Chapter 6: The Great Journey to the Sacred City
After escaping Kingdom Hearts, they made it to Glaze town, the town that is said to be peaceful. When they got there, it was quiet. It was too quiet… Crystal admired the beautiful scenery while Riku observed the surroundings intently as if he was suspicious about the place.
"… Ow… Look at this town! It's as if chaos isn't happening." Crystal sighed.
"I don't like this… It's too quiet. We should leave." Riku argued.
"No way! This is the best place to rest for a while! What about you, your majesty?"
"Mickey's fine. You don't need to be formal. Ummm… I guess we could stay for a while and think about our next move."
"Yey! I TOLD YOU, RIKU! Mickey wants to rest too! We're not 'robots' like some people!"
"… Oh brother…"
They took their precious time by walking and finally reached an inn. They went in and checked in for the room at the right side. It was quite small, but it managed to fit the three of them. Crystal anxiously went to the bed and sat.
"Look Riku! It's BOUCNY!"
"Ya ya ya…"
"Hmph! Killer joy!"
"… Sigh… There's no time for play! Now, tell us. What do you know about the phenomenon that is happening, and who's 'them'?
"Ummm… Why would I?"
"Grrr… Will you stop being childish for a while?"
"Am not being CHILDISH! I don't want to… You have no business about this! I will solve this by myself!"
"Is that so? Then you can stop joining us! We have no time for people like you!"
Crystal's eyes suddenly went teary. She stood up and slapped Riku on the face, and went out.
"I think you went too far Riku…"
"But she doesn't want to cooperate! How can we let her join if she keeps secrets from us!?"
"… Maybe she's just not ready yet..."
"Knowing her, I'm sure she'll be back."
The night came, and Crystal did not come back. Mickey started to worry, but Riku stayed calm. However, deep inside of him, he was guilty of what he did.
"Crystal hasn't come back yet… I'm starting to get worried…"
"… Nah… I'm sure she… She… She just got carried away with her walking or something."
"Riku… I think we should look for her."
Before Riku could answer, a loud bang occurred at their door. Soon, it was bashed into pieces and a thick fog covered the room. A huge creature that looked like a "ghost" suddenly appeared.
"What the--!?"
"Specters!!! We're done for!"
"Huh!? What do you mean? I'm sure we can handle these punks!"
"No… No matter how well someone fights, he can't beat Phantoms… It's useless… Your sword will just go through them…"
"Damn it! What do we do now?"
The Specter got nearer to them. Its arms stretched towards Mickey. Soon, the arm was just an inch away on Mickey when Riku blocked Mickey and got him on the neck. Riku was fading as his body starts to unite with the Phantom.
"RIKU!"
"Argh! Can't move! Let me go!" Riku shouted.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, which distracted the Specter. It lost grab on Riku and Mickey pulled him away.
"… I knew it! You'll need me! Jump outside!" A familiar voice shouted.
They went out of the window and jumped down. They ran as far away from the inn, and looked for an exit.
"Crystal?" Mickey asked.
"Yup. It's me!" She smiled.
"I told you Mickey, she'll come back." Riku butted in.
"Hmph! You ingrate! You almost died back there if it wasn't for me!"
Their argument went on and on and on until two silhouettes bumped Crystal. She fell to the ground.
"Yeouch!" Crystal whispered.
"… This is bad…" Mickey said.
Mickey pointed at the direction where the two suspicious figures were. Suddenly, a burst of pyre went towards Riku. Riku made a back flip to evade the flames.
"What!? I didn't know Specters can cast magic…" Crystal yelped.
"Me too… They could be people who got stranded too… Or they could be different beings…"
They went closer to get a better picture of the creature that created the fire. However, when they got there both figures vanished.
"Hmmm… What happened to them?" Riku asked to himself.
"I don't want to find out! LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!!!" Crystal shouted.
Soon, even more Specters came and surrounded them. They were trapped inside a circle full of Specters. Their eyes expressed the thirst for flesh.
"Damn it!" Riku shouted.
"What do we do now…?" Crystal yelpled.
"Can't you do that wind spell again!?"
"What good can that do!? It'll just pass them!!!"
Mickey suddenly snapped his fingers.
"I remember now… Specters can only travel in mists… Can you make a gust strong enough to draw this thick fog away from us?"
"Ummm… I don't know, but what about you guys? You might get drawn in too…"
"We have no other choice. We have to risk this."
"Okay… Hold on to something… This might be too strong."
Crystal went to the center while Riku and Mickey were finding a place to hide. They tried to dodge away from the Specters that were coming near them. Finally, they found a pole strong enough to hold them from what was coming. Crystal whirled as the winds started to form circles. Soon, a huge tornado was formed devouring the mist. The Specters whirled with the mist as Crystal molded the mist into a gigantic tornado. After some time, the mist disappeared. Crystal fell to the ground, because of the exhaustion. Riku and Mickey ran towards her.
"Riku! Help me carry her!" Mickey shouted.
"… Fine… Whatever, but this doesn't mean we're in good terms already just because she saved our lives…"
They walked a few meters away from the now dissolving Glaze town. They were able to find a small deserted cave and stayed there for a while.
"What do we do now?" Riku asked.
"Well… We wait for her to wake up…"
"What!? We don't have much time! We gotta move."
"What can I do? She's sleeping soundly like 'Sleeping Beauty'."
"Grrr… Well I'm not kissing her just for her to wake up!" Riku said, sarcastically.
Meanwhile, back in Kingdom Hearts, Emerald was lying on her bed when someone interrupted. It was one of the Heartless. Both of them just stared at each other.
"What is it!? Can't you see I'm resting?" Emerald shouted.
"There has been a commotion in Glaze town… A huge tornado was sighted."
"Hmmm… Could it be…? No matter… We need not bother ourselves with that."
"But…"
"What!? I know what I'm doing so stop bothering me during my sleep before I turn you into dust!"
The Heartless freaked out and went away. No one dares to anger Emerald unless one wants to die. Emerald formed an object in a shape of a butterfly. It glowed and went to life. Emerald whispered something at the butterfly as it flew away.
"This will do the job… It will be my eyes…" Emerald laughed.
Cyrstal finally regained consciousness in the middle of the night, and approached Riku and Mickey who are outside.
"… What happened?" Crystal asked.
"About time you wake up." Riku teased.
"Hmph! If it wasn't for me again, you're dead!"
They were like cats and dogs when they are fighting. Both of them just despised each other for some reason. To prevent the senseless argument, Mickey halted them.
"Enough already… Now I know our next move, we must go to the sacred city."
"You mean… 'Lithania'?" Crystal asked.
"Yup! We go there… We have to go to the Temple of Hearts, and seek the answer."
"But that place was abandoned years ago… We might be wasting our time."
"No… We have to go… I just know we're bound to get something there."
"…"
"We don't have much time left. We have to leave. The darkness is eating the light in Kingdom Hearts… It is starting to get unbalanced. We have to find another source or our worlds will be devoured into the darkness."
Their journey started here. As they were walking, Riku's mind was bothered about Crystal. There was just something mysterious about her.
"Crystal. After all this time, you haven't told us who you really are and how come you know a lot?" Riku asked curiously.
"…"
"Crystal, answer me will ya!"
"What's it to you anyway? It just brings so much bad memories. Okay!? It'd be better if we not talk about it so stop bothering me about this."
"You know what? Why are you always so snobbish with me!? I don't get it!"
"It's not me who is being snobbish. It's you!"
Mickey gave up on stopping them from arguing. It just could not be helped. They were making a loud racket as they were walking. They were shouting every now and then. Sometimes, they even scared the birds away on top of the trees, because of the noise.
Finally, their argument had stopped. Mickey made a soft laugh and thought that their mouths must have been tired after the endless argument. Crystal suddenly took the pin out of her hair that was supporting the braid. It fell down gracefully.
"This pin is quite annoying… Argh!" She said as she threw it away.
Riku suddenly stared at her long hair as the winds made it dance. It was a beautiful sight and Riku awed at her. Suddenly, Crystal looked back at him and giggled. She was definitely more beautiful than before.
"What are you staring at?"
"What!? I'm not staring at you. I'm just thinking deeply." Riku blushed.
"Admit it! You think I'm beautiful huh? Hahaha!"
"Shut up! No I'm not! I'd rather die than stare at you!"
"Whatever! (If only he's not as hot tempered as he is at me… Then…)"
Mickey giggled at the scene that the two were doing.
"What are you laughing at?" Riku asked.
"Nothing… Haha…"
"Sheesh… (Damn it! What's happening to me?)"
They reached a valley of mountains. They stopped walking from there.
"Once we pass River Mountain… We are halfway through. We had better rest up… This won't be an easy journey." Mickey said.
They searched for materials and made a small tent, and rested.
"What do we do now? We don't have much to last in the journey…" Crystal said.
"… We have no other choice… We'll make it." Mickey said.
…
Emerald was now looking in front of the mirror as that scene flashed before her eyes.
"So… They are planning to go to Lithania and search for the key… Let's put something that will spice up their journey… Tee hee…"
She created shape of a beast with eight heads out of her hands. It was perfectly molded. She chanted another spell and the molded beast went through the mirror and then went to the scene the mirror was projecting.
"They don't call me Emerald the Sculptor for nothing… Hee hee… That should keep them busy for a while…"
Suddenly, Opal went in. She just woke up from her nap, and heard the commotion inside Emerald's room as she was talking with one of the Heartless.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing… I just unleashed a Hydra at them…"
"You did what!? You know our sister is there…"
"Sheesh… Don't you know how to have fun? I'm just making their journey livelier. I'm sure that Hydra will be a peace of cake for them."
"What if something happens? We don't want them to get eliminated… It is much harder to get an enemy alive than dead…"
"Tsk… Tsk… You worry too much. I have things controlled. I know their minds… They would get suspicious if we don't do something like that. Don't you read storybooks? The witch always does something just to get what she wants. Have you ever seen a baddie who just sits there and stares at nothingness as he waiting for the good guys to arrive? They will never know what hit them when they return. They'll surely be surprised."
Opal looked at her menacingly as if she did not agree of her plans. With this, Opal went away when Emerald suddenly interrupted.
"Don't you want to watch the show?"
"I'd rather not… I might be mistaken for cheering for them…"
"Well… If you change your mind you can always come back. Tee hee…"
Opal slammed the door shut as she left Emeralds room. Emerald ignored her, and watched what would happen to them. Suddenly, 'he' appeared behind her.
"What's happening?"
"Everything is according to plan. We will have the upper hand soon." Emerald boasted.
"Hmmm… I've heard you unleashed a Hydra at the three?"
"Yes. Do not worry, it's part of my little game. Soon, I'll be playing 'god' and manipulate their every move."
"I'm expecting a lot from you than your other sisters."
"Thank you. You won't be disappointed."
Soon, River Mountain started to shake. They felt the vibration and suddenly jumped out of the tent.
"What the--!?" Riku shouted.
They saw the huge Hydra coming towards them. One of the heads suddenly swept them and got Crystal by its neck.
"Aaaahhh!!! Let me go!"
"Crystal!" Riku shouted.
End of Chapter 6…