Chapter 3-Quest

"Wow," said Nela "quite a story." "Yep." replied Ale "Now Cloud, I think its time for your story." "But you haven't agreed to take us on your Gummy ship yet." "It's a two part deal, Cloud." said Ale "First you tell me your story, then you get the second part of the deal." "Fine" said Cloud.

"Well I was in SOLDIER for about 2 years. My higher ranking officer and I were on a mission to an 'unnamed world' and we were only given the coordinates by Sephiroth who claimed that the order to go was from the Elders of SOLDIER."

"Wait." interrupted Ale "Who was your higher ranking officer?" "General Sterling." replied Cloud. "Wow! You were partnered with the only SOLDIER General to be better than Sephiroth?" asked Ale surprisingly

"Yeah. Now General Sterling and I were within a quarter of a mile of the place and we knew we were in trouble. We saw The World that Never Was." Ale's eyes dilated. Just the mentioning of that wretched place made him shiver… Cloud continued "But we couldn't disobey a command from the Elders. So we went in and started on our objective; to find an enemy no one's seen before.

"We were there for about an hour, exhausted from searching every spot of the world. Then they came. They looked like the Heartless that attacked my sister and me earlier, but with no antennae and they were completely white. Probably some new Heartless. Anyway there were about fifteen of them surrounding Sterling and me. They were easy at first for us to hold off, but they kept coming. Eventually Sterling told me to leave. I fought and argued and said I wouldn't go. After all he became like a father to me. But he insisted. And when I still wouldn't go, he used reflect magic on me and I went flying into the Gummy ship. Luckily the Air doors opened, or it would've hurt. Anyway he had really thought ahead, because the autopilot took off without me saying anything. I never saw him again…"

Cloud paused and closed his eyes. He opened them and exclaimed, "I knew Sephiroth sent us there on purpose! The Elders had nothing to do with it! He wanted to be SOLDIER's best, and he would do anything to get to that point. That's why my sister and me have to come with you! Deal?"

Ale thought, "Sure, first we have to seal the Keyhole. And are you sure your sister can hold her own against the Heartless and whatever other kind of monsters we find out there?"

"Hey!" she exclaimed in annoyed anger "I learned my sword skills from my bro over here! I can fight anything he can!"

"Ok, ok!" replied Ale, overwhelmed from the sudden outburst "Just get your sword! And hurry, the Heartless can be going anywhere now. We're just lucky I have the invasion report."

About ten minutes later she finally returned with a katana. Cloud was leaning against a wall and Ale was lying down. "Man!" exclaimed Ale "I know women take forever to change, but you were just getting a sword!"

"Shut up!" she yelled teasingly, "Come on, lets go!" exclaimed Cloud from about twenty feet ahead of Ale and Nela "The Heartless don't stop moving!" "Right." Replied Ale. His Keyblade pointed in Cloud's direction "Nice guess Cloud!" yelled Ale "Just get moving!" he replied. Ale and Nela ran towards Cloud's direction as he ran in the same direction. Ale and Nela exchanged glances and smiled at each other. It was going to be tough journey, but they would have to keep a positive outlook…

They arrived at the Great Maw a few minutes later. The group came to a stop "Where's the Keyhole, Ale?" asked Cloud. He took lead and said "Follow me.". He took a few steps when out of absolutely nowhere came a Darkside. "Ale," started Nela "is this the Heartless you told us about in your story?" "Yep." he said "Now we know he's taking us seriously, he doesn't usually send a Darkside on a person twice." "That's because the first one usually wastes the guy!" replied Cloud. "Well, I took one down on my own, we can definitely take one together." Said Ale. The Keyblade appeared in Ale's hands.

"Let's go!" he exclaimed. "Cloud, you attack the middle area, Nela, attack the feet. I'll try to stun its head." Nela kept taking slashes at the enormous Heartless' feet and shins, Cloud repeatedly jumped up and attacked the waist. Ale jumped with all of his might and threw the Keyblade at the Darkside's head. It felt nothing.

"Ale, what's going on?" asked Cloud "They must've made this one different." Replied Ale "The other one I fought went down with one slash from the Keyblade." "Well clearly this one's tougher." Said Nela who was still taking diagonal slashes at the Darkside and clumsily let go of her blade in mid-slash and it flew up and struck the Darkside in an 'uncomfortable spot between the legs'. "Oooooooooooooo…." Said Nela. The Darkside let out a loud deep moan. Something sparked in Ale. He jumped, kicked off the Darkside's waist and pushed back in mid-air, then finished by taking advantage of the Darkside's 'discomfort' and slashed where the heart would be if it were a human. The large corpse fell and deteriorated at the same time and was gone before it touched the ground. It never saw it coming…

"Wow…" said Ale "Why did… how did… but… never mind." "That was a pathetic death. Or should I say disappearance. Heartless technically can't die." Said Cloud. "I guess you all have me to thank!" said Nela "You and your clumsiness!" Replied Ale. "Oh shut up!" she playfully yelled back.

Ale returned to seriousness "The Keyhole." He said. He pointed his Keyblade up and the Keyhole appeared in the sky. Like previously, abeam of light raced from the Keyblade to the Keyhole, and the Keyhole then disappeared.

"Ok, to the Gummy ship." Said Ale, turning back to his friends. "Where exactly is it?" asked Cloud. Ale pointed to a bare rock.

"What?" asked Nela "Just run into the wall." Replied Ale. Cloud and Nela just stared in confusion. "Trust me." he said. Cloud went first. He started fast and slowed down a little towards the end. But he disappeared into the rock. "Weird." Said Nela "Your turn" replied Ale "Ok." She said reluctantly. "It's better of you close your eyes." He said, "I'm tougher than that!" she replied. She started to run but she tripped. "We have to hurry." Said Ale. He grabbed her hand, helped her up and pulled her through the rock as they ran together.

Inside was a huge Gummy garage, about the same size as the one in SOLDIER. Cloud turned "What are you guys doing?" they looked down and saw that they were still holding hands. They quickly pulled away. "Oops." Said Nela "Sorry." Replied Ale. There was an awkward silence for about five seconds. Ale spoke first "Well let's go!" he said and he ran towards a big Gummy ship. "Nice ship." Said Cloud "Thanks, Falcon has never let me down." Ale replied with his hand on the ship's side. Ale put his hand on a picture of a falcon on the ship and a four by three grid appeared showing the numbers zero through nine, an asterisk and a number symbol. Ale typed in a complicated 10-digit code and a ramp extended from the ship's back area.

"After you." Said Ale. Nela stepped onto the ramp and walked up, then Cloud did likewise. Ale followed them and entered the cockpit. "Ok levitation Gummies, engine Gummies, up. We are go!" he said. The Gummy ship blasted upwards into a flight lane, then forward out of the hangar. Their quest was about to begin…