~ We begin our scene in front of Ari's computer screen, where the girl is glaring at several different things. ~
Ari: I hate my computer, I hate my computer class, I hate the dreaded evil S-word from the north, I hate mornings, I hate alarm clocks, I hate math, I hate chemistry, **goes on and on like this** . . . I hate practise, and most of all, I hate my internet connection! Gah! **takes a knife and butchers it**
Tom: What's wrong with you?
Ari: Damn internet connection . . .
Y.B.: and she thinks she's in pain.
Ari: I AM! I pulled the Achilles' tendon . . . **winces** it's quite painful!
Y.B.: **scoffs** Wimp.
Ari: Meh. Anyways, this wasn't supposed to be a rant . . . ^^; it was supposed to be a simple 'Sorry that this is late, my damn internet decided to fail on me' notice. So, Sorry this is late, my damn internet decided to fail on me!
Tom and Y.B.: **exasperated look**
Ari: Oh! And just to update, the last chapter of Reflections: Riku is up, and on the same day, the first chapter of Reflections: Kairi was posted. Happy reading!! **clicks on 'Phantom of the Opera' again** Heh. Starting to like this song a lot . . .

Title: Crossed Trails ( 5 / ? )
Author name: Ari Powwel
Author email: eight_muses@hotmail.com
Spoilers: Kingdom Hearts (duh! lol)
Summary: Could there be uncharted worlds up there? My curiosity never ceases to grow. Sora and company failed to mention all the different people they met on their quest . . .
Random quotes from this chapter:
     'Uh, guys? I think we're in for a bit of trouble . . .'
     'Stupid boy . . .'
     In short, the Lord of the Underworld. Charming.
     'He's the one . . . told us to find him! . . . He's got the Key . . . evident enough . . . yes, he is!'
     'I wondered when they would get here . . .'
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by various publishers including but not limited to Disney Interactive and Square Co., Ltd. Song lyrics belong to Christina Aguilera. The characters Sara, Lara, Lia, and Simone are owned by their various creators: Ari, Sue, Kaylee, and Rocky. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Notes:  Chapter finished: 6 July 2003
OC alert! ((Personally, I think she's funny ^_^ and I am PROUD to say, she's in no way, shape, or form, a Mary-Sue **twitches**))
Right, I cannot write battles to save my life, I'm just warning you on that now.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5: Team

Sora, the duck, and the dogman stood in front of the shrine, watching the walls rise around them. As the last panel jarred into place with a final thud, Sora felt his heart jump to his throat. 'Uh, guys? I think we're in for a bit of trouble . . .'

As he spoke, a band of soldiers surrounded the three. Panic rising, Sora lunged, Keyblade not allowing them to strike him once.

Sora swung the Keyblade through the last one; it almost dissolved when the blade touched it. The other two had just joined him when the ground started shaking beneath their feet. 'Kid, move!' the duck shouted, shoving the dog out of the way and moving himself. Sora looked up and let out a yell, diving away. Two huge purple metallic boots clanged against the stones, exactly where the trio had been moments before. A pair of purple gauntlets and an armoured torso bearing the crest Sora now recognised as the Heartless' quickly followed them.

'What is that?!' Sora yelled, staring as a silver head came crashing into the neckhole of the torso.

'It's a suit of armour!' the duck quacked back, hurling a fireball at the Heartless, then rushing after it to slam his staff into it, creating a large dent. This gave Sora further reason to gawk; the duck could do magic?!

'Obviously . . .' he managed, but to himself or the duck, he wasn't sure. He stared as the duck and the dog attacked the armour repeatedly.

'Do something!!' Duck – as Sora had come to know him as – raged at him, tapping Sora on the head with his staff.

Sora snapped out of his daze, tightening his grip on the Keyblade. He could stare later; right now, the armour was his problem. As he dived into the fray, he could have sworn he heard a strain of music drifting around the District:

Makes me that much stronger

Makes me work a little bit harder

Makes me that much wiser

So thanks for makin' me

A fighter

Made me learn a little bit faster

Make my skin a little bit thicker

Makes me that much smarter

So thanks for makin' me

A fighter

Sora found himself grinning as he heard more:

But in the end you'll see

You won't stop me

I am a fighter (I'm a fighter)

I ain't gonna stop (I ain't gonna stop)

There is no turnin' back

I'm in it now

With the song in his hears, Sora found himself braver, knowing someone (because how could the music play itself, and what were the chances of it being that exact song?) was watching out for them.

The armour swung out its arms, swinging them around and around its body with such force, Sora was hit back when he attacked it. As he skidded back across the ground, he noticed the gauntlets had stopped; he jumped up and leapt at it again, paying no heed to anything around him.

Clang! Sora flew back again, wincing at his impact with the ground. All at once he felt a coolness wash over him, the pain lessening soon after. Is this dying? Sora thought wildly for a moment. Then he heard Duck . . . 'Stupid boy,' he was muttering, closing his pack.

Sora realised two things at once: one, Duck must have thrown him a potion, and two; the armour was directly behind Duck, preparing to attack! Sora flung himself up and at the Heartless, not hearing Duck's squawks of surprise. His raised blade slammed into the armour with a satisfying clank!, and the Heartless's second foot fell off (Sora wasn't quite sure when the first had fallen . . .), exploding into a maelstrom of green and yellow orbs.

Duck's expression when he saw what Sora had done made the boy laugh. Duck nodded his thanks before scrambling off to grab himself some power. Dogman was already running happily through the spheres, and Sora laughed again. The duo was . . . interesting, to say the least. He snagged some power himself before turning back to the armour.

Even without its legs under it, the armour was still an imposing figure. Sora ran straight at it, attacking the torso with a sideways slash. He leapt into the air, using the three-combo he'd learned on the islands. The armour could barely get an attack in, and when Duck and Dogman arrived, it was pretty much done for: one gauntlet dropped, then the second, then, the once terrifying armour was a head and torso, lunging and attempting to strike its opponents.

With an upwards strike, Sora hit the head straight up. It came back down, perhaps faster than it had been sent up, and Sora sprang back. All attacks stopped as the head flew back down. It slammed clean through the neckhole of the torso.

All was silent in the District; Sora realised the music had stopped . . .

The armour – or what remained or it – shuddered and disappeared, revealing a large shimmering crystal, floating above them – a heart, Sora realised. With a last glimmer, it flew away into the night sky.

Sora felt someone's eyes on him. He spun around, barely noticing when Duck shoved something into his left hand. His gaze was fixed on the three figures standing on the barrier.

*        *        *

Six shadowed figures stood around a stone table. A holographic image of Sora, Donald, and Goofy walking sat above it. 'That little squirt took down the Heartless! Who'd have thought it?' one asked. Hades was probably the easiest to recognise, with his blue flaming hair. He had a long horse-like face, greyish skin, and was clothed in a dark grey toga, fastened over his shoulder with a skull. In short, the Lord of the Underworld. Charming.

'Such is the power of the Keyblade. The child's strength is not his own,' Jafar proclaimed, stroking the thin wisp of hair he called a beard. In his other hand, he held a long golden staff, its head in the form of a cobra's. He wore mostly black, save the belt around his waist and the deep red cape that flowed over his shoulders. A turban perched on his head made it look as if he'd just stepped out of the desert. Which, in essence, he had.

A rather large purplish woman with a black strapless dress spoke next. Her lower half was actually like an octopus's, if the octopus were black. It was as if her tentacles and the 'dress' were the same thing actually, giving her a very strange appearance. A shock of white hair sat on her head (and before you ask, yes, it was real), and a shell was attached to a piece of twine, wrapped around her thick neck. 'Why don't we turn him into a Heartless? That'll settle things quick enough,' Ursula suggested.

'And the brat's friends are the King's lackeys,' a man snarled, quite obviously a pirate. His attire consisted of a typical captain's garb, complete with a bright red overcoat, a ruffle at his throat, and a sheathed rapier at his waist. However, Captain Hook had something no-one (or at least, that he knew, and that was what counted, right?) else could boast. His left hand, instead of being a hand, was a hook. A young boy by the name of Peter had cut it off and fed it to a crocodile. He still couldn't shake that demon off! But enough of him. 'Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them,' he finished.

'You're no prize yourself,' laughed Oogie Boogie, who looked basically like a bag of flour, with arms, legs, and a head made of another sack.

'Shut up!' Hook shouted at him.

'Enough,' stepped in the final figure, Maleficent. A black – thing – covered her head, making it seem as though she had two black horns. A high black collar reached up to her ears. She wore a long black robe, five points of it trailing behind her. The robe was inlaid with purple, which was revealed in a second high collar, turning out at about chin-level. A strip of purple was revealed at the bottom front part of her robe. Next to that was a strip of black on both sides, then a strip of a bright pink colour. The sleeves of the robe were open, long, flowing, and ragged at the ends. Finally, Maleficent held a bronze/gold staff in her left hand, the top containing a green orb. The master of this little group, Maleficent was an imposing figure indeed. 'The Keyblade has chosen him. Will it be he who conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow him? Either way, he could be quite useful . . .'

*        *        *

'How long have you been standing there?' Sora demanded.

'Long enough,' was the answer.

'We wouldn't have let anything happen to you when you fought Guard Armour, you know that, right?' Yuffie supplied.

Leon shook his head. 'He should have been able to defeat it easily. We had no need to come.' The man bounded to the ground, landing easily and destroying the barrier separating them from the rest of the District. As he did, Sora noticed Duck and Dogman talking together. He could hear whispered snatches: 'He's the one . . . told us to find him! . . . He's got the Key . . . evident enough . . . yes, he is!'

'So, you were looking for me?' Sora asked them.

They nodded. 'Uh-huh.'

'They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade,' Leon told him, returning to stand with Yuffie and Aerith.

'Hey, why don't you come with us?' Dogman asked Sora. 'We can go to other worlds on our vessel.'

Sora looked at the ground. 'I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi . . .' now there was no laughter in his eyes, nor a grin on his face. In fact, he looked positively sad.

'Of course,' Duck assured him.

'Are you sure?' Dogman leaned down and whispered to Duck, but Sora could hear every word.

'Who knows? But we need him to come with us to help find the king!'

Sora was just about to tell them no thanks, when Leon interrupted, 'Sora, go with them.' It was almost as if he knew what he were thinking. 'Especially if you want to find your friends.

Sora sighed. 'Yeah . . . I guess.'

'But you can't come along looking like that. Understand? No frowning. No sad face. Okay?' Duck said.

'Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!' Dogman said, gesturing at himself and Duck. He leaned down next to Duck, minimising the height distance.

Duck pushed his face away. 'This boat runs on happy faces!'

'Happy?' Sora said, almost as if wondering to himself what the word meant. He leaned down, taking a deep breath, then showed them his face, which was stretched into a huge grin. He remembered Riku had always called it the 'cheesy Sora smile', while Kairi had told him it was adorable. He even made the little 'Eeeeee . . .' sound that had always made them laugh.

Duck and Dogman stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. 'That's one funny face!' Dogman said between laughs.

Sora felt a real smile cross his face. 'Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys.'

'Donald Duck.'

'Name's Goofy!' said Dogman, putting his hand on top of Donald's outstretched one. Sora had been originally going to shake it, but . . .

'I'm Sora,' he told them, placing his hand on top.

'All for one, one for all!' shouted Goofy. Sora just laughed.

'Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you. We don't know how far the Heartless have spread,' Leon told them. He, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Yuffie, and Aerith all stood in the First District, where the Heartless wouldn't disturb them.

'Check out the shops here. They've got some pretty neat stuff!'

'But . . . I don't have any . . .'

'This is from all of us,' Aerith said, handing him some munny. When Sora looked at it, she smiled. 'One hundred munny. Spend it as you see fit.'

'Oh, and Leon has something to give to you,' said Yuffie, giving him a dark look. Leon sighed and handed Sora an Elixir. 'Good luck!' Yuffie grinned.

'I hope you find your friends,' Aerith smiled.

Leon moved forward, fixing them with his cold look. However, the words that came out of his mouth weren't cold; if anything, they were advice: 'Look out for each other. Keep your spirits up. And good luck.' He, Yuffie, and Aerith turned, walking back into the Third District.

'The gummi ship is outside that gate,' Donald pointed at a gargantuan set of wooden doors.

'The what?'

'That's our ship.'

'Wait 'til you see it!' Goofy put in.

'Hold on. Sora, this is for you,' Donald handed Sora a chain, which he clipped onto the rest of them. 'Now you can use magic, too. I'll teach you spells later on.'

'I can use magic?!'

Donald scoffed. 'Any fool can use magic. Few can actually harness the power for their use. It takes time to learn, so I wouldn't be disappointed if you can't use it right away.'

'Oh,' Sora said, a bit disappointed.

Donald seemed to notice this and said, 'Hey, Goofy. Give him that other thing.'

'What?'

'You know!'

'Oh, yeah . . .' Goofy showed Sora something he called 'Dodge Roll'. 'I picked it up from a few of them Heartless thingies,' he said proudly. 'I'll teach ya that, too! Abilities allow you to do all sorts of things. Guess we should look for 'em along the way, huh?'

Sora cheered a bit at this (after all, Goofy hadn't said that he wouldn't be able to get it right away), and said, 'Okay, is that it? Let's get going!'

'Not 'til we're ready!' quacked Donald, a bit annoyed.

A few feet away from them, Jiminy said to himself, 'Well, I see big adventures coming their way! Looks like it's up to me to keep track of it all in my journal!'

Sora led them back into the Second District. 'I saw something there . . .' was his excuse. He pushed open the doors and saw an odd sight.

A girl was standing in the courtyard below him, punching at a shadow. She wore all black, and a black headband kept her curly brown hair out of her face. 'I don't think that's very effective,' mumbled Sora, drawing his Keyblade. He jumped down and slashed at the Heartless, watching it explode into the green orbs and munny. The girl immediately dropped down, grabbing the money up. She crawled forward as Sora watched, then saw his shoes. Her head slowly travelled up, taking in everything about him. 'You've gotta watch out for those things,' he told her. 'They're dangerous.'

She stood up, 'Ummmm . . . thanks.'

'No problem. I'm Sora.' At that precise moment, the Keyblade disappeared from Sora's hand, startling the girl.

'Whoa! How'd you do that?'

'Do what?' Sora realised what the girl meant as soon as she asked and shrugged. 'I'm not really sure yet, it just does that when I'm not fighting.'

'Oh . . . you're not from around here, are you?' she looked at Donald and Goofy beside him, as if this proved her point.

Well, actually, it did.

'Nope. I'm here looking for my friends. One's called Kairi. She's about as tall as me, with red-brown hair. And my other friend, Riku –' Sora trailed off as the doors from the First District opened again, this time admitting a set of people who looked as if they came from Donald and Goofy's home. Half wore blue tunics emblazoned with a strange crest, like three circles. One made up the lower part and two more formed 'ears'. Sora realised that this was the same as the keychain hanging off the Keyblade. The other half of the group wore green tunics with the same crest. Each carried a shield and sword, and upon closer inspection, Sora found that some of the blues carried a magic staff like Donald's.

'I wondered when they would get here,' Sora heard the girl mutter.

He faced back to her. 'What?'

'Ummm . . . well, nice meeting you. See you later!' she bolted into a nearby alley, fading into the shadows. The group followed her.

'What just happened?' Sora wondered out loud.

'That was the palace guard,' explained Goofy.

Donald groaned. 'I told them not to send anyone with us . . . the only explanation would be that something happened, like a huge theft, or a murder, or something like that.'

'Oh,' Sora regretted asking.

They walked through the rest of the District without a problem, hearing loud people at times. Sora wondered where they were, as there didn't seem to be a place open. The Third District was deserted, save a few groups of Heartless that popped up. Sora defeated them easily with the help of Donald and Goofy, then approached the large doors he'd seen before. This time, however, he saw a keyhole to the right of it, set into the wall. Remembering what Yuffie had said about the Keyblade opening things, he examined it with the Keyblade. After a tap on the keyhole, Sora heard something click. He pushed the doors, not really expecting them to open, and fell through into the First District.

After a quick look in at the Accessory Shop (Cid informed them that the thing Donald had given him was called a Brave Warrior; Donald insisted the Guard Armour dropped it), Sora was ready to leave.

But Goofy wasn't. 'Hey, look here!' he said as they passed a café, pointing at a blue mark on the ground. Sora looked at the mark, too, it was rather interesting: three hearts connected by a circle. Donald looked slightly embarrassed.

'It's called a Trinity,' he said, causing both Goofy and Sora to look at him in surprise. 'The King explained them in his letter he left. I didn't see any need to say anything about it, but now . . .' he pulled out a piece of paper. 'Trinities allow you to reach inaccessible areas and unseal treasures. Each does something different from the next, and they can be very useful. Don't try to understand them, as it will just make it more foreign. Just go with your instinct!' he folded the paper back up. 'Well, that was helpful . . .' he looked with distaste at the Trinity.

'Let's try it!' burst out Sora.

'Yeah!' agreed Goofy.

'Oh, all right . . .' groaned Donald. They all three stood around the mark, pondering what to do. Then, in unison, they all jumped, their combined weight activating it. They disappeared, reappearing a moment later on a balcony above the café.

'Well, that was unexpected . . .' said Sora.

Donald groaned again. 'Let's go,' he said, pulling himself over the rail and dropping to the ground below. Sora and Goofy traded glances before following him over, down, and out the doors.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please remember to review.

Look for the next chapter ((trial)) next Wednesday!