A chapter shorter than the last ones, but after dealing with so many characters in chapter 27, I needed to step down a bit.
Chapter XXVIII
A Bigger Threat
1025hrs, August 19th, 2024
Light Guardians Guild, Radiant Garden
All the members of the Light Guardians Guild were gathered in their guild hall, finishing watching Hibiki's recording of the fight between Vulpe and the Allied Forces. Riku and the other Guardians were relieved when Terra, Aqua and Sora returned from Fiore, but that changed when Sora explained them what happened there. After that, Roxas told them about the encounter he, Xion and Lea had in Shibuya's UG. Hearing it shocked the three Keyblade wielders, although the look on Sora's face was more of anger. The only thought going through his mind in that moment was to find that guy and beat him up for what he did, but he calmed down since he had to show everyone the data and recording he got from Hibiki. The recording ended after showing how Vulpe left Fiore using the portal she created.
Riku sighed, crossing his arms. "Okay, I'll go straight to the point. What are we going to do?"
"Well, we have to stop them, obviously," said Xion.
"I know." Without standing up, Riku got closer to the table where the Lacrima with the information about the Keyblade wielder was and touched it. Now the Lacrima showed an image of Vulpe without her hood on. "What I mean is what are we going to do to stop her and the other four?"
"There's only one thing we can do," said Lea, who was lying on a couch with his arms folded behind his head. "You've seen the recording. We don't stand a chance against those guys now, so what we have to do is get stronger, much stronger than we are at this moment."
"It sound too simple, but he's right," said Roxas. "We have to work hard if we want to stop those Keyblade wielders. The guy we encountered in Shibuya…He was a beast. I didn't even have time to react…"
"And that girl," said Terra, looking at the image of Vulpe. "She was toying with us. I wonder how she and her allies got so strong. There has to be an explanation."
"Another thing we have to do is find out who they are and why we haven't heard about them before," said Aqua. "They are incredibly powerful, so I don't think they got their Keyblades recently. However, Vulpe for example, doesn't look older than me or Terra, so she shouldn't have much more experience than us."
"Looks like we have some mysteries to solve, huh?" Ven smiled, not looking very worried about the situation. It was not like he wasn't giving it importance, though. He was just trying to lighten up the atmosphere since sulking and being gloomy wasn't going to solve anything.
"Well, something like this was bound to happen sooner or later," said Kairi, a small smile on her face. "We couldn't just expect that Maleficent and the Heartless were the only trouble."
"Perhaps they won't be a trouble anymore," said Xion. "If what that boy, Cornis, said to Sora is true, then Maleficent is also their enemy, so they'll take care of her sooner or later. And they've been dealing with the Heartless as well."
"That's true," said Riku. His gaze landed on the image of Vulpe again. He, then, turned to his best friend, who was sitting on his couch with Xion. "You know, it surprises me you decided to use the Final Form against her. I know she tricked you saying she was going to go all out on you, but knowing what could have happened, I'd have never thought you would do it, especially with so many people around."
"It was that or using my armor," said Sora. "And I'm sure she would have broken it into tiny pieces without much effort."
Xion smiled. "Winry would kill you if that happens."
Sora chuckled. "Yeah, I know. Anyway, I had to rely on my luck that time, and it turned out better than expected. My Drive Forms seem to have increased their power greatly. I guess all that training we did in Destiny Islands really paid off."
"Wait a sec, I thought when you use your Final Form there was no possibility of…well, you know," said Roxas. "At least that's how I remember it."
"Yeah, that's how it used to be," said Sora. "However, I don't know why, using the Final Form can also trigger that one now. That remembers me I already used two Drive Forms and nothing happened. The next time could be the one…"
"You'd better be more careful from now on, big bro," said Xion. She noticed Sora was starting to act gloomy, so she quickly tried to end the conversation about Sora's transformations. "You just need to get stronger so you don't have to rely on the Drive Forms."
Sora chuckled. "Easier said than done, but you're right."
Xion smiled contently at Sora. Not only because she knew she was right, but also because she could stop Sora from talking about his Anti Form, something he obviously didn't like to talk about with anyone. She turned her head to the other Guardians, only to see that all of them had their gazes fixed at her, except for Roxas, who was distracted eating a Sea-salt ice cream, and Naminé, who was checking the information in the Lacrima again.
The black-haired Guardian started to feel awkward. "Uuuh, what?"
"Do you realize what you just called Sora?" asked Riku.
"It's not the first time she does it," said Roxas as he took a bit from his ice cream.
"She called him like that in Twilight Town, too," added Naminé.
"Oooh, is that why you are looking at me like that?" Xion wondered why they found it strange. It sounded natural to her. "Well, if I'm going to pretend to be his sister, then I have to make it believable."
"Why do you want to make people believe you're Sora's sister?" asked Aqua confused.
"It's easier than explaining how we met, don't you think?" replied Xion. "Besides, this way I don't have to explain where I come from. Saying that I was supposed to be a replica of Roxas created from Sora's leaked memories is not something everyone would be able to understand."
The Guardians were surprised at how nonchalantly Xion talked about her past. The girl used to avoid talking about that when they met her, but now she didn't look bothered at all. It was surprising how much she changed these past two years.
Kairi giggled. "I have to admit that, if I didn't know you two, I'd believe it if you told me you were brothers. Roxas, you should probably do the same."
"Yeah, it's not a bad idea," said Roxas. "After all, not everyone has to now that I used to be a Nobody and all that other stuff. However, I'm not calling Sora 'big bro'. I'd rather explode from eating too much ice cream."
"Keep eating like that, and it'll happen sooner than you think," said Sora.
"I guess you have a point," said Riku, looking at Xion. "Still, hearing you calling Sora like that doesn't sound right to me."
Xion poked out her tongue at Riku before lying her head on Sora's shoulder. "You're just jealous because now Sora and I share a closer bond than before."
Riku rolled his eyes. "If you say so."
"By the way, how is that you're letting her sit on your couch, Sora?" asked Roxas, finishing his ice cream. "You kicked me out of it when you saw me using it."
"Being the little sister has its advantages," said Xion with a cheeky smile.
"She sure got into character…" thought the Guardians.
Roxas groaned. "I shouldn't have said anything."
Kairi laughed at the scene. Then she noticed that Naminé made the image of Vulpe appear again. When she saw in the recording how she treated Sora, it didn't make her very happy. She needed to know if Sora actually knew the girl, so she decided to ask him about it.
"Sora, are you sure you don't know that girl?" asked Kairi, pointing at the image of Vulpe. "Because I don't think she would treat you like that just because you reminded her of someone she knew."
Sora could feel daggers flying out Kairi's eyes toward him. "I swear that was the first time we met! If Vulpe and I had known each other from before, I'd remember her!"
"…okay," said Kairi. She knew there was no reason for Sora to hide something like that, so she decided to drop the subject, but she was still feeling kind of bothered. She, then, looked at the fox mask that was next to the Information Lacrima. "You said that mask was hers, right?"
"I suppose so," said Sora. "It was on the ground, really close to me. I think she might have dropped it. It is just a possibility, but this mask could help us finding out who she and the other four are and where they came from."
"Perhaps Master Yen Sid knows something about them," said Riku. "I'll have to check if he returned to his tower."
"I wonder where he and Master Eraqus went," said Terra.
Naminé stood up and picked up the Information Lacrima. "We have to tell all our friends about this, so I'll start making copies of this. The sooner they know, the better."
"Wait, you can make copies of that?" asked Ventus surprised.
A confident look appeared on Naminé's face. "You shouldn't underestimate me, Ven. I don't know how much it'll take me, so I'll start right away."
"Then, I think I'm going to go for a walk around the city," said Sora.
"Stop by the castle while you're at it," said Kairi. "Tron could have come up with something to help those people."
Sora nodded. "Right. What are you guys going to do?"
"I think I'm going to start using that training room Phineas and Ferb built for us," said Terra. He turned to Aqua and Ventus. "Are you two up for a training session like old times?"
"You bet!" said Ven excited.
Aqua smiled. "All right, that sounds nice."
"I'm just gonna sleep for today," said Lea closing his eyes. "I don't feel like doing anything on Mondays."
"I have to admit that sleeping the whole day sounds really nice," said Sora as he stood up. He stretched his body, making his shirt lift up a little. This make Aqua notice something.
"Sora, what do you have on your stomach?" asked the blue-haired Guardian. "I think I saw something."
"Hey, are you sure that girl didn't do anything to you?" asked Terra concerned.
Sora looked down and grabbed his shirt. "What? No, it's impossible. How could she…"
When Sora lifted up his shirt, he realized Aqua was right. There was something on his abdomen, but it wasn't a magic circle, a symbol or something like that. There was a message written on his belly, and this made Sora wonder when someone could have written anything there without him noticing. Xion, being the one closest to Sora at this moment, was the one who read what was written on Sora's body.
"Property of Yang Xiao Long."
There were four different reactions to this. Most of the Guardians were perplexed and wondered who that Yang Xiao Long was. Kairi was looking at the message with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open. Ven snickered when Xion read the message and now he was hysterically laughing. Meanwhile, Sora was looking at the message with utter shock. He quickly recovered from it and tried to erase it with his hand.
"Dammit, what was she thinking!?" exclaimed Sora. He could picture the blonde girl looking at him with a playful smirk. "It's not coming out…"
"It looks like it was written with a permanent marker," said Xion, trying to hide her smile.
"Who is that Yang!?" exclaimed Kairi, standing up. "And who does she think she is to do something like that to you!? Why would you let her do that!?"
"Looks like she couldn't handle anymore," thought Naminé, looking at the redhead with a sympathetic smile.
Naminé knew that Kairi knew that it was normal for people, especially girls, to take a liking to Sora because of his personality, and she never had problems with that. However, seeing a girl blatantly flirting with him could be kind of difficult for her. It surprised Naminé how well Kairi handled seeing how Vulpe treated Sora in the recording, but it seemed that Yang's mischief was too much and made her snap.
"H-hey, I didn't let her do this to me!" protested Sora. He noticed that Ven was still laughing. "Ven, stop already! It's not funny!"
"Sorry, sorry," said Ven as he slowly stopped laughing. He whipped a tear from his left eye before looking at Kairi. "To answer your question, Yang is a girl Sora and I met in Remnant. She's a student of Beacon Academy and member of Team RWBY."
"And now the last addition in Kairi's blacklist," muttered Lea. Fortunately for him, Kairi didn't hear it.
Roxas looked at Lea with surprise. "You were awake?"
"Sora, you really need to stop," said Aqua with her arms crossed, looking sternly at the brown-haired boy. "Keyblade Masters shouldn't be flirting with all the girls they met around the worlds. Do you want people to think Keyblade wielders are not decent people?"
Sora groaned, but then he smiled mischievously. "Then, what's between you and Lyon is an exception, I guess?"
Aqua flinched. "That's not…"
"Lyon?" asked Riku. Hearing the name of the Ice Mage of Lamia Scale made him curious. "Did something happen?"
"Aqua used her charms to make Lyon fall head over heels for her," said Sora playfully. He had to move his head away from the Blizzaga spell the blue-haired woman shot at him in an attempt to silent him.
"I did no such thing!" exclaimed Aqua.
"That'd explain his behavior," said Terra, touching his chin, remembering how Lyon acted towards Aqua. "This bothers me a bit for some reason…"
"Hey, don't try to change the subject!" said Kairi, getting closer to Sora, who backed off a bit. "How could you let her do this to you!? How could you not notice!?"
"She must have done it while he was asleep," commented Riku. It was just a supposition, but he was actually right. "If you ever go on a mission there again, close the door of the place where you were sleeping, or it'll happen again."
"Well, he and Yang used the same room, so it's not like he could do anything about it," said Ven. He was really trying to help Sora, but then realized he said something he shouldn't have. "Oh…"
"VEN!" yelled Sora. "What the heck, man! We had a deal! I didn't tell anyone about your date with Velvet!"
"Hey, you just did!" exclaimed Ven. "And it's not a date!"
"Yeah, because you broke our deal!" replied Sora.
"Ven, you have a date?" asked Terra, looking at the blond boy with surprise. "Hey, congratulations!"
"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Aqua, who appeared to be quite enthusiastic about the fact that Ven had a date, even though he denied it. "Who is she? What is she like? How did you meet her? When…"
"Aaaargh, that's why I didn't want you to know about her!" complained Ventus. "You ask too many questions! And I said it's not a date!"
"You don't look very sure about that," said Terra, obviously amused. "You could at least introduce her to us. Unless you want us to go to Remnant to meet her, of course."
Ventus narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't…"
"Sora and you made some friends there, so they need to know about these Keyblade wielders," said Aqua smiling playfully. "They only know one of them, so they need more information."
"But…" Ven wanted to protest, but he realized Aqua was right.
Sora smiled with amusement at Ven's misfortune. He also knew how much of a bother Aqua could be when it came to this kind of things, so he couldn't help but feel sympathy for Ven, even though it was his fault for mentioning the Faunus girl to the others. However, his smile vanished when he noticed the way Kairi was looking at him. She looked so serious that it was even scarier than when she was angry.
"You didn't have enough with Fairy Hills, I see," said Kairi as she sat again. She crossed her arms and sighed. "At least you had your own room there, but now…You could've said no, you know? Sleeping in the same room with a girl…"
"Four girls," added Ventus.
Sora's eyes widened. "VEN!"
Ven pulled down his bottom eyelid and poked out his tongue. "You reap what you sow."
"Sora…"
The leader of the Guardians slowly turned to his redhead friend, who was smiling innocently at him. That what someone who just met Kairi would think, but Sora had known her for enough time to know that when Kairi smiled at you like that, you're screwed. The other Guardians, except for Riku and Naminé, quietly sneaked out of the room, not wanting to be there when Kairi unleashed her wrath.
"K-Kairi, calm down," said Sora, as he slowly walked backwards. "You know me enough to know I wouldn't do anything…questionable. Actually, why do you care so much about things like this?"
"Eh? Well, I…That's because…Ummm…" Kairi was taken by surprise by Sora's question and didn't know what to say. She looked down, trying to find the answer there. After a few seconds, she raised her head to answer Sora, but he wasn't in the room anymore.
"Too late, he escaped," said Riku.
"You shouldn't have taken your eyes away from him," said Naminé smiling.
"I…" Kairi was about to say something, but she simply sighed. She realized how much of a fuss she made about it. "Awww, how embarrassing…I shouldn't have snapped like that. No wonder he escaped when he had the opportunity."
"He had a point, though. Why things like that bother you?" Riku looked at Kairi with a smirk, waiting for an answer, even though he already knew the reason Kairi acted like that.
Kairi pouted and looked away embarrassed. "Shut up…"
-TLG-
Sora slowly closed the door he crossed to exit the guild. Since using the front door would have been too noticeable, he used the back door instead. The boy wondered if Kairi got mad because he left, but she didn't leave him other options.
"I wonder why this bothered her that much," thought Sora, looking at what Yang wrote on his body. "If I didn't know her better, I'd say she was jealous. But that wouldn't make any sense since it's not like she and I are…Although that wouldn't be so bad…Wait, what I am thinking!?"
Sora shook his head, flustered by his own thoughts. Then, he heard some noises on his right, so he turned to see what it was. Behind the Light Guardians Guild there was a wide courtyard, but it wasn't part of the guild, it belonged to the Survey Corps. They used that courtyard to train in close combat, and right now there were some soldiers using it. Sora was about to leave, but then he started to feel light headed. He saw a bench next to the back door of the Restoration Committee's building and decided to sit there for a while.
"This again…" said Sora, touching his forehead. He sat on the bench and closed his eyes, trying to relax. "I guess I'm having these headaches because of the Final Form. I used to much power…"
"Ah, there you are!"
Sora opened his eyes and looked to his right. He saw his black-haired ninja friend walking out of the Restoration Committee's building. She had a towel around her neck and a bottle of water in her left hand. Sora deduced she probably had been working out or something like that.
Sora waved. "Hey, Yuffie."
"How are you doing, spiky?" asked the ninja, sitting next to the Keyblade wielder. She could hear Sora sighing. "Geez, that bad, huh?"
"Uh? I didn't say anything," said Sora.
"Come on, it's obvious you're not as chirpy as usual," said Yuffie. She opened her bottle and drank some water before continuing. "I can't blame you, though. We heard from Ven about those tyrannical Keyblade wielders, so it's normal you're worried. And on top of that, a girl kicked your butt recently."
"Very funny…" said Sora, returning the smile Yuffie was giving him. "Wait, how do you know about that? We still haven't told you guys yet."
"Oh, we were listening," replied Yuffie. "Your guild and our headquarters are next to each other, you know? If we don't make any noise, we could even hear you and Kairi doing M-rated stuff."
"What!? Just…What's wrong with your head!?" exclaimed Sora. This didn't help his headache at all.
Yuffie laughed. "Relax, I was just kidding…maybe. Anyway, talking about Kairi…It looks like you finally made her lose her composure. For a short moment, at least. Next time, don't let any girl write anything on you, okay?"
"Hey, that wasn't my fault," said Sora. "I don't even know why it bugged her so much…"
"Oh, Sora, you know how to treat girls, but you need to understand them better," said Yuffie, patting Sora's head. "You still have much to learn, young one."
"Whatever you say," said Sora, shoving the girl's hand away. It was then when he remembered something he wanted to talk about with Yuffie. He turned to her, making the girl look at him quizzically. "Hey, Yuffie, could you close your eyes for a second?"
Yuffie blinked. "What? Why?"
"Just do it," said Sora, his gaze fixed on the ninja. The serious look on his face surprised Yuffie, but she didn't make any comment about it.
"Okay…" Yuffie slowly closed her eyes and, a few seconds after she closed them, she felt how Sora flicked her forehead. She immediately opened her eyes as she let out a yelp of pain. "What was that for?! You big meanie!"
"Next time you go to another world, don't steal other people's things!" Sora scolded.
"What are you talking about?!" Yuffie, then, realized what Sora meant. "Oooh, that's right, you and Xion went to Amestris…Guess you had a little talk with Roy-Boy, huh? Well, sorry for stealing, but it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I mean, it was so easy I couldn't even believe it myself."
Sora sighed. "You really are a hopeless thief."
"Hey, it was for a good cause!" said Yuffie. "We could buy the materials Phineas and Ferb needed to help us with the restoration of the city. Say, he didn't put you and Xion in jail or anything, right?"
"No, but I paid him for what you stole," replied Sora. "I used my own Munny, so you'd better don't do it again. I don't want to spend all my money for this kind of things."
"You really did that? Aww, you're such a good friend! I don't know what I would do without you!" Yuffie started ruffling Sora's hair. To her, it was just an affectional gesture, but Sora didn't seem to like it very much.
"Hey, Yuffie…" Before Sora could finish his line, something in the courtyard caught his attention. It was Captain Levi, who was training with some other soldiers of the Survey Corps. They were attacking him at the same time, but none of them could even touch him. This amazed the Keyblade wielder.
"What are you looking at?" asked Yuffie when she noticed Sora distracted. She also looked at the courtyard and saw who Sora was looking at. "Oh, that's Levi. But you already know him, right?"
"Yeah, I went on an expedition with the Survey Corps the last week," replied Sora. He looked at Levi again, and saw how he knocked down all the soldiers who were trying to attack him. "Perhaps those are just new members of the Survey Corps, but still he's amazingly good at close combat. And some of those guys tower him…He is short, probably the same height as Weiss, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for him."
"He's really strong as you can see," said Yuffie as she stood up. "He's, without a doubt, the strongest soldier of the Military. Too bad he's such a clean-freak. Anyway, I have some…things to do. See you later."
Sora said goodbye to Yuffie, not moving his gaze away from the courtyard. Seeing Levi's close combat skill made Sora remember his fight against Vulpe. The girl was also extremely good when it came to close combat. In the first part of their fight, she didn't even need her Keyblade. This made Sora think that it'd be a good idea to get better at fighting without weapons, and perhaps Levi could help him with that.
"Let's give it a try," thought Sora. He stood up and walked toward Levi, crossing the courtyard and trying to not bother the soldiers who were training. After dodging a soldier who was thrown away by a bigger one, Sora could get close to the captain. Levi noticed the Keyblade wielder approaching him, and stopped sparing with the other soldiers.
"All right, let's take a small break, but don't get too comfortable," said the captain. He, then, looked at the leader of the Guardians. "I see you returned safe and sound. That boy, Ventus, told us and the Restoration Committee about the person you encountered. It's good to see your recklessness hasn't killed you yet."
"He really needs to be less deadpan," thought Sora, who wasn't upset because of Levi's comment, but he couldn't help but feel uneasy. "There are more things that you and the rest of the Military should know. I suppose they're telling the members of the Restoration Committee about it now, so Leon will explain it to you later."
"Very well," said Levi. "So, what do you need? I doubt you came to talk to me just to tell me that."
"Oh, you see…I've noticed that you…"
Levi looked impatiently at Sora. "Don't beat around the bush."
Sora flinched. "Okay, okay. Would you help me improving my close combat abilities?"
An almost undetectable look on surprise appeared on Levi's face. "Didn't expect you to ask me that. Why would you want me to help you? Aren't you strong enough already?"
"I know how to defend myself with a weapon, but unarmed…" Sora decided to give Levi a quick and brief explanation of why he wanted the soldier to help him. "Recently I fought someone who was an expert in hand to hand combat, so I need to get better for the next time."
"I see." Levi seemed to be thinking about Sora's petition for a moment. "I imagine you don't know someone else who could train you in this aspect, am I right?"
"I know a couple of people, but I have the feeling I'll make a better progress with you," replied Sora. He knew that his friends would be more than willing to help him, but he needed someone exigent and severe, and Levi the person he was looking for. "Of course, if you're too busy with…"
"Well, you were actually helpful in the last expedition, so I guess I should return the favor." Levi crossed his arms and looked at Sora with his usual sharp eyes. "But I warn you, it's not going to be easy and I'm not going to be nice. You'll have to take it very seriously or I won't do it."
Sora nodded and smiled. "I was counting on that. Thanks, Levi."
"I'm busy today, so the first session will have to wait," said the soldier. "Whenever I have free time, I'll call you. Make sure you're here when that happens, because I'm not going to travel to other worlds to look for you."
"Yes, sir," said Sora saluting. Then he said goodbye to the captain and left the courtyard. He started heading for the inner part of the city. "All right, I got that covered, and it was easier than I thought it would be. Now let's see if Tron could make any progress."
-TLG-
"Wait, you were listening?" asked Kairi in disbelief. She and Riku went to the Restoration Committee to show them Hibiki's recording of the battle against Vulpe when Naminé finished making one copy of it. They found out the members of the committee, the ones who weren't working, had their ears glued to the door that connected their headquarters with the Light Guardians Guild, and listened to the whole conversation about Vulpe and the other Keyblade wielders.
"Eavesdropping is not very nice, you know?" said Riku.
Tifa chuckled. "Sorry, but we heard something about more Keyblade wielders, so we couldn't help it. We weren't sure if you were going to tell us or not."
"Why wouldn't we…? It doesn't matter." Riku picked up the Information Lacrima. "You could have told us before and we would have saved some time."
"Well, just listening to the recording wasn't enough, so we wanted to see it, too," said Leon. "I have to admit it was hard to believe that all those people, plus Sora, Terra and Aqua, couldn't defeat a single person, but now that I've seen it…"
"Yeah, she is really strong, even for a Keyblade wielder," said Kairi.
Cloud, who was leaning on a wall nearby, approached the group. "Do you have any plans to deal with her and the other four?"
"Not really," replied Riku. "The only plan we have is to get stronger to get ton their level. And that's going to take us a while. First of all, we will warn the people we know about these Keyblade wielders since they could be attacked by them."
"How are you going to do that?" asked Aerith.
"Naminé is making copies of the recording and putting them in the empty Lacrima spheres Isa gave us," explained Kairi. "We'll go to the worlds we've visited and show the recording to our friends."
"That's the only thing we can do at the moment," said Riku. "I wish we knew more about those guys…"
"Hey, no sad faces, Riku. You guys just need to work together, as you did a couple of years ago, and everything will be just fine, I'm sure of it," said a young woman with dark brown eyes and shoulder-length black hair, which had three caramel highlights on both sides of her face. She was a member of the Restoration Committee who Riku and Terra met when they were working around Radiant Garden. Kairi also met her before, when she went on a mission with Tifa and Yuffie.
Kairi smiled. "That's an optimistic point of view you have there, Rinoa."
"That's how she is," said Leon with a smile that Rinoa returned.
"Optimistic and naïve," said Cid. He started working on his computer as soon as the recording finished, but he kept listening to the conversation. "You guys will need more than teamwork, if you ask me."
Rinoa looked at the Gummi Ship expert. "It wouldn't hurt you to be more positive sometimes, you know?"
"Hey, I'm just saying that those Keyblade wielders surely aren't stupid," said Cid. "As Riku said, they need more information about them. You said that the Keyblade wielder who talked with Sora told him that they investigated about all of you, so they must know all about your fighting styles and stuff like that. You have to do the same."
"It's not going to be easy to find info about them, though," said Kairi. "We think that maybe Master Yen Sid or Master Eraqus know something about them, so we will look for them as soon as Naminé is done with the copies."
"If you need something, don't doubt in asking us for help," said Aerith. "Where are Sora and the others, by the way?"
"Terra, Aqua and Ven are in the guild's training room," replied Riku. "Roxas and Xion are with Naminé, I think. Lea is sleeping, and Sora is strolling around the city."
"Talking about Sora…" Rinoa turned to Kairi. "Did you two get into a fight or something before?"
Kairi blinked in surprise. "No, no, we didn't! Everything's all right!"
"She just had a small jealousy outburst, nothing to worry about," said Riku smirking.
"I didn't…!" exclaimed Kairi, a small blush on her face.
"Oh, so it was that," said Rinoa, interrupting the redhead. "Well, don't give up, Kairi. Boys can be difficult to deal with, but I'll be cheering for you!"
"I'm telling you, you got it wrong!" The Princess of Heart protested in denial.
"This reminds me you still have to introduce me to him, Squall." Rinoa had been working in other parts of Radiant Garden lately, so she still hadn't met most of the Guardians, and she was really curious after Leon told her lots of things about them. She had special interest in meeting Sora since he was one of the three people that made possible the restoration of Radiant Garden, the other two being Donald and Goofy.
"She's not listening," muttered Kairi, lowering her head in defeat.
"I tried, but every time he's here, you were in another part of the city," said Leon. "It'd be easier if you stopped working for a while and stayed here."
Rinoa flashed a teasing smile at Leon. "Aww, are you telling me to stay with you more time?"
"I didn't say that," stated Leon.
"I can read between the lines~," said Rinoa, winking at the leader of the Restoration Committee.
Leon smiled. "Is that so? Then, perhaps I actually said it."
"Are they flirting?" thought Riku and Kairi while looking bewildered at the two members of the committee. They would expect that from Rinoa, but not from Leon. It was quite surprising.
"Hey, you two, stop the lovey-dovey act. You've got work to do," said Cid. It looked like he received some messages in his computer from other members of the committee. "Leon, I got a message from Ignis and Gladiolus asking you for help with some problem at the Fountain Court. Rinoa…Serah is waiting for you near the marketplace. And Tifa, it seems that Zidane got into trouble again, so could you…?"
Tifa groaned. "Sure, I'll go bail him out."
"A troublesome member of the committee, I presume," said Kairi.
"Pretty much," replied Tifa as she walked to the exit of the committee's building. "I'd better hurry. I'll see you around."
"I don't want to keep Serah waiting, so I'll get going, too," said Rinoa. "Take care, everyone! And make sure Sora doesn't leave to another world before I come back, Squall!"
"Easier said than done," muttered Leon before looking at Riku and Kairi. "I suppose you'll leave as soon as Naminé finishes doing the copies, right?"
"Yeah, the sooner we warn the others about these Keyblade wielders, the better," said Riku. "Have you told Ansem the Wise about it yet?"
"All the city knows about the one who attacked Roxas, Xion and Lea, but not about the other four. I'll go talk to him as soon as I'm done in the Fountain Court," replied Lion. He approached to the door, but stopped before crossing it. "Wherever you go, be very careful. I'm sure you'll find a way to stop them, but for the time being, don't take any unnecessary risks."
"Right," said Riku, and the leader of the Restoration Committee left. Then silver-haired Keyblade wielder turned to Kairi. He was about to ask her where she had planned to go when he noticed the concerned look on her face. "Hey, Kairi, what's wrong?"
"I…I'm worried," answered Kairi, looking at the floor. She raised her gaze and looked at her childhood friend. "I know we've been through difficult times before, but now…I have a bad feeling about this. I can't help but think that something bad will happen sooner or later. The others don't look very concerned, though."
"Come on, you know they are," said Riku, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "They just want to focus on getting stronger rather than worrying about that stuff. I'm not saying you shouldn't be worried, but it'd be better to put those thoughts aside. Thinking too much about it won't help you. It is as Rinoa said. If we work together like we did back then, we'll be fine."
"You're right," said Kairi. A tiny smile appeared on her face. "You know, you're actually better than I thought when it comes to cheer someone up."
"Good to know I actually learnt something useful from Sora," replied Riku, returning the smile. "So, when Naminé is done, what world are you going to travel to?"
Kairi hummed. "I think I know where I'm going to go."
-TLG-
Sora returned to the guild two hours after he asked Levi to train him. As Kairi told him, he went to the castle to see Tron, but he still hadn't finished what Sora asked him to do. There wasn't much else to do in the city since it was quite peaceful. He figured Naminé was already done making the copies of Hibiki's recording, so he decided to head for the guild instead of continuing walking around the city. The boy walked inside the guild and the only person he could see was Naminé, who was using the guild's computer.
"Hey, I'm back."
Naminé didn't move her eyes away from the screen. "Hello, Sora. Is everything all right in the city?"
"Yeah, everything's fine," replied Sora as he looked around to see if he and Naminé were really the only ones in the guild. "Where are the others, by the way?"
"Oh, they left with the copies of the recording I made," replied the blonde Guardian. "Riku took one and went to Disney Town. Roxas and Xion said they were going to visit Twilight Town to make sure everything was fine there and then they'll go to Amestris. Terra and Ven are going to look for Yen Sid and Eraqus, so I suppose they'll go to the Mysterious Tower or the Land of Departure. They also mentioned something about Olympus Coliseum."
"What about Lea, Kairi and Aqua?" asked Sora, approaching Naminé.
"Lea is still in Radiant Garden." Naminé stopped typing for a moment to look at Sora. "A woman came to the guild, asking him for help with some 'ice monster' she saw near her house. I hope he controls himself and doesn't burn any building…Maybe you should start writing an apology letter."
"I'm gonna end up like Master Makarov in the future…" muttered Sora with a trouble look on his face. "And where did Kairi and Aqua go?"
"They said they were going to some of worlds you visited during your past journeys," replied Naminé. "Then, they mentioned something about Remnant."
Sora blinked in surprise. "Remnant? Hey, you don't think Kairi…?"
"…went there to meet that girl called Yang?" asked Naminé. She smiled sympathetically at Sora. "I think that's why she went there. Don't worry, though. She's not angry with Yang or anything. If she's upset, then I'd say it is because of Vulpe. What Yang did to you just made her snap."
"I hope you're right," said Sora. "I wouldn't like her to be angry with Yang. She's a very nice girl, despite her antics."
"Kairi probably went to Remnant to meet Yang and befriend her," commented Naminé. "Surely she thought you would like that."
"That would be nice, yeah," said Sora. It made him happy thinking that Kairi went to Remnant to try and be friends with Yang.
"But she will most likely ask Yang why she wrote that on your stomach," said Naminé, containing an amused smile. "I assume you and Yang got along well pretty quickly, right?"
"Well, she is very sociable, and enjoys having conversations and making new friends, so it was easy," replied Sora smiling. "Although she has the habit of flirting with me whenever she cans just to see how I react."
Naminé giggled. "Only to see your reaction, huh? Oh, you're so dense, Sora."
Sora crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, nothing." Naminé shut the computer down and turned to Sora, looking at him with a wide smile. "Who would have thought, though, that you would be such a lady-killer, Sora? I'm sure you always get lots of chocolates in February."
Sora groaned. "Seriously, why are you…Wait, how do you know about Valentine's Day?"
"Kairi told me."
"Oh, right," said Sora. "Well, every year I only got chocolate from Kairi and Selphie so I wouldn't call that 'lots of chocolates'."
Sora remembered how every Valentine's Day he only received chocolate from Kairi and Selphie while Riku got a lot of chocolates from almost every girl in Destiny Islands. It never bothered him, but he wished he could get chocolate from someone else, too. But it wasn't like he didn't appreciate getting it from Kairi and Selphie, of course. Perhaps now that he had a lot more friends than before, he could get chocolate from different people. He could only hope.
"Awww, really?" asked Naminé. "Well, I'm sure the next one you'll get a lot of chocolate, much more than usual. I can assure you that. You can expect some from me."
Sora smiled. "It would be really nice to get more, even if it's obligation chocolate."
"Oooh, so you want the other type of chocolate," said Naminé playfully. "You're so sly, Sora."
"N-no, forget I said that!" exclaimed Sora embarrassed.
Naminé laughed. "If this is how you usually react, then I understand why Yang flirts with you."
"Yeah, it's so entertaining to make fun of Sora, isn't it?" asked the boy rhetorically. "If you're done with the teasing, could you give me one copy of the recording? I'll go to Death City since it seems that no one is going there."
"Here." Naminé handed Sora a sphere similar to the one Hibiki gave him but smaller. "Let's go ask Cid to prepare a Gummi Ship for us."
Sora put the sphere in one of his pockets. "Oh, do you want to come with me?"
"You weren't planning on leaving me here all alone, right, big bro?" Naminé asked, smiling cutely.
"…"
"…what?"
"…"
"H-hey, don't just stand there, Sora! At least say something! If you don't it'll just…get awkward…"
Sora smirked. "Good, that's what I wanted. Keep this moment in mind the next time you call me that."
Naminé crossed her arms and pouted. "Xion can do it, but not me? Isn't that kind of unfair for your part?"
"Never said you couldn't," replied Sora. "But now you did it just to tease me. Seriously, why do you girls like to tease me so much? And you, where is the usual shy and quiet Naminé I know? Of all the people I know, you're one of the few I expect to mess with me."
"Sorry, I just…" Naminé lowered her head a bit embarrassed.
Sora chuckled. "That's more like you. Well, forget about that. Hey, before leaving, could you tell me how you managed to make copies of Hibiki's recording? And where did you get this sphere? Isn't it Lacrima?"
"Oh, it wasn't difficult," replied Naminé. "I just used some of my magic to pass the recording to different Lacrima spheres like the one I gave you. I got them from Isa. Even and Ienzo finished investigating the Lacrima you gave them and Isa came to the guild and gave us the empty spheres."
"They finished?" asked Sora surprised. "Then, that bright yellow Lacrima…What is its effect?"
"Right." Naminé put her hand inside her pocket and grabbed the yellow Lacrima sphere Sora was talking about. "According to Isa, this sphere just absorbed the light form the Cornerstone of Light from Disney Castle. The Heartless that had this sphere inside it probably got too close to the Cornerstone. Surely it was just a Lacrima with the green effect and was purified by the Cornerstone. You know how strong the light from that relic is. Do you want to keep it?"
"Sure," said Sora, grabbing the bright Lacrima and putting it inside of his pocket. "So, a Gummi Ship, then? You know it's going to take us at least two days to reach the Earth in a Gummi Ship, right?"
Naminé tilted her head quizzically. "And?"
"Well, it would only take us an hour, more or less, if we use my Keyblade Glider," said Sora. "You know the routes for the Gliders are a lot shorter than the ones the Gummi Ships use."
"Yes, but I have neither Keyblade Armor nor a Black Coat," said Naminé. "And besides, your Keyblade Glider is for just one person. How am I supposed to go with you that way?"
"Well, I didn't know you wanted to come with me," said Sora.
"Sora," said Naminé, a serious look on her face. "After what happened in Fiore, don't you think it's a bit dangerous to be alone in other worlds? You could be attacked by one of those Keyblade wielders. Everyone left with a partner, in case you didn't notice. Riku went alone, but that's because King Mickey will be with him while he's in Disney Town. Besides, you're usually the one who is more likely to be targeted by our enemies, so if you can help it, please try to not go alone to any world from now on, okay?"
"Oh, okay…" Sora felt a bit bad, making worry his friend like that, but it also made him happy to know that Naminé cared about him and wanted to make sure nothing happened to him. "All right, how about this? If Xion left her Black Coat in her room, you can borrow it, and on the Glider, you can just hold to my waist, like in a motorcycle and…"
"That sounds incredibly dangerous." Naminé cut off Sora. "I'm not doing it. We'll use a Gummi Ship. Period."
"Geez, you're as stubborn as Kairi," muttered Sora.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, nothing…Just, let's go already."
-TLG-
Well, time to revisit some worlds but from different perspective. It's a good opportunity to use different characters, too.
Those of you who are RWBY fans probably know that Monty Oum, creator of RvB, RWBY, Haloid and Dead Fantasy, passed away two weeks ago. It's a real shame that he's not with us anymore.
To boras1c: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. Haha, yeah, I thought Sora would do something like that in that situation. Yes, thanks to his clothes he can still use his Halloween outfit and transform into his Lion and Mermaid forms. I have something planned for the Lion one for a future filler chapter.
To zackstone13: Thanks a lot, I'm glad to hear that.
To Sunny Lighter: Yeah, too many characters indeed. I don't want to imagine how hard it will be when the Tournament Arc starts.
To Fireofargentis: First of all, thanks for the review. I really appreciate it.
Yes, I know the Harem genre isn't for everyone. People who write stories like this, fanfics after the supposed KH3 or similar, usually use the SoraxKairi pairing, but it is really strange to see a SoraxHarem story, so that's why I wanted to do it this way. The other stories are good, but I wanted to do something different. I'm using the Union Leaders for the same reason. I'm sure no one has used them in a fanfic yet. Besides, I needed enemies for the Guardians who could rival them in terms of power, even though right now the Union Leaders are far superior to the Light Guardians at this point of the story.
My plan is to send Kairi to Aincrad with Sora. Around that point of the story she'll be the only one who hasn't been in a mission with Sora, so she'll be the one going with him to SAO.
It's a good idea. Surely Yang will flirt with some of the other male characters, but I'll make her have preference for Sora, if you don't mind.
Well, Xion is not possessive over Sora, so she will get along well with Wendy. However, later in the story, there will be a character that will be like Wendy's rival when it comes to the big bro thing.
I'm glad to hear that. You're welcome. And I hope you liked this chapter as well.
To MagatsuIza: Thanks a lot. Well, as Sora said in this chapter, he knew Vulpe was strong enough to break his armor into pieces, so his Keyblade Armor wouldn't have been really useful in the fight.
To anon: Probably. Sora can also tease other people.
To Guest: I can't give many details about that character, unfortunately. I don't want to spoil anything, after all. However, I can tell you that Vulpe, probably, will be Kairi's most dangerous rival lol.
To Bebuzzu: Lots of patience, I guess.
A guild like Fairy Tail is most likely to do something like that, don't you think?
To animelover276: Vanitas will be in this story, but…Is he the person Vulpe was talking about? Well, that will be revealed eventually.
Sure, I'm kinda busy lately, but I'll try to take a look at it when I have some free time.
To thrawn92: Yeah, I heard lots of people were eager to hear Sting's English voice because of that.
Don't worry, I won't confuse them.
Yes, I know. I was just pointing out the channel where I got the songs from so people could hear to the exact same video.
Is it Vanitas? Are you sure? Well, who knows…
Yes, she will appear in the story eventually.
To Red John: Perhaps in another chapter. I already had planned how this chapter was going to be.
To Guest: That'd be something funny to see. I'll see what I can do.
To : The point is that Sora wants to go to SAO because there are people trapped in that game, so I'll use season one, sorry. There are some animes I'm watching at this moment so that will have to wait.
To keys of fate: Can't give you many details about that yet XD I can tell you, though, that Vulpe will be, probably, Kairi's most dangerous rival, if you know what I mean.
To AnimeMasterDub: 1) Only Maleficent knows that. 3) Answered in this chapter. 4) Answered in this chapter. 5 and 6) You'll see as the story progresses. 7) In this story, I doubt it. 8) I don't think I really need to answer this question.
To NRG: Thanks for the suggestions.
To colossalblackening: Yes, they will participate, but I want to know what will happen in the manga first. I already made some changes in the story's timeline to adapt it to Fairy Tail's.
To Wayward Son: Yes, I have a couple of worlds/places for Sora to go before the SAO mission.
To 023601: The Survey Corps, and the rest of the SnK characters, have been living in Radiant Garden for two years. They already know about its history.
To New Guest: Yes, I have plans for Excalibur during the Tournament Arc. I think it'll be Merlin attacking the sword instead. That's what I'll do, after all. Stupid annoying sword.
To spyro259: It won't happen soon, so you'll have to be patient. And sorry, but Sailor Moon won't be in this story.
To Guest2: It'd something interesting to see, although I don't think all of them will sing. I can't picture someone like Levi singing.
To Anonymous: Yeah, I decided to take it out after giving it some thought. I needed to make some changes in the story anyway.
To Guest3: Not yet, they'll appear later.
That'd be interesting. There will be a lot of things happening during the Tournament Arc, though, so I'm not sure if I'll use it. I'll keep it in mind.
I'm planning to use him for a filler chapter as an individual villain. Probably he'll replace Pete, but I'm not sure yet.
To Guest 720: I have decided to not use the Tartarus Arc. I managed to adapt this story to the Fairy Tail timeline by changing some things to the fanfic's own timeline. Now I just need to know what will happen to the Fairy Tail Guild in the manga.
To Guest: True, Vanitas is not someone who creates bonds with people so easily. But it's normal people assume it's Vanitas since Sora reminded Vulpe of the person she mentioned, but it could be also a different person.
To orangesorafan: Nice, I hope you liked this one, too.
To Guest 722: I'm going to use some of characters of that list, not all of them, though. Also, as I said, I'm not going to use the Tartarus Arc, so Mard Geer won't be working for Maleficent.
Yeah, they'll more or less like old Sabertooth, at least some of them. You could see that Anguis, for example, is not like Leo or Vulpe.
To Guest: Yes, the House of Mouse will appear in a future chapter and Sora will go there. Not sure if he'll host, though. I'd rather leave that role to Mickey. I used teen Max, and yes, his friends will appear in the story too.
To AnimeLover513: It sounds like a good idea, but I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars, unfortunately. Besides, there will be a lot of characters in Radiant Garden during the Tournament Arc, so I don't want to add more. It'll be too much for me to handle.
To GuestWithIdeas: Thanks, I also really liked this chapter. It was fun to write, especially because of Anguis and Vulpe.
Yes, he fought like that for a small time. Black*Star would have outclassed him if he also decided to fight bare handed, though. It looks like we had the same idea for this chapter. Sora noticed Vulpe was very skilled in close combat, so he decided to ask Levi for help. I'll think about making Sora go on another expedition. As for the character Vulpe mentioned, I can't tell much about him. It will be revealed later in the story.
To Alpha Alchemist: 1) I can tell you that Natsu and Black*Star will make some ruckus in Radiant Garden. 2) Ruby will fangirl over Soul and the other Demon Weapons. It'd be a like a dream of hers coming true. I'm also planning on making Nora and Patty buddies. Ren and Kid will get along, too. 3) Some of the new Keyblade wielders will be like that yeah, but not the five of them. The Soul Society team, well, it depends on who participates. 4) I'm not sure if they'll be there, but I'll think about it.
That scale of the participants' power is spot-on, but I'll add something:
1. New Keyblade wielders
2. Light Guardians/Fiore Mages Guilds/Soul Society
3. Shibusen
4. Beacon
At this point of the story, the new Keyblade wielders are far superior to the other characters. If, for example, the tournament takes place in the next chapter, they could defeat all of them before the tournament even started if they wanted.