"You know it's rude asking a person about their past," the tall woman with long brown hair stated coldly and then turned her back to the man trying to talk to her. She walked into the restaurant next to the square of Traverse Town's First District.
Smoker growled at the response but then calmed himself. If this place is just somewhere that people who got scattered landed, Tashigi might be somewhere here. I have to keep looking.
He wandered off in a different direction to keep looking around, while the rest of the group were off doing other things. Usopp was watching a still knocked out Luffy back at the ship, while Nami went to get Cid to help them make adjustments to their Gummi vehicle.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy were off in the Second District fighting Heartless left and right. "Did you guys see that last fight?!" Sora shouted as Donald got knocked back and muttered that he was exhausted. "We got creamed!" the kid got knocked back himself, but he clenched his left hand on the cement and dragged himself up to his feet. "I don't care how strong they are," he began and Goofy stood up, standing next to him on the right. "Or how far ahead of us they are," he growled and stared at the two fat Heartless surrounded by the floating green ones that were healing them as soon as Sora got any damage on them. Donald got up and stood next to Sora on the left with a scowl of his own on his bill now. "We won't fall behind anymore!"
The three of them kept duking it out with the seemingly endless supply of Heartless in the Second District. They defeated all the monsters in the main plaza, but then they went through the hotel and had to fight their way through every room until they busted out the back door and into the alleyway.
"Leon wasn't in there," Goofy said obviously. Both of the others were already thinking it and they looked around for where they could find the older teen with the long sword. "What about over there?" he pointed over at a gate in the sewer that led somewhere else.
"I mean, we've already tried everywhere else," Sora said. "I guess we could give it a shot." The three of them ran through the back alley and defeated the magic red, blue, and yellow floating Heartless that tried attacking them. Sora started to realize that magic was the best attack on these ones, but if he used the magic that matched its color, he only gave it more health. He was getting more accurate with his attacks as he focused solely on one, or solely on missing one enemy.
The three of them jumped into the waterway and then charged at the metal bars. Donald hit first, but they didn't break, so Sora slammed into his back. However, they didn't break then either, so Goofy crashed into both of them and finally the bars knocked down and the three of them fell into the dark waterway. The three of them swam into the tunnel and found Leon and the gang at the end of it.
As Sora got out of the water and talked to Leon about the Keyholes they found, Luffy was coming around back in the outskirts of the First District where they parked their Gummi Ship. The pirate stood up slowly and winced a little as he looked around. "Hey Luffy," a voice said and he spun to see Usopp sitting next to him cross-legged.
"Usopp," Luffy smiled at the man who he was still having trouble recognizing. The pirate looked around and he saw the sign above the First District's doors that he had yet to enter since they were parked outside. "Traverse Town? Aww, we left the jungle," he frowned and pouted in a sitting position just like Usopp's.
"Haha, don't worry, we said goodbye to Tarzan and Jane for you," Usopp said.
"What about the gorillas?!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Umm," Usopp scratched his chin. The man with the long nose was wearing a white t-shirt and had on long black pants. "Sorry, but it wasn't goodbye forever," Usopp quickly said, "we can visit them on the ship whenever we want."
"Well I want to now," Luffy said and crossed his arms.
"Baka," Luffy turned just in time for the wrench Nami threw to hit him in the face. He flew backwards and his head slammed into the ground as Nami jumped down off the ship. She was wearing a blue tank top and short red shorts, and she had to wipe her face of some sweat after working on the ship for a while. "Shouldn't we be looking places we haven't already checked for the rest of our crew?"
"Oh yeah," Luffy said and jumped up to his feet, forgetting about the red welt he had where the wrench hit him.
"Anyway, you're turn again Usopp. You're better at this than I am anyway. Cid could use some help up there," as Nami was talking, Luffy looked up at the ship and his eyes went wide and starry. Huge new additions were already added to it and now they were working on adding the navigation Gummi they found in the Deep Jungle.
"Whoa! What happened?! It's so, so big!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Well duh," Usopp said as he was climbing. "We needed space for all our new... members..." he stopped and looked at Nami who looked back at him nervously. "You've got this one," Usopp said quickly and then dropped into the hatch and closed it behind him to start working on adding the new destinations to their Gummi Ship's navigation system.
"What'd he mean by new members?" Luffy asked and tilted his head to the side and Nami tried to avoid eye contact.
The girl muttered a curse at Usopp under her breath and then turned back to her captain. "Well," she began and twiddled her fingers together. "We might have, brought along, someone from the Deep Jungle." Luffy was about to exclaim how happy he was that Tarzan was there, but he remembered that Usopp told him he said goodbye to Tarzan and Jane for him.
"Who?" the pirate captain asked.
Nami looked up; she didn't want to miss Luffy's reaction on this one. "Smoker."
She was expecting panic, or him to shout something, but instead Luffy started smiling. "Shishishi, Smoky's coming? Great!"
"Be more worried!" Nami punched him on top of the head. She started huffing and puffing and then blew on her fist. "Actually, I don't think you have to be. He might be a Marine, but there is no more Navy, or World Government. At least until we get everything back the way it was, he's on our side."
Luffy stood back up with a red bump on his head and he didn't know what to say. He wanted to say, 'Yippee!' but he felt like Nami would hit him again, so he nodded instead. "Well, where is he?" the pirate asked, feeling it was a safe question.
Nami looked back at the doorway and said, "He's in town, looking for his Sergeant, Tashigi. She got sucked into the darkness like everyone else..." Nami sounded depressed and she looked down at the floor towards the end of her speech.
"Nami," Luffy whispered and the woman looked up to see Luffy planting his hat on top of his head. "We'll get everyone back. Chopper, Robin, Sanji, Zoro," Nami winced but Luffy didn't notice it and continued, "Riku and Kairi too." The navigator smiled softly and Luffy felt like he did a good job. The pirate didn't notice as he turned away from the orange haired girl, but there was a tear in her left eye about to drop down. It's not just our crew Luffy. What happened to Coco Village? Nojiko? Gen? Everyone... Zoro, thinking of everyone she missed was making her sadder but she got distracted from her thoughts by the silly captain in front of her.
"Yosh!" Luffy jumped up in the air and then grabbed his chest on his way down. "Oww," he moaned and sat back down, "that's weird, I didn't think it would still hurt." He frowned and crossed his arms, deep in thought about how to limit the usage of his new powers, since changing into Gear Third also had the side effect of turning him tiny, which could be devastating during a fight.
"Well," Nami muttered as she sat down next to her captain and rested her arms behind her head, "we still don't know where they are, so don't get too excited. It could be a while before we find any of them."
"No," Luffy stated and the navigator next to him looked up in surprise. "I'll find them soon." He looked up at the sky, "Hear that guys? I'm coming for you."
Nami smiled at the teen in the straw hat and couldn't stop herself from giggling. She put her hand over her mouth to stop, but she couldn't do it and started laughing out loud. Luffy, this is exactly why I joined your crew, she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and looked up at the sky too. We'll get everyone back, even you Zoro.
"There's a magician upstairs?" Donald shouted at Aerith who mentioned something a second before to him.
"There's a Keyhole on this world too?!" Sora exclaimed at Leon who nodded and continued to explain how every world had a Keyhole on it, and they had to find the one on this world too.
"Gawrsh," Goofy turned to his two friends, "where should we go first?"
"Sora has the Keyblade," Donald started and they both looked to the kid to see what he wanted to do.
The kid with spiky brown hair clenched his right fist. "I want to go to the Keyhole as soon as possible to save this world from falling into darkness, but I need to get stronger. The boss here might be even stronger than Clayton was."
"But didn't we beat the boss already?" Goofy asked while scratching his head.
"I thought we did," Leon agreed with the dog, "but if so, there would be much less Heartless on this world than we're seeing. Instead, the number keeps going up. I think there must still be a boss somewhere in one of the districts."
"That settles it then!" Sora exclaimed and looked back at his friends. "First we'll go to this Merlin guy's house, then we'll head after the boss. Sound good?"
"Yeah!" Donald and Goofy shouted. The three of them walked off towards the magical staircase behind Aerith that kept lifting up in the air to some different room. The group appeared in the middle of an empty room and looked around, wondering if someone actually lived there with the resistance's secret base in the basement.
"Hello?" Sora cupped his mouth and called out.
All of a sudden the door opened and an old man in a blue robe with a much pointier blue hat than Donald walked in. The old guy had a long white beard and mustache, along with a pair of glasses that perfected the old magician look. Sora sweatdropped, He's definitely a magician alright. "Are you Merlin?" Goofy asked.
"Why yes!" The old man dropped a suitcase and held up a long wand. He started waving it around in the air and huge pieces of furniture that shouldn't have been able to fit inside the bag escaped and started dancing around and setting themselves up around the room. Merlin kept doing this until his entire house was furnished and the group of travelers ooed and ahhed at the magic. "Now what can I do for you boys?"
Sora explained how they were trying to save the worlds from the Heartless and Merlin exclaimed, "So you're the Keybearer. I heard there were two of you?" He looked at the other two creatures but Donald and Goofy shook their heads.
"Yeah, but he's not here right now," Sora said. I wonder if Luffy's woken up yet?
"Well that's quite alright," the old man quipped. "If you would like to practice your magic, I have a training room upstairs where your mana, that is your magical energy, will never be depleted." Sora perked up at this and asked to go train there.
Donald, Sora, and Goofy jumped on another magical staircase thing that lifted up in the air and brought them to the second floor. Merlin rose with them and he shook his wand again, this time bringing the upstairs furniture to life and made it attack them. Goofy practiced with his shield too and the three of them fought against bookshelves and coffee tables until the furniture broke apart. Then, Merlin shook his wand and the pieces were put back together as strong as before, making the three of them start back over.
It was a few hours before Donald and Goofy were finally too exhausted and lay with their backs up against the back wall. The two of them were panting hard and couldn't continue, but they kept watching in amazement as Sora kept fighting all the enemies on his own.
"Would you like to take a break too my boy?" Merlin asked, sweat coming down the sides of his own face after watching this kid destroy a bookshelf a few hundred times in a row without pause. "No one will think less of you if..."
"No!" Sora shouted and jumped up, calling down thunder that slammed down into his enemy and shattered it. "I have to get stronger, this won't be enough to stop the Heartless." His mind flashed for a second to the Marine back in the Deep Jungle, Yussaf. If only he'd been stronger, then maybe he could have saved him.
"But you've already upgraded your Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder magic!" Merlin exclaimed. "At the magical level you're at now, you can use Fira, Blizzara, and Thundara!"
Sora slowed down for a second and looked at his Keyblade. He had been noticing that his magic was getting stronger. Each of his attacks were larger, with a bigger fireball, more ice, or an extra lightning bolt or two. "I know I'm getting stronger," he said quietly, but then the image of Luffy covered in steam appeared in his mind and he looked up at the old magician, "but it's still not enough." The kid sighed, finally putting his hands on his knees and the angry furniture stopped dancing around the room and fell silent.
Merlin lowered his wand and scratched his long white beard with his other hand. "There is, one other thing I can teach you..."
Sora's head snapped up and looked at the reluctant look on the old man's face, "But I don't know if you'll be able to handle it," the magician continued.
"I can!" Sora shouted and sprinted forward, suddenly losing all the fatigue he had felt. Donald and Goofy sighed and leaned back, thinking they might finally be moving on and now seeing that they were going to be stuck here for a while longer.
Merlin looked the boy up and down a few times and then nodded. "Alright then, if you're sure you can take it. But I must first warn you of the risks..."
"Please," Sora begged and fell to his knees with his hands together. "Just teach me the power! We need to find the Keyhole on this world before it gets sucked into darkness too. Warnings come later!"
"Alright alright, sheesh," Merlin said, though he smiled at the boy's enthusiasm. "With this power," he waved his arms around in the air and a white light glowed from his wand. "One that I have not perfected myself, one that my old friend Yen Sid created," the man brought down his arms and the light engulfed Sora, lifting the boy off the ground as Sora closed his eyes.
Donald and Goofy shot up and went wide-eyed as Sora's arms and legs were pulled backwards with his torso and head pushed forwards towards the center of the light. Sora opened his eyes fast and his whole body felt tingly. "You will become stronger than you could imagine. This is, Drive form."
The light went away and Sora dropped to the ground, his clothes all turned red. "Whoa," Donald, Goofy, and Sora all gawked at the same time while they looked at Sora's new attire. The boy stopped looking at his clothes as he felt something in both of his hands. He looked at his right and saw his normal Keyblade with the yellow hilt and the silver blade, then he looked to his left hand and gasped.
"When did you get another Keyblade?" Goofy asked the boy who couldn't give him an answer. "Jungle King," a voice whispered in his ear and he held up his left hand, repeating the name for the others to hear.
"I think I must've gotten it when I closed the Keyhole in the Deep Jungle." Sora said and admired his new weapon. It had a purple hilt with two silver spikes coming out of it, and the grip Sora held onto was brownish orange. The blade was silver like his other Keyblade, but the actual Key part was split into four different long prongs. It has a farther reach than the first one.
"Why don't you try it out?" Merlin asked, wanting to see what the power he bestowed could do. "It's the first time I've seen this magic in action, so I'm sending everything at you at once." He raised his wand and all the furniture in the room started shaking at the same time.
As all of the wooden creatures leapt at Sora, the boy lifted his head up and kicked off the ground. He soared at the bookshelf in front of him faster than he could've imagined. All three of the others in the room stared in awe as Sora did a seven twenty spin, cutting both blades across the shelf twice each. The wood shattered and blasted across the room as the boy backflipped and kept backflipping three more times with his Keyblades stuck out around him.
He looked like a spinning top as he ripped his blades through the chairs beneath him and then landed. Merlin was in awe at how amazing this strength was and he decided to test it, "This will be harder," he warned and then waved his wand. All the shattered pieces along with the other pieces of furniture started pulling together and created one huge bookshelf/table/cabinet monster.
"ROOARRR!" it yelled and they'd never seen a scarier piece of decoration.
Sora jumped forward at it and started slashing with his blades. His combo got to five, then six, then seven, and he kept going as he rose higher and higher up the creature, slashing it over and over again. He was so focused on his strength, that he forgot to dodge as an armchair,punched him away from the front of the monster and into the wall.
Pieces of the wooden monster were falling all over the place, but it started charging towards Sora on its footrests. The boy smirked, "If my strength is this strong, then my magic must be," he lifted up his right Keyblade and yelled, "Thundara!" Nothing happened.
A footrest kicked him up in the air and then a cabinet being used as a right arm slammed into the boy and knocked him down into the floor. "Ohh my head," he rubbed it as he got back to his feet. "What happened, why can't I use my magic?"
"I would have told you, but you didn't want any warnings," Merlin called over to the boy from the corner he was hiding in with Donald and Goofy. "In this specific Drive form, called Valor Form, you can't use any magic. It's the only one I knew how to teach, but you'll learn other Drive forms on your travels! Now look out!"
"Huh?" Sora looked up and saw the armchair coming down at him again. "Not this time," he jumped up and landed on top of the wooden arm, running up it while dragging both Keyblades across either side of his legs, tearing the arm off at the shoulder with a big spin. He slashed over and over and dodged the cabinet arm as it flew at him, turning and crossing both of his Keyblades across it and cutting it in half.
He started falling out of the air, but he had time for one more attack and twisted his right leg behind him, turning his whole body while he wound up with his arms. "Take, this!" he spun his arms and twisted his whole body, sending visible slashes off the ends of his weapons that spun rapidly and tore at the enemy until it was just a pile of scraps on the floor.
Sora dropped to the ground, and as he did, his clothes turned back to normal. "Looks like the time limit has run out," Merlin said as he walked forward. "You must remember there will always be a time limit for how long you can use each Drive Form. The more you defeat enemies while not in the form, the quicker your Drive gauge will increase and when it's full, you'll know. That's when you'll be able to utilize this power again."
"But if you're not there Merlin, how do I activate it." Sora asked.
"That one's simple," the old man said. "For Valor Form, just think hard about what gives you strength and courage. What drives you to push your physical body to its limits and face challenges that seem impossible to others!"
"With this, nothing will be able to stop me," the boy clenched his right hand and the Keyblades had both disappeared when the form ran out of time. "Donald, Goofy," he called out and his two friends ran over to him, "let's go beat that monster!"
"Right!" Goofy shouted!
"Wawawa! We'll beat it for sure!" Donald quacked and the three of them dropped into the hole back to the first floor.
"Wait!" Merlin called after them.
"Oh yeah," Sora turned back as they hit the side door to Merlin's house. "Thanks for all your help Merlin!"
"You're very welcome," the magician said and scratched his beard proudly to have been a teacher for such a promising young lad. "Oh wait," he called down, remembering what he actually wanted to tell the boy. "I have to warn you about using the form too many times in a row..." the old man sighed, "he's already gone."
Sora was outside, jumping across the rocks in the huge dark room. Merlin's house was on an island in the middle, but there was a trail of rocks leading to the exit on the other side. Donald and Goofy kept jumping along with him, but Sora was smiling wide as he kept going. This is awesome! I can't wait to show off my skills to Luffy, Usopp, and Nami!
The boy pushed open the door and ran into the Third District. Enemies started forming all around him and he closed his eyes, imagining Riku and Kairi, his determination to get to them and save the world no matter what the cost. When he opened his eyes, the Heartless were right in front of him rearing up for an attack, but he still wasn't in his Valor form.
"Sora! Remember what Merlin said?" Goofy asked as he charged in front of the Keybearer and lifted the shield to protect the off guard child. "You can't use it again until you've fought a bunch of enemies outside of the form. Hiyuk," Goofy pushed back the enemies and they sat there dazed for a second from the dog person's strength.
"That's right!" Donald shouted and called down a Thundara of his own that destroyed the dazed enemies. He didn't practice for as long as Sora, but he was already a trained magician long before going on this journey; it wasn't as hard for him to pick up on the magic techniques.
"Sorry," Sora scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "I'll try to remember that next time."
The three of them started running across the room again, when three more Heartless appeared in front of them. "More?!" Sora exclaimed, still tired from all his training. Suddenly, all three creatures exploded in puff's of black smoke and the Sora's eyes turned huge as he saw the person standing behind the creatures.
"There you are. What's going on?" Riku asked with a grin.
Sora stared at the muscular boy who was only a few months older than he was. The boy with silver hair smiled at his younger, and shorter friend, glad to see Sora was alright. Sora seemed much more shocked that Riku was alright though as he stumbled a few steps towards his friend in the yellow tank top. "Riku," he stuck his thumbs on the insides of Riku's mouth and pulled to the sides, stretching him out to make sure he was real.
"Hey hey, cut it out!" Riku lifted the hand that wasn't holding a weapon and knocked Sora's hand away. The silver haired boy with bright teal eyes was holding a red blade in his right hand that had cut all three of those Heartless in one swipe.
"I'm not dreaming this time, right?" Sora talked to himself as he looked up and down his friend, seeing that Riku was completely alright.
"I hope not," Riku said while pushing his hand through his hair. "Took forever to find you."
Sora smiled wide at his best friend, "Riku!" He still couldn't believe it, but then a group of Heartless appeared near them and the group of four now charged at them together. Sora went back to back with his friend and they fought off all the enemies and took them down.
Darn, I wish my Valor form was ready, Riku would be so impressed! Sora saw his friend take out the same amount of enemies as him, Donald, and Goofy combined did, and he was amazed and slightly jealous of his friend like always. "Hey wait a second," Sora stopped the taller kid once they'd walked a little farther, "Where's Kairi?"
"Isn't she with you?" Riku asked back and then both kids looked down. Riku tssked under his breath, he told Sora that Kairi was coming with them, yet here they were with her nowhere in sight. He cheered up, "Well, don't worry. I'm sure she made it off the island too." He walked past his friend and then held his arms out to the sides, looking up at this amazing town that he could never have imagined in his wildest dreams. "We're finally free. Hey, she might even be looking for us now."
Slowly, a black form was rising behind Riku and Sora spotted it out of the corner of his eye. Riku kept talking, "We'll all be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this place like-" he heard a crash and spun around, seeing a black creature like the ones that attacked the island turn to a cloud of darkness with his friend standing where it just was. Sora made sure Riku saw the cool pose he was in after swiping the creature as hard as he could before he turned back around with a smirk of his own on his face.
He lifted up his Keyblade with the yellow hilt and plopped it over his shoulder to rest it there. "Leave it to who?" Sora asked cockily.
"Sora," Riku was surprised, "What did you..."
"I've been looking for you and Kairi too. With their help," he nodded his head over towards Donald and Goofy who were watching from the sidelines. The two of them nodded as Riku turned their direction.
"Who are they?" he asked Sora instead of the creatures directly.
"Ahem," Donald started, "My name is-"
Sora cut him off, "We've visited so many places and worlds, looking for you."
Sora's been to other worlds too?! Riku chuckled, "Well, what do you know? I never would have guessed."
Goofy walked up behind their spiky haired friend and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him around a little. "Oh, and guess what?" he told Riku. "Sora's the Keyblade master."
"Who would've thought it?" Donald added snidely.
"Hey, what does that mean?!" Sora yelled at him and the two glared at each other for a second.
"So," Riku started and they turned towards him, "this is called a Keyblade?" Sora looked at his friend who was holding his weapon by the yellow hilt. The chain on the end of it dangled off and Sora looked at his right hand, noticing the weapon was gone and yelling for Riku to give it back.
Donald noticed something then that no one else realized. It didn't disappear! Any time Leon, or anyone else tried picking up Sora or Luffy's Keyblades, the weapon would disappear and go back to its original owner. This time though, Riku just jumped back from Sora and swung the blade once to try it out. Before Donald could think about it further, Riku frowned, "Catch," he tossed the weapon back to Sora and the younger boy bobbled it.
"Whoa," Sora finally got a grip on it and put it back to his side. "So you're coming with us right? We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it."
Donald crossed his arms and shouted, "No! He can't come. Forget it!"
"What?" Sora turned to the duck. "Oh come on! He's my friend."
"I don't care," Donald said back.
Sora was about to yell about how if Luffy got to take his crew along, then he got to bring his friends, but before he could, Goofy brought their attention back to Riku. They looked back, but the young teen was no longer in the same spot he was standing and he wasn't anywhere around them.
"Riku?" Sora stepped forward a few steps and then muttered angrily back at Donald, "Nice going." Sora put his arms behind his head and leaned back. If Riku came, he would have bossed me around anyway. "Oh well, the important thing is that he's okay. And who knows, maybe we'll run into Kairi soon too," he said optimistically. All the worlds are at stake. I'd like to stay here with you Riku, but I have to save everyone first, and find Kairi. Then we'll all meet up and be together, just like we planned.
After a little while more of searching the Third District, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were walking past a room that had been previously locked but now had lights on inside. The three of them walked over and opened the door, getting quiet the surprise to see everyone else already in there except for Smoker and Luffy.
"Are you finished with the ship?" Sora asked Cid who was turning their way after hearing the door open.
Nami and Usopp turned around from their conversation with Yuffie and looked over towards the three others walking in the room. Cid nodded at the child who was excited to see how their new ship looked, but there were other things to discuss first. "Have you ever heard of Maleficent? I hear she's in town." the mechanic asked and Sora shook his head showing that he hadn't heard of her.
"Who is she?" the boy questioned.
"A witch man, she's a witch!" Cid replied.
"She's the reason this town is full of Heartless," Leon added, "don't take her lightly."
Aerith cut in and everyone turned towards her. "She's been using the Heartless for years."
Leon growled, "She's the reason the Heartless came to our world." Everyone looked over at the young man in the black leather pants and jacket. He had rage covering his face as he thought back to his home world.
Cid added, "One day, a swarm of Heartless took over our world!" The blonde man had his hands on his hips and he shook his head.
"That was nine years ago," Leon muttered.
The older mechanic kept going, "I got out of that mess and came here with these guys."
"So you're all from the same world?" Nami asked and Yuffie nodded at her. The young ninja girl was about to tell her what the name of their planet was, but Leon cut back in again.
"Our ruler was a wise man named Ansem. He dedicated his life to studying the Heartless." The guy with long brown bangs pushed them away and pushed off the wall.
"His reports should tell us how to get rid of the Heartless," Cid explained.
"Where's this report?" Sora asked.
"We don't know," Leon said. "It got scattered when our world was destroyed."
"I'm sure Maleficent's got most of the pages," Cid said and everyone looked down disappointedly. If the woman controlling all the Heartless had the answer to defeating them, how were they going to get it?!
Sora sighed and tilted his head back, looking up at the ceiling and letting his mind wander. Kairi, where are you?
"You see? It's just as I told you," Maleficent was standing outside the door in the Third District. There was a young boy with silver hair, a yellow shirt, and jeans standing next to her with an angry look on his face. "While you toiled away trying to find your dear friend, he quite simply replaced you with some new companions."
Riku looked through the window where the duck said something to Sora that made his friend scratch the back of his head and start laughing. The three of them were laughing and talking inside, It's like he doesn't even care that I'm not there anymore. Riku frowned and listened to the witch as she kept talking.
"Evidently, now he values them far more than he does you." Maleficent looked away from the window and down to the kid staring intensely through the window. "You're better off without that wretched boy. Now," she reached down with the arm holding her staff and placed her hand on the boy's opposite shoulder, pulling him closer to her gently. "Think no more of him, and come with me. I'll help you find what you're searching for..."
"Riku!" the silver haired kid turned his head to the right and saw another familiar sight. Luffy was running towards him with an older man with white hair smoking a cigar and walking behind him. "When did you get here?! Have you seen Sora..." Luffy skidded to a stop as the woman in the black cloak stepped between him and Riku.
"I'll show you," the woman started and looked back to the teen behind her who was surprised at Luffy's arrival, "who you can believe will get you the strength you need to save your friend." She spun her staff above her head and the green orb at the top of it glowed.
"Straw Hat," Smoker shouted out at the pirate who didn't seem to realize she was an enemy yet.
"Hey Riku, who's your frie-" Luffy stopped mid-sentence as the woman slammed her staff down on the ground and the green light flashed, blinding Luffy and Smoker. Riku stepped out from the back of the woman's black cloak and he stared in awe at the floor in front of her that was slowly turning from gray cement, into darkness covering the whole path.
Luffy blinked a few times trying to get the green glare to go away and finally he regained his bearings. Unfortunately for him, the ground covering the street was now entirely black with little purple swirls inside it. The ground started to shake and the darkness began bubbling. "Who are you?!" Smoker shouted at the woman with horns on top of her wicked face.
"The dead do not need any answers," she responded coldly and then put an arm back on Riku's shoulder. "Now follow me," she said and looked down at the kid while a black hole appeared behind them. Riku looked back towards Luffy and then stared at the bubbles which were forming into a large shape between them. "I'll help you find what you're looking for."
She has the power I need to find Kairi. This is my chance, he looked back and made eye contact with Luffy. A flash of guilt crossed over his face, but then his expression hardened as he remembered what was truly important. He turned back around and pushed Maleficent's hand off his shoulder before stepping into the hole on his own accord.
The witch smiled and thought, He's perfect!
"Riku wait!" Luffy shouted and threw his fist towards the hole to try and grab the kid who was getting taken somewhere else. He couldn't run because his feet were caught in the ground, but he could at least try.
His hand got halfway down the street, but when it passed over the growing form of blackness on the ground, a black oozing hand shot up and grabbed him by the rubbery arm. The creature pulled hard and Luffy got ripped from the floor and spun around and around.
While he was spinning with no control, he saw the woman cackle like a maniac and step into the hole after Riku. It closed behind them and he cursed, right as the monster let go and sent him flying into a wall.
Sora and the others inside the apartment heard the crash outside and everyone sprinted into action except for Cid who was left sitting there for a few seconds before realizing, wait a second, I'm the adult! He was the oldest one there, yet he was ashamed to be the last one running outside to fight. He said he'd watch out for Sora, and he really was worried about the kid.
When the blonde man ran through the door, he froze like everyone else and stared in shock at the scene in front of him. "What's happening?" he shouted and dove back inside as a small Heartless in a suit of armor jumped towards the doorway.
Leon sliced the creature in half and then spun around, seeing the street start filling with similar monsters. A small army was forming around a growing black shape in the middle of the street. "What's going on?!" the man shouted over at Luffy who was climbing out from beneath some rubble.
"Some weird witch lady took Riku through a black hole!" Luffy shouted and Sora gasped.
"Wait, Riku was here?" Usopp asked and looked to Nami who hadn't seen the kid either.
"Yeah we saw him," Goofy said. "Gawrsh, do you think the witch lady who took Riku is the same one as Maleficent?"
The whole group who heard what Maleficent was capable of looked around at the street and whoever this weird witch-lady was, she could definitely control the Heartless. "So Maleficent took Riku?!" Sora shouted and looked around for an answer while they were all being targeted by the swarms of Heartless.
Smoker was going to mention how it looked like the silver haired kid went on his own accord, but as he looked over at the boy with brown hair, he could see that would only make things worse. "Damn!" Sora shouted and his Keyblade formed in his right hand, but he gripped it with both.
Monsters started charging, but for some reason they were staying away from the spiky haired kid in the middle of the street who was glaring at the ground furiously. Riku. I finally found you, and now you're gone again! What am I doing?! Maleficent, he growled and his voice became very low, "Maleficent." His growl was heard over the sounds of fighting going on and a few of the others looked towards the kid.
"Sora?" Nami whispered as she batted away a small dog-like Heartless with her Clima-Tact.
"Focus on what gives me strength and courage," the boy whispered to himself and closed his eyes. "Focus," he whispered, but his mind was swirling with images of his friends, surrounded by darkness. I won't let her have you! I'll defeat her! I'll destroy her! I'll KILL HER! His mind strayed while he was trying to transform into Valor Form, but the boy still lifted up in a flash of white light.
"Go for it Sora!" Goofy shouted. "Use the technique Merlin taught you."
"Wawawa," Donald exclaimed as he was slammed backwards by a large blue Heartless with a fat belly. All the Heartless stopped attacking for a second and everyone turned towards the center of the street where the bright light was going away. "Anytime now Sora... WHAT?!" Donald shouted and stumbled backwards, falling on his feathery butt.
"Wh-What?" Usopp stuttered and took a step back. "That's a new technique Sora learned?"
"No!" Donald shouted and got back to his feet. "I've never seen that before!"
The boy in front of them dropped down to the ground. Little wisps of black swirled around his completely jet black body. His skin, his clothes, his shoes, everything near Sora was suddenly entirely shrouded in darkness. He dropped onto all fours and his head snapped around at the people all around him and the Heartless swarming the street.
The dark form rising a few meters from Sora suddenly emerged and the others stared at the creature in shock. It looked exactly like Sora did now, except it was standing on two feet and held a weapon in one hand. The real Sora looked more like an animal as he snapped his head around. His eyes were the only thing on him that weren't black, and they glowed a bright white which scared them all even more.
"Sora! What's happening to you?" Leon called over to the kid. He took a step, but an armored Heartless stepped in his path and reached up to swipe at him. As Leon moved to dodge, he realized there was no need to.
Sora's head snapped right towards the Heartless in front of Leon and the black creature-boy jumped off all four limbs at the same time. He soared through the air like a rocket and his hands had long claws sticking out of them. The boy spiraled as he approached the Heartless and his claws ripped the creature to shreds in the matter of one second.
He didn't even acknowledge the stunned Leon who lowered his weapon a little at the sight of Sora. The dark spiky-haired boy just backflipped in midair and turned towards the three fat Heartless behind him. He charged at them on all fours and swiped at their fronts, which up until now had been like an impenetrable armor, knocking back anyone who attempted a frontal assault. His claws dug into the Heartless like a knife through butter though and he slashed back and forth before slamming down on the ground and sending all three fat ones up in the air.
"Coooool," Luffy muttered as he watched the boy. "Hey Sora, how are you doing that?" he asked and the kid turned his direction.
Sora wanted to answer, but out of the corner of his eye he saw one of the floating red things charge an attack and he kicked off the ground, shooting towards it and cutting it in half with his hands before it could even fire. Suddenly he was hit from all sides by magic attacks as the other red, blue, and yellow ones all targeted him.
"Sora, heal!" Nami yelled at the boy who hit the ground and tumbled back.
Usopp ran forward, but the fake Shadow Sora appeared in front of him and swiped across his chest with his dark weapon. The man in the white t-shirt drew his weapon and tried crossing it across his chest to defend, but it was a feint and the Dark Sora swept down at Usopp's feet, taking the man off the ground where he hit the floor on his side. Instantly, the darkness began tugging at him all over his body and no matter how hard he struggled to lift up, he was stuck on the floor.
The real Sora turned and saw a mirror image of his dark self turn and stare back, only the Heartless version had black eyes and a wide white smile on its face. The two of them charged at each other while everyone else continued fighting against the Heartless that continued forming around them.
"It's that one," Smoker pointed over at the black version of Sora that was smiling like a crazed person. "If that one is taken down, the rest will follow." He understood what needed to be done and everyone focused their attentions on the weird creature.
It attacked Sora and knocked the kid back, but Sora staggered back up on all fours and charged forward again. "What is he doing?!" Nami exclaimed, "He needs to heal, he's in a lot of danger at the amount of health he probably has left."
"He might now be able to," Goofy said quietly and lowered his shield a little. "Merlin said he couldn't use magic in his other form, but I've never seen this before."
"You mean Sora has another one of these things?" Luffy asked in surprise. While he was sleeping, the kid managed to get a lot stronger. For the very first time since meeting the kid on the island, he actually wondered if he could have a good fight with him once this was all over. The idea made him smile.
"Yep," Donald answered Luffy's question, and the duck lifted his wand, trying to heal Sora. "The other one was what he was trying to turn into, but this must have been one of Merlin's warnings we didn't listen to." Nami interrupted the fight and punched the duck and the dog on top of their heads, yelling that they should have listened to those warnings. Donald rubbed his bump, but then went wide-eyed and shook his wand a few times. "It's not working, I can't even heal Sora the way he is now."
Leon tried tossing the kid a potion, but the green healing medicine wouldn't lock on to the kid and went to the next closest person who was Usopp. The man lying on the ground was feeling his energy get drained, but Leon's potion brought him back to full strength and he ripped hard to pull himself out of the ground.
Usopp had an angry expression on his face and he glared over at the creature that trapped him there in the first place. As he was looking, it seemed his anger was unnecessary as the Shadow Sora stopped smiling and began frowning deeply instead, almost looking afraid. It mirrored the expression on a lot of their faces as the real Sora tackled it backwards into a wall and then started shredding it with rapid claw attacks hard for most of them to even follow.
They didn't know how many times Sora had ripped back and forth before he turned back into his normal self. He turned back into a normal person with all the color back in his clothes and skin, his Keyblade even reappeared back in his hand, but the emotions hew as feeling in that form must have stayed with him, because he kept tearing back and forth with his weapon a few more times. The creature couldn't move since it was backed up into a corner and getting pummeled over and over again, but it didn't matter because the next time Sora wound up, he swiped one more time against his Shadow's neck and ripped the monster completely in two.
Smoker was mid-punch against one of the large fat ones, when suddenly the creature dropped down into the darkness beneath them. All of the others had similar experiences as the street full of monsters became very empty in comparison. Even the darkness went away leaving a panting group of fighters, most of them turning to Sora who was looking down at his own hands.
"What," he whispered, "was that?"
"That was so cool!" Luffy exclaimed and ran towards the boy who slowly turned towards the pirate captain. "How did you do that?"
Was it because I was thinking about Maleficent, and my hatred towards her? Maybe that dark form, was because of the darkness in my own heart. I don't want to feel that way again, he shook his head and looked down. "It wasn't a fun experience, trust me." He lost a little bit of himself while he was in there. He was still conscious, but he couldn't think clearly, he couldn't control all of his actions. He felt like a Heartless, but he knew he wasn't.
"Hmm, alright then," Luffy said and scratched his head.
"So," Goofy turned back to face Leon and his gang who were standing back in front of the door to their house. "Do you think that was the boss?"
"I don't know," Leon said and shrugged. "You should probably stay around a little longer to make sure."
"Roger!" the pirates all said in unison. Smoker just sighed, having not found Tashigi anywhere in the districts. He also had to deal with all of Mugiwara's stupid explanations that didn't really explain anything on their way over here.
Sora smiled a little and added on his own, "Roger," after everyone else had said theirs. It wasn't in his nature to stay sad, and he looked on the bright side. At least I have a ship that I can use to help find you Riku. We'll fight Maleficent and get you back, you and Kairi!
A/N Whoa! Valor-Form and Anti-Form in the same chapter! Haha, hope you enjoyed Sora's training session as Luffy recovers from his first usages of Gear Second and Third. This was the farthest I had written up until now, but tomorrow I am going to write a new chapter or two, full of epic battles and new worlds! Have a few ideas already, and I'd like to hear what you guys have in mind for what's going to happen, as well as any suggestions you want to make, worlds characters could show up in, all sorts of things. Anyway, 'till next time!