Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories

Chapter 16: Castle Oblivion part XVI

As Sora and her friends continued to train, the group never once saw any member of the Organization. It seeming that, for the time being, they were letting the four do as they wanted. This allowed them to take some time to learn from each other, as well as from the memories of Phil and Hercules. During all this though, they all shared stories and tales of their adventures. Despite Sora not remembering certain ones, she felt a familiarity when Donald and Goofy described them.

But as they were deciding to finally take their leave, the brown-haired teen declared to have one last competition against Hercules. Of which she had also done the moment they arrived to begin their training. While it was a simple arm wrestling contest, it was something Sora appeared to be very determined about. 'The first time...he only used a pinky finger's worth of strength. Lets see if I can make him use more than that.' she thought to herself, to which she and Hercules placed their elbows on a stone platform and grasped each other's hands.

In the moments before they began however, the other three quickly moved away and behind a wall. Once the pair's muscle's flexed to start their contest of strength, the area around the two practically became a tornado of wind. Sora having a massive aura of darkness that swirled around her, pushing every last bit of her power into raw strength. Meanwhile, Hercules's arm muscles bulged slightly as he was still not using all that much power to keep her at bay. "Come on..." the girl hissed out between her clenching teeth.

Tightly grasping the large man's hand, Sora almost huffed a bit as he was simply smiling to her. It becoming all the more obvious for why the Organization had not come here to attack the group. Yet with a deep breath and a sudden swell in power, she started to push Hercules' hand down. While it was obvious the man could easily win this match, he seemed to be content with using the same amount of strength. Giving the teen a chance to win.

Watching all this though, the other three started to see some green flames within the girl's aura. With a somewhat confused gaze, Kairi glanced to the other two in question of what these might be. Yet they both shrugged their shoulders in response, not having any response as they then turned their eyes back to the teen. Whom was now engulfed in black and green flames. But she appeared to be so focused on the match, that she didn't even seem to notice. And with being only a few more millimeters away from winning, the only thing on her mind was victory.

Then, with one final push, she slammed his hand against the stone platform. Upon doing so, the large rock shattered into thousands of tiny pieces of gravel and Sora just stood up with a few deep breaths. She slowly lifted her rather strained and exhausted arm into the air, before gaining a wide grin. "Yes!" she called out in glee.

Despite the other three still curious about this strange power mixing with Sora's aura, they smiled and rushed over to congratulate the teen. When it was revealed that Hercules had used the strength of two fingers during this competition, the teen practically swelled with pride. With this knowledge, and a skip in her step, the brown-haired girl then left together with her friends. Each one leaving far stronger and knowledgeable than when they came in, making them feel more prepared for whatever was ahead.

Once they arrived in the next hall of the castle, the four noticed the designs on the walls seemed to become a bit more extravagant. Even the ceiling was a bit higher than the other areas, save for the main entrance hall itself. "We must be getting close to the top." Donald commented while looking to the others, to which they nodded in agreement.

"Gawrsh, guess it's a good thing we stopped there to train." Goofy added, briefly glancing toward the doors they just came through.

"Yeah...and now we just have to..." Sora started, yet paused as she started feeling somewhat dizzy.

Briefly blinking, the brown-haired girl shook her head in an attempt to clear and focus her vision. However, this actually seemed to make it worse, as small black dots began appearing in her sight. "...we have to..." she started again, the room starting to spin slightly.

"Sora?" Kairi asked in a worried tone, just as her friend's eyes rolled back and she just went limp and collapsed.

"SORA!" the three called out in unison, Kairi barely managing to catch the other teen before her head hit the floor.

As they gathered in confusion and panic to figure out what was happening, even the Organization members seemed somewhat unsure of the situation. "There has to be an explanation for this, so figure it out." Marluxia demanded while turning to Vexen.

Said man just shrugged his shoulders in a huff; "And how do you expect me to do that? If I go to try examining her, they'll just attack me." he claimed in a tone to show he wasn't going to risk himself for this.

"Well you better do something." the pink-haired man stated firmly, his eyes narrowing slowly.

"Riku has managed to push through the Darkness, which will make manipulating him all the more difficult." Zexion commented, his head tilted down as he seemed merely thoughtful through all this.

"And unlike with our little heroine here, we don't have a solid plan to get Riku on our side." Larxene added as she crossed both arms across her chest.

"We have only two options." Lexaeus began, glancing between the crystal orb and the others around him.

"The first, is to wait things out to see if she'll simply just wake up on her own. And the second, is to take the risk and examine Sora to find out if there is something wrong." he finished, briefly narrowing his eyes to Vexen and Zexion.

The former of whom growled silently while rubbing his forehead; "Fine fine...I'll go get her. But in order to avoid putting myself at risk, I'll have to take her away immediately." he explained, still obviously not happy about having to do this.

"Do whatever you have to, just make sure we can still use her. Sora is integral to all of the Organization's future plans, we can't afford to lose her power." Marluxia stated before disappearing in a corridor of darkness.

"Hmph...I still don't understand why the Superior chose him to run things in this castle. I would have been a far better pick." Vexen commented in a huff before he also vanished.

With a heavy sigh, Axel finally spoke up in a very nonchalant tone while shrugging. "Well...you guys have fun with that. I actually have a mission elsewhere." he hummed out while heading toward the door of the room.

"What mission could you possibly have?" Larxene questioned, rolling her eyes in disbelief at the man's words.

"To train our new member of course, she's still not very responsive after all." Axel stated with a quick shrug before opening a portal and walking through it.

"Tch, sometimes that guy is so annoying." Larxene muttered, almost to herself, just before taking her leave as well.

During this, deep within Sora's subconscious. The teen was laying on her back, atop of the large stain-glass platform depicting Sora and her closest friends. Though her eyes were closed, there was an immediate sense that she wasn't alone. There being a shadowy figure standing a few meters away of where she was laying, which took a few steps closer. The echoing footfalls gaining the teen's attention immediately, to which her eyes quickly opened and looked toward this individual.

"Well well...it looks like I finally gathered enough strength to make my presence known." the familiar voice of Maleficent called out as her shadowy form solidified into her normal appearance.

After taking in and letting out a deep breath, Sora sat herself up to look directly at the witch. "I would ask how you got here, but..." she started with a small smile.

"...I think the answer is pretty obvious, considering our last encounter." the girl continued with a quick shrug of her shoulders.

Smiling back to the teen, Maleficent stepped forward a few more steps and nod slowly. "Indeed, when I gave you the rest of my power...I included my heart with it." Maleficent explained, her smile becoming a much more devious one.

"That way...I would avoid the process of becoming a Heartless, and skip right to the point of being brought back as myself." she finished in a meticulous manner, truly showing she had a great deal of knowledge about this process.

"Right..." Sora uttered while standing to her feet; "...and how do you plan to do that? By taking over my mind and body?"

Maleficent laughed in response to this while waving her free hand, as she still had her staff. "Of course not, though...I could always try such a method if you prefer." she claimed with a strangely teasing tone.

Sora blinked a few times to this, yet she then crossed her arms and raised a brow. "Nah, I'm good. So what method will you be using?" she asked while tilting her head slightly.

"Honestly...I merely need to feed off your darkness. Given enough time, I will simply gather enough strength to reform on my own." the witch stated confidently while smiling.

"Is that what you've been doing this whole time?" Sora questioned curiously, no longer seeming as suspicious of the woman.

"Some of the time, yes." Maleficent said, briefly looking to the side in a purposefully secretive manner.

While the brown-haired girl knew asking further was probably going to lead into some elaborate scheme the witch had, Sora just couldn't help herself. "What were you doing the rest of the time?"

The soft chuckle that followed this question simply confirmed Sora's fears, to which Maleficent turned her gaze back to the girl. "I've been gathering the shadows of your memories." was all she said at first before continuing on when Sora just stared in confusion.

"I've been watching you for a long time, and while you never knew I was there...I witnessed many things along your journey." Maleficent began, shrugging for a moment.

"And while it was to merely keep an eye on your progress, it turned out to be the perfect means of gathering power for myself while stuck inside your heart." she continued, sounding as though this was somehow a gift in disguise, at least for her.

"So...by absorbing the shadows I left behind within your memories, I was able to create a form that allows me take your darkness directly." she declared, just as her eyes briefly flashed a fiery green.

Instantly after this, Sora's shadow rose up from behind her and solidified. It slowly taking a somewhat demonic form, looking very similar to the being Ansem used many times. But as Sora watched this in shock, her gaze quickly turned to Maleficent as the woman sank into the floor. Once she was gone, her voice was suddenly heard from behind the teen. "With this, I can take as much power as I want."

Sora instantly looked back once more, only to see Maleficent standing beside her. However, the girl could feel their connection as she could even see how the witch seemed to be coming out of her shadow, yet had no shadow of her own. This making it clear that Maleficent had fully taken over the Heartless Sora absorbed, and was now apart of the teen. "Oh great, how lucky for me." said girl muttered in a clearly unenthusiastic tone.

The woman simply chuckled to this reaction, her then shrugged her shoulders. "However...because I understand that you rely on your dark power for many things, I've decided to lend you power of my own in exchange." she stated, to which Sora gained an aura of green and black flames.

Looking this over briefly and feeling the surge of power flowing through her, Sora quickly realized that the witch helped during her arm wrestling match with Hercules. But once she came to this conclusion, her expression went from exasperation, to a teasing and smug one. "You didn't like me using my dark power in that contest did you?" she hummed out, obviously holding back a laugh.

Maleficent huffed briefly as she didn't like the fact that Sora figured out her true reasoning for revealing herself. "It was annoying, and very unnecessary." the woman declared in a near huff.

Sora just grinned widely and gazed at the witch for a few moments; "Well...you could have just said so, no need to make it seem like I'm about to 'make a deal with the devil' or something." she responded while shrugging her shoulders.

"Hmph, I suppose not..." Maleficent began in a thoughtful manner; "...after all, you did exactly that the moment you let my heart into yours."


Maleficent has made her appearance, and while it might not be that grand, I thought it was still suitable. As it plays more into their odd relationship later on, and makes it a more unique dynamic. Plus, I didn't wanna just copy Ansem and Riku.

By the way, I did manage to get through chapters 16 and 17 this week, hopefully I can do 18-20 for next week. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed these two chapters. Let me know what you thought. Until next time.