Chapter 5: Research Purposes

"Hey, Herc. Remember when you were down and out, and then you jumped in after Meg to save her? Well…I lost a lot of my power recently, too. And I just wanna know…what's holding me back?"

"What's holding you back…?" Herc thought about it. "Well, when I jumped in after Meg, I guess I finally saw myself as my greatest obstacle. All I know is that I didn't want to live for anyone else but her."

Sora let his naïveté show, "You didn't already know that?"

Herc gave a sheepish grin. "Even the strongest of men don't start off fully knowing themselves."

Donald then noticed a meteoric invasion of Flame Cores, and he screamed, "Heartless!"

Sora summoned his trusty Kingdom Key, ready to engage them the old fashioned way.

-X-

Olette smirked and replied, "I don't know—we caught up again yesterday. He needed help setting up his accounts, so I helped him."

"Accountssss?" Hayner repeated. "You follow him on other apps, too?"

With effective snark, Olette shot back, "Listen to you, sounding jealous!"

Pence echoed, "Yeah, you do sound super jealous, amigo."

Hayner displayed his quick thinking, "Yeah—jealous of who, though? That means you ran into him yesterday and didn't bother sharing his info with us!"

Pence continued instigating, "Yeah, what gives? You tryna hog him all to yourself?"

Olette scoffed at the two boys' faces peering intrusively from her group call. "Do you even know what you two sound like?"

Hayner readied his attack, "Hey, we're just trying to keep the ole guy safe from your casual trash talk! Wouldn't want him going postal from hearing you tell him to 'go get a job' or 'be a real man' or whatever—"

"Yeah, whatever—that stuff's none of my concern, anyway!" Olette asserted over Pence's laughter. "And hey—would you look at the time? I've gotta get some sleep—bye~."

-X-

"I don't admire one guy leaping into danger if it means someone else might have to jump in to save him. You're all just lining up to lose out. Dooming others to take the fall with ya. But something tells me you're countin' on that very scenario, aren't ya?"

Sora found that statement preposterous. "Whaddya mean—?"

"All that power, just slowly building up inside," Xigbar cut him off. "We see it in you. You probably don't understand it just yet. Maybe you're scared of it. But know this: your little trump card of connected hearts might just turn out to backfire."

Hercules had no idea what was being discussed, but Donald, Goofy, and Sora all looked apprehensive at whatever Xigbar might've known.

Pointing at Sora, the Freeshooter encouraged him, "But don't change for our sake, kiddo. If you find power, use it. Don't hesitate to be the leader you know you are." Smiling with ill intent, he turned and walked in the other direction, adding, "Just remember to leave us a nice little trail of breadcrumbs, little big man. After all, the fate of the leader's gonna have some effect on his followers, that's for sure. Truly, we'd get lost without you, Sora."

Staring in awe as Xigbar laughed and disappeared through a portal, Sora repeated, "Followers…?"

-X-

Two days had passed within the training grounds, and Kairi was still acclimating to the delay between her messages and those from the outside world. She noticed it took between three and fours hours for the messages to even send, and then another few hours to get a reply. Riku had taken a full seven and a half hours to reply with just a thumbs up emoji; Selphie replied after just six; Olette was still shown to be typing after five; and Sora had yet to respond in the span of a day and a half.

The socially strained princess sighed, then saying, "He'd better be busy." Closing her phone, she got up and joined Axel for their morning warmup.

-X-

"He said something about not wanting to live for anyone else but her… Would showing that really help me get the power I need?"

Goofy surmised, "That's gotta be the key!"

Donald added, "You've gotta be brave like Herc!"

Yen Sid pointed out, "I would say the trial Hercules faced was catered to his own endeavor to self-improve. It seems you will have to go through something quite unique, Sora."

"So what's holding me back?" he asked, standing a bit stiff.

"Perhaps it is not a matter of something holding you back, but rather a need for more mental training."

Sora took a steady breath before agreeing to that statement, "I guess I could use…that."

Yen Sid continued, "You need not fret your circumstances, Sora. Magic happens when you're in need."

There was a knock at the door behind the trio.

"We're back, Master!"

-X-

The old schemer rose up to the highest rock pillar, then awaiting the arrival his cohorts and future vessels. He looked inward, sensing the impending doom still in the same stage as before: just mildly threatening, yet certain to increase in severity.

Xigbar, Saïx, Marluxia, Vanitas, and Young Xehanort appeared on pillars of their own.

"Greetings, fellow seekers of darkness." Getting straight to the point, Xehanort explained, "You should all know that Sora has once again earned his place among our ranks."

Xigbar crossed his arms and chuckled. Meanwhile, Saïx and Marluxia took that statement seriously, deeply focused on the master's next elaboration. The same went for Young Xehanort, who seemed more amused than shocked, and Vanitas, however, simply responded with, "Who's that, again?"

Master Xehanort continued, "It is Sora who holds the power of Kingdom Hearts deep within himself."

Vanitas reacted, "He holds WHAT?"

The younger incarnation of Xehanort commanded, "Settle down. Sora is but a pawn, and will be a pawn until the very end."

The old master agreed, "While that is true, we must still recognize what has been mysteriously bequeathed upon him. Though it is weak, it shall soon develop into the greatest power in the known universe, and because of this fact alone, Sora has naturally traded himself back to the winning team."

Finally recalling something important, Vanitas stopped and exclaimed, "You mean the 'thirteenth vessel', don't you? Heh… First the guy steals my face, and now my Kingdom Hearts."

Young Xehanort amended, "Technically, you stole his face."

"Whatever—so, how do you wanna handle this? I'm guessing he ain't in the mood to come quietly."

Taking a deep breath, Master Xehanort smirked and said, "Due to recent revelations, I strongly believe he will voluntarily align himself with our cause. There may be some required involvement on our end, but even so…his fate is bound to the darkness."

Marluxia asked, "And what of this 'required involvement'?"

Chuckling once, the old master told the scythe-wielder, "The same plan as always. We attack his heart directly."

-X-

"So…there might be a way to save both Roxas and Naminé?"

Ienzo answered, "It stands to reason, given they've reached a coexistence within you and Kairi, respectively. Perhaps more research is needed on my end, but I would remain hopeful." Nodding, the heart scholar concluded the call, "I'll keep in touch."

Then seeing a notification pop up on Sora's phone, Goofy pointed out, "Looks like Chip and Dale sent ya a message."

Sora also noticed while checking, "Oh—and Kairi sent me a message an hour ago!" His eyes got shifty.

"Well?" Donald urged.

"Well—can I read it to myself, first?"

Complete with complaining, Donald and Goofy acquiesced to that request, and Sora silently read the message from Kairi:

You should hang out with Olette again!

-X-

Riku surmised, "He's with the Organization? Sora should know about this."

Mickey agreed, "And Merlin, too!"

"Yeah…so, that means Terra can't save her, and who knows where her other friend is."

The mouse king vouched, "We can't give up hope. There's always a way to restore what's lost."

"You're right—" Ding. He just received a notification. "Oh, it's Kairi. Uh…she wants me to bring her…wait, what the heck are essential oils?"

"Did…you just say oils—?"

"Yeah, that's what it says…"

Mickey racked his brain. "Pretty sure that's like…aroma therapy, or something…?"

Riku shrugged. "I mean, I guess we could. I'm sure someone sells it around here."

Mickey shrugged, too. "Hm…ah, why not? We gotta go tell Merlin about Terra, anyway. Good thing his house is pretty close-by, eh?"

-X-

Axel blocked and countered with a Quick Blitz, clashing hard enough to send Kairi sliding back, and when she knelt in momentary defeat, he asked, "Need me to take it easier?"

"No, I think I just need a haircut," she said. "Half the time, I can't see."

Axel chuckled and said, "Might help. Maybe try tying it back until then?"

"Hold on." Using her bracelet, she managed a quick tie-job and resumed, "Much better."

Axel's eyes widened, but he quickly shook his head, regaining his focus. "Sure. I'm still gonna win, though."

However, just as they resumed the fight, one of their phones beeped, and they both glanced at where they left them. Seeing which phone's screen was lit up, Axel stated, "I think it's yours."

"Oh."

She went over and picked it up, noticing it was from Sora. She read the message internally, You mean you want us to fool around again?

After a giggle, Kairi typed back, Yeah. Think you could record it and send it to me? Just to keep me busy when I'm not training, and then, a few praying-hands emojis.

"Gotta say," Axel started. "I'm startin' to hate how popular you are."

"What? It's just Sora," she unintentionally bragged.

"Hm. 'Just Sora', huh?"

"We keep in touch. Nothing wrong with that!"

"Hm. 'Keep in touch', huh?"

"Oh, shut up, Lea!"

"I'll shut up if you win." Indeed, Axel sounded as if he were making a bargain.

However, Kairi stated, "I don't believe you."

"No, really. If you can beat me, I'll stop cracking jokes until tomorrow evening."

"…You're on."

Eventually, they restarted their sparring session, ending with Axel using a Fire Raid before a Sliding Dash, followed by an Aerial Slam after a six-hit combo to take home the win. Relieved, he said, "Whew."

Seeing that the sun was going down, it appeared that their day of training had come to a close, and as they walked back to the cottage, Kairi decided to text Sora again, saying, Also, make sure the lighting is good. I don't want to wait a whole week for a bad video, plus the tongue-sticking-out emoji.

Axel recalled, "I think Merlin left us some ice cream. Wanna kill a few?"

Thinking hard on it, Kairi answered, "Couldn't hurt."

"Speaking of hurt—I didn't rock you too hard, did I?"

"You tried—but, no I'm okay."

Nodding, Axel said, "Good. You know we don't heal like normal in this world, so don't be afraid to break out a Potion or two."

Kairi blinked. "Oh. Wait, really?"

An eyebrow raised, Axel confirmed, "Yeah, really. Remember Merlin's spiel about the unnatural flow of time here? We gotta stay on top of owies and booboos, or else!"

Chuckling nervously, the shorter redhead stated, "I definitely missed that part. So…say I catch a cold. Do I stay sick until I take medicine, or can it still go away on its own?"

Pondering hard on that mental puzzle, the chakram user replied, "I'm pretty sure you'd need a little cold medicine to speed up the process, otherwise, it ain't goin' nowhere. Same thing if you get a scrape on your knee. Just spritz a little Potion, and forget all about it."

"Oh, okay. Oh, wow—so, even if you catch, like, a parasite, too? It would just stay with you until you forced it out?"

Highly disturbed, Axel admitted, "Wouldn't know. I've never had one. You, uh…you don't have a parasite, do you—?"

"Oh, no, of course, not. Just using my imagination."

"Well, stop it. You're freaking me out."