Sora: Hey, haven't seen you in a while. What's been going on, Lyoko Prime?
AN: Yeah, sorry that I haven't really been too active lately, but things have been a little busy for me lately. I've had real life stuff going on, and trying to juggle both this with that and a special project that I'm working on.
Riku: A special project? Like another new story or something? Please tell me that you're not starting another one.
AN: No, no, nothing like that. At least not just yet. I think I've hit my limit on just how many stories I can work on at the same time for now. Hence the reason why I've got things like RWBY Meetings going at the moment. But this is related to everything I do here on fanfiction. You guys are just going to have to wait and see what it is. All I'm gonna say is to keep an eye on both my main profile page, and all of my stories and their future updates, because you may find an announcement in the latter while the former will add further confirmation that it is ready for everyone to finally see.
Kairi: Well how long will it be before it is ready?
AN: I'm aiming for sometime in the middle of this month, or some time in the later days of this month at the earliest, so expect to hear something reasonably soon.
Roxas: Hey, as long as it doesn't make it so that you never update another story again, I don't think anyone's going to complain too much. I'm sure we are all eager to see the moment when Sora and Ventus...
AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits control]
Roxas: Oh sea-salt. [suddenly gets drenched in nasty water that's mixed with various pizza ingredients and toppings] Yech! Why would you hold onto pizza stuff after it's gotten as nasty as this?
AN: What makes you think it's mine? [turns to look somewhere off stage] Thanks for the lone Mikey!
Michelangelo: Any time, dude! Cowabunga! [skateboards out before pulling a ninja vanish]
Riku: Was that...One of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
Sora: This place gets weirder every day.
AN: Yeah, I've kinda had one or two of the different Ninja Turtle themes stuck in my head lately, so it only made sense that I get their help for this most recent spoiler prevention gag. Say, by the way, Kairi, I'm surprised you're so calm right now.
Kairi: Why wouldn't I be?
AN: Well I mean, I saw you hanging out with Ruby the other day, you know from the RWBY series, and one of the leading ladies of the Remnant of the Key story/series. What surprised me was how civil and friendly you were with each other. You know, considering...
Kairi: [tilts her head in confusion for a minute until she finally catches on to what's being implied] Oh...Oh! You mean the whole RoseHeart thing. Nah, we're cool. Besides, that's the only Kingdom Hearts story/series where you've done a pairing with Sora that wasn't Sokai, be it in general or as far as crossovers go, so I've got one over on Ruby for the moment, and any other girl you may or may not pair Sora with in the future. Plus, considering the plot line of that story, I can totally understand why those two are together. And if I'm being honest, I kinda think those two are kinda cute together.
AN&Everyone other than Kairi: Seriously?!
Kairi: Yeah. I mean, I still think me and Sora together are better, but I'm not so blind as to think at least one or two of the other pairings Sora's involved with aren't at least a little cute.
Riku: Translation, if she does have any problems with Ruby "stealing her man", she's saving it for the moment when they officially meet in the story line of the Remnant of the Key Series, on the off-chance that they come to blows with each other or something.
Kairi: Now that is not true, and you can't prove that, even if it was.
AN: Okay...Well, I'm just glad you two are getting along, and that I don't have to worry about Ruby being the next you-know-who.
Riku: You mean...[pauses to spare Sora and Kairi a brief look before quietly mouthing the next word] Xehanort?
AN: At least in the sense of someone that gets severally beaten up by Kairi, yeah. Now before we run the risk of jinxing anything, let's get on with the show, shall we?
I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter XVI
The Keyblade Legion was more than ready to head on to their next new destination, but just when they had gotten up to the bridge, the ship's autopilot activated itself and turned them around in the opposite direction. At first they were all a little nervous, but when they realized that they were heading back to Hollow Bastion, they ended up relaxing again easily enough. Besides, the ship was already heading there at its maximum speed, leaving little reason to think that this would delay them in any way for the moment, so they just elected to let all of this happen for now. Sora had wanted to kill some time by heading down to the simulator deck and doing some training, but Ventus just as quickly revealed that since they were flying at their maximum speed, they would likely have arrived at Hollow Bastion by the time they had reached the door to said room. He was proven right very quickly, as they ended up arriving at their destination just a few minutes after he had boasted to them about the Kingdom-A's impressive speed, and Ventus was then able to park the ship in the appropriate dock on the homeworld of their old friends. As impressive as it was that they had made such good time, it did nothing to satiate the curiosity that was at the forefront of all their minds right now.
"I wonder what's up," Sora commented as the group made their way down the street to Merlin's house.
"Not sure, but it must be important for Merlin to have brought us all back here like this," Ventus shrugged.
"What makes you so sure it was Merlin," Xion questioned, with everyone else silently repeating the same question with the confused looks they were directing to the Keyblade master.
"Because aside from me, the only people who are able to take remote control of the ship like that are Master Yen Sid, Chip, and Dale, and Merlin's the only sorcerer we know who not only knows about the existence of other worlds, but also has the power and ability to cast a spell that strong," Ventus reasoned out. He then smirked to his three apprentices as he tacked on, "Another lesson to learn from this, kids: being a Keyblade master isn't all about having a great deal of power and skill in a fight; it also includes having a sharp mind as well."
The three young wielders all nodded in understanding of that point, and then returned their attention to the path in front of them right when Merlin's house came into view. Too bad for them, that was not the only thing that came into view once they had rounded that last corner, because a number of Heartless were gathered up at the front door, but just when the team had rushed over to deal with them, the dwellers of darkness dispersed all on their own, leaving the streets completely empty, while the door to Merlin's house was left wide open. Glancing through said door allowed the group to see Merlin lying on the floor and looking quite tired, so they had no trouble putting any concerns about the Heartless out of their minds in favor of checking on their friend. Not that they really needed much more persuading than seeing the Heartless outside at all, mind you.
"Merlin! Are you okay," Xion hurriedly asked, being the first to reach the wizard.
"Oh yes, I'm fine, my dear," Merlin lightly panted, accepting the girl's hand in getting back on his feet again.
"The Heartless right outside your door while you're sprawled on the floor says otherwise," Ventus pointed out. "Just how much of your magic did you put into hijacking my ship?"
"A little too much, it seems," Merlin admitted. "I do apologize for bringing you all back so unexpectedly, but I needed to see you all as soon as possible. As you can guess, I did overdo it a little and those infernal Heartless…"
"Yeah, we get the picture," Roxas reassured him, letting the wizard know he did not need to go on from there.
"So what's up," Sora asked.
"Well, I happened to stumble across this in the Zero District, and thought you would like to know about it," Merlin admitted, and with a wave of his hand, he summoned forth a simple object in a puff of smoke.
Looking at the item in question, Roxas and Xion could not help but look at it in clear confusion, because to them, it did not look like anything more special than what it appeared to be in their eyes. "A book," Roxas questioned. "What's so special about a book?"
Merlin merely held the book out to the group, allowing Donald to take it in his hands so that they could all get a proper look at its cover, and when they did, the senior members of the Keyblade Legion all widened their eyes and smiles in happy recognition. "That's not just a book, Roxas," Ventus informed his younger look-a-like.
"That's Pooh's storybook," Sora happily cheered.
"Huh," was Xion's only response.
"This book is far more special than you realize, kids, for you see, it holds an entire world within it, and Sora at the very least is a very good friend of Winnie the Pooh," Merlin explained for the newest additions to the team. "That's why I summoned you all here; so I could let you know that I had found the book again."
"'Again,'" Ventus repeated. "Didn't you bring it with you after leaving Traverse Town?"
"That was my intention, but somehow, it slipped away from me along the way. I've been searching for it whenever I had the chance ever since, knowing that the world and people inside could be at risk if left out in the open for too long," Merlin admitted. "It's also for that reason that I was not able to keep the Heartless back as well as I would have liked. That's not to say I did not use any powerful magic, but I began to fear the book would be damaged, so I…" He then suddenly stopped short as he realized something else. "You know, Leon on the others should hear about this too. I-I'd better go find them. Be back in a jiffy."
With that, Merlin poofed away in a puff of smoke, leaving the team alone for the moment, but no less excited or happy about the wizard's discovery. "It's a good thing that Merlin did manage to keep this book safe from the Heartless," said Ventus. "I don't think any of us want to go looking for any missing pages again like we did a year ago."
"Still, I wonder if Pooh's doing okay," Sora wondered.
"Wanna find out," asked Donald, to which the wielder of Kingdom Key happily nodded.
"How's he supposed to get to a world that's inside of a book," Roxas questioned while Donald undid the clasp and opened the book up for his friend.
"How else? With the book's special magic," Ventus filled in for him.
"You know, I'm actually kind of curious about what a world inside of a book is like. Mind if I go with you, Sora," asked Xion.
"Sure thing. Why don't we all go," Sora offered, getting excited nods of agreement from the rest of the group.
"Hang on guys. We can't all go in. The Heartless could still come back and go after the book again," Ventus reminded them. "Most of us should stay behind while Sora checks things out. If everything's okay, then he can come back and bring someone else in with him."
"Sounds good to me," Sora agreed. "Be back in a little bit."
With that, Sora gently placed his hand on the center of the open, and in a brilliant flash of light, he disappeared into its pages. The others were a little amused by the way Xion pouted at not getting to go in with Sora, but from the sound of clanking armor and falling rubble outside, they would not have too much trouble with finding something to cheer her up with. Unsurprisingly, it was also the same thing that ended up proving Ventus right to be concerned about another visit from the Heartless.
Sora never did figure out how much time would pass outside while he was inside of Pooh's storybook, but it must have been a pretty decent amount of time. He had only just reached Pooh's house and talked with the silly old bear for a few minutes when something suddenly blasted him out again. When he landed back in Merlin's house, the book was resting on a shelf as opposed to being held by Donald, and he could hear someone fighting just outside. Summoning out his Keyblade, Sora quickly rushed out to find his friends locked in battle with the Heartless. Xion had even activated his Valor Form and was slicing through enemies left and right with both of her Keyblades, and that was a clear enough sign for Sora that he had been missing out on far too much of this fight.
Thankfully, it took a lot less time for the others to realize that the last of their number had arrived on the scene, but only Goofy thought to ask the really important question. "Did you bring the book, Sora?"
Sora flinched back a little, having only just realized that he had left Pooh's book unguarded, and to make matters worse, when he turned around to go and get it, he saw several Soldiers parading out of Merlin's house, with the book in their claws. "Hey," Sora shouted after them as he gave chase.
"Give that back," shouted Donald right after. He would have followed after Sora as well had he not been cut off by several Shadows. "Why you little…"
"Sora, Roxas, Xion! You three go after them and get that book back," Ventus ordered. "We'll handle these guys."
The three apprentices all nodded as one, and immediately gave chase, with Sora even powering up his own Valor Form so that he could move a little faster. His speed boost proved to be enough to get ahead of the Soldiers, cutting off the Heartless' escape route, and with all three of them using two Keyblades at once, there was no question as to how easy it was for Sora, Xion, and Roxas to make mincemeat out of the Heartless. From the sounds of all the powerful magics going off, it was clear that Ventus and the others were having just as easy of a time as they were, and it did not take too long to clear out all of the Heartless.
Sadly, by the time that the area was cleared of Heartless, it seemed like it was too late. When they spotted Pooh's book again, the cover was shredded up, and it seemed pretty clear that some pages had been torn out as well. Ventus and Sora hoped that Pooh and his friends were okay, but given the state of the book, they were already fearing the worst.
"Do you think it's okay," Sora asked the group as a whole once he had picked the book up off the ground.
"I don't know. It sure doesn't look too good," Roxas noted.
"Gawrsh, maybe ya better go back and make sure Pooh's all right," Goofy suggested.
"But what about Merlin," asked Xion.
"Only Sora needs to go in and check on Pooh. The rest of us can stay here and explain what happened when he gets back," replied Ventus.
"Got it," Sora nodded, and he quickly handed the book over to Donald so that the duck could hold it open for him again.
This time, Donald took a little more care in opening the book, not wanting to risk damaging it anymore than it already seemed to be, and in the same flash of light as before, Sora disappeared into the book again, leaving the others to hurry back inside, with Goofy and Roxas keeping their weapons at the ready as a rearguard for the group. Right after Sora had disappeared though, Xion decided to take a look at the pages that Donald had opened the book to for herself, and immediately noticed a very significant change that definitely seemed concerning.
"Hey, weren't there a lot more pictures on these pages before," she asked the group as a whole, turning about so that they could all see for themselves.
The minute he laid eyes on the book and saw what Xion had, Ventus could feel a sinking feeling form in his stomach, and could only mutter, "Oh no. Please don't tell me…"
"So, couldn't be bothered to wait up for an old wizard, could you," Merlin's voice suddenly asked, startling everyone in the room before they spun around to face him, weapons popping into their hands on instinct. "WHOA! Now, now, let's not do anything hasty," cried the wizard as he waved for them to stop.
Seeing that there was no actual danger, Ventus breathed a sigh of relief and dismissed his Keyblade before addressing his old friend. "Sorry about that, Merlin, but we just ambushed by the Heartless, and some of them got a hold of the book."
"Oh my! That's not good. If the Heartless tampered with the book in anyway…Please, tell me more. What sort of damage did it sustain," prompted Merlin.
"Aside from some missing pictures and a torn up cover, we don't really know. Sora just went inside to check and see if Pooh was okay," Xion revealed.
The group then proceeded to tell Merlin the whole story, and the wizard nodded along as he hung on every word, right up until the book opened on its own and admitted Sora from out of its pages. "Well Sora? How's it look in there," asked Roxas.
"Not too great," Sora revealed. "Physically, Pooh's fine, but…he seems to have forgotten all about me. And not just me, but all his other friends, too."
That drew looks of greater worry and concern onto his friends' faces, with Xion muttering, "Where's Naminé when we need her?"
"I don't think Naminé would be able to help us with this problem, Xion," Ventus stated, being the only one to overhear the lone female of his three apprentices.
"Hmm…I was afraid of this," Merlin admitted. He then proceeded to open up the book himself so he could get his own look at it, before he closed it again and informed the team, "This clearly must be a result of the Heartless tearing out some of the pages of the book, and I suspect that until we restore those pages to the book, Pooh's memory will remain as it is."
"Then I guess we're going to have to go find those pages and put them back where they belong," Sora determined.
"Not again," Ventus groaned while tiredly slapping his forehead. "As if the first time around wasn't hard enough."
"What're you talking about? It was easy to find all those pages last time," Donald reminded him.
"Yeah, it's not like we had to search high and low around every corner for them," added Goofy.
"Still…" Ventus reasserted.
"I know that this may seem tedious to some of you, but this book is one of the most cherished treasures in this world, if not all the worlds. I'd been meaning to tell Leon I'd found it again, but given its current state…" Merlin revealed.
The wizard did not need to say anymore than that, as Sora proudly declared, "Don't worry, Merlin. We've found those pages before, so doing it again shouldn't be too hard."
"Splendid! Splendid," Merlin cheered happily. "Oh, but there's no point in you all coming all the way back here and leaving empty-handed. Sora, Ven, why don't you take these?"
The others all watched for a minute as Merlin handed over what looked like a small medallion to both master and apprentice, and once the items were in their hands, both of their faces lit up with excitement. "Are these what I think they are," asked Ventus.
"Summon charms," Sora happily cheered.
"Indeed they are," Merlin confirmed with pride. "You both have an incredible ability to make friends, Sora even more so than you, Ventus, even without meeting them before, so it's only right that you both possess the means of summoning allies to your side in times of need."
"Thanks Merlin," both boys nodded in reply.
"Hey wait a minute. What about us," asked Xion. "How come Roxas and I don't get summon charms too?"
"That's quite simple, my dear. I've only had the time to make these two," Merlin answered as easy as please. "Forging summon charms with a spirit that you've never encountered before, let alone one whose heart is still with their body is not an easy task you know. Unless of course the person in question trusts you explicitly and grants the charm to you themselves, it takes a lot of time, concentration, and power to make it happen."
Even though they understood the reasoning behind that, the twins were still a bit disappointed that they would have to wait a little while longer before getting their own summon charms. Thankfully, Ventus knew of a way to raise their spirits. "Don't worry. Knowing us, we'll probably find more summon charms as we continue on our journey. I'm sure we'll stumble upon one for each of you in time, likely once we've increased each of your magic reserves to the point where they can handle the power necessary for summoning. Just be patient."
Roxas and Xion nodded in reply to that, and after promising Merlin that they would be back once they found all the missing pages to Pooh's book, the team bid the wizard farewell and quickly returned to their ship so that they could get back on course to the world that they had been planning on heading to next. Still, there was no denying the new buzz in the air that came from the knowledge that Ventus and Sora could now use summons again, and they were all pretty excited to see just what kind of heroes the two could bring to their aid in battle now.
While everyone in the Keyblade Legion was abuzz with wonder about who Sora and Ventus's new summons could be, it did little to distract the Keyblade wielders from their training, as evident by how Sora and Xion were locked in sparring sessions with one another on the simulator deck from the moment that they left Hollow Bastion. Roxas likely would have joined the two in such sessions, but he had elected to practice a little more with the new battle stance and fighting style that he was developing for when he used only one Keyblade as opposed to two for the moment, so he mainly watched from off to the side, leaving Ventus as the only wielder who was currently on the bridge with Donald and Goofy.
You would think that as the master of all three of these young wielders, Ventus should have been present for this training session as well, but as he had informed the kids when they asked him to join, there would come a time that they would need to stand on their own and it was better to get used to developing their skills on their own without him holding their hands the whole time. Of course, what he did not say, but did somewhat imply, was that Sora was to lead the training session, as was his duty as the senior-most apprentice/wielder among the three. Unlike when Ventus had brought it up at the Mystery Tower though, Sora had no complaints, likely because this was only in an unofficial capacity, and not in a way that saw him taking on anyone as an official apprentice, and right now, Sora had to admit, he was kind of enjoying himself with teaching the other two a few new tricks and moves that could improve their swordplay skills. Sure, he was a little more focused on Xion than he was Roxas but that was mainly because of how she was the one that he was sparring against at the moment. He figured that it would be better to spar with Roxas later on so that he and Xion could improve how well they fought using their Valor Forms.
His pause to take in everything that was happening right now and bask in his enjoyment ended up leaving an opening in his guard that Xion managed to take advantage of. The next thing Sora, knew Xion had not only scored a few hits on him, but was now pushing him back to the point where he was nearly up against the wall in their simulated replication of Mirage Arena's default battle ground. Thankfully, Sora was able to get his guard up again and eventually lock his blade with Xion's after a few more successful blocks, but from the grin on her face, it was clear that Xion knew she had gotten him. Sora was not going to let the girl show him up so easily though, and before she knew it, Xion found her blade nearly slipping from her grasp as Sora spun their locked blades around so that he could throw her off balance, giving him the chance to push back and ultimately cause Xion to drop to the floor in defeat.
Despite his best efforts, Sora could not help but laugh, not out of mockery, but enjoyment as he dismissed his Keyblade, offered a hand up to Xion, and praised, "Not bad. You're getting better and better with every round. If you keep this up, you might actually be the first person to beat me aside from Riku or Ven."
Upon accepting his hand up, Xion had to smile a little, knowing just how big of a compliment that was based on the memories she had once absorbed from Sora. "Too bad that my memories can't come back to me as easily as my fighting skills," she mused. "Otherwise, I think we'd be having a lot less trouble with the Organization and its members."
"I don't know about that," Sora shrugged. "Just because you know a few facts about how a person reacts and moves in a fight, it doesn't mean you can know exactly how the fight's going to turn out. Trust me, that's something I've learned the hard way from all the spars I've had with Riku. I'd always try to keep his basic patterns and tendencies in mind, but when it comes down to it, he always managed to pull a fast one on me, even if it was something I'd seen him do a million times before and win. Sure, knowing how your opponent fights can help, but it's always up to you and your own skills and abilities to determine how the fight goes."
While she had to admit that Sora was not wrong about that, she just had to joke with him a little bit. "Careful Sora; you almost sound like you're trying to take Ven's place as my official teacher."
"Hey, whoa! Let's not get too crazy, here," Sora chuckled in reply, albeit with his hands raised as if to say no thanks to the idea, even if it was only a joke, much to Xion's added amusement.
"Would it really be a good thing to remember," Roxas suddenly asked, startling the other two with his question. When they both turned questioning looks to him in response, Roxas knew he was going to have to elaborate. "Look, I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to remember all the good times we had before with the few friends we had back then, or the time we spent with Naminé and, to a certain extent, Ven, but we all know the Organization is bad news, so wouldn't it be better if we didn't remember everything? Like, say at some point, we find out that we did something really terrible, and I'm not saying we did, but…I just don't know if I could handle knowing that."
All three of them fell silent after that. Sure, they had assumed that Roxas and Xion had been saving the worlds even when they were part of the Organization back when they first met Pete, but stopping one villain a couple of times did not mean that there was a chance they not guilty of something bad. Giving it a little more thought, Xion could not help but wonder if she and Roxas ever had something to do with the reason why Xaldin had come to consider Beast such a prime target because of them. Sure, they had helped get rid of the Heartless that had appeared at the castle, but that did not mean that they got rid of all the problems on that world. It really made them think about just how much damage they could have done before Riku and Ventus came and got them out.
As much as he did not want to admit it, Sora knew that Roxas had a point in asking these questions. Sure, the blonde was once his Nobody, but Sora was not so naïve as to ignore or act like there was not a chance that Roxas had acted like he would have during his time in the Organization. If anything, Xion seemed more likely to have acted like either him or Kairi in those instances, and with her memory just as spotty as Roxas's, it was still a big stretch to assume that she was completely innocent of any wrongdoing in that time. He was not going to let them dwell on such negative feelings for long though.
"Hey, come on, you two," Sora said with his usual smile. "Turn those frowns around. This boat runs on happy faces, remember?"
"Kind of hard to smile that much when you're so uncertain about so much," Roxas pointed out.
"Well then how about this: whatever you may or may not have done before doesn't matter now, because you've made the choice to stand with us and save the worlds from the Organization and the Heartless. You can't get hung up on something you don't remember doing, and even if it turns out you did do something bad, all we can do now is keep moving forward," Sora advised, sounding more and more like Ventus with every second. He then smiled as he placed a hand on both of the twins' shoulders and finished, "And no matter what happens, your friends will all be there to help you through the tough times, including me. After all, what are big brothers for, right?"
Roxas and Xion smiled a little more at Sora for his words, until the former figured that it was well past time that he addressed a matter that he had been curious about for a while. "Are you really okay with telling people that we're your siblings," Roxas questioned his former other. "I mean, I'd understand if you were uncomfortable with it, but…"
"Of course I'm okay with it," interrupted Sora, surprising Roxas and Xion a little more when he said that. "And I'm not just saying that because of anything Ventus told me. To be honest, I just feel like the three of us have a connection that's a lot stronger than friendship. It's not like the way I feel for Kairi or Riku, but it's definitely a feeling that's different from the bonds I have with any of my other friends." A warm feeling fell over all three of them until Sora smirked a bit and joked, "Besides, its better that than what Goofy suggested we could all be like back at Yen Sid's tower."
"I thought we agreed we were not going to talk about that again," Xion whined in protest, earning a mild chuckle from the boys as a result. They could all remember just how disturbed they each felt when Goofy suggested that Xion could be considered as something like Sora and Kairi's daughter in a weird way, but given that Sora was not being entirely serious about it, they were able to just laugh it off for now.
Their laughter had subsided quickly subsided when they felt the floor tremble beneath their feet, and they had a feeling that it had nothing to do with the settings of their current simulated training ground. A suspicion that was soon confirmed when Ven announced over the intercom, "All hands to battle stations. We're under attack by enemy ships! Repeat: all hands to battle stations!"
The three were out of the simulator and up on the bridge so fast you would think that they had teleported there, especially given how the ship seemed to shake from the impact of a few enemy attacks every now and then. When they all arrived, they could see several Heartless and Nobody ships through the cockpit's window, all of them flying or firing at them as Donald did his best to maneuver the ship through the combat zone safely. A quick glance to Goofy told the three that the knight was doing his best to keep track of the incoming enemies and return fire at the same time, but that was a little difficult given that, well, he is Goofy. This was a fact that he seemed to acknowledge without problem when he smiled in relief upon seeing that the other three had finally arrived.
Ventus also acknowledged his apprentices' arrival just as quickly as Goofy had, albeit with a quick nod, and immediately gave out orders for the three's assignments. "Sora, take control at tactical and return fire as soon as you're ready. Xion, I need you at the bridge's engineering station. Keep an eye on our shield and armor levels, and direct the automated repair systems to where they're needed accordingly," Ventus ordered while the kids took their assigned posts.
"What about me," Roxas asked.
"Grab a seat and buckle up," Ventus stated, not having any other jobs available for Roxas.
"Seriously," Roxas asked, even as he did as he was told, not wanting to fall to the floor when the ship was hit again. "That's practically the same thing you had me do last time. Can't I man the rear weapons or something?"
"With the upgrades to the ship's tactical systems, Sora can easily handle all the weapons systems on his own, so there's really no need for a second weapons controller like on the old Kingdom," Ventus calmly dismissed. Still, he could tell that Roxas was a bit upset about not being able to help in this situation, so he swiftly added, "Hey, there's still a few systems on the ship that are still being finalized, but once they are, I guarantee that you'll be able to help out a lot more. For now, be glad that you're practically acting as first officer."
That seemed to raise Roxas's spirits a little judging by the faint smile on his face, but they all became serious once again when the ship was hit by another enemy attack. This one seemed particularly powerful as it had nearly thrown them all out of their seats, and the whole team was left understandably concerned by what could have been behind that attack.
"What was that," Roxas asked.
"Status report," Ventus demanded of both Xion and Goofy, his unasked question being the same as the one that Roxas had just posed.
"Shields are holding, but their energy levels have dropped to eighty seven percent. Ship's armor has taken minimal damage but is still holding strong at nearly full capacity. No damage otherwise," Xion swiftly informed the group at large.
Goofy had to take a few extra minutes to reply as he had ended up falling out of his seat when they were hit. He had been right in the middle of securing himself in his regular seat at the time and having trouble doing so, but he was able to get it done quickly this time so that he could get right to the readouts that they needed. "That attack came from a really massive Heartless ship coming in off the starboard side!"
"Uh Goofy…I think we've realized that," Sora informed his friend as he gazed out the window along with the others, prompting the knight to turn and look as well.
He soon wished he had not, as the massive Heartless in question was right there in full view, and it easily dwarfed the Kingdom-A in size alone. The Heartless ship in question looked like a sailing ship with several mechanical parts all around its main hull, such as two large wheels on either side and three long, thin, silver engines on either side of the ship's aft end. What looked like a massive, mechanical, spiked jaw covered the lower half of the bow, with a spiked ornament extending out as the bowsprit of the ship. When the mouth opened a little, they all could have sworn that they saw an enormous skull inside of it, but at the moment, they were more concerned with the numerous canons that were packed onto the ship's main deck, no doubt the main source of its firepower.
"A Pirate Ship," Ventus growled in recognition.
"Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious that's what it looks like," Xion commented.
"No, I mean that it's literally called a Pirate Ship," Ventus clarified for her. When the others turned to him for an explanation on how he knew that, Ventus said, "Master Yen Sid helped me to study up on the different types of Heartless gummi ships while I was keeping watch over all of you."
"Good to know," Sora nodded in acceptance. Before he could say anymore though, he happened to glance out the window again and saw that several rounds of what looked like cannonballs were flying at them from the ship, and shouted, "INCOMING!"
Donald did not need to be told to take evasive action, because he was already putting the ship into a sharp barrel roll in order to avoid them getting hit, and upon coming out of the roll, Sora immediately returned fire with their ship's main cannons. They did not score much damage against the Pirate Ship, but they did manage to destroy most of the slower moving projectiles before they could hit. After checking over the ship's current status, Xion then began helping Goofy to analyze the massive Heartless ship for some weak points that they could exploit in order to either destroy it or get it to leave them alone, but it was proving to be a rather difficult, even if she was not multitasking that with her current primary job.
Thankfully, Sora made it easier for his teammates to analyze the enemy ship by keeping up a steady barrage of weapons fire on the Pirate Ship, which ensured that more enemy projectiles were destroyed while also scoring a few minor hits on said enemy at the same time. For the most part though, they were not really able to do much damage, but so long as they were not turned to space dust by this titan of an enemy ship, no one was complaining. At least, not until the ship suddenly started throwing what they could only assume was supposed to be members of its crew at them, and Roxas paled a little at the sight of said creatures. The Heartless in question could all most easily be described as ghost or ghoul-like in appearance, and while they did not have weapons on them, the way that these Heartless were flying at the ship made it clear what their purpose was: kamikaze runs.
Sora must have realized that pretty quickly, as he had redirected a lot of fire onto the ghostly-looking Heartless, destroying all of them in a single shot for the most part, before he returned his attention to the main enemy again. He had to keep this pattern up for a little bit though, as the Pirate Ship did not stop throwing out these Ghosts and Ghouls after that first time, but while that was not making too much of a difference in the fight, it was still enough of one to make the crew a little worried about their chances of getting through to safety.
"Distance remaining to safe space," Ventus requested.
"We're still about seven clicks out, Captain," Goofy reported.
"Define 'seven clicks,'" Xion requested.
"Not nearly close enough," Donald simplified before anyone could answer as his fingers danced across his controls.
"Donald, increase speed to maximum! Get us the hell out of here," Ventus ordered.
"Aye aye," Donald briefly saluted as he opened it up as much as he could.
"Sora, switch to covering fire only. Xion, redirect all unnecessary power to shields and engines."
"Yes sir," the two apprentices nodded as one.
Roxas was not entirely okay with what this seemed to entail. "Wouldn't it be better to stay and fight? If that thing is this dangerous, there's no telling what could happen if it found its way to another world."
"It may be dangerous, but Heartless gummi ships don't normally leave the open space of these combat zones. Whether it's because they can't due to instinct or some other reason, no one knows for sure, but right now, we need to focus on reaching the next world. After that, we'll be able to safely travel to that world via the warp gummi without having to worry about being attacked, and that's our main priority right now," Ventus told his young look-a-like, earning a nod of understanding by the time he had finished speaking.
Everyone worked as fast as they could to carry out their orders from that point on, but there was no denying that they were all on the edge of their seats with baited breath, waiting for the moment when they finally escaped from this titan of a monstrosity. Sora kept up his barrage of covering fire as best he could, making sure to blast the ghostly and ghoulish Heartless that were being thrown at them from the Pirate Ship, while Xion made sure that the ship's engines got the extra power that had been requested. Throughout all of that, Roxas seemed like he was doing his best to either ignore or just not look at the Ghosts and Ghouls that were flying at them, but you could still tell that he was not doing a great job just from how his knuckles were turning white as he tightly gripped the armrests of his seat.
As they kept going, Goofy continued counting down the number of clicks between them and their exit point, and despite the consistent pattern, it seemed a lot like the pauses in his countdown grew longer and longer for every second that they continued to remain within the Heartless ship's view and range of fire. Thankfully, the extension was only in their minds, and it was in no time at all when Goofy finally announced that they had finally reached the edge of safe space. When the knight announced their arrival, Donald immediately powered up the Warp Gummi to its maximum level, and faster than you can blink, the Kingdom-A vanished from the combat zone, returning to safe space once again, much to everyone's relief.
"That was…That was way too close," sighed Sora after he had released the breath he had been holding.
"No kidding. I thought Heartless gummi ships were only bad when they came in massive swarms. Since when do they come in boss-sizes," asked Xion.
"Since always, I think," Ventus answered for them. "We never really encountered any like that one before since we were always focused on reaching our destination above everything else. But thankfully, they tend to be pretty rare. At least according to what Master Yen Sid has recently told me."
Donald looked ready to snap at Ventus for not warning them about that a little sooner, when he noticed that Roxas still looked a little pale. Feeling concerned for one of his newest friends, the magician quickly asked, "Are you okay, Roxas?"
"Huh?! Uh, y-yeah! Yeah, I'm fine," Roxas assured everyone with a bit of a start. "I just…Well…N-no one ever said that there were g-ghost Heartless like those. I-I thought the only ones like that were things like those Search Ghosts."
"Nah, there's plenty of other spooky looking Heartless," Sora shrugged nonchalantly, not really seeing what the big deal is. "I mean, maybe not on all the worlds, but there are a lot of them on Halloween Town. Or at least there were."
"No, I'm pretty sure the Heartless there are still plenty spooky-looking," Ventus assured his first apprentice, not noticing how stiff Roxas had become anymore than Sora did as he said that. "When it comes to Heartless that are specific to a certain world, they never really change all that much, if at all."
As the master and student continued to converse, still not noticing how Roxas started to look as pale as a ghost with every word they said about Halloween Town, Goofy picked up something on his scanners heading right towards them, and quickly shouted, "INCOMING!"
On instinct, Donald made put the ship into a sharp turn so that they could swerve out of the way, and since most of them had unfastened their seatbelts thinking that the danger had passed, a good deal of the crew were thrown to the floor in a pile as a result. The only exceptions to that were Donald, Goofy, and Roxas, since the former was the one who made the turn, and the latter two were just thrown into the left side console.
After everyone let out mild groans of discomfort or some other feeling, Ventus looked over to Donald and grumbled, "Nice thinking, Donald."
"Ehehehehe…Sorry," the now very sheepish duck told everyone.
Sora just waved off his friend's apology and turned to look out the window so he could try and get a glimpse of what had nearly hit them just now, only to be left stunned by what he saw. "Hey, isn't that the Rock Titan," Sora asked everyone as he indicated the massive monster that was flying farther and farther away by the minute. "The one that me, Donald, and Goofy defeated the last time we were at Olympus Coliseum?"
Goofy squinted in the direction that Sora was pointing for a little bit, trying to see if he could get a glimpse of the monster for himself, but when he failed to do so, he just looked to where it had come from, and ended up finding a different way to confirm his friend's guess. "I think it must've been, 'cause look where we are now," Goofy cheered.
Turning to see what had gotten Goofy so excited, everyone quickly started to grin a little more at the familiar sight of a world that they all knew to one extent or another. "Well, how about that," Ventus stated. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at Olympus."
"Uh…Don't you mean Olympus Coliseum," Sora asked.
"The coliseum is just one part of a much bigger world, Sora, not the entire world itself. We just haven't really taken much time to explore anything else on our past visits before now," Ventus clarified.
"Well, maybe we'll get the chance to explore more of it today, and get some special training from Herc and Phil while we're here," Sora figured. "I mean, if we were brought here, then there must be a reason, right?"
"Only one way to find out," said Ventus as he rose from his seat again. "Let's get down there, team."
"You mean Legion, right," asked Xion, bringing up the name that they had settled on for their group on the last world as if to show she had now gotten used to the name.
"Yeah, yeah, you all know what I meant," Ventus replied, humoring her while an amused smile, and with that, he led everyone out of the cockpit and down to the ship's teleporter. They had to pause for a moment to fully bring Roxas out of the sudden petrification he had came under after hearing more about Halloween Town, but aside from that, there were not really that many hiccups.
As they warmed up the teleporter, with Sora programming the coordinates for their landing site, Goofy had to ask, "So how do you think Herc and the gang are doin' these days?"
"Probably pretty good since we just saw the Rock Titan go flying past us, and Herc's the only one we know on that world who's strong enough to do that," Sora reasoned.
"Let's hope so, because he and Phil could prove to be a big help in getting you a little closer to be back in full fighting shape," Ventus told his first apprentice.
"And maybe they might have some information on whether or not we ever visited this world while we were working with the Organization," Roxas pointed out.
"We'll know soon enough," Donald announced when he saw Sora join them on the pad.
"Alright, time to disembark," Ventus announced, and with that, the team vanished from the ship once again, this time to return to a world that they all knew pretty well.
"This is definitely not what I was expecting at all," Roxas commented barely more than a few seconds after they had landed.
Instead of the shinning coliseum that they had been expecting, the Keyblade Legion had found themselves standing in a dark, spooky, ominous cave of some kind. If it was just all of that, none of the team would have felt all too concerned, aside from wondering why they seemed to have missed their landing site, but there was a certain heaviness in the air that left some of them a little unnerved. It was a little hard to accurately describe just what that feeling really was, but everywhere they looked, be it at the large, stone doors, one of which was blocked by green flames, or the slow running black river beneath their feet, the feeling seemed to intensify. Reaching out with his senses, Ventus could feel a strong presence of darkness around them, but not to a point that was similar to the Heartless or Hollow Bastion when Maleficent was in control of the world. This seemed much more in tune with their current location, but that did little to lower the levels of confusion that they were all feeling.
"This doesn't look anything like what I remember seeing in Sora's memories," said Xion as she continued taking in their surroundings before looking to the Keyblade master of their group. "Are you sure this is the place you thought it was?"
"Positive. The ship's computer definitely identified this to be the world of Olympus," Ventus confirmed for her and the others.
"Well it doesn't look like any part of the world that we've been to before," Sora remarked. He then glanced over at the other Keyblade wielders on his team and quickly amended, "Well, not any part that I've been to, at least."
"Don't look at us. Roxas and I wouldn't know for sure if we'd been here before or not even if you asked, remember," Xion reminded him. "Besides, when we arrived at Beast's Castle, we at least got a vague feeling that told us we'd been there before, and I didn't get anything like that back on the ship, so I'm pretty sure this is our first visit."
"I'm…not so sure about that," Roxas muttered while his brow furrowed a little in concentration, getting the attention of his sister, older brother, and master.
Just when the other three were about to ask Roxas what was on his mind, Donald spotted something off in the distance that he quickly alerted the others too. "Hey, the coliseum's over that way," he told the group while pointing in a specific direction.
Upon turning to where Donald was indicating, the group all saw a set of massive doors leading to a glowing, twisting stairway that led upwards, and at the top, they could just make out the tell-tale signs of the coliseum that they had been expecting to see when they landed. Not bothering to question it, they all simply shrugged and began heading towards the stairs out of the creepy place as Sora commented, "I guess we were a little off on the landing coordinates."
"Maybe…Somehow though, I'm not so sure," Ventus hummed in thought.
"Ven, you don't think I sent us here on purpose, do you," asked Sora.
"No, no, I'm not saying that at all," Ventus assured his first apprentice. "If anything, I'm thinking that the problem was more with the computer than anything else. I think Merlin's little forced detour combined with that last battle we had with the Heartless might have accidentally damaged it. I just wish I'd have thought to check over our systems a little sooner."
"Well, it could've been worse, right? For all we know, the thing could've dropped us in the middle of a bad guy's secret lair," Xion pointed out, taking her own chance at being optimistic.
"She's got a point," Goofy agreed.
"Yeah, you're right," Ventus admitted with a smile to them both. "Either way, we'll need to run a diagnostic on the ship's computer when we get back."
"I can help with that, if you'd like. I'm pretty good with computers," Xion offered, only to pause a few seconds later as confusion began to work its way onto her face. "At least…I think I am. I'm not entirely sure why I would say that."
"Might be because you are good with computers," Ventus informed her. "I mean, you did hack into the Organization's computers and the ones they were using at Castle Oblivion all on your own when you were looking for answers about where you came from, so…"
Xion just nodded in response, feeling that it was best not to question Ven on this matter and felt that the matter was pretty much closed for now. She was a little skeptical about whether or not those computer skills she may have once had would just come back to her though, given how slowly it seemed like hers and Roxas's old memories were coming back to them, but that was a different worry for another time. Right now, she was more interested in leaving this creepy place so that they could meet with Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy's old friends. Too bad for her, something else was going to delay that meeting for the team.
Right when they were about to the base of the stairs, they all heard someone scream out in fright, and they all turned to see a woman running for her life from a group of very familiar old foes. "Heartless," cried Sora right when he saw the woman trip and fall to the ground.
"So much for the Heartless not being too big of an actual problem on this world," Ventus muttered to himself, recalling how the last time they were here, most of the Heartless that they encountered were just imitations of the real things. He put it aside though as he brought out Guardian Wind and drew it back in preparation for a hard toss at the canine Heartless who were hounding the woman in danger, and shouted, "Back off!"
One simple Strike Raid later, and several Heartless were slain by the Keyblade master's blade, while the remaining ones wisely chose beat a hasty retreat lest they meet the same fate. It may have been a little anticlimactic as far as fights go, but no one was going to complain about the easy victory. Not when they had a frightened, possibly injured civilian to check on, so they quickly rushed over to make sure the mystery woman was okay before Sora offered to help her up again.
"Thanks, but I'm fine," the woman waved off as she rubbed her head a little, not quite looking at the group. When she finally did, her eyes narrowed in confusion that held strong as she waved off Sora's offered hand and got up on her own, dusting herself off and letting the others get a proper look at her.
Overall, she looked like the living definition of a true Greek beauty, but at the same time, her posture seemed to give off the impression of someone who was not willing to conform to any kind of stereotype if she could help it. Her long hair was tied back in a pony tail, and had a faint violet tint to its otherwise dark brown color. The dress she wore was a long, pink number, with a purple sash wrapped under her bust and a second, identically colored one worn loosely around her hips. The straps of her dress seemed to be held in place by an orange, spiral-pendant, and upon closer inspection, they could see a third one of these pendants helped to keep the sash around her waist in place. Even through her magenta eye shadow and pink lipstick though, the Legion could all see that she was giving them a rather judging look.
"And you're supposed to be," she eventually asked once she was certain that she was presentable enough.
"I'm Sora, he's Donald, that's Goofy, this is Ventus, and they're my younger siblings, Roxas and Xion," Sora introduced on the group's behalf. "We came to see how Hercules is doing."
That seemed to come off as a surprise to the woman, as she gave them all a second look, mostly in the case of Donald, Goofy, and the three younger Keyblade wielders, until she finally asked her next question with a hint of surprise. "You know Wonderboy?"
'Wonderboy,' Ventus thought to himself with a sly smile, thinking that there was a bit of a story behind that rather interesting nickname.
"Yeah, 'cause we're heroes, too," Donald proudly announced.
"Ahyuck, ya mean junior heroes, Donald," Goofy corrected with a chuckle.
"Since when did we get demoted to junior level," asked Xion, mostly on behalf of herself and Roxas.
"More like since when did I get demoted to junior level, seeing as I'm pretty sure I was at least granted honorary hero-level the last time I was here," Roxas corrected, only to furrow his brow a little in confusion after he said that. "Wait…where did that…"
"Well, junior or regular, it looks like we all have a friend in common," the woman chuckled after hearing most of the exchange between the four. "Name's Megara. My friends call me Meg."
"Nice to meet you, Meg. My friends call me Ven," the blonde master nodded in return. "So, how has Herc been doing lately? Still a champion hero?"
"In a…manner of speaking," replied Meg, but it was hard to miss the way she hesitated when she said that, and it looked like she was well aware of that. "He's duking it out at the Coliseum every day. You know, 'a hero's work is never done' and all that. The problem is that he's ready to drop at any second, but he just keeps on fighting. Everyone has their limits, even Wonderboy, and these opponents he's been dealing with lately are all especially bad news. Special deliveries from Hades himself."
"Hades," Donald, Xion, and Roxas all gasped as one.
"But I thought me, Donald, and Goofy beat him the last time we were here," said Sora.
"Well to be fair, he is kind of a god," Ventus reminded them.
"Right, the Lord of the Underworld," Meg filled in for everyone. "I was actually just on my way to see him. I figured I could get Hades to give Wonderboy a breather, but right when I was halfway there those monsters attacked me."
"Seriously?! You went to go and make a deal with Hades?! Even without the Heartless crawling around and causing trouble that's a bad idea," Ventus admonished, hardly believing anyone would do something so blindly.
"Believe me, I'm well aware of the risks when it comes to dealing with him, but if anything happened to that kid, I'd…"
"Gawrsh, sounds like you're more than just friends," noted Goofy.
"Oh…uh, I mean…" Meg stuttered, looking rather flustered for the first time since they met her as she stumbled over herself.
"Aww, I think it's actually pretty sweet," teased Xion, though given the way she was glancing at someone else along with Meg, it was clear who her tease was going to end up being directed more towards, even before she finished. "Kinda like my brother when he first laid eyes on the love of his life."
"Xion, I swear…" Roxas tried to threaten, but the effect was lost when his face was already turning red. The others just chuckled under their breaths, but thankfully, Roxas did have a way to get at least two of them to shut up, and he turned to point at each of those two as he next spoke. "Aqua and Kairi!"
"Huh? What," Ventus asked as he looked away with his arms crossed in an attempt to feign ignorance.
"I-I wasn't laughing. I didn't say anything," Sora stuttered at almost the exact same moment as his master, thought looking decidedly more red in the face than the older wielder. Once he had regained his composure though, Sora looked to Meg and said, "You know what? Let us go and have a little chat with Hades. I'm sure we'll be able to get him to back off."
"Are you sure about that," Meg questioned. She was grateful for what they did to help her just now, but she was still pretty hesitant to take them at their words of being heroes, junior or otherwise. Not to mention she did not want to just let Hercules's friends take a big risk like this on her behalf.
"Positive," Ventus answered for Sora. "Besides, we wouldn't want anything else to happen to you on your way to see him. Just leave it to us."
Meg was still a little concerned, but given how confident they all seemed to be, she felt that she had no other choice but to accept, and finally said, "Well, alright. At the very least, it does look like you know what you're doing. But do me a favor, and let's keep this whole chat-with-Hades thing our little secret, okay? No use in worrying Wonderboy anymore than necessary after all."
"No worries. Secret's safe with us," Xion promised on the group's behalf, while everyone else just silently nodded in equal agreement.
"Thanks," Meg nodded. She then waved to large, stone door with blue markings behind her, and said, "That cave is the quickest way to Hades's personal domain. Just be careful of any falling rocks, and you should be all right."
"Got it. Anything else we should know," Ventus asked.
"Just this: some say that the Underworld can sap a person's strength the longer they're here, so you may to watch yourselves when you get into a fight," Meg cautioned.
"Don't worry. We can handle stuff like that pretty easily," Sora reassured her, and with that, the group parted ways from Meg, certain that they could handle any curse that the Underworld could throw at them. At least, most of them were.
Roxas was the first to notice it, and once they were all sure that Meg was out of earshot, he paused to give the oldest Keyblade wielder in their group a look, and asked, "What're you thinking, Ven?"
"I'm thinking that if this curse Meg mentioned is real, then we should probably play it safe when we go down there," Ventus explained, getting the rest of the group's attention when he did. "Donald, cast any protective enchantments you know on yourself and Goofy. The rest of you, armor up."
"Got it," the group all nodded in response, and with a wave of his staff, Donald had placed the requested charms on him and his friend, while the others were just as quickly clad in their armors after tapping the dials on their armor pieces. Once everyone was suited up and situated, they set off into the cave, certain they would be ready for whatever Hades could throw at them.
Meg was not kidding about how they would need to watch out for falling rocks, but the team did feel like she might have been underplaying it a little, because the things that fell from the ceiling were more like boulders than rocks for the most part. Still, they did not come down as frequently as the Heartless attacks, and those were much easier for the Legion to handle. Especially once Jiminy identified the dog-like Heartless as Rabid Dogs, and another set of new ones as Lance Soldiers. Those were the most common Heartless that they found in the cave passage, but there were still plenty of the good old Shadows as well for them to contend with, and they easily handled each and every Heartless that came their way.
All the while they were going though, the four Keybearers could not help but worry a little more about that curse Meg had mentioned. Sure, their armors may protect them against various different kinds of dangers or magic, but there was no way to know for sure if it would work against this Underworld curse or not, so they wisely made sure to conserve their strength in as many ways as they could. This meant that they were keeping a close eye on how much magic energy they each had, and how often they used such magic, but for the most part, they really stuck with only using basic combat abilities. Which was not to say that they did not use any magic or special attacks at all; they just did not use them as often as they normally would. All the same, they were worried about what may or may not end up happening should they need their more powerful abilities later on, and considering that they were going to talk to Hades, they were all pretty sure that was going to be the case. Their concerns only grew when they spotted someone in a now more than familiar black coat running around in the caverns, and they all knew in an instant what that meant.
"The Organization's here too," cried Donald.
"Looks like it," Sora nodded.
"Hey you! Stop," shouted Xion just as she and Roxas started to chase after the Organization member. They may not have known for sure if it was any of the ones that they had personally interacted with since leaving Twilight Town, but any Organization member being around was not something that they could ignore, especially in their case.
"Hang on, you two. This could be a trap," Ventus tried to caution, but the twins were already too far into their pursuit to have heard him. Letting out a long sigh, Ventus just bemoaned, "Not this running into danger headfirst thing again." He then turned a small glare to Sora and said, "I blame you for this."
"Me?! What did I do," demanded Sora.
"For one thing, they're your siblings, who have seen all of your memories from our last journey, so that means I can still say you set a bad example for them. And for another, which is really tied into the first, where do you think they got that kind of mindset from," Ventus reminded, once again referring to all the times Sora had done that, including the one that led him to Castle Oblivion.
"Okay, okay, I get it! I've learned the lesson. Let it go already," Sora pleaded.
"Never," Ventus stated as plainly as possible.
"Uh, shouldn't we be trying to catch up with those two," Goofy interrupted as he waved in the direction that Roxas and Xion had rushed off in, reminding the master and student of their current situation.
One more shared, albeit much more sheepish look between them, and Ventus and Sora both quickly agreed with Goofy's suggestion before they took off to chase after the twins. Luckily, Roxas and Xion had not gotten too far ahead of them, but only because the Heartless had appeared to block their path. Even if they were not a more dangerous breed than the ones that they had encountered since arriving on this world, Ventus and Sora could not help but berate themselves for leaving Roxas and Xion to fend off the dwellers of darkness on their own for as long as they had. Really, the two had rushed ahead on their own, and instead of immediately going after them, they had stopped to have a silly argument? If Sora's memories had given a bad example of character for those two, then this little moment just now was not much better.
Despite their attempts to apologize to the two, Roxas and Xion just waved them off, feeling that they were all pretty much even, given how they had just taken off like they had, and with that, the matter seemed closed. Now they just had to deal with the Organization member who was running around in the Underworld and more than likely causing trouble. A few more run-ins with the Heartless later, and the team soon had their black-coated friend cornered in another chamber. Or at least, it seemed that way, but that despite their attempts at barring his path, the Organization member still kept running towards them at a break-neck speed.
Roxas was just preparing to attack with both of his Keyblades in hand, when the Organization member suddenly exclaimed in a panicky voice, "Run! Run away!"
Hearing that made Roxas and the others all stop in their tracks, having not expected that at all from one of their enemies. Sure, they knew that the Organization was made up of entirely Nobodies who did not have hearts, but hearing such a panicked exclamation seemed to be enough to make them forget about that for a minute. Plus, after what they had seen from the last two members that they had personal interactions with, they were not expecting to see someone from the Organization acting like a frightened child. They were so thrown off by the whole thing that said member ended up slipping right past them and into a Corridor of Darkness effectively escaping from the group.
Seeing as their quarry was now long gone, the Legion could only look to where the Organization member had vanished, some of them with quirked heads and others with furrowed brows, and the most that any of them could say was when Sora finally just muttered, "Okay…that was…"
"Yeah…" was the most that Ventus could say, confirming that even he was bewildered by this turn of events.
"Who was that weirdo," Donald wondered aloud.
All at once, the four senior members of the team turned to the twins, almost as if they expected the encounter to have stirred up some memories like the encounters that they had with Xaldin back at Beast's Castle. Their only response was Xion saying, "Don't look at us. We have about as much of a clue as to who he was as you guys do."
"But you seemed to remember a little bit about Xaldin after hearing his voice before," Goofy pointed out.
"Yeah, but we don't know who that guy we ran into on Hollow Bastion was. Or at least, we don't for sure if he was the guy we were thinking he was," Roxas reminded them. "Just because we hear the voice of an Organization member for a few seconds, doesn't mean we're going to…automatically…" As he continued to trail off, Roxas could not help but raise a hand to his head, rubbing it a little with his fingers, until he finally said, "Hang on…Maybe I am getting something."
"Like what? His name? Or maybe his number," Sora prompted. He was still curious about that latter detail, as Roxas and Xion had still not explained the whole Number thing to them yet, but it would be better to at least hear if they remembered that much.
"I wouldn't say that. It's more like…feelings associated with him, I think," Roxas clarified, sounding just as confused as he thought he was making the others feel. "Things like…annoyance, or just tired resignation, maybe? But at the same time, there's also a hint of…friendly familiarity…like the kind you would associate with someone you can talk to about stuff or just make casual conversation with without worry."
"Yeah…I'm getting the same feeling. Along with a few memories of…music," Xion pondered as she brushed her bangs back with one hand, while resting her elbow in the other, a sure sign that she was thinking deeply too. "And water…Lots of water."
"That could be what his element is," Ventus guessed. "From what I remember during my time keeping an eye on the Organization, be it while I was guarding these three, or keeping an eye on you two, each member of the Organization had a specific element that they were stronger with than anything else. You two were the only ones who really seemed to share the same element: the element of light."
"And Xaldin was wind, and Axel was fire," Xion cottoned on, remembering the former fact now that Ventus had brought it up.
"Are you sure that's the case," Roxas asked.
"Positive. One of the informants I had in the Organization confirmed it for me shortly after he joined our side," Ventus confirmed.
This was some unexpected news for all of them, as they had no idea Ventus had someone in the Organization working for him as a spy. Sure, it made a certain amount of sense to at least assume that he would have someone like that, given all that he and Yen Sid seemed to know about this group, but for some reason, they had all assumed that most of what they knew was just basic knowledge that they had deduced on their own. The only thing that really bothered them about the fact more was the fact that Ventus had not told them about this spy before now, especially in Sora's case, as he thought for sure that Ventus would have at least told him about it, given he was Ven's first apprentice and all, but right now, Sora was able to shrug it off in favor of another matter that was bothering him, and asked, "Still, what kind of person could annoy you and yet still be someone that you can easily talk with at the same time?"
That did seem a little confusing to the others, and they could not help but adopt their various thinking poses in an attempt to figure it out, until a faint flash of light caught Donald's attention. Turning to the source, the duck spotted an oddly glowing orb with strange thorns around it, similar to the ones that appeared whenever the Nobodies showed up, and inside the orb, he could see what looked like a book with an interesting cover. His curiosity getting the better of him, Donald started moving towards the orb so he could get a closer look, and that ended up being what got the others to notice the org as well.
"Hey, what do you think this is," Donald inquired of the others.
"Not sure. I've never seen anything like it before," Ventus admitted.
Xion shrugged as well, showing she had no clue what it was either, but Roxas on the other hand seemed to study the book a little more before he finally said, "I feel like…I've seen this book somewhere before. I think it might've belonged to a member of the Organization."
"Really," Goofy asked.
"Yeah, but…I'm not entirely sure. I think it might've been one of the members who I didn't really associate with that much, or one of the ones who weren't around much after a certain time," Roxas explained.
"What do you mean," Xion asked, not knowing what Roxas was talking about.
Roxas seemed just as confused as her, because he adopted a confused look as well as he said, "I don't know. I'm not sure why, but I feel like there was a point in time when some of them members just suddenly…weren't there anymore for some-ARGH!"
"Roxas!" Xion gasped along with Sora, while the others just looked on in worry as the blonde suddenly clutched his head while groaning in pain.
"My…My head…why is it hurting like this now…" Roxas grumbled, recognizing this feeling as being similar to the headaches he got back in the old mansion of Twilight Town, from before he and Xion met Ventus. All of a sudden, everything went white, as a memory began to play out before his mind's eye.
A short distance away, two men could be see talking, and though Roxas could not hear all of what they were saying, he did pick up on one or two snippets that did not sit well with him. The ill feeling it gave him was what made him finally approach the two just as their conversation was finishing, right when he heard the last bits of the report that was being exchanged.
"I see. So there really is no trace of any of them," questioned the one closest to Roxas in a voice that never failed to give him chills every time he heard it, even when it was not directed at him.
"Nope. Looks like everyone at Castle Oblivion was wiped out," replied the other man in a more subdued version of his usual, cocky, knowing tone.
"I see. That is unfortunate."
"So is it true then," Roxas asked, announcing his presence to the other two, and getting their attention onto him. "About Castle Oblivion?"
"That's none of your concern," the one closest to Roxas replied after hearing his question.
"And Axel," Roxas pushed.
"Gone. He may have disappeared for good."
"What…?" Roxas gasped in disbelief.
When the memory finally ended, Roxas could not help panting as though he had just run a marathon, and as such, he gladly accepted the Potion that Goofy was offering to him if for no other reason than to settle his dry mouth. Once she was sure that her brother was okay to speak again, Xion immediately asked, "What happened? Did you have another memory flash like the ones we had back in Twilight Town?"
"Yeah…This one from way back in our early days in the Organization," Roxas revealed.
"Well, what did you see," Donald inquired.
"Two of the Organization members…they were talking about Castle Oblivion. Something about how everyone there had been wiped out, and they thought Axel was gone too," Roxas explained.
While Sora, Donald, and Goofy were not sure who Axel was, they could tell that it must have been someone that Roxas and Xion knew really well just from the looks of concern on their faces. "But…that doesn't make any sense. If Axel was destroyed, then how did he…" Xion started to ask, and Roxas knew she was quietly referring to when they ran into the redheaded pyro in the Virtual Twilight Town when she trailed off.
"Because he wasn't destroyed back then," Ventus explained. "I should know. I saw him with you two shortly after the event I think you're talking about."
One look at Ventus and everyone knew what he was suggesting. "You think that report Roxas overheard was one that was given in after we showed up at Castle Oblivion or something," Sora reasoned.
"Exactly," Ventus confirmed. "I know you three alone did defeat at least one of the Organization members that were based there at the time before I arrived, and the four of us together managed to destroy at least two more, but I know we didn't get all of them. Trust me, I asked Naminé about that a few times afterwards when I had the chance to visit her, and she told me that there were at least two others that we never encountered. Whenever I suggested that I go after them though, just in case it would put you three in danger, she always insisted that they were already taken care of by someone else, but she never did tell me who it was that took them down."
"Gawrsh, maybe it was Riku who beat 'em, or even the king and Master Aqua," Goofy suggested.
"What makes you say that," asked Donald.
"Well, if Ven was keeping us safe while we were sleeping, and Roxas and Xion were busy doing stuff for the Organization, then who else could it be that would've been able to stop 'em, right," Goofy reasoned out for everyone.
As interesting as he found all of this to be, Sora was starting to feel like they had gotten a little off-track and just had to interrupt before it got any further. "What does any of that have to do with this weird book, though?"
"I think it has something to do with what I was saying before," Roxas reasoned. "Remember when I said that I was remembering how some of the members suddenly stopped showing up one day? I think that's the reason why they stopped appearing, and this book must've belonged to one of the members who were at Castle Oblivion."
"Do you remember anything else about them," Xion asked. Even in the haze of what she could remember of her time with the Organization, those particular days were extremely fuzzy beyond recognition to her, indicating to her that it was at a time from before she had started to gain her own sense of identity.
"Not really. That's pretty much it," Roxas shrugged. He then looked to the orb again and said, "But…maybe this thing can give us some more answers."
"I don't think we should take that risk just yet," Ventus warned, making Roxas flinch back just when he was starting to extend a hand to the orb. "Just because it might have a connection to a member of the Organization, doesn't mean we should be messing around with it. Besides, keep in mind, this is still the Underworld, and you can't be too careful with anything down here."
"Ven's right. Plus, we've got a more important job to do right now," Sora reminded everyone. "So let's go and track down Hades."
Everyone nodded in response, and then turned to leave the orb behind, not noticing how it seemed to have flashed a little more brightly as Roxas and Xion passed it, only to grow dim again once the two were far enough away.
Upon exiting the chamber they were just in though, the group found themselves standing before what they could only describe as a winding bridge, while beneath them, they could see a strange, green mist floating by, likely coming from the even stranger river that was several feet if not miles below. The sight of the large structure with a skull-like appearance immediately told them that they were closer than ever to where Hades hanged his hat, but the overall vibe of the room sent shivers up their spines, and a few members of the team had a harder time suppressing them than others.
"Oooohhhh," Donald quivered in fear.
"I'm scared too, Donald," Goofy moaned to his friend, both them clearly feeling the worst of whatever this chilling sensation was.
Sora and Ventus were both about to take point in the final stretch to Hades's dark palace, when Xion suddenly stopped and asked, "Do you guys hear that?"
"What," Ventus asked as he paused to listen for whatever it was that got Xion's attention.
"It sounds like…moaning. Lots of moaning," Xion explained with a hand to her ear.
The others all started to listen a little more closely after hearing that, and they all soon picked up on the strange, chilling moaning sound. Following the sound with their eyes, the group eventually looked over the side of the path, down into the vast, green river beneath them, and saw what looked like several people floating past, most of them with their eyes closed, others with dead expressions on their faces, and all of them letting out various different kinds of moans and groans to add to the cacophony of the ones that were already being heard. Seeing how they could see right through all of these "people", everyone could quickly begin drawing up very similar, if not the exact same conclusions.
"Guys…I think I see dead people," Sora announced for everyone.
"You mean…a-all those p-p-people down there are g-g-ghosts," asked Roxas, who had turned as pale as a clean, white sheet and backed as far away from the edge as possible after seeing what was down there. Only Xion really seemed to notice though, as the others were either too frightened at the sight below them or too caught up in it to register much else.
"I don't know about ghosts. More like…souls. The souls of the dead," Ventus reasoned out.
"Isn't that the same thing," Sora asked.
"No. A ghost would be considered a lost soul, often times lingering in the physical world for a certain reason. These are souls that have moved on from the land of the living entirely, or at the very least, they're close to doing so," Ventus clarified.
"So ya mean…everyone who's ever died, is down there in that river," Goofy timidly questioned, seeing as Donald seemed a little to freaked out to properly speak.
"At the very least, it's everyone who's ever died on this world. I couldn't say for sure if anyone from other worlds is down there," Ventus admitted.
"Hey! You know, Sora was right earlier! We-we should really be focusing on the mission to talk with Hades right now, shouldn't we? So let's go do that, and leave this place. Right now," Roxas hurriedly insisted before he took off down the path as quickly as he could without looking like he was running.
While most of the others just shrugged off Roxas's sudden need to leave, they did not question it either for two reasons. One was that he was right in saying that they did need to get to Hades if they were going to fulfill Meg's request, and the other being that they just did not want to stick around in this place for any longer than they had to. Only Xion seemed to show any concern about how frightened Roxas was just now, and gave her brother a worried look as she muttered to herself, "This is going to be a really big problem later on; I can just feel it."
While the heroes were taking in the sights of the Underworld and pondering mysteries, the head honcho of the Underworld himself was in the midst of meeting with an old colleague that, if he were being brutally honest, he did not like at all. He felt like Maleficent had been a real let down with the last time she had teamed up, and having to put up with the fat, idiotic stooge he was sure she had brought on board out of pity some time ago was not his idea of a good time. Still, he would admit, having some Heartless around did have its uses from time to time, like by providing him with some additional monsters that he could send up to challenge Hercules without having to waste any of his good ones, but it was all proving to be pretty useless at this point, especially since he had taken notice of when Ventus and his little buddies had shown up again. Hades was not about to think that kid who had beaten him a year ago was gone for good a second time, at least not without proof, and now, he had solid proof that he was back right now. He just wished that the proof did not come in the form of those brats knocking on his door like they owned the place, and with two more brats at that!
"Where do they dig these freaks up? Geez Louise," Hades grumbled aloud as he rubbed his forehead.
"Oh, they're nuttin' but trouble, the whole lot of 'em," Pete wholeheartedly agreed without a second thought. His mindless ramblings did not stop there though, and if his voice was not getting on Hades's last nerve, his words sure were. "So, uh…what're you gonna do about Hercules? He's made mince meat outta every fighter you sent at him. Hehe, pretty soon the Underworld's gonna be standing room only! Say, why don't you just pick somebody already dead, and save him the trouble?"
That last one really got to Hades, and he was more than ready to shoot up and put the overweight cat in his place. Seeing the Lord of the Underworld getting ready to come at him must have finally clued Pete in on how he should have just kept his mouth shut, because he immediately jumped back out of fright, arms up to try and feebly protect himself from whatever attack Hades might use. It never came though, as Pete's words finally started to register with Hades, and he had to admit, they had a certain ring that he just could not ignore.
"Dead… Dead is good! And I know just the warrior," Hades excitedly grinned. He then stood from his throne, waved for Pete and his two stooges, Pain and Panic to follow, and began leading them over to a certain section of the room. With a few pushes of some of the stones, Hades opened up a secret door that revealed a large chasm in the floor that lead down into a swirling vortex of green, twisting energies, which gave off a feeling that made all but Hades tremble in their boots. "Oh yes, one of these will do very nicely."
"Really? One of what," Pete asked. "I mean, just what is it that I'm lookin' at here? It don't really look all that impressive."
"Oh, it's impressive alright, considering what's down there," Hades corrected. "You, my large, rotund, other-worldly friend, are looking at the Underworld's deepest dungeon. It's chock full of the worst of the worst, the kings and queens of chaos, the paladins of destruction, the ultimates of all evils to have ever existed. Yes sir, this time I'm bringing out the mother of all bad guys!"
"You don't say," Pete gasped, now decidedly much more frightened than he had been a moment ago. If Hades was really about to pull someone that bad out from there, Pete felt like he was not going to like what would happen after, and if there was one thing you could be sure of when it came to Pete, it was that he would always look out for his own neck first and foremost if and when things got too dangerous, frightening, or deadly for his tastes. This time would be no different. "Well…maybe I should go now. Wouldn't want to overstay my welcome."
'Believe me, it's way too late for that, pal,' Hades thought to himself before returning his concentration on raising the warrior he had in mind from the Underworld's deepest dungeon.
Once he had conjured up a fireball in each hand, Hades threw the burning spheres into the vortex before him, and then he and his cohorts watched as an explosion of flame, brimstone, and smoke erupted back out, mixed in with a bit of lightning to further showcase just how powerful this particular warrior really was. As if to better emphasize the point on the selected warrior's strength, the smoke soon turned blood red, until finally, the smoke cleared away, and Hades's warrior stood before them in all of his glory. Just looking at this individual made Pete and the two little demons that served as Hades's regular help quiver in their places, while Hades could only grin like mad at the promise that this held.
Despite being dead for who knew how long, the man's skin still held the faint traces of a tan, and his outfit seemed to boast of his fearsome strength as much as his hard, self-assured posture did. Said outfit consisted of a blood red haori with blue lining, which was kept closed by a thick, black and blue strap with two brown belts wrapped around it. A brown, intricately decorated shoulder pad was worn on his left shoulder, and had several beaded ornaments hanging from it. Rounding out his outfit were a pair of black pants and shoes, and a black shit that he wore beneath the haori, which had a peculiar grey, high collar with intersecting brown straps that reached up to just cover his mouth. The only other things that one could really note about his appearance was that he kept his left arm tucked into the front of his haori, almost as though he had it in a sling, how his short, dark grey hair was slightly spiked despite seeming to be slicked back a little, the light stubble on his chin, and the large scar over the right half of his face, which would likely explain why his right eye was still closed even after he started becoming aware of his surroundings.
Seeing that his recently released prisoner had started gaining awareness, Hades could not help the brief laugh he belted out before he got right down to business. "Alright, now you, my good man, are definitely what I've been looking for," Hades started off. "So, let's cut right to the chase on the deal I'm gonna offer you. I let you out of the slammer—no strings—you'll be free as a bird, and all for one little job: fight Hercules in the Coliseum…to the death! Got that? We good? Ready to shake on it?"
The man just glanced about at his surroundings, taking in both the place and the people before he finally settled on gritting his teeth and raising his impressively large sword so that it rested over his shoulders, and declared, "This is my story, and you're not part of it."
"Excuse me," Hades growled. "Did you forget who you're talking to?! I am the Lord of the Dead!"
"Huh. No wonder no one wants to die," the swordsman jested, riling up Hades even more than he already was.
"You are FIRED," Hades angrily roared, his body and flame hair lighting up into a red and orange color as he rushed at the recently released swordsman, ready to tear him apart. What he did not expect, was for the man to expertly deflect his attack via a few simple swings of his blade. The only thing that was more surprising was the stream of water that suddenly came out of nowhere and blasted Hades away from the prisoner while temporarily putting his flames out.
"You know, I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that someone actually had to accept and be working on the job before they could be fired. Maybe I'm just a little old fashioned that way," a new, familiar voice remarked as everyone turned to where the water blast had come from. Just like that, all of them were greeted to the sight of Ventus lowering his Keyblade into its usual relaxed position while the rest of the Keyblade Legion came to stand on either side of him.
"Well, you are one of the oldest guys in the room at the moment," Sora teased his master.
"Am not. There's a lot people here right now that are way older than me," Ventus insisted.
"You again? Now?!" Hades roared in disbelief. He was sure that it was going to be a lot longer before those guys got up here. His moment of distraction caused him to miss the swordsman rushing at him with his blade ready, so Hades was unable to save himself from being slashed and blasted back by said swordsman as a result.
It was the last time that the swordsman would take Hades by surprise, as the Lord of the Dead proved when he next caught his revived warrior's blade in his hand and then pushed him back. To further ensure that the swordsman would not be able to do him any further harm, Hades slugged him as hard as he could with a flaming fist, knocking the swordsman out just long enough for Hades to start gathering his magic for a more powerful attack. Another water spell from Ventus made Hades stop short though, and gave Ven and the rest of the Keyblade Legion more than enough time to position themselves between Hades and his target.
"Xion, Donald, you two do what you can to help our new friend over there. The rest of us will handle ol' Hot-Head," ordered Ventus.
"We're on it," Xion and Donald chorused as one, and they quickly went to work on casting healing magic once they were next to the fallen swordsman.
"So it's us versus the Lord of the Dead. Should we be worried," Roxas quipped as he readied both Oathkeeper and Oblivion for battle.
"Nah. Donald, Goofy, and I beat before, so we can take him easy," Sora proudly assured his brother.
Ventus did not seem as sure as Sora, but that did not mean he was not at least a little optimistic about their chances. So it was no surprise that he was the one who took the initiative and charged Hades first. Since Hades was still recovering from the second water spell he had been hit with, Ventus was sure that he would be able to land a solid, damaging hit, but the moment after he had swung, he was surprised to find that his attack barely did anything at all. Ventus was not a Keyblade master for no reason though, as he proved when he did not let that set back trip him up for long. Instead, he continued to run with the flow that his first attack had set in motion, and unleashed a furious combo of sword strikes against Hades, finishing it off with a blast of wind magic that helped push him back so he had a fair amount of distance that would allow him to fully charge his most powerful light spell: Salvation.
One rapid spin around of the Keyblade master, coupled with an explosion of light and several columns of light later, and Ventus was sure that there was little chance Hades would be walking out of his attack easily, but his mood soon changed when Hades stepped forward with little more than a few scratches. Sora, Roxas, and Goofy took that as their cue to step up, with the last of the three throwing his shield at Hades so that he would be a little disoriented when the other two boys attacked. When Goofy's shield struck Hades in the head, he did end up a little thrown off like anyone else would be after such an attack, but Roxas and Sora's follow-up strikes did not seem to do much more damage than Ven's vicious barrage had, and theirs came with three times the number of Keyblades. Roxas was getting more and more frustrated as this went on, and as a result, he tried firing a few blasts of fire and ice magic from his two Keyblades, figuring that it was time to see if Sora's theory about him being able to combine two different Command Styles was true or not. Unfortunately, it seemed that the more magic he cast, the weaker Roxas felt, and he could not even feel the usual build up that normally came with any of the Command Styles inside of him either.
Sora was not much better off than Roxas, as shown when he tried blasting Hades with every type of magic he knew, both to help build up the energy for his personal Command Style, and so that he could at least throw off the ruler of the Underworld. Just like Roxas, Sora could feel himself weakening with every bit of his magic energy that was drained, and it did not seem like his Command Style energy was building up any more than his magic energies were being replenished as they often would overtime. Deciding to change things up, Sora pointed his Keyblade at Hades, preparing to unleash his Radiant Blade Shotlock, but for some reason, the energy he needed for said power would not come, and the Shotlock itself refused to activate.
"What is going on," Sora questioned as he lowered his Keyblade and jumped back to avoid being hit by one of Hades's fireballs.
"Don't know, but I think it's time we end this," Ventus determined, as he made his own attempt at summoning energy for his Command Styles. The only difference between himself and the other two boys was that he was not going the long way around. "Command Style: FEVER PITCH!" The explosion of energy that would normally have followed after Ventus announced the name of his Unique Command Style failed to appear though, much to Ven's surprise, and realizing that the Keyblade master among them was having just as much difficulty with his powers as the rest of them was not helping to lift anyone's concerns. The fact that it failed even after Ventus tried a second and third time made that worry grow even more. "What's…I don't get it. Why isn't it working?"
"I think we may have more problems than you know. I can't even activate my Drive Form," Xion revealed to them, making the boys turn to see that Xion had finished helping Donald to heal the swordsman and then proceeded to try and join the fight by activating her Valor Form. Judging by how her clothes had not changed colors and how she was still using only one Keyblade, it was clear even without her statement that she had no more success than they did.
"Something's really screwy here," Donald mused aloud as he finished his last spell and downed an Ether, having realized his magic energies were not recharging on their own like they normally would.
"Yeah, I feel kinda funny too," Goofy admitted with a tired moan.
"That's right! See that's the thing. In the Underworld, heroes are zeroes—comes with the territory," Hades boasted proudly to the Legion.
"But that doesn't make sense. Our armors and Donald's enchantments should be protecting us from that kind of curse, shouldn't they," Xion asked.
"I guess it's either a lot more powerful than we realized, or it's just a different enough to be able to penetrate our methods of protection from that type of thing," Ventus guessed.
"Oh well. Too bad, so sad, now you're dead. And, not gonna lie, I'm gonna enjoy this next bit," Hades told them, and he instantly charged at Sora, fists blazing and eyes burning with hatred.
Sora was ready to try and deflect Hades's attack when the swordsman that Donald and Xion were healing suddenly jumped in and slashed through Hades, making the Lord of the Dead teleport back in a burst of smoke and brimstone. "You need to go! Now," the swordsman shouted to the Legion.
"But we've gotta talk to Hades," Sora protested.
"What was that," Hades called back, his fingers plugged into his ears to indicate he was not listening.
"Oh real mature," Ventus accused.
Sora shared that opinion, and was about to attack Hades for his mockery, when the swordsman stopped him by grabbing his arm after stowing away his sword. "We can't fight him here," the swordsman told Sora. "We have to go while we can."
"Sora, he's right. We need to fall back and think of a new plan," Ventus told his apprentice.
Seeing that the reasoning behind the other two's arguments, Sora begrudgingly turned and followed the others out of the room, with Ventus and the swordsman doing what they can to block the fire blasts that Hades was throwing at them in their wake. Hades was not going to let them off that easily though, especially seeing after the prisoner he had unleashed had made such a mockery of him earlier.
Even after escaping from the main chamber of Hades's dwelling and shutting the door behind them, the Legion and their unexpected ally still found themselves running for their lives as the Lord of the Dead continued to pursue them, teleporting a short distance from one area of the long, winding path from his front door to the strange chamber that they had encountered that Organization member in. To make matters worse, the Heartless decided this would be a good time to go on the attack as well, and this time around, they had the added pleasure of dealing with Large Bodies, Rabid Dogs, and a few new ones that had drills for noses, which Jiminy identified as Driller Moles. Normally, none of that would be too big of a problem, were it not for the fact that Hades would erect a battlefield barrier every few feet or so that required them to defeat a certain amount of the Heartless before they could proceed further. Add in the fact that something was preventing them from using most of their best powers and attacks, and the team was actually breaking more than a little bit of a sweat as time went on.
Luckily for them, the strange swordsman that they had saved from Hades was more than a match for anything that they encountered, and proved to be able to hold his own in a fight very nicely. Not only that, but his strength was so impressive, that Ventus could swear that he saw the man slice through a Large Body several times over without having to dance around the thing like most of them normally would before they could destroy it. He would just go right up to the big-bellied Heartless, swing his sword, and if it did not end up destroyed, then it was sent flying into several others, destroying all of them in a matter of seconds. Watching this swordsman work and continue showcasing such impressive strength actually reminded the blonde a lot of his brother in all but blood, Terra.
The only downside to the whole thing was that none of them could ever seem to land a serious hit on Hades, but then again, if that were likely to have happened, they would have been able to do so back when they had first run into the Lord of the Dead down here. If there was ever a need to further prove that the Underworld truly was a place where Hades held the home field advantage, then it was certainly met now with how often Hades just popped up and dominated them in every fight that they had with him until they had finally slipped away from the river of dead souls, and into the chamber where they were…relatively more safe.
When they realized that they had finally reached a point where they could catch a break, everyone other than Ventus and the swordsman collapsed onto the ground, all exhausted and panting heavily from the ordeal that they had just endured. The swordsman just remained as stoic as ever, but Ventus did at least lean down so that he was hunched over with his hands on his knees as he tried to get his breath back. When he finally did manage to breathe a little easier, Ventus stood up straight again, glanced over his armor and made a simple decision.
"Might as well go ahead and ditch these, seeing as now we know just effective they are at protecting us from the curse," Ventus announced to the team, and like that, his armor vanished back into his regular shoulder guard.
"If by 'effective' you mean 'utterly useless', then yeah, I'd have to agree," Roxas reminded the Keyblade master, his own armor disappearing along with Sora and Xion's shortly after. "I thought those things were supposed to protect us from all forms of harm."
"Not all forms, just the most serious, like when we're in battle, an area where we wouldn't be able to breathe, or against certain types of dangerous magic. Not all types, but certainly a good deal of them," Ventus clarified for his fellow blonde.
"So then how come this Underworld curse is getting through the armor's protection," asked Xion, truly curious as to why it did not work.
"Probably because it's a kind of overpowering magic that renders most others ineffective without meeting some type of requirement," Ventus guessed while raising a hand to his chin in order to think it over. "Some worlds have places that are like that, and often require people to have a very specific kind of charm to counteract those effects."
"Uh…Ven…" Sora said, pointing to the swordsman who was still amongst them and reminding his master that they probably should not be discussing topics like other worlds at the moment.
"Oh…Whoops," Ventus muttered as he slowly turned his gaze to their ally.
The swordsman merely huffed in good humor as he said, "Relax. You're not the only one who's from another world. Besides, I knew from the moment I saw your Keyblades that you were from other worlds."
"So you know about the Keyblade, huh," Ventus mused, now taking the time to study the man a little more closely as he attempted to figure out where he may have come from. To be honest, there was something about him that seemed a little familiar to Ven. "Interesting…"
"Not to mention you're really good in a fight. Are you some kind of hero on your world," Sora asked.
"No, I'm no hero…I'm just an…" the man started to say, only to trail off and leave his sentence hanging, much to everyone's confusion. Seeing that he had left his new companions a little bewildered, the man then stated, "Auron."
"Huh," Goofy asked while exchanging confused looks with Sora and Xion, while Roxas and Donald both shrugged to show they did not know what that meant.
"My name," the swordsman clarified. "It's Auron."
"Oh! Well, nice to meet you, Auron. I'm Sora," the Kingdom Key wielder introduced, right before Donald and Goofy started piling on top of him like a human tower as they made their own introductions.
"Donald."
"Goofy."
"And three, two, one," Roxas and Xion both counted down, watching as the tower of friends collapsed with Sora at the bottom of their pile-up, much to everyone's amusement.
"I guess that just leaves us. I'm Roxas, and this is my twin sister, Xion," the younger blonde of the group stated.
"And I'm Ventus. Ven to my friends," the master finished.
Auron nodded to each of them and then mused aloud, "It seems we were fated to meet. Maybe you need a guardian."
"Guardian? Thanks, but no thanks. I think we're good," Sora politely declined after pulling himself out from under Donald and Goofy.
That just drew another small, humorous huff from Auron, along with a matching smile, and the others would probably have joined him in his mirth, had his words not helped Ventus finally click a few things into place. "When you said 'guardian', did you mean like as in a summoner's guardian? Like the ones that the summoners of Spira have?"
"Indeed. I was once the guardian to such a summoner. His name was Braska, and I was proud to have given my life for his cause. I just wish that he had managed to achieve all of his goals before his life had ended, or that I was able to grant his dying wish before I met my end," Auron revealed.
"Wait, Spira? You mean as in the same Spira that Yuna's from," Sora recalled.
That seemed to get Auron's attention, as he turned to the young Keyblade warrior and asked, "You know Yuna?"
"Yeah, she's a friend of ours that's also a summoner. When we last met her a year ago, she told us that she was the first summoner to complete her pilgrimage without dying," Ventus revealed.
"I see…So the child not only follows in her father's footsteps, but succeeds where he failed," Auron mused, this time letting his chuckles come out in full. "Braska would be proud."
That surprised the four members of the Legion that had met Yuna a year before, but only Sora was able to ask the question to Auron. "Are you saying that you know Yuna, and that this Braska guy you were guardian to was her father?"
"There is a very real chance that maybe the case, but when I last saw Yuna, she was just a small child, and I'm not entirely sure we are thinking of the same person," Auron admitted. "Tell me, does the woman you refer to have mismatch colored eyes?"
"With one eye being green and the other blue? Yeah, that's her," Sora confirmed.
"Then it would seem that we are speaking of the same person," Auron nodded along. His smile turned a little wistful as he commented, "I'd imagine that she's grown to be a lovely young woman by now with a heart of gold just like her father's."
The members of the Keyblade Legion all smiled upon hearing that, but before they could further discuss the matter, Roxas decided that they needed to get their focus back onto the more important matters. "Not to break up the information exchange and fond remembrance, but what are we going to do now? We still have to talk with Hades about letting up on his monster attacks so that Hercules can get a break."
"He's right, but I doubt Hades is going to give us the time of day so long as this stupid Underworld curse is affecting us," Sora agreed.
"Well if our armors and Donald's magic can't protect us from it, what else can we do," Xion asked.
"Find something that can," Ventus stated. "Every world that has a place like the Underworld or really just any area that's not entirely safe for most people always has some method that would allow others to either circumvent or negate the harmful effects of that area, and I'll bet this world's no different."
"Hey, maybe there's somebody at the Coliseum who knows how we can avoid getting all of our strength sapped away by this Underworld curse," suggested Goofy.
"Yeah, like Hercules or Phil," Donald added on.
"Good thinking. Let's head up there right away, but try to remember that we need to watch what we say when we approach them about this. We did promise Meg that we wouldn't tell Herc about the real reason why we want to talk to Hades," Ventus told everyone.
With a new goal and destination in mind, the group set out once again, this time planning on heading straight for the Coliseum without any further delay. It was not an easy trip though, mainly because this time around, the Heartless seemed to appear around every corner within every few seconds. No doubt Hades had told Pete to send the little monsters after them in an attempt to keep them from getting away, but whether that was the case or not, nothing was going to stop the team from getting to the Coliseum and meeting up with their friend.
They fought their way through every form of Heartless that appeared in their path, and even without their best powers, the Keyblade Legion was able to make easy work of their dark foes. Having Auron along to help out definitely made things a lot easier for everyone, as the number of Heartless that actually slowed him down were so few and far between, you would think that they were little more than mosquitoes to him. Eventually, they finally came to the entrance chamber that would take them back to where they had first encountered Meg, but there was one small problem: the door was sealed shut by a massive amount of chains and a large lock. This would be considered as only a small problem, because apparently, Hades had forgotten just who it was that was trying to escape: a group that contained four Keyblade wielders.
Without even a second's thought, Sora called forth Kingdom Key to his hand, prompting Auron to ask, "Are you sure that will open it?"
"Yeah, I think so," Sora confirmed.
"And hey, if his can't, we've got four more Keyblades that should be able to do the job," Ventus pointed out as he and the other two summoned out their Keyblades, just to make the point a little clearer.
Right when Sora was about to aim his Keyblade at the door's lock, a loud roar reached everyone's ears, letting them know that something really big was heading their way, and Auron did not waste a second in readying his sword for battle again as he commanded, "Hurry and do what you have to!"
Right after Auron had said that, the massive, three-headed dog, Cerberus dropped down from somewhere above them, snarling and roaring loudly at the Legion and their ally, startling everyone with his appearance. Auron managed to shake it off quickest, and quickly intercepted one of the three-headed beast's massive jaws with his sword, just as said jaw was about to take a bite out of him. With Auron keeping Cerberus at bay, Sora quickly used his Keyblade to open the lock on the door, allowing Donald and Goofy to pry the door open as soon as the seal was gone. Without even a second's thought, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, and Xion all rushed through the door, but right when they were about to cross the threshold, Sora and Ventus noticed that Auron was not following them. Instead, he was still battling it out with Cerberus, and he did not look like he was going to break off his attack until the beast had come to heel.
Seeing their new friend continuing to fight such a tough battle, the master and apprentice could not bring themselves to leave him behind, and Ventus quickly used a bit of magic to erect a battlefield barrier in both ways in and out of the cave as he and Sora readied their Keyblades for action, much to the protest of the others. Roxas and Xion both wanted to do whatever they could to help their friends, probably just as much if not more so than Donald and Goofy, but since they were already on the other side of the barrier, there was nothing they could at this point but watch, much to their frustration.
Sora was not too worried. He was confident that he could handle Cerberus after the way he had beaten the overgrown mutt a year ago, but his mood was quick to change after he made his first charge. Sora was expecting Cerberus to be as slow as the three-headed dog had been a year ago, but to his surprise, the giant dog proved to be a lot faster, and Sora just barely escaped being chomped up by all three sets of jaws by the skin of his teeth. Luckily a little wind magic from Ventus helped give Sora the extra push he needed to get clear, but the fact he had nearly ended up as Cerberus' new chew toy or snack was still pretty terrifying for Sora. He shook it off quick enough though, and got right back to work, starting with a quick barrage of magic that consisted of every offensive spell that he knew and could easily use, which at the moment included all the level two versions of the fire, ice, and lightning.
Seeing what Sora was doing, Ventus quickly exchanged a silent signal with Auron, hoping the former guardian would understand what he was saying, and then rushed forward, determined to hit the beast as hard and as fast as he could. It looked like Auron got the message easily enough, as he was attacking Cerberus with several powerful sword swings to the monster dog's legs, and that provided Ventus just the opening he needed to get in close and attack Cerberus on any one or all three of his massive muzzles. Their attacks seemed to anger Cerberus a little, as he quickly spun around and started chomping at both Ventus and Auron, trying to either snap up either of them or just blow them away so that they could no longer hurt him. Ventus was not too worried though, as he still had his magic to fall back on when it came to attacks, but Auron had to go on the defensive quite a bit due to lacking any long-range abilities like the Keyblade master, but he did still manage to score a few more hits here and there.
With Cerberus so focused on the two older warriors, Sora took this as his chance to get in close once again, but not before he did a quick test of his D-Link with Ventus to make sure it still worked. When he found out that it did, he sent a quick, telepathic message to his master to let him know what he was about to do. Ventus sent a mental nod back in reply, and continued to keep up his barrage of magic, making sure to keep the three-headed beast as focused on him as possible, until Sora finally found his way onto Cerberus's back, and slammed his Keyblade into the back of all three of Cerberus's heads as hard as he could, earning a loud, pained roar from the giant dog. With Cerberus no longer nipping at his heels, Auron took the chance to leap up and land his own barrage of sword attacks on the dog, with Sora adding his own in just to make it hurt even more. One final, fast slash attack from Ventus ended up weakening Cerberus just enough for the three-headed dog to drop to its knees, growling in pain, and Ventus took that as their cue to leave.
"Come on," Donald shouted once he realized Ventus had dispelled the barrier keeping Cerberus away from him and the rest of their friends, and come quickly the three did.
The second that Auron, Sora, and Ventus had slipped past the massive stone door, the other four pushed as hard as they could to get it to close faster. After they were sure that the door would close and prevent Cerberus from continuing to chase them on its own fast enough, Sora, Xion, Donald, and Goofy all gathered together to make a bunch of ridiculous, funny faces at the monster dog, right when it was starting to pounce at the door. As result, they all heard something crash very hard and loudly against the door, indicating that Cerberus had collided with it right after it closed.
"Whew," Sora sighed in relief.
"You said it," Xion agreed. She may not have been fighting Cerberus, but she was still moving just as fast as the others to get out of that place, so she was a little tired. Plus, watching Ventus and Sora fight a monster like that with only Auron to help them did very little for her nerves.
"Do us all a favor you two, and never go into a fight like that without us again," Roxas requested of Ventus and Sora.
"No promises, kid," Ventus warned his younger look-a-like. He was about to add something else on as an extra joke, when he noticed that they were missing someone. "Uh guys…Where did Auron go?"
"Huh," Donald asked as he looked around, only to find no trace of the former guardian.
"I guess he must've gone off on his own while we weren't lookin'," Goofy shrugged.
"Should we try and go after him," Xion asked.
"Nah, he can take care of himself. Right now, we need to head up to the Coliseum and talk with our friends about a way to beat this Underworld curse. Then we can try this whole thing again," Ventus decided.
"Alright then. This time for sure. Onward to the Coliseum," Sora cheered as he marched off, leading the way to the Underworld's exit, with everyone right behind him.
Ventus was the only one to hang back for a brief time, as he cast one last glance over his shoulder, showing he was at least a little concerned about Auron. Despite that though, he did believe what he had said about Auron being able to handle himself, and he knew, somehow, that this was not going to be the last time they crossed paths with him. After one last glance around in a failed attempt to locate a trace of Auron, Ventus finally joined the rest of his team in heading up to the Coliseum, eager to reunite with his old friends and get what they would need for the next time they were down in this place.
AN: I'll be honest, I wasn't originally going to include anything beyond a vague mention of how the team needed to repair Pooh's book again, but after thinking it over, it just felt like something that couldn't be left as just a passing mention, especially given what I have in mind for when that comes up again later on. With that said, I also wanted to include the details of at least one gummi ship battle in here, since in the last story, we saw a lot more action while flying the ship, and for the most part, all we've really seen happening on the ship was the Keybearers training in the simulator deck. Don't worry, Roxas won't just be a passenger for much longer, as there will be something coming up later on that will allow everyone on the Legion to get into the action, if and when they want to.
Now, running things over to the adventure in Olympus Coliseum, aka Olympus (I'm going to be going with the later in terms of world names for that world, since that is what it was dubbed in Kingdom Hearts 3). Originally, I did want to do the whole run of how things went down on this world in one chapter, but as I'm sure you've all probably noticed, it started to run a little long, and this was before I remembered just how much happened on the first trip to Olympus. When I finally realized just how long it was getting, I was able to stop myself from making it run on much further, but at the same time, I did inadvertently go ahead and give myself at least a few things to start off next chapter. Not saying that the next chapter of this story will be coming too quickly, because I want to work on the next update for Remnant of the Key at some point soon, but I do at least have a good start for the next chapter, and I'm sure you've all figured out what that is from where we ended here, and from what you may remember of the original story in Kingdom Hearts 2.
Yeah, the Organization is here, but they didn't really get much screen time in this chapter, but to be fair, they haven't really gotten much of that in the story so far any ways either, nor was that the case during any of the first visits in Kingdom Hearts 2, but don't worry, we'll all be seeing more of that member next chapter. I guarantee it. Besides, at least it got a bit more of Roxas's memories back. If you're wondering why that it didn't do much for Xion's, you should keep in mind that the event Roxas remembered was in fact at a time when Xion was just gaining her own sense of identity. Like, she had literally just let her hood down for Roxas the day before, so it's only natural that it would be more of a blur to her.
Finally, the matter of Auron in this chapter. Yes, of course I was going to mention a little bit more of his history in this story. I mean, I made a point to mention Spira in a little bit of detail in the previous story when Sora, Kairi, and Ventus first met Yuna, and even in the epilogue of said story, there was a little bit of mention as to what Yuna was doing after getting back to said world. It was only natural that I bring that up again, if for no other reason, than to show that we are keeping a good flow going between these stories and their events and details. And yeah, I made it so that only Sora and Ventus fought Cerberus with Auron. Hey, it's better than just one out of the four Keyblade wielders helping to take down the overgrown, three-headed mutt, and even with all that they've done and accomplished so far on this journey, I'm sure that Sora and Ventus would probably feel like Roxas and Xion aren't quite ready to face off with something like Cerberus just yet.
Well, I think that covers all the major details I wanted to mention here about today's chapter. So let's get on with the stuff you guys are really eager for: review answers!
First off, to the "Guest" who posted on 12/31/2019, I appreciate that you enjoy the author's note gags and skits, but I do hope you understand that my calling them ridiculous and such was really just part of the joke. Thanks for the compliments, and (though this is a bit late), hope you have a good new year as well.
"The Keeper of Worlds", to be quite honest, I'm still brainstorming on ideas for mechanics and names for such a Command Link that would be shared between Sora, Xion, and Roxas, but the idea of one being shared between the three of them and Kairi had not really crossed my mind before. I don't know why, I guess I just feel like one that involved four people like that would seem a little too busy or something.
"Hamm1999", I'm sorry, I can't do that. I've already got a pretty well locked line-up of worlds in mind for this story, and they're all going to be staying as Disney worlds, or any other kind of world that we have normally seen in Kingdom Hearts up to this point.
"CT7567Rules", I'm sorry to say that it may be a little while longer before I can bring myself around to focus on most of those again anytime soon, but I will try to update at least one of my other non-Kingdom Hearts related stories as soon as I can.
"Monkey D. Conan", I do hope to at least have a Marvel-based Heartbinder in this series' version of Kingdom Hearts 3, and I do like that little suggestion you made regarding the RWBY Heartbinder, but that would be assuming I make it so that the Heartbinder is Sora's. What makes you so sure that it isn't one that's used by another Keyblade wielder on his team at that time? (I honestly haven't decided who would get it just yet, but I'm starting to lean a little towards Sora in that regard just so we can have a scene like that wink)
Sora: I heard that!
AN: Sorry, but it had to be said.
Back on topic with the review answer, I haven't really decided about how the new Keychains that may or may not be obtained from the Star Wars world would work, but I do like your suggestion about how everyone on the team would get their own version of such a Keychain. I may actually run with it later on. As I've said before, anything regarding Ventus and Aqua and what will happen after their reunion at this point is something that I'm keeping under wraps for the moment, at least for the most part, but I will say that you may not be too far off in what you're guessing about how their dynamic of working together at first will be like. Also, I'm actually kinda liking the idea of Ven and Aqua having a sparring session like that too, so maybe something for when their flying between worlds or something. Lastly, I like the idea you proposed about Kairi and Xion forcing...uh, I mean helping Aqua to find an actual dress for a date with Ven.
Kairi: Yeah, I like the sound of it too! It'd be awesome for me to have a chance to help Aqua with something like that!
Xion: And it would be a good chance for me to get to be like a normal girl for once, at least in this story, so I can't say that I'm against the idea.
AN: Yeah, I think there's a real chance that scene is going to happen now with those two on board with it.
Aqua: Oh boy. I think I might be in trouble.
AN: Relax. It can't be as bad as you're thinking it might be...[snickers a little to himself]
Ahem. Moving on, to the "Guest" of 1/2/2020, who asked about Sora, Kairi, Roxas, and Xion possibly getting Keyblades that represent their bonds with Ventus and/or Aqua. I'll be honest, I actually hadn't thought of that, but it definitely seems like a pretty good idea. I may have to at least consider something like that for Sora and Kairi, given that they're closer to Ven and Aqua than the other two are, even with all that's happened in this story/series so far, but if I do go through with it, I can guarantee that it will be a long time before we see anything like that come about, and even then, I'm not sure if the Keyblades in question would be entirely new/original Keyblades or ones that we've seen before, so this is going to be one of those we'll wait and see things for now, I'm afraid.
To the "Guest" of 1/2/2020, who asked for a hint on when you can expect to see Aqua and Kairi finally reunite with Sora and Ventus...well, I'll just say this. The team will go through the end of their adventure on Olympus Coliseum, and an adventure on one other world before we see the Legion finally become fully completed, so it won't be too much longer now.
Ventus: I've got this next one. Namely, to the "Guest" of 1/2/2020, who offered me that shout-out and early congratulations, thanks for all for all of your kind words and praise, on behalf of both myself and Aqua. I would add more to what you've already covered, but unfortunately, we're all under very strict "no spoilers" orders now. And I don't want to get hit by a spoiler gag. Unlike some other people. [indicates Roxas]
Roxas: [still cleaning himself off from when he was hit in the beginning note] Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up.
AN: Hey, you reap what you sow, dude. "CG", good to hear from you, and don't worry, you didn't give me too much of a headache. It was just getting a little hard to sort out all the actual reviews, both in terms of yours and other folks', from the stuff you sent me. Also, regarding your concerns over an actual account, I wouldn't worry too much. If it helps you in any way, I say it's always worth at least trying to go for it. As for your other questions, sorry, but no spoilers. You'll have to wait and see on all of that.
"SuperSaiyanFever", to answer your question about how long it'll be until Tony builds something that backfires on everyone...this is a slight spoiler, but I just can't resist saying it. It'll have happened by the time the team goes back for their second visit. Womp-waah.
To the "Guest" of 1/7/2020, at this time, plans for Chirithy are very minuscule, so I wouldn't expect to see him until the KH3 story of this series. He just doesn't really seem all that important right now to me. Maybe if we find out he has a bigger role in the future games before I've gotten too much farther into this series, or at least closer to that point of it, I might do something with him, but for now...Sorry, no go there.
Ventus: To the "Guest" of 1/19/2020, sorry, but no luck. My old room, like everything else in the Land of Departure was changed into a part of Castle Oblivion by the time I woke up, so I wasn't able to get anything from said room. Anything else about personal belongings or accommodations on the ship for when Aqua and Kairi join will be revealed when we get to that point.
AN: Back to me again. "Guest" of 1/25/2020, first off, can we please not drag any of those theories and such about whether or not Sora's the Master of Masters into this again? It's started to get on my last nerve how everyone seems to think that's a foregone conclusion. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do think your theory does have a small amount of merit to it, especially after you made that comparison to Barry Allen and Savitar in Season 3 of The Flash, but I'd rather wait and see for certain before making up any more theories. Personally, I still think that there's no relation between Sora and the Master of Masters, at least in that sense, and will likely continue to think so for a long time to come.
As for the questions you and others had posed to me about the Re:Mind DLC, Yeah, it was pretty great. Cleared up quite a few things for me, and I think that they handled Kairi better in that than they did in the main story, too. I think we've all got plenty of new questions, but at the very least, some of them have been answered. Honestly though, after hearing about what Kairi's doing to help find Sora, I have to admit I'm a little worried about her.
Kairi: Why?
AN: You guys do remember what happened last time one of you went to sleep for a year, right? Chain of Memories and the rest of the things that lead up to Kingdom Hearts 2 ring a bell for anyone? Seriously, I really hope that Kairi hasn't been sleeping for a year non-stop like that, because I'm pretty sure that would increase everyone's worries quite a bit. As for the whole mystery regarding Yozora...I'm not entirely sure what to think. Part of me wonders if he's just another, unwitting pawn, part of me can't help but think that he may be a potential villain, or maybe some type of Vegeta-esque rival that Sora may gain in the future or something. Honestly, it's kinda hard for me to get a real, hard read on that guy.
Final review to answer is to the "Guest" of 2/28/2020, I can confirm right now that Anti-Aqua will appear at a future point in this series, but it may not be in a way that any of you will be expecting. I can't say anymore than that, because that's something I'm going to keep under my hat for a long time to come, especially given how significant it is to the plot of this series' version of Kingdom Hearts 3.
Well, that's all for today, save for the usual last detail. Onto the Preview!...
Despite the loss of Auron, Hades is far from done with his schemes, and he's cooking up a few new ones that will make our heroes unwitting pawns in the grand scheme of things. Meanwhile, the Legion reunites with Herc and the rest of their pals at the Coliseum, where they get a few answers on how to beat the Underworld curse, and find out that Roxas at the very least does have something of a history on this world after all. But not everything is fond memories and great reunions, as it turns out the Organization is still lurking about on this world, and it couldn't have happened at a worse time, seeing as Meg has been kidnapped. Can the Keyblade Legion stop the Organization member and get back what he stole? Will they be able to save Meg in time while Hercules is preoccupied with fighting the Hydra? Find out as the games take another devastating turn, next time.
Please read and review, and see ya real soon!