Leafa and Recon came back into Ansem's room, panting slightly. For a while, the whole place seemed to be in chaos, and Heartless started to appear like crazy. Now, things calmed down once again. "Wonder what that was all about?" Recon asked exhaustedly.
"Something tells me it had to do with the world Kazuto and the others are in." Leafa assumed as they walked back into the computer room.
There, they saw Leon there waiting for them. "Any trouble?" he asked.
"Nothing we couldn't handle." Leafa told him. Then Recon noticed the computer screen had something on it.
"What's that?" Recon asked, looking at the screen.
"I think it's something from Tron." Leon answered as the trio looked at it.
Suddenly, the machine behind them activated on its' own, an out came Sora, Kirito, Asuna, Donald, Goofy, and Yui as a pixie. The trio all turned to see them appear before them.
"Well, that's that!" Sora stated as he walked forward.
"I have to admit that last battle was pretty tough!" Asuna sighed.
"Hey, I think this is for you guys." Leafa stated, pointing at the computer screen. It was an orange background, and 8-bit forms of Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kirito, Asuna and Yui as a human were on the screen, with the words 'thank you!' on the bottom of it. The group couldn't help but smile at this.
"Tron...hang in there." Sora murmured.
"He's tough. He can do it." Yui assured Sora.
"So, where do we start?" Leon asked them. "I know! Let's access the DTD!" Sora suggested. Sora moved away from the keyboard as Recon stepped forward, typing away.
"You would not believe what kind of chaos was happening here." Leafa told them.
"Sorry about that." Asuna apologized, "The MCP almost gained access to the DTD, had it not for Tron's and Yui's quick thinking."
"We just had to take care of a hostile program that could've caused trouble out here." Kirito told her.
"The King's checking the situation in town." Leon told them as Recon typed away, "He'll be back soon, so don't worry."
"Uh, guys?" Recon drew their attention, "It looks like it's asking for a password."
"That's easy, it's..." Yui started, and the six of them made a roll call.
"Sora!"
"Asuna!"
"Kirito!"
"Donald!"
"Goofy!"
"and Yui!"
Leon snorted while Leafa smirked in an amused way. "That's...to the point." Recon muttered, also amused, as he typed in their names.
"Well?" Sora asked as Recon finished. The screen popped up with some info.
"That did it. We're in." Recon declared.
"Yes!" cheered Yui.
"I have to go into town." Leon told them, "Need to see what that last shakeup did."
"You're not gonna check out the data?" Sora asked, "It wasn't exactly easy to get!"
"I'll come back." Leon assured him.
"Let us go with you." Leafa added, indicating her and Recon, "We're worried about the place, too." She turned to Kirito. "You guys tell us any info you come across, ok? For now, why don't you get started on loading the data and copying it down?"
"And who made you boss?" Kirito retorted. Leafa folded her arms under her chest, smirking at him. She started to get a bit more mature since she came here, and a bit more bossy. He sighed as he followed with, "Fine, we'll do it."
"You three be careful." Asuna told Leafa, Recon and Leon. They nodded in response. Leon patted Sora's shoulder as he left. Leafa followed behind, with Recon in tow. They walked through the hallway, and left their sight.
"My sister..." Kirito muttered, but he couldn't help but smile a bit. At least she wasn't worried about getting back home as much. Either that, or she's hiding her feelings.
Sora got to the computer and started typing away, hoping for it to do what he wanted. "Did it work?" Donald asked.
"Hey, these things take time, okay!" barked Sora.
"Let me..." Kirito moaned, and he and Sora switched places, and Kirito started to work the keyboard. The screen started to show more things.
"It's doing something!" Sora gasped.
"I think it wants to know what we wanna know." Goofy guessed.
"Riku and Kairi!" Sora declared. Kirito nodded, and he typed away at the computer, asking for them. The screen checked up for the names, but it said no info could be found. "No way..." moaned Sora, "Even Ansem's computer doesn't know..." Yui flew to his shoulder and patted him on the head in a consoling matter as Sora walked away.
"How about DiZ?" Asuna suggested. Kirito typed in his name, but it pulled up nothing. Kirito and Asuna sighed in despair. Still no info on the guy's whereabouts.
"How about you ask the computer about them Nobodies?" Goofy suggested. Kirito nodded, and typed away at the computer. Sora came to their side once more as something actually did pop up.
"What's this?" Sora asked.
"Looks like a report on the Nobodies." Asuna answered, about to read it. Suddenly, an error appeared before it, then a voice said 'The data is corrupt.'
"What?" Yui gasped, coming close to the screen.
"How about the Organization?" Goofy asked. Kirito searched for that, and found something, but once again, the error sign appeared, and again, "The data is corrupt."
"Stupid computer!" growled Sora.
"Why is it doing this?" Asuna asked, "Did the MCP do this?"
"I doubt it." Kirito answered, typing away at the system, looking through all the info, "It seems like somebody corrupted the data from the outside. They somehow accessed the DTD and downloaded all it's content before us."
"But who?" Asuna asked as the computer kept popping up boxes of info on the screen.
Kirito finished typing, looking at all the info given to him, then he frowned. "I think I know." he snarled, seeing the info.
He looked to Asuna, who stared at him, then gasped, "Gouxus!" Kirito nodded.
"He did this?" Sora asked.
"Probably wanted more info on the Organization, along with some of Ansem's research data. He's quite good with computers." Kirito assumed, glaring at the screen, "Damn you, Sugou." He started typing hastily, trying to find anything at all that wasn't corrupted. Please, give us something! Kirito thought as he gritted his teeth. Suddenly, a profile picture popped up, and a man with blonde hair, a mustache, wearing a lab coat and red scarf appeared.
"Who's this guy?" Sora asked.
"Dunno." Kirito responded, also confused by this new character.
"Welp, I see ya got things workin'!" said a voice at the door. They turned and saw Mickey standing there.
"Oh, Your Majesty!" chimed Sora and Donald. Mickey shushed them, reminding them to keep their voices down.
"Good goin'!" he congratulated them, "The computer should tell us the things we need to know."
"But it keeps on sayin' the data inside's all ker-skuffled." moaned Goofy.
"Corrupted." Asuna corrected Goofy, "And unfortunately, our enemy, and the new Organization member, Gouxus, is to blame for that."
"All we got is a picture of some guy we don't know." Sora stated as Kirito moved aside so the King could see.
Mickey jumped in surprise. "Ansem the Wise!" he gasped.
Kirito, Asuna and Yui all looked shocked. Sora, Donald and Goofy, however, looked to each other, confused. "Come on, are you teasing us again?" Sora asked him.
"Did you forget what Ansem looked like, Your Majesty?" Donald asked.
"Of course I do!" Mickey answered, "And this is him! I'm positive!" Kirito looked to the profile info on the side of the picture. Sure enough, it did say 'Ansem the Wise' in the name.
Sora wasn't convinced, and he grabbed Mickey's arm, and started dragging him. "Excuse me? Could you come this way, please?" Sora asked as he dragged him. Donald and Goofy walked from behind.
"Is that anyway to handle a king?" Kirito asked as he, Asuna and Yui followed from behind.
Sora dragged Mickey all the way back to Ansem's room, and pulled him right to the large picture of Ansem that leaned against the wall. "Look, THIS is Ansem." Sora corrected the king, "You know, the guy we all worked reeeally hard to defeat?" Kirito, Asuna and Yui were all confused. They never met Ansem, and didn't know who to believe.
"Oh, that's right." Mickey remembered, "I never finished explaining."
"What?" Donald asked.
Mickey cleared his throat, then he said to Sora, Donald and Goofy, "Well, the man in the picture is definitely the one who tried to take over Kingdom Hearts; the one you fellas defeated. But, what you actually fought was his Heartless. Ya see, he wasn't really Ansem. He just went around telling everybody that he was."
There was an awkward pause, then Sora started, "You mean..." He looked to Donald and Goofy, before all three of them made cries of shock as Sora finished, "We went through all that trouble to defeat an impostor?!" He slumped in shame, finding this revelation a bit crushing.
"Yep. A fake." Mickey answered, "But he still had to be stopped."
"Aw, I can't believe it..." moaned Donald.
"Well, that certainly cleared up a lot. You guys were basically fooled by him." Kirito stated bluntly, only to get elbowed by Asuna for being rude.
"Uh, I'm kinda confused." Goofy thought out loud, "If he's a fake, then what happened to the real Ansem?"
"Welp, that's just what I'm tryin' to figure out." Mickey answered, "Ansem the Wise should know all about the Organization XIII's plans, and what's been happening to the worlds."
"Could that mean he would know about different dimensions?" Kirito hastily asked, "He could know a way for us to get back home?"
"Probably." Mickey answered, "I'm pretty sure he'll give us some help. Ya know, I came close to finding him once..."
Yui and Goofy both thought about it, drawing Sora's attention as he asked desperately, "Don't tell me there's more? I'm lost enough as it is!"
Suddenly, Yui and Goofy came to a realization, "Well, let's see." Goofy started, "Some feller named Ansem, who wasn't really Ansem, became a Heartless."
"You're point?" Kirito asked.
"Well, if a Heartless is created, shouldn't that mean a Nobody was created along with him?" Yui asked. Kirito and Asuna both recalled what Yen Sid told them about the Nobodies, and what Yui and Goofy said were true.
"Yup!" Mickey answered, "And that Nobody is the leader of the Organization."
"WHAAAT?!" cried the group, shocked by this news.
"I know I've met this fake Ansem before, and I've seen the leader of Organization XIII, too." Mickey continued, "Hmm, kinda felt like bein' around the same fella."
"So, where did you meet this guy?" Sora asked the king.
"Gosh...I can't remember." Mickey responded, "Ansem the Wise, the real Ansem, must know the impostor's true identity. That's why I've got to find him and ask him about it."
"You...!" Sora snarled, "You started all of this!"
"He was the one who brought our dimension into the mix..." growled Kirito, "I'll make sure you pay for this." Asuna patted his shoulder, trying to make sure he didn't go off the deep end.
"Because of you, Riku and Kairi..." Sora continued, then he remembered, "Your Majesty, do you know where Riku is?"
Mickey, surprisingly, looked startled at the question, not even looking to Sora. "He's..." he started, then he sighed, "I'm sorry. I can't help." Sora, Kirito and Asuna both looked closely at the back of his head, and they all knew he wasn't telling the full story.
"Really, Your Majesty?" Sora asked, walking up in front of him, "Are you sure?"
"I'm sorry, Sora." Mickey sighed, turning away from Sora again.
Sora looked at him, wanting to continue, but then changed the subject. "What about Kairi?" he asked him, "From what Leafa said, Organization XIII might've kidnapped her."
Mickey looked to Sora in surprise. "Oh, no!" he gasped, then he looked to the fake Ansem's picture, and continued, "Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kirito, Asuna, Yui. I was plannin' to go get help from Ansem the Wise. But, now I know I forgot the most important thing. Helping others should always come before asking others for help. We're safe and sound, and free to choose! So there's no reason we shouldn't choose to help our friends."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Kirito thought he should keep that as a mental note, cause he kept forgetting that from time to time. "Let's look for Riku and Kairi together." Mickey declared.
"Yeah, and while were at it, let's also help you out in finding Ansem the Wise, along with finding DiZ." Asuna stated, "Surely we can help you out just like you're helping us out. And besides, one of them would know the way back home."
"Then it's decided." Mickey summed up, "Let's work together to find the people we are looking for!" Not a second passed after saying this did they soon hear a loud explosion, and the room shook like crazy. Something was happening outside. "Sounds like we gotta start by helpin' out here!" Mickey stated.
Leafa and Recon were at the bailey, looking out as they saw the horde of Heartless start coming in. "What the hell are they doing?" Leafa asked, ready to fight.
Recon looked to where the Heartless were grouping up, and they saw a bunch of Minute Bombs stacking up against the wall near them. "Oh, no!" he gasped as he and Leafa came to the realization, "Run!" The two dashed out of the bailey towards the construction sight just as the wall exploded. They were sent hurdling forward as parts of the wall flew everywhere. The fell to the ground hard, but luckily they weren't hurt badly. They moaned as they stood up, and turned to see the group of Heartless start to walk towards them, and there was a large amount of them.
"W-w-what do we do?!" Recon asked as they got up.
"Fend them off." Leafa answered, whipping her Keyblade out, "We can't let them get to the castle. Let's make our stand here until help arrives." Recon looked scared, but he pulled his weapon out, and the two were prepared for a fight.
Meanwhile, Mickey had dashed on ahead, and Sora, Kirito and the others were just starting to rush through the corridors, ready to take on whatever that explosion was. They ran into the large area of the corridors, and saw a swarm of Nobodies and Heartless there, fighting each other. At one end of the room, Maleficent stood there, apparently commanding the Heartless. The moment she saw them, she disappeared into dark green flames.
"Heartless!" Maleficent's voice echoed, "Leave the white ones. Turn your attention to Sora and his friends!"
"Uh oh!" moaned Goofy as the Heartless and Nobodies all walked toward them.
"And here I thought we would we be friends." Kirito sighed as the team drew their weapons.
The team had to deal with Armored Knights and Dusks in the first load, and they weren't that difficult to defeat. However, a new Heartless and a new Nobody showed up to the fray, and they were a bit different. The Nobody was called a Dancer, and it was thanks to Asuna's accuracy and speed that they took it out. The Heartless was called a Crimson Jazz, and it was quite the difficult opponent to deal with what with all the fireballs it produced. Thankfully, Sora and Kirito's combined effort took it out.
When they cleared the area, they saw the Gullwings flying down the steps of the corridor towards them. "Where's Maleficent?" Yuna asked.
"Looks like she ran away." Sora answered.
"Well that was PRET-ty lame of her." Rikku scoffed.
"I guess we picked the wrong side." sighed Paine.
The trio of fairies turned to each other and started bad-mouthing Maleficent. Kirito figured that their 'leader' that they talked about was Maleficent. "They don't seem to be bad people, just misguided." Yui whispered, "They were nice to Leafa, anyway."
"Well, what should we do about them?" Asuna quietly asked the group. They thought for a second as the Gullwings continued to whisper, then Sora thought of something.
"Umm, hey..." Sora called out, "if you're looking to pick sides, why don't you pick Leon's and Leafa's? They can always use help?"
The Gullwings turned to them. "Oh, we know Leafa." Yuna told them, "Does she or this Leon have any treasure?"
Kirito was about to say no, but Donald proclaimed, "Yeah, lots of stuff!" Kirito looked shocked and terrified at what Donald just said. If Leafa had treasure, she would've told him.
"Perfect!" cheered Rikku.
"Come on." said Paine.
"Just who are you?" Sora asked them.
"Oh, we're nothing worth mentioning." Yuna answered Sora.
"Just three treasure fanatics." Paine explained.
"Later, taters!" Rikku waved, and in a sparkling of lights, they disappeared.
"Did Leon or Leafa...really have any treasure?" Sora asked Donald. Donald only giggled menacingly, and raced off.
Kirito and Asuna looked to each other, and Kirito covered his face with his hand. "Leafa's gonna kill me after this." Kirito moaned. He sighed and led the team to catch up with Donald as they headed outside.
The moment they stepped outside, they were immediately greeted by three dusks. The heroes whipped their weapon's out. "We don't have time for you!" barked Sora. He, Donald and Goofy knocked all three of them down in one hit, and they charged ahead of the group up to the upper level.
As soon as they got there, there was a burst of white light, which blinded all of them. It shined for a few second, then it disappeared. The team uncovered their eyes to see a man standing there. He had long silver hair, a dark red battle garment with cross-straps around his chest, armored shoulders, gloves, and armored boots. What was even more freaky about him was he had a black and blue wing on one side, with two tails underneath. His appearance made him looked like a fallen angel of some kind.
"Sora, it's Sephiroth!" Donald squawked. Kirito realized that when he remembered Cloud's description on the guy. He even felt himself grow short on breath. This guy was emanating with power. He was really, really powerful. Sephiroth even pulled out an extremely long blade that looked way longer than his height.
"So that's Sephiroth?" Asuna asked, glaring at his appearance, "The one that's suppose to be dark part of Cloud's heart?"
"Hmph, did Cloud tell you that?" Sephiroth said amusingly, "Then he must understand now." He looked to Kirito, who readied his Keyblade in case he needed to fight him. He could easily see the resemblance between him and Cloud, though this boy's heart was a bit too bright for his taste.
"Just what are you gonna do to Cloud?" Kirito asked, not phased by his gaze at him.
"Nothing." Sephiroth answered, "Cloud is the one who hungers for Darkness."
"He said he's got a score to settle with you." Sora mentioned.
"I see..." responded Sephiroth, turning and walking away, "He wants to meet me again. Then I should give him what he wants. That last bit of light is always the hardest to snuff out." He floated himself into the air as the team ran up to him, and he disappeared in a black orb, much different to the Organization's way of traveling.
"I hope Cloud beats his ass." Kirito snarled as he lowered his Keyblade.
"Don't worry. He's really tough." Sora assured him.
"Come on, you guys." Asuna told them, running to the construction sight, "We need to help everyone out here!" The group nodded, and they raced into the construction site.
They raced into through the high walls, and saw Leon, Leafa, Yuffie, Recon and Aerith fighting, trying to fend off the crowd of Heartless and Nobodies. "Leafa! Everyone! Are you alright?!" Kirito called out as the team readied for combat.
"We'll help you out!" Sora declared.
Recon was busy defending Aerith from a Heartless, then the two turned and saw something. "Look out!" they shouted in unison. Sora, Kirito and the crew all turned to see more Dancer Nobodies appear from behind. They immediately went into action against these things. It was tough for Asuna before to deal with one Dancer in the corridors, now there were a bunch more at once. They struggled against the Nobodies, and even had to deal with a few Creepers as well. The Dancer's fighting style was slipping them up, and they kept getting knocked back. It took Kirito's Magnet spell to actually hold them down for a while. Never the less, they managed to take them out after several minutes.
They finished fighting to see all but Leafa and Leon standing there, done with their group of enemies. "The King's in the bailey." Leon shouted, "You better head over there!"
"Got it!" Sora called back.
"We'll go on ahead!" Leafa shouted, "You catch up with us!" And with that, Leafa and Leon both took off. The team didn't waste time, and dashed to the bailey as well.
It took a while, but they made it there, only to see that the bailey walls had been blasted apart. Now they knew what the explosion was. They walked to where the wall was at, and looked on ahead. Sora, Kirito and Asuna all gasped in horror. A horde of Heartless was coming their way, and they were talking hundreds, maybe thousands of Heartless. They shook the ground as they marched towards Hollow Bastion.
In the middle of the fight, Leafa and Recon stood there, circled by hundreds of Heartless. "This isn't good." muttered Recon, nervous as he looked all around them.
"Keep your chin up." Leafa told him, "You can do it. Remember, we trained hard for stuff like this!" Recon looked to Leafa, and saw the confidence on her face, but the nervousness in her eyes. Recon then put on a brave face, and nodded in response. The two charged at both sides as Leafa went into Master form while Recon unleashed a special technique he worked out from ALO; the Wind Blade skill, where his dagger elongated itself into a green energy sword. The two went into action, knocking the Heartless back.
The duo cleared a way through, and they charged towards the cliffside, where they saw Cloud standing there, surrounded by Heartless. They were just about to come to his aid when they saw several of them slashed in one hit. Leafa, Recon and Cloud all looked to see a man standing there, holding a really long sword. "Sephiroth!" Cloud yelled as the Heartless ran in fear. Leafa heard Cloud mention the man's name before, and knew he was dangerous. She felt his presence, and immediately knew one thing; they could not beat him as they were.
Sephiroth walked forward and pointed his long sword at Cloud, who readied himself. "I understand that you've been looking for me." Sephiroth stated calmly.
"Yeah." Cloud answered, "Once I get rid of you, the darkness will go away."
"Can you do it?" Sephiroth question him, "That darkness comes from your own dark memories. Do you think you can erase your past?"
"Shut up!" snapped Cloud.
"Face it, you turn your back on the present and live in the past." Sephiroth said to him, "Because the light of the present is too much!"
"You don't know me!" Cloud growled, getting angrier at his words. Leafa and Recon just stood and watched this scene happen. They wanted to help, but they didn't see anyway they could.
"Cloud!" shouted a familiar voice. It was Tifa's voice. Cloud turned to where the voice came from, and it looked like he was blinded by a light of something.
"I know." Sephiroth told him, "Because...I am you." And with that, Sephiroth disappeared in a black light. Cloud looked around to see where he went, and he charged pass Leafa and Recon as Tifa rounded the corner.
"Cloud! Wait!" she shouted, but she was surrounded by a group of Heartless. Leafa and Recon knew they could help here, and they slashed their way to Tifa as she started punching and kicking them. "I guess we now know who you've been looking for." Leafa stated as she, Tifa and Recon stood back to back as the swarm of Heartless surrounded them. The trio looked to each other, and resumed the fight.
Back at the bailey, Sora, Kirito and the team stood there, watching the battles that went throughout the distance. "Leon, Leafa, everybody, hang in there!" Sora stated.
"Sugu's tough." Kirito assured him, "So's Leon, Recon and everybody. That's not to say we shouldn't help them." Asuna got to the other side of Sora. The trio looked to each other, nodded, and charged ahead to the battle.
Just as they were about to, however, Mickey came flying out of nowhere, landing in front of them with his back to them, and he raised his hands to his sides. "Okay, fellas, you've gotta go find Riku, Kairi and DiZ!" Mickey ordered them.
"But Leon and the others are friends too!" Sora retorted.
"Yeah, everybody down there needs our help!" added Kirito.
"Don't worry." Mickey assured them, "There's already lotsa help here. We'll take care of this fight."
"But...I promised Leon and Leafa!" Sora moaned.
"So did we." Kirito muttered, indicating him and Asuna. Asuna was a bit conflicted on whether she should go or trust the King's words. Yui popped out of Kirito's pocket and looked up at them, worried.
"Donald! Goofy!" Mickey addressed the two, "Take Sora, Kirito and Asuna and get goin'!" Donald and Goofy looked to each other, slightly worried.
"Riku, Kairi...give me a little more time, okay?" Sora muttered out loud.
Kirito looked to Sora, then looked to Asuna, and suddenly grinned, despite the situation. "Asuna." Kirito muttered to her, "Since we are from a different dimension, should that mean we have to listen to the King's orders?"
Asuna blinked, then smirked as she finally got the picture. "Usually we should." she answered, "But that doesn't mean we have to follow through with it." Yui looked to his mama and papa, and understood what they were gonna do. The three SAO characters waited for the other three's response.
Donald and Goofy looked each other, conflicted a bit, then they looked serious, and nodded to one another. "You're Majesty!" shouted Donald.
"We understand." Goofy told him, "We'll go search for Riku and Kairi!" Sora turned to them, startled at his friend's words.
"Right. Watch for danger!" Mickey warned them.
"You be careful, too!" Donald answered.
"Wait, you guys!" Sora told them, looking to Donald and Goofy, then to Mickey.
"Sora, do as you're told!" Donald squawked at him.
"You're comin' with us whether ya want to or not!" Goofy proclaimed.
"C'mon, Sora! Ya gotta be good!" Donald added, winking at Sora.
Sora realized what his friends were gonna do, and grinned. "Gotcha." he understood.
"You ready to leave?" Kirito asked, joining in the group's charade. Sora looked to him, and nodded.
"Well then, skedaddle!" Goofy told them.
"Let's get out of here!" cheered Yui.
"The sooner, the better." Asuna stated, not holding back her smile. Sora looked to his friends, mouthing the words, 'thank you' in response to what they had planned. The team turned to where the King stood, and charged right past him, surprising him, leaping down to the floor below. They turned back to see Mickey stare at them, startled.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty!" Sora apologized, saluting him.
"We'll make it up to you some time!" Asuna shouted.
"Sorry about this, but I have a knack of following my instincts." Kirito said as Yui waved to the King.
Donald moaned in a regretful way as he saluted. "Hope you can forgive us!" said Goofy, also saluting. The heroes jumped into the battle, aiming to save their friends. Mickey could only watch them go, rolling his eyes and smiling.
The team charged through the scarred battlegrounds as they made their way to their friends. They ran down some stone steps to a floor that looked like it was made of tiles. They saw a black portal in front of them, and stopped in their tracks. Out of the black portal, Demyx appeared. He noticed the team, and looked ready to fight for a second, then decided to avoid that.
"Hey, you guys are looking lively." he said in unusually cheerful tone.
"Not you again." moaned Asuna.
"Scram!" squawked Donald.
"Didn't we catch you messing around in the Underworld?" Sora asked.
"Tell me, how's that injury I placed on you back then?" Kirito mocked him, "I wonder how someone like you got into Organization XIII?" Demyx acted all offended by this storm of statements, but it was poor acting.
"I bet you can't even fight." Sora sassed him.
"Yeah, but we can!" Donald added.
"You shouldn't judge anyone by appearance." Demyx warned them, his tone changed. The team whipped out their weapons, ready to fight him. Demyx had his arms out at the ready, then he turned his back to them, moaning, "I told them they were sending the wrong guy..."
"Who is this kook?" questioned Sora.
"Whoever he is, he's pretty much a pushover." Asuna answered.
"Remember, the Organization's made up of Nobodies." Goofy reminded them.
"Right. None of them have hearts." Kirito recalled, thinking of Gouxus, and getting angrier.
At these words, Demyx turned back to them again. "Oh, we do too have hearts! Don't be mad..." he stated.
"You can't trick us!" Donald squawked. Kirito nodded in agreement, though he believed that since Donald tricked the Gullwings, he shouldn't talk of such things.
Demyx turned his back to them, thinking on what to say, then he turned with a serious face and snarled, "Silence, traitor." pointing a finger at Sora. Sora looked confused at this.
Suddenly, a dome of water gushed all around Demyx as he lifted his hand up, until a bubble of water appeared, and out came his sitar. He grabbed it, and now he looked like he was gonna battle them. He then started playing his sitar, and his water replicas started appearing all around them. "Let's take them out, quickly!" Kirito shouted, and the team went to work, waylaying them as they kept coming at them. They remembered that if they didn't take them out in a certain amount of time, it would be bad news. With a combination of using Wild Dance and Fira spells, they managed to take them out before time was up. Knocking them out seem to wear Demyx down, and Kirito went in first, using his Valor Form, and started slashing like crazy. It was at this point that the team realized something; Demyx was no pushover. In fact, he was the once pushing everyone else over. He was able to dash in the air, leaving a geyser trail behind, which knocked Kirito back. Whenever he played his sitar, multiple options happened; geysers appeared all around him, knocking anyone near him back, a couple of water replicas came to protect him, or large bubbles that either fell from the sky or were shot straight at them.
"We underestimated him." Asuna moaned as she and Sora got up from a geyser attack.
"Yeah, he's a lot tougher than he acts." Sora agreed. Kirito, Donald and Goofy were having just as much trouble.
"Though I did notice that fire does seem to affect him more than other elements." Asuna pointed out.
"Then let's hit him with fire!" Sora declared. Asuna got into Wisdom Form and Sora got into Limit form, and the two charged in.
Meanwhile, Kirito was having a hard time getting in close to Demyx. He started shooting bubbles at Kirito, for which he countered by slicing them down in a fury. "This guy just won't quit!" he said to himself, charging ahead. He felt the presence of another geyser coming from beneath him, and he sidestepped only to stand on another one. He was flung into the air, grimacing in pain as he did so. He felt he wasn't able to take one more hit from this guy.
"Heal!" shouted Donald, and Kirito felt his injuries go away. He landed onto his feet, and he saw Donald and Goofy get up beside him.
"Thanks, Donald." Kirito thanked the cartoon duck.
"No problem!" Donald answered. Kirito turned to see Asuna charge in with her Wisdom Form, peppering Demyx with Fira magic. Just as she dashed away, Sora came in with a Strike Raid, followed by a Sonic Blade attack. Kirito smirked as he saw his friends attack him, and leapt in to perform his combination of powerful attacks in his Valor Form.
The five heroes kept battling it out with Demyx, who just kept proving himself to be a tough opponent. It was clear that dodging or blocking everyone of his attacks was impossible for them, so they had to rely on potions and Cure spells to heal up in times of need. They still kept going in at him, delivering damage when needed. Demyx started to notice he wasn't doing as well as he thought, so he started undergoing another time limit attack of water replicas. There were fewer now, but less time to boot. Asuna quickly ended it by using the Wild Dance again, drawing all of the replicas in and knocking them out. This wore Demyx out, and Sora and Kirito unleashed a double combo onto him.
Demyx retaliated by walking around, playing his sitar which caused a wall of geysers to shoot out with every other step he took. Kirito and Sora had no choice but to run away from the attack, for not only was it devastating, but wide enough to cover the length of the battlefield they were on.
Thankfully, Asuna, Donald and Goofy were right behind Demyx. Donald and Goofy came in with a double attack, and Asuna started shooting magic shots at Demyx's back. She unleashed a rapid fire assault, staggering his attack until her limit form ran down, and she reverted back to normal.
"Ouch! That's hurts, girl!" Demyx cried, and he sent a volley of geyser pillars at the trio from behind him. "Come on, ain't it a blast?" he asked, playing his sitar just for the heck of it.
Then Kirito stepped back to back on him, muttered, "Don't count on it." and with that he made a retaliating swing onto him, sending him flying. He then turned around and unleashed his combo attack into the air at him until he reverted back to normal form again.
Demyx was not really pissed that he was getting slaughtered like this, and he made a Water Dash to one side, sending Kirito flying back to Asuna. He landed onto his feet and yelled. "Time to get to the beat!" He came hurdling at Kirito, Asuna, Donald and Goofy, who weren't expecting him to be so swift, and he attempted to smack Kirito with his sitar. Kirito managed to block his attack, but he didn't expect water pillars to be gushing around them, knocking them into the air. Demyx finished his combo with a large amount of geysers, sending all four of them flying in pain, falling to the ground, unable to get up.
"Hey!" Sora shouted, drawing Demyx's attention, "How dare you hurt my friends like that. I'll make sure you pay!" He made a full dash at Demyx, who shot a volley of water bubbles at Sora. He dodge-rolled them, and made a fury of attacks at Demyx, unleashing his Sonic Blade again, and finally going into a Ragnarok. He severely damaged Demyx, who send a geyser pillar at Sora, knocking him away, but Sora recovered and landed on his feet.
It was clear that the two had little stamina left, and that their final attack would finish the other off. They glared at each other for a second, then Demyx played his sitar, and a line of water geysers were sent at Sora's position. At the last second, Sora sidestepped the pillars just in time, and charged at Demyx with the pillars of water still chasing after him. "Wait, stop!" Demyx shouted, scared of what was gonna happen, but Sora leapt over him, and he was hit by his own geyser.
Sora turned to see Demyx fall, and he dashed at him, his eyes glinting as he unleashed his ground combo. Demyx got to his feet, but was unable to move as Sora paused. "You're finished!" Sora declared, and he unleashed his most devastating finisher; Zantetsuken. With one piercing slash, he cut across Demyx as he passed him in a blinding speed.
There was a pause, then Demyx collapsed to his knees, his sitar in one hand. It disappeared into water as he tried standing up, and he noticed his power draining away. "No...no way!" he shouted as he lifted his head up. His body started deteriorating as he collapsed to his knees again, his head hung down. Suddenly, his body started to become water, there was a bright light, and suddenly, he vanished.
In his place, three magic orbs floated there, going towards Sora, and Kirito and Asuna, who were getting to their feet after witnessing Demyx's defeat. "These are the Blizzard Elements." Yui explained, "Your Blizzard has been upgraded to Blizzara." The trio took it without saying anything.
"Anyone from the Organization who'd like to be next?" shouted Sora.
"Easy Sora." Kirito said as he and the others walked up to him, "We shouldn't antagonize them. Keep a cool head."
"Oh! Like you're one to talk!" exclaimed Asuna in disbelief.
"Besides, we gotta go help our friends out first." Goofy stated.
"Oh, sorry." Sora apologized.
Kirito waved it off. He then thought that how he finished that Organization member was pretty awesome. At least that's one member down. He thought as they stood in the place where they claimed victory at.
"Then let's go!" Donald declared.
"Yeah, we need to make up some time here." Asuna stated, using her Cure magic to heal Sora.
"Let's get moving!" cheered Yui. The team nodded to each other, and turned towards where the battlefield was at.
They took one step when a familiar voice shouted, "Aha! There you are!" They hesitantly turned to see Mickey standing there, a stern look on his face. He walked up to them, and crossed his arms as he glared at them. The team looked a little hesitant, unable to explain themselves. Mickey's face softened, and he sighed deeply. "You sure have lotsa friends to help." Mickey stated, causing everyone to looked relieved at his change of attitude, "So, I guess we better all pull together and finish this battle for good!" "Yes, Your Majesty!" the team shouted.
Well, at least that was another problem solved? Kirito thought.
The team, along with Mickey, had just begun walking to the battle when there was an explosion from above. Goofy turned and saw a large boulder hurdling down toward the King. "Look out!" he shouted, pushing Mickey aside just as the boulder came down and hit Goofy's head. He was sent hurdling backwards into the wall, where he laid on his back, still.
"Goofy!" cried Sora as he, Kirito and the others dashed to his side.
Yui made it there first, and she looked at his face. "Oh, no! He isn't waking up!" she gasped as the others came to Goofy's still body.
"No..." Mickey gasped softly.
"This can't be happening." Asuna said through her hands, her eyes watering in horror.
"Hey! You're the King's Captain! You gotta get up!" Donald squawked, shaking Goofy's body.
"C'mon, wake up!" Sora shouted.
"Goofy! Open your eyes!" Kirito cried, his face full of shock.
"I'm sorry about the ice cream!" Donald tried to apologized. No response. Goofy was as still as can be.
"Goofy...?" Mickey called softly. Asuna's face was drenched in tears as she begun crying.
"Ooh...Goofy." moaned Donald, laying his head onto Goofy's body.
"This can't be happening." Sora muttered, "It can't be happening...It can't..." Yui's eyes started to water as well as she stared at Goofy.
Kirito looked horrorstruck. He hadn't seen anyone die since the GGO Bullet of Bullets, when Death Gun killed a man with a trick. He didn't want to see this happen again to someone he considered a great friend. This rushing feeling of dread was too much. Kirito's face went from horror, to absolute fury. He stood back up to his feet again. his fist clenched. "Damn you, Heartless!" whispered Kirito, his voice increasing in volume, "Damn you, Nobodies! How dare you kill a great friend! YOU ARE ALL GONNA PAY!" He whipped out his Keyblade and charged headlong into the battlefield.
"They'll pay for this." Mickey growled, and he removed his cloak to reveal his red uniform. He whipped out his Keyblade, and followed Kirito into battle.
Asuna wiped away the tear, and looked angrily at where the Heartless were at. "I will destroy them all." Asuna hissed, whipping her Keyblade out, too, "I won't let any more of my friends die!" She charged in as well, as Donald squawked in fury as he joined in, too. Sora stood up, looked to where his friends were going, then looked to Goofy, curled his fists, and took off to join them. Yui was unable to move, looking at Goofy's face as they were left all alone.
The fury of their friend's death certainly was displayed in battle. The Heartless swarmed all of the people they knew, and each of them dispersed help each of them. Sora helped Yuffie out with one group. Sora's fury sent the horde of Heartless flying into the air as Yuffie's ninja skills and shuriken attacks were strong enough to mow down the swarm.
Mickey and Leon partnered up, and Mickey's display of Keyblade skills were one to be recon with. Leon's magic infused Gunblade was incredibly devastating to the swarm, and he was unmatched by the Heartless that attacked them.
Donald was with Leafa and Recon. While the two were confused as to why Donald was in such a rage, they did not stop to think about it. The fact that his rage was taking down the Heartless like crazy was alright in their book. Recon's magic and swift skills with his Wind Blade took out the Heartless just as much. Leafa, who already used of the Master Form's power, was now fighting strongly with magic and offense, and her skills were quite strong against the Heartless horde.
Asuna was with Tifa, and they were extremely devastating together. Asuna's combo of complete anger against the loss of one of her friends plus her already swift skills were incredibly powerful. Tifa's martial art skills were incredibly tough too. She was able to produce a powerful aurablast-like move at the Heartless close to her.
Kirito and Cloud were the last group to team up together. It was definite proof that the two's fighting style was a lot alike, especially now since Kirito was in an absolute rage. He swung madly at the horde with his Oblivion, which was just as devastating as Cloud's Buster Sword. The two's anger-induced fighting style proved to be really incredible as they took out all the Heartless in thirty seconds before Kirito progressed on.
Kirito managed to get to a chasm with crystals all around, but he was breathing heavily. He heard an outcry, and saw Asuna, Donald and Mickey racing towards him. They stood to catch their breath, and Sora the last person to arrive to the group. He was absolutely exhausted.
"Are you all okay?" Mickey asked them.
"I wish I could say yes." Kirito answered, looking down in sorrow.
"I'm fine, but..." Sora muttered, then he went silent as he looked down in shame. Asuna was unable to speak, for she was about to cry again.
"Ooh, Goofy..." moaned Donald as he and Mickey looked down in sorrow as well. For a while they didn't hear anything except Asuna's sniffles. Then suddenly...
"Hey, fellas!" shouted a voice. It was way too familiar. They looked up and turned to where they came in. There, sure enough, was Goofy, leaping up and down and waving to them. Yui was right next to him, hanging to his hat.
"Goofy!" shouted the crew, absolutely ecstatic that he was alive.
Goofy rushed over to them as Yui flew over to Kirito and Asuna. "Ya know, that really hurt!" Goofy said, rubbing his head on the spot that the rock hit him.
"Aw, Goofy." Mickey sighed, hugging his best friend.
"Gawrsh, Yer Majesty, I get bumped on the head all the time." Sora laughed in amusement.
"That was more than just a bump!" Asuna exclaimed.
"I noticed that, too!" Yui explained, "I checked his breathing, and he was alive. All I did was sprinkle some water I got from Demyx's battle."
"Aw, Yui, thank goodness!" Asuna cried, grabbing the fairy and pulling into a hug.
"Mama, I can't breathe!" cried a muffled Yui, and Asuna realized what she was doing and let go of her. Kirito laughed in relief that Goofy was alright.
Donald on the other hand, looked angrily at Goofy as he brandished his staff. He waddled over to Goofy as he let go of Mickey, twirled his staff, and slammed it down onto Goofy's foot. Goofy howled in pain as he bounced up and down, holding his foot. "That hurt, too." he moaned to Donald.
"Ooh, don't you ever do that again!" Donald scolded him, but never the less was happy to see his friend alive. Mickey watched them happily as they were reunited.
"Oh, that reminds me." Yui stated, flying over to Goofy, "Show Sora, mama and papa what we found for them!" Goofy remembered that they did find something, and he pulled out three magic orbs and gave them to the three Keyblade wielders. "Those are the Cure Elements." Yui explained, "It'll upgrade your Cure to Cura, healing more stamina."
"Could've used that before." Kirito sighed as he absorbed the element.
"Well, now that we're all together, lets help out our friends more!" Mickey declared.
"Yeah!" shouted the others, punching the air with their fist. They gathered together, found another torn page of Pooh's Storybook, and continued onward to the battlefield.
They dashed to the Great Maw, with Mickey in the lead. Up in front, an uncountable amount of Heartless were right in front of them. The group found something strange about them until they realized it; they weren't moving. The group skidded to a halt.
"What's with them?" Sora asked as they saw all the Heartless in their place.
"Up there!" cried Yui, pointing to the cliffside, where they saw a black portal opening up. Out of it came another Organization member. He uncovered his hood to reveal his face, which was dark-skinned, with long silver hair that reached his shoulders and mid-back, and it stuck out in some places.
He turned to where the party was and stared at them with his amber eyes. His face looked to familiar. "It's the guy who's NOT Ansem!" Donald spoke everyone's mind.
"You mean it's his Nobody!" cried Goofy and Asuna.
"The leader of Organization XIII!" Kirito and Sora growled.
"Wait a minute. Now I know!" gasped Mickey, and everyone looked to him, "Now I remember! Xehanort! Ansem's apprentice. The leader of Organization XIII is Xehanort's Nobody!"
"That guy use to be Ansem's apprentice?!" Kirito gasped, "Man, talk about a twist of fate."
Mickey produced his Keyblade, and charged up the cliff to where Xehanort's Nobody stood. "Let's go!" Sora shouted to the others, and they were about to follow Mickey when the Heartless moved in, circling the heroes. There were certainly tons and tons of Heartless as the team produced their weapons. "Move it!" shouted Sora.
"We can't let Xehanort get away!" Donald told them.
"Yui, can you tell us how many there are?" Kirito asked the fairy in his pocket.
Yui scanned the area. "Let's see...If my calculations are correct, I say...three thousand Heartless!"
"Three thousand?!" gasped Asuna, "There's no way we can beat those odds."
"They aren't that strong." Yui explained, "But their numbers are a problem."
"This is nothing compared to the World Tree's Grand Quest battle I had to deal with." Kirito muttered, "We can beat them, everyone!"
"Right!" Sora answered. The team looked to each other. Donald and Goofy both gave thumbs up at them. Kirito and Asuna smirked at them, then to Sora, who looked at the two, and nodded in response. The team spread out from all sides, ready to take on the monstrous horde. Everyone lost sight of each other as they went to work against the Heartless. Sora was immediately striking like crazy at the horde with furious combos. He noticed a Surveillance Robot near him, grabbed it, and fired a laser beam from it, spinning it all around at the horde before tossing it aside.
Asuna was jabbing the horde as she was being pushed back into the wall. She struck an Armored Knight, and followed through with the reaction 'Rising Sun', swooping down from the sky onto the horde like an eagle five times, destroying any Heartless that came in her path. "Well, that's a few down." Asuna stated as she landed and saw dozens more come her way.
Kirito was basically going to town on all the Heartless. He didn't bother with the reaction skills, but just mowed them down one after another. When he cleared a wide area around him, he pulled out the Arcade Charm that Tron gave him. "Time to see who I'm given." Kirito muttered to himself, and he lifted the charm high shouting "Summon!"
In a short cutscene, a large brick wall appeared behind Kirito. He turned to look at it, then the wall was shattered apart as a big guy with large arms, brown hair, and orange shirt with a green shirt underneath, and overalls that had one strap broken. He dusted off his hands and looked to Kirito. They fist-bumped each other.
"Hi. I'm Ralph, from the game 'Wreck-it Ralph." he greeted Kirito, "Need me to wreck somethin'?"
"If you think you can handle these things." Kirito answered, waving a hand to the Heartless, "Hope you like to smashing opponents!"
"I'm gonna wreck them!" Ralph answered, thumping his fists together, and the two went to work.
Ralph was definitely someone Kirito rather enjoyed being with. Ralph's main way of attacking was using his fists, which knocked the Heartless senseless. He also jumped into the air, flipped upside down, and fisted the ground repeatedly to produce wide-range quakes that sent Heartless flying in the air, making them easy prey for Kirito. He even produced a wrecking ball at times, spinning it above him and then send hurdling towards the Heartless. His name says it all. Kirito thought as he smirked at Ralph as he was working, This guy's a total wrecker.
The two then got together and performed their Limit Break, Retro Wreckers, where everything went 8-bit around them, and Ralph and Kirito, also 8-bit, stood on top of a large brick building. Ralph and Kirito then started to pound away at the building and bricks and debris fell on top of the horde of Heartless as the two chiseled their way through the brick building until the Limit Break was up.
They had cleared over two hundred Heartless together before Ralph started glowing. "Seems like I need to get to my game now." Ralph stated.
"You've been a big help." Kirito responded, "You really wrecked things up here!" They gave each other a thumbs up before Ralph disappeared. "Now, where were we?" Kirito asked himself as more Heartless came in after them.
Everybody kept going against the Heartless. The opponents just kept coming at them, but they weren't giving up. With the combination of their attacks, reaction commands and such, the team was taking them down. The Keyblade wielders all took their Limit Forms, and started taking the Heartless out with their skills. Taking out the Heartless certainly gave them easier to boost their strength.
Kirito performed his Horizontal Square sword skill at a group of Heartless, panting slightly from fighting so many opponents. He saw more coming in, and gritted his teeth, tired of it already. Suddenly, he felt something in him give him strength, and suddenly, in his other hand, his 'Lionheart' keyblade suddenly was produced into his hand.
"Wait, does this mean...?" Kirito started, seeing his secondary Keyblade.
"You did it, papa!" cheered Yui from Kirito's pocket, "By fighting a lot in your Limit form, you unlocked your 'Dual Wield' ability. It even changed your sword skills, too!"
Kirito smiled eagerly at this, then looked to the horde ahead of him. "Hmph, these guys are in soo much trouble." Kirito muttered, raising his two Keyblades, and he started swiping furiously at the horde, taking them down twice as fast.
Sora, meanwhile, was getting stronger and stronger in his Limit Form. His Dodge Roll kept improving, and he was able to stay in his form loads longer, too. He rolled right through a group of Heartless, and performed his Ragnarok in a bunch of Heartless, knocking them all out. "If this keeps up, I'll be able to beat everything here in no time!" cheered Sora, and he leapt up and started doing the 'Rising Sun' reaction.
Meanwhile, Asuna's Limit Form granted her something that was unusual, for it was more of an ALO-based improvements. Sure, her skills were swifter, but two things happened to her; One was that she was given her own unique skill, Speed Wing, where she was able to produce wings just like her ALO avatar, and her attack speed improved. Secondly, she was granted a skill that replaced 'Linear' to become 'Starry Tear', a six hit combo. "These feel like a combo of my SAO and ALO avatar." Asuna said, pausing to feel her new powers, "Still, I like it a lot." She flew upwards, and dive-bombed into the crowd.
It was clear that all through the battle, they were getting stronger, and that they were getting better with fighting. Clearing the horde got faster and faster the further along they got into the fight. Donald and Goofy couldn't be seen by the others either, but they were kicking just as much butt as the rest of the team. After a half-hour of fighting, the horde finally dwindled away. The Keyblade wielders have already exhausted their Limit Forms as they charged up the pass to the hill where Xehanort was suppose to be at. Asuna was the first to arrive there, but she slowed down to catch her breath. The other two boys caught up with her, and they too stopped to catch their breath.
"Phew! That was rough." Kirito sighed.
"But at least we took care of the army." Asuna panted, "And we got a lot stronger."
"Yeah," Sora agreed, "We...did pretty good out there." The trio looked to each other, and even through that situation, they couldn't help but laugh a little. They were just glad that they were all alright. They looked behind them and saw Donald and Goofy join up to meet them.
"Where's the King?" Sora asked the two. The team looked all around, searching for him.
"There he is!" Donald shouted, pointing at the spot where Mickey was taking out an Armored Knight.
"C'mon!" Sora shouted, and the group charged in to meet him.
At the hill where Xehanort stood, Mickey was standing right behind him, panting from the fighting he had to deal with. "Your Majesty!" Donald shouted, and he turned to see Sora, Kirito and the gang run up to meet him.
Mickey looked pleased to see his friends alright, then he whipped his head back to the man before him. "Xehanort!" addressed Mickey.
"How long has it been since I abandoned that name..." the man said, looking slightly above him.
"Out with it, Nobody!" growled Sora, "Where's Kairi?! Where's Riku?!"
"I know nothing of any Kairi." the man answered, "As for Riku..." he turned to them, "Perhaps you should ask your king." Sora looked startled at his words, and looked to Mickey who stood beside him.
"Stop!" ordered Mickey, and he charged ahead at the Nobody, who begun producing the black portal. He disappeared into it, and Mickey leapt in after him. A second after he entered, the portal vanished.
"King Mickey!" shouted Asuna as the portal vanished.
"He's gone..." moaned Sora. Sora fell back onto his butt, frustrated. He continuously smacked the ground with his fist until Kirito grabbed his fist and Goofy came to his other shoulder. Yui landed onto Sora's head, trying to comfort him.
"I'm sorry, Sora." Asuna told him. Sora looked to all of his friends, glad for their kindness.
"Everyone." moaned Donald, also upset to see the King go.
There was a pause, then they heard someone's cry. They looked up to see Leafa in her Limit Form fly up to meet them. "You ok, Leafa?" Kirito asked, walking up to her as she landed on the edge of the cliff.
"Never mind that, Kirito." Leafa answered, "Look!" She pointed off into the distance, and the team noticed something off. They gathered to the cliffside, and looked out to the old town and castle that stood off in the distance. There were no Heartless anywhere, which seemed strange to them.
"What's goin' on?" Goofy asked.
"Way to fall right into their trap." said a sarcastic voice. They looked around, and noticed another Organization member, one who Leafa knew too well, leaning against the rocks.
"Axel!" she shouted, leading the team to him as they brandished their weapons, ready for a fight.
"Long time no see...Leafa, right?" Axel asked.
"Guess you really did get my name memorized." she growled, fully ready to take him on.
"What do you mean 'trap'?" Asuna asked him, pointing her Keyblade at him.
"C'mon, it's a set-up by Organization XIII." Axel answered, walking towards them, "Xemnas is using you to destroy the Heartless; that's his big master plan."
"Xemnas?" echoed Donald.
"The guy you just saw." Axel pointed out, "He's their leader. Got it memorized? X-E-M, N-A-S."
Sora and Kirito looked perplexed at what Axel was saying, and so was everyone else. "Organization XIII wants to get rid of the Heartless?" Goofy asked.
"Man, you're slow." chuckled Axel, pointing at their Keyblades, "Every Heartless slain with those Keyblades releases a captive heart. That is what the Organization is after."
"So what is the Organization gonna use the hearts for?" Yui asked, flying in front of the others.
"I'm not telling." Axel answered bluntly.
"Tell us right now!" shouted Leafa, and she flew right at Axel, who didn't waste any time brandishing his chakram. She lunged with her Keyblade, and Axel blocked her attack. He produced his other chakram and attempted to throw it at her. "Aerora!" Leafa shouted, and a gust of wind sent Axel skidding backwards. Leafa landed to the ground, ready for more.
"I can see someone has been practicing." Axel said in amusement.
"Save it!" shouted Leafa, "Now you give back Kairi right now or else!"
Sora suddenly remembered what Leafa told him back in Twilight Town. "You...you're the one who kidnapped Kairi!" he accused him.
"Bingo." answered Axel, "The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"
"Yeah, I already told them." huffed Leafa, "You don't have to remind them."
"Where is Kairi?" Sora asked desperately. At this, Axel looked a little hesitant to answering.
"Tell him, Axel!" shouted Leafa, "She means a lot to him, so tell him where she is, right now!"
Axel looked to Sora, then to Leafa, then up at the sky. "Look, about Kairi, I'm sorry." Axel answered.
"What do you mean 'you're sorry'?!" Leafa demanded.
"Axel!" shouted a familiar voice. Axel looked nervously around. Right in the middle of Sora's group, Leafa, and Axel, a black portal appeared, and the man with blue hair appeared before Axel.
"Uh-oh!" gasped Axel, and he produced his own black portal. Sora and Leafa made a dash for him, but the man with blue hair held his hands out to stop them.
"We'll ensure he receives the maximum punishment." he assured them.
"Then let me do the honors!" Leafa shouted, and she flew over the man towards the place where Axel stepped back. As soon as she got there, the portal disappeared, and so did Axel. She landed on the spot where Axel disappeared. "Dammit! Not again!" she cried, clenching her fists in anger.
Sora watched the spot where Leafa stood, then turned to the man before him. "I don't care about any of that!" he shouted, "Just let me into the realm of darkness, okay?!" Kirito and Asuna looked to Sora. His desperation of seeing Kairi again was really strong. Kirito could easily understand his feelings. When Asuna was trapped in ALO, he was desperate on seeing her again, and he wanted to go to any lengths to see her again. Of course, Sugou was to blame for that, and now he is conflicting with someone else's life here too, as Gouxus.
"If it's Kairi you're worried about, don't." the man told Sora, turning to him, "We're taking very good care of her."
"I don't see any proof of that." spat Asuna.
"Take me to her." Sora asked longingly.
"Is she that important to you?" the man asked.
"Yeah. More than anything." Sora answered.
"Show me how important." said the man. Sora paused, thinking of a way to show how much he cared for. Kirito watched him as well, wondering how much he cared. What Sora did next startled Kirito, along with everyone else; he knelt down, and placed his hands out in front, in a begging position.
"Sora!" Asuna gasped quietly.
"Please." Sora asked the man before him. Leafa watched from the other end, seeing Sora begging to see Kairi. She heard how much he cared for her, but this was definite proof as to how far he will go. She wondered if Kirito would do the same for Asuna?
"So, you really do care for her." the man summed up, "In that case...the answer is no." Sora leapt straight back to his feet again, furious at what the man just made him do. "You rotten...!"
"How dare you make a fool of Sora!" Kirito growled, Asuna trying to hold him from attacking him, even though she wanted to attack him too.
"Are you angry? Do you hate me?" the man questioned the group, "Then take that rage, and direct it at the Heartless." He snapped his fingers, and more Armored Knights appeared from behind him, right in front of Leafa. Sora and the others readied their weapons, preparing to fight. Leafa looked just as ready, too.
"Pitiful Heartless, mindlessly collecting hearts." the man stated, his arms outstretched as he looked upwards, "And yet they know not the true power of what they hold. The rage of the Keyblade releases those hearts. They gather in darkness, masterless and free, until they weave together to make Kingdom Hearts. And when that time comes, we can truly, finally exist." Sora, Kirito and Asuna all looked to him, realizing what the Organization was after; their Keyblades release the hearts from Heartless, and they gather to Kingdom Hearts, where not only does this man say that the Nobodies will 'exist', but Gouxus will attempt to use it's powers to control the hearts of this and Kirito's dimension. In a twisted manner of fate, it would seem that they were helping Gouxus, Xemnas and the rest of the Organization out by defeating Heartless.
"What in the world do you think you're prattling on about?" questioned a sinister voice. From behind Sora's group, green flames appeared, and Maleficent came out of it. "Kingdom Hearts belongs to me!" she declared, "The heart of all kingdoms, the heart of all that lives. A dominion fit to be called Kingdom Hearts must be MY dominion!"
"She's as twisted as Gouxus!" gasped Asuna, hearing her words.
"Maleficent, no! No more Heartless!" shouted Sora.
"I do not take orders from you!" she retorted, and she whipped her magic staff upwards. All around the man, Soldier Heartless appeared, ready to attack him.
"Fool..." he muttered, and he snapped his fingers. Dusks appeared for every Soldier, and they smacked them to obliteration. The team looked shocked as the Dusks turned their attention to Sora's team.
"Oh, no!" cried Sora, shielding his eyes as he thought they would attack. He paused, then he uncovered his eyes to see Maleficent now in front of the group. She gathered up her dark energy, and produced a fiery barrier that protect the six heroes.
"While I keep these creatures at bay, you devise a way to vanquish them, forever!"
"Maleficent." muttered Sora. Kirito noticed the Dusks piling onto her, then he noticed a couple attempt to go after Leafa.
"Sugu, run!" Kirito shouted, "You have to get away from here, now!"
"But...what about you?!" Leafa asked, worried for her brother.
"Don't worry!" Kirito answered, "I have all my friends here. You just make sure you get to Recon, Leon, and everyone else. Please, do it!" Leafa looked at her brother's serious face through the dark green flames, and she nodded and flew off with whatever amount of time she had in her Limit Form, dodging two of the Dusks that tried attacking her.
"Thank you, Maleficent." Yui said kindly to her.
"Do not misunderstand me." Maleficent retaliated, "I shall have me revenge on you yet, Sora. The same goes for you too, Keyblade wielders." Two more Dusks pounced and she was pushed to the ground by the pile.
"Maleficent!" shouted Sora.
"Leave! Now!" Maleficent ordered them.
"I don't take orders from you!" Sora quoted.
He was about to leap in when Asuna stopped him. "Sora, let's go!" she told him.
"But...what about..." Sora stammered, turning to the pile of Dusks. The flames died down, and Maleficent disappeared.
"Now then. Where did we leave off?" the man asked, and he snapped his fingers, and the Dusks disappeared, and more Heartless appeared, surrounding the heroes.
"Which side are you guys on anyway?" Sora asked the man before him.
"Just who in the hell are you?!" Kirito demanded, "Tell me your name!"
"Well, if you must, you may call me Saix." the man answered, "As for your question Sora, the Heartless ally with whoever's the strongest." He waved his hand, and the Heartless attacked. Sora, Kirito and Asuna struck down the Heartless, and their hearts floated up into the sky. Saix watched them float upwards and smile. "Yes, Sora! Kirito! Asuna! Extract more hearts!" With that, Saix produced a black portal and disappeared.
Sora, Kirito, Asuna, Donald, Goofy and Yui all stood back to back as the closing circle of Heartless drew in. "No! The hearts!" gasped Sora, looking up to see the hearts disappear into darkness.
"All this time, we've just been collecting hearts for the Organization?" Kirito muttered, "Damn it! Of all the luck!" The group watched the hearts disappear, but they had to defend themselves against the Heartless. Kirito swung his Keyblade at them, and more hearts flew into the air. Asuna was hesitant on fighting the Heartless now, and so was Sora, who was only defending.
"Maybe everything we've done... Maybe it was all for nothing." Sora muttered, doubting himself, "What am I supposed to do if I can't use the Keyblade?!"
"I'm not sure, Sora." Asuna answered, "If we fight them, the Organization will take those hearts, and they'll succeed. If we don't fight the Heartless... I really don't know what to do." Kirito looked to his loved one and his best friend, wondering about the same thing.
"Imbeciles!" echoed Maleficent's voice, "You can't be trusted to do anything!" The team looked around, startled, then noticed a black portal beneath their feet, and they sunk into it. They fell through the blackness, and fell to the ground. Asuna and Kirito landed on their feet, with Yui floating down to them. The others collapsed onto the floor, where ever the floor was. They were knocked out for a few seconds, then they stood up, and gathered together.
"What's this place?" Goofy asked.
"I have no idea." Kirito answered, "Do you, Yui?" Yui shook her head.
"It must be the Realm of Darkness!" Sora assumed, looking upwards and all around him, then he called out, "Kairi! Riku!" The team looked around, searching for any other life around them.
Suddenly, Donald and Asuna noticed someone off in the distance. He had on the Organization's uniform, a hood covered his head, and he held a white box. "Who's there?!" demanded Donald.
"Are you from the Organization?!" Asuna asked angrily. The two charged at the figure just as he disappeared into darkness, leaving behind the box. Donald and Asuna looked down at the box as the others gathered to them. "What is it?" Asuna asked as Donald picked it up.
"Are you sure you wanna open..." Goofy started, but Donald opened the box, "...that?" They peered inside and saw two things; a picture of four people, and an ice cream bar.
Asuna reached down and took the picture out of the box and showed it to the others. "Hey, isn't that the gang from Twilight Town?" Kirito asked, "There's Hayner, Pence, Olette, and uh, um..." Nobody knew who the fourth person was except for...
"Roxas." Sora ended.
"Do ya know him?" Goofy asked.
"No." Sora answered, "The name just popped into my head... This is Roxas."
"I wonder why you think that?" Yui asked. The team was just as puzzled.
Donald was waving the ice cream bar in one hand, then he opened his mouth. "Are ya sure you wanna eat..." Goofy started, but Donald bit into it, "...that?"
Donald was surprised by the flavor. "Salty!" he started, "No...sweet!"
"Wait...could this be that Sea Salt ice cream that Leafa and Recon really liked?" Asuna asked, taking the stick of ice cream from Donald and looking at it. She licked it, despite the fact it was in Donald's mouth. "Hey, this is actually good!" Asuna exclaimed, looking at the ice cream.
Suddenly, the ice cream lit up as it fell out of Asuna's hand and floated to the sky. The group watched it, and Sora's, Kirito's and Asuna's Keyblades produced themselves. They looked to their Keyblades, got together, and did the ritual. They pointed their Keyblades downward together as they and the ice cream glowed brighter. Suddenly a crown mark appeared around them, and a strange energy surged around them as the surrounding changed into a bright sky with black clouds. The light from the ice crean suddenly bursted into the sky, and a large keyhole appeared. The trio jumped back, flipping their Keyblades around and pointing them at the keyhole. Three beams came from their Keyblades and shot themselves at the keyhole, and a sound of a lock unlocking was produced, along with a blinding light. Suddenly everything was back to normal.
"Not yet!" Sora shouted, "I gotta look for Kairi!"
"We don't have a choice in the matter." Kirito told him, and Yui signaled the Gummi ship to pick them up.
"I'm sure we'll find her." Asuna assured Sora, "Let's go back and rethink things here." The light of the Gummi ship picked them up, and they were teleported away.
Back at the bailey of Hollow Bastion. Cloud, Leon and Recon stood there, witnessing a bright light off in the distance. "Sora! Donald! Goofy!" gasped Leon.
"Leafa! Kirito! Asuna!" cried Recon.
"Relax." Cloud told them, "Those six aren't going down that easily." He turned and walked away as he continued, "The Keyblade's chosen ones...they're lucky kids." With that, Cloud disappeared.
"Recon! Leon!" shouted Leafa's voice. They turned to see Leafa running up to them, now out of her Limit Form.
"Leafa, you're ok!" Recon shouted, dashing up to her and about to hug her.
"Of course I'm ok." scoffed Leafa, pushing Recon back, "And I'm sure my brother, Asuna and all their friends are safe too." She and Recon walked up to Leon's side, watching a beam of light shoot up into the sky and out of sight.
"See you soon." Leon said to himself.
"Take care, Kazuto." Leafa said, looking at where the light went.
The team arrived back on the Gummi ship, and they sat back into their seats again, exhausted after the ordeal they had to deal with. "We couldn't have gotten here without Maleficent's help." Yui sighed as she went to the control panel.
"I guess sometimes help comes from unexpected places." Sora stated.
"Sure does!" agreed Donald.
"But what's with the photo and ice cream?" Kirito wondered.
"Hmm. Wonder if they're some sorta clue?" Goofy thought out loud, "And who woulda left 'em for us, anyway?"
"Riku?" Sora suggested.
"You really think so?" Kirito asked confusingly.
"Just this feeling I got." Sora answered.
"Well, it seems like were getting closer to succeeding our goals!" cheered Yui.
"I'm just wondering; what if the Heartless come back again?" Asuna asked, "We can't use our Keyblades; that would only help the Organization."
"Guys, we have to use them." Kirito answered sternly, standing up and walking in front of the team, "Think about it. If we don't fight them, the Heartless will just keep hurting innocent people. Sure, we might be releasing hearts for the Organization, but we can find a way to stop them from succeeding as well. We can do it, as long as were a team." Sora, Asuna, Donald and Goofy looked admiringly at him. Yui flew to his shoulder, also respecting Kirito's words.
"Your right!" Sora agreed, "Let's make sure all the worlds are completely safe, then we can deal with the Organization when the time comes."
"I agree." Asuna seconded, "Ever since we came to this dimensions, we've noticed the Heartless attacking people. I hate to see more innocent people fall because of us."
"Then it's settled." Kirito concluded, walking back to his seat, "Yui, set course for the worlds again. Let's make sure the Heartless, the Nobodies, nor the Organization have their way."
"You got it!" pipped up Yui, and she set in the coordinates, and they took off.