CHAPTER XV
NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY
"You guys did it again! I can't believe you!" Kairi furiously paced up and down the hall of the cornerstone. "I can't even go to sleep without worrying if you're going to run off without me!"
"And you, Donald! You promised no more of this adventure business! We need you around the castle…" but Daisy's voice was drowned out by the sound of the main door to the audience chamber opening and slamming.
King Mickey and Queen Minnie descended the stairs into the hall, wearing very concerned expressions. From behind them came Merlin and Cid.
Sora ran his hand through his hair and smiled faintly at everyone.
"King Mickey, your majesty, we didn't mean to run off…honest. Someone needed our help in Monstropolis, and we couldn't just say no!" Sora pleaded.
"Yeah, King Mickey, honest!" Goofy added.
"Monstropolis, hm? I'll have to look it up. But what you did was dangerous, guys. We need to stick together and keep in touch if we're going to find out where all these heartless are coming from. If what you said is true about Radiant Garden, that's a whole lot of heartless. It's gotta take someone way stronger than Maleficent to control them. Cid, come and show us what you got." King Mickey requested.
Cid walked into the center of the hall with a box under one arm. Merlin casually conjured a table out of nowhere, and Cid placed the box on it, removing the top. Inside were six small blue and grey bulbs with what looked like paper clips attached. Also inside the box were two more Heart Harvesters, the same purple color as Sora's.
"What're those?" Donald asked.
"Well, the two extra Heart Harvesters are for Riku and Kairi's keyblade…in case we all get separated again…"
Kairi loudly cleared her throat and glared at Riku and Sora. They suddenly found something very interesting about their shoes, and wouldn't look up for the next few moments.
"And the micro-coms are for Riku, Sora, Kairi, King Mickey, myself and Merlin. These little bad boys only need a little tap -" he demonstrated with his finger "- and they go active. Speak into it and all five others pick it up, crystal clear, no matter where you are in the universe. Six dedicated micro-com channels, courtesy of Cid Highwind."
He passed the units out, as everyone clipped them onto their clothing, mostly near their necklines. Riku, on the other hand, clipped his onto the inside of his wristband. When he noticed the strange look he was getting from Sora, all he said was "hey, ya never know."
When the micro-coms were all passed out and the Heart Harvesters attached to Riku and Kairi's keyblades, everyone seemed to calm down a bit. Sora explained the story of Mike, Sully and the other monsters from Monstropolis to his friends in the hall of the cornerstone, while brooms and mops carried in assorted sandwiches and energy drinks.
"Wait, one of the good guys got turned into a heartless in that world?" Kairi said, confused.
"He was abducted by Jafar, wearing some silver and black suit and a mask with a frown on it," Sora said.
Merlin nearly dropped his tea cup. "A costume similar to that of the man we met in the bailey, Sora?"
"Yeah, pretty much the same, except the mouth was different."
Kairi butted in. "Yeah, the guy in the bailey had a sort of…flat mouth. No emotion."
"And the guy that kidnapped me back on the Islands…his mouth was smiling," Riku added.
"What's it all mean, Merlin?" King Mickey asked.
"Bad news, I'm afraid, lads. You see, those suits are indicative of something called 'The Legion of Shadows'. It's a sinister group…more ruthless than the heartless and more cunning than Organization XIII. I've only met one of their members, but it was eons ago. His name was Maximilian. Never did see his face. This only confirms my suspicions – someone from the Legion is trying to assemble it once more, and now that I know people such as Jafar have joined their ranks, I'm quite worried."
Silence fell on the cornerstone of light, as everyone took this in.
"So they turned your friend into a heartless?" Cid asked, figuring something out in his head. "Well, we know there's a Nobody out there of Sully…somewhere."
"And Leon!" added Kairi. "I bet they're both in the World That Never Was! Wasn't that the base of operations for the Nobodies?"
"It's true that when a Nobody is created, it starts off in the World That Never Was…but there's no telling how long they would stay there, what they would look like or if they'd even remain friendly to us," Merlin explained. "We need to tread softly in this territory. Remember, only strong-willed people retain their physical traits as Nobodies…"
"I know that Leon's as strong willed as they come…" Cid mused.
"And the way Mike talks about Sully, it's a safe bet that he looks pretty close too," Sora added.
"Okay, that settles it. We're hoppin' on the gummi ship and heading for the World That Never Was. Tomorrow," Cid added, noticing how tired everyone looked. King Mickey, Queen Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Daisy all went into the castle, while Merlin led Cid, Kairi, Sora and Riku into the Disney square.
"The brooms and Yuffie managed to build me a house even larger then the one I had in Radiant Garden. Cid's able to have an entire room for his 'technology', while I'm able to relax in a room with none of it. You all will stay with us, and then tomorrow morning, we'll figure out who is setting off to the World That Never Was."
Daylight streamed through cracks in the wood in the extra room in Merlin's house, hitting Sora directly in the eye. He woke up, got dressed and headed out to the square to meet up with everyone else.
Merlin stood up on a pedestal he had conjured moments before. In the square stood King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Riku, Sora, Cloud, Yuffie, Aerith and Cid.
"Attention, attention. The World That Never Was is a dangerous place, filled with heartless and nobodies. The ruins of Castle Oblivion lie overhead the dark, damp streets of the city. Anyone going on this trip needs to realize that it's not a playground and serious damage certainly could happen if the proper care isn't taken."
Riku was the first one to stand up and address Merlin. "I'm not going."
Everyone was shocked – Riku was usually the first to put himself in the fray. "While battling Jafar and the Smiling Man back on the Islands, I found myself weaked when I tried to summon my keyblade. Sora and I figure the Legion members have some…enchantment or something that makes me unable to call my keyblade."
Cid leaned back in his chair. "Well, I can run some diagnostics on ya in my lab…Merlin can probably take a look at you too, see what's going on. Of course, I'd have to stay here in Disney Castle, if that were the case…"
"Good idea, Cid. Me and Kairi are gonna go to the World That Never Was. We've been there before…we have an advantage."
Kairi smiled at Sora, who quickly looked back at his shoes, blushing.
"Hey! We've been there before, too!" Donald said, irritated. "You're not going without me and Goofy."
Cid stood up. "Okay, well then that's the crew to investigate the World That Never Was. I made some new ships in the gummi hangar – some with some decent speed and weapon gummi's. But the maximum crew on each of them is four…so Sora, Kairi, Goofy and Donald – that's gonna be it."
The four of them nodded and sat down, as Cloud stood up. "I'm not sitting around here, waiting for the universe to implode around me," he said darkly. "Cid, can you spare another ship?"
"Sure thing, Cloud. As long as it comes back in one piece," Cid joked.
"Where are you planning to go?" Yuffie asked cheerily.
"You remember those heartless vessels we met on the way here, right? I'm gonna see if I can find any more of them, and trail one back to wherever they're coming from. It's a safe bet that somewhere, there's a world that has some massive shipyard. I just wanna see what we're up against," Cloud remained emotionless as everyone looked at him.
King Mickey spoke. "I'll go with you, Cloud." Queen Minnie started to protest, but knew that she was out voted.
Yuffie and Aerith also stood up. "You know, Cloud…what would you do if you didn't have friends like us to back you up?" They grinned.
Sora finished buying everything he needed for the trip – he had a box full of mega-ethers and hi-potions, and he even found a chest with a few AP Boost's in it around the hedges. Donald upgraded his Soul Catcher Wand to a Sizzle Stick, a magic wand that increases thunder damage. Goofy tried to sell his tattered Bounce Shield back…but ended up just throwing it away and purchasing a Stone Boomerang Shield. It was slightly smaller, but the attack power of it was amazing.
Sora tossed all his materials won from the hundreds of heartless he and his friends slew on the mountain at the small Moogle running the synthesis workshop. Before too long, he had three Runner Bangles and a Flip Charm – the Flip charm helped Kairi jump around at quick speeds when in a pinch, and the Runner Bangles increased everyone's normal speed.
When they all assembled in the gummi hangar later that night, Cid opened the bay doors to reveal two sleek, powerful looking gummi ships.
"Several front mounted laser turrets and a few repeating cannons on the belly. Decent engine gummis – you should be able to make it to the world that never was in less than a day from here. Also, there's a surprise in the cargo bay of each one," Cid explained.
Much smaller than the Red Zeppelin, he christened the yellow, orange and red one that Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy climbed into the "Barrett" and the purple and black one that held Cloud, King Mickey, Yuffie and Aerith the "Fenrir 2". Fenrir 2 was out the bay doors and out of sight before Sora even started the Barrett.
But at the last moment, a small, green blur whizzed past Cid's ear down at the control panel, up the wing span of the Barrett and floated right in front of the main view screen. Sora smiled and opened the hatch, letting Eddy the heartless come aboard, as the ship slowly raised through the bay door, and quickly jetted off into the dark, freezing reaches of space.
