Silver Linings
Chapter 12: "The End Has Come!"
A/N: Kingdom Hearts II's plot is in full swing now! From here on in, I hope to include at least one crossover character for Riku's or Sora's plot in every world, starting here in Neverland with you know who! He is the white void. He is the cold steel. He is the just sword! With awesome intro spiel in hand shall he reap the sins of these worlds and return all to nothing! He is HAKUMEN! Title Drop! But first, a quick update on Sora's side of the story...
It's a bit late to explain it now, but I'm operating on the assumption that Lambda dismisses Murakumo when she's not in combat, which is why she needs to summon it so many times. It could be explained by the strain a Nox Nyctores places on the wielder. A Nox can tear a person's mind apart unless they're the best of the best at Armagus; look at Yukianesa's effect on Jin.
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Sora's Pod Room...
"Sora!" Donald's voice pierced Sora's consciousness, causing him to shift in his sleep. Light knows Sora wouldn't have made it this far without Donald's magic abilities and training in spellcraft, but waking up to that voice everyday...
"Sora! Wake up!" Okay, if Goofy's already up, then Sora had overslept. He cracked his eyes open for the first time in what felt like far too long, but everything around him was cloudy and a bit cold. Suddenly, a bright light pierced into the mist, and the clouds seeped out of the pod Sora found himself in. The outer shell opened like a giant flower, and Sora took a second to process what he was seeing. White...white...blue...green...funny faces... Wait!
On seeing his friends Donald and Goofy, Sora snapped awake. "Donald! Goofy!" He felt ridiculously happy to see them. Of course, there was no chance he'd ever be rid of them, but something had him scared in the back of his heart until he got a chance to jump out of the pod and land on his friends in a flying glomp. This could be considered payback for all those times they'd stood on his shoulders and all of them had fallen down, but no one minded. Instead, they hopped around in circles for a bit to get the relief and goofiness out of their system enough to figure out where in the worlds they'd ended up.
"Okay, so we defeated Ansem... Restored peace to the World... Found Kairi... I think that's right so far?" Sora asked Jiminy Cricket, who stepped out of Sora's hood onto his shoulder.
"I think we found Kairi first, but yep, that sounds about right," Jiminy confirmed.
"Oh yeah! And then we went to look for Riku and the King. Did we ever find them?"
"I don't think we did, but that was a good nap!" Jiminy replied while stretching his little cricket arms.
"When do you think we went to sleep?" Goofy asked.
"Uh..." All four were at a loss on that point.
It was then that Donald Duck had a rare, logical idea. "What does your Journal say, Jiminy?"
"Oh, that's right! I wrote everything down right in this little book... WHAT?" Jiminy opened his Journal to the last page he dog-eared, but it was blank. In fact, every page was blank, except for the very first page, which contained only two words: Thank Namine. "There's only one sentence! 'Thank Namine.' I wonder who that is?" Jiminy pondered aloud, much to Donald's displeasure.
"Some Journal that is!" Donald huffed.
Jiminy hurried to save face. "This is really strange. What do you say we find out where we are?"
The subject was successfully diverted, and the group ran out the only obvious exit. Oddly enough, when Sora and friends got outside the quaint, abandoned mansion, they found it difficult to remember the route they took to leave. Goofy guessed that the mansion was messing with their memories, and voted not to go back in. Sora had a feeling there was more to it, but Donald was already running away from a possibly haunted house, so the rest had to follow without any further discussion.
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Twilight Town: The Usual Spot...
The group caught up to Donald as they entered a side alley in a large town that none of them had seen before, or so it seemed. "Y'know, I think I've been to this town," Sora mused as they headed towards an interesting-looking dead end with a curtain over it.
"Really? What's it called?" Donald asked, having finally calmed down from earlier.
"...I dunno. Did I imagine it?" Donald sighed. Sora was well-known to be a space case sometimes.
"Hello!" Goofy called to a group of teenagers sitting on secondhand furniture in the curtained area.
"Who are you people?" A brownish-blond kid wearing camouflage-print pants and a black T-shirt with a skull logo asked tersely.
"Oh, nothing. We're just passing through, and I was wondering what was back here," Sora made up on the fly. Everyone they'd met so far had bought the line for at least a while, and these kids were no different.
"Well, now you know. This is our spot." Hayner impatiently explained.
The girl in the group spoke up next with a much friendlier demeanor. "Welcome to Twilight Town! It's nice to meet you. My name's Olette, this is Pence," Olette pointed out the chubby guy on the couch, "...and the super-friendly one is Hayner. Don't worry, he just likes playing tough. We call ourselves the Usual Suspects! What are your names?" Hayner sputtered for a bit while the introductions continued.
"I'm Sora!"
"Donald Duck!"
"The name's Goofy! Nice to meetcha!"
On hearing this, Olette and Pence shared a look. "Sora, Donald, Goofy... We just met someone who was looking for you."
"Really? Who was it?" Sora asked, surprised that they already had a lead on where to go next. Usually finding info took a lot more running around.
"He had this black coat on, so I couldn't really see his face," Pence began, "but he had these...big, round ears." He traced big circles around his head with his fingers to demonstrate, and the travelers instantly knew who he was talking about.
"King Mickey!" They exclaimed all at once.
Sora asked, "Where'd you see him?"
"At the station," Pence replied. "You going there now? It's at the top of the town. Just keep going up; you can't miss Station Tower."
"Okay, and thanks a lot!" Sora waved to the Usual Suspects on his way back through the curtain, and the three teens looked at each other for a second.
"Did you feel that?" Pence asked.
"Yeah, it was like my heart was being squeezed," Olette noted.
"Who is he, and why don't I want him to leave?" Hayner wondered, before setting the plan of action. "Let's catch up to him at the Station Plaza and see him off, at least. I know I'll regret it if we don't."
For once, there was no disagreement about Hayner's plan.
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Neverland: Islands...
Riku and Lambda stepped out of the Dark Corridor on a tiny, gray rock in the middle of a vast, blue ocean. "Ah, shoot. I forgot about that," Riku grumbled.
"You mean the water?" Lambda asked.
"Yeah. Sure, you can fly over it, and I guess I can fly in this form, too. I'm going to need some practice with it, though, or we're not going anywhere." Riku concentrated for a second, then floated an inch or two off the ground as Ansem had in their battles. He hovered over the open sea, sighing in relief as he didn't plummet to the sea floor immediately. "I can tell there's some sort of Darkness-related trap over that way," he called back to Lambda, pointing to the west. "Can you get a fix on it?"
"Affirmative," Lambda responded. Summoning Murakumo, she joined Riku over the sea and led him to another small island, where two brightly-colored figures were squatting over a pile of some sort.
"Blast! Another fake! All these treasure maps, and none of them seem to lead to the real treasure!" Captain Hook whined, his voice audible at a very long distance.
Riku remembered Hook's first mate, a portly, red-nosed man by the name of Smee. His nasal tone of voice was just as ridiculous as his name, but he did have better common sense than the Captain. For example: "I'm just worried about findin' another trap, Cap'n. Every time we dig up a chest full of junk like this, the Heartless pop out of nowhere!"
Right on cue, a bunch of Air Pirate and Air Soldier Heartless appeared. Captain Hook and Smee immediately jumped into their dinghy and sailed back to the large pirate ship anchored nearby. The Heartless ignored them, turning right for Riku and Lambda. Riku was new to aerial combat, but he had to learn soon, so he told Lambda to hang back for a moment. He flashed forward like he had against Roxas, his sheer speed comparable to a teleport. Soul Eater sliced through the Heartless easily enough, and Riku found his old combo moves still worked. The Air Soldiers were stronger than the same breed found in Twilight Town, but paled in comparison to the Neoshadows from the World That Never Was. Riku had no trouble with the Neoshadows back then, so it was no surprise that the Heartless stood no chance now. "Whenever I want a challenge to train against, they always turn out to be so weak..." Riku muttered as he floated back to Lambda. "I would have liked to find a better way to take advantage of that speed, but they popped too quickly. Let's check out that chest; someone left it there on purpose, I'm sure."
The chest was still there, filled with bits of wood and rusty iron. The important part wasn't the contents of the chest, but the cloudy aura of Darkness surrounding it. Lambda wondered, "How did Hook miss this aura? Sure, he's as dumb as toast, but this doesn't feel normal. He should have noticed it just because it's different from the usual Darkness he wears like perfume."
"Stinky perfume." Riku added, then stilled. Someone was coming.
"Aw, this batch got away! Oh, well. Time to check on the next one! That Captain Hook is so easy to yank around!" A big, fancy-armored...thing appeared in a puff of smoke, looking down at the not-treasure chest.
"Who are you?" The large creature's ears perked up when he heard Lambda, and he froze in the act of turning away.
"You really wanna know? I'm the mighty Pete, and I'm busy, see?" Pete turned around, then jumped a little at the intimidating appearance of what looked like "that Ansem fella" and a lady with way too many swords floating over the sea. "What the...? I thought the brat took care of you! Thanks to you and those punks, I've gotta find some way to bring back Maleficent before I can give her the army of Heartless I've been rounding up! Get lost!"
"Well, that basically confirms you're up to no good." Riku noted in his own voice. "Though I don't remember you in Maleficent's evil club, I can't really let you try to bring her back."
"Well, duh! I was on Heartless-makin' duty the whole time, so Maleficent had to dupe that Riku punk into kidnapping Princesses instead of asking yours truly! Wait a minute... Now I know where I heard that voice before!"
"Oh? Where was that?" Riku pushed.
"I heard it right before I left! Maleficent found some kid washed up in the Rising Falls, and she sent me away before the kid noticed me there. She probably thought I'd get in the way of her sweet-talking. Can't say I blame her, but... Hey! That means... YOU'RE Riku?!"
"Wow, you're smarter than you look," Lambda said as she took up position next to Riku. "Of course, Riku's a lot stronger than he was then, and if you want to fight him for beating Maleficent, you'll have to go through me."
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Pete vs. Team Riku: Round 1! Fight!
"Eh, no biggie! Super special move: Pete's Bouncy Battle Arena!" Pete pulled a curtain down over the camera (WHAT?!), and when the scene was visible again, the combatants were standing on an inflatable, open-topped castle of purple rubber, like an attraction children might bounce around in at a festival. "Pretty good, huh? Now catch this!" Pete rolled a ball-shaped bomb at Riku, but the dark warrior moved behind the enemy in a flash, and the bomb's homing pattern took it right back to Pete's feet. "Oh nonono OW-OW-OW!" Pete jumped into the air after the explosion, patting out the fire on his butt, but the castle seemed to take no damage.
"Summoning." Lambda hadn't attacked yet because the arena seemed to be hampering any attempts to levitate at more than a "walking-alternative" altitude. If the castle popped, all three of them would likely drown, but that didn't seem to be a concern anymore after the arena withstood that explosion. Pete took multiple hits from Sword Summoner EX, then got slammed down by Crescent Saber. However, he used the bounciness of the castle to spring back up and jump higher into the air.
Pete jumped so high, in fact, that he didn't seem to come down. Lambda noticed an electric charge in the air around her, and barely managed to tackle Riku out of a yellow ring that had appeared on the ground before Directed Thundaga bolts fell in that area. The bolts stopped after a moment, but then the ring moved to chase the heroes around. They dodged in two different directions, confusing Pete long enough that a second storm struck the empty space between them before he could choose who to chase. Pete fell back down as the circle vanished, creating a shockwave. Riku and Lambda jumped over the wave, but Riku stumbled as the inflatable arena heaved up and down afterward.
"I have to admit," Riku huffed, "you're full of surprises." Pete grinned smugly at the praise, but Riku continued talking. "But you can't really expect to beat me with party tricks like those. Zantetsuken!" Pete barely had time to widen his eyes before Riku appeared behind him, having cut right through Maleficent's minion in the blink of an eye. "...Close enough." The attack wasn't instantly fatal like it had been against Ansem, but Pete was still heavily wounded from the slice. Or at least, that was how Lambda interpreted the crossed white bandages that appeared where Riku cut through. Pete stumbled back a bit.
"Argh! I'll get you nitwits next time!" Pete pulled a curtain over the fourth wall again, and when the scene reappeared, Riku and Lambda were standing on a the rocky shore of a different island a long distance from where they'd been before. This comparatively large island had a cave on it that looked like a human skull from the outside, hence the name Skull Rock.
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Neverland: Skull Rock...
"That was probably the strangest villain I've ever fought, and that's saying something," Riku finally managed to say.
"I can just tell that what he just did will never make any sense to me," Lambda decided, "but at least we know who to blame for the Heartless traps on this world. Pete's probably got his hands, or paws, or whatever he is, into the affairs of a lot of worlds by now. We'll have to be on the lookout for his handiwork." Suddenly, Lambda stilled, sensing a familiar anomaly from inside the cave. "We've got more immediate problems, Riku. A Time Break just opened in the cave!"
"Let's go, Lambda!" The pair dashed into the cave.
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Twilight Town: Station Plaza...
Sora and company followed Olette's instructions to reach the Station Plaza as quickly as possible. They'd been looking for King Mickey for a whole adventure now, and they couldn't risk being too late to catch up to him now.
The view from the base of the Station Tower was certainly impressive. A railing circled the plaza, letting people gaze down the mountain and see all of Twilight Town arrayed below them. An orange train car chugged along elevated tracks in the distance at a leisurely pace. Sora looked around the plaza for any signs of King Mickey, but the first things that seemed out of place were a trio of skinny creatures in white jumpsuits, bouncing from foot to foot and slashing the air menacingly with long claws. "What are these things? Heartless?" Sora wondered.
"No, that emblem isn't the same." Donald Duck decided. "And we took care of the Heartless already, remember?"
"Gawrsh, they look just as mean as Heartless! I think we're in trouble!" Goofy summoned his Knight's Shield, and Donald summoned his Mage's Staff.
"What do you want?" Sora yelled, summoning the Kingdom Key.
We have come to test you.
"Huh? What kind of test?" It didn't register until later that the creatures hadn't spoken audibly...nor did Sora realize that only he could "hear" them. His question was answered by one of the creatures leaping into the air upside down and tearing up the space below it on its way to Sora. The Keybearer smacked its arms away, and the creature tumbled out of the air in a disorganized heap of white limbs. It rejoined the fight five seconds later, but by then Sora was trying to deal with its two companions.
Sora's Keyblade worked about as well as usual on these creatures, but Goofy's shield barged right through them with no effect. Donald saw this and tried his trusty Donald Thunder spell. A trio of lightning bolts fell from a few feet up, and two of them struck the monster Goofy had missed. The creature burst into a shower of blue sparkles, defeated. Meanwhile, Sora bisected the one he was working on, and that one also vanished.
These creatures didn't drop munny like the Heartless did, but Donald could tell that standing next to one as it burst had restored his mana. "Beat them to get mana back!" He called to the others.
"Now what would I do with mana...?" Goofy wondered.
Sora wondered that too, but although he quickly remembered that he was almost as good as Donald in the magic department, he realized the spells he remembered weren't working. "Deep Freeze! Force! Aw, come on! Wind? My magic isn't working!" Sora cut down the last creature, but they were replaced by five more.
"That's no good! Just fight them off with the Keyblade!" Donald cast a few more Thunder spells, but he'd also lost most of his spellcasting ability. Donald Thunder was the weakest variant of the spell he'd ever used, and his other elemental spells were as non-functional as Sora's. Donald Thundaga used to be a sight to see when he blasted Invisibles into powder with it in The End of the World, but it seemed he'd have to work his way back up from where he'd been at the start of that journey. "I'm barely ahead of Sora now... Wak!" Another wave of creatures appeared while two were still around from the last. "Don't they ever give up?"
Goofy had been trying to whack the monsters around with his shield the whole time, but no matter which moves he used, or how hard he swung his definitely-not-a-weapon, he never made contact. He could still block the swipes that came at him, but as the knight began to tire out, one of the creatures landed a hit past his defense and knocked him down in the center of the ring. "Whoa!"
Sora and Donald moved closer to Goofy to defend him while trying to beat the rest of the enemies, but by now the creatures outnumbered the heroes five to one. Donald ran out of mana despite the small boosts gained from defeating the creatures, and slumped down with his back to Goofy's. Sora was also on his last legs, and he managed to cut down the eleventh-from-last monster in the current wave before he also collapsed. A monster flew at him while he sat on the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut and feebly raised the Keyblade to block, but the attack never landed.
The sounds of a magic weapon striking home and the splashing sound the monsters made when they were destroyed repeated ten times in quick succession. By the time Sora cracked his eyes open, the party's mysterious savior had already destroyed all the monsters. It was typical luck for the heroes that their strength gave out in the middle of the last wave...
The first thing Sora saw was their savior's weapon. It was unmistakably a Keyblade, and in fact it looked just like Sora's Kingdom Key with the colors reversed. Sora couldn't quite recall where he'd seen it before. The Kingdom Key D sparkled in the light of the perpetual sunset.
The first thing Donald and Goofy noticed when they simultaneously got a good look at the short, black-hooded figure was the thing Pence had described: "He had these big, round ears." The Disney Castle officials practically climbed over Sora to get a closer look. "King Mickey?!"
The King turned back to them and put a finger under his lips, which extended with his nose slightly beyond the hood. "Shh! You gotta board the train and leave town! The train knows the way!" The King dismissed his Keyblade and pulled a small, white pouch out of his pocket. It was made of soft fabric, and had the royal seal of Disney Castle embroidered on the side.
Sora took the pouch and opened the drawstring to look inside."What... There's got to be at least five thousand munny in here!" And there was something else, too. Nestled in a small fortune of munny (there was so much that the wallet seemed too small to hold it; could it be a derivative of Merlin's Bag of Holding, perhaps?), there was a round, blue crystal, about the size of a pinball. "What is that?"
"King Mickey!" Sora looked up to find that the King was running down the hill. His ears disappeared out of sight, and the three friends' expressions drooped.
"Was that really him?" Sora wondered. He hadn't been wearing a black coat the last time they'd seen him.
"I think so... Yep, I know it was!" Goofy thought it over, then brightened up.
"Now we know he's okay!" Even Donald was in a good mood now. They hadn't had a clue of the King's whereabouts until the end of the last adventure, and he hadn't left in a safe situation at the Door to Darkness. The weight lifted off his retainers' minds at last, and left them wanting to jump up and down like they had when Sora woke up.
"Yeah!" Sora agreed. "The King was locked in the Realm of Darkness, right?" That was where Sora had glimpsed Mickey's Keyblade before. "So he must know where Riku is, since the two of them were together when we closed the Door." Of course, for all Sora knew, that could have been years ago. Come to think of it, his clothes felt a little tighter than they used to. Did they shrink in the mist from that pod, or had he slept long enough to grow a few inches taller? Whatever it was, he needed a new outfit. He couldn't go out on a second adventure with a permanent wedgie.
"I guess so..." Goofy trailed off.
"Well, I'm gonna go look for Riku so we can go back to the Islands! Kairi's there waiting for us!" Sora put out his right hand, palm down. "What do you say? How about we stick together for one last journey?"
Sora's longest-standing travel buddies placed their right hands on top of his. Goofy was the one who said it out loud. "All for one, and one for all!"
"So let's go! To...where again?" Sora realized he completely forgot where the King said to go.
"We hafta board the train!" Goofy reminded him.
"Sora, you dummy! The King just told us that a minute ago!" Donald scolded.
"Heh, heh... Well, it's a good thing Jiminy Cricket's here to write that stuff down! Right, Jiminy?" Sora called for backup.
"Absolutely. Don't worry, I won't miss a moment! I hope this volume doesn't randomly erase itself, though..." Jiminy had switched to recording in his backup Journal, just in case. The two leather-bound books were identical except for their contents.
"Great! Let's go to the station!" Sora led the way inside.
The inside of the station was large, even compared to the huge tower it appeared as on the outside. Luckily, Sora had seen a lot of structures like this, so he didn't waste time questioning it now. "Three tickets, please!" He asked the receptionist behind the window in the ticket booth.
"Which line?"
"Uh... I guess it's that weird purple one." The one that obviously didn't belong in this world.
There were some typing sounds, and the receptionist found a match. "Ah, I didn't know there was a line running now. I've got to re-check those schedules... That'll be 200 munny apiece." Sora handed the 600 munny through the hole in the window and retrieved three ticket stubs, still marveling about how much munny the King had over-provided. "Thank you for riding our trains! Have a nice trip!" Sora waved and ascended the stairs to the boarding platform with his friends.
"Sora!" A vaguely familiar voice shouted from behind. Sora turned to see Hayner running up the steps, followed closely by Pence and Olette.
"What are you guys doing here?" Sora wondered.
"We came to see you off!" Pence replied.
"It just...felt like something we had to do." Olette added softly.
"Um, Sora, you sure we haven't met before?" Hayner asked, scratching his head. There was this feeling that he knew this kid, but there was something off with it. Was he mixing Sora up with someone else? Who else could it be? Visitors from out of town were almost unheard of.
"...Positive. Why do you ask?"
"I dunno... Hey, are you crying?" Hayner pointed out a tear rolling down Sora's cheek.
"What? I... That is so weird..." Sora wiped off the tear, and stared at his wet finger uncomprehendingly.
"Chin up, Sora! You can always visit later! We'll be on the balcony above us every day after school anyway." Pence piped up. Why was everyone getting so emotional? Pence felt funny, too, but his motto was "Roll With It."
"Speaking of school..." Olette began, and the other two automatically groaned. "We still have to get that report finished for the summer homework! Otherwise all that research into the Seven Wonders will be for nothing!" She glared at the other two for a second, and they gave in quickly. "When you come back, Sora, let's share some stories! I'll tell you all about the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town, and you tell us something about where you came from!"
"Didn't we figure out the Seven Wonders were all hoaxes, though?" Hayner wondered aloud. Before Olette could chastise him for messing up her plan, he continued, "The train leaves in two minutes, guys! You'd better get on. When you come back, I promise to have some much better stories!"
"Got it! See you!" Sora approached the train, and the ticket stubs he was holding vanished into sparkles, causing the train's door to open automatically. The travelers boarded, and Sora waved at the Usual Suspects as the door closed. Their new friends stood watching the weird, purple train until it pulled through the gate and out of sight.
"Okay, so maybe the ghost train wasn't a complete hoax after all," Pence realized belatedly. Hopefully Sora hadn't just commuted out of their lives forever...
Sora, meanwhile, watched the town walls get smaller behind the train while holding onto a safety bar. "I guess... I'm sad."
"We'll be back," Donald appeased.
"Yeah, we can visit Hayner and those guys again! I wonder where we're going...?" Goofy looked out the window just as Light flooded in through it. When he blinked the spots out of his eyes, the view out the window was a fantastic green space with glowing auroras, and the tracks were shaped from glowing blue Light. The train spent four minutes in this transition space, then sped through a pinkish portal into another world.
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Neverland: Inside Skull Rock...
Sure enough, right in the back of the cave, a rip in space showed a distorted view of a Hierarchical City, the tourist-rich Kazamotsu (not that Riku knew the name of it). A flicker of movement could be seen, and then a large, silver figure dashed through. The Time Break spread outward by a few inches as the last of the newcomer's armored heel left it behind.
"What devilry is this?" The newcomer's speech was distorted. Though it was easy to understand what he said, one got the sense that his voice was synthesized on a computer and then replayed into a soup can. He wore a mask that completely covered his face, leaving no holes for eyes or a mouth. There was enough space open on the back of his helm to allow his long, silver ponytail to trail out behind him. The rest of his armor was a cross between a cyborg, a samurai, and a demon. His entire body was covered. Half of the armor was a thick, black fabric, and the other was a sturdy, white metal. It didn't look like any material that could be mined from the earth. On each shoulder pad and each boot, four red eyes stared directly at Riku and Lambda, like they were the warrior's true eyes instead of whatever he hid under his mask. On his back, Riku couldn't help but notice he wore a sheath for a sword that almost matched the newcomer's own height, which was especially impressive when he considered that this newcomer from the Azure Timeline was more than seven feet tall.
"Scanning... Target identified as the Sankishin Susano'oh Unit. Searching... 1 match found. Target is Hakumen of the Six Heroes. Threat level maximum. Switching to Guard Mode. Summoning Lux Sanctus. IDEA Engine linked; Murakumo, activate." Lambda rattled off in her toneless, protocol-ruled voice. She was clad in the armor of Murakumo, and set her eight Petals to hang in front of her like a wall.
Riku remembered something about the "abridged" explanation Lambda gave him about her old timeline. Something about that word, Sankishin... What was it that she said?
"It would seem fitting that past such an unnatural distortion, I should find another devil created by the hands of man." Hakumen mused as he shifted a foot back. "Were you not slain by Terumi?"
"That was the other Lambda. I got a copy of her power after that, but Kokonoe cut me loose from her position as Master." Lambda tried to explain it in a way that wouldn't get Riku and herself cut down by the unfathomably powerful swordsman in front of them.
"...Left uncontrolled, your kind will always attempt to become the death of the world." Well, so much for diplomacy. Hakumen was never very receptive to words. "I will end you before you can become the Beast that will destroy us all. I am the white void." Hakumen settled into a sturdier stance. "I am the cold steel." He grasped the hilt of the massive sword on his back. "I am the just sword!" He drew the hilt sideways, and a silver mist seeped out of a slit in the sheath, hardening into the flat-tipped blade of the Nox Nyctores, Interfectum Malus: Ookami. "With blade in hand shall I reap the sins of this world and cleanse it in the fires of destruction!" Hakumen raise the blade to point at the enemies in front of him, holding both hands on the blade. An aura of pure power began to emanate from his whole body, making the air itself tremble. "I am Hakumen! The end has come!" The Susano'oh Unit finally dashed forward with furious speed. Riku and Lambda barely managed to get out of the way of his low, horizontal slice.
"Do you say that whole speech every time you get in a fight?" Riku called from the far side of the cave, hoping Hakumen had no ranged attacks.
Lambda answered while jumping high into the air to dodge another hack from Ookami. "He does; it's a chant of some sort that seems to activate the Susano'oh Unit. It's such an awesome speech, though, that I don't think anyone's ever interrupted it to sucker-punch him." She air-dashed over to Riku's side.
"I have no need to explain myself to you. Who is this person you have manipulated to your side, Murakumo Unit?" Hakumen readied his sword for any counterattack, but held still to gather power for his more effective offensive skills.
"I don't need to explain myself to you either, Susano'oh Unit." Lambda sent a green sword his way, but he cut it in two. Lambda knew about this effect of Ookami, so she wasn't surprised when a void formed in front of him to block any further projectiles. "You're not going to listen, anyway, but I didn't 'manipulate' anyone. That would be a sick thing to do, from my perspective."
"Your opinion means nothing; your fate is sealed. Empty Sky Form...!" Lambda saw Ookami's blade point straight skyward over the obscuring void, gathering white clouds of sheer power, and she motioned to Riku to jump when the attack came. "Summer's Advance!" A line of white power ripped through the ground, leaving a jagged crack. It exploded against the wall of the cave, missing Riku and Lambda entirely. The void in front of Hakumen finally vanished, but the Susano'oh was already dashing through it.
Riku remembered the gist of Lambda's explanation from earlier as Ookami's blade clashed with Murakumo's Petals. Lambda had called herself an Anti-Sankishin Core Unit. Her programming would force her to try and kill this guy. All eight of her Petals slammed into Ookami one after the other, each one helping to slow the blade's arc. All the Petals strained against Hakumen's insane strength to hold him back, but Lambda was finally forced to backdash to get away.
"Can we even beat this guy? Well, I've got to try!" Riku flashed behind Hakumen to try to get past his defenses, but the eyes on top of Hakumen's shoulders turned to look right at Riku even before he stopped, and the samurai reacted before Riku's swing could connect. Hakumen raised his free arm and created a glowing blue shield to catch Soul Eater. Riku found himself momentarily paralyzed, and Hakumen grabbed his arm, then swung him overhead to slam the dark warrior into the ground. Riku managed to flash out of reach before Ookami could execute him, and the blade dug into the ground.
"He seems to have switched from using seithr to using the Power of Darkness instinctively! How did he change over so fast?" Lambda deployed a Gravity Seed beneath Hakumen's feet. His advance was slowed slightly, but he didn't show any weakness under the weight of the increased gravity.
"So that is what you call this power. I would rather not rely on such a tainted strength, but if it will allow my blade to reach you...!"
"Don't reach for more power, Hakumen!" Riku yelled, seeing the telltale signs. "Once the Darkness has a hold on you, it won't let go! I'm an expert on that kind of tragedy. Your real enemies are on the other side of the Time Break, right?"
"...!" Hakumen took a sharp breath (although no one will ever know if he really needed air), and calmed himself. "...It galls me to admit it, but you are correct, altered one. I must purge such weakness from myself in order to sever the grip those monsters have on my world. I will leave you be for now."
"Don't worry, the Time Break is two-way; you can get back to your own world through it. Don't cross any others you see, though, or the expansion will speed up." Lambda warned. "If we don't close these fast enough, they could become a greater threat to both continuums than even Terumi."
"My blade exists to slaughter evil. It cannot close these rifts, and I must never use it to cut souls who do not require my judgment of their sins or skills. Farewell. May you never become enemies worthy of my sword." Hakumen sheathed Ookami and stalked off through the Time Break without waving goodbye. The tense atmosphere he created simply by being in the room went back to normal.
"Target lost. Disengaging Battle Mode." Lambda dismissed Murakumo as the compulsion to kill Hakumen vanished with his departure.
"Man, that was close! I can think of at least three ways that guy could have ruined us." Riku let out a breath he'd been holding while he waited for Hakumen's reaction.
"Kokonoe, come in." Lambda called up the mad scientist on the radio. "We've located a Time Break. Our end is in a world called Neverland, and your end is in Kazamotsu."
"Got it, Lambda. Keep up the good work; I'll get Tager and Mickey on that right away." Kokonoe cut the connection.
"Mission accomplished, Riku! Should we wait here for Mickey, or move on right away?" Lambda asked.
"WHOOOA!" Her question was answered by a streak of Light zipping into the cave, zigzagging through the left "eye" of Skull Rock. The King moved even faster when it came to solving trouble! Mickey dusted himself off in the middle of the cave. "Hey, fellas! Nice work finding this one! I'll take it from here." Mickey summoned his Keyblade, Tager's voice crackled over the radio, and Riku opened a Dark Corridor as the Time Break was closed. Lambda and Riku moved on to the next world hand in hand.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Outside the Mysterious Tower...
The train stopped right next to a floating island covered with green bushes. There was a large, improbably-shaped tower standing on the far end. As the three travelers disembarked, the train began to glow. It vanished in a flash of light just as Sora started to move on. He chuckled nervously as it disappeared. "There goes our ride..."
Goofy loped back to the other two from where he'd been scouting up ahead. "There's some weird person poking at the door to that tower! Adventuring Rule Number Three: gather information!"
Sora realized something. "Right. Hey, Goofy, why don't you hold onto most of our healing items? That way you'll still be able to help if those white things attack again." Everyone Sora knew hated being powerless. That was what friends were for; to do things a single person can't.
"Gawrsh! Thanks, Sora! I was startin' to feel kinda useless back there, but now I don't! A-hyuck!" Goofy accepted the bag of Potions that Sora handed him. (Sora kept a couple items for himself. It was only common sense, in case they got separated like they'd been in Deep Jungle and Hollow Bastion.) Goofy could spend more time focusing on strategic item use and defense this way.
As for Donald, he'd gone off to the side and looted some treasure chests. He gave the Potion and Ether he found to Goofy. Donald's job last time had been magic support, and he'd always had a good eye to find hidden treasure chests, even those behind false walls or puzzles. It was a useful skill he'd gotten from his greedy streak. Even most of the "bad" traits people could have were helpful in the right context.
Sora himself walked up to the stranger, who seemed to notice them, but didn't react. "What are you up to?" The boy asked without any trace of malice. He was honestly curious.
"Heh, heh... I sent some of my lackeys inside to see if the master of this here tower's as big and tough as they say. See, it don't matter how tough he is. Once he's a Heartless, he'll do as I say!" The stranger outlined his evil plot without even turning around to check who he was blabbing to.
"Heartless?" Donald exclaimed.
"Yep! They're those things that come outta the Darkness in folks' hearts. Maleficent loved working with 'em. And since I got me a debt to pay, I've been going around to a bunch of different worlds and buildin' an army of Heartless, special for her!" The man-cat-thing still didn't turn around. "Why am I talkin' to you pipsqueaks anyway? Go on, scram! I'm behind schedule as it is!" He waved a hand behind him impatiently.
"You oughtta find something nicer to do!" Goofy reasoned.
"Oh, says who?" The mystery villain finally turned around. He was from the same Disney Town as Donald and Goofy, judging by his anthropomorphic animal features. As he actually saw the heroes, he got worked up. "Wha-? It's you!"
"Pete?!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed simultaneously.
"What are you two nimrods doin' here?" Pete pointed a finger at them, ignoring Sora for now.
"What are you doing here?" Donald retorted.
"Do you two know him?" Sora asked, hoping to get back in the loop.
"We sure do! Pete's been causing trouble in Disney Town for ages!" Goofy replied, holding his shield up against Pete. "His Majesty banished him to another dimension a long time ago. I wonder how he escaped..."
"You wanna know how, eh? Well, Maleficent busted me out, that's how! Besides, the King wasn't even there! That would have been great compared to 'Her Highness' Queen Minnie ordering it. Which is what actually happened-ugh. But that was then, this is now! And now, your world-no, no, all the worlds-are gonna belong to Yours Truly! 'Cause Maleficent's gonna help me conquer 'em!"
Sora noticed a practical problem with that plan, in addition to the obvious point that it was Sora's job to stop creeps like that. "Maleficent... Huh."
"What are you mumbling about, pipsqueak? Why, Maleficent's power is so great that-"
Sora interrupted. "She's toast!"
"...That she could... Whaddya mean?!" Pete trailed off from expounding the late Maleficent's awesome powers and left his jaw hanging open.
"Sorry, but Maleficent can't help ya now!" Goofy told him, and the three friends started laughing to themselves. Maleficent was serious business back then, but it was impossible to take her underling Pete that seriously.
"...YOU! So you're the ones that did it!" The hostility coming from Pete leveled up again.
"Well, we might have had something to do with it," Sora teased, holding his hands behind his head in a carefree pose.
"Grr... Heartless squad, round up!" Pete bellowed, and Shadows peeled themselves off the ground to attack the heroes. Pete raised a barrier to cut off access to the Mysterious Tower and himself, leaving his Heartless subordinates to deal with the heroes.
Of course, Sora and company had way more experience fighting Shadows than any other type of enemy. The Heartless also seemed weaker than the white creatures from earlier. Sora and his friends mopped up the ten or so grunts with almost casual ease.
As the last Heartless was defeated, Pete's barrier was dispelled. He growled impotently at the heroes. "That's it! Nobody, and I do mean nobody, messes with the mighty Pete!" Pete didn't quite catch the irony that "Nobody" would mess with him; neither did Sora.
"Well, 'mighty' Pete, who lives in this tower, anyway?" Sora asked, wondering if Pete would actually reward him with an answer for winning.
"Oh, you don't know? Well, it's old Yen Sid. Of course, he's probably a Heartless by now!" Pete vanished in a puff of smoke.
"What a weirdo..." Sora muttered.
"Master Yen Sid lives here? I completely forgot!" Donald rushed up the front steps and into the unlocked door.
"Yen Sid is the King's teacher!" Goofy explained. "The King ran off like this before, more than ten years ago. We came here to try and find him."
"He taught the King? Sounds powerful. But if the King ran off last time more than a decade ago, how old are you guys?"
"...Gawrsh, I dunno. We don't keep track of ages in Disney Castle; we just celebrate birthdays. The King thinks counting up the years since you were born is like counting down the years until you die. No reason to not have cake every year, though!"
Sora mulled over that info for a second. "Yeah, that does sound like it makes for a better party, especially when it's peaceful. Let's follow Donald; he's probably getting impatient."
"Right!" The pair dashed up the stairs, but still got bonked on the head by Donald's staff before they started climbing the Wayward Stairs.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
The Mysterious Tower: Wayward Stairs...
There were three free-floating sections of stairs to climb in the tower, interspersed with large chambers. The biggest common feature in every room, however, was the Heartless. Shadows and Soldiers assaulted the heroes after every five steps.
Donald got really sick of it. "Heartless, Heartless, Heartless! Things haven't changed one bit!"
"You mean, the worlds aren't at peace after all?" Sora asked.
"I dunno. Let's ask Master Yen Sid about it. He'd never lose to little guys like these." Goofy opened the last door, and the group entered the highest floor in the tower.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
The Mysterious Tower: Sorcerer's Chamber...
Sora caught up to the other two, and found them bowing low toward an old man with a really long beard sitting behind the desk in the center of the chamber. "Master Yen Sid! It's an honor!" Donald intoned with as much respect as his voice was capable of expressing.
"Hey there!" Sora waved to Yen Sid, who chuckled at his casual way of addressing the wise old sorcerer.
"Hey, Sora! Show some respect!" Donald had been trying to get Sora to respect various authority figures (including the position of Royal Magician) for a while now, with no success.
"There's no need for that." Yen Sid motioned for Donald and Goofy to stand up straight. "Now, have you met the King yet?"
"We did, Master, but we didn't get a chance to talk to him." Goofy reported.
"Yes, the King has been quite busy as of late. He and his other allies have been coming in and out of this tower for the last few days, attempting to fight back against several crises that have cropped up in the absence of you three heroes."
"Then the worlds aren't at peace after all? I was looking forward to finding Riku, so we could go back to the Destiny Islands." Sora was beginning to see a pattern here. There may not be rest for the wicked, but a hero's work is certainly never done.
"And you may yet do so," Yen Sid agreed. "However, everything in your journey, Sora, is connected. Whether you will find your way back home to the Islands... Whether you will return alone, or with your friend... And whether or not the Islands will still be there." Yen Sid outlined progressively more worrisome possible outcomes that stood between Sora and his goal. "And the key that connects them all...is you, Sora."
"I'm...the key?" Didn't Yen Sid mean the Keyblade? After all, they'd learned last time that Sora was only "borrowing" the Kingdom Key. He summoned it into his hand.
"Indeed. Chosen wielder of the Keyblade! You are the key that will open the Door to Light!" Yen Sid proclaimed dramatically. Sora began to feel better about the ownership issue, since if the wise old man who got his kicks from reading the future thought Sora was a legitimate Keyblade wielder, he was probably right. Of course, Sora wasn't thinking in those exact terms. Yen Sid continued. "The King is traveling from world to world, fixing problems in each. Therefore, the task of instructing and informing you three falls on my shoulders. Well, at least I don't have to get out of my chair to do so. I'm still trying to retire; maybe I should redefine what I meant by that." Without waiting for a response, Yen Sid summoned a wide, but thin tome on Sora's side of the desk. "That book contains valuable knowledge. Be sure to read it carefully."
Sora opened the book. It had only three pages, each one filled from top to bottom with incomprehensible riddles. "I can't make heads or tails of this, Master Yen Sid. Am I reading it wrong?"
"No, the riddles of the book aren't supposed to make sense now. One day you'll look back, and you'll know exactly what it meant. For now, let it be enough that you will be subconsciously forewarned of the general flow of events. Take special note of the source of this conflict. The book refers to our enemies' motive as 'confusion.' It goes deeper than that, but the major lesson to take away from here is that even villains such as those you fought last year may have deeper motives than simple destruction."
That was quite deep, but Sora already gave his enemies the benefit of the doubt and a chance at redemption (even if Maleficent and her cronies generally ended up slapping his hand away), so he must be on the right track already. "Ah, I see. Is there anything else I should know?"
"Yes. The time has come to speak of the enemies you will surely confront." Yen Sid waved a hand, and a magic hologram appeared in a pillar of Light, depicting... Donald Duck?!
The pillar grew brighter, and then faded again to reveal a Shadow in Donald's place. Yen Sid explained, "If one such as you, Donald, yields to the Darkness in their heart, they too will become a Heartless. But you know this."
"Aww..." Poor Holo-Donald!
"But why are the Heartless still running around?" Sora asked. Was the whole last journey to seal the Keyholes and release Kingdom Hearts all for nothing, then?
"Your previous endeavors did prevent an immense effusion of Heartless from the Realm of Darkness, make no mistake about that. But the Heartless are Darkness made real, and Darkness yet lingers in every heart. The Heartless are fewer, but so long as Darkness remains in a single heart, it will be difficult to be rid of them."
They'd be here forever, then...but Goofy had an idea. "Hey! Then if everybody's heart was full of Light, them Heartless would go away!"
"Indeed, though I have no way to know how such a thing could be accomplished. At any rate, you have also encountered these." Yen Sid continued, creating another hologram pillar with one of the skinny, white creatures inside. "At times, when someone of a strong heart and will-be they evil or good-becomes a Heartless, the empty shell they leave behind begins to act with a will of its own. An empty shell whose heart has been stolen away; a spirit that goes on even as its true body fades from existence. For you see, Nobodies do not truly exist at all."
"Nobodies..." Sora reflected on the now-named creatures that attacked so persistently.
"While Heartless act on instinct, Nobodies function in a higher manner." Yen Sid continued to explain. He enjoyed talking and teaching; if he didn't, he would have been more likely to blast random visitors. "They can think and plan. And it seems they are working towards a goal. What that goal is, I'm afraid I do not know." Yen Sid summoned two more Nobody holograms, standing in a group. "In any case, the being before you is known as a Dusk. They are among the most common forms of Nobody. On your journey, you will meet an alarming number of Dusks. They will all attempt to do you harm. Be vigilant!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy simultaneously whipped their heads back to look at Yen Sid, in an effort to be vigilant. "Still, they are nothing but empty shells, destined to fade back into Darkness. However..." Yen Sid summoned three more holograms, each with a more human figure in a black coat. "The beings you see before you now are different. These powerful Nobodies have formed a group called Organization XIII. It commands the lesser Nobodies. These beings are very dangerous; never let your guard down." The holograms all disappeared. "His Majesty, the King, has ventured forth to combat the Heartless and find answers to the riddle of the Nobodies and Organization XIII."
"Then we need to get after him!" Goofy decided.
"Indeed. However, before you go, Sora, you will need more suitable traveling clothes. Those look a bit too small for you." Yen Sid gently pointed out.
"Gawrsh, Sora, you sure are growing fast!" Goofy noted.
"That's what she said!" Donald guffawed, earning a glare from Sora.
Yen Sid gestured to a door on the heroes' right."Through that door, you'll meet three good fairies. If you ask, they'll create for you some more appropriate garments."
"Okay, sir. Thanks a lot!" Sora waved and passed through the door.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
The Mysterious Tower: Dressing Room...
The next room was lined with wardrobes and several full-length standing mirrors, all covered by cloth. In the back of the room, three old ladies in color-coded dresses and hats chatted in a huddle. Sora called out, "Hello? Master Yen Sid wanted me to ask you to make me some clothes."
The three fairies (their wings were tiny, but definitely functional) perked up immediately. "Well, would you look who's here, girls! Sora, Donald, and Goofy! I'm Flora. Fauna wears the green, and Merryweather wears the blue." The red-dressed fairy introduced her trio.
"If you're looking for clothes, you've come to the right place!" Fauna gushed as she grabbed Sora's hand and led him forward a few more steps. "I'll do the designing!" She flicked a golden wand in Sora's direction, and a green bolt of magic struck him in the chest. He flinched, but all the painless spell did was turn his clothes green. They were also still too small.
"Oh, that will never do!" Merryweather groused, firing a blue bolt that turned Sora's outfit blue instead.
"But don't you like this better?" Fauna turned Sora green again. No matter how many times this spell turned out to be harmless, Sora couldn't help but flinch.
"Hold on!" Flora joined the argument by turning Sora's outfit all red.
"Blue!"
"Oh, dears..."
And so on. Sora's legendary patience finally wore out. "Would you just decide?"
The three fairies suddenly realized how childish they'd been acting. Flora recovered first. "Alright then. Together now, dears. And no more squabbling!" A spin and a flick of their three wands shot three twirling beams of magic at Sora. He flinched again as a much brighter flash made real improvements to his outfit.
"Oh, he's lovely." Sora's shoes were still a few sizes too large to belong on ordinary feet, but now they had black designs over the yellow background.
"Yes, he does look very dashing!" His outfit was mostly the same in terms of what articles he was wearing, but it was all sized correctly now, and Sora marveled at how good it felt to not have a wedgie as he looked himself over some more. His new color scheme was black with white highlights on the sleeves, along with patches of navy blue on his pants and sleeves. Yellow straps crossed over his hips to hold up his adventuring pouches, which were a less-potent variant of Merlin's most useful item. He could hold up to ninety-nine of anything that could fit in the pockets. Rummaging around in them, he noticed he only had one backup Keychain for his Keyblade now; hopefully he'd find more over this new quest to replace the ones he'd lost. But why did he even have one left?
Flora began to explain the coolest part of Sora's coolest outfit ever. "Now, these aren't ordinary garments. They have very special powers."
"Say what?" Sora asked. He didn't feel any very special powers suddenly awakening.
"Take the Orb, dear..." Fauna shot a green bolt at him, but it stopped in front of him and turned into a yellow Orb. Sora reached for it, and it vanished into his glove.
"...And watch what happens!" Merryweather excitedly continued.
Sora suddenly exploded with power. When the Light he'd given off faded away, he became aware of weights in both hands. The right hand was his Kingdom Key, and the left hand was another Keyblade!Star Seeker...
"Cool! Two Keyblades!" Goofy cheered. Sora continued to look himself over. His outfit had changed from mostly black to mostly red, and there were cross-like decals on his shoulders and shorts. He felt out what sort of powers this form might give him, and found that while his magic was completely blocked, his muscles felt able to lift buildings and throw them. Coupling that strength with the dual-wielding Keyblade action, he could probably shred armies in straight melee combat.
But of course, all awesome things must come to an end. Sora suddenly felt a wave of weakness, and the Star Seeker vanished as his clothes became black again. "What was all that?"
"It's called a Drive Form! Your clothes have the power to transform by drawing power from your friends! You could use a Drive Recovery item like this..." Flora tossed Sora a larger yellow orb, "...to transform without having to merge with Goofy completely, but you'd still need Goofy nearby to manage it."
"So this Drive Form comes from your power, Goofy?" Sora asked the dog. Goofy nodded. He'd felt a weird pull toward Sora while he'd been transformed, as well as feeling a bit weaker than usual. "How does it work if I don't have the Drive Recovery anymore?"
"You'd need to build up power by fighting Heartless. Each hit you land will add power to your garments, but the process takes time. Eventually, you may learn to gain power from the Heartless hitting back as well. If you're recovering your mana, you'll gain more power to use your Drive Forms in combat, so don't hold back your spells!" Merryweather explained.
"Yeah, about that-" Sora tried to point out that his magic wasn't working, but he was interrupted as Fauna picked up the explanation.
"Furthermore, to use your new 'Valor Form' without a Drive Recovery, you'll need to merge with Goofy completely. He'll vanish until the Drive Form expires, at which point he'll reappear good as new. Going into a Drive Form will completely heal your wounds and those of each friend you merge with, so it might be a good choice in a pinch."
"Can Donald merge with me to produce a different Drive Form?" Sora wondered. He was sure Donald didn't want to be left out of the loop with this new move.
"Your garments do have other powers, but you will have to discover what they are as you continue on your journey. The Royal Family of Disney Castle knows the most about the technique, so perhaps you should one day return to your friends' home to learn more." Flora suggested.
Merryweather piped up. "Make good use of these new powers; this journey will be twice as difficult as your last!"
"Aw, man, I was hoping that mess at the Station Plaza was a one-time thing." Sora was still kind of humiliated that they'd been beaten by a bunch of lesser monsters.
Merryweather gave him a pitying look. "Actually, you should probably get used to that. It'll happen again. Always strive to grow stronger, Sora!"
"Run along now! There's one more gift for you from Master Yen Sid!"
The heroes grinned at each other. Hooray for gifts! Sora waved at them. "Thanks a lot, fairies! We're off!"
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Mysterious Tower: Sorcerer's Chamber...
When the three friends ran back into Yen Sid's chamber, he was standing up at the side of his desk. He gestured outside his window. Sora and company ran up to peer outside, and were surprised as a familiar red vehicle rose to block the view.
"It's the Gummi Ship!" Donald cheered. The Gummi Ship was Donald's favorite part of the last adventure. At first, Sora hadn't been fit to fly the rocket, so Donald was the pilot for half the journey. Sora had gained impressive flying skills when he pried the stick from Donald's death grip on the way to Agrabah, though, and by the end, the magician had to admit Sora had a better chance of getting them to The End of the World. Gummi travel was still the Best Thing Ever, since now Donald got Sora's old dibs on the shotgun seat, running the Deco-Gummis to shoot Heartless with bullets and lasers. Goofy kept watch on the radar and flight path to make sure they reached their destination.
The three friends lined up at attention, ready for permission to take off. Yen Sid gestured for them to settle down. "Now, now, just a moment." The three friends slumped out of their military posture. "As you know, your previous endeavors have returned the worlds to their original states. That means the pathways between them have disappeared. Travel by Gummi Ship will not get you far."
"Aww..." All three of them groaned mentally. Donald also groaned verbally.
"Fear not. If what the King suspected proves true, the worlds will have prepared new pathways along which you may travel. These pathways may be used by unlocking special gates in every world. I do not know what form these gates will take, but the Keyblade will serve as your guide." Sora summoned his Keyblade for good measure. Yen Sid gave his last instructions. "When a beam of Light radiates from the Keyblade, return to the Gummi Ship. Beware, however. As you proceed, your enemies will be using their own paths-Corridors of Darkness, to travel from world to world. They may also link these dark pathways to the gates you will use."
"That's not fair!" Donald grumbled.
"Now go, Sora, Donald, and Goofy! Everyone is waiting!" Yen Sid teleported the three friends to the Gummi Ship's cockpit.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
The World Map...
This was actually a different ship from their old one, though the specifications of the "Highwind" were similar to the old "Kingdom" model. The best new feature was the third seat; it used to be that Goofy had to stand up and hold onto something, because there were only enough seats for a pilot and gunner (Donald and Sora's jobs). It looked like Goofy's new station had a remote terminal for something called a "Teeny Ship System," but they hadn't built any Teeny Ships to use with it, and they certainly didn't know how to build them. The Royal Engineers Chip and Dale might, though.
Speaking of the chipmunk brothers, the radio squawked. "Hey there, fellas! It's your favorite Gummi engineers here! Chip..."
"And Dale! We'll take care of the Gummi Ship while you're out helping folks!"
"Happy flying!" The brothers called simultaneously, then hung up.
"Alright! Let's go on another adventure!" Sora pulled the throttle and blasted off.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
A/N: Man, writing a world each for Sora's and Riku's side of the story made this chapter REALLY long! This is more than 10,000 words! That's good news, huh? Expect the pattern of switching back and forth between Sora and Riku to continue for several more chapters; I like how I can leave one group at a cliffhanger and work on the other, then come back to resolve both in the same chapter. Is it working out for all of you? Thanks for all your support!