Chapter 42

"What is going on, Axel?" said Sora.

"What you see here is not just a book. It is...a tome."

"What?" Sora was confused at why Axel was shocked at this. "I mean, yeah, I figured that the book would be magical-"

"You know what a tome is, right?"

Sora pulled an confused look. "Well, it's a magical book, right?"

"Wrong. Well, somewhat wrong. A tome is a book where you can learn magic from. I thought you would know the definition by now-"

"Oh, geez, I didn't memorize it," said Sora. "Just calm down, dude."

Axel laughed, and then continued. "This tome is called the Keybook. As you can see, the X in front of the tome is very special. It can give the wielder of the tome the powers of an advanced keyblade."

"But why would-" Sora stopped, realizing something. "Blue was angry when you asked her about what that thing is and why she needed it."

"Yes. Now it makes sense." Axel looked around him, and then began walking towards the shadows. "It's time to go, Sora!"

"Right!" Using his Anti-Form power, he teleported to the entrance of the castle with Axel. The two ran into the woods, where the conversation resumed. Sora dropped his Anti-Form.

"You see, Sora, Blue must be a keyblade wielder. She must have a use for this tome, and she wanted us to bring it to her so that she could use it in her own way."

"Well, isn't she trying to save everyone?"

"That's the lie. True, that other guy must have done evil things, but this keyblade she is after...it is not worth it."

"What does this tome do, Axel? And why do you know so much?"

Axel took a deep breath. Then, he spoke with a dark tone. "When I became a nobody, Xemnas made us all work on building Kingdom Hearts. In the past, we have tried several ways to get the hearts to form it, but-"

They were interrupted by a loud siren. The duo looked back, seeing hundreds of heartless come forth. They swarmed the trees and the grass, covering everything in darkness.

"Sora, get ready!" Axel said. He studied the shape of the heartless. They were all humanoid, with a variety of weapons, like claws, swords, and shields. They were all of different colors, but they had the same yellow eyes.

"CHARGE!" Sora sprung himself into the crowd of heartless, gathering fire around him and blasting his opponents with it. The results were catastrophic. Heartless were burned, disintegrating so fast that Axel could only see a flash. The other heartless tried to surround Sora, but Axel slashed at them. Then, he pointed his keyblade at the heartless, shooting small fireballs at them and exploding them.

"This does not look good, Axel!" Axel looked surprised at Sora, but he saw his concern. These were just heartless, and while they would be taken care of, the heartless were vanguards to whoever was summoning them.

They cleared the place of the heartless, and the duo looked around. They spotted someone heading towards them. A mask was on that person, a mask that had no holes on it. The figure was huge, with white hair and a single sword. It carried a white cape and armored shoulder pads.

"It's one of the captains!" Sora looked in horror, as the darkness was present in this masked figure. Without warning, the figure launched itself at Sora, slashing at him. Sora dodged, hitting the figure's mask off. The mask broke, revealing a man with white hair. His eyes emulated the darkness that began to amplify around him.

"My turn! Burn!" Axel charged into the man, not noticing the man raising his blade.

"Tekken!" A large, materialized hand formed, holding a huge blade. It hit Axel square on his back, knocking him into the ground. His impact left a hole on the ground, prompting Sora to go to Axel's side.

"Curaga!" Sora healed Axel, who looked worn out.

"That guy is special indeed. He got me by surprise." Axel looked at the captain. "I only wish that Ichigo could have fixed the communications network."

"Wait, it broke?" asked Sora.

"Yeah. It did. Now we would never know who this guy is."

"We can worry about that later," said Sora. "We have got to take this guy down!"

He rushed at the captain, using his speed to dodge his blade. His blade changed into a black keyblade with an orange keychain. Sora hit the man, breaking his shoulder pads and forcing him backwards. The man stumbled, regaining his footing within moments. He roared in rage.

"Bankai!"

"What?!" cried out Axel.

The materialized hand transformed. Within seconds, a large figure the size of a skyscraper appeared, holding a larger sword than its user. Its yellow eyes locked on to the two warriors. The man stood still, looking at Axel with intensity.

"I'm guessing that he is gonna aim at me," said Axel. "You have an idea, Sora?"

Sora carefully looked to the man. As the man raised his blade, the figure did the same. Suddenly, Sora realized what to do.

"Axel, distract the thing! I got an idea!" Sora began to charge his blade. Instantly, power began to build up in his keyblade. Axel, trusting Sora, started to run around the figure, dodging his kicks and sword slashes. Sora closed his eyes, and his keyblade began to transform into something spectacular. It grew a bit bigger, but it was now shaped like a sword, with golden energy surrounding it. The black sword had a orange and red keychain attached to it.

"My power comes from my friends! Come forth, Yujo!" His keyblade glowed, filling Sora with light. Aiming the keyblade at the man, he yelled, "Light!" A light orb hit the man at incredible speed. As that happened, the figure backed out, injured as well. Surprised, the man tried to hit Sora, but he teleported, hitting the man in his chest. He collapsed, along with the figure, which disappeared.

"Sora! How?!" Axel was shocked at what just transpired.

"Well," Sora said, "I noticed how he was moving when he used his bankai. He was moving in synch with it. He and the figure are essentially one-"

Before Sora could continue, the man started to glow. Sora and Axel covered their eyes as the light covered the area. Then, after the light faded, Sora and Axel stared at the captain.

What they saw was an animal with the cape of a captain.

"What the..." Sora was entirely confused, but Axel was not as much.

"Just like Donald or Goofy, huh...well, let's go to the hideout. You carry him with that form of yours..."

Sora sighed. He carried the captain, and the two began to head out to the hideout.