Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories

Chapter 17: Castle Oblivion part XVII

Sora slowly opened her eyes a bit tiredly. The girl having finally awoken from Maleficent's sudden 'conversation' with her. Yet as Sora's vision clarified, she noticed that she was in a grey and white room with all manner of lights and strange devices pointed toward her. With a blinking gaze and a swift glance around the area, the teen saw that she was inside of some kind of laboratory. Though, she herself was strapped to a declined chair, with Vexen visible just to the side as he gazed at a large screen.

This depicting the outline of Sora's body, yet there were three glowing dots at the center of her chest. Something that made the girl raise a brow, as she could see each dot had something written above them. While the first one held Sora's own name, the second and third simply showed three question marks. But despite huffing a bit, this did make the teen narrow her eyes slowly in thought. 'Wait...if one of those is supposed to be Maleficent...who's the other one?' she thought silently to herself.

However, she soon heard someone speak up from the side; "She's awake." the voice of Riku's replica stated quickly.

The boy then stepped through a doorway that seemed to lead into a darkly lit hallway. Him approaching the girl with a mixture of annoyance, frustration and a bit of anger in his expression. "Well...it's good to see you too." Sora hummed out in a sarcastic manner, making the replica just huff in response.

"So...why am I here? And what about my friends?" she questioned toward Vexen, yet there was an underlining tone that showed she would be very upset if she didn't like the answer.

"Your friends are probably still panicking about your disappearance." the platinum blonde-haired man claimed, rolling his eyes briefly as he found it annoying to answer this question.

"As for why you're here...that's on a 'need to know' basis." he continued, finally turning around to face the girl.

"Right..." Sora muttered silently, shifting herself slightly within the restraints around her.

"So...you're still following him around, I see." she continued, looking to Riku replica with an arched brow.

"Only for now." was all Riku replica claimed while crossing both arms across his chest.

After saying this, Vexen glanced in the boy's direction, his eyes narrowing slightly. Yet his attention turned back to Sora as she continued on, only in an almost smug manner. "I kinda thought you would have gotten annoyed with following orders and just run off by now."

Though the replica glared at the teen, the ever so small slight tugging at his lips showed he was considering it. This going unnoticed by Vexen, as the man merely huffed to Sora's comment. "He has no reason to leave. We are giving him everything he wants in order to save the one he cares for most. So why would he abandon that advantage?" she questioned in clearly rhetorical manner.

Despite this however, Sora took on a small grin while shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe because he's smart enough to know better?" was all she responded with before she suddenly sat herself up.

The restraints just falling away as they seemed to have been broken, which the teen managed to do while talking. Once she sat up and looked herself over, Riku replica immediately moved into a defensive position and summoned his weapon. At the same time, Vexen took several steps back while looking at the broken straps. His eyes swiftly narrowed, as he could tell that the girl snapped the metal clamps holding the restraints to the chair.

"Hmph...at least it wasn't the restraints themselves." he muttered silently as those were the only things he appeared concerned about.

Sora gave him a brief glance before turning to the replica, as he was the most immediate threat. "So...do you wanna finish that fight we never got to start?" she asked curiously while sliding out of the chair.

"Absolutely..." the boy replied with a narrowed gaze, readying himself to rush forward.

"Not!" Vexen added instantly, summoning his shield and holding it in front of the table closest to him.

"This is my lab! And I will not have the two of you damaging anything in here!" the man continued, to which Sora turned to him with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Then you should take us somewhere else, since I don't think he's in the mood to wait any longer." she claimed, making a quick gesture to the replica.

Whom seemed a bit frustrated by the man's interjection of finally getting to fight the girl. Yet as Vexen huffed for a moment, he held out his free hand and created a swirl of darkness to his side. "There...you can use 'that' space to fight. Just get out of my laboratory!" he called out in an annoyed tone.

Sora looked to this corridor before taking on a small smile; "Ladies first." was all she hummed before simply stepping through the portal.

Immediately following after, Riku replica went through the portal as well before it closed. Upon doing so, both teens found themselves in front of a gate, to a forest surrounded mansion. Though, the building itself looked to be long since abandoned, with a great deal of overgrowth covering everything. But just as Sora gained an odd sense that she had seen this place before, Riku replica gained her attention. "As a fair warning…" he started, stepping to the side to be a few meters away from his foe.

"…I've tripled in power since we last met." he continued, a faint and prideful smirk curling his lips.

Sora simply smiled in return while shrugged her shoulders; "Must be nice being able to tell that sort of stuff." she began thoughtfully, yet it merely made the replica huff as a result.

"Maybe you could let me know my own progress." the brown-haired teen finished with a wink, a small grin forming on her features.

"Oh trust me...it won't matter in the slightest!" the boy called out before rushing forward with great speed.

The moment he came up to the brown-haired teen, she finally summoned her weapon and blocked the incoming slash. As soon as she did, the replica's eyes widened briefly from not feeling any give in her blade. It being like he literally just struck against a brick wall, actually causing his attack to bounce off his opponent's Keyblade. However, his eyes just narrowed once more as he used the momentum of this reflection to made a spinning kick. Seeing this coming though, Sora leaned on her back foot to avoid the strike.

In the midst of his rotation, Riku replica could only watch as Sora's weapon thrust swiftly into his chest. This blow causing him to gasp for air as he was thrown backward, yet he managed to catch himself after only a few meters. Growling and muttering under his breath, the boy looked to his opponent with a glare. But after rubbing his chest, the silver-haired teen then charged forward once more. This time, he created a coating of darkness over his weapon before swinging it at Sora.

Whom quickly dodged out of the way, her moving ever so slightly faster than the boy himself. Yet he still just kept lashing out, rapidly following after the girl with each step she took. Despite her continuing to move back and away from his attacks, Sora soon found herself hitting the trunk of a tree. Seeing this coming, Riku replica made an even stronger slash than before. But even as Sora seemed to vanish in the middle of his swipe, it still went fully through the tree. Of which slowly began to fall to the side, crashing and breaking multiple other trees as it did.

With the echoing cracks and snaps of the forest trees, the boy then turned around toward Sora. Her having leapt away from his attack before landing closer to the mansion gates. "You can't avoid my blade forever." he declared, taking on a small and confident smirk.

"Maybe...but will you actually do any damage when you do hit me?" Sora taunted as she mimicked her foe's smirk.

Sighing and shaking his head, the replica slowly narrowed his eyes. "You've always been unwilling to accept defeat." he muttered with a clearly unsurprised expression.

"I guess we have that in common." was all the brown-haired girl retorted, to which she tossed her Keyblade into the air.

Immediately, Riku replica moved into a defensive stance, knowing the other teen would go on the offensive now. Yet he wasn't planning to let that happen, as he used his free hand to send a swift burst of darkness toward his opponent. Following up with this, he then rushed forward once again while readying his blade. But Sora just smirked softly as she caught her weapon by the chain. Her having a finger looped through one of the links, allowing her to then begin spinning the Keyblade at her side.

The speed of this rotation however was so fast, the weapon simply became a gold and silver blur of motion. Making it so that the replica didn't even see where his burst of darkness was destroyed. It just disappeared from one second to the next. This did not deter him however, as he continued charging with his dark-coated blade. As he approached, the boy suddenly sank into his own shadow. In the next instant he reappearing in a swirl of darkness behind Sora, slashing his weapon at her.

Said teen did not seem to react, as Riku replica swung down with all his might. But as his eyes narrowed on his adversary's back and the confident smirk of victory curled his lips, the silver-haired teen felt a sudden impact. His stomach nearly evacuating its contents, as Sora's Keyblade slammed into it when the teen herself let it slide off her finger. Gasping deeply for air, the boy was knocked back and into the metal gates in front of the mansion.

These bending a bit from his impact, yet they didn't break or leave their hinges. Sora then turned toward the replica with a tilt of her head, seeing that he was still standing after sliding down from the gates. Though, she then looked up to her weapon as it arced through the air and further away from her. The brown-haired teen took a few quick steps back before reaching out to just barely catch the Keyblade. "Guess I used a bit too much strength there." she muttered to herself, to which she rushed back to where she was before.

Obviously, trying to pretend that she didn't move in order to appear 'cooler'. While he was a bit distracted, Riku replica managed noticed all this and growl silently in annoyance. "Tch! You're still such a child." he muttered silently before waving his free hand through the air.

This created a series of black spheres, each of which, darted off in different directions. But as Sora's attention was drawn toward them, the silver-haired teen used this opportunity to jump backward to gain some distance. "Time to finish this fight." he declared silently, just as a powerful swirl of darkness began encompassing his form.

At the same time, Sora watched the orbs carefully before finally noticing the breeze being created by the replica's darkness. Though she brought her hand out, as if to counter, she slowly lowered it. "Yeah...I think so." she muttered out, actually hearing his comment over the strong winds.

Instantly after her words, all of the black spheres converged toward Sora in less than a second. The replica then bolted forward with extreme speed, becoming a mere streak of shadow. But instead of dodging or even avoiding these incoming attacks, the brown-haired teen merely closed her eyes. With a resounding boom, these spheres impacted their target. And despite the look of surprise rising on Riku replica's face, he just continued through the black mist created by the explosion.

Letting out a loud battle cry, he slashed down where Sora was. Upon which, he felt a solid hit on flesh, letting him know that he indeed hit the teen. A smile began curling his lips, as a sense of victory filled him once more. This feeling and expression however, instantaneously turned to shock and almost horror. As, through the dissipating mist, Sora was shown to be holding her foe's weapon with her bare hand. "You know...I think my power has more than tripled since we last met." she muttered, both looking and sounding rather sheepish.

An overwhelming anger quickly filled the boy, as his glare returned, along with tightly clenched teeth. "Sora..." he uttered out in his fury, to which he immediately pulled his blade away.

In a fit of rage, the replica then began attacking the girl with reckless abandon. All his thoughts of carefully defeating his opponent leaving his mind entirely, as all he could think about was letting out his anger. "You don't deserve to see her! She doesn't want to see you! You forgot about her!" he called out with each heavy strike.

While Sora blocked these with ease, she found herself unconsciously doing so, instead of intentionally. Her gaze softening as he kept attacking, a feeling of guilt for the silver-haired boy starting to well up. "I will be the one to save her! I...I..." he continued on before trailing off briefly.

"I'll prove that I'm real!" the boy finished with one last swing, of which the girl actually allowed to hit her.

Wincing a bit in pain from the hit, Sora just offered Riku replica a soft smile. Her taking a step forward and putting a hand to his shoulder; "You are real." she whispered out in a gentle tone, to which the replica could only gaze back at her in surprise.

"No matter your origin...anyone who fights to protect their friends as much as you do, is real enough to me." Sora continued, having even more conviction in her tone.

As the replica gazed at her in bewilderment, it became more and more clear to him that she figured out he was a replica from the beginning. However, the girl simply gave her signature smile as she released his shoulder. "Though...I think you could be a little less mean about it." she added in a teasing tone, giving his shoulder a gentle and playful punch.


And there you have it. I didn't feel like Sora and Riku replica needed to fight so many times before this would come up. But don't think everything is solved, I'm just going with a different route. Things are still gonna be tense. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed and will let me know what you thought. I'll try to make sure I have chapters 18-20 next week. Until next time.