Due to comments from people rushing me and telling me to hurry up, I've decided to make a change. Instead of punishing the guilty I'm gonna punish everyone, even those who did nothing wrong! Every comment I get telling me to hurry up or complains about how I write I will delay the next page by another month! Because making the innocent suffer alongside the guilty to vent out frustration is SUUUCH a mature and responsible thing to do! Just try and stop me, I HAVE ALL THE POWER OVER MY STORIES I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT! I CAN DO ANYTHING, I CAN EVEN DELETE MY ENTIRE ACCOUNT IF I WANTED TO! MUAH HA HAHAHAHA!
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Lol, I'm just kidding. I get it when people want to see the next chapter and it takes a long time or the author takes a hiatus. I wouldn't do that unless I'm busy with life (Or being lazy and wanting to play video games instead of writing...) You can comment about why I'm taking so long (Just don't be a pesky jerk, I have feelings too ya know).
Anyway on with the chapter!
Chapter XLVII- Traverse Town (Part 9)
Koga and Sora were in the middle of training in Merlin's study. The wizard conjured up a big open room where the two boys can practice their fighting ability on fake enemies. While Sora has gained much from the experience it was Koga who gained more. Now he can swing his Keyblade without stumbling or dropping it like an oaf. He also figured out how to give his ethereal bullets a homing ability, albeit limited.
"Hey kid, you got a second?"
They stopped their training and returned to the main room where Cid and Leon were waiting for them.
"What's up?" Koga asked.
"Just letting you know that the gummi ship is all ready to go." Cid said.
"Thank's Cid!" Sora said excitedly. "Well then there's no time to lose. We better get goi-"
"Not so fast." Leon interrupted him. "We're coming with you."
The twins paused for a second. "What?" Koga said surprised "Why?"
"This is just as much of our fight as it is yours." Cid said. " 'specially considering Hollow Bastion used to be our home."
"...What?" Sora gasped. He then remembered when they first visited the place there were submerged ruins of a town below the castle.
"I knew it." Koga said smirking. "It was kind of obvious given you guys seemed to know Ansem and all his stuff was there."
"Smart as usual kid." Cid said before crossing his arms. "Ten years ago the Heartless attacked our world. The royal guard was nowhere to be found and the defenses were out. We were completely at the Heartless's mercy. I gathered everyone I could, got onto a gummi ship, and didn't look back. We lost friends and families that day." Leon glared at the ground.
"Ansem abandoned us in our time of need, and now he's going to engulf the few remaining worlds in darkness. It's as much of our fight as it is yours."
"Don't think you kids are going by yourselves." Merlin stepped up from his chair before looking at them, Fairy Godmother following him. "I might be old but I'm still a powerful wizard."
"My magic isn't for violence but perhaps I can be of some use." Fairy Godmother said. "Anything to return to my dear Cinderella. She's trapped there along with the other princesses."
"So it's settled." Leon said. "Give us a few hours to gather the others and we will take back Hollow Bastion."
After talking with Leon and Cid, Sora and Koga were tired of training with Merlin so they decided to hang out with Kairi before they go.
They were by the stairs of the First District just looking at the sky and enjoying each other's company.
"There used to be more stars." Kairi said.
"Yeah, but the Heartless have been taking them out one by one." Koga said.
"We will fix it, just gotta have hope." Sora said. "The light of our Hearts will keep us going."
Koga scoffed at his brother's cheesy line but Kairi's eyes lit up in surprise.
"The light at the end of the tunnel..." The redhead said softly.
"That's from your grandma's story, right?" Koga asked.
Kairi looked at him surprised but then changed to realization. "That's right, we were together, I showed you two that."
"You know what's funny? We looked everywhere for you, but you were with us all along."
"And now we're together again." Koga said happily but then it turned into a frown. "But it's not over until we stop Ansem," He scowled and clicked his tongue. "and get Riku back."
"Are you still mad at him?" Sora asked.
The boy leaned back against the stairs and groaned. "I don't know, he did say all those hurtful things but he was under the influence of Darkness. BUT he was the one who willingly embraced it like an idiot. Don't mom always say don't put your hand in fire, well he jumped headfirst into the flames and now it's our job to pull him out!" He growled but then sighed. "Even if I can't forgive him I still need to try to save him, I won't be as bad as him."
Kairi put a calm hand on his leg. "Even if you do find him and bring him back, do you think things will stay the same between us? Riku did lose his..."
"When me and Sora turned into a Heartless, you saved us, remember?"
Kairi looked up at them. "You remember being a Heartless?"
The twins grimly nodded their heads. "It wasn't pleasant."
"Well, considering we died that's an understatement." Koga commented.
"It was just a whirlwind of emotions, mostly pain. We were lost in the darkness. Neither of us could find our way, slowly losing ourselves. All that would remain was this unsatisfying hunger for Hearts. I would be no different from the hundreds of Heartless we've taken out..." Sora whispered.
"But then, right before we passed the point of no return, we felt a light. A familiar light, your light, it filled us with this strong feeling of protecting that light from harm." Koga added.
"I didn't want to believe you were gone, I couldn't accept that." Kairi replied.
"Wait, that's it!" Koga jumped up. "All three of our Hearts are connected. When you lost your Heart it found it's way to us. And when we became Heartless, the light from your Heart pulled us back, like a bungee cord. It didn't matter how deep the darkness was, light shined within." He facepalmed. "Great, now I'm talking like Sora."
"I guess it's more thank just a fairy tale." Sora laughed.
"Well, then let's go and get Riku back!"
The twins snapped their heads to the girl.
"Kairi, you can't go!"
Kairi glared at Koga who sweated nervously.
"And why is that? We made this far together haven't we?"
"But you weren't actually fighting."
"I can still take care of myse-"
"KAIRI!" Koga shouted angrily. "This isn't a joke, these Heartless took our home, my parents, and taken countless lives. Ansem pulled my friendship with Riku apart, manipulated us to his plan! If anything happens to you!" He wiped his face of the tears. "Please, I can't bear to lose you again, I need to know you are safe. Please... please..."
Kairi turned to Sora. "What do you think?"
The spiky haired boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You'd kind of get in our way, sorry."
Kairi sighed in defeat. "Okay. You win." Koga gave a thankful smile.
"Sora, Koga!" The twins saw Donald and Goofy approaching them.
"It's time to go?" Sora asked.
"Yep, the ship's ready and waiting." Donald said.
"Wait, take this." Kairi handed Sora something from her pocket. It was a five point star shaped charm made with Thalassa shells.
"A Wayfinder?" Sora asked. Everyone back at Destiny islands knows about them, made as a good luck charm for sailors. Also it's often associated to being similar to the Paopu fruit.
"Yep, it's a lucky charm I was making when we were working on the raft. Be sure to bring it back when you return."
Sora grinned and held it tight. "Don't worry I will."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Koga loudly cleared his throat getting their attention. "Gee, it was nice that you got something for my brother but is there anything for me?" He asked pouting his lips.
Kairi and Koga shared a look, the girl looking guilty. "Sorry, all I have is this." She handed him a single Thalassa shell with a drawing of Koga's face on it.
Koga gently held it in his hands, looking at it in awe. "This is perfect. Thank you!"
Kairi blushed. Koga then smiled, pulling out his camera.
"Guys, c'mon!" Donald said impatiently. They were already waiting by the exit to the gummi ship.
"JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE!" Koga shouted before turning back to Kairi. "How about one last picture?" The redhead smiled before nodding much to the boy's delight. All three of them smiled as they bunched up close together, cheek to cheek. Kairi, being in the center, held the camera up as they all gave a bright smile. The press of a button and a flash the picture was taken.
"Well I guess this is goodbye." Kairi said holding onto the picture. She looked at the twins.
"I will come back." Koga said.
"Me too!" Sora said.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
As they turned to leave they heard Kairi say one last thing.
"Guys, don't forget. Wherever you two go, I'm always with you."
They looked back at Kairi one last time before they entered the hanger where the gummi ship was. There by the entrance of the ship was a surprising amount of people there. Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, and Cid were there but they weren't the only ones. Alongside them was Simba, Dumbo, Bambi, Mushu, Merlin, and Fairy Godmother.
Koga was honestly surprised the people he freed from their summon charms are coming as well.
"Simba, Bambi, Dumbo, Mushu? Are you sure you want to come along, it's not your fight."
Simba gave a low growl as he held his head up in a prideful gesture. Bambi bleated in agreement and Dumbo trumpeted.
He knew what they were saying. They were saying they owed him for freeing them and want to help.
"I don't know about the other guys but I wanna get out there and kick some Heartless butt, and where you are going there's going to be a whole flock of 'em!" Mushu said.
"How is everyone going to fit in the gummi ship?" Sora asked.
"I can help with that." To the side they saw Geppetto come out and smiling at the two boys.
"You're coming along to?" Jiminy asked surprised and concerned.
"Oh no, I was just helping Cid with the finishing touches of his ship." The floodlights came on showing another gummi ship, looking similar in style to their own but with extra engines and colored purple.
"The old coot has been really eager to learn about gummi pieces so I let him help out." Cid said as he looked over the ship. "This here is the same I used to escape with Leon and the others." He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and smirked at them. "So, enough yapping and lets get going."
"Everyone." Sora said with a big smile, feeling touched. "Thank you."
The two Gummi ships flew off across space. Cid wasn't lying when he said they could've been ripped to shreds out there.
There were so many Heartless spaceships, it was almost impossible to shoot all of them. They had no choice but to just fly through them and hopefully take some out along the way. The ship was equipped with extra firepower but it meant nothing to the endless swarm of ships.
"Cid, how are you holding up?" Koga asked the pilot of the other ship.
"We've taken a bunch of damage but don't you worry kid, ain't no Heartless sinking this ship of mine." Cid growled.
"I would appreciate it if the ship didn't shake so much." Yuffie groaned having motion sickness from her seat. The others aren't faring much better but they held on.
"We're almost there Yuffie!" Cid replied. "About five more minutes and Hollow Bastion will be coming up on the hori-"
Suddenly an asteroid crashed into the 2nd ship and it went spiraling around right into the 1st gummi ship. Alarms blared as the systems began shutting down. They were stuck in the middle of space.
"Don't worry fellas, it should reboot in about 30 seconds." Cid said.
"Guys, we gotta get that power back on now!" Koga said as he kept clicking the fire button to no avail. In front the Heartless have grouped together and charged straight at them.
"Brace for impact!" Goofy warned as everyone held onto their seats in fear.
Then out of nowhere a giant bluish grey blob passed by and chomped up the Heartless ships much to everyone's surprise.
"Monstro!?" Sora, Koga, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy exclaimed. The last thing they were expecting was the whale of a whale to save them from impending doom.
The Heartless were now focusing their attention on the giant whale who ate them with a ceaseless appetite.
The power came back on to the ship as they wasted no time to move on. They didn't think Monstro was doing this for them, they didn't want to ask the big guy, he seemed busy...
Koga looked out the cockpit and saw Hollow Bastion in the distance. Somehow it looked in worse condition than before, darkness poured out of it like a fog machine. He gulped nervously, feeling apprehension. Last time he was here he wasn't much help. Twice he lost to Riku, the second time costing his life. He got lucky having a second chance, it's not like this is a video game where you can make mistakes.
He felt his brother nudge his arm. "Hey, you okay?"
Koga turned back from the put on a brave face as he grinned at his brother. "Yeah bro, ready for round two!"
HAVE FUN!