Chapter 97: Frozen lands
It's been a week of traveling from the second mansion all the way towards the borders of Gusteko and Lugnica.
As they were still a few miles away from crossing into another kingdom, the group could feel the intense cold the country's in from such a long distance.
This prompted everyone to switch into their winter attire just to be prepared for the intense cold the kingdom's in.
"So, this is the type of environment the Bowel Hunter was raised in. Starts to make sense." Ram said all the while Kishida turned towards Yabuto. He could tell that he wasn't happy being back to the kingdom he was born in.
"You alright?"
"...yeah. I'll be fine. It's been a while since I've felt this cold." Yabuto says this with a blank expression, something rare for Kishida since he rarely sees his friend like this. Sora also noticed that, prompting him to ask Yabuto:
"Do you not like the cold?"
Yabuto had snapped out of his serious expression when he heard Sora's question.
"...It's not that per say. Let's just put it like this, it's a place that reminds me too much on why I never come here."
"I understand." Sora nodded when saying this. Roswaal couldn't help but overhear this and end up chamming into the conversation.
"Interesting. I wooooonder why you would join us wheeeeen you clearly hate being here."
Yabuto turned towards Roswaal with an annoyed expression, not liking him being involved in this conversations.
"I have my reasons, Margrave." Right before he could say something to insult him, he noticed on the corner of his eye Ram looking at him, giving a warning look to choose his next words very carefully. Normally he wouldn't care though out of all the maids, Ram does make him a bit nervous. This prompted him to calm himself before continuing to speak, "It's not something I like to discuss, Roswaal-sama."
"I understaaaaand that, I'm mainly curious on what could've convinced you to come here with us. You cooooould've stayed with Emilia-sama's group and gave your strength to them."
"Let's just say that I don't want the Bowel Hunter to die, especially in a place like Gusteko."
"Understandable." Roswaal said in a respectful manner before turning towards the front. "I wonder, will you be our guiiiide?"
Yabuto paused for a moment when hearing this, not really having crossed his mind since finding Elsa won't be easy at all.
"Maybe if we are by the place I was born...but even if I knew Gusteko, finding the Bowel Hunter won't be easy at all."
"Sora, was there some kind of plan in finding the Bowel Hunter?"
As the green haired knight asked this, everyone turned their attention towards the keyblade master since this was a question they were all wondering.
Sora could feel everyone turning their attention towards him and yet he wasn't fazed by the attention.
He took a moment as he took a deep breath before looking at Louis Arneb first, seeing her curious expression.
He patted her head before responding to Yabuto's question with:
"I'll find her. Our hearts are connected. That connection will lead me to her."
Although everyone at this point has a little bit of an understanding on what the keyblade master was saying, Rem still didn't like the phrasing of that since it sounds like something else.
She managed to keep herself in control...even though it's obvious she's jealous.
Roswaal having a feeling that this is one of Sora's special abilities to find those he cares for, he turned towards Yabuto to say:
"It seeeems we have our guiiiiide."
"Seems like it." The green knight was silent for a second before turning towards the keyblade master, "If we are nearby the place I grew up, I can help be the guide."
"Sure. I wonder what kind of place you were born in. It's definitely colder than where I was at."
"Wasn't it because your place was in an island?" Kishida questioned. Sora smiled as he nodded at the knight's question.
"We would like to visit your home, Sora-kun~tsu!" Louis Arneb spoke with excitement. Sora just smiled this off before turning towards Yabuto to tell him,
"I know this is tough for you, going back to a place that makes you unhappy. And yet you chose to join me to save Elsa. Thank you."
Despite how early it is to thank Yabuto, Sora wanted to show his support to his friend. Yabuto appreciated this before responding with:
"That Bowel Hunter isn't someone I would've thought myself going out of my way of helping, but since you see something in her, I'm willing to help you out."
Sora understood and nodded before everyone looked forward as they saw the gateway into Gusteko is right in front of them.
This prompted everyone to had their disguises right before arriving to the gates themselves, to prevent anyone from recognizing them as a part of the Emilia camp.
Once they were disguised, Rem and Ram took the chance to speak with the guards as they questioned them:
"What's your business for going into Gusteko?"
"We are merchants, attempting to grab supplies from within Gusteko." As Ram said this with a calm expression, she handed him a merchant license.
This license was created by Otto to help them enter with ease, though he wasn't happy creating a fake license.
The guard right in front of Ram grabbed the license and inspected it all the while the other two guards inspected the wagon Sora and the others were in.
After a few seconds, the guard handed back the merchant license to Ram before turning towards the other guards to see what they think.
The other two guards were suspicious on the number of "merchants" were in this wagon...then again there doesn't seem to be anything suspicious here.
The two turned back towards the guard that was inspecting the license to nod, showing that they didn't see anything off.
The guard turned towards Ram to tell her,
"Okay, you are all allowed to go in."
"..." She nodded before having Frufoo pull the wagon towards the opened path leading into Gusteko.
Once in, everyone took out their disguises for now as the gates began to close behind them.
"Okay, we are in." Meili said, surprised they managed to get in.
"Where to, Sora-sama?" Ram asked, something Kishida and Yabuto were going to ask themselves. They all turn towards the keyblade master with Sora taking the moment to close his eyes, trying to use his connection with Elsa to find her.
("May your heart be your guiding key.")
Using those words to try and guide him towards Elsa, he remained silent for a moment before responding to Ram's question by pointing towards the road ahead of them.
"We follow the road."
"Alright." As Rem said that single word, she took the pilot seat and started to have Frufoo follow the path towards Gusteko.
As they were all heading towards the nearest city, Sora and those that haven't been in the Gusteko looked around to see how different this kingdom is compared to Lugnica and Vollachia.
All have forest with Gusteko being the one where their forest and well everywhere one looks is just a pill of snow.
For Sora, it reminded him of Arendelle since that world was pretty cold like Gusteko.
Though the more he thought about that world, the more he realized how similar this mission is to the one there. He's going with allies to find someone named Elsa, who's in trouble thanks to a certain group of bad people. In this case being the Witch Cult, in the case of Anna's sister it was Larxene and the true Organization being a threat towards her.
This parallel had made him smile since it's a little silly to think both situations as similar.
Louis Arneb caught the smile, prompting her to be curious on what Sora could be thinking about.
She was going to ask though her attention was drawn elsewhere.
She noticed behind Sora was a couple of animals roaming around that don't seem to be the same ones as in either Lugnica or Vollachia.
"Cool animals!"
"Hm?"
Sora turned towards the direction Louis Arneb was looking at, noticing the animals she was speaking about.
They were a pack of wolfs, moving deeper into the forest as a group, which was something that attracted Louis's attention.
Sora looked at the pack and couldn't help but think back to the time he was a small lion.
He remembered the feeling of just running in the wield alongside Simba, Donald, and Goofy.
This thought had prompted him to turn towards Rem, wanting to check on her.
"Rem."
"Hm?" The blue haired oni turned towards him, noticing what her love mentioning her name. "Yes, Sora-kun. How can I help?"
"Nothing, I...I just wanted to see how you were doing."
"Happy." She said with a smile, her heart feeling warmth whenever she's near her love. "Happy to be by your side, Sora-kun."
Sora didn't really have a response to this though he did smile in return, always happy to see Rem's smile. He looked forward as he thought on a question he could ask her.
"How have you been these past few months?"
"Good. Busy." Those were the only two words she could realistically say to be honest with Sora since for the most part it was being busy in order to not think of how Sora wasn't within reach during that time.
She's even struggling right this moment to keep her composure since all she wants to do is hug her love with all her strength and never let him go.
This temptation only grows the more time her love is within reach.
"That's good." Sora said before looking up at the sky.
Rem turned and couldn't help but feel a strong sense of warmth in her heart when seeing her love looking calm, free.
"What's on your mind, Sora-kun?"
"Just reflecting back on my time with Priscilla's camp."
Hearing the sun princess's name made Rem's jealousy enter her heart since it was her fault that Sora had to be away from her for so long.
"What about your time there?" A bit of curiosity and a bit of jealousy when asking that question.
"Priscilla taught me a bit of politics."
"Politics? Why?" Rem asked, curious on why Priscilla would teach that to her love.
"She wanted me to learn a few things on what Emilia goes through. Also to make sure I can tell when I'm being lied to."
"Hm." Rem didn't like that for a moment.
She can agree that Sora should learn something like that since his good nature could be taken advantage of...however, it's suspicious on why she would want him to learn such skills.
She remained silent for a moment before asking Sora,
"Did you have fun there?"
"Fun is one way of putting it." Sora said this as he thought back to his time with Priscilla and the members of her camp.
Things weren't always serious as there were a few days where he, Zarestia, and Louis Arneb would go into the city along with Schult and sometimes Al to just go and enjoy themselves in the capital.
There are also days where Priscilla would go out of her way to take him, Louis, and Zarestia to go out to eat on the fanciest of places.
These fancy foods gave the keyblade master an idea on how he could possibly replicate it should he explain what he had ate to Remy.
Another interesting thing he had the chance with was training with all members of the Priscilla camp, including the sun princess herself.
Heinkel had improved his skills since their numerous training sessions as well as Al and his numerous amounts of training sessions.
He had even trained with Schult, teaching him the basics of swinging a sword and even allowing him to swing his keyblade around.
"I got a chance to know everyone in Priscilla's camp. They were all good people." As he said this, he also thought about Heinkel.
Despite his bad habits on drinking, he's quite knowledgeable on things and even provided Sora with some advice in regards to fighting.
Regardless of their gap of power, Sora did take note on some techniques Heinkel suggested into consideration.
Rem didn't respond to the comment though she is happy that they didn't give her love any trouble.
"I'm glad you had fun, Sora-kun." She said this with a smile with Sora smiling back, happy to be on another adventure with Rem and the others.
Though he is curious how Subaru and his group are holding up in the capital.
As he thought of the others, he also thought on the fight against the mysterious villain.
'I wonder why he was there?'
It's almost like it was perfect timing, right when they were on their way, both groups.
This suspicion also grew when he thought on how Waraki chose to be with Subaru's group rather than joining his.
'What did that villain told Waraki?'
He was curious to know about this though for now he would drop this since he knows that the main focus for now is to rescue Elsa Grainhart.
Sora and the others all relaxed while they could for the remaining of the trip until finally arriving to the first city that was closest to the gates between Lugnica and Gusteko.
Yabuto looked at this first city they are arriving to and couldn't help but think back to when he had met his father, Lord Bakari Jinzadashi, this was one of the cities he last saw before leaving Gusteko for good.
"Didn't think I'd see this place again..." He said to himself, something Roswaal, Ram, and Kishida picked up on.
"Everything okay?" Sora asked, not knowing what Yabuto had said.
The green haired knight looked up as he heard the keyblade master's question.
"Nothing. I was just talking to myself."
As Yabuto said this, Roswaal couldn't help but say in response to the knight's response:
"Weeeeell, do you reeeeecognize the city head?"
"..." He turned towards Roswaal with an annoyed expression, seeing that he had overheard his whisper.
'Note to self, don't speak your thoughts at all with this clown nearby.'
As he thought this, he turned forward to look at the city.
"It's the last city in Gusteko I was in before leaving this kingdom."
"Is it a safe place to go into?" Kishida asked. Yabuto took a moment to think before responding to the question:
"So long as we keep a low profile, yes."
"Sooooounds like we will neeeeeed to avoid unnecessary fights." Roswaal spoke in a calm gesture while saying this.
"Yes, similar to Vollachia, we should avoid attracting unwanted attention and sparking some conflict with Gusteko. Unlike with Vollachia where they were having issues and needed some help, this place is already filled with issues and nothing we do will help avoid any possible conflicts between Gusteko and Lugnica."
As he said this, Yabuto puts on his disguise right as they were arriving into the small city.
The others noticed this and quickly followed along with their disguises as well.
Once inside, Sora and Rem looked at their surroundings first, noticing that there weren't a lot of people walking around in the city.
"Is it usually this quiet?" Sora asked, seeing how different this city is compared to the others he's been since arriving to this world over a year ago.
"It's normal here. There's not a lot of socializing here and they aren't welcoming to newcomers." Yabuto warned as he prepared his sword in the case they get attacked by those desperate for anything.
The group nodded to this and had their guards up, slowly starting to notice some malice on some of the people looking towards them.
"Where to, Sora-sama?" Ram asked, not wanting to be here for too long since her sister and her master are in possible danger.
He looked at her for a moment before closing his eyes and placing his hand onto his heart.
He continued to focus on his connection with Elsa, still feeling a brief of her presence there.
He opened his eyes as he had a feeling that where the Bowel Hunter's located is a bit deeper into Gusteko.
"She was here but her presence is faint. We need to keep going."
"Okay, but should we give Frufoo a chance to rest?" Kishida asked as he was worried for the ground dragon since he hadn't stopped since they had left the mansion.
Sora and Louis both also thought about Frufoo since he has been working himself to the bone.
"There is a place here to rest, however someone will need to be up for look out."
"I can do it." Sora said, confident that he can protect everyone. Yabuto turned towards Sora for a moment before looking at the city.
"I should assist as well since I know how this people act."
"Are you sure? You can rest with the others—"
"Don't worry Keyblade Master, I'm well rested." He moved to the front with both Sora and Rem to take over in leading Frufoo. "Allow me to lead Frufoo somewhere safe in the city."
"If Sora-kun's staying up, I'll stay up to." Rem spoke with a determined tone.
Ram looked at her twin sister, not wanting her to lose rest for Sora.
Despite her trust and respect towards the Keyblade Master, she doesn't like Rem's obsession towards Sora.
"Sister, you should take the opportunity to rest."
"But—"
"I'll be here, Rem. I'm not going anywhere." Sora interrupted, trying to assure her that he's going to be close by.
Rem didn't like this since she's been wanting to be next to her love the moment, he came back to the Emilia camp though she understood what both were saying.
"Understood." She said with a defeated tone, unhappy that she won't be by her love's side though she knows that there's still plenty of time for the two to be alone.
Once Yabuto had placed Frufoo and the large wagon they are all in onto a place in the city where it's less cold, he got off and pulled out his sword while saying to the others,
"Rest up while you can. This is the only city where danger isn't at an all-time high. Once we get deeper into Gusteko, things will start to get intense."
With the warning being given, Yabuto walks further away from the wagon as he goes to patrol the area.
Sora quickly follows behind with Rem tempted to follow only to remember what her sister and her love had said.
"Be safe, Sora-kun."
Sora turned around for a moment before nodding at Rem and giving her a smile.
That smile nearly caused Rem to lose her control, though she quickly turned away with her face turning bright red.
Ram noticed this before turning towards Roswaal,
"Should we stay on guard as well, Roswaal-sama?"
"No neeeeeeeed to worry, Sora-kuuuuuun can handle the patrol along with the kniiiiight."
"Understood."
Ram nodded as she prepared to rest alongside her sister, trusting that Sora and Yabuto can handle themselves.
After an hour of patrol, Sora and Yabuto walked nearby the wagon to check on it once again.
They haven't seen anything suspicious so far though Sora did notice how the green haired knight had a cold expression throughout the patrol.
"Yabuto, do you want to rest for a moment?"
"No." He spoke coldly as he looked around the buildings nearby, almost as if he was expecting someone to be there. After a few seconds, he turned towards the Keyblade Master to say, "Sorry for the rudeness. Being in this kingdom puts me on edge."
"I understand. It must've been a bad hometown."
"...in some forms, yes."
"I'm sorry to hear."
"It's alright." Yabuto said with a smile on his face, his cold expression dropping into a more positive tone. "Lugnica Kingdom is more of a home than here."
"I'm happy that you found a place for yourself." Sora said with a smile before looking around with a sword ready for battle.
Since a keyblade would attract needless attention, he's borrowing Kishida's sword in order to use a weapon.
As he was going to the nearest building, Yabuto had a curious question in mind while he was speaking with the Keyblade Master himself.
"Do you ever wish to go back to your home?"
"..." Sora paused when he heard that question. He knew it would be brought up once again which prompted him to turn towards the green haired knight. "That's a tough question. I do miss home; that's where Riku and Kairi are at. But I feel that right now I need to stop the Organization and help stop the Witch Cult."
"But what about right after that's all done? Will you go back home if you could right after everything is said and done?"
"..." Sora remained silent since he isn't sure himself.
A part of him has grown attached to this world though he wouldn't want to miss the chance to see Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goody, King Mickey, and all his other friends.
Yabuto took note on the silence, prompting him to move onto something else.
"What exactly prompted you to leave home?"
"Well, my friends and I were creating a raft, wanting to go on an adventure. A storm came and caused us all to be separated for a time."
"I see. At the very least, you all were able to reunite after that, no?"
"Yes. It took a while before we were all reunited on the island once again." Sora said as he looked up at the sky and thought back to after him and Riku had beaten Xemnas the first time.
He recalled after the end of the first version of Organization XIII, he spends time with Riku and Kairi, all of them in Destiny Island after being away for over a year.
The three would rest and do the same old things they did before first ending into other worlds.
Yabuto can see that Sora was thinking of something, prompting the green haired knight to just nod before ending the conversation there...or so he thought.
He was about to walk away to continue patrol only to hear Sora ask him,
"How's your leg?"
"It's been good. It hurts if I put too much pressure into it, though it's becoming less of a problem the more time passes."
"Shouldn't you be resting so it may fully heal?" The Keyblade Master asked with a concerned tone of voice.
"I should though my mind would go nuts just recovering for however long it takes for my leg to completely heal."
"Wait, then how are you keeping your leg from getting hurt again?" Sora asked as he tilted his head with a curious look.
"Subaru and Kenichi assisted me with a device from their hometown. It's holding my leg together though I shouldn't push myself too far if I don't want to do further damage to it."
"Then perhaps you should rest for the remaining time of our patrol—"
"I'll be fine." Yabuto spoke in a positive tone though this positivity would be gone when suddenly the two sensed someone nearby.
As they both turned towards the building nearby, a purple projectile was shot right near Sora's face, slicing a bit of his hair while also another one brushed pass Yabuto's damaged leg.
The two looked up and saw someone wearing the Organization coat though he had a glowing bow.
"The Organization?! What are they doing here?" The green haired knight said while pointing his sword directly at said Organization member.
Sora looked at the weapon and could see that it is a bow, something that none of the other remaining Organization members use.
The closest one would be Xigbar and even then, his weapon of choice would be arrowguns.
"Who are you?" Sora questioned with Yabuto taking note on that.
The Organization member didn't say another though he did prepare his bow for another attack at the two.
Sora and Yabuto got their guards up, ready to fight against this Organization member.
Right before a fight broke out, a familiar voice spoke out:
"Now Now, no need for hostility, kiddo."
"...!" Sora was already on high alert when seeing this Organization member, hearing this familiar voice only made him be in even higher alert. "Xigbar."
"That's right, it's been a bit. I almost didn't recognize you with that haircut."
"..." Sora didn't respond to that comment though he did stare at him.
"Come on, no need to give me that face. We aren't here for a fight."
"Then why are you here?" Yabuto said as he was prepared for whatever trickery these two Organization members had in stored. Xigbar turned towards Yabuto, noticing his question.
He smiled as he had a response for that:
"Just curious what brings you all the way over here. You are far away from the capital."
"That's none of your business." Sora commented as he had himself in his fighting pose.
Xigbar looked at him with a smile, having a feeling that he knows what Sora's up to in this kingdom.
"Well then, hopefully your protégé can handle what we have planned for the capital. It's going to be fun."
"What are you saying!?"
"...you'll see. Good luck with your side quest."
As he said this, a corridor of darkness was created behind the two though right before they had left, Xigbar paused himself with a smile on his face.
"Before we go, I should at the very least leave a little gift for you, kiddo."
He snapped his fingers which had caused a bunch of heartless to suddenly appear around the two warriors.
This prompted the two to be back to back as they had their swords ready for a fight.
"Have fun you two."
As he said this, the two Organization members left the area all the while Sora and Yabuto started to fight the dusk nobodies.
The two charges at the nobodies and began on the offense with Sora being able to strike down two of them with a single swing of his blade.
Yabuto was holding his own and barely managed to eliminate one of the dusk nobodies by avoiding one of their attacks which left one of them opened for a hit.
He used his strength to slice the dusk nobody in half, causing it to disappear before blocking away the attack from another dusk nobody.
Right before he had a chance to try a counter-attack, Sora had finished off the nobodies he was facing off and quickly went to assist Yabuto in his fight.
He eliminated half of the nobodies fighting against the green haired knight all the while Yabuto quickly took a chance to slice another dusk in half with every ounce of strength into his one swing.
As he managed to eliminate one dusk, he turned his attention to take out the remaining three only for a sudden Morningstar to just hit all of the remaining nobodies and eliminate them within that one hit.
"What?"
As he was surprised by this, he turned to see Rem and Louis Arneb approaching him and Sora.
"You two? What are you doing here?" Yabuto questioned with a serious tone.
Rem and Louis Arneb turned towards him for a moment before the three turned towards Sora's direction as a couple of people started to approach the keyblade master.
Sora lowered his sword all the while asking these people,
"Are you all okay?"
"..."
Sora and the others didn't like that they were silent and looking in such a weird way.
"Yabuto, are they usually like this?"
"..." Yabuto was cautious when looking at the people of the city, having a bad feeling about them.
He got back up before pointing his sword directly at them while saying:
"Stay back!"
As he shouted with anger, the people approaching them didn't seem to listen though their movement almost seemed...dead.
Sora lowered his weapon as he looked intensely at the people approaching them, having a bad feeling about them.
"Something's off." Yabuto commented as he prepared himself for a fight.
As the people were closing in, they all noticed an odd dark aura around them which caused Sora to immediately hand the sword to Rem.
"Hold this for me."
Rem nodded and grabbed the sword, allowing Sora to quickly pull out his Kingdom Key while charging towards them.
"What are you—?"
"Stay back!" Sora shouted as he closed the distance between himself and the people with dark aura around them.
Once he was close to a few of them, he managed to land a few strong hits that were able to knock them out.
The other remaining people turned towards the Keyblade Master and swiftly made their way towards him in order to attack him all in unison.
"Reflect!" Sora shouted as he created a barrier to protect himself from these attacks.
As the barrier blocked away the attacks, it disappeared a few seconds later with some lights surrounding the people with darkness aura before exploding one by one.
These explosions from the ball of lights had sent the remaining people with darkness flying off onto different directions before landing onto the snow on the ground.
As everyone was knocked out, the darkness around everyone that had attacked him started to fade away though it was forming right near the Keyblade Master's location.
This prompted everyone to be on guard while also having Rem and Louis Arneb running to be by Sora's side.
After a few seconds later, the darkness gathering together began to form a heartless that Sora's not encountered with at all.
Once the dark aura had disappeared from this heartless, it revealed to have icicles on its back, ice hands covered in snow, a head with an ice crown, two heartless symbols with one on its forehead and the other being on its chest, and lastly ice teeth.
"An ice giant of these dark creatures." Yabuto commented as he never expected to enctouner such a beast.
"Not a heartless we've seen before~tsu..." Louis whispered to herself, thinking back on Sora's memories she had stolen back in the watchtower. Sora took note on what Louis Arneb at whispered, also agreeing that this isn't a typical heartless he's encountered.
"Stand back, Sora-kun." Rem said as she started to summon her oni power out through her horn coming out of her forehead.
As she prepared to strike, her along with Sora and Louis Arneb noticed the heartless moving right towards them.
It swings it's arm back before attempting to land a hit onto the three.
Rem quickly threw her Morningstar with everything she had, managing to cause the punch from the heartless to be directed somewhere else.
This avoided them from being caught by the large ice fist covered in snow.
This gave them a chance to run towards the heartless all the while Yabuto stayed back since there isn't much he can really do.
He knows that whatever he does would only turn him into a liability, which makes him feel very annoyed with himself.
'I have to do something, I can't just be in the sidelines.'
Not wanting to let the others take care of this problem without him, he observes the way this heartless fights.
Although it isn't fast since Sora, Rem, and Louis Arneb are moving fast enough to avoid it's close range attacks though at some points it uses the ice around its body to fire them in an attempt to land a fatal hit at either of the three fighting it.
Noticing that the attacks were every few seconds all the while the damage he was taking wasn't doing much, he looked up at its head and had a feeling that perhaps the weakness is somewhere there.
"Aim for the head!" Yabuto shouted, prompting both Sora and Rem to quickly use their long range attacks in order to land a hit on the heartless's head.
Sora used Fira and Rem used her Morningstar to land hits onto the heartless's head.
As the attacks had landed, the heartless steps back for a moment, slightly disoriented before looking towards both the keyblade master and the blue haired oni maid.
Those attacks prompted the heartless to roar before starting to cover itself in snow.
Right as it was completely covered in snow, it began to create a large snowball that had a dark aura around it.
Right as the heartless pointed one of its arms in order to fire a large amount of snow onto both Sora and Louis Arneb's direction.
The two were caught off guard by the speed of the snow which caused the pair to be hit by the heartless's quick attack.
"Sora-kun!"
Rem shouted before looking at the heartless with anger in her eyes, almost starting to lose control of her oni form.
Right as she was going for an attack, she paused when a random powerful fireball hit onto the heartless's chest area which caused majority of the snow to melt.
Following that fireball, a powerful wind attack hit the chest area of the heartless, which caused it to stumble back for a moment.
Rem turned towards the direction the two attacks came from to see that Ram, Roswaal, and Kishida are up and ready for a fight.
The noise from all the fighting had not only awaken them but also alerted that something was wrong.
Meili was the only one that didn't join in the fight since...well, she can't do anything without mabeasts.
They encountered Yabuto, who caught all of them up to speed on what had happened before jumping into action.
Sora and Louis Arneb got back up and noticed that the others were all attacking at the heartless together.
Seeing this prompted the two to swiftly move directly towards the heartless's location to land a few more close range attacks.
As they were within range, Sora landed a strong hit onto one of the heartless's legs, nearly causing it to fall onto its back.
Louis Arneb with the assistance of Rem followed on what the Keyblade Master was trying to do by charging at the other leg to hit it with everything they have in them.
Once they had landed the hit, it had caused the heartless to fall onto its back which also caused the snow around it to be shaken off.
This allowed Yabuto and Kishida to close in and try to land a couple of hits onto the heartless.
Sora, Rem, and Louis Arneb landed their own close range attacks onto the heartless as well, giving the heartless enough damage to force it to quickly melt into the snow to escape right before Sora could land a fatal blow.
Everyone stopped on their tracks and looked around to see where the heartless will appear with their guards being up.
They all looked around with caution until Roswaal quickly moved towards the two knights' position in order to push them out of the way from the heartless's attack as it tried to shoot a large amount of ice right from under them.
Seeing this prompted Sora to jump up before pointing his keyblade right towards the snowy ground before shouting,
"Firaga!"
As the keyblade created a powerful fireball before being sent towards the ground, the heartless had suddenly created a snow fist to counter it.
As the fireball had destroyed the snow fist as well as the snow fist countering the fireball before it can even it the ground.
Being aware of this, everyone started to attack the ground with the ones doing the most progress being Sora, Roswaal, Rem, and Ram with their magic based attacks.
Eventually one of the magic attacks had landed onto the heartless, prompting it to get out of the snow and target the Keyblade Master.
Sora noticed this and quickly reacted by gliding right out of the way of the heartless's attack.
As he avoids the attack, Roswaal takes this chance to use fourfold magic, casting four big and highly powerful fireballs to use onto the heartless.
As these attacks pushed the heartless back, Sora landed onto the ground and with all of his strength charged right towards the head of the heartless all the while holding his Kingdom Key with a tight grip.
As he closed the distance within a few seconds, he didn't hesitate to swing with everything he had, wanting to end this fight now.
As he managed to land the hit, the heartless paused for a second, almost as if he's stunned before starting to collapse to the ground.
As it was falling to the ground, it began to fade away as Sora's strike was enough to finally beat the heartless.
Right before he had hit the ground, the heartless faded away completely with the heart it contained appearing out of the heartless's body and disappearing after a few seconds appearing.
Once the heartless was taken care of, Sora sat down in order to catch his breath.
He was still recovering from the hit he received from the heartless all the while Rem and Louis Arneb immediately run towards his side to check on him.
"Sora-kun! Are you okay?" Both asked in unison. Sora turned towards the two and just gave a smile before responding with:
"I'm okay, just resting."
The two weren't sure if he was being genuine though they ignored it for now since that smile of his had caused them to feel some warmth.
Yabuto, Kishida, Roswaal, and Ram approached Sora all the while Meili got out of her hiding place since she wasn't going to be useful in this fight as well as not wanting to be a liability.
Once out of her hiding spot, she ran towards Sora and the others to check on them to see if they are okay.
As they all were together, Sora turned towards Yabuto for a moment before turning towards the people that were possessed by the darkness.
"Will they be okay?"
Yabuto turned towards the knocked-out people from the city that were from the looks of it possessed by the darkness.
From what most saw, he looked at them with a cold stare before turning his attention back to the keyblade master.
"They'll live. Nothing to worry about." He turned towards the wagon where Otto's ground dragon, Frufoo, was looking at them. The ground dragon was preparing to help out should he needed to though he saw that the situation didn't require him. It looked at the knight and showed that he was ready to be back on the road, prompting Yabuto to start walking towards it while saying, "We should get moving now. We don't want to attract any more attention."
"What's wrong with attention?"
Another voice said, one that caused everyone to be on guard, especially Sora.
As they all turned towards the voice's direction, they see the Sin Archbishop of Pride, Replica Riku.
Everyone was on edge when seeing him here, knowing his connection to the Witch's Cult.
"What? Nothing to say?"
"..."
"Man, I would've thought you'd have something to say to me at least, Sora."
"..." He remained silent for a moment before lowering his Kingdom Key. "What do you want, Riku?"
"Is that any way of speaking to your friend? Or do you rather view Elsa, the woman who's killed innocent people and children to be your friend rather than me?"
"..." Sora just gave Replica Riku a stare, knowing full well that this kind of question is not only unfair but just a bait question to bait him into responding.
Replica Riku noticed that which prompted his slightly arrogant expression to fade into an annoyed one since Sora isn't responding to the question the way he wants him to.
This prompted him to summon his dark sword all the while having a powerful dark aura surround him.
"So you left the others to fend for themselves while you go off on some rescue mission to someone who murdered many people. Must have such confidence in that 'apprentice' of yours."
"Subaru can handle himself." Sora spoke with confidence before having himself into a fighting pose. "Now, tell me where's Elsa?"
Replica Riku continued to point his sword directly at Sora while his frustration grew.
"What do you even see in her?" He paused for a second as he lowered the sword all the while the darkness around him increased. "She's a killer, worse than even Xehanort. She's done things that you wouldn't even imagine and yet you are risking the capital just to save some assassin."
"There's more to her than just all the bad she's done. There's still a light in the darkness that had clouded her. Just like how there's still a light in you, Riku."
"Don't act all friendly with me, Sora. I know this is a trick to get me to spill out where your killer friend's at!" Replica Riku shouted with anger before preparing to attack only to remember why he's there. "...you know, I'm surprised that you would even trust that 'apprentice' of yours with what's about to happen."
"Don't be going and underestimating Subaru, he's more than meets the eye." Sora spoke with confidence, knowing that no matter what the Organization or the Witch's Cult are up to, he'll get himself out of it.
"Hmph. Such confidence. I really wonder if he can back those words up." Replica Riku paused as the darkness around him began to cover him completely. "Who knows? We shall see, Keyblade Wielder."
As he finished speaking, the darkness around him at completely covered him only for the darkness to disappear along with the Sin Archbishop of Pride.
Everyone turned towards Sora once Replica Riku was gone, seeing that he was holding how painful that interaction was though they can also see the determination in his eyes.
"We need to find her." Sora said as he put away Kingdom Key.
"What about the others~tsu?" Louis Arneb asked with a worried tone.
"No neeeeed to worry. Emiiiiilia-sama is weeeeeell protected by her knight as well as Garfiel and Otto beeeeeeing there as well to protect her."
"Not to mention Waraki's right by their side too."
Everyone nodded when hearing all of this, knowing that Emilia and Subaru's group will be fine since they have capable fighters.
Not to mention that should things get heated, Reinhard from what they heard from Sora was still there.
"We shouldn't have to worry about those in the capital. They have it covered, let's focus on saving Elsa." Sora spoke with both confidence and determination, driven more to rescue Elsa now that he knows the Witch Cult are planning something. "Shall we get going?"
As he asked this, the others nodded before following him and the green haired knight towards the wagon.
Once they all got on, Yabuto and Kishida were on the front to lead all the while the rest had the chance to properly rest up.
Taking this chance, Louis Arneb and Rem were both on Sora's sides to stay with him while he rests.
The others picked up on this, not surprised that the two would cling onto him.
While they began to head towards the next city, Yabuto turned towards the Keyblade Master to ask him right before he sleeps:
"Where to?"
"..." He paused for a moment as he closed his eyes, trying to feel his connection to Elsa to see where his heart can guide them towards.
Once he opened his eyes, he got up and quickly went to the front to point the two knights and the ground dragon the direction they should be heading towards.
"Over there."
"You sure?" Yabuto asked, knowing where the city lies by the forest Sora was pointing towards.
"Yes, I feel the connection over there."
"Understood. Okay. Go and rest up, Keyblade Master Sora." As Yabuto said this, he quickly started to guide Frufoo to the next city.
Sora went back with Rem and Louis jumping onto him, not wanting to leave his side for another second.
After a whole night and day, the group arrived at the city of Leanotte.
Upon hearing from Yabuto of the city they were about to enter, Kishida crossed his arms for a moment.
"Hm. I heard stories that the city was destroyed by an avalanche." He commented, having heard the stories during his time in training to become a knight.
"Yes, the city was indeed destroyed but thanks to a Pastor by the name of Coatl, the city was able to rebuild."
"That's nice of him."
"Yeah..." Yabuto didn't respond more since he noticed that they had arrived to the city, prompting him to be on his guard once again.
Kishida along with Roswaal and Ram took note on that which prompted them to have their guards up.
As they were getting deeper into the city, Yabuto and Kishida looked around to see that it's the same like the last city, very few people around while those out looking suspicious.
"This is the same as the last town we were in. Do you think perhaps they are working for the enemy?"
"Wouldn't doubt it if they could get something in return. Though we should keep a close eye on anybody suspicious."
Kishida nodded as Frufoo continued to pull the wagon deeper into the city. While they were looking around, Meili came to the front to ask,
"Are we going to stop by and get some food?"
"We have plenty of food." Yabuto responded within a second.
"I want to eat fancy food!" Meili protested, getting tired of the food they had been eating so far.
"No." The green haired knight said in a stern tone.
"Please!"
"No!"
Meili turned towards Sora.
"Can we please have some fancy food?"
"Hey! I said no!" Yabuto spoke with an annoyed tone.
"Is there a city that is safe to get food?" Sora asked, also curious about that.
Yabuto remained looking forward while he thought on Sora's question before being able to give a proper response.
After a few seconds, he turned towards Sora to give him a response,
"The only city worth getting any good food would be the capital, the Holy city of Glacia. Though going there where the Mad Prince is at would be suicide."
"Why?" Louis asked.
"The maaaaaad prince is as the naaaaame suggeeeeeests, mad. He killed a buuuuuuuunch of his siblings as weeeeeeell as causing destruction in his ooooooown kingdom."
"That sounds...awful~tsu."
"It's something that all knights know. Especially those that are from Gusteko. The Mad Prince is not someone we want to mess with." Yabuto says has he wants to caution the group of the danger that is the Mad Prince of Gusteko.
Even with Sora in the team, it's no guarantee that they will all be safe from his killing spree.
As the group remain in their search for any leads that could led them to Elsa Grainhart, Sora got up and went to the front where the two knights were at to tell them:
"We should give Frufoo a chance to rest again."
The two knights agreed as they quickly found a place where they could have the wagon and the ground dragon rest all the while being in a place they could guard from thieves. Roswaal volunteered to guard the wagon along with allowing Frufoo, Yabuto, and Kishida to rest due to the three having stayed up all night.
The two knights weren't fond of this, especially Yabuto since he doesn't like having the group travel in the city without someone that knows the place to an extent.
"I should stay up. You'll need a guide—"
"You shouldn't be pushing yourself, Yabuto. You already did that in the last town, allow your body to rest."
"Don't worry about us, Yabuto. We'll be okay." As Sora said this with his usual cheerful attitude and confident smile, the green haired knight couldn't help but comply.
He shook his head in annoyance before just saying:
"Alright, but keep your guard up. This city may not be as deadly as the last one but there's still people here that would want to harm you."
Sora nodded before he along with Rem, Louis Arneb, Ram, and Meili began to make their way towards the city.
As they started to go investigate on any leads for Elsa, Roswaal turned towards Yabuto before he went to sleep to ask him,
"Mind if I ask, why aaaaaall the secrecy? Why not tell us whaaaaaaat's bothering you here?"
"I rather not, Margrave." Yabuto spoke as he laid down in order to rest up.
Roswaal continued to smile as he noted how Yabuto was avoiding to answer that question, making him think that perhaps something dramatic had happened to the knight here in Gusteko in order to have such distrust of the place.
While he guarded the wagon along with Frufoo, Yabuto, and Kishida, Sora and the others began to walk into town.
Sora, Louis Arneb and Meili were all impressed by the city all the while Rem and Ram were on guard for any suspicious people that may want to harm them.
'So, this is the country onee-chan's from...'
She's aware of Gusteko yet Elsa didn't let her go deep into the kingdom itself, almost like she didn't want her to find something there.
She was unsure though for now she was hoping to learn all that she could from Elsa's birth place of Gusteko Kingdom.
As they were walking around town, a small petite girl was walking with what looks like friends alongside her.
The three of them were minding their business though the moment Sora and his group passed her and her group, she looks at Sora and was stunned for only a second though she retained her composure as she passed by the Keyblade Wielder.
As they passed by, she noticed that Sora and the others didn't see her since they were busy speaking among themselves though it didn't matter to her.
She turned towards Sora while speaking to herself,
"Sora, I'm curious what would bring you all the way over here." She says as she smiles, her curiosity starting to hunger.