Keep in mind while reading: All for One's last name is Shigaraki (this was mentioned in My Villain Academia).
Chapter 2: Help
Donald, Goofy, and Kairi followed Riku as they all glided across the city, light rain falling on their skin and clothes as their gazes remained laser focused on the point the suffocating feeling emanated from. Although being petrified to the point of paralysis moments ago, they now all rushed forward, two thoughts planted squarely in their minds.
(Sora,) Kairi put a hand on her chest, (you'd better be okay.)
Riku's head jolted up, and he threw a flat hand up at everyone. They all descended back to the ground, landing in a narrow sideroad, nearby a corner leading to a dark alley.
"This is it. Whatever that feeling was came from around this corner."
Goofy examined their surroundings, a curious expression accompanying him. "Say, this kind of looks like the area that portal from the Twilight Town Mansion leads to."
"I figured that's where it came from." Riku let out an angry puff of air. "Not even Master Yen Sid could close that portal, but it's still hidden really well." His eyes squinted at the dark alley before them. "How did that thing find it?"
Donald examined their surroundings, a fearful expression accompanying him. "More importantly, what if it's not there anymore?"
"That's a good question Donald," Goofy responded, "that awful feeling hasn't come back yet, so we don't know where the thing that caused it could be. In fact, we don't even know what was causing it at all, or why Sora hasn't shown up yet."
"That's been bugging me too," Riku said, biting his teeth as he stared hesitantly at the ground, "if Sora did already encounter this thing, I'm positive we would've seen them fighting by now. Why hasn't he given us some sort of signal yet?"
"They must not be fighting," Kairi excitedly suggested, "knowing Sora, they're probably friends already."
"Or maybe they teleported Sora somewhere else to fight?" Goofy suggested, "It wouldn't be the first time that's happened."
"That doesn't matter," Riku cuts in, frustration rising in his tone, "we can't afford to sit here and talk while Sora might be in danger. We have to get moving before he gets hurt."
Donald and Goofy both gave firm nods. "Right!" "A-yup!"
"Kairi," Riku said, looking back to her. She smiled back, giving him a nod. "Going in without a plan isn't part of Master Yen Sid's orders." Riku smiled back, chuckling to himself. "I'll take my scolding from him later."
Riku summoned his keyblade, taking a battle ready stance. "Everyone!" Donald and Goofy drew their wand and disc shaped shield respectively, and Kairi summoned her keyblade, all of them taking battle ready stances. "Be ready for anything!" With Riku leading the pact, the four began charging toward the dark alley.
Then... ringing, from Riku's pocket. They all paused in place with him as a confused Riku pulled out his gummiphone. Their confusion turned to shock seeing who the call was from.
"Sora!" Kairi announced, "Why is he calling us? Is he lost in the city?"
"I doubt that," Riku mutters as he accepts the call, seeing Sora on the other end of the screen.
"Hey guys," he said with a wave and smile. That was all it took for everyone to know something was wrong. The Sora greeting them sounded plain and monotonous, lacking the peppy, cheery energy they knew their friend had in spades. His wave and smile lacked enthusiasm, and his eyes were strained and distracted, seemingly concerned with something else. "I'm all fine, don't worry about me."
"Sora, are you okay?" Donald asked. Everyone could see Sora standing in what appeared to be a dark alleyway, only the light from his gummiphone scarcely illuminating his surroundings. "Course I am," he responded with a choked cheer, "I just ran into some Heartless on my way back, but I'm fine."
Goofy looked at Sora puzzlingly, scratching his head. "Gawrsh Sora, you're not acting like yourself. Why haven't ya met back up with us yet?"
"I'm, uh, looking for..." His gaze drifted to his left for a moment. "whatever made that weird feeling! I figured we'd be able to, cover more ground if we split up. That makes sense, right?"
"It does," Riku buts in, staring at Sora with a stone cold, serious expression, "but that's not what we're asking about. We want to know why you're not telling us what's wrong."
Sora gasped hearing that. He saw Donald tapping his hands together, and Goofy rubbing the back of his neck, both of them looking away from him in response to Riku's declaration. His gaze drifted to his left for a moment as his eyes strained even more, and his breathing began picking up.
"We know you Sora," Riku continued, "you're not the kind of person to go off on your own when you don't have to. If you're trying to protect us, then don't bother do it like this, because we want to protect you too." His stone cold expression melted into a soft, concerned smile, his eyes gently staring back at his friend. "We know you're hiding something from us, and I bet you think you're helping us out. I don't blame you for going against Master Yen Sid's orders, but if there's one order of his we shouldn't disobey, it's staying together.
"And, if you're still going to insist on splitting up after all that, at least tell us why."
Sora struggled to respond, his mouth moving as if he wanted to speak, and something repeatedly stopping him from doing so. As he struggled, his gaze shifted to the left, where a slight gust of wind blew his hair back a bit. Sora continued staring to his left, his eyes squinting in curiosity, before looking back at the phone. He responded with a tremble in his voice. "Um, okay, if you say so."
Sora turned his gummiphone to the left, showing everyone the spitting image of Master Yen Sid. Everyone looked on in shock and excitement.
"Master Yen Sid!" Donald shouted. "Oh, hi there Master Yen Sid," Kairi said, "it's good to see you made it back safely."
Their Master returned a gentle wave and soft smile to them. Where Donald and Kairi were relieved, Riku and Goofy were both suspicious. They both squinted their eyes as they looked at the corner of the phone and saw a familiar orange and green portal glowing in the depths of a dark alleyway, the Twilight Town Portal. What caught them all off guard however, was Sora murmuring "What?" to himself.
(Sora's confused?) Riku thought, (That's weird, all Donald and Kairi did was greet Master Yen Sid. Why would he be confused by that?)
"Yep! Master Yen Sid is back!" Sora exclaimed, turning the phone back to him, "He wanted to talk to me specifically, i- in private. I know that's unusual, but just give us some time to talk. Head back to the top of the castle, I'll explain everything when we're done."
Riku's gaze turned from the gummiphone to the corner leading to the alley, a slight, curious squint in his eyes. (Goofy said the portal was behind this corner, so Sora must have encountered the thing that awful feeling was coming from. But... why would Master Yen Sid want to tell something to only Sora, even for a little while?)
They all stood in silence together, nobody sure of how to respond. Donald and Goofy exchanged confused glances, while Kairi looked at Sora with a soft smile. Riku, however, gripped his gummiphone.
"Nice try, but you can't trick me."
His keyblade materialized into his free hand, and he began marching toward the alley. "I'm not falling for your trick. This won't go the way you want it to!"
His sudden outburst brought a shocked shout out of everyone. Donald and Goofy both pleaded for him to stop.
"Hold on Riku!" "Riku, wait!"
But he kept going. Even Sora begged for him to stop. "No, please Riku, trust me! Just give us some time, please!"
Suddenly, Riku was stopped in place. Not by anything ferocious or malicious, just a hand wrapped around his arm. Kairi's hand.
"Ah, Kairi?"
She looked down at Riku, staring at his hand, then turned her head up to him, greeting him with a smile.
"It's okay Riku. We can trust Sora."
Riku paused for a spell, his face filled with hesitance and uncertainty, but that soon changed as he looked toward his friends for comfort. Donald and Goofy both nodded, and Kairi continued to smile unwaveringly.
"Riku," Sora said, making him turn his head to his friend, who's mouth was quivering and eyes were solid and steady, "I promise I know what I'm doing. Trust me."
Following another pause, Riku's grip on the gummiphone loosened as he exhaled. "Okay. You win, Sora." He gave his friend a smile. "Let us know when you're done." After a firm nod from Sora, Riku tapped the phone's screen, ending the call.
"Come on guys. Let's get moving." Stowing the phone in his pocket, Riku began heading to the old Organization's castle, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi following by his side.
Donald let out a sigh. "That sure was weird. Both Sora and Master Yen Sid were acting really different. Maybe they're both stressed from whatever that awful feeling was?"
"Mhm," Goofy muttered, "I'm sure we all noticed how odd they were, but I think there's more to it than just being stressed."
"You're right Goofy," Kairi added, "this is more than simple stress. I've known Sora for a long time, and this was the most serious I can ever remember him being. I'm not sure what's making them act like this though."
She then directed her gaze at Riku. "But I get the feeling you know why."
Riku nodded. "I don't like the idea of leaving Sora alone with him, but if he says he has a plan, I'll trust him for now."
"Wak?" Donald quacked confusedly, "Why don't you trust Sora being with Master Yen Sid?"
Riku pulled out his phone again, staring at the screen. "I don't think that was Master Yen Sid."
Sora continued staring at the screen of his gummiphone after Riku hung up. Despite his friend fulfilling his wish, he still placed a hand over his chest, his eyes and mouth hanging heavy on him.
"You have some good friends Sora." His attention was drawn from the device in his hand to the person on his left. Sitting against a wall of the alleyway was the man Sora knew as Tomura Shigaraki, the darkness of the alleyway illuminated slightly by an ethereal, glowing light on Shigaraki's chest. "They remind me of my comrades and how much I care about them, and how much I used to care about Shigaraki."
He lifted his hand up, staring into the gaping hole in his palm as he imagined thrusting a fist through All for One's chest. "I remember the look on his face when he realized I outgrew him. Serves him right for trying to turn me into him, I already told him I didn't want that."
He squeezed his hand shut before turning his gaze to Sora, who looked at him with steady, shaky eyes. "Don't mind my mumbling, this isn't about me. I'm interested in you, Sora. You peaked my curiosity, but I wanna hear it from your mouth. Tell me about yourself, who you are and your ideals."
Sora continued looking at him, trying to piece together his intentions. (Well, seems like he really does just want to talk. Maybe just for now, but still.) "Sure."
After saying that, the glowing light on Shigaraki's chest began shining.
Sora slowly approached Shigaraki and sat down a fair six feet next to him, his face aimed at the dark, stony ground in front of him. "I spent most of my life on a small island with my friends. We always wondered what was out there, and me and Riku wanted to see other worlds more than anything. When we got our wish, it didn't go how we thought it would. I was apart from Kairi for so long, and I thought I lost Riku forever."
He lifted his head up from the ground, his eyes shining as he looked at the sparkling sky above him. "But these past few years have been some of the best of my life. I've met so many new friends, seen so many awesome places, and had so much fun through it all. Even though I've got so much responsibility, even though I have so many people depending on me, I wouldn't be the person I am now if even one thing was different. Whenever I'm scared, whenever I'm afraid I can't do it, I always have my friends backing me up. They gave me everything, and I'd give everything for them, over and over again until I have nothing left to give. The people who give me strength, are the most important thing to me."
Shigaraki sat in total silence taking in Sora's monologue. Then, he began chuckling. "Wow! I can't believe you just said all that with a straight face! Your friends are your power?! What are you, a cartoon character?! Did I end up in a fictional universe or something?!"
Sora merely stared at him and that bright, glowing spot on his chest as Shigaraki's chuckles turned to laughter. Soon though, his laughter subsided. "This is why I wanted to meet you. Everyone I met on the way here had something to say about you, and I couldn't believe someone like you was real unless I saw em face to face. But now I know why, it's that child-like whimsy. Hearing you speak, hell, just being close to you puts this warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest. Being with you makes me feel like a kid, and somehow not itchy at the same time."
"What? Itchy?" Sora asked, his eyes and eyebrows squinting in confusion.
"I'll spare you the details, but I hated being a child. My fa- family was terrible, and whenever my father would scold me, my own skin became unbearable to live in." Shigaraki's grin flared up, a toothy, wicked curved line cracking across his face. "I don't regret killing them one bit."
A brief silence fell upon the two. Shigaraki shifted his gaze to Sora, who sat there, his eyes drifting as he was presumably lost in thought. Then, they refocused on Shigaraki.
"Can I ask you a few questions?"
Shigaraki grinned a tiny bit as the light on his chest flared a little. "Sure, whatever you want."
"Are you the one that's been crumbling worlds to nothing?"
The glowing spot on Shigaraki's chest flared again as Sora spoke. At this point, Sora was firmly suspicious of that light. It had consistently been flaring up as soon as one of them began speaking, yet whatever its purpose was, it didn't appear to be dangerous.
Shigaraki paused, still holding the grin on his face. "Yep. I come from another universe, or dimension or reality, whatever you wanna call it. A comrade of mine tried helping me out, only to open a portal to your universe and strand me here."
His eyes began glowing, the white outside his pupils changing to multiple colors at once. A... lifeform of purple mist with striking yellow eyes wearing a suit appeared in his vision. The image of the thing was accompanied by certain pieces of information.
A long blotch of purple mist covering some text with the word "Kurogiri" superimposed over it, a faint, red dot with an X over it, and some bullets points saying; 'No direct combat capabilities', 'Quirk only usable within field of vision', and 'Inconsistent cross-universal travel'.
(Guess Kurogiri didn't even know he had that power.) Shigaraki mused to himself.
"You said you met with Master Yen Sid. So... does you mean you..." Sora couldn't finish his sentence, but...
"He started attacking me out of the blue, telling me I was 'pure evil' and 'deserved to remain locked in the Realm of Darkness forever'. Told him I didn't gave a damn what some old coot said, then turned him to dust for pissing me off," he answered, a smirk on his face the whole time.
Those words, "turned him to dust", echoed in Sora's mind, making his chest writhe and squirm. What Master Yen Sid and Riku said about worlds crumbling into nothing suddenly made perfect sense. Not only that, but Shigaraki said he'd met others on the way here.
Sora wanted to deny that, he wanted to believe everyone was simply in Traverse Town, but with so many of his friends no longer reacting to his Summon Requests, and seeing the purple cape on this man's back, Beast's cape, was something he couldn't refute.
Wherever Yen Sid, Beast, and the rest of his friends were now, he knew it wasn't the Realm of Darkness.
Without any warning, tears began running down his face, not making a sound as they silently slipped down his cheek. His arms wrapped around his chest, sticking firmly to his shoulders as his head slumped into the hole they made, his body occasionally puffing up and down as he sat there.
Shigaraki didn't make a sound, just staring at Sora with narrow, squinted eyes. He didn't mock or interrupt Sora, he simply staring at him. (Was it that easy? Is he really gonna throw in the towel cause I said some of his friends are dead?)
He wasn't sure how much time passed, but eventually, Sora took a deep breath, lifted his head up, and gently wiped away the tears. He faced Shigaraki again with a low, reserved tone, and eyes that never fully met with his.
"Why did my friends think you were Master Yen Sid?"
He answered with a blank, emotionless expression. "Hmm, I don't blame you for not catching on sooner, so I'll give you the short version. Where I come from, most people are born with this thing called a quirk. They can be pretty much anything, and that Radio Waves one lets me manipulate technology in all sorts of ways. I didn't think it'd work on that weird ass phone, but I'm not complaining."
"... But, you said he told you about me and my friends. When did that happen?"
"Another quirk, it's called Network." Shigaraki pointed at the glowing light on his chest, flaring up again when he responded. "This one lets me see the personality of someone and those they care about. The longer we talk, the more info I get. I also get a glimpse of meeting those close to them for the first time, a snippet of what happens and where it is."
Another startling realization that left Sora motionless. (The more we converse, the more I learn about you.) This man was already suspicious enough, but knowing he was doing something like this without his knowledge or consent, to him and his friends... How much did he already know? How does one even respond to that?
For Sora, it's with another question.
"Why are you doing all this?"
Shigaraki's emotionless face turned sour, his forehead scrunching and his eyes flaring. "I hate society. I hate all the standards and ideals that ruined my life, that made a scared, lonely child an inconvenience people would rather ignore. I didn't grow up in this universe, but I see it's even more infested and rotten than mine. Everything here is idealistic, black and white with labels like 'good guy versus bad guy', rejecting those that don't fall under their idea of "normal" as problems that need to be fixed or eliminated.
"Even among all these different worlds, this core ideal of good versus bad has festered and burrowed into the DNA of this universe itself. I don't destroy because I'm some child with no conviction, I destroy because I'm rejecting the world for rejecting me. Society with its 'moral ideals', the mindless people that remain complacent, and the god-damn self-righteous heroes that hurt the people they love just to save some stranger they don't know. No matter what reality I'm in, heroism disgusts me to my core, and I'll destroy it all until none of it remains."
Shigaraki turned to Sora, staring closely at him. "Well, what's your response to that Mr. Cartoon Character?"
"I don't think you mean that."
Shigaraki's head slowly reeled back, as if he was failing to process Sora's words. But he didn't interrupt or deny them. He listened.
"I believe everything you said. The look in your eyes says it all, you really have been through a lot, more than anybody ever should, but I think you're going about this all wrong. It's true that there's a lot of darkness in both of our worlds, and there are people that can be difficult to get along with, but that doesn't mean they're an enemy that needs to be eliminated.
"There was this man named Xehanort who gave me so much trouble in the past, and he seemed like a truly evil person. But, he just wanted to make everybody happy, and became misguided along the way. He was actually a lot like those 'self-righteous heroes' you mentioned earlier, a person trying to do a good thing, but getting lost along the way."
Sora turned to Shigaraki, his smile warm and inviting. "And I think the same thing happened to you. You're trying to do a good thing, but aiming to achieve it through bad actions. Ansem The Wise, Axel, Riku... even me." Sora rose to his feet, staring up at the dazzling sky as images of his friends filled his vision.
"We've all done things we're not proud of, justifying them behind the outcome being good, but we all recognized the mistakes we made and grew past them. I used to think that anyone that sided with darkness was corrupt and evil, but now I know that darkness and light are inside everyone's hearts. Everyone is capable of good and evil, but all you can truly do is strive to be the light everyone needs, and spread that light to others as best you can."
Sora extended a hand to Shigaraki, smiling as he looked at him. "Let me do that for you. Can you open your heart up to me, Tomura?"
The two stayed silent for a while, Sora reaching his hand out, and Tomura staring in confusion at him, at it. His mouth hung open slightly, his eyes fixated on the hand like they were locked on to it. Sora could only guess as to what was going through his head, but to him, in this moment, Tomura was feeling doubt. Sora could feel excitement rushing through his heart, the sheer idea that his words really got through to him fueling him with energy.
"You really are a naïve child." Then it all vanished with that dead-pan declaration. Shigaraki's mouth fully closed, and any confusion he might have had made way for clarity, his sharp gaze cutting through Sora. "I didn't come here to have some epiphany and skip around like a preschooler, or to be lectured by some sheltered kid that's never been through any real pain."
Shigaraki rose to his feet, reaching out a hand to Sora's face, the gaping hole in his palm lighting up red. "You can't change who I am, Sora."
Sora jumped back, summoning his keyblade into his hand. "I can't just hold my hand out to you and fix your problems Tomura. If you want to be the person I know you are deep down, you have to put in some leg work too."
"Didn't you hear me the first time? I'm not gonna change my mind because this IS who I am." Confidence flared through Shigaraki's eyes, his voice strong and conviction surging. "You'd better be damn confident about changing my mind, cause if you don't back away now, I'm gonna put you and your friends through hell."
Any form of fear Sora had long since perished. He brought his keyblade to his side, tightly gripping it as his firm, conviction filled eyes met Shigaraki's.
"We're not gonna lose to you."
A grin consumed Shigaraki's face as he kneeled down and lowered his hand to the ground. "Me neither."
For a split second, the question (what is he doing?) popped into Sora's mind. Then in the next, Shigaraki gently placed his hand on the ground. Trails of thick, purple lines, seemingly coming straight from The Grid, shot out across the ground.
Everything around Shigaraki began to crumble into nothing as a visible shockwave of clear air traveled outward all around him, reducing everything in its path to nothing. The pavement, the ground, even whole buildings deteriorated in seconds, collapsing and disappearing completely before even hitting the ground.
Sora watched on in horror at the display of power before him, filling him with a fear more potent than the suffocating one from before.
(Worlds crumbling to nothing.) Only now did the sheer magnitude of that claim hit him. Entire planets, and everything on them, reduced to a memory, as if they were merely dreams. What was once an unimaginable fantasy was now an unmistakable, undeniable reality. (Who is this guy?!)
Time around Sora slowed to a crawl as he focused on the image before him, a visible shockwave destroying everything it touched, one that traveled at an insane speed. Sora was already close to Shigaraki, so the wave was now barely six feet away from him.
(I can't let it touch me,) battered his brain, playing on repeat at max volume. Now was not the time to panic.
(I have to move, I have to get away from him!) His gaze shifted to the right, where in his current state of focus, he spotted a square, blue and white waypoint on a building above him. His body gained a blue aura, and in a flash, he zipped up to it, the blue aura fading when he landed on the building.
Time returned to normal, the sudden boom of Shigaraki's massive attack startling Sora as he leapt into the air as high as he could. Even in the air however, the shockwave continued chasing him, debris it was destroying being flung into the air, as if it trying to hit someone in a game of dodgeball.
Time slowed to a crawl once again as a few pieces of debris came flying at Sora, stopping just shy of touching him. (This is crazy! It's moving so fast, I'm not sure if I can out-speed it even with flight!) He returned his attention to his surroundings, making out a pattern of waypoints across the rooftops to escape the behemoth attack.
He wasted no time in zipping forward, the blue aura enveloping him once again. He dashed from building top to building top, darting as if he was teleporting from point to point. He traveled buildings away, blocks away, but the wave continued following him, obliterating dozens, perhaps hundreds of buildings in just a few seconds, and still showed no signs of stopping. The one silver lining was that, with this blue aura, Sora was faster than it, gaining distance slowly but surely.
And then it vanished. Just as Sora landed on another rooftop, the blue aura disappeared and wouldn't come back, leaving him stranded. (Oh man, I can only utilize flowmotion in short bursts outside of the dream world. It'll need time to recharge before I can airstep again.)
Sora wasn't sure how long it would take to be usable again, but he could tell it would be longer than he had. He wracked his head for a solution, and figured he needed to buy himself time. Pointing his keyblade back, he launched barrage upon barrage of ice blasts at the ground between him and the wave, ending with a massive blast of veiny, spiked ice, creating a frozen, jagged wall extending as high as the buildings.
But when the wave reached the ice, it continued barreling through it, shattering the wall in moments just like everything else in its path. Sora was shocked, but knew he couldn't hesitate. He continued blasting the wave with every bit of magic in his arsenal. Firaga, Thundaga, Waterga... but they all failed too, not even slowing it down slightly.
Sora was at a loss. If his magic didn't work, nothing else he had would be remotely effective. (Dang it, I bet Genie could do something about this, but I can't summon him. I can't summon any of my friends...)
As Sora's expression began to droop with those words ringing through his head, his heart spoke to him. Whatever it said made Sora shoot back up and turn around, directing his gaze to the castle, where he could see Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy standing at its peak.
A surge of energy came to him as he bent his legs down and jumped off the rooftop, soaring through the air at breakneck speeds from the city below, all the way to the top of the Castle in seconds.
After a swift, clean landing, his friends rushed to him.
"Sora, are you okay?!" Donald asked in a panic.
"Hehe, yep! Didn't even touch me!" he responded, a cheery smile on his face.
"Sora..." Kairi muttered. She approached Sora, her quiet, light footsteps soon evolving into quick pats against the floor as she ran to her friend, embracing him with a hug. "I was so worried I'd lose you."
Sora gave her a hug in return, making all the doubt and fear Kairi felt melt away. "I won't disappear, not while you're all still with me."
The two held each other for some time, eventually being shocked back to reality as Goofy called their names. "Uuh, Sora, Kairi?" He motioned to Riku, who was standing by the edge of the castle, his gaze locked onto the ground far below.
"Right, we're done here, not by a long shot."
As everyone moved toward Riku, Kairi's eyes and mind began to wander. (So much has happened since the night we left the island. Sora and Riku have both been through so much, taken down so many powerful foes...) a frown grew across her face as her eyes fell to the white floor below, (but I've done nothing. I couldn't fight back against Axel, Xemnas, Xehanort. Every time I failed, my friends had to go through so much for me.)
Her head came back up with fiery, determined strength in her eyes, her frown changing into a firm, determined mouth. (I'm not going to let that happen now. No, I can't let that happen now. I'm going to be strong for everyone, I won't be a burden anymore!)
Kairi took hold of Sora's hand. "Let's beat this guy together."
Sora gave her a nod. "Yeah!"
Everyone rejoined Riku, and saw a sight that shattered their world view. An unfathomable area of land, once residing buildings, streets, and homes, was now a massive dust cloud. While it was too thick to see what lay underneath, everybody already knew what was down there.
An unnerving silence befell the group, one that was first broken by Riku.
"I thought it was kind of strange that you told us to go to the top of the castle specifically. We were all worried about you, but I see you really did have this planned out." He smiled, giving his friend a nod. "Thank you, Sora."
Sora returned a determined nod. "This is all coming from a guy called Tomura Shigaraki. He's from another reality, and is the one that's been destroying worlds."
"I see... That wasn't Yen Sid on the phone, it was this Tomura guy, wasn't it?"
Sora paused, his gaze falling on the dust cloud before them. "Yeah."
"Then... for our Master, and everyone this guy destroyed," Riku's keyblade popped into his hand, "We'll take him down for good!"
"Right!" Donald shouted as he and everyone else drew their weapons.
BOOM!
An explosion blared out from within the dust cloud, not resembling an actual explosive, but sounding more like a tire popping from excess air. Part of the dust cloud was blown away from that explosion, revealing a spec of a figure standing on a small hill of land, untouched by the wave of destruction, with three white lines spiraling high into the air.
Everyone went on guard as they all focused on the spec, one everyone else was seeing for the first time, but one Sora was already well acquainted with.
(You guys can't hide from me,) the spec thought, his multi-colored eyes focused on a single cyan dot at the top of the white castle. He crouched down low as visible wind continued to swirl above and around him. The gang of five braced themselves for an attack, their blood pumping, adrenaline fueling them.
A few moments later, the figure's legs jolted up.
BOOM!
A white ring of air was released behind him, similar to the ones jets breaking the sound barrier are depicted with, as he blasted forward into the sky, obliterating the hill he stood on. Time around Riku slowed to a crawl as suddenly, the same moment he blasted off the ground, a massive gust of air blew by everybody, its insane force pushing them back.
Everyone else was blindsided, but under his state of focus, Riku could track him. The figure went from a spec miles away, to soaring over and past them, moving as if the world around him hadn't slowed down. After soaring past them, he lifted the hand with a gold device in front of him, and released a blast of air from his arm. The force from his arm pushed him backward, sending him smashing into the floor of the Castle's Peak.
Time return to normal for Riku as everyone else turned on a dime to face him, his outline visible through the dust cloud his impact kicked up. As he lifted his head up, two multi-colored eyes pierced the cloud, glared at the five of them as bullet points of information filled the man's vision, and four cyan dots appeared over Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy's chests.
(Not anymore.)
Sorry this upload took so long. I'll mention now that I'll pretty much just update whenever I can, but as I said in my profile, I 100% intend to finish all stories I start, and will not drop this unless a steel pipe destroys half my brain or something insane like that.
And to reiterate, I am anime only, but will be making assumptions about the manga, as this story takes place after the manga ends (and after KH4, for those wondering about Sora mentioning Luxu last chapter).