Cloud Advisor
Chapter 3: Reunion
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters involved except Guardian T. Twilight.
The group rushed up the ramp, entering the belly of the castle and finding it empty.
"Strange, you'd think they'd guard something like this," Twilight said.
As if in response to their comment, Nobodies began to appear. They wore long, flowing robes and kept their arms tucked into their voluminous sleeves.
"Great," Twilight grumbled.
The team readied their weapons before charging the Sorcerers. They were quickly overwhelmed by the group and as the last one dispersed at a strike from Sora the group took another look around.
"This place is huge," Donald said, "how are we going to find anyone?"
"I think we should split up. We'll cover more ground that way," Mickey told him, "I'll go this way. You four go that way."
Mickey pointed his keyblade at two large doors as he spoke. Before the group could respond Mickey was on his way through his indicated door.
"C'mon, we can't let him get ahead of us," Sora said.
The group followed him into the door Mickey indicated. They emerged from a hallway into an open-air chamber with a set of stairs that spiraled upward.
"Whoa…" Sora was looking up, trying to see the top of the stairs.
"We won't get there standing around here," Twilight told him.
Sora looked at them and nodded before leading the way up the stairs. As they reached the halfway point more Nobodies appeared, surrounding them.
"More of them? When will these guys take a hint?" Sora asked.
Twilight readied their glaive before nodding up, "I'll hold them off here. You go on ahead."
They dove into the Nobodies blocking their way, spinning their Glaive to send the Nobodies flying. As they came to a stop Twilight turned to face the group.
"Come on!"
Sora, Donald, and Goofy rushed up the stairs and passed Twilight. As he ran past Sora gave Twilight a look of concern, but Twilight simply nodded back. As the trio made their way up the stairs Twilight readied their glaive to face the remaining Nobodies.
"Right then. Who's first?" they asked.
Meanwhile, with Sora, Donald, and Goofy
The trio reached the top of the stairs and paused. They could still hear the faint echoing of Twilight's fight with the Nobodies below.
"I don't like that we left them behind," Sora said.
"They told us to go on ahead Sora. I think they'll be able to handle a few Nobodies," Goofy told him.
"Yeah, we need to keep going and meet up with King Mickey and Riku," Donald agreed.
"Yeah, you're right."
Sora looked up at the doorway before them before leading the group through. They passed through a narrow hallway before emerging into another room with a rectangular platform and another door on the far side. A balcony above would give someone a view of the entire room.
As the group stepped onto the platform, they were immediately surrounded by Heartless. They readied their weapons, but before anyone could make a move a barrage of crystal projectiles soared from the balcony above, destroying the Heartless.
"Have you been a good boy?" A voice asked.
"What? Show yourself!" Sora called.
A figure materialized from a portal of darkness, a man with slicked-back hair wearing an eye patch.
"Sounds like you haven't," he said, his tone was disappointed.
"Who are you?" Sora asked.
"Doesn't matter. I came here to tell you, Sora… or Roxas… whoever, that your time of interfering with our plans is over."
"Roxas?" Sora asked, looking at Donald, "Did he just call me Roxas?"
Donald shrugged, then they both heard a click as the man summoned his weapons; a pair of auto-crossbows with needle-like ammunition. He smiled at them before disappearing into another portal and appearing down on the same level.
"Here he comes!" Goofy shouted.
The trio charged him, but he disappeared in a flash, back to the balcony.
"He keeps moving around!" Sora shouted in an exasperated tone.
The man slid one of his crossbows into the other, forming an extended weapon that he aimed at Sora and his team. He began to fire short barrages of the same crystal projectiles as before, but Sora dodged them easily, reflecting them at the shooter with his keyblade.
"Clever little sneak!" he shouted before flashing back to the ground.
Donald fired a fireball which staggered him, leaving Sora and Goofy free to close the gap and attack. He tried to flash away but was caught by the group when he only managed to get a few feet. After a few minutes of trying to evade the trio and fire at them from the balcony above, the shooter retreated to the far side of the platform and dropped to a knee.
"Not bad kid," he said as his body began to disperse.
"Hey, hold on a minute!" Sora shouted at him.
The man smirked before disappearing, leaving Sora, Donald, and Goofy alone in the room once more.
"Why do they always do that?" Sora asked.
"You don't have time to be worrying about them," Twilight's voice called to the trio.
They turned to see Twilight jogging up to them.
"Glad to see you're ok," Sora told them.
"Was there ever any doubt?"
Sora shook his head before looking at the far door.
"C'mon, whatever he was guarding has to be through there."
The group took off, rushing through the door, and eventually emerged into a small room. Glowing red and blue icons marked the floor with gateways standing above the blue ones.
"What is this place?" Sora asked.
Twilight perked up, "Someone's coming!"
The group turned to face the door and saw two figures emerge. A girl in a pink dress and a figure in a black coat like the Organization.
"Kairi!" Sora shouted, recognizing his friend.
"Ah, so that's who you are," Twilight said as they relaxed.
"Sora!" The figure said.
"Riku!" Sora's face lit up as he recognized his friend's voice.
The figure threw back his hood, and Sora recoiled a step at the sight of him.
"Wait… you sound like Riku… but you look like-"
"Ansem, I know. It's a long story."