Chapter 2: The Gate

While walking towards the adjacent street, Sora's mind wandered back to the events that caused this chaos in the first place.

-X-

Heartless had been spotted all over campus. They weren't much of a threat until a new breed of enemy showed its face; the authorities classified them as demons.

Speaking of the authorities, they had called Sora and his friends to Headquarters to discuss this dilemma.

"Sora—we don't know how the Heartless are getting past our Light Barrier, but we need your expertise in vanquishing them! The citizens of Square Enix will thank you once this boils over!"

"Heh," Sora grunted, smiling wide enough for the whole council to see. "Say no more—those Heartless are as good as toast."

Riku, Mickey, and Kairi were also in attendance. The silver-haired teenager had asked, "What about the others? Shouldn't Terra, Aqua, or Ventus be concerned about this, too?"

The councilman, perpetually adorned in expensive samurai armor, explained, "Terra and Aqua are off on vacation in another world. As for Ven, he has returned to sleeping in the Chamber of Waking, and he won't be lucid until Kingdom Hearts III comes out." (1)

Mickey asked, "Okay—but what about those other monsters? They're clearly not from this world. Ya have any idea where they're coming from?"

The councilman reported, "Yes, those things. We've identified them as demons from Dante's world. Sora, do you remember your encounter with Dante, the Legendary Devil Hunter?"

Nodding, Sora vividly remembered his first and second fights with Dante. He answered, "Yeah."

"We've tried contacting his shop, but no one appears to be home, so we're sending one of you to go find Dante and bring him back here."

Sora lamented, "Aw, do we really need his help? Feels like we can handle this one on our own."

Kairi put in her two cents, "Yeah, I vote we keep Dante out of this."

The councilman shook his head. "We have no idea how far these demons have infiltrated our world. It wouldn't hurt to have specialized personnel assisting with this mission. King Mickey, you're the only one here authorized to leave our world, so we'll be sending you."

Perking up, Mickey saluted before saying, "Right away, Matsuda!"

"Look for a shop called 'Devil May Cry'."

As Mickey left the luxurious office in search of his Gummi ship, Kairi asked, "So what do you want us to do?"

The armor-clad councilman replied, "You three will help battle the new menace as well as the Heartless. But before you go, we'll need to discuss every reported location in which our citizens have encountered the enemies."

However, just as the councilman started his Power Point, alarms went off in the building.

-X-

As they approached the commotion in the adjacent street, Nero also dwelled upon the events that led up to this city-wide carnage.

-X-

Nero stared out the window of their sedan's windshield. Once again in outer space? He'd only ever been outside his world twice before, and seeing the endless stretch always left an impression on him.

Thanks to the fact that they didn't own a spaceship, Dante and Nero needed to utilize a procedurally generated holographic road for interstellar travel. Damn thing wasn't cheap, either.

Dante didn't seem too concerned about the sights of interstellar travel, for he sat reading a magazine in the sedan's passenger seat. Nero, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of the ocean of stars.

He shouted, "Oh, baby! This is unreal! It's like I could drive forever out here!"

"No kiddin'," said his moderately impressed passenger. "But be careful—we don't wanna run outta juice in that Astral Road thing. I ain't planning on being stranded in outer space."

In his usual uncaring tone, Nero replied, "Tch, yeah. That would suck ass."

Dante asked, "Hey, how far away are we?"

"That Keyblade kid's world is twenty minutes away, but I bet I could make it there in under fifteen," Nero bid.

Turning the page in his magazine, Dante muttered, "Well, let me know if you see something in our way."

"Man," Nero complained, "we really need to hire a driver for stuff like this."

Lo and behold, Nero was able to drive them there in less than fourteen minutes. Entering Square Enix's atmosphere, he guided the sedan downward to a tall building in the middle of downtown. He said, "I figured we should start at their HQ. Might be a good idea to let them know we're here. Prob'ly for the best."

Dante seconded, "Damn straight, it's for the best. How else are we gonna get paid?"

As Nero circled downward to one of the tower's four landing pads, the sound of an alarm filled their ears. Upon closer inspection, they could see red lights flashing all around the landing pad.

Sheepishly, Nero said, "Whoops. Guess I tripped a few alarms. Best to stay calm."

After they parked the car in an empty spot, Dante grabbed his sword from the backseat and volunteered, "Just let me handle this."

Swinging open the car's doors, they disembarked onto the landing pad, where security guards dressed in all black soon met them, pointing guns at the duo. One of the security guards shrieked, "You are not authorized to land here! Drop your weapons and put your hands on your head!"

Sighing, Dante placed his sword on his back and addressed them, "Relax, super-cops. We're here for the demons."

One of the security guards seemed to recognize the demon hunter. Muttering, he said, "Wait…isn't that Dante?"

Suddenly the councilman emerged from the twin doors of his office, followed by Sora, Kairi, and Riku. Aggravated, the councilman commanded, "All of you—put your guns down! Can't you see who that is?"

Beaming, Sora greeted, "Hey, Dante!"

"Nice to see you still alive," Dante returned the greeting.

"Likewise. Hey…did ya see King Mickey?"

"Uh…who?"

Riku also noticed he was gone, adding, "The king was supposed to go looking for you at your world. How come you're here already?"

Nero interjected, "What, are you kiddin'? You guys called us!"

Matsuda, the councilman, asked, "WHO called you? We tried calling multiple times, but you never answered."

"That's odd." Dante sensed something afoul. "Trish and Lady should've been back at the shop by now."

Nero explained, "Earlier, we got a call from someone named Xehanort. Said demons were attacking your world. He sent us videos and everything."

Riku groaned, "Oh…great!"

Sora asked, "Wait, which Xehanort? Did he sound like a young guy, an old man, or someone possessing someone else's body?"

"He was definitely an old man," Nero answered.

Riku clenched his fist. "I knew old man Xehanort had something to do with this!"

"If he did," Sora began, "then why did he call Dante?"

Matsuda declared, "We'll get to the bottom of this eventually. First, you should split into two groups. Sora, Nero—why don't the two of you go defend the eastern side? The rest should go look for Xehanort."

Nodding, Sora said, "C'mon, Nero! Let's take my Gummi ship!"

"Your what ship?" Regardless, Nero grabbed his sword and followed Sora to his Highwind.

Meanwhile, Dante crossed his arms and greeted, "Nice to see you again, Your Highness."

Kairi frowned. "Dante."

Riku spoke up, "Great to finally meet you, Mister Dante. Sora's told me a lot about you."

"Right, you must be Donald Duck." Dante didn't even blink.

"Uh…" Riku whirled around to see Nero and Sora boarding the ship. He yelled at the spiky haired boy, "Seriously, Sora?! You didn't tell Dante the Demon Hunter about me?!"

"Sorry—can't hear ya!"

Dante addressed Kairi, "So. Got your own Keyblade, now?"

"Yep." She remained short with her words.

"Eloquent. How 'bout style?"

"Got that, too."

"Good. Last, but not least, bullet-time?"

"...What?"

Dante drew an invisible pistol, pulling its nonexistent trigger at point blank. Kairi's flinch-level, however, was minimal.

The devil hunter shrugged. "Hmph, you'll get there."

Matsuda addressed them, "Let's head inside my office. I have a PowerPoint presentation prepared—"

Suddenly, a couple of loud crashes erupted from the tower's base, shaking the entire edifice. Peering over the edge, they saw a pair of burly fiends, the Behemoth Heartless and Behemoth Demon, repeatedly ramming their spiked heads into the building's base.

"That's not good!" yelled Matsuda. "Everyone, into a vessel!"

More trouble was on the way; a dragon-like Storm Rider Heartless was zooming in straight for them, daring to crash into the whole landing pad.

Sora and Nero had already taken off in the Gummi ship and were forced to circle around to battle the dragon Heartless. Matsuda had been tackled to safety by one of the guards, and while the others fired their pistols at the approaching Heartless, Riku had yelled, "Yeah, when you run outta ammo, DUCK!"

"Look out, Donald!" Dante shouted.

The Storm Rider swooped down and pushed Riku and most of the guards over the edge, forcing them to face a twenty-five-story fall. Meanwhile, Kairi had tried absorbing the impact with her Keyblade, now finding herself sliding backward off the landing pad. Eventually, the flying Emblem fiend pitched upwards, taking the Highwind head-on.

Dante, who had been just out of reach, let out a sigh of relief. The car didn't get destroyed. Turning to Matsuda, he said, "Okay, let's talk prices."

Matsuda replied behind his samurai armor, "You're going to have to save them, Dante. Those security drones are only programmed to save S.E. Staff, which DOES include themselves but not either Riku nor Kairi."

"What a pain. Guess this officially means I'm workin' for free."

He dove after them, watching the countless guards rappel themselves to safety sans any Keyblade wielders. Then, angling his body, he first caught up to Riku and took him under his arm, doing the same for Kairi.

Utilizing his Air Trick technique, he broke their trajectory by dashing backwards through a window of the tower. They shattered the glass, landing in a heap amid someone's abandoned office space.

Struggling back to his feet, Riku groaned and said, "Thanks, Dante."

"Yeah," Kairi added, then looking out the window.

Sora's Gummi ship could be seen smoking before it crash-landed somewhere by the dormitory.

"Oh, no—Sora!" she yelled.

Riku commanded, "We have to make sure they're okay!" Drawing his Gummi phone, he dialed Sora's number but immediately received a busy signal. "He must be fighting—at least we know he's alive."

"We should go find him," Kairi elected.

"Right behind ya," said Dante.

The trio made their way to the elevator, taking a ride down to the first floor. Exiting the building, they were amazed to see Heartless and demons of many different breeds rioting in the streets.

Summoning his Braveheart Keyblade, Riku stated, "It's time to go to work."

Staring at something structured in the middle of the street, Dante uttered, "What the hell…?"

Seeing the same rectangular block standing upright, Kairi asked, "Is that some kind of monolith?"

"No—that's a Hellgate!" Dante informed. "So that's where these demons are coming from…"

"Funny," Kairi observed. "It wasn't there before."

Getting into his battle stance, Riku declared, "Doesn't matter—now we know where to send them back!"

Shaking his head, Dante said, "It's no use, kid. The more we kill, the more will spawn here. Only Nero's sword, Yamato, can seal a Hellgate."

Kairi gleaned, "So, we need to find Sora and Nero, fast!"

Nodding, Dante led the way through the street, running right past the attacking demons and Heartless while shooting any that got too close. Riku and Kairi followed suit.

Whilst running to safety, Riku pondered out loud, "So that explains where the demons are coming from—but what about the Heartless?"

"Never mind that, Riku," Kairi said. "Call Sora again."

"Good idea." Whipping out his Gummi phone, Riku dialed Sora's number, and soon, saw his distressed face in the camera feed.

"Riku, are you okay?" Sora asked with Nero and a badly damaged Highwind in the background.

"Yeah, I'm with Kairi and Dante. And I was just about to ask you the same thing."

"That Heartless dragon shot down my ship, but we managed to land in the field behind the dorm. There are Heartless and demons everywhere now—it wasn't like this earlier today."

Suddenly, a glowing red demonic barrier sealed Dante, Riku, and Kairi inside an empty part of town. Recognizing that barrier, Nero told them through the phone, "Careful—you guys have to fight your way outta there!"

Twirling his sword, Dante replied, "We know the drill."

Drawing the Destiny's Embrace, Kairi said, "Speak for yourself."

Before ending the call, Riku told Sora, "Meet us halfway between Headquarters and the dorm! Watch yourselves!"

-X-

Mickey had arrived at Dante's office. Standing outside in the daylight, he pondered his approach. Should he scream bloody murder? Should he start drinking? Should he go homeless for one more hit of the good stuff? Ever since Minnie started her book club a few D-I-Ys ago, he felt the need to go hang gliding. If only he owned a pair of Fortnite-themed chimichangas.

The future was bleak; no longer did Mickey support the use of cigarettes in shampoo commercials. He remembered the first time he started gambling. He spent all the earnings on Russian hand grenades, circa whenever they made them.

Mickey thought about the something times something happened and threw away his half empty can of Red Bull. "Yeah, that stuff's no good for me."

Just then, two women arrived on the scene, strolling down the street and stopping in front of Devil May Cry. One of them, a woman with short black hair, took notice of the anthropomorphic mouse standing across the street. She lightly elbowed her blonde friend, saying, "Check out the circus freak."

Slightly unnerved, Mickey called out to them, "Is Dante home? My friends and I sort of need his help."

Unlocking the door, the blonde woman, Trish, replied, "He left a while ago. Didn't say where."

Mickey tried, "Do ya think he might come back soon?"

The black-haired woman, Lady, asked, "Is there something wrong with your voice?"

By now, that type of question rolled off Mickey's back. "No…that's just how I speak."

Trish beckoned him, "Why not come inside...if you gotta job for us?"

Perking up, Mickey smiled and said, "Sure-do! It's about a demon invasion in another world!"

"Demon invasion~," Lady chanted. "That's all you had to say."