Chapter 52
"WE HAVE TO SAVE ROXAS!"
Demyx woke up, looking around. Yen Sid looked at him, concerned. "It would appear that you brought along a few friends as well."
Demyx saw a slew of people in the room. A bald man in shinigami robes sat next to him, drinking some water. Bowser, Mario, Luigi, and Toad were lying down, sleeping on some beds.
"What happened?" asked Demyx.
"They materialized on those beds instantly," said Yen Sid. "Perhaps they were looking for more suitable traveling clothes."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"But...where did Roxas go?" said Demyx.
"I am afraid that someone took him a while back," said Yen Sid. He looked tired. "I tried to ward them off, but they took him and stunned me."
"They who?" asked the bald man known as Ikkaku.
"Keyblade wielders," answered the wizard. "I have no idea where they could have been hiding, but it is clear to me that someone or something is trying to obtain a special sort of keyblade."
"But I thought that they were after destroying the dream world or whatever," said Demyx.
"No one ever does that," said Yen Sid. "Destroying the dream world is preposterous, if only because it does not ever work. On the other hand, restricting its use so that no outsider can come in...that is what these people were intending to do while that notorious group destroyed that stadium."
"So there were two groups?" said Demyx. "What is going on over here?"
"They seem to be in opposition with each other," said Yen Sid. "However, what concerns me more is that they both want Roxas."
"Is there any way that we can fight off whatever took the kid?" asked Ikkaku.
"No," said Yen Sid. "We have to wait until the realm of dreams is open once again. Even if that were to happen, we would have to break open a barrier that prevents anyone from entering from the outside-"
"Wait, what happened to the realm?" said Demyx.
"Someone sealed off much of it from us in this room, and we do not have others who can help out. We have some options that are being explored, but we do not know what might await us yet."
"So basically...we can't do anything yet," said Ikkaku. "We just have to recover for a while and hope that something happens..."
"You sound disappointed," remarked Demyx.
"You would be too if you found out how weak you are in these types of situations." Ikkaku stared at his sword. "I cannot believe myself. I was lucky to awaken again, and it had to be in another weird place."
"Are you a shinigami?" asked Yen Sid.
"Yeah, so?"
"There are others of you near us," said Yen Sid. "Would you like to talk to them?"
"Seriously?" Ikkaku looked around him. "Where at?"
Two men stepped in the room. Both of them were wearing dark coats. One of them had red eyes and a fan on his back, while the other just had a sword attached to him. The sword wielding fellow walked towards Ikkaku, revealing his face. "Yo, Ikkaku. Long time no see."
"Captain!" Ikkaku smiled and laughed out loud. "Of course you would appear. Where were you?"
"Let's catch up later," said Kenpachi. "Apparently, something happened. Why were you asleep for so long?"
"I was put asleep," said Ikkaku. "All I remember was sleeping in my place and the next second, I woke up and found myself in some new world."
"So those cowards took us out from the shadows..." Kenpachi dawned on this while the red-eyed man introduced himself as Madara.
"It seems that Soul Society was ambushed rather efficiently," said Madara. "I wonder why all we ever hear is that someone gets ambushed and that they do not remember?"
"Memory." Yen Sid closed his eyes, pondering that thought. When he opened his eyes again, he asked, "What if this problem is due to memory?"
"Hey, what about us?!" said Demyx. "This memory stuff seems important, but Roxas could be in big trouble!"
"He knows that, you twit," said Madara. "But your friend should be fine. As he said, there are ways to save him. Just be glad that you can save him."
"Yeah, I know, but that doesn't mean that this issue is more important than this one, right?!"
"That may not be the case, Demyx." Yen Sid stroked his beard. "The memories of these fighters are sketchy at best. It could be that there is an enemy who can alter or get rid of memories, but none come to mind."
"Well, we should worry about that later," said Kenpachi. "Hey, you want to see some of your other friends?"
Rukia and Renji came into the room, looking tired but glad that one of their own is still alive. "So Ikkaku," said Renji, "I heard that you were sleeping on the job. What is up with that?"
"Shut up, Renji..." Ikkaku took a sip of water.
"If it's good news, we found many of the captains and a lot of people," said Rukia.
"We still haven't found many of them, optimist," said Kenpachi. "We still haven't found the captain commander. We encountered their nobodies, sadly enough."
"What's that?" asked Ikkaku.
"We'll catch up later, I said that already!"
"Unfortunately, we have to stay and train for a while," said Renji. "We really have to wait until we can become strong enough."
"Do not worry," said Yen Sid. "Ishida and the others have been training here, and you have seen the results."
"ICHIGO and his pals are here?!" exclaimed Ikkaku.
"Not Ichigo...but his pals are here," muttered Madara.
"You sound bitter about that," said Rukia.
"Well, I have my reasons. Still, what I do not get is why he did not come here."
"He has his reasons too," said Yen Sid. "Soon, according to the stars, something ominous will happen. The prelude to the war is about to begin..."
"Wait, what?" said Demyx.
"Catch up with your friends when you recover," said Yen Sid. "We will worry about this later."
He, Rukia, Renji, and Madara left the room. They were walking down the stairway.
"Is there any way that we can prepare for what is to come?" said Madara. "Perhaps there is a way to interpret the stars and find out what is going on."
"We do not have the power to do so," said Yen Sid. "Only one keyblade wielder was able to do that, and he took several years to even read star movements. We can only wait."
"We are still much stronger than you can imagine, Madara," said Rukia. "We will be ready."
"I'll trust in your abilities then," said Madara. "Let's go and see where the rest are."
They walked outside, seeing Ishida, Orihime, Kairi, and Chad sitting down in exhaustion.
"So all we can do is have hope that this is enough then." Madara was wary of the promise that he just heard.
"Well, prepare to be surprised, Madara," said Yen Sid. Suddenly, a huge amount of power arouse as they stood up, causing the place to shake.
"Well...what is this?!" Madara widened his eyes.
"This...is a power unlike anything that has ever been seen. It is...the power of bonds."