In which Sora gets in big trouble and we still don't know what's up with Rhyme.
As a minor warning to some of you, "Chasing the Truth" will be more Kingdom Hearts-centric than Playing For Keeps was. Just so you know. Neku and the gang will still play a very important role, however.
Chasing The Truth
By FlikFreak
Chapter Three: Of Chipmunks and Caverns
Cid rubbed his nose absently and didn't bother looking up from the computer screen in front of him. Tron was still running a few scans, and normally he would be in the Restoration Committee's headquarters, but he had some important business in the laboratory today. "Find anything, you two?"
Freya shook her head. "Yes. There is an extension of Ansem's computer beyond the Cavern of Remembrance. I believe that's what our enemy is after."
"Then it looks like our ambassador friend was right," the engineer grumbled, adding quietly, "As much as I hate to admit it."
"Do you know anything about that computer?" Zidane asked, tugging on one of his gloves. "I mean, you're the one that's lived here for so long…"
Cid shrugged. "Ansem's computer's right in front of me. The one in the Cavern of Remembrance is his, too, but it's a bit different in the way it works and what's on it. If that's what they're after, then we've got a big problem."
Nearby, a surprisingly high-pitched voice giggled. "I'm glad you saw my suspicions were right; that Cavern of Remembrance is truly a sight!"
"Oh, boy," Zidane whimpered quietly. "She's here."
"Mind yer manners in front of the ambassador," Cid admonished the genome before he turned to a petit woman whom was just walking out from around the corner. "Well, ma'am? Any theories?"
Neku pried his eyes open and saw the sky. That was it; the sky. In Shibuya, he'd also see buildings towering upward along with it, but there were no buildings this time. When he sat up, however, he realized that he was in a civilized area, but without the skyscrapers. There were a few small booths that apparently served as shops, and no one seemed to pay him too much mind that he had passed out in the middle of the street. Neku was strongly reminded of the game, and rubbed his head, knowing he was somehow alive…the RG equivalent of alive, at any rate.
It took him a few moments to recall what had happened. He had been showing Sora and his friends around Shibuya when the monsters in white attacked. Sora had taken them into outer space to hide for a while until things calmed down, but they had run out of fuel and ended up crashing somewhere that obviously wasn't Shibuya. Since when did I become such a trouble magnet? He wondered, scowling at the clouds as though they had caused all of today's problems. Or maybe Sora's the magnet and I'm just caught in the middle of it…
"He's awake!"
"Whew; I was gettin' worried."
The high-pitched voices caught Neku entirely off guard. He glanced around, searching for their source. "Who's there?" he asked in a half-mutter.
"Down here, silly!"
Neku blinked, slowly moving his gaze downward. There, waving at him, was a pair of chipmunks. "What the…"
The one with the red nose grinned and saluted. "Chip and Dale, at your service!"
"You're Sora's mechanics?" Neku asked, flabbergasted.
The one with the black nose crossed his arms. "Actually, we work at Disney Castle, but we help Sora out whenever we can."
"But you're…chipmunks." And he immediately scolded himself. Wow, Neku, way to be subtle…
With the comment said, the two said chipmunks stared at Neku like he was crazy. "Of course we're chipmunks!" The one with the red nose cried. "What rock have you been living under?"
The black-nosed chipmunk rolled his eyes. "Don't mind him. If you're looking for Sora, he and the others are just up those stairs waiting for you. We've gatta head off and fix up the Excalibur." With that, the two scurried off.
Dazed from the awkward encounter, Neku stood and stretched, rubbing his eyes and taking in the town around him. It was surprisingly small, though off in the distance he could make out some sort of castle. After making his way up a set of stairs, Neku found his friends from Shibuya as well as Riku waiting for them.
"You finally awake, man?" Beat asked, a limp Rhyme cradled in his arms. The girl was still awake and conscious, but Neku was sure at this point she couldn't walk on her own.
Neku nodded. "Yeah. Where are we?"
"Radiant Garden," Riku said simply. "The Restoration Committee lives here. We're lucky this place was so close, otherwise we'd be in a huge fix."
The Restoration Committee, Neku echoed in his mind. That means Leon and Yuffie must be here, if I remember right.
"Why's that?" Shiki asked.
Riku took a deep breath. "Long story short, anywhere else and we'd be stranded with no way to get help other than some very sporadic and unreliable measures." He turned around, refusing to explain about the said measures. "Sora and Kairi went ahead to Merlin's to tell the others about your arrival. By now I'm pretty sure either Yuffie or Cid is chewing their heads off for bringing outsiders here."
"Like you were earlier?" Neku asked, his eyes narrowing. He still wasn't all too happy about being taken from Shibuya. Granted, he did get away from those monsters, but it was hardly pleasing at all to know that he was on a different planet entirely. The sense of unfamiliarity was a bit much for him, although he had to admit he felt like he was actually breathing here thanks to the virtually nonexistent crowds.
Riku shook his head. "No. Yuffie is worse, and Cid has a bit of language that we're always getting onto him for using, not to mention a very bad temper." He looked at Rhyme. "But we have more than one reason for being here, now. Let's go."
Though they were hesitant at first, the four of them followed Riku quietly past the marketplace and into a small residential area. All of the houses reminded Neku of the ones in the suburbs of the city, but these were all clumped together tightly rather than on their own blocks or yards. No one really appeared to be home in any of them either; if they were they hid it quite well.
After weaving their way past several houses, they found themselves in a large, open area, in front of which was a rather large home. As they neared, and even before they opened the door, Neku heard a voice screaming from inside.
"YOU DID WHAT?!"
Riku blinked. "Wow. Didn't know Leon was capable of that."
"We goin' in or what?" Beat asked urgently. "Rhyme needs help, yo."
Nodding, Riku pushed open the door. Inside, there were the familiar faces of Leon and Yuffie angrily confronting Sora, whom wasn't really returning the gesture other than insisting upon his reasons. "We had to, Leon! There were…"
"You've got to be breaking every rule in the book for doing this!" Yuffie screeched. "Do you have any idea what the penalties could be?"
"There are penalties?" Kairi questioned.
"Well…no, but it's still stupid!"
"I wasn't going to sit there and let those Nobodies hurt everyone!" Sora protested. "They were after Neku, and I think I've got it on good authority that they'd go through anyone to get him! They wouldn't stop coming, either! Something huge is going on that we need to know about!"
Leon sighed, rubbing his head. "Look, Sora, I know you're concerned with Shibuya, but you really need to think before you act. One day your recklessness is going to-"
"It already did, Leon," Sora said darkly. The man didn't protest. Neku didn't need the man to finish his previous admonishment to know what they were referring to.
Riku cleared his throat loudly, catching everyone's attention. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty sure that Sora's aware of what he did."
Yuffie's jaw dropped. "Wha…you…they…"
"They're the ones from Shibuya," Riku explained, leading the group in. "Where's Aerith?"
Yuffie and Leon exchanged strange looks, almost having forgotten their previous dispute. Apparently this Aerith person was very important if someone asked for her outright. Neku wasn't sure what they were thinking, but when they looked back, Yuffie's voice was much softer than before. "Why do you need Aerith?"
Riku glanced back. "Beat, come on."
Slowly but confidently, Beat stepped forward, careful that Rhyme was still secure in his arms. Her eyelids were beginning to grow heavy, and Neku could see that her skin was beginning to pale. Yuffie strode over quietly, kneeling down. It took roughly two seconds for her face to stiffen with anxiety. "Leon, go get Aerith. I think she's in the Bailey. Hurry."
The man nodded, striding quickly out the door without a single word. Once he left, Yuffie stood. "Over here, Beat. Put her on the bed."
Biting his lip, Beat followed. Behind piles upon piles of books, there was an old twin bed in the corner near a closet where Rhyme was gently placed. "She ganna be okay?" Beat asked, watching his sister intently.
"Don't know," Yuffie replied truthfully. "Once Leon comes back with Aerith, we'll know what's going on."
"I just don't understand," Shiki began. "Those Dusk things popped up, and she started to feel bad-"
Yuffie spun on her. "Did you say 'Dusk'?"
"Wh…yeah. I did. Why?"
"White creatures? Moved all funny-like?"
"Yeah."
Yuffie's face fell to an expression of horror. "No way…I thought they wouldn't bother showing up after…"
"What were they?" Neku asked, leaning against the wall next to a complicated-looking diagram.
"Nobodies," Sora explained. "Remember Xsoh?"
Neku scoffed. "Of course I remember Xsoh. We both defeated him, remember?"
Sora nodded. "The Dusks are basically just like him, only they were originally weaker people at heart, so they didn't retain their original form." He looked away. "There's more than just Dusks, though. Like there's tons of different heartless, there are other types of Nobodies, too. With any luck we won't run into them here."
"Why not?" Shiki asked. "If we…leave here, won't we end up in the Game? We would have to play our way back, but-"
"There is no Game here," Sora said, his eyes hard to read. "If you go, you're gone for good." He looked away. "And if you don't, you become a heartless, and the shell of you that's left becomes a Nobody."
"Lose an ally, gain two enemies," Shiki summarized. "So that's why you were so intent on…"
Sora nodded, knowing what the fashion designer was about to finish her sentence with. "We can't afford to have any more enemies, whether they're strong people like Organization XIII or just minions like those Dusks." He looked at the ground. "I wanted to keep Shibuya safe, but by doing that, I dragged you guys into this…I'm sorry."
Neku bit his lip. Sora may have acted without thinking, but now he could see why he did something so rash. The keyblade master himself had suffered the fate of becoming heartless himself, and only with Kairi's help and plenty of luck did he manage to come back and reunite with his other half, Roxas. The look on Sora's face when he had first been told had said it all. No one should go through that, Neku thought. No one.
The door opened again, and Leon had returned. This time, Neku was greeted by another visitor: this one another woman. She wore a long, pink dress, and most of her brown hair was tied back in a purple ribbon. Emerald eyes glanced calmly around the room. "I'm here. You said you needed…Sora, who are these people?"
"We'll explain later," Yuffie said. "Aerith, I really hope you haven't lost your touch since the war."
"I haven't," the woman replied, her voice still calm. She hurriedly made her way over to where Rhyme had been placed, and knelt down. "What happened to her?"
"She's been like this for a while," Sora explained. "We were visiting Shibuya when some Dusks ambushed us, and suddenly she said she didn't feel well."
"I see," Aerith replied, examining Rhyme closely. "She's slowly losing consciousness. Can you tell me anything else?"
Shiki weaved her fingers together nervously. "I think she said something about losing focus?" She offered. "She kept talking about how she couldn't do something, and that something was wrong. It's only been getting worse. By the time we got here, she was really pale and she couldn't even stand up…"
Nodding and acknowledging Shiki's words, Aerith returned to her work, gently pushing a few strands of hair out of Rhyme's eyes. She checked the Rhyme's pulse and tried to discern a fever. After a moment of contemplation, Aerith sat back. "I don't think I've seen this before," she said. "There's absolutely nothing wrong."
Had Neku's jaw not still been attached to his head, it would have been on the floor. A similar reaction tore throughout the room, even to the official members of the committee. Beat, not surprisingly, was the first to react. "Whadoya mean, nothin's wrong?" he demanded. "She's practically in a half-coma, yo!"
"She's fine," Aerith repeated. "No serious problems, I mean. If anything, she may be just overwhelmed, but by what I'm not sure. It'll take a while for her to rest it off. Until then, I'm afraid nothing else can be done to cure her…only to help relieve some of whatever symptoms she's feeling."
"But she'll be okay, right?" Beat asked, a rare expression of deep concern on his face.
Aerith turned to Beat "You're her brother, correct?"
"Yeah."
"You should stay with her," Aerith advised. "It will help her recover more quickly to be near someone close to her."
Her words obviously baffled the skater, who rubbed his head but agreed. "Erm…okay. I won't leave her side, yo. Not for nothin'."
"In the meantime," Leon began, approaching the group. "Sora, Riku, there's someone I'd like you two to meet."
"Okay," Sora said, turning to his other friends. "Neku, you wanna come along?"
Neku shrugged. "I don't see why not. I don't have anything better to do at this point."
Shiki stepped forward. "I'll come too. I want to see more of this place."
"Be careful out there," Kairi said. "I want to help Aerith and Yuffie for now, so I'll stay here."
Leon nodded. "Right. Come on."
With one final glance back at Beat, whom only nodded a farewell, Neku exited behind Shiki, following after the others back outside to the borough. The silence lasted for some time, as Leon led the group of four up a small ramp and past an open gate to what appeared to be the Bailey mentioned before. Neku gawked at what he saw; half the area had been demolished entirely, and where there used to be a wall and possibly a roof had been blasted down by what could only have been an enormous explosion. The only words he could find were, "What happened here?"
"The war happened," Sora explained. At Neku's questioning look, he continued. "About a year ago, when I returned to this place, it was still called Hollow Bastion, there was a canyon so full of heartless it looked like there was a bunch of lava floating around in there." He shivered. "Black lava with hundreds of yellow eyes staring up at you…"
"They caused the explosion?" Shiki asked.
Sora nodded. "I think so."
"There were thousands of them," Leon added. "The whole committee fought them, and even with help we weren't sure we'd get them all. Sora ended up taking a good thousand or so on his own."
"I thought it'd never end," Sora moaned. "By the time it was over I thought I'd never have enough energy to lift the keyblade again."
"How'd you manage to get out of there, anyway?" Leon asked. "Last time I checked you ended up cornered and disappeared without a trace."
Riku and Sora exchanged glanced. "Knowing Sora," Riku suggested, "He probably had luck on his side."
Leon chuckled very slightly. "Sounds about right."
Luck indeed, Neku told himself.
"Watch your step," Leon advised as they rounded the corner and began taking the steps down.
"Who is it you wanted us to see, anyway?" Sora asked. "Did the committee get a new member or something?"
Leon shook his head. "Not really," he replied. "We got an ambassador from another world helping us out for a while, and there are two outsiders that have been helping around a bit. They don't seem interested in the reconstruction of this place, but they're still a big help in keeping the heartless population down."
"Where's Cid?" Riku asked. "He's usually typing at the computer in the headquarters, but I didn't see him there."
"Cid's in the lab right now running a few scans with Tron," Leon said. "The people I want you to meet are probably at the Castle Postern."
"Probably?" Riku echoed. "You mean you don't know?"
"If they haven't gotten impatient enough to go in without us," Leon amended, looking somewhat disgruntled and mumbling something about midgets.
The restoration site past the ruined Bailey was even more surprising to Neku. A winding path led upward, obviously having endured some great battle due to bits and chunks of rock and rubble scattered around, along with many pieces of building equipment. There was a fenced off area as well…rather, it had been fenced off before it was blown down. The uphill ascent finally ended when they found themselves standing on a large brick platform surrounded by a low yellow railing with the blue stone wall on one side. Various pipes protruded from the building and from underneath the platform, spreading past the rails. One thing that caught Neku's attention, however, was a large, gaping hole in part of the wall.
"They here?" Sora asked. "I don't see anyone."
Leon cupped his hands to his mouth. "You guys around? Sora's here!"
"Finally! It was getting pretty stuffy in there."
From the gaping hole in the side of the wall leapt a young man whom could only be several years older than Sora. His outfit consisted of a pair of loose, baggy jeans, a pair of short boots, a blue vest, and a pair of cuffed gloves. After recovering from his jump, he pushed a clump of blonde hair out of the way of his eyes and waved his… Neku did a double take. This guy has a tail?! First chipmunks, now monkeys…what next? Cat girls?
Leon breathed a sigh of relief. "There you are, Zidane. Where are the others?"
The boy jabbed a thumb behind him. "Freya and the ambassador are already in the back waiting. They cleared out the heartless for us, but I wouldn't wait too long to see if they come back."
"Convenient," Riku commented. "They're in that cave, I'm guessing?"
Zidane nodded. "Yep. Come on; it's not that far." With that, he jumped back up into the cavern, leaving the others to follow. Sora and Riku had little trouble jumping, thought hey had to help Shiki and Neku climb in. Leon followed silently, resting his gunblade on his shoulder. Neku silently hoped that they wouldn't need it.
The time nears. Must we awaken it so soon?
If we do not, then their plans will surely succeed, and the safety of the worlds will ultimately be at stake.
And what of Sora? I hate using him as a catalyst…
The King has enough on his hands, Riku is out of the question, and Kairi is a Princess of Heart. We have no other options. Besides, Sora is the only one with enough strength to withstand it without being destroyed.
I guess we've got no alternative. I've been checking him every so often, but it isn't easy. The boy noticed earlier today.
Procrastination won't help us at all. You must do it quickly. We can only hope, however, that he passes the trial…
GRAAAAH. I hate this chapter even more than the last! Eh, maybe someone's happy with it. It picks up after here, I promise. X.X!
Characters met in this chapter (Well, sort of):
Cid – Final Fantasy VII
Leon – Final Fantasy VIII
Yuffie – Final Fantasy VII
Zidane – Final Fantasy IX
