Disclaimer: I don't own the characters! All credits go to the game!
Well, here's chapter 3! I hope you like it!

When they got to the postern, there were no unversed to be found. Sora looked behind some crates, he walked around every corner, but not one of those dark creatures dared to show up. Confused, he turned to Riku:

"Euhm... Could it be that Cid's data was wrong? Well, I mean... there's no unversed to be found here... No judgment really, just saying the facts..."
Kairi's face looked very cautious: "Cid's data detects dark powers. Do you think it could be...?"
"It's a trap." Riku immediately summoned his keyblade and said to no one in particular: "Hide and seek isn't my favourite game, so why don't you just come out and fight us if that's what you want!"

Out of nowhere, three black coats appeared surrounding the three of them. They all got a very different posture. It didn't feel right to look at those black coats again. Kairi and Sora also summoned their keyblades. One of the coats started laughing.

"Do you always rush in a fight like this?"

That was the same voice from before... Sora took a better hold of his keyblade and yelled at that coat: "Well, why don't you tell us what you're up to? Then we'll consider going easy on you!"

The coat laughed even harder, took his cowl off and showed a bold, old man with yellow eyes that seemed to observe your every move in a cold and calculated way. He turned to Sora and those same yellow eyes were looking at him now. His lips didn't move, but Sora heard that voice again...

You dare threatening me, young man? It's curious... you really believe that you can lay a hand on me. Maybe I'll tell you what I'm planning on doing with you. But let's measure your strength first, shall we? And Sora, don't forget about this fight, because there will be a lot more.

"Planning on doing with me? What are you talking about?"

Well, fight and see for yourself...

The old guy took off his coat and was dressed in almost the same clothes as Ansem had. Surprising Sora, he also summoned a keyblade! What could this mean? Was he a master? But there was no time to think about that, because the other two coats also summoned their weapons and it seemed that the fight had started. Kairi faced against the coat with the six lances and the old guy pointed his keyblade at Riku, so that meant that Sora was faced against the one who summoned two arrow guns. He was slightly disappointed that he couldn't fight the old man, he made Sora curious. But now he had to fight his minion. Well, there were worse things to pass your time...

He turned at his opponent: "I guess you can't be that strong..."
"Hah, as if! Strong enough to defeat you is perfect at this moment," said the coat and he began his first attack on Sora by pointing one of his arrow guns at him. Suddenly six red laser arrows shot out of it and Sora had to jump to avoid them. As he landed, he tried to hit the coat with a counterattack, but the coat was already gone before he could hit him. That guy was fast... Another load of those red laser arrows tried to hit him and he dodged them by rolling over the ground. The coat laughed: "Well, I thought this fight would be at least a little exciting... Too bad for you, kiddo."

Sora jumped towards him, but again, the coat disappeared before he even got close. How could he land an attack on him if he didn't get close enough? This guy was fast and he only attacked at a long distance, so in a close-combat it would be easy to strike him down. But how could he get closer? Or could he better hit him at a distance? After dodging the same attack again, Sora summoned his wisdom form in the hope that it would help in this situation. When another attack of those red laser arrows came for him, he slid away and directly counterattacked it by shooting magic bullets to his enemy. And it hit! While his enemy was reloading, he had a time-range of about 10 seconds before another attack would come to him. Now, this was getting interesting...

Kairi was shocked of how strategic this man was. She was fast, but this guy... He disappeared while his lances followed her and then he took his chance to hit her with his strength. She nearly got away with a scratch... What could she do? This was way more difficult than some of those unversed, compared to this guy; those creatures were a child's game! She dodged another one of his attacks. This was no training; she could really get hurt this time... She needed a strategy like him. Right! But she hadn't been in a real fight yet, how could she think while she had to keep on dodging the attacks? She would wait until after his next attack and then she would strike fast with all the power she had, she just hoped that there would be enough time before he regained his strength...

Riku was exhausted. Who was this man? He looked so old and yet... he was so powerful... Everything he tried seemed no good at all. It was like he didn't fight someone, but that he was training with a teacher who seemed bored to the bone! It was just so frustrating!

"Boy, are you even trying?"

Did this old man really ask that? How much power did that man have? He attacked the man once more with a combo-attack but it was no use, the man just blocked it blindly...

"I heard a lot about you. You embraced your inner darkness, but yet you returned to the light... What a shame, you had so much more power then. Do you call yourself a master now, boy?"

Riku planted a couple more attacks on the man but not one of them hit him, even his magic was blocked by a counter-spell. He stopped his pointless attacks and answered the old man's question: "Why do you care? It's not like you're my master."
"You're right; you wouldn't have passed the Mark of Mastery exam if I had taught you... You gave up your true power for these childish attacks, which means that you're not ready to be a master yet."
"Stop it! Just focus on our fight!" said Riku as he stood in his battle pose.
"What a pity. All that power thrown away... I'll show you how a true master fights weaklings like you."

And the next moment, the man had disappeared. Riku looked around him, but he couldn't see him anywhere. He felt a shift in the wind behind him and turned around, just to block an attack that was aimed at his back. Then the man disappeared again. Riku looked behind him, around him, but the next moment he felt a blade sliding through his shoulder. The man had struck him from above! He screamed in pain, cursing the old man and placed his left hand on his now wounded right shoulder.

"A scream? What was that?" Sora looked up from his own fight and saw Riku standing with his left hand on his shoulder. What was going on? Another load of red laser arrows tried to hit Sora and he had to focus on his own fight. Riku needed backup! How could he end this fight as fast as possible to help Riku?

Riku looked at that old man. Who was he? He looked so old, but he fought like a really powerful warrior. That man had hit his battle arm and now he couldn't strike anymore. The old man laughed and disappeared again, his attacks were much faster now and Riku got cut in his back, his left upper leg and his stomach. He felt the blood flooding from his veins onto the floor. This couldn't be... So fast... He fell on his knees and then those yellow eyes appeared again. How could he explain Sora that he had lost against an old guy? Those eyes... The next moment, Riku lost consciousness...

"Riku? Riku! Are you ok?! Riku!"

The black coat that battled Sora laughed and disappeared. What was going on here? Sora ran to the spot where Riku laid on the floor. All that blood on him... Could it all be from his friend? No way! The other guy must look awful if Riku looked like this. Sora dismissed his wisdom form. Kairi also ran to them and immediately looked at Riku's wounds: "He needs help! The guys in the black coats are gone, so let's get out of here! Aerith will know what to do!"

But then that man appeared again, the one who had done this to Riku. Sora looked carefully, but the man didn't even have a scratch. How could this have happened? Riku was so strong... The old man smiled at the sight of Riku. Those yellow eyes of him were filled with joy. Sora didn't know what to do. This man was bad news! Should he be scared for an old man? Nothing seemed right here...

The old man turned his attention to Kairi: "Well what have we here, a true princess of heart?"
He pointed his hand at Kairi and the next thing Sora saw was that Kairi was catching her breath. It looked like she couldn't breathe anymore!
"Let her go! If you have to fight someone, pick me then! Fight like a man!"
Those yellow eyes looked straight in those of Sora's: "So you would take her place?"
"I would do anything for her, even if it kills me!" said Sora before running towards the man, trying to hit the man's arm that pointed at Kairi. By his attack, the old man had to lose his grip on Kairi and Sora yelled at her: "Get away with Riku! Don't worry about me. I'll be back before you know it!"

Kairi was still out of breath, but she nodded to him and laid Riku's left arm in her neck, carrying him to Merlin's house. Now it was only Sora and that man. What would he do now? If even Riku couldn't beat this guy, then he really was a tough one. This was going to take longer than he thought...

"You're going to pay for what you did to Riku! You hear me?" that sounded more confident than he was, the adrenaline riled him up.
"That boy isn't important; I only showed him what a bit of true power can do."
"Riku's my friend! It matters to me! Anyone who hurts him deals with me!"

Sora pointed his sword at the old man and shot a fire ball to him. Then he ran as fast as he could and attacked with a three-fold combi-attack. Sadly enough, all his attacks were blocked in an instant. Sora backed down and summoned his valor form. When the guy would block his attack, it would still have an effect on him. He attacked again, but now from above and then directly at his sides. It seemed that all of his attacks were blocked again, but the old man grinned:

"Well, you're definitely trying harder than that boy from before. Show me what you got!"

Sora was just about to! He aimed at the old men's legs and he almost had him, but at the last moment the old man's black keyblade blocked the way. He turned and did a five-fold combi-attack aimed at the old men's back, his sides, his right arm and his left leg. But it was all blocked.

"I'm impressed, but you've got yet a lot to learn. Let's see if you can block my moves."

The next moment, the old guy disappeared without a word. Sora turned around and blocked a first attack. A smile appeared on the old guy's face as he disappeared again. Sora rolled over the floor and dodged nearly the old man's attack from above. His valor form had almost run out!
He jumped to the man to attack him, but he was gone before Sora's keyblade could hit him. When Sora touched the ground, something hit his right leg. The cut wasn't deep, but blood was running out of it. Sora diverted a next attack right on time that was aimed at his chest. But he wasn't fast enough and his power of his valor form was faded away. Now his left arm was cut too, this fight couldn't go on for very long or he'd lose his valor form and then he had no chance against this guy... The old man disappeared again and Sora was cautious. Then that voice spoke again:

I see much potential in you, Sora. What do you think of making a deal?

"I don't make deals with scum like you!"
He held his hand on the wound on his right leg to stop the bleeding but it didn't help much. His valor form disappeared, his strength weakened.

Is that so? And what do you think of a deal that says that I'll spare your life and that those two friends of yours will not be harmed again? Really an offer you can't refuse, right?

"Deals always have a catch, what do you want in return?"

Sora didn't felt good at the presence of this guy, but he needed to find out what he was up to. Maybe that old guy told his plan to him and then he could tell it to the King. The King would know what to do with any situation.

No catch, it's really simple: I want to unfold your true power in exchange for your loyalty to me.

"No way that I'm going to help you after what you did to Riku! Forget it!"

I guess you need more time to think about my offer. I'll give you three days, and whatever happens in those days are your responsibility for not accepting my very generous offer.

"I'll never accept your offer! I'll keep fighting you until the worlds are safe again!"

We'll see about that, you have three days to tell me your answer. Mark my words Sora; your friends will fall within these three days. All because you didn't accept my offer. We'll continue our battle here within three days if you don't change your mind. And if you do accept, I'll give you a power that you couldn't even imagine. With that, you'll be able to you protect your dear friends.

"Oh yeah? And what do you win by that?"

.. You have three days to accept my offer, see you soon.