Chapter 2: Sherwood Forest

"Are we there yet" groaned Riku. "Shut your trap!" screamed Cid; he heard that phrase too many times. "We're traveling through a world gate so it'll take a while." Everyone sighed. "Sora, we've got a surprise for you" said Yuffie. Sora stopped raiding the fridge of its paopu fruit and went to Yuffie, who was standing next to the ship's computer. He offered her a fruit but Kairi smacked him. "Remember this face?" asked Yuffie typing in something into the keyboard. "Hello Sora!" said a familiar voice from the computer. Sora's jaw dropped. On the monitor was Tron waving. Donald and Goofy's jaws dropped as well. "Tron?" they all gasped. "Man, this day keeps getting better!" Sora added. "Squall transferred me to the ship's computer; after you left, he gave downloaded a dance upgrade for me, get jiggy with it!" There was an awkward silence. "Umm…we're here" Cid said slowly. "Sweet!" Yuffie laughed. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Squall and Mickey raced outside, almost trampling Cid. "Break it down!" yelled Tron, everyone ignored the program.

Sherwood Forest was a simple medieval town. It was surrounded by well…forests. There was also a large, tall stone castle next to the market. "Now what?" asked Donald. "Whelp, we best ask the owner of the castle about those Thoughtless" said Mickey. "Speaking of which? Where are the?" asked Riku. "Right here" yelled a voice. The group turned in the direction of the voice. There, on the castle walls, was a teenager dressed in black. He wore a leather coat and everything else he wore was gothic like. He had long, red hair that almost covered his eyes and ears. "Are you an Organization XIII member?" asked Goofy idiotically. "Bah, those losers? No way! I'm the leader of The Dark Crusade; the name's Darkmaster, but call me DM."

"The Dark Crusade?" repeated a confused Riku. "Yep, we're the owners of the Thoughtless" said DM proudly. "Are there thirteen of you?" asked Sora. "Sadly no, the main members consist of seven demons." "Where are they?" asked Kairi. "Oh yeah! How rude of me! Dark Crusade, reveal yourselves!" commanded DM. On that word, six flames bursted from the castle wall. When the embers died, six human looking, black coated people stood besides DM. "Say hello to Echie, Shades, Darkfire, Potatokiller, Flamer and Tronnit; we also have a new member joining, but he's at home going through the initiation" laughed DM. "Ok, now I know you guys are ripping off Organization XIII," Sora mocked "y'know with the black coats and all." The Dark Crusade all stared at him shocked. "Come again? Oh, I get it! We're copying the 'we may look human but we're just higher forms of our lackeys trick'; guys, lets show 'em our true forms!" Shadows covered the members for a brief period, they soon left. The gang looked at the members with disbelief. "How in the…" muttered Squall. DM now looked like a werewolf, Echie looked like a dragon, and Tronnit's black coat turned into a trench coat and sprouted angel and demon wings. Darkfire didn't transform much but he had flames circling around him, Potatokiller's black coat turned into a red trench coat. Flamer's hair turned red and spiky, his eyes turned black and red, Shade's body turned fox-like and his head and legs turned dragon. "Say hello to the 'true' Dark Crusade" laughed DM.

"Still think we're rip offs now Sora?" asked Flamer. "Yep." All the members sighed. "We'll teach you," yelled Darkfire "Thoughtless attack!" Numerous zombie like monsters appeared. They looked like weasels and rhinos in medieval clothing. "These must be locals that have turned into Thoughtless" guessed Squall. Everyone prepared for battle. Before Donald and Goofy could move, the archer weasels shot them in the leg. Squall rushed forwards and slew the battle-axe rhino Thoughtless. The key bearers slashed the Thoughtless footmen. Kairi and her Oathkeeper were defeating Thoughtless easily. Sora, Riku and King Mickey defeated them just as easily. "See, I told you guys they'll never know what hit them" DM gloated to his friends. "Dude," Shades whispered to DM "they're beating the Thoughtless." There was a long pause. "Shut up."

"Is that all you got?" taunted Riku. "Umm…Flamer, we're leaving this to you, BYE!" rushed Echie. He and his six other followers disappeared in black flames. Flamer stood staring at the heroes. "Well….this is awkward" he said scratching his red spiky hair. "Oh yeah! I gotta find that source thingy, later!" He then disappeared. "Uh, don't worry about us or anything, we're just DYING!" screamed Donald. Squall called Aerith to collect Donald and Goofy and bring them to the med-bay. King Mickey went to protect her. "We best go find the owner of that castle" said Squall. "To the castle you say, I'll help you travelers!"

A fox dressed in a green tunic and hat jumped from a tree. "I'm known far and wide," he exclaimed, "I'm the world famous outlaw, Robin Hood!" "Never heard of you" replied Sora, "sorry" added Riku, "nope" sighed Kairi. Robin sighed. "Never mind," he said, upset. "Let's just go to the castle, I'm married to a member of the royal family, Maid Marylyn." "Aw, how sweet!" sighed Kairi blushing. She nudged Sora…violently.

Sherwood Castle was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside, and just as classy. There were stained glass windows and gold objects as far as the eye can see. "Wow, this King Richard must live a full life" Riku said in awe. "Yes he has it all, but he has been sick lately" Robin reported sadly. "What seems to be the problem?" asked Squall, growing in concern. "He's quite pale, he moves stiffly; he also orders people to come in the throne room, they are never seen after that." Sora leaned over to Riku and Kairi. "Sounds like the work of Thoughtless if you ask me" he whispered. Robin Hood opened up the throne room doors. "My liege, I brought some travelers who wish to speak to you… who are you?"

Next to King Richard was Flamer. "Oh…I'm just looking…for something…so ignore me!" he said cautiously. "Stay away from King Richard!" yelled Robin. He fired two arrows at Flamer. Flamer summoned forth a Thoughtless to take the blow. "Y'know, I didn't want to get aggressive, but you left me with no choice!" yelled Flamer. "RED CARNAGE!" Once he said that a huge, blood red, spiked buster sword came to his hand. "Let's do this!" shouted Sora. The two other key bearers drew their keyblades. Squall made the first move with his Gunblade. "Firaga!" he screamed. A massive fireball was launched and struck Flamer. He simply shrugged off the attack. "What?" said Squall confused. "Those the name 'Flamer' mean anything to you? I'm immune to fire, idiot" taunted Flamer. "Are you immune to this?" shouted Kairi. The Oathkeeper slammed into Flamer's face. "Ow! That 'really, really' hurt!" moaned Flamer. "What about this?"

Kairi performed numerous combos on Flamer. Squall, Sora and Riku stood with their mouths wide open. Robin Hood moved in to help and fired arrows that stuck Flamer's arm. "Thoughtless! Stop that fox!" cried Flamer. Thoughtless King Richard marched towards Robin. He seized and flung him against the wall. Flamer blocked Kairi's next attack and seized her by the throat. Sora and friends tried to save her but Flamer created a prison of fire to cage them. He stared at Kairi, his red and black eyes were reflecting fire. He whispered the word 'meteor' to her. His Red Carnage sword started to rumble.

Flamer threw her down and pointed his blade at her. "An unstoppable meteor will come forth from the tip of my blade, you shall be obliterated, just like your friends" Kairi glanced at her friends. The Thoughtless of King Richard was attacking them. She tried to reach for her keyblade, it was too far. The meteor was building up. "Die" Flamer whispered. A twanging sound was heard, Kairi opened her eyes. An arrow was sticking out of Flamers heart. "Eat that!" yelled Robin, holding his bow. Flamer fell to his knees. "I'll…be…back" he gasped. With the last of his breath, he fell and vanished in some green flame. Just his coat remained.

Flamer was dead. A small, multi-colored light floated out of Flamer's coat. It disappeared into King Richard's head. He regained his lion colors. "Where am I?" he asked. "Inside your castle" said Robin Hood. "You lost your imagination and became a mindless zombie" explained Riku. "If it wasn't for Robin Hood and Kairi, you'd still be a Thoughtless" added Sora. "Well thank you all," thanked King Richard. "Here take this, it's your reward."

OBTAINED THE FOREST HERO KEYBLADE

Suddenly the throne started flashing. It lifted and revealed a keyhole. The entire key bearer's keyblades started glowing. Beams shot out from the keyblades. The keyhole sealed and locked. "What was that?" asked Kairi. "Maybe this'll explain it, it was in the treasury. Maybe it's important for your mission" said King Richard.

OBTAINED SECRET 'SECRET' ANSEM'S REPORT 1

"We best get going" said Squall. So the gang left Sherwood Forest and returned to the Gummi Cruiser. "I've got some bad news," said Aerith, "Donald and Goofy have got some pretty bad wounds and they can't carry on with the adventure." "Gwarsh, sorry Sora" said Goofy, he was almost crying. 'Its ok guys, you best get better back home." The Gummi Cruiser landed on Disney Castle and dropped off Donald and Goofy. "Say, Aerith…why didn't you use your Cure spell?" asked Sora. "That's the problem, it didn't work." "What?" asked Sora. "My magic doesn't seem to work on Thoughtless wounds."

So Sora and friends faced another problem. White magic doesn't work on damage from Thoughtless. Sora gave Cid the Secret 'Secret' Ansem's Report to translate as they headed to the next world.