(Well, sorry to say, I'm not getting back to Riku's fate right away. But don't worry; I'll get back to him soon. But right now, we have an unexpected guest coming to the world of SatAM. But WHO is he? Read on and find out! I don't own Sonic, SatAM, or Kingdom Hearts.)
CHAPTER 5
The World that Never Was; the birthplace of the Nobodies; It once had the potential to become a real living world; but alas it was not to be. This world had no heart, and neither did its inhabitants; the nobodies. What's more was that the Nobodies that still inhabited the area were those of a lesser breed; those that did not have human forms of any sort, who therefore did not have strong hearts. Those who had strong hearts once, had all but been erased from existence.
Organization XIII; a group of thirteen powerful Nobodies had once existed here, but no longer. They had sought to unlock Kingdom Hearts and take the hearts for their own. But they were stopped by Sora and Riku, the Keybearers. Now the Organization was just a memory. All that remained was an old graveyard of sorts inside the "Castle that Never Was." In this room, there laid the tombstones of the fallen Nobodies; each one with the symbol and title of a specific Organization member.
AH, THE GRAVEYARD OF THE ONCE MIGHTY ORGANIZATION XIII, an airy voice echoed out, BUT PERHAPS THEY STILL HAVE A USE. NOW WHICH ONE SHOULD I BRING BACK…? I SHOULD EXAMINE THESE TOMBSTONES CAREFULLY AND SEE WHICH ONE IS THE MOST SUITABLE TO TAKE ON RIKU. HMMMM… WHAT'S THIS TOMBSTONE BURRIED IN RUBBLE? I CAN'T SEE ITS SYMBOL.
The rubble among the tombstone began to glow briefly before some unknown force blew it all away, revealing the symbol of an open book.
AH YES… OH YES! PERFECT… HE'LL DO NICELY. NOW, IT'S TIME TO AWAKEN HIM FROM HIS ONCE ETERNAL SLUMBER.
The book symbol suddenly flashed brightly; an apparition of it rose up off of the tombstone, surrounded by swirling black smoke, before vanishing into thin air.
Elsewhere, in another dimension, the mysterious symbol of the fallen Organization member reappeared within a room completely made of crystal. On top of a medium sized crystal chair, a strange being sat smirking at the symbol before him. He was a large imposing figure with grey skin; on top of his head there was a large yellow horn protruding, while a long white beard surrounded his lower jaw line; his stout body was dressed in a deep purple suit complete with dark flowing cape; one of his gloved hands was not a hand, but a crab claw. "Ahhhh… here we are. Now, I shall breathe life back into you once again." The figure waved a hand over the book symbol.
The book symbol suddenly flashed brightly before exploding into a flash of purple smoke. When the smoke finally cleared, there stood a young man; he was possibly in his early to mid twenties with short grey hair combed over, his bangs almost covering one of his eyes; his entire body was dressed in a long black hooded cloak, zipped up to his neck. He was down on one knee and both hands, and his eyes were closed softly. He took a deep breath as he slowly opened his eyes. "I…am alive?" He asked aloud to no one in particular. "But…how?"
"It is because of my magic, young one," the purple clad figure spoke quietly.
The cloaked young man suddenly caught a strange scent in the air and sniffed. "This scent," he told himself, "it is the scent of the one who revived me." He looked up slowly and gazed at the strange caped creature before him. "So it was you who restored me back to my physical form. Who are you?"
"I am sorcerer savant, Ixis Naugus," the creature spoke with a grin, "I must say, you certainly are a sharp one, Zexion."
Zexion was taken aback; he had not yet introduced himself, yet this strange being knew who he was. "How did you know my name?" He asked with suspicion.
"I can see and view different dimensions here from the void," Naugus explained, "and I have even viewed your "World that Never Was," Cloaked Schemer. The reason I have brought you back is concerning one of the "Key bearers" as you call them. But ah, it is not Sora I am speaking about; it is the other one; the one who walks in the twilight."
Zexion narrowed his eyes and scowled angrily, knowing exactly who Naugus was talking about. "Riku…"
"I see you remember him," Naugus said with an evil grin.
"Remember him?" Zexion asked rhetorically, "how could I NOT remember him? I'll never forget my defeat at his hands, or how he broke through my illusion."
"I see… Then you're not going to like this," Naugus said gravely, and he told Zexion the details of what had happened after his death; it regarded Sora and Riku's defeat of every Organization member, their thwarting of Xemnas' plan, and ultimately their triumph over the superior.
Needless to say, Zexion was furious. "Th-The Superior!? Dead!?" He clenched his fists angrily. "They will pay dearly for this…"
"While Sora is out of your reach at the moment," Naugus went on, "Riku is not. I have brought him to this world as well, and set him loose. He was foolish enough to believe Robotnik's lies and went for Knothole Village. Unfortunately, for him, the infiltration did not go quite as planned…so now he's being held for questioning. But now, to get down to business; you want revenge on Riku, yes?"
"More than anything," Zexion said, "NOBODY escapes from my illusions and lives to tell about it, plus he will suffer dearly for his hand in slaying the superior." He opened his hand up, and in a swirl of book pages his Organization weapon of choice appeared; his lexicon. "I will see to his death personally."
"All in good time," Naugus said, trying to calm Zexion down, "but may I make a suggestion?"
"…you may," Zexion said, waiting to hear.
"Robotnik, the man I mentioned earlier, I suggest you form an alliance with him," Naugus explained, "He already rules over this planet with an iron hand and has an abundance of technology and weaponry at his disposal; I believe what he has will be beneficiary to you. He has already turned almost all of this planet's inhabitants into robots."
"What about hearts?" Zexion asked. "This planet you speak of; if the ruler is turning every living creature into a mindless and heartless robot, it doesn't sound of much use to me if there are no hearts to collect."
"Ah, ah, don't be so hasty my friend," Naugus chided, "The robots may be mindless, but they're not completely heartless. I haven't forgotten about your Organization's search for hearts, after all. Aside from the roboticized inhabitants still have their hearts deep inside, the process IS reversible and they can be reverted back to flesh and blood. In addition there are still plenty of un-roboticized people on this planet. The "Freedom Fighters" especially have very strong and powerful hearts, as they fight for the liberation of their world. So there is actually quite an abundance of strong hearts in the world that is Mobius."
Now Zexion's attention was grabbed. "Strong hearts you say?" His eyebrow was raised.
Naugus went on to tell about Mobius' history, starting with the fall of Mobotropolis, Robotnik's take over, the formation of the Freedom Fighter branches, and especially the one group that included Sonic the Hedgehog and Princess Sally.
As Naugus told the story, Zexion absorbed every detail, and a small smile started to curl his lips as he heard about Robotnik and the Freedom Fighters. 'So that's it… Hmm… The people of Mobius do in fact sound like they have such strong and beautiful hearts, just ripe for the taking. These "Freedom Fighters" sound especially interesting, what with what they have gone through and what their goals are. I wonder if they might have "another use" besides their hearts…I shall soon see for myself.' Zexion looked back at Naugus. "Alright then, Mr. Naugus," he said calmly, "You have convinced me. I shall go to this world of Mobius and collect its hearts for myself."
"Good choice, Cloaked Schemer," Naugus grinned, "do you need any physical descriptions of the people I just mentioned?"
"No," Zexion said simply, "I will know them when I catch their scent. It is how I identify people." He disappeared in a swirl of book pages.
Meanwhile, in Robotropolis, Snively was doing a security check of the city, when Robotnik stepped in.
"Snively! Has there been any sign of Riku or those fetid Freedom Fighters?"
"Negative, sir," Snively told him, "for all we know, Riku might have decimated the Freedom Fighters and taken of on his own."
"Well, find him! I cannot allow anyone else, especially the Freedom Fighters, to get a hold of that boy's power," Robotnik informed his lackey.
"Yes, sir, I shall send a team of SwatBOTS to search for him around the Great Forest," Snively said as he stepped up to the microphone. "Attention SwatBOT platoon # 4, you are under strict orders to go to the Great Forest and search for any signs of those Freedom Fighters, or Riku, go!"
SwatBOT platoon #4 mounted their vehicles and charged up their weapons, before they started to march/fly out of their city and headed for the direction of the Great Forest.
VWOOP! VWOOP! VWOOP! Warning sirens suddenly went off inside of Robotnik's citadel, indicating the arrival of an intruder.
"Intruder alert, Dr. Robotnik, sir!" Snively blurted out in surprise. "Someone has breached our security and is heading right for our direction!"
"What!? If it's not the hedgehog; then who, in blazes, could have done this?" Robotnik demanded.
"That would be me," a calm sneaky voice echoed out, before a portal of darkness opened up in the floor; a cloaked young man with bluish grey hair carrying a lexicon appeared before Robotnik and Snively.
"What the-who are you!?" Robotnik demanded.
"My name is Zexion," the man spoke, "I am known as the Cloaked Schemer, and formerly #6 of the now defunct Organization XIII. I believe you know of a boy, by the name of Riku?"
"Riku!?" Robotnik was taken aback, before he started to smile. "Ah, so you are of the same world as he is, am I right?" 'If this is so, then it could very well be double the power at our disposal if things go right.'
"…More or less," Zexion said, discreetly sniffing the air; he caught a strong scent that seemed to emit a powerful darkness. 'This scent…it smells exactly like Xemnas's scent; maybe even stronger. This man…he is Robotnik, whom Naugus spoke of, I'm sure if it. His heart smells of a strong darkness; a darkness that wishes to dominate and corrupt. I must take this man's heart into consideration, for later.' "I have come to offer you my services," Zexion told Robotnik, putting his plan into motion. "I can help bring Riku to you and unlock his power for your own, as well as bring in those whom you call "Freedom Fighters."
"Can you now?" Robotnik asked intrigued by the newcomer, "What exactly can you do? Do you have a power, similar to that of Riku?"
"Oh, my power is far different from Riku," Zexion smirked, "Let me show you!" He opened up his Lexicon, and the whole room was flooded with light.
Robotnik grunted and shielded his eyes from the light, as it filled the room, nearly blinding him. When the light faded, and Robotnik opened his eyes, he was met with a horrible sight; he was no longer in his citadel but on top of the roof of what was left of the citadel. All around him, his beautiful Robotropolis was in complete ruin; machinery was in ravaged, SwatBOTs lay in pieces, and many buildings were in flames. "Wh-What's this!? My city! Robotropolis! It's…destroyed!?"
"That's right Robuttnik! We trashed your city, just like you did with ours!"
Robotnik turned around to find Sonic the Hedgehog standing defiantly in front of him, along with the rest of the Freedom Fighters. "Sonic! H-How did you!?"
"It ends here Robotnik!" Princess Sally stood by Sonic, a tear in her eye. "All the pain and suffering you caused us…what goes around comes around! Now it's your turn!"
Robotnik looked all around for any means of escape, but found nothing. "No…this cannot be!" His rage turned to fear. "How could I lose!? This isn't possible!!!" He noticed Sonic and his friends advancing upon him, and he started to back away. "No…stay back! Stay away! Please! I beg of you! This isn't real! THIS ISN'T REAL!!!"
OF COURSE IT ISN'T, a voice echoed out, and everything begin to distort and waver before Robotnik; everything fragmented and shattered into pieces, revealing the inside of Robotnik's citadel once more, with a confused Snively and a smirking Zexion.
"What WAS that!?" Robotnik asked, still in disbelief of what he had just witnessed.
"That, my dear doctor, was a sample of my power," Zexion spoke, "Each member of my former group had a certain element of power to wield; mine was the element of illusion. I can make people see what I want them to see, and my illusions are far from mere parlor tricks; for I can make my illusions as real as to the point where the victim cannot tell fantasy from reality." He slammed his lexicon shut.
"O-Of course! I-I knew that all the time," Robotnik lied, 'I can't let him know he fooled me so brilliantly…'
Snively, however, knew for a fact that Robotnik had experienced pure terror from the illusion. 'So, there's now someone who can terrify Julian just as much as Naugus could, eh?' He thought with amusement. 'This should be fun to watch. Ha-ha-ha-ha…'
Robotnik quickly recomposed himself, successfully hiding any indication that Zexion had gotten to him. "N-Now tell me, Zexion," he began, "how exactly do you intend to help capture the Freedom Fighters?"
"I was hoping you would ask," Zexion said, placing both hands on his lexicon, "You know how some reading fanatics like to say they get "absorbed" in their stories?" He suddenly turned to Snively and opened up his book, wide.
"AH! What's going on!?" Snively cried out in fear and shut his eyes as a sudden ray of light enveloped him. When he opened his eyes, he found himself floating helplessly in a stormy looking dimension; suspended in mid-air, and surrounded by black clouds and many books with odd symbols. "Where am I? What happened!? Dr Robotnik! Help me!" He shouted out in fear.
Back in Robotnik's citadel, where Snively once stood, there was nothing but a large floating book with Snively's frightened looking form in its pages.
Robotnik was now beside himself with pure elation and premature triumph. "Excellent…" He turned to Zexion. "Zexion, my boy, I think this alliance shall work out perfectly."
"Good choice, Dr Robotnik," Zexion smiled. 'The fat fish has taken the bait…but no harm in feeding him a few more worms. ARISE, HEARTLESS!'
Next door to the control room, there sat the Roboticization Room which housed Robotnik's fearsome Roboticizer; a device that could turn any living, thinking, breathing creature into a mindless robot. Many a Mobian and Freedom Fighter had suffered this fate and was doomed to a possible eternity as a robot. No roboticization was taking place this day an all seemed motionless and still; but not for long. The dense shadows within began to stir and move, and small shapes began to form and scurry across the floor. Those shapes began to take form and lifted themselves up off of the ground to show their form; they seemed insect-like, with beady yellow eyes and antennae sticking out; their small bodies sported springy frog like legs at the back while from the front they had small branch-like claws. There was only one type of creature that could have this kind of form; a Heartless; in its most common form; the Shadow. A small group of about one dozen Heartless rose up from the shadows and began to creep about the room, searching for the essence of any hearts nearby.
Zexion, already knowing about the Heartless in the roboticization room (seeing as how he was the one that summoned them there), snapped his fingers; releasing Snively from the book prison.
In a poof of smoke, Snively was back in the real world, visibly shaken and frightened. "Oh sweet, solid ground; how I've missed you!" He bent down and started kissing the metallic floor beneath him.
"Oh doctor?" Zexion called Robotnik's attention, "I do believe you have some intruders in the Roboticization Room," he pointed to the surveillance video of the said room.
"He's right sir!" Snively said as he zoomed in for a closer look. "We have a breach in the Roboticiztion Room by some unknown shadowy beings."
"Shadowy beings!?" Robotnik shoved Snively out of the way to see for himself. "What in the name of Mobius ARE those things?"
"Heartless."
"I beg your pardon?" Robotnik turned to Zexion.
"They are called Heartless, Doctor," Zexion repeated, "a race of creatures born from the darkness of peoples' hearts; they exist only to consume the hearts of others, and of the worlds they live in. There have been many worlds that were consumed by the Heartless, the people often becoming Heartless themselves; doomed to seek and consume more hearts. What you see before you is the "Shadow," the Heartless in its most basic and common form; however, the Heartless come in a variety of different shapes, forms and powers; each more fearsome than the last. The Heartless normally act on their own, but they can and do follow anyone with a greater will than theirs."
"Really? Anyone with a greater will than theirs, eh?" The greedy smile on Robotnik's face grew wider. "Then I wonder if I can bend their will in my own personal way… Snively! Activate the Roboticizer at once! I want those "Heartless" under MY command."
"Y-Yes sir!" Snively quickly activated the roboticization process.
Inside the Roboticization room, the glass container of the Roboticizer quickly slid down, trapping the Heartless; who started clawing at the glass obstacle in their way, totally unaware of what was about to happen to them. Electricity sparked and sizzled from within the tall glass tube as each Heartless started to glow eerily; each Heartless' appendages started to take on metallic looks. But suddenly, as each Heartless appeared to be roboticized halfway, something started to go horribly awry. The Roboticizer began to spark and fizzle all over, and the Heartless themselves began to morph and distort; seeming to change from their original form to a roboticized form back and forth.
VWERP! VWERP! VWERP!
The warning siren blared erratically as red light flashed inside of the rooms.
WARNING! WARNING! The computer bellowed out. ROBOTICIZER MALFUNCTION! SUBJECT BEHAVIOR AND STRUCTURE ABNORMAL!
"W-What is this!?" Robonik cried out in shock. "Snively! Status Report!"
"Something's gone terribly wrong with the roboticization!" Snively reported in panic. "The Roboticizer's reacting abnormally to the energy readings given off by the Heartless! I've never seen anything like it!"
Zexion, meanwhile, just stood there with his arms folded; a sinister smile across his face. 'Of course not, you needle nosed imbecile,' he though with amusement, 'The Heartless are unlike ANYTHING you have ever seen. Your idiot of a master was a fool to try and control them in such a manner; now he will see what a horrible mistake he has made.'
Suddenly, the Roboticizer's glass tube began to crack all over as smoke poured out, circuits fried and sparks flew; one of the Roboticizer's cables burst apart, causing a small fire, before another cable burst and the metal casing around the bottom of the Roboticizer blew apart; exposed, burning circuitry was revealed beneath.
"S-Sir! This is VERY bad, indeed!" Snively said; panic evident in his voice. "It's the Roboticizer! IT'S GOING TO EXPLODE!!!"
As if on cue, the Roboticizer did, indeed, explode.
WAKATHOOOOOOOOM!!
TO BE CONTINUED