Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Familiar Faces- Chapter 10

Ni-Ne, have you ever had a boyfriend before?" Ti-Day asked as he and Ni-Ne walked the halls of the castle, no longer paying attention to finding King Mickey.

"No," Ni-Ne answered quietly. She looked intimidated by Ti-Day's constant persist of winning her over. She had never grown up around boys her age fit for dating, and was really shy about the whole idea.

"Well, I keep asking and you never answer me," Ti-Day said. "Will you go out with me or not?" Ni-Ne stayed silent. She was nervous and really couldn't find an answer being put on the spot all the time. She just stared at Ti-Day trying to get across to him it wasn't something she was comfortable with. "That's ok," Ti-Day said with a genuine smile. "I'll let you think about it. No point in rushing anything since we just met and all." Ti-Day turned his head forward to continue leading the way through the halls but just as he did, something hard smashed him right in the face.

"I thought I heard something annoying," Kita's voice sounded. She had just planted a direct target for her key blade into Ti-Day's face.

"I like your style," Riku said praising Kita.

"Shut it, or you'll be next," Kita said threatening Riku with her key blade. Pom-Pom made a giggling noise.

"Touchy. Meow!" Riku teased. Riku apparently had quicker reflexes than Ti-Day as he jumped aside avoiding a painful whack in the head.

"Um, Kita? Who are these guys?" Ti-Day asked staring at Sora and Riku who had arrived at the scene with her.

"Oh, this is Sora," Kita said pointing to Sora. "And this is your long lost twin, Riku," she said pointing to Riku.

"Are you sure?" Ti-Day asked. "We don't look alike… And as far as I know, I have no siblings."

"Well the two of you sure act alike," Kita said sounding rather hopeless. Kita turned to Ni-Ne and came in close to whisper something to her. "Ni-Ne, guys are pushovers. You just have to exercise your privilege to bend them in half once in a while."

"Hey! I can hear you!" Ti-Day shouted. Ni-Ne looked confused.

"If Ti-Day gives you any trouble, just hit him over the head with your key blade. That's what they're best for anyway," Kita continued, paying no attention to Ti-Day. Ni-Ne still just stared curiously. She hadn't really though of hitting Ti-Day over the head, but Kita seemed to do it an awful lot.

Ti-Day decided to take matters into his own hands. If Kita could give Ni-Ne girl-talk, the he could certainly give Sora and Riku man-to-man talk. He covered his mouth with his hand to secretly talk to Sora and Riku behind him. "It's really the girls who are pushovers. It's best just to let them think they hold the upper hand while they never find out you only play along so they can feel good." Sora and Riku looked at each other, but Riku seemed to be the one taking in this information. He probably thought it useful for future use.

Kita finally stepped away from Ni-Ne and turned to the guys. "Well, we've got to find Donald and Goofy and get on our merry way. King Mickey's left, so there's no point in staying any longer."

"Here here," Ti-Day said, over exaggerating his enthusiasm to move on.

"I think they are closer than you think," Ni-Ne said. "I just saw them in the garage before we all met here.

"Why didn't you say something? Let's go!" Sora said, taking charge and leading the way. The others followed him.

"Uggg!" Ti-Day sounded as he sort of tripped to the ground. "My heart… something's wrong," he said weakly, collapsing on the ground and holding his chest. Kita was the first to come to his side. She had the look of worry in her eyes.

"Ti-Day? What's wrong," she said with an unnaturally sad tone of voice. She had her hand on his shoulder to show concern.

"I- I… GOTCHA!" Ti-Day said getting up and laughing his head off.

"WHY YOU LITTLE!" Kita said preparing her key blade to strike him once more. Ni-Ne was laughing hard. Sora and Riku looked a bit confused, but they too thought it was a good joke. Pom-Pom was bouncing around happily thinking it was a game.

Kita was charging with maximum rage towards Ti-Day as he continued to run away. "And that my friends is how you bend the ladies!" Ti-Day shouted in victory. Sora and Riku were laughing as hard as Ni-Ne now. They admired Ti-Day's cunning tactics just to tic Kita off.

"That's enough children!" Donald's voice rang out. Donald and Goofy must have heard the ruckus the group was making and decided to bring some order to the situation. Everyone stopped what he or she was doing at once. Ti-Day was left in a strange pose after stopping in mid run. "This is some serious matter we're dealing with here and all of you are playing games!" Donald scolded.

"Aww come on Donald, they were just having fun," Goofy said, sticking up for them. "The world's are growin darker everyday, let 'um have some fun."

"No Goofy!" Donald continued. "We have some serious business and there will be no games!"

"First off, we are not kids," Riku said, coming forward. "And second, you need to lighten up!"

"Watch it Whitey," Donald said, speaking about Riku's hair.

"Excuse me?" Kita said. "Whitey? In case you didn't notice, I have white hair. What's wrong with that!" Riku looked over at Kita and for the first time felt like she actually didn't hate his guts.

"You guys!" Sora shouted. "We need to work together here. We are supposed to be on the same side. Think about all those people out there who are lost or disappearing while we stand around here and fight. Kairi's out there! I'm not staying any longer." Sora made his way through the group and started heading for the Gummi garage bye himself.

"I'm with Sora on this," Kita said. Though she never had a major connection to Hercules or Simba, she still felt responsible for their loss, and was ready to get out there and find them. Riku followed her feeling it was unnecessary to fight with Donald anymore. Pom-Pom scurried away after Kita as well.

"I'm going too," Ti-Day said. He took Ni-Ne's hand to bring her along as well. Ni-Ne blushed as she was dragged away.

"That's more like it," Donald said, making it sound as though he was the one responsible for this sudden change of heart from the others. "Come on Goofy." Goofy followed Donald back to the Gummi garage. Kita, Ti-Day, Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom had full plans to ride together again in their own ship. But this time, someone else wanted to tag along.

"If it's alright, may I join you on your ship?" Riku asked Kita politely.

"Only if you two jokers can keep quiet and be serious," Kita said firmly. She wasn't about to drive a Gummi Ship with two clowns in the back seat. They'd all be doomed to crash if that happened.

"I promise," Riku said, for once sounding sincerer. Kita watched Riku jump onto the ship. She wasn't about to admit she thought he was cute, but she did think so.

"Where we headed?" Kita asked Donald who was driving the other ship.

"Just follow me!" Donald said, sounding important. The two Gummi Ships were closed up, loaded and ready to go. One right after the other they took off from the Magic Kingdom landing, and headed out into outer space to find another world that would need saving.

"Donald, are we there yet?" Kita asked over the radio system. Kita was getting tired and just wanted to land. Riku and Ti-Day managed to be so quiet, they were putting Kita to sleep at the controls.

"Hold your horses!" Donald's hoarse voice called back through the radio. "We're getting close." Within minutes a world appeared outside the window. Kita's eyes were fixed on it and she was more than ready to get out of the Gummi Ship and stretch her legs. The temple like structures suggested a Greek style to the world. The sun was shining brightly and it looked like a safe place to land. "We're going in," Donald said, leading the way. Kita was close behind and landed safely next to Donald's ship.

Kita looked behind her to inform the others since they seemed so quiet. "We're h-," Kita paused in mid sentence. Riku, Ti-Day and Ni-Ne were leaning up against each other, fast asleep. Pom-Pom was nestled under Ti-Day's arm. "Well, that explains a lot," Kita said to herself as she had finally figured out why the journey was so quiet. "RISE AND SHINE SLEEPY HEADS!"

"What!" Ti-Day said being the first to snap back to consciousness. Riku and Ni-Ne looked annoyed from hearing the shout that suddenly woke them.

"We're hear," Kita said staring at the sleepy eyed passengers. Donald, Goofy and Sora were out of their ship already. Kita left the ship leaving the others to make their way out at their own pace. "Where are we?" Kita said looking around.

"Olympus Coliseum," Donald said. "It was the first world on the map. Someone should be around." Finally the three sleepy heads made their way out of the ship, not really looking anymore awake. There was a strange noise in the distance, like the sound of someone fighting. "There's our company," Donald said moving towards the sound. He started at a run suggesting the group might make their way along and help whoever it was in distress.

"Ya! Take that!" the voice was saying. It sounded as though some combat were taking place. Everyone hurried along to see what was going on. There was a boy fighting a couple heartless up ahead. Ti-Day took his staff and cast a freeze spell that captured the attackers. Ni-Ne made a move to follow up by shooting fireballs at the heartless and destroying them. "Ah, thanks," the boy said turning to face the group.

Kita gasped. "Hercules!" she shouted realizing who it was. "You're alive!"

"Kita? What are you doing here?" Hercules said, in the same surprised tone. They ran up to each other.

"I thought you were gone for good," Kita said.

"Actually I ended up back here," Hercules explained. "This is my home."

"Where's Simba?" Kita asked hoping Hercules knew. Hercules turned his head to the side and stayed silent.

"Simba?" Sora said. "I know Simba! Look!" Sora pulled a gem out of his pocket and performed a ritual with his Key Blade that turned the stone into a spirit. It was Simba.

"Simba!" Kita said. She went to wrap her arms around his head. He was very cold. "What happened to you?" Kita asked.

"Kita? What are you doing here?" Simba asked. He was almost an adult now, as it had been awhile since they'd seen each other.

"Simba, why are you a spirit? What happened?" Kita persisted.

"Well when the darkness got me, I fought against it, and it was like my soul split in half," Simba explained. "But I guess I was still able to help fight against the darkness. I help Sora now."

"Yeah, I found his gem when we were fighting heartless in Traverse Town," Sora explained. "That's cool that you guys all know each other, though I don't know how."

"Simba, Hercules and I were the first Warriors of Light," Kita explained to everyone seeing the clueless looks on their faces. Only Goofy, Donald and Ti-Day were familiar with the story. "We only had one mission and it kinda ended there." Kita trailed off sounding sad just thinking back to it. But now Hercules and Simba were safe. At least for now.

"Kita, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend," Riku interrupted.

"He is NOT my boyfriend!" Kita shouted, her blood starting to boil.

"I was just messin with ya," Riku said laughing.

"Still as stubborn as ever I see," Hercules said. Kita just eyed him evilly. As long as Ti-Day, Riku and Hercules existed, there would always be three guys that knew just how to get on her nerves.

"Who are the newbies?" Hercules asked.

"Oh, this is Sora, the Key Blade Master, Riku second most annoying person on earth, Ti-Day, thee most annoying person on earth and Ni-Ne Nite, the only sweetheart in the bunch," Kita introduced everyone. Riku and Ti-Day didn't look the least bit surprised they had been introduced the way they had. The truth was that they enjoyed teasing Kita too much to argue. Pom-Pom bounced on Kita's head for attention. "And we can't forget Pom-Pom the pomu."

"Well, thanks for helping me out with the heartless Ti-Day and Ni-Ne," Hercules thanked them. "They've been floating around here for a while now. Usually I'd take them on in the arena, but they caught me off guard."

"Sounds like your world needs sealed," Sora jumped in. "That's why I've come."

"Good luck finding the keyhole," Hercules said. "I don't even know where it is. You guys want to camp here for the night?"

"That would be great," Kita said. She was the only one from her ship that wasn't able to rest up and she was starting to feel it.

"You look tired," Riku said. "Need me to carry you?"

"NO!" Kita shouted at him. The group followed Hercules to the Coliseum where they'd be spending the night.