Chapter 25: 1000 Heartless Battle
A/N: Hey everyone! Since I'm on Thanksgiving Weekend, I've decided to update the next chapter. Hopefully, this will be a nice long chapter.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts; I just own my oc's.
Enjoy!
/
"So, where do we start?" Leon asked.
"I know! Let's access the DTD" Hikari said.
Leon went up to the computer and typed stuff in.
"The king's checking the situation in town" he said.
"He'll be back soon, so don't worry"
He looked over his shoulder.
"It's asking for a password"
Goofy grinned.
"That's easy. It's…"
"Sora!" Sora blurted.
Leon nodded and started typing it in.
"Hikari" Hikari added.
"Donald"
"Goofy!"
Leon smirked when he got through.
"I'm in" he said.
They looked at the screen to see all kinds of information on it.
Leon looked at his sister and her friends.
"I have to go into town" he said.
"Need to see what that last shakeup did"
Hikari frowned at her brother.
"You're not gonna check out the data?" she asked.
"It wasn't exactly easy to get!" Sora added.
Leon just gave them a smirk.
"I'm coming right back" he said.
"Why don't you get started on loading the data and copying it down? It's just a few keystrokes. Easy, right?"
He patted Sora on the shoulder as he walked by.
As he walked by Hikari, he pulled her into a one-arm hug and kissed her on the forehead.
"You be careful, ok?" he asked.
"And don't do anything that will strain you"
With that, he walked out of the computer room to see how everything was doing.
Hikari stood there dumbfounded.
Leon never gave anybody a kiss. It was rare that he would give one to her and that was only when something really bad happened to her. It was as if he was telling her that she would be alright and that he was there for her.
She looked at the ground sadly.
"I guess when I passed out and coughed that stuff up, it really scared him" she thought.
"I'm sorry, Ni-san"
She looked over at Sora to see him typing stuff into the computer-or rather, attempting to type stuff out.
"Did it work?" Donald asked.
Sora gave him a look.
"Hey, these things take time, ok?"
Hikari sighed and hip checked him out of the way.
"Let me do it" she said.
She started typing something in and watched as data flew across the screen.
"Looks like it's doing something" she said.
"I think it wants to know what we want to know" Goofy said.
"Riku and Kairi!" Sora blurted.
Hikari typed in their names and watched as data went across the page.
She frowned when the words 'Data Error' flashed across the screen.
"No way" she breathed.
"Even Ansem's computer doesn't know…"
Goofy went up to the computer and started typing stuff in.
"Whatcha doing?" Donald asked.
"I thought I'd ask the computer if it can tell us about them Nobodies" he said.
He typed some more and was surprised to see a file with the Nobody insignia on it.
"What's this?" Sora asked.
Just then, the 'Data Error' message flashed across the screen.
"The data is corrupt" the computer said.
"How about the Organization?" Goofy suggested.
He typed it in and was met with the same message.
"The data is corrupt"
"Stupid computer!" Sora cried.
He started hitting it in frustration.
"Sora! Cut it out!" Hikari cried.
"My brother is going to kill you if you break it!"
Just then, an image of a middle aged man with blonde appeared on the screen.
He wore a white lab coat with a red scarf around his neck.
"Who's this guy?" Sora asked.
Just then, Taiyouko's image appeared next to the man.
"Hey! That's my mom!" Hikari cried.
Sora looked at her.
"Do you know who this guy is?" he asked.
Hikari looked at the image for a moment and recalled a certain memory.
/
Hikari and Leon walked along the hallways of the castle with a middle aged man.
Hikari gripped the man's hand tightly as they went through one of the darker hallways.
"Grandpa, it's scary down here" she said.
The man chuckled and gave her hand a slightly squeeze.
"There's nothing to be afraid of, Hikari" he said.
Leon looked up at his grandpa.
"Does mom know that you're with us?" he asked.
"She said you were busy on some project"
His response was a slight chuckle.
"You're mother doesn't have to know everything that I do" he said.
"Besides. I'm allowed to spend some time with my grandchildren"
They walked some more to an unknown destination.
/
Hikari looked at the man that she now knew was her grandfather.
"This man…." She said quietly.
"I think he's my grandpa"
Sora looked surprised.
"Welp. I see ya got things workin'!"
Everyone turned around to see King Mickey by the doorway.
Mickey smiled and walked up to them.
"Good going" he said.
"The computer should tell us the things we need to know"
"But it keeps on saying the data inside is all ker-skuffled" Goofy said.
"All we got is a picture of Hikari's grandpa" Sora said.
When Mickey saw the picture, he jumped.
"Ansem the Wise!" he cried.
Everyone looked confused.
How was this guy Ansem? He was a lot younger looking than this man. Plus, he would have told Hikari if he had any connections with her.
"Come on, are you teasing us again?" Sora asked.
"Did you forget what Ansem looked like, your Majesty?" Donald added.
"Of course I do!" Mickey said.
"And this is him! I'm positive!"
Sora sighed and grabbed Mickey's hand.
"Excuse me" he said.
"Could you come this way please?"
He led the king back into the study where Ansem's picture stood.
/
"Look, THIS is Ansem" Sora said.
"You know, the guy we worked reeeally hard to defeat?" Hikari added.
It dawned on Mickey that he forgot something.
"Oh, that's right-I never finished explaining" he said.
"Well, the man in the picture is definitely the one who tried to take over Kingdom Hearts-the one you fellas defeated. But, what you actually fought was his heartless. Ya see, he wasn't really Ansem. He just went around telling everyone he was"
Everyone's mouth was hung open.
"WHAT?" they cried.
"You mean we went through all that trouble to defeat an imposter?" Sora asked.
Hikari went up to the wall and started banging her head against it.
"No! It never ends!" she cried.
Mickey gave them a sheepish smile.
"Yep. A fake" he said.
"But he had to be stopped"
"Aww, I can't believe this…" Donald said.
"I'm kinda confused" Goofy said.
"Aren't we all" Hikari said.
Goofy looked at the King.
"If he's a fake, then what happened to the real Ansem?"
Mickey shrugged.
"Well, that's just what I was trying to figure out" he said.
"Ansem the Wise should know all about Organization Xlll's plans, and what's been happening to the worlds. I'm pretty sure he'll give us some help"
He looked at the others.
"Ya know, I came close to finding him once…"
"Why didn't you just ask my mom?" Hikari asked.
"I'm sure she would know about grandpa's whereabouts"
Mickey looked at the ground.
"Taiyouko got separated from him when Hollow Bastion was taken over" he said.
"Plus, she never really had positive relationship with him. she really didn't talk to him after you were born"
Hikari frowned at that.
She never would have imagined that her mom would have family issues.
Goofy looked at the painting and thought of something.
"Don't tell me there's more" Sora whined.
"I'm lost as it is"
Goofy looked at them.
"I've been thinking" he said.
"Some feller named Ansem, who wasn't really Ansem, became a Heartless. Does that mean a Nobody was created when that happened, too?"
Mickey nodded.
"Yep!"
"And that Nobody is the leader of Organization Xlll"
Mickey looked back at the painting.
"I know I've met this Ansem before, and I've seen the leader of Organization Xlll , too" he said.
"Kinda felt like being around the same fella"
"So, where did you meet this guy?" Hikari asked.
Mickey hung his head.
"Gosh. I can't remember" he said.
"Ansem the Wise-the real Ansem-must know the imposter's true identity. That's why I've got to find him and ask him about it"
Sora glared at the painting.
"You" he hissed.
"You started all of this! Because of you, Riku and Kairi…"
Hikari quickly remembered what she wanted to say to Mickey before she passed out.
"Oh! Your Majesty, do you know where Riku and my mom are?"
Mickey flinched at the names.
"They…" he said.
He hung his head.
"I'm sorry. I can't help"
Hikari's heart dropped as she heard that.
The King was her only chance in learning Riku's whereabouts. If he couldn't tell her where he was, then all was lost.
Sora frowned when he saw the defeated look on Hikari's face.
He knew just how hard she was trying to reunite with Riku and her mom. He couldn't let it end this way.
He went up to Mickey.
"Really, your Majesty?" he asked.
Mickey turned away from him.
"Are you sure?"
Mickey looked at the ground sadly.
"I'm sorry" he said.
Hikari fell to her knees.
There was no way that the King wouldn't know where Riku and her mom were. There was just no way.
"Please, you Majesty" she begged.
"You must know where they are. You were with them on the other side of Kingdom Hearts when we closed it!"
Mickey looked at her sadly.
"I know you're worried about them, Hikari. But I can't help you with this"
Hikari gripped the carpet underneath her.
This is not what she wanted to hear. She wanted to hear that he knew where they were and was willing to tell them where they were.
"Then can you at least tell me if they're alright?" she pleaded.
"Are they alive at least?"
She hoped that wasn't the case, but she had to know something about them.
Mickey gave her a weak smile.
"They're alright" he said.
"But I lost track of them a while back. I wish I could help, but there's nothing I can do"
Hikari slowly nodded.
At least that was something.
"Mom…Riku…"
Sora looked at Mickey.
"What about Kairi?" he asked.
"Organization Xlll might've kidnapped her"
Mickey panicked at that.
"Oh no!" he cried.
He looked at the painting then at them.
"Sora, Hikari, Donald, Goofy" he said.
"I was planning to get help from Ansem the Wise. But-now I know I forgot the most important thing"
He smiled.
"Helping others should always come before asking others for help. We're safe and sound-and free to choose!" he said.
"So there's no reason we shouldn't choose to help our friends. Let's look for Riku and Kairi together"
Just as he said that, a loud explosion from outside shook the whole area.
"Outside!" Sora cried.
Hikari panicked.
"Ni-san!"
Mickey suddenly looked serious.
"Sounds like we gotta start by helping out here!"
He dashed out the room with the others following after him.
It seemed like the chaos was about to start.
/
Out near the bailey, the heartless had managed to break through the wall and were entering the town.
People screamed in fear as they attacked in huge groups.
They had never seen anything like this since their world was taken over.
/
Maleficent and Pete stood near the entryway of the undercroft and watched as their heartless were fighting with the nobodies.
"Hear me, my heartless! "Maleficent cried.
"Attack the white husks! Sweep them away!"
"What are you nuts?" Pete asked.
"We're never gonna win! I don't know about you, but I'm outta here, sister!"
Maleficent rolled her eyes when she saw Pete left.
"You pathetic coward!" she hissed.
She was the Nobodies destroying her heartless and scoffed. She thought she was in trouble, but when she saw Hikari and the others enter the room, she came up with a new plan.
"Heartless!" she ordered.
"Leave the white ones. Turn your attention to Hikari and her friends!"
Hikari glared at the evil sorceress when she disappeared.
"You coward!" she cried.
Sora held up his keyblade.
"We don't have time for this!" he cried.
"Tell me something I don't know?" Hikari asked.
She sighed when she saw the heartless and nobodies closing in on them.
"I guess this is a perfect chance to try out my Master Form"
She reverted into her latest form that consisted an all yellow leather outfit that had a frill covering her shoulders (A/N: It's like Paine's outfit from FF X-2. I just didn't want to describe it)
Sora followed her example and went into Master form as well.
"Let's get this over with"
They zipped through the room and hacked through any heartless or Nobody that got in their way.
When they were all gone, they reverted back to their normal outfits.
"Gotta love an upgrade" Sora said.
Yuna, Rikku, and Paine flew towards them.
"Where's Maleficent?" Yuna asked.
"Looks like she ran away" Hikari said.
Rikku put her hands on her hips.
"Well that was PRET-ty lame of her" she said.
"I guess we picked the wrong side" Paine said.
The three little girls started talking amongst them, leaving our heroes in the dark.
Sora sweat dropped when he saw that they weren't going to shut up.
"Um, hey…if you're looking to pick sides, why don't you pick Leon's?" he offered.
"They can always use help"
Yuna looked at him.
"Does this Leon have any treasure?" she asked.
Donald nodded.
"Yeah, lots of stuff!"
The tiny girls smiled.
"Perfect!" Rikku cried.
"Let's go" Paine said.
They flew off to go help Leon.
"Did Leon…really have any treasure?" Sora asked.
Donald laughed darkly.
Hikari glared at him and kicked him.
"Don't drag my brother into this" she said.
They quickly ran up the stairs to head outside.
/
"I hope everyone is ok" Sora said.
As they headed towards the bailey, a light appeared before then. When the light vanished, a man stood in its place.
He wore a warrior like outfit with a black wing sprouting from his back. He had long silver hair and carried a long sword.
The man smirked darkly as he looked at them.
Donald gasped.
"It's Sephiroth!"
Hikari paled.
She remembered Cloud and Mikomi talking about him.
So this was the man who was tearing them apart.
"Ain't Sephiroth the one who's supposed to be the dark part of Cloud's heart?" Goofy asked.
Sephiroth laughed darkly.
"Did Cloud tell you that?" he asked.
"Then he must understand now"
Hikari glared at him.
"What are you going to do to him?" she asked.
Sephiroth shrugged.
"Nothing" he said.
"Cloud is the one who hungers for darkness"
"He said he's got a score to settle with you" Sora said.
"I see…" Sephiroth said.
"He wants to meet me again"
He turned around and started walking away.
"Then I should give him what he wants" he said.
"That last bit of light is always the hardest to snuff out"
With that, he flew off to go find his other half.
"I hope Cloud will be ok" Sora said.
"He will" Hikari said.
"There's no way he would give up his last bit of light. He has Mikomi to look after"
They quickly ran towards the bailey to help their friends.
/
Leon and Mikomi attacked the heartless that were coming through the ravines.
"Stupid Heartless!" Mikomi cried as she stabbed one with her samurai sword.
"They spawn like rabbits"
"How about less talking and more fighting!" Yuffie cried.
Leon didn't say anything and just kicked one out of the way.
"Ni-san!" Hikari cried as they came closer.
"We'll help!" Sora shouted.
Aerith smiled at them, but gasped when she saw Nobodies appear behind them.
"Behind you!"
The group stopped and took care of the Nobodies.
"Why won't these things give up?" Hikari asked.
When they finished them off, they ran towards Leon and the others.
Hikari spotted Mikomi.
"Mikomi! We just saw Sephiroth!" she cried.
"I think he was going after Cloud!"
Mikomi paled and ran towards the Ravine for her brother.
Leon looked at his sister and her friends.
"The King's in the bailey" he said.
"You better get over there!"
"Got it!" Hikari cried.
Leon quickly ran after his friends to help them fend off the heartless.
The others ran towards the bailey and saw the damage the heartless did to the place.
One of the walls that protected the town was destroyed and revealed the ravines.
The group went closer to the damaged wall and saw the open area.
"Whoa" Sora said.
"How could something like this happen?" Hikari asked.
/
Off in the ravine, an army of heartless closed in on Hollow Bastion. There were so many of them, that they looked like a sea of black from a bird's eye point of view.
/
Yuffie and Aerith teamed up as they fought the heartless. Yuffie would fight while Aerith would heal her friend up.
Stitch, the alien fired off his Plasma guns and jumped all over the place. Every now and then, he would shot something in alien.
Yuna, Rikku and Paine teamed up and shoved the heartless off a cliff. They really couldn't do a lot due to their size, but at least they helped.
As for Leon and Cloud, the two friends stood back to back at the ravine trail with heartless surrounding them.
Leon just smirked as he held up his gun blade.
"Think you can handle this many?" he asked.
Cloud shrugged.
"Well…might be tough if one more shows up" he joked.
Leon snorted.
"Then that'll have to be the one that I take care of" he said.
Cloud just looked at him.
"What? You're fighting too?" he said sarcastically.
The two warriors didn't say anything for a moment, then suddenly flew off to different ends of the ravine and hacked away at the heartless.
Cloud managed to get through his group and headed towards an opening of the trail.
He gripped his sword when he saw surrounded by heartless.
He was about to attack, but the heartless were destroyed for him.
Cloud paled when he saw Sephiroth standing before him.
"Sephiroth!"
Sephiroth just smirked at him.
"I understand that you've been looking for me" he said.
Cloud glared at him and gripped his sword tightly.
"Yeah" he said.
"Once I get rid of you, the darkness will go away"
Sephiroth tilted his head.
"Can you do it?" he asked.
"That darkness come from your own dark memories. Do you think you can erase your past?"
Cloud growled.
"You don't know me!" he cried.
"Cloud!"
Cloud paled.
That was Tifa's voice.
He went to turn to her, but the light from her heart blinded him.
Sephiroth smirked darkly.
"I know, because I am you" he said.
"You flee from the present because the light is too strong for you"
Cloud didn't know what to say. He didn't want to believe that was true, but part of him was telling him that it was.
"Ni-san!"
Cloud's blood ran cold when he heard Mikomi's voice. He didn't want her to get involved with this.
Sephiroth laughed darkly.
"So your sister is still alive" he said.
"I guess I must have went easy on her when I slayed her last time"
He held up his long sword.
"Perhaps I should fix that"
Cloud panicked.
Even though he was acting distant towards his sister lately, there was no way that he would allow this monster to destroy the only family he had left.
He promised her that he would spend more time with her, but he couldn't with Sephiroth around.
He did the only thing that would keep his sister safe.
He ran.
Since Sephiroth was the darkness in his heart, that meant he would follow him wherever he went.
Sephiroth just smirked.
"Such a loyal brother" he muttered.
"He would rather suffer than see some random brat get killed"
He disappeared in a ball of light.
Tifa and Mikomi ran up to where Cloud was and saw him run off.
"Cloud!" Tifa cried.
"Wait!" Mikomi added.
They were about to run after him, but they were stopped by the heartless.
The two women teamed up and got rid of the heartless.
Tifa grabbed Mikomi's hand and ran towards where Cloud fled.
/
Sora and Hikari just couldn't stand it anymore and ran towards the Ravine.
Their friends needed their help and they were going to give it to them.
Just as they were about to reach the bottom, King Mickey appeared and stood in front of them.
"Okay fella!" he said.
"You go find Riku, Taiyouko and Kairi"
Hikari looked at the King's back.
Did he really think that was important right now.
"But Ni-san and the others need our help!" she said.
"Don't worry. There's already lots of help here" Mickey said.
"We'll take care of this fight"
"But we promise Leon" Sora said.
"Donald! Goofy!" Mickey said.
"Take Sora and Hikari and get out of here"
Donald and Goofy looked at their friends. They looked so torn. They wanted to help their friends out more than anything.
They both looked at each other and nodded.
"Your Majesty" Donald said.
"We understand" Goofy said.
"We'll go look for Riku and Kairi"
Sora and Hikari looked at them in disbelief.
Were they really going to follow their king's orders when their friends were in danger?
Donald gave them a look.
"Now you two, do as you're told" he said.
"You're coming with us whether you like it or not!" Goofy added.
They gave them a wink, showing that they needed to play along.
The keyblade master's smiled.
"Gotcha" Sora said.
"I guess we have no choice" Hikari added.
"Well then, skedaddle!" Goofy said.
Sora and Hikari mouthed 'thank you' to them before they looked at Mickey.
"Let's go!" Donald cried.
They ran past Mickey and headed down towards the Ravine.
Mickey was speechless and looked at them in utter shock.
"We're sorry, your Majesty" Sora said.
"Hope you can forgive us!" Goof said.
Mickey just watched as they ran off and smiled sadly.
/
"Hang on, Ni-san! We're coming!" Hikari cried.
They were just about to enter the ravine when a portal opened up in front of them.
Everyone skidded to a stop when they saw Demyx.
The nobody made a face when he saw how was in front of them and quickly plastered on a smile.
"Hey, you guys are looking lively" he said.
Everyone just pulled out their weapons in response.
"Didn't we catch you messing around in the Underworld?" Sora asked.
"How's a wimp like you get into Organization Xlll?" Hikari added.
"I bet you can't even fight"
Demyx glared at them.
"You shouldn't judge anyone by appearance" he said.
He jumped when they aimed their weapons at him.
"I told them they were sending the wrong guy…" he muttered to himself.
Everyone just stared at him.
"Who is this kook?" Sora asked.
"Remember, the Organization's made up of Nobodies" Goofy said.
"Right-no hearts" Hikari said.
Demyx faced them.
"Oh, we do have hearts" he said.
"Don't be mad…"
"You can't trick us!' Donald said.
Demyx sighed in annoyance and pointed at Sora and Hikari.
"Silence, traitors"
That threw the keyblade master's off.
"When did we ever betray you?" Hikari asked.
"We don't even know you"
Demyx summoned up his Sitar and created water clones of himself.
"Still not going to fight your own battles, huh?" Hikari asked.
Sora grabbed the nearest clone and used it as a whip to get rid of the other clones.
Demyx yelped and used his water to try to attack them.
Hikari used a fire spell to evaporate the water away.
"Is that the best you can do?" she asked.
"And I thought the Organization was to be feared"
Demyx just glared at them.
"Don't take me so lightly!" he cried.
He continued creating his water clones while he stayed back.
"I don't think so!" Sora cried.
Hikari destroyed the clones while Sora landed the finishing blow to Demyx.
The nobody let out a strangled cry as he vanished into dark water droplets.
Sora looked around the area.
"Anyone from the Organization who'd like to go next?" he called out.
Hikari hit him in the head.
"Don't antagonize them, you idiot" she said.
Sora laughed nervously.
"Sorry"
"Ah ha! So there you are"
Everyone turned around to see Mickey had followed them.
He looked angry as he walked over towards them.
Everyone hung their heads sadly, knowing they were about to get a lecture.
Mickey looked at them for a moment, before his features softened.
"You sure have lots of friends to help out" he said.
Everyone smiled, knowing that the king was going to let them go.
"So, we better all pull together and finish this battle for good!"
Everyone saluted their king.
"Yes, Your Majesty" they said.
Mickey nodded and started to lead the way.
Little did he know that one of the fights from above caused debris to fall towards them.
Goofy saw a rock headed towards the king and quickly pushed him out of the way.
"Look out!"
He got hit in the head with it and skidded across the ground.
"GOFFY!" Hikari screamed.
Everyone ran up to their fallen friend and saw that he wasn't moving.
Mickey was absolutely stunned by what happened.
"No…"
Hikari had tears in her eyes as she saw her closest friend out cold.
"Goofy" she chocked.
"This is not happening…it can't be happening…" Sora said in a shaky voice.
Donald started bawling on Goofy's chest.
Mickey clenched his fist tightly and looked towards the ravine.
"They're gonna pay" he said.
He ripped off his cloak to reveal his regular outfit and summoned his keyblade before running off.
Donald let out a frustrated cry and ran after the king with Sora following.
Hikari looked at them for a moment, then back at Goofy.
"I'm sorry, Goofy" she said.
She got up and ran after everyone.
/
Everyone got separated as they went up the ravine trail.
Hikari had her keyblade out as she ran.
"Hang on everyone!"
She skidded to a stop when heartless blocked her path.
Hikari gulped as she aimed her keyblade at them.
She never really fought with a bunch of heartless on her own, but she didn't have time to complain.
Just then, Yuffie jumped from above and held her giant ninja star out.
"I can help!" she cried.
Hikari smiled and teamed up with Yuffie to get rid of the heartless.
"No you don't!" Yuffie cried as she zipped through them.
When they got rid of them, Yuffie pushed her along.
"Get going!" she said.
Hikari ran off and continued on.
She was still upset that she left Goofy behind, but there was nothing that she could do now.
"Goofy" she said.
As she was running, she tripped on a lose piece of rock and skidded across the ground.
Hikari gasped when she saw Heartless about to jump her, but they were slashed away by Leon's Gunblade.
"Keep your hands off her!" he growled.
Hikari quickly got up and helped her brother get rid of the heartless.
When more started to show, Leon pushed her forward.
"Go!" he cried.
Hikari nodded and continued running.
When she made it towards one of the openings of the trail, heartless appeared.
Tifa ran up to her and got into a fighting stance.
"I'll help" she said.
Even though she didn't look it, Tifa was really strong as was able to lift up the tougher heartless before spiking them down.
When the path was cleared, Tifa pushed her along.
"Hurry! Go on ahead!"
Hikari continued to run.
"I hope the others are ok"
She was stopped yet again by another group of heartless, only this time Mikomi came to help.
"Let's get this party started!"
Hikari watched as Mikomi slashed through the heartless with her samurai sword.
The ninja was lighting fast and hacked through her enemy as if they were butter.
When the path was cleared, she gave Hikari a thumbs up.
"Go get 'em tiger!"
Hikari ran towards the crystal cave that was at the end of the ravine.
"Almost there!"
She was stopped yet again by the heartless.
"Not again!"
Cloud dove from the ledge above and slammed his sword into a heartless.
"Hikari" he said.
He held get rid of the tougher heartless using that giant sword of his.
When heartless were gone, Cloud jumped high and headed towards where the others were.
Hikari quickly ran into the cave before the heartless decided to show up.
/
Sora and the others were already there when she entered it.
They looked relieved when they saw she was alright.
"Are you okay?" Mickey asked.
Hikari nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but…"
Everyone sadly looked at the ground, knowing Goofy wasn't with them.
"Hey, fella!"
Everyone gasped when they saw Goofy running towards them.
"Goofy!" they cried.
Hikari had tears in her eyes as she ran up to him and hugged him tightly.
Goofy rubbed his head when she let go.
"Ya know. That really hurt" he said.
Mickey hugged Goofy as well.
"Aw, Goofy" he said.
Goofy chuckled.
"Gawrsh, your Majesty, I get bumped on the head all the time" he said.
Donald went up to him and bashed him with his staff.
"Don't you ever do that again!" he cried.
Everyone basked in this moment before they looked at the opening of the cave.
The danger was still not over yet.
They still had a job to finish.
/
As they reached the ravine, they saw the whole place was surrounded by heartless.
That was scary in itself, but what threw them all off was that just stood there.
"What's wrong with them?" Sora asked.
Goofy pointed up towards the cliffs.
"Hey!"
A portal opened up to reveal an Organization member.
The man pulled his hood back to reveal to be Xemnas.
Hikari couldn't see his face clearly because of how far he was, but she could make out his silver hair.
"It's the guy who's NOT Ansem" Donald cried.
"You mean it's his nobody" Goofy said.
"The leader of Organization Xlll" Sora said.
Mickey gasped when he saw him.
"Wait a minute! Now I know"
/
Mickey stood before Ansem the Wise in his study.
"Wise Ansem. I'm here to seek your advice"
Ansem the Wise sat behind his desk while eating some ice cream.
"I'm glad we have the opportunity to speak like this, my friend" he said.
"I'm intrigued by your hypothesis…and I'm finding it difficult to stave off the urge to test it. Still, I'm concerned about the stability of the worlds"
Mickey looked at him sadly.
"Yep, that's what worries me too" he said.
"The doors that appeared" Ansem said.
"The place the heartless seek. I fear my research may have brought this upon us…"
Just then, a knock at the door startled them.
A man wearing lab coat entered the room and bowed to them.
"Master Ansem" he said.
"Regarding the experiment I presented the other day…with your permission, I'd like to proceed"
Ansem stood up from his seat.
"I forbid it!" he cried.
"Forget this talk of doors, and the heart of all worlds. That place must not be defiled"
The apprentice looked surprised.
"But Master Ansem" he said.
"I've been thinking…"
Ansem just shook his head.
"Xehanort…those thoughts are best left forgotten" he said.
Xehanort was about to protest, but admitted defeat and bowed to his master.
When he stood up properly, his eyes landed on Mickey.
The king wouldn't encounter this man again until he plunged to worlds in darkness and brought ruin to everyone.
/
"Now I remember!" Mickey cried.
"Xehanort! Ansem's apprentice. The leader of Organization Xlll is Xehanort's nobody"
Xemnas seemed to smile darkly at them, as if he heard everything.
Mickey pulled out his keyblade and ran towards where Xemnas was.
"Let's go!" Sora cried.
They were about to follow the king, but they were blocked by the heartless.
"Movie it!" Hikari cried.
"We can't let Xehanort get away!" Donald shouted.
Sora and Hikari looked at their comrades and saw them give thumbs up before running off.
They did the same and ran off in the opposite directions to defeat the heartless.
/
Thousands of heartless surrounded Hikari as she got separated from her friends.
"I don't have time for the likes of you!" she cried.
She charged at the heartless and hacked away at them.
She lost count of how many she defeated, but she knew she was over the double digit number.
She used her magic to make things go quicker and zapped at the heartless.
"Don't mess with a sorceress of light!" she cried.
When got rid of nearly a thousand heartless, she did a victory cheer.
"I did it!"
However, that was short lived since she suddenly coughed up the black substance again. It wasn't as much as when she did it the first time, but it was enough to make her spit out across the ground.
Hikari gripped her heart as she wiped the sludge away.
"That can't be good" she said.
She didn't mull it over since her friends were waiting for her, so she ran off to catch up with everyone.
/
Everyone caught up with each other when they got rid of the heartless.
Sora looked around.
"Where's the king?" he asked.
They looked up ahead to see him slaying a heartless.
"There he is!" Donald cried.
They quickly ran after him as he closed in on Xemnas.
They didn't realize that they were in for a rude awakening just then.
/
A/N: And there you have it! Next chapter, Hikari's life spins for the worst. Just what will Xemnas say that will make her heart shatter?
You'll have to review to find out!
Ja ne!