Chapter 14 Blast From the Past
The radar on the dash of the gummi ship starts beeping as soon as Destiny Islands fades into the distance behind them. Looking at it, Sora can see the white triangle at the center marking their ship's position and off to their right is a group of flashing red dots creeping closer.
"We have company," Sora says to Donald and Goofy, pointing out the corner of the windshield where a clump of orange heartless ships are coming towards them.
"How many do you think there are?" Goofy asks. He reaches under his steering wheel for the Teeny ship on his side and turns the knob which switches out the wheel for a video game controller.
Donald does the same. "Less than twenty. We can take them."
Sora nods in agreement, turning the ship to face the oncoming heartless. His controller is already at the ready and he rests a finger over the x button, waiting for the heartless ships to come within range. "Should I turn on the shields?" Sora asks. "They'll burn a lot of power."
"We shouldn't need them," Donald says also poised over his controller to fire the weapons on his Teeny ship. "Keep them off."
Pressing on the joystick, Sora urges the ship a little closer to the heartless, bringing them within range. All three of them fire at the same instance, sending three beams of light shooting out at the enemy ships. Reaching the first line in their ranks, the beams explode, decimating their numbers. Sora, Donald, and Goofy don't hesitate and fire again with the same devastating impact.
Half their numbers gone, the heartless try to retaliate with a volley of their own, but Sora makes the ship barrel roll to the left and all the beams flash harmlessly by. Righting the ship again to face the heartless, Sora rapid fires off five more beams which add to the ones Donald and Goofy also send. The combination creates a blinding explosion the swallows the remaining heartless and when the light of the attack fades there are no heartless left.
"That showed them," Sora says with a smug grin. He starts to turn the ship back to its original course when an explosion overhead slams him back in his seat. The cabin lights dim for a moment and the whole ship shutters.
"What the heck?" Donald asks, gripping his controller tight and peering out the windshield suspiciously. The space around them is empty making the three of them even more nervous.
Looking down at the radar, Sora taps the screen. "There's nothing out there,' he says frowning. No red dots are on the radar to mark an enemy ship, but that attack had to have come from somewhere. "Maybe…" Going on a hunch, Sora tilts both joysticks on his controller back and the nose of the ship lifts up.
"Gwarsh!" Goofy exclaims while Sora and Donald only gasp.
Above them is a heartless ship unlike any the trio has ever seen before. The new ship has to be at least ten times bigger than the small ships they had just defeated with a thick body and what looks to be arms branching out. The end of each arm starts to glow and Sora slams on the controller to send the ship into a barrel roll as six beams of light, one from each arm, come flying straight for them.
The radar starts to wail in a frantic way. A little late, Sora thinks glancing at the thing to see a huge red dot now right in front of their ship's marker. Looking back at the heartless ship, he sees the ends of its arms glowing and they each twist to point right at the Gummi Ship.
Donald and Goofy have opened fire, spraying the armored ship with a barrage of shots. The light of its incoming attack brightens and Sora dives for the shield button as six blasts shoot out of the enemy ship. His hand slams down on the large green button and a green glow washes over the ship starting from the tip. The heartless' attack hits their ship which pitches and shutters, but the shields take most of the impact.
The heartless revs up for another attack and Sora joins Donald and Goofy in shooting the large ship in hopes of finding a weak spot. It is too strong however and all their attacks glance off. It's arms start to glow again and Sora braces himself as another barrage of shots explode against the Gummi Ship.
A warning bell starts to ring. Despite the shields, the attack has damaged the ship and smoke from somewhere on the hull is creeping up around the sides.
"You have to get us out of here Sora!" Donald shouts, never taking his eyes of the enemy heartless.
"Right," Sora says, turning the joysticks on his controller. The Gummi Ship turns away as the heartless begins to glow again for another attack. Not ready to let its prey escape, the heartless ship gives chase.
Donald and Goofy keep their Teeny Ships trained on the enemy ship and rapid fire at it while Sora jerks the ship up so the next attack passes harmlessly under them.
Changing tactics, the heartless starts its own rapid fire from its six arms. Sora is able to dodge most of the attacks and the ones that hit their target are only glancing blows. The battle drags on and the gauge on the dashboard that tells the power left on the ship dips dangerously in to the red.
Curving away from another attack, Sora finds himself with the ship pointed down at the heartless from above. Sora adds to Donald and Goofy's attacks with a blast from the main ship and for the first time, the armor of the enemy cracks. The heartless ship tries to pull away, but Sora stays above it letting Donald and Goofy continue their onslaught of its weak point. A final blast from them both hits it and the heartless ship begins to break apart, each broken piece exploding as it does so.
Sora quickly moves the ship away before it can get any more damaged and they watch as the light of the explosions fades to reveal the heartless is gone. For a moment the three of them sink back in their chairs with relief of the battle finally ending, but the warning bell reminds them of the smoke still curling up from the hull.
"How bad is the damage?" Donald asks.
"Not sure," Sora says running a hand through his hair. "The ship should be able to repair itself, but it's going to take some time and we're running low on power." He looks at the power gauge still slowly going down. Remembering, he quickly hits the button to lower the shields and with them gone the ship isn't losing power quite as fast.
"Maybe it would be best to visit a world while it fixes itself," Goofy says and Sora and Donald nod in agreement.
Donald reaches for the touchscreen and bring up the list of worlds. "Where to?"
"Whatever's closest," Sora says without even glancing at the name of the world Donald selects. With a shutter, the ship starts to limp in the direction of the world with its three occupants on high alert for any more attacks.
…
Riku walks the streets of Agrabah remembering each twist and turn, alley and hiding spot of the city. It has been more than ten years since he last set foot in his homeworld, but as a child he had learned its ins and outs. He sees no familiar faces, but he isn't surprised. When he and Sora had lived there they had been street rats. That sort of life did not lend itself to making many friends.
He smiles to himself, remembering the ruses he and Sora had used to steal a bit of bread. Sora always played the innocent card - pretending to have lost his parents, scraped his knee, or maybe simply enthralled by the trinkets a merchant was selling. His big blue eyes and bright smile easily kept all the attention on him while Riku snuck over and snatched away their prize.
Lost in his thoughts, Riku lets his feet led him to the palace set apart from the rest of the city. Distracted as he is, he accidentally knocks into someone, jarring him from his reminiscing.
"Sorry," Riku apologizes, noting the fine clothes the man he had run into is wearing, but not bothering to glance up to see his face. He turns to continue on his way when he hears a voice that even older than he remembers is familiar.
"Riku? Is that you?"
Riku turns to see a young man with black hair and dark, mischievous eyes looking curiously at him. "Aladdin?" He says incredulously. Last time he'd seen him, Aladdin had been dressed in beggar's rags and huddling in shadows to stay out of sight of the Sultan's soldiers. Now he is clothed in robes of a prince and the soldiers standing behind him are not making any moves to arrest Agrabah's best thief.
"It is you," Aladdin says his mouth splitting into a grin. He pulls Riku into a quick hug, slapping him on the back. "God, it's been a long time," he says, pulling back to look Riku up in down. "Grown a foot or two, but I'd recognize that silver hair anywhere."
Riku grins back at his old friend and gestures to his expensive clothes. "You've changed a bit too."
Aladdin scratches the back of his head saying, "Yeah, I guess I have. Not the same street rat I was, when was it? Ten years ago I last saw you and Sora? Where is he by the way?"
"Not here," Riku replies. "I'm actually trying to track him down before he gets himself in too much trouble."
"I see some things haven't changed," Aladdin says and Riku laughs. The smile slips from Aladdin's face and he sighs. "I'm trying to track someone down as well. My wife, Jasmine, is missing."
"Jasmine?" Riku says, his brow furrowing. Reaching into his pocket he fishes out the crumpled paper Zack had given him and glances at the two names remaining. One of them is Jasmine. Looking back at Aladdin, Riku asks, "Your wife...is she a princess?"
Aladdin nods. "She's the Sultan's daughter."
Riku tries his best to mask his surprise, but judging from Aladdin's embarrassed expression, he doesn't do a very good job. However his mind is reeling too much for him to mind. Aladdin, young street rat Aladdin who had taken both Riku and Sora under his wing when they were both first learning to survive on the streets, had married the Sultan's daughter.
"Prince Aladdin," one of the soldiers says, stepping forward. "Do you want us to search the north side?"
"Yes, yes," Aladdin says nodding several times. "Please, go."
The soldiers quickly hurry off through the streets and Aladdin sighs, leaning against the wall of the nearest house. "Why is her name on your piece of paper?" He asks.
Riku glances at his list and slips it back into his pocket, noting with a sinking heart that only one name, Alice, remained. "There's something I have to tell you, but you're not going to like it," RIku says, looking his old friend in the eye and seeing worry in his gaze.
Taking a deep breath, Aladdin straightens up and bracing himself for the bad news Riku has to tell him he says, "Tell me."
…
Sora, Donald, and Goofy take the transporter down only to be met with a blast of hot wind blowing sand in their faces. Coughing, Donald spits out the sand that had gotten in mouth. He glares at the dunes in front of him with a wing held up to block the continued stinging wind. "Why would anyone want to live here?"
"Agrabah…" He hears Sora say behind him and he turns to see him facing the away from the sand dunes and staring instead at a large walled in city.
"Have you been here before?" Goofy asks and Sora nods.
"This…is my homeworld," he says. It hasn't changed hardly at all since the last time he'd been here. Same desert air, same rich majesty, and same crowded streets visible through the open gates before them.
Goofy scratches his head. "I thought you lived at MEKA with the others."
Sora starts down the dune they are standing on leaving Donald and Goofy to scramble after him. "I did, but before that I lived in Agrabah with Riku."
"Well, its hot," Donald says crossing his wings and glaring up at the offending sun in the sky.
Sora glances back and smiles. "It'll be cooler inside the walls," he says and leads the way into the city feeling a wave of nostalgia.
Inside the walls the wind disappears and they are met with a blast of noise instead. The city streets are packed with too many people and too many stalls, but the bustle is familiar and Sora lets himself be swept up in the flow of the crowd. It is the same as when he was a kid, but he doesn't remember quite as many of the Sultan's soldiers being around. He watches the men look around with narrowed eyes at each face that passes and occasionally stop people to question. Too late Sora notices that he has lost Donald and Goofy, but as he turns to search for them he finds himself instead face to face with a large man holding a bag of mangos up to him.
"Hungry, kid? Best fruit in Agrabah here," the man says gesturing to to the fruit stand behind him.
"No thanks," Sora says backing away. Once more he is swept up in the crowd. Craning his neck to try and see over the people around, he searches for Donald and Goofy.
Out of the corner of his eye he sees a flash of blue and stops in his tracks. People mutter curses at him for blocking the way, but he ignores them, searching the crowd frantically. There! He sees the flash of blue hair again heading down a side street and takes off in that direction.
Shoving his way over, he breaks through the crowd and reaches the side street panting. The young woman with blue hair turns to him and the look of worry on her face melts into one of relief.
Sora tries to speak, but no words come out at first. After a few tries he is able to stammer out, "Aqua?"
Aqua, looking just the same as she does in Sora's memories, smiles at him.
"You...you're here," Sora says. He wants to run and hug her, but he is rooted to the spot with the weighted feeling in the pit of his stomach that something isn't quite right. "How did you…? Where are the others?"
"Looking for you."
A large hand claps Sora on the shoulder and he turns towards the familiar voice to see Terra beside him. He is so caught up in staring he almost misses what Terra says next. "You can't wander off like that, Ven."
"What?" Sora asks, his head spinning. "Ven? Terra, don't you recognize me?" He looks between Terra and Aqua waiting for one of them to do something, say something that makes sense, but they both just act like they don't really hear him.
Aqua sighs. "Whatever. Just make sure it doesn't happen again. Now c'mon. We shouldn't keep the Sultan waiting all day."
She starts to walk away with Terra following and Sora reaches out to stop them. "Wait! I don't understand."
"Sora?"
Hearing Goofy call his name, Sora glances briefly behind him to see Donald and Goofy hurrying over to him. "Guys," he says to them. "Look, I found-"
He turns back to Terra and Aqua, but there is no one on the side street besides him, Donald and Goofy.
"They were just…" Sora says staring in confusion at the spot Terra and Aqua had just been standing. He only looked away a second, but they are gone. He stares down the street to where it takes a corner. Ignoring Donald and Goofy who are trying to question him, he takes off down the street and skids around the corner expecting to see his two lost friends, but all he sees is another empty street.
"Terra? Aqua?" He asks, his hope fading.
Goofy comes up beside him. "Are you okay, Sora?"
Sora turns to him, hanging his head. "I thought I saw them," he says. "Did I...did I just imagine it?"
"Aw, you must be getting heat stroke," Donald says, frowning in annoyance. "When we saw you you were standing there talking to yourself."
"I was?" Sora whispers to himself. He sighs. "Maybe I should get out of the sun or something," he says and looks at Donald and Goofy.
Before either can respond, screams reach them from back in the market and with a quick glance exchanged between the three of them, they take off back down the side street, fighting the crowd running in the other direction.
When they reach the main street again they immediately see the cause of all the commotion. Bandit heartless are everywhere and at the trio's appearance they all give up on chasing the townspeople out of the market to turn their attention instead to the keyblade in Sora's hand. Taking up defensive positions shoulder to shoulder, Sora, Donald, and Goofy are met with the first wave of heartless.
Ducking under a curved sword of one of the Bandits, Sora kicks forward at it. It falls to the ground and he stabs down on it, turning quickly to slice through another. Two hearts rise into the air to join the couple Donald and Goofy have released as well, but there are still many more heartless to go.
"Blizzaga!" Sora hears Donald shout and sees the ice cut through a whole line of desert dwelling heartless.
Following his lead, Sora points his own keyblade at the remaining heartless and calls out, "Blizzaga!" Another group of five or six heartless is taken out and alternating spell casting, Sora and Donald destroy most of the heartless in the street.
Sora moves to face the final remaining Bandit heartless and Goofy jumps beside him with his shield up to cover them both. A fireball slams into Goofy's shield making Sora start. Goofy lowers his shield and Sora can see the source of the fireball. A heartless similar to a Large Body is facing them and seeing he failed to roast them on his first attempt, the heartless opens his mouth wide and letting loose a stream of fire.
Sore pulls Goofy out of the way with him, but they have to duck behind a stall as the searing heat catches the wood on fire. Coughing in the smoke, Sora and Goofy stumble over to where Donald is standing having taken care of the final Bandits. "You two alright?" Donald asks.
Coughing a final time, Sora nods and turns to face the large heartless. He throws his keyblade end over end at it, striking it hard in the chest, but his keyblade simply bounces off and returns to his hand. "We have to strike it from behind," Sora says, hoping this heartless could be defeated like the Large Bodies back home. "You two distract it and I'll sneak around.
The street however is narrow and crowded with stalls - getting around to the heartless' back would be easier said then done. With Donald and Goofy moving forward and annoying the heartless with small spells, Sora goes behind the stalls, moving from one to the other and ducking down each time the heartless glances in his direction.
The heartless starts to shoot fireballs at Donald and Goofy forcing them to dive for cover, and Sora hurries behind the last stall, lunging for the heartless' unprotected back. Too late he realizes the heartless hadn't been fooled by Donald and Goofy's distraction and when the heartless turns, he isn't able to get his keyblade up in time to block the fireball coming for him.
White hot pain explodes down his arm and his keyblade slips from his grasp. Cradling his burned arm, he tries to step back away from the heartless, but trips on the uneven paving hard landing jars his arm and he gasps as the pain doubles. Looking up he is met with the cold empty eyes of the heartless preparing itself for a final attack.
Just as the fire is kindling in the back of the heartless' throat, ready to be released, two figures suddenly drop from the rooftop of the nearest building right behind the heartless. Their drawn swords plunge into it's back and it freezes in place before fading into nothing but a pink heart that rises to the sky.
The heartless gone, Sora can get a good look at the two figures recognizing one instantly. "Riku?" Sora says in a pained voice.
"Sora," Riku says hurrying forward and dropping to a knee beside him. "Curaga."
The soft green light falls on the burn on Sora's arm and he lets out a sigh of relief. He looks down to see the red skin heal. The curing spell ends and he turns back to Riku, asking, "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you," RIku replies, standing and helping Sora to his feet as well.
Sora brushes off the sand from his pants as Donald and Goofy hurry over to them along with the second man who had come to Sora's aid. Looking at the older man's dark hair and eyes, Sora tilts his head. "Is that you Aladdin?"
"Hey, Sora," Aladdin says with smile. "You're still finding ways to get into trouble I see. Good thing Riku and I are still around to save the day."
"You guys took care of one little heartless," Sora says grinning at his old friend. "I took out at least twenty." Donald coughs behind him and Sora quickly adds, "With some help."
"Sora," Goofy says. "Are these friends of yours?"
"Yeah, this is Aladdin," Sora says, gesturing to him and noticing for the first time how expensive his clothes looked. "He's the best thief in Agrabah and it looks like he finally stole himself so decent clothes instead of those rags he used to wear."
Aladdin gives him a shove. "I didn't steal them. Like you and Riku I've gotten out of the street life. Actually," he says rubbing his arm a little self consciously. "I'm married to Princess Jasmine. I bought these clothes."
"Really?" Sora says surprised. He turns to Riku to see his reaction at this change in Aladdin, but Riku isn't looking at him, studying Donald and Goofy instead with narrowed eyes like he is trying to figure out what to make of them. "Riku, this is Donald and Goofy," Sora says, pointing out who is who. "They're helping me look for Ven and their king, Mickey. Guys, this is Riku, my best friend...who I thought was in Traverse Town. How did you even get here, Riku?"
For a moment Riku refuses to meet Sora's eyes, but with a sigh he raises his head and says in a voice full of regret, "Kairi's missing."
Sora stares at him not understanding. "What? Missing? How can she be missing? Traverse Town isn't that big she can't be-"
"She's not in Traverse Town," Riku interrupts. "She was taken by Xehanort's heartless who's calling himself Ansem."
"Taken...you're telling me she was kidnapped?" Sora says, alarm and fear rising inside him. "By Xehanort's heartless? How do you even know about him?"
"I talked to Zack too," Riku replies. "He explained what was going on. Ansem, Xehanort''s heartless, is gathering the Princesses of Heart and Kairi is one of them along with Jasmine." He looks at Aladdin whose frown is mirroring Sora's .
"Kairi's a princess?" Sora whispers and Riku nods.
"Jasmine is missing too and that only leaves one princess, Alice, that Ansem hasn't taken as far as I know."
Sora sits heavily on a barrel next to the wall. Kairi was kidnapped and he didn't even know about it. At first Sora is angry at Riku, blaming him for not protecting Kairi, but as soon as the thought enters his mind it is replaced by crushing guilt knowing it was him who had run off and hadn't been there to protect her. What if he never sees her again? He would never get the chance to tell her how much he liked her. Never apologize for leaving like he did.
"We have to find her," Sora says looking right at Riku.
Riku frowns. "I've been trying, Sora. But Ansem's been difficult to catch." He looks away, his frown turning into a scowl.
To Sora it looks like there is something else bothering Riku, but before he can ask him about it, there is a loud happy shout from above and a big blue streak comes shooting towards them out of the sky.
"I'm home!"
"Genie!" Aladdin says, splitting into a wide grin as the streak reaches them. It turns out the streak is really a blue man like being who scoops Aladdin up in a big smothering hug.
"Al! It's been eons!" Genie says grinning as he puts Aladdin back down.
"I'm so glad you're home, Genie," Aladdin says. "We could really use your help right now."
"You're wish is no longer my command, but I'll do anything to help out a buddy. Ask away," Genie says, gesturing for him to continue.
"Jasmine's missing," Aladdin says and Genie's face is shocked for a moment before turning serious. "She's not the only one. Some guy has been kidnapping girls and we need to find them. Can you search the worlds for any sign of them?"
"You've come to the right guy," Genie says, cracking his knuckles. "One universe turned topsy turvy and inside out coming right up. Back in a flash!" With that, Genie flies back up into the sky and disappears into the clouds.
Aladdin turns to Sora and the others smiling sheepishly at their confused expressions as they look to where Genie disappeared. "It's complicated," he says rubbing the back of his head. "But Genie can search a whole lot faster than us. Why don't you all come back to the palace? We can wait for him to come back there."
"Alright lead the way, Aladdin," Sora says and with a nod Aladdin starts off down the city streets with the others trailing behind. For a while, Sora is lost in his thoughts of how he is going to save Kairi, but glancing to his right he sees Riku walking beside him and scrutinizing him. Seeing Sora caught him staring, Riku quickly looks away, but Sora asks, "What?"
Riku glances at him a moment. "There's…there's something else I have to tell you," he admits.
"What is it?" Sora asks dreading hearing more bad news. When Riku doesn't answer immediately, Sora prompts him saying, "Well?"
"...I'll tell you later," Riku finally says. Before Sora can protest he quickens his pace and walks beside Aladdin instead.
Sora frowns at his back as Donald and Goofy come up beside him. "Something wrong, Sora?" Goofy asks noticing Sora's expression.
Sora shakes his head, but isn't sure himself. What did Riku have to tell him that is making him act so strange? Watching Riku sneak a glance over his shoulder at him, Sora makes a promise to himself to get Riku to spill as soon as they reach the palace.
…
Kairi crouches by the new girl sitting huddled on the floor where Ansem's guardian had dropped her. "What's your name?" Kairi asks, giving her the best smile she muster in the current situation.
"Cinderella." Came the quiet reply.
"I'm Kairi. Are you hurt?"
Cinderella shakes her head, pulling her arms tighter around her. "The other girl is I think."
Kairi glances behind her at the second girl, Aurora, Ansem had put in their cell a few moments ago. She'd been barely conscious with a cut on her temple. She'd only been able to mutter her name before fainting.
"Belle and Jasmine are tending to her," Kairi says to Cinderella and the blond girl slowly raises her head to reveal light blue eyes bloodshot. She looks around, eyes widening at the sight of the bars enclosing them.
"Did he take you too?" She asks, her eyes settling on Kairi.
Kairi nods. "His name is Ansem. He's kidnapped six of us so far."
Which left only one to go, Kairi knows. They will have to make a move before Ansem has all seven or... She shudders to think of what will happen if they don't get away.
"Charming...oh god, Charming," Cinderella whispers and tears fill up her eyes again.
"Hey, it's alright," Kairi says sitting beside her and taking a trembling hand in her own. "We're going to get out of this."
"That-that man, Ansem, he was hurting Charming. He wouldn't stop," Cinderella sobs clutching Kairi's hand like a lifeline. "I thought he was going to...but then that boy with the funny sword came and they fought."
"A funny sword?" Kairi repeats and Cinderella nods.
"Shaped like a key."
Kairi's mouth drops open a moment before splitting into a wide smile. "Was it Sora? Is he the one who fought Ansem?" She turns to the door, half expecting to see Sora rushing in to save her with that big goofy smile he always had.
"I don't know his name," Cinderella says.
Turning to her Kairi says, "Brown spiky hair with eyes blue like the ocean?" Bluer than the ocean really. And deeper too. Kairi always found herself getting lost in them when she'd look at Sora.
"No," Cinderella says and Kairi's heart drops like a stone. "He had silver hair."
Kairi tilts her head in surprise. "Riku...how did he get to your world?"
Cinderella shrugs and lets go of Kairi's hand to wrap her arms around herself once more. "Hey," Kairi says, putting a hand on her shoulder so Cinderella will look her in the eye again. "We're going to get out of here and you're getting back to Charming."
"How?" Cinderella asks miserably. She gestures to the bars around them. "We're trapped."
Kairi looks around as well. "I'm going to find a way out," she says. She looks back at Cinderella. "I promise."
This chapter kicked my ass. Damn you writer's block *shakes fist at computer screen*
Writer's block + homework + college headache + softball starting up = really really late update
I so sorry!
CatLoverx33: Take that Seifer!
TopazDragon98: Even more yaoi pairings to come :)
LightzMusic22: My lips are sealed when it comes to who will end up with who. You're just going to have to wait and see :P
I wish I could promise the next update will be way faster than this one, but I can't. I'm really busy right now and I'll be staying that way for about a month :( More frequent updates will start again when I get out of school. I'm going to try very hard to keep it from taking this long again.
...You know, a bunch of reviews might give me the incentive to stay up a little late and get the next chapter done...Review? :)