CHAPTER XXXII
INTERESTING LOCALES
"Only twenty minutes until we reach the World That Never Was…as long as something doesn't come up again, that is," Sora said, sipping more tea on the bridge. Kairi was sitting next to him, staring off into space in a daze. He waved his hand in front of her face and she snapped out of it, blushing.
"Oh! Sorry…I was just thinking about Vincent…"
Sora had a jealous gleam in his eye. "Yeah? What about?"
"Well…when I met him back in Radiant Garden, he was…different than how they describe him. I don't know…just much more friendly. Plus, he was chasing heartless! Why would a heartless chase his own kind?"
Sora thought about it for a minute. "Well, maybe he wasn't a heartless at that point. Or maybe he was doing a good job fighting off the darkness for a little while? It could be a lot of things…it could have even been a double cross for all we know."
Kairi took offense at the last thing Sora said. Without words, she shot him an angry look and ran off into the cabin. Sora sat in awe at his own callous words…but he didn't have long to think it over.
Up ahead, through the viewscreen he could see a giant machine made of metal rising up. It completely eclipsed the World That Never Was. It didn't look like a space ship of any sort Sora had ever seen – it was almost spherical, but it had six large arms sticking out of its center. If it was turned, it would have almost looked like a sun…excluding all the metal plates and pipelines running along the outside of it. It was easily twice as large as the meteor base King Mickey had discovered. As Sora marveled at the ship, he completely ignored the fact that it might not be friendly.
He was reminded of this fact shortly thereafter, as a large bay door opened on the ships side, facing the Barrett. It glowed with blue energy that instantly shot out and connected with the ship, engulfing it in azure light.
Sora winced, put his arms up and braced himself for impact…but nothing happened except for a little shudder. Thinking for a second that the shields Cid installed were phenomenal, he soon realized what was happening – the beam was staying on them as they were dragged closer and closer to the ship. He slammed on the ships' intercom immediately.
"Guys! We're caught in some sort of tractor beam! Get up here, quick!"
Donald and Goofy were on bridge in seconds flat, but Kairi, still mad at Sora, took her time. "What did you get us into this time, Mister Sensitive?" But she answered her own question when she looked outside. They were a mere hundred meters from the ship now…Sora grabbed the controls and tried to break free, but it was no use. All the power was cut – Donald continually pressed every weapon button to no avail – and they knew they were going to end up inside the menacing ship. Sora took the time they had and turned to his friends.
"I found these rings in Flint's Trove back on Treasure Planet. I don't know exactly what they do…" he said, handing one to Donald, one to Goofy and one to Kairi. They each examined their rings carefully. On Goofy and Sora's rings, there was an impression of a sword engulfed in flames. There was a small logo of a staff frozen in ice on Donald's ring, and on Kairi's there was a shield covered in moss.
"Dey're stat boosters! Dey make us stronger!" Donald said in his strange accent. They all slid the rings on Kairi looked back up at the ship. It was now swallowing them into the bay, and the blue light shut off as the Barrett stopped moving.
"Well, mine doesn't help me stop tractor beams…how about any of yours?" Kairi said, digging at Sora with her comment.
"Look, I'm sorry about what I said, but can we deal with it later? We've got bigger problems now," Sora said flippantly.
"No kidding…" Kairi barked. She looked at Sora for a moment before she finally said, "fine."
The hatch to the Barrett opened as Kairi, Sora, Goofy and Donald jumped out.
"You stay here, okay Eddy?" Sora said, pushing the small heartless back into the Barrett. He couldn't talk…but it was very clear he wasn't happy with Sora's instructions.
The as they took their first steps away from the Barrett, they realized they were in a huge hangar. It was dark and empty, except for the Barrett. The metal door closed behind them and they knew it would be a difficult task to get out without a fight. Suddenly, things went from bad to worse as all the lights in the hangar switched on, making everything much clearer to see.
They had all wished the lights stayed off when they saw their welcome committee – in a large circle around the friends there stood six masked figures.
The was the Smiling Man from the islands, The Unsmiling Man they now knew was Ember, the Frowning Man they knew as Jafar, a man with an X for the mouth, another man with two fangs poking out of his mask's mouth, and a female figured member with a mask similar to the unsmiling Ember's. Sora and his friends knew that Leon was behind the Silent mask and Tifa was the female…but Cloud hadn't mentioned that Vincent was wearing a mask with fangs…
"Where in the universe do you think you're going, keyblade master?" cackled the Smiling Man.
"None of your business. Why should we tell you when all you do is hide behind your masks?"
"Yeah! We know that's you Jafar!" Goofy blurted out, causing all the Legion members to stare at Jafar as he removed his new mask.
"Foolish street rats…like I have already said, it matters very little to me if you know my identity. I'll still crush you beneath my heel," he purred, almost seductively.
"Yeah? Well how about your friend Ember over there? Scroop's got a pretty big mouth…" Sora said, almost smiling.
The fat Unsmiling Man looked around the room at his fellow Legion members. Jafar wasn't afraid of these fools…why should he remain hiding behind his mask? They'd surely insult him later for it…
Finally, the Unsmiling Man reached up with his massive arm and pulled off his mask, throwing it to Jafar. From beneath his mask, a pudgy face could now be seen. He shook his head as a massive amount of long, spiked brown hair fell downward. It reached all the way down to his back before it stopped. His eyes burned a bright yellow at the pupil, like every heartless…but the whites of his eyes were a strange purple…almost sickly. His crooked, fat nose was upturned, almost like a pig. He had a scar along his right cheek, deep and intimidating. When he opened his mouth to speak, he showed a set of very bright white teeth. He then began to slide off his gloves, revealing long, yellow nails as sharp as railroad spikes. They made him look almost animalistic…
"If Jafar isn't afraid of you pipsqueaks, then I'm not either," he said loudly. He was clearly overcompensating, and Sora quickly realized that he was the lowest rank of the Legion. Then, they all realized it – the amount of tribal markings on the suit reflected the person's ranking. The Smiling Man's was absolutely covered from head to toe…but Ember's suit only had the marks on the shoulders and legs.
All the Legion members were silent for a moment. Then, the Smiling Man spoke.
"You insolent, wretched excuses for servants! If your safety doesn't matter to you, that's one thing…but to jeopardize the safety of the Legion of Shadows…it is…unforgivable!" he said, lashing outward with his hands, his long axe-swords materializing in them. Tifa, Vincent and Leon stepped backward, knowing very well what was coming – in a fantastic swing, the Smiling Man swung his arms around him, hitting both Ember and Jafar with the blunt edge of his weapons, knocking them one-hundred feet into the nearest wall.
"Perhaps if you mop up this mess," he pointed at Sora and his friends, "we shall see about forgiveness."
He summoned a large portal as he entered it, Tifa, Leon and Vincent all following him. Jafar and Ember stood up, brushing the dust from their suits.
"Always on Master's bad side…" said Ember to himself.
"Master Maximilian will be most pleased when we imprison the street-rats, Ember. Do not fret…" said Jafar, reached out both hands as his staff materialized between them. Noticing Sora's confused look, he spoke again. "Your keyblade's not the only weapon that can be summoned, boy. Why, with these suits, we are host to a slew of abilities beyond compare!"
Ember seemed to lose the arrogant tone in which he spoke after his mask was removed. His voice seemed higher than it was when he spoke when it was on. He wasn't scared…but he was certainly wary… He reached outward with both hands as his two large metal sais appeared in them…as he pressed a button on each, they became more impressive, as they each sprouted two laser offshoots, making them much more formidable.
Kairi and Sora recognized the weapons from the bailey as they drew their Treasure Hunter and Golden Moment keyblades. Donald raised his staff as Goofy held his shield, preparing for the worst.
