AN: Alright, guys. Now we get to see what happened to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. And this chapter is one of my favorites so far for three reasons: guns, Solid Snake, and Metal Gear! …I know, I'm a Metal Gear dork, but I love those games! Even if I do suck at them.

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

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Chapter Three

"Sora! You gotta wake up!"

Sora's eyes opened slowly to Donald's scratchy sounding voice. The young man sat up, groaning as he rubbed the back of his head. He could vaguely feel a lump starting to form on the back of his skull.

"Aw, man…what happened?" the brunet asked, his vision blurring lightly.

"Gawrsh, Sora, we ain't too sure ourselves!" Goofy replied, scratching the top of his head.

"We know we won't be leaving anytime soon, that's for sure…" Donald muttered, pointing to the remains of their gummi ship. The twisted burning wreckage fit in with the scene before them. Crumbling buildings lay destroyed all around, fire spread through the streets, and not a single soul was in sight. All the hard work that had been put into rebuilding Radiant Garden had been ruined. Sora gasped in realization as he noticed two members of their party that were missing.

"Riku! Kairi!" he shouted, eyes filled with horror as he stared at the burning gummi ship.

"They weren't in there, Sora. We checked." Goofy said, as he lowered his head sadly. Sora turned towards the two animals.

"You mean…?" He trailed off. Donald nodded.

"They're gone." the duck quacked. Sora clenched his fist as tears welled up in his eyes, threatening to spill.

"No…I promised them…I promised them we would go together this time…" he whispered to himself. He furiously rubbed his eyes, tears staining the back of his gloves as did so.

"This can't be happening again! I don't want to have to lose them! Not this time!" Sora shouted. Goofy laid a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Sora, it's okay! Even if we are separated, we'll find 'em again! Just like last time!" he said. Sora sniffled, but nodded.

"Yeah…yeah, you're right!" he said, his sapphire eyes burning with determination.

"That's the spirit!" Donald cheered.

"Now, come on. Let's see if we can find Leon and the others. Maybe they can help us." Sora said. The other two nodded and followed behind Sora as he started to explore the streets, searching for any signs of life.

"…This is kinda spooky with no one else around…" Goofy muttered to Sora and Donald as they walked through the destroyed streets. The only sounds were their footsteps and the crackling of fire.

"Yeah…almost like a ghost town…" Donald agreed. The trio passed the ruins of wrecked building and (unheard by them) a light creak of metal stirred from within.

"Man, I wonder where everyone is…" Sora said to himself.

"You don't think that whoever did this got 'em all…do ya?" Goofy asked uncertainly. Donald glanced around, checking for any signs of people. As he did, a large figure appeared behind him and engulfed the trio in its shadow. Donald noticed and glanced over his shoulder. As he did his eyes widened at the sight behind him.

"Wak! G-g-guys!" the duck shouted. Sora and Goofy turned to him and then saw what had gotten him so scared. A giant bipedal robot stood behind them, easily over forty feet tall. It almost looked like a giant, metal dinosaur. It was armed with missile launchers, a rail gun, and a laser. The dinosaur-like machine let out a metallic sounding roar. Sora summoned his Keyblade.

"What the heck is that thing?!" he asked, getting into fighting position. Goofy and Donald followed suit, drawing their respective weapons.

"Ya think maybe it's some sorta Gummi Ship?" Goofy asked, hiding behind his shield. The robot gave another roar before its laser started to glow red, signaling that it was charging up. The trio noticed and their eyes widened.

"Uh-oh!" Donald yelped, voicing the thoughts of all three of them as they stared up at their impending doom. They wanted to move, but fear kept their feet rooted to the ground.

"Get down!" a harsh male voice barked at them. They all turned their heads in confusion toward the general direction the voice was coming from, but were met with the sight of a missile coming straight forward. Before they had a chance to react, a figure tackled them to the ground, out of the way of the missile, allowing it to hit the robot that had attacked them. The shot hit one of the robot's legs, causing it to become unbalanced and collapse on its side.

"Raiden, get them out of there!" the same rough voice said and Sora, Donald, and Goofy found them being assisted to their feet by a young blond haired man with light blue eyes. He was wearing some type of suit that vaguely had the same type of structure as that of the human skeleton.

"Come on!" he said. This man's voice was softer than the other man's, but just as commanding. Sora, Donald, and Goofy had no arguments, not wanting to get caught in the middle of this battle. The blond man quickly led them behind some rubble, the remains of a fallen building. As soon as they had caught their breath and their heartbeats had slowed to a normal pace, Donald was the first to speak up.

"What's going on here?!" he screeched to the blond man, who cringed slightly.

"I'll explain later! Stay here!" he said before pulling a gun off his belt and running out into the battle once more.

"Wait!" Sora called after him but to no avail. The man ignored them and crouched down behind a piece of twisted metal, probably from what was left of the crane. Meanwhile, the machine gave another metallic roar as it struggled to get up from off the ground. The missile had not completely destroyed its leg, so the robot managed to get up from its side, albeit slightly unbalanced.

"Raiden, get ready to fire!" the same gruff voice called out and the blond man, apparently named Raiden, took aim with the gun in his hand. Another missile was launched (from the roof of one of the few buildings that was still intact for the most part, Sora noted) and it hit the head of the robot. Giving a metallic creak, it collapsed forward with the top of its head smoking. After a few moments, the trio noticed a man stumble out of the smoke. Without hesitation, Raiden pulled the trigger of his gun and watched as the man collapsed.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy slowly climbed out from behind the rubble and watched warily as Raiden approached the fallen man that had came out of the robot. They shared uneasy glances as the blond knelt down beside the man who had been shot.

"Well?"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy jumped slightly at the sudden voice; the same gruff one that had been calling out to Raiden in the midst of that battle. They turned to see a man who was older that Raiden by quite a few years. He had scruffy brown hair that was held back by a dark blue headband, along with some stubble growing on his chin. His blue-gray eyes watched as Raiden examined the man. He was wearing a suit similar to Raiden's, except it was slightly more low-tech, not having a defined structure like Raiden's did. Raiden looked up and rose up from his crouching position.

"Dead before he hit the ground." the blond said. Sora almost felt his heart stop at the word 'dead', and glanced back to his two companions. By the looks on their faces, he could tell that they were just as uneasy about this situation as he was. The older brunet didn't seem to notice, or at least didn't care.

"Headshot?" he asked, and Raiden nodded in confirmation.

"Hmm…not bad. Your aim's getting better." he muttered before glancing at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. The two animals yelped slightly and cowered behind Sora, hiding from the man's gaze.

"You three Sora, Donald, and Goofy?" he asked. Sora studied his face. Although he wasn't giving off and friendly vibes, something told him that this man wasn't going to hurt them. After he established that fact in his mind, he nodded.

"Yeah. I'm Sora, the duck is Donald, and this is Goofy." Sora introduced, pointing to each of his friends respectively. Then he turned back to the man.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Snake. That's Raiden. Now come on." the man said, motioning for them to follow. Donald crossed his arms and starting tapping his webbed foot on the ground.

"And why should we?" the duck asked impatiently. Snake shot the duck a glare, immediately causing the bird to give a scared quack and ducking behind Sora again.

"You're friends with the Restoration Committee, aren't you?" Raiden asked. Sora's eyes widened.

"You mean Leon and the others? You know where they are? Are they hurt?" the brunet boy asked, not knowing whether to be worried or relieved.

"Relax, kid. They're all in one piece. They're hiding out in the mountains. That's the one place the terrorists haven't taken over yet." Snake replied, pointing towards the blue cliffs on the outskirts of town.

"Terrorists?" Goofy asked, slightly scared.

"Yeah. Listen, there's no time to explain here. Just follow us and we'll take you to your friends. We can explain everything there." Snake told them. Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded and followed Snake and Raiden as they walked into a nearby alleyway, unaware of the white, disk-like robot that had been watching them. It hovered a few feet off the ground as the green light on its camera blinked. Then it flew off, towards the castle that overlooked Radiant Garden.

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AN: I know this chapter was kind of short, but the next one makes up for it with loads of explainations for anybody who's never played a "Metal Gear" game. However, if you haven't, I recommend you do, because they are great games with in depth plots, great game play, and pretty sick graphics if you note what time period they came out in. Anyway…R&R!!!