Well, I see this story's real popular on here right now

XP

Oh well, that first part kinda sucked anyway, even with editing

As for GoH and Krazy, I'll be replying to your reviews soon

And because I forgot last time….

I DON'T OWN KINGDOM HEARTS!

Phase 1: The Messenger

"Hey, Sora, you gonna stare out that window all day or what?"

"Huh?" Sora mumbled, before noticing that Riku was standing beside him. He looked out the window again and saw that they were now in Traverse Town.

"Everyone's waiting for you, you know," Riku added with a smirk.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Sora replied as he got out of his seat and followed Riku outside. Waiting for him was not only Leon, Donald, and Goofy, but also Aerith, Yuffie, Cid, and Cloud.

"Hey, guys," Sora answered casually. "What's new?"

"Well, we found a Darkside in Agrabah, but we took care of it," Cid answered as he lit a new cigarette. "Other than that, not much."

"Anything new on the Master of Darkness?" Riku asked.

Sora sighed. He knew he was gonna ask that.

"No, but we're keeping an eye out for that rascal," Cid replied.

"And when we do find him he'll take THIS, and THAT, and THIS..." Yuffie exclaimed as she did fancy jumps and throws with her huge shrunken. "And there won't be anything left of him." she said smugly.

"More like he'll wipe you off the face of the universe before you can even move," Cloud interrupted, putting his huge sword over his shoulder.

"WHAT! Yuffie yelled and jumped around a bit. "Oh, yeah, well Take THIS!" she shouted and flung her shuriken straight at Cloud.

Cloud lazily glanced at the weapon, then unfurled his two fully-grown bat wings, which had been hidden by his cape. With a few flaps he was well out of the range of the shuriken.

"No fair! Get down here!" she yelled as she began to jump from rooftop to rooftop to try to catch up with him.

Cid chuckled as he watched the scene unwind. Then he turned to Riku. "But I wouldn't worry about it. With you being the Master of Light and us to back you up, we'll blast that bastard out of existence." He cast down the burnt-out cigarette and stomped on it like that alone would kill this Master of Darkness.

"Yeah!" Riku answered

"Agreed!" Aerith replied

"Where is he, anyway? Let me at him! Let at him! QUAQUAQUAQUAQUAQUA!" Donald exclaimed, jumping around in his fighting pose, completely unaware that this Master of Darkness was right next to him.

Sora smiled and sighed quietly so the others wouldn't notice. If only they knew...

"You fools have no idea who the Master of Darkness is," a voice behind Sora spoke. Everyone spun around to see a man with spiky red hair in a black cloak. It was none other than Axel. "If you had a clue to who you were to go up against, you wouldn't be so eager to fight." He looked straight at Sora as he said this.

Sora glared back. "I have a bone to pick with you," he growled as he and Riku drew their Keyblades.

Axel crossed his arms and smirked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You liar!" Sora exclaimed "You're the one who ambushed me the other day!"

"Whine, whine, whine," Axel teased. "I'd expected more from the Keyblade Master. For such a strong fighter, you sure were easy to defeat back there."

"That's because you and your friends ganged up on me when I was by myself!" Sora growled, taking his battle stance.

"What do you want?" Riku asked, also taking his fighting stance.

"Oh, I just thought you'd be interested to know who the Master of Darkness is," he replied casually. "But if you're not curious..."

Riku's eyes narrowed. "Why would you want to tell us?"

He shrugged. "I just thought you'd find his identity...interesting..." he responded, his eyes locked on the spiky-haired kid. "I'll give you a hint. He's on this very planet right now."

"What!" Riku exclaimed, whipping his head around in search of anything suspicious. "Where!"

"Why, he's right here," Axel answered with a mischievous grin on his face. "Certainly you've figured this out by now."

"Give us one reason why we should believe a word you say," Cid growled, preparing his spear.

"I don't care if you believe me or not," Axel replied. "It doesn't change the fact that it's the truth."

"Well, I've had enough of you for one day," Sora snapped and lunged at Axel.

Axel leisurely drifted out of the way. "But if you want to fight instead, that's fine too,'' he added as he summoned two intricately designed spiked discuses. "Bring it on!"

"Gladly!" Sora responded. "You still owe me a new gummi ship, anyway."

Axel summoned several pillars of flame that went straight for Sora and Riku. Sora dodge-rolled out of the way and Riku somehow managed to jump over them.

"Sora! What was that about?" Riku growled to Sora, barely audible.

"I don't trust him," Sora whispered back. "He's probably trying to send us off on a wild goose chase or something.''

"Well, you could've at least let him finish," Riku hissed back.

"What are you two talking about that's so much more important than our fight?" Axel asked as he threw his two spiked discs at the Keybladers. They evaded the discs, but Riku got nicked by one of them on their return trip to Axel.

"Ah, damn it," Riku muttered as he hurriedly tied a white cloth over the cut.

The others prepared to rush in, but Riku stopped them. "Don't worry. We can take him."

"Blizzaga!" he shouted as several ice crystals shot out of the tip of his Keyblade. Axel quickly floated away, the attack barely missing him as it froze a bench behind him.

"Blizzaga!" Sora yelled, as the spell burst out of his Keyblade. Axel was hit in the left side of his chest and went hurling into some crates, sending dust and debris into the air.

Before the dust could settle, Axel screamed "Firega!" A giant sphere of flame rocketed out of the dust-choked area and hit Sora straight on.

"Gak!" he cried out as the fireball slammed him into a wall, then dissimilated into nothing.

"Sora!" Riku called out.

"I'm fine," Sora replied. "Curaga!" A fine green mist poured out of the Keyblade and swirled around him, easing his wounds.

Sora ran up to Riku and whispered. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Riku replied.

The two of them got into symmetric fighting poses.

Axel walked out of the remaining dust.

"Now!" Sora shouted. They sprinted towards Axel at the exact same speed. "Eyaaahh!" they yelled together and struck him with their Keyblades. Then he followed up with a coordinated chain of Keyblades strikes that end with a synchronized Blizzaga spell that knocked Axel against the wall.

Axel got up, dusted himself off, and chuckled. "How ironic," he said, shaking his head. Then he disappeared.

Riku lowered his Keyblade. "What was that about? He didn't even try to put up a fight."

"Yeah," Sora agreed.

"C'mon, he might still be here somewhere," Riku told the others.

They nodded and everyone went off in different directions.

As the allies parted ways, Sora turned his back, laid the Keyblade over his shoulder, and headed for Leon's old cave.

"He acted like...he knew..." Sora thought as he ambled down the alley where Leon's cave was located. He blankly stared up at the hotel rooms above him. "But how could he know? I've been so careful..."

As he entered the cave and the space around him fell into shadow, the flutter of a dark cloak not too far ahead caught his eye. He rushed over and, sure enough, it was Axel.

"Why, if it isn't His Majesty," Axel mocked, bowing down, then looking up with a taunting grin.

Sora froze for a moment, then regained his composure. "How you do you know about that?" he growled, his eyes narrowing.

"How could anyone not know about it?" Axel teased, proudly striding back and forth. "Once the word got out, it spread like the darkness itself. The path you were destined to follow has become quite well known now," he explained. "At least, it has among the followers of the dark."

Sora stood eerily silent.

"Shall I continue?"

Sora gave no response.

"Many are wondering why you're still hanging out with those losers," Axel went on, creating a image of Donald and Goofy, and a few others out of crimson flames, then snuffing them out. "Especially him," Axel added, summoning a flame-born image of Riku before crushing with his grip.

"I don't care what I'm supposed to be!" Sora shouted at him, squeezing his Keyblade tight. "I'll never chose to go on the side of darkness!"

"Who says you have a choice?" Axel stated. "You've been chosen by fate to be the Master of Darkness, and you have to carry out the path set before you."

"And what if I ignore fate's wishes?" Sora smirked, crossing his arms.

"Well, I suppose you could run," Axel answered, shrugging. "But you can't escape it. No matter how far you run, once day you'll have no choice but to accept your fate."

"I guess I'll just have to defeat fate then," Sora replied, smiling slightly. He turned around and began to walk out.

"They'll turn on you, you know," Axel said in an icy tone.

Sora stopped and turned his head back to glare at him, then continued walking away.

"Just in case you didn't know," Axel added, shrugging. Then he vanished into the air.

Sora never looked back as he exited the cave.

-------

Sora, Riku and the others were all gathered up at the First District.

"Any luck?" Riku asked, surveying his companions.

"Nope."

"Not really."

"No dice."

"What about you Sora?" Riku questioned.

Sora gazed at him and shook his head. "Nothing."

"Man, this sucks," Cid growled, flinging his cigarette to the ground and stomping on it.

"Cid, you've gone through a pack of cigarettes today," Aerith said. "I thought you said you'd stop smoking so much!"

"Meh," Cid replied, sticking yet another cigarette from a new pack into his mouth. "Well, anyway, if you guys see heads or tails of that bastard let me know." Then Cid proceeded to his workshop.

"Okay," everyone responded.

Sora yawned, stretching his arms. "Well, if you guys see him, I'll be at the hotel." He needed some time to cool off anyway.

'But you can't escape it. No matter how far you run, one day you'll have no choice but to accept your fate.'

Sora shrugged.

"I'll never give in. No matter what fate has planned for me."

There you go. Tell me what you think.

Well, cya!