Sora swung his Keyblade at the strange man, but his every attack was deflected with the simplest of ease. After another of the Keyblade's swings were deflected,
the man seemed to feel that he was done dueling with the boy and he began to press the boy with powerful swings of the mighty sword he wielded.
Sora managed to avoid a few of the wide swings the man directed at him, suddenly the man performed an overhead swing that Sora barely managed to block the incoming blow
with the edge of the Keyblade. Sora felt his strength quailing beneath the powerful muscle behind the large blade.
"Stop this foolishness, I don't want to harm you" the man said with a bored sigh, but this only made Sora angry.
"Your the one who should give up, for there is no way I am going to give the Keyblade over to you" Sora growled at the man under his breath, the boy then knocked the blade away
and did a quick backroll to escape the man's next swing.
Sora got back to his feet with a grin, but his grin quickly evaporated when the man fired a ball of roiling flame from the tip of his blade. The boy ducked behind a sign that
still stood amongst the wreckage of the first district. Unfortunately the sign stood no chance against the raging orb of flame, which ate through the sign in a matter of seconds, leaving
only a pool of melting metal in its wake.
"Missed!" Sora teased, stepping out from behind his ruined piece of cover.
"Look out!" the man cried, his eyes widening, but Sora only laughed.
"Do you really think I am...hmm?" Sora began, when suddenly he heard a screeching coming from behind him. The boy then turned to face the sign tipping in his direction.
Sora found himself unable to run, his legs felt as though they had frozen over, preventing him from moving out of the way of the falling sign.
The man ran forward and grabbed Sora about the waist, pulling him to safety just as the sign collapsed with a tremondous crash that shook a few loose tiles from a nearby rooftop.
Sora opened his eyes slowly, for he had clenched them shut in what had looked to be his moment of death. The boy found he was lying upon the ruined cobblestone street, the man
stood over him with a stern look upon his face.
"Stupid and reckless, what a keyblade warrior you make" the man said with sarcasm lining his words. Then before Sora could retort the world went black.
The man had smacked the boy with the butt of his blade, not enough to hurt him, but enough to knock him out for a time.
"Wasn't that just a bit too much, Leon?" a soft voice spoke just behind the man, who turned around to face a girl with short black hair and dark brown eyes.
"We don't have time for jokes ,Yuffie. Things are looking worse than we thought, a lot worse"Leon said, glancing down at a passed out Sora, the Keyblade still gripped in his right hand at
his side.
"Is that the --?" Yuffie began to ask the man, kneeling beside the spread out figure and closely examining the Keyblade he gripped.
"Indeed" Leon answered before she even finished asking her question.
"But he is only a kid, he can't really be....what is this some kind of joke!" Yuffie said with a sudden burst of anger, rising to face the other man with a look of fury.
"My thoughts exactly, but he is the one. The blade and the Heartless that seek his heart are proof of that" Leon said, gesturing to the Keyblade and the wreckage around them.
"So, what now?" Yuffie asked, her voice becoming cold and calm.
"We take him back to the hotel, he will be safer there. The Heartless are seeking him and unless we do something he will lose his heart to them, and at all costs we cannot
allow such a thing to transpire" Leon replied, bending over to pick up the boy whom he then draped across his back without a single groan.
"This has go to be a joke, this kid can't really be the galaxies only defense against the tide of Heartless" Yuffie complained just behind him, bringing a small smile of amuesment to the
man's face.
"The kid has something going for him, he isn't all bad" Leon said, glancing back at at the girl, who only crossed her arms and glared to the side of her.
"I hope the King was right about you, kid" Leon whispered, glancing at the boy's blank face.
Riku slowly awoke, his head pounding with an almost unbearable headache. The boy then slowly got to his feet and took in his surroundings. Riku found that
he was standing in ankle deep water that ran up to walls of rushing water.
"Wow" Riku said with awe, passing a hand through the strange aqua walls. The boy's gaze then turned toward an enormous castle that stood in the distance.
"Wait, this must be another world. That means we made it, Sora and Kairi, we made it!" the boy said with excitement, but when he turned around in mid cheer he found no sign of his
friends.
"Sora....Kairi?" Riku said quietly, remembering his last encounter with Sora upon the small Island beside the children's tree fort.
"Hello Riku, we have been expecting you" a soft voice spoke just behind the boy, who whipped around to face the mysterious speaker.
"Who..who are you?" Riku asked the strange figure who stood where just moments ago there had been nothing.
"Someone who can help you to unite once again with the ones you hold so dear" the figure replied, and with a wave they produced images of the two children before the
unbelieving eyes of the Islander.
"How did you --?" the boy began, but the figure silenced them with a wave of their finely manicured hand.
"Shall we save the questions for some where a bit more ...how should I say it, private" the figure said with a dark smile and a nod to the castle that stood looming just upon the horizon.
"I guess, but my friends --?" the boy began to question, but again the figure silenced him.
"All shall be revealed in good time, Riku" the figure said, and without another word they opened a flaming portal with just a wave of their hand.
Riku did not know if he trusted the mysterious figure, but they seemed his only chance of finding his friends now that he was on the strange new world.
"Wait for me" Riku said with a grin, bringing the figure to smile as well as both departed through the flaming portal.