"Us? Why?" Luxord asked back.
"We're trying to find all the members of Organization XIII and make sure they're behaving…like good boys." Riku mocked.
"…and girl…don't forget Larxene." Xigbar reminded.
"Nah we don't have to, we know she's all right…in fact, she, Axel, and Demyx are back in Radiant Garden right now helping with the restoration efforts there." Sora explained.
"Looks like you found Zexion ok." Xigbar responded as the Cloaked Schemer started looking around, getting a strange feeling, like they were being watched.
"Wait a minute…you mean to tell me these guys are Nobodies?!" Phil said surprised
"…you two failed to mention that on your job applications." Phil said as the two nobodies in question started to act innocently.
"Uh…well." "You see boss it's like this…" the two attempted to explain but Phil cut them off.
"Well I hope you can find a place that'll take ya, cause your both FIRED!!" and with that Phil stormed off leaving the two unemployed Nobodies speechless.
"Ouch, sorry guys I didn't mean to get you both fired." Sora said hoping that the two didn't turn on him…fortunately…
"Forget about it, I was planning on quitting this lousy job anyway." Luxord said as he turned back to Sora.
"Yeah, besides that cheapskate nanny goat, didn't pay us squat." Xigbar said with a smile and a shrug.
Suddenly there was a loud crash from within the stadium followed by a small group of Shadows and Dusks that appeared out of nowhere.
"Nobodies? Heartless? Where did they come from?" Sora asked as the group drew their weapons.
"Well don't look at us!" Luxord said as he snapped his fingers and three nobody like versions of the Card Guards from Wonderland popped out of nowhere.
"I…sent them!!" A booming voice said from out of nowhere.
All the former Organization members and Riku knew who it was.
Suddenly a large hole opened up in the ground as the earth shook and a large column of rock shot out from it, and standing on top of it, brandishing his giant orange tomahawk, was the Silent Hero himself.
"And may I add that things are about to get a little ROCKY!!"
End Chapter 11.
Me: Well I wonder who will win this battle royale.
Axel: What you don't know?
Me: Yes I know, but I'm not saying because it just isn't done.
Axel: Ah…
Me: Well until the next chapter folks.