Hello everyone! Welcome back!
In this chapter, after a year, Sora, Donald and Goofy finally reunite with Leon and the others. Penelope also learns an important lesson that will help influence her current relationship with Sora in a variety of ways.
I apologize that this took a while to get back into. Life is significantly busier, and there's a lot going on. That doesn't mean that I don't have ideas developing, however.
So, let's get to it.
I own nothing but my OCs as usual.
Here's chapter 9!
-o-o-o-o-
Chapter 9: Meeting with Old Pals
After chattering with Yuffie a while and taking a nice stroll while talking with her, Sora, Donald and Goofy eventually made it to their rendezvous point of Merlin's House. Penelope still hadn't shown back up yet, and Sora was starting to get worried. She had been gone for a while, which was troubling. Sora hoped she'd show up as they were going into Merlin's house. As Donald and Goofy followed her in, he waited for Penelope a moment, but it appeared she wasn't coming.
Sora followed the other two in, and the door closed. Cid was working at a computer, typing at its keys, while Leon and Aerith were watching him work. Yuffie interrupted what they were doing with an introduction and a grin. "Meet the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!" She exclaimed, causing Cid, Leon and Aerith to look back. They seemed fairly relieved.
Aerith beamed at Sora, Donald and Goofy. "We missed you!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together.
Cid chimed in, looking at the heroes' form. "Well, if you ain't in top shape." He stated, unaware of the fact that they had been asleep for a year at this time.
Leon crossed his arms at them. "I knew it."
Sora and the other two approached their old friends curiously. Sora wondered what Leon was talking about when he stated, 'I knew it'. "Knew what?" replied Sora.
"A while back, everyone suddenly remembered you guys, all at the same time." Sora, Donald and Goofy were taken aback by such. That was also an odd statement to say at this time. Though it really wasn't, that could've been worded differently on Leon's part.
And the blow wouldn't have been so sudden and so heavy for that matter. "You… remembered?" Sora asked, looking at Donald and Goofy. "Wait! Does that mean you forgot about us?"
Donald huffed and crossed his arms (or wings. Whatever they counted as). "Thanks!" said the duck, with as much sarcasm as he could possibly fit into what he was saying.
Yuffie put her hands on her hips. "So, where've you guys been all this time?" she asked, noting that Sora, Donald and Goofy didn't really talk about this on their walk to Merlin's house.
"We were sleepin'." Goofy answered straightforwardly.
"Where? In cold storage?" Cid asked, shaking his head and wondering how in the heck these guys were asleep for that long.
The three acted nervous, unsure how they were supposed to answer. Aerith didn't really care about the answers in this situation. "It doesn't matter. This is great! Everyone's together again."
"Not everyone," Sora corrected, before pointing at the door. "Penelope was with us, but she left out of the blue. She had to go train, and we have no idea when she'll be back or if she's coming here."
Goofy frowned and looked back at the door. "I wonder what she and Maria are doin'. I hope Penelope comes back ok." Goofy hoped out loud, only for Donald to look over at him.
"I'm sure she's fine." Donald spoke back dismissively, wanting to focus on the topic at hand over Penelope's whereabouts. She'd probably come back eventually.
Sora sighed, before quickly changing the subject. "So, um… we're trying to find Riku and the King. Have you seen 'em?" Aerith, Cid and Leon shook their heads in response. Sora seemed down by the answer. "Right…"
Aerith looked concerned by Sora's expression. "Sorry… Please let us know if there's something we can do to help, okay?"
"Okay, thanks." Sora said, still having some hope. Cid got up in Sora's face around the time Penelope quietly came into Merlin's House. Maria seemed to have escorted her there, and she was thanking her only to look back at the scene with complete and utter confusion. Maria whistled and closed the door behind Penelope as she watched the scene in front of her in an awkward silence.
"Don't go thankin' us just yet!" Cid exclaimed, moving back. Sora, Donald and Goofy wondered why, but Leon was willing to explain the problem.
Well, not entirely, of course. "Hollow Bastion's got a problem. A big problem." He stated, not giving much context, which left Sora to fill in the blanks. Penelope had a feeling she knew what Leon was talking about, but Sora answered it without much thought.
"You mean like Nobodies? And Heartless?" Sora asked.
"What else would it be other than THEM?" Penelope thought to herself as she learned up against the door.
Yuffie simply affirmed Sora's answer with a grin and a nod. "That's right!"
Sora crossed his arms and looked to Donald and Goofy a moment before looking back at Leon and the others. "Sounds like you need our help!"
"Uh-huh. How could they not?" Penelope thought to herself once more as she mentally commented upon the situation.
"Then let's cut to the chase. Sora, Donald, Goofy. We were hoping the three of you might give us a hand around here." Leon indicated, relieved that they were aware of what was going on.
Sora proudly patted his chest. "Like we're going to say no?" He asked, before frowning. "I hope Penelope is willing to lend a hand now that I think about it. We haven't seen her around."
Penelope unintentionally startled everyone in the room when she talked. "I'm right here. And I'm probably going to help anyway, noting that this place is still in a state of disrepair."
Everyone seemed to shoot up in alarm before they all looked back to the Guardian of Light and Darkness standing in the dimness of the doorway in the back of the room. It was freaky how she appeared to come out from nowhere.
Penelope straightened herself up and headed more into the light. She blew at her locks and crossed her arms, recalling the last time she was around Leon and the others. "First things first, I'm terribly sorry for my poor behavior and actions from a year ago. Despite the continuous ignorance you had shown me then, and even now, I hope that I'm not a bitter memory."
Leon and his gang appeared to be aware of what Penelope meant, but it didn't appear to be much of a bother to them. Penelope had expected as much as she looked to Sora again. "Oh, and Sora, Donald, Goofy. Sorry for not letting you know when I was leaving. I didn't want to interrupt you guys as you were catching up with Yuffie." Penelope pondered to herself a moment. "In fact, I initially wasn't going to come back here to see Leon and the others. Maria convinced me otherwise."
Penelope was about to join Sora and the others, only for Sora to suddenly hug Penelope out of the blue and scare the living daylights out of her. "I'm so glad you're all right! I got worried about you."
"…There's no need to be a panicked babysitter or something." Penelope stated, slightly pushing Sora away. She ended up shuddering at her own words. "…Actually, scratch that. Saying that reminds me of a series of unfortunate events from a year ago."
Leon sighed, crossing his arms. "Sora, Donald, Goofy… Penelope. Follow me to the bailey-There's something you need to see." He spoke dismissively as he opened up the door and headed out. Penelope had a feeling she knew what it was, though she didn't utter a word when she saw Merlin come in while Leon left. The wizard seemed to have been predicting the four to return to Hollow Bastion at some point or another, smiling when he saw them.
"Oh! I thought it was you. Right on time!" said he, and when Merlin spoke, he drew the attention of Sora, Donald and Goofy. Donald proceeded to point out the obvious existence of Merlin's presence when they saw him.
Afterwards, Yuffie butted in and told Merlin the news. "Sora and the gang said they're gonna help out!" She reported to him, with a beam on her face. An even bigger smile appeared on the one of the wizard's, and with an adjust of his spectacles, he said, "Splendid! We'll count on you!"
"Right!" Sora, Donald and Goofy explained. Though Penelope knew that she'd be helping, she didn't understand exactly what they were helping it. From what she heard, she supposed it was the Heartless, but she wasn't exactly filled in on the details as she arrived on the scene late. As much as she wanted to commentate, she avoided from doing so.
However, she had no idea why they were suddenly being handed out cards (which she had assumed to be business cards), and apparently, they were something that Leon thought they'd like to have. Aerith was the one who handed the four cards out.
Sora flipped his card over so he could read it, and he decided to do so out loud. "Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Honorary Member!" Sora exclaimed. Penelope's confusion was relieved when she found they were just membership cards, and they all had their names on them.
…Kinda.
Still, Donald felt the need to point out what they were. "Membership cards!" Donald spoke, looking up at Sora and Goofy as soon as he was done reading it. While Goofy had been reading and processing what was said on his card, he scratched his head and finally looked up as the trio came closer, while Penelope was pushed out of the group once again. "Kinda cool, huh?" He asked. Sora and Donald nodded in reply.
Sora smiled before looking down and reading his card over again. Feeling the need to thank Leon, Sora began to speak as he looked back at the door. "Hey, thanks, Leahhhh…Huh?" That was when it occurred to Sora, as well as Donald and Goofy, that Leon was long gone while the door was still opened. Donald and Goofy looked back to the door, while Merlin simply turned around to see if Leon was there.
"…I feel like I should've said something when Leon left." Penelope murmured, crossing her arms and slipping her membership card into her skirt pocket. Furrowing her eyebrows, she looked back at the door and wondered if she should've started to head out.
And then, something else hit Sora. "Oh no! We're supposed to be at the bailey!"
Merlin made sure to ask Sora about his magic before he started leaving. Penelope, who didn't want to stall, slipped out while Merlin and Sora were conversing (it was found Sora had forgotten his spells during his year-long sleep. Noting the length, Sora forgetting them was understandable, but at the same time it wasn't). Merlin lent Sora the Blizzard spell to use to help him start with remembering them.
The next priority was heading to the Bailey.
XxXxX
(Hollow Bastion- Bailey)
Through some run-ins with the Heartless, and a brisk walk, the trio had eventually got to the Bailey. The area where Leon was in as a dark hallway-like area made from stone bricks and was lit only with the rays of the sun. They were surprised to see that Penelope was already there, waiting for them up against a wall. She straightened up and rejoined the group as they proceeded to meet up with Leon on the rectangular balcony overlooking the area below.
Once Leon made a mental roll-call, he turned and looked over the balcony, addressing what they needed to see. "Look at that." He ordered them, motioning towards the view.
Atop a centralized hill, there was a familiar castle, which was the one the four had traversed through in their first adventure as they were beginning to close it up. Below the castle was something that probably would've given Penelope a sensory heart attack if she were present in that place right at the moment. It looked like a moat of black surrounding the castle, causing Sora to gasp in surprise. Penelope could practically smell the overwhelming scent of darkness despite this was far from them, and she clenched her teeth with a mix of anger and disgust. It was like their efforts at the castle last time had done absolutely nothing to fix this issue.
"We want to restore Hollow Bastion to what it used to be. Who knows—even something better." Leon began, continuing to stare at the situation before them. "There's still a lot to do, but I'm sure we can handle everything—Except… for that…" Then, Leon pointed down to something else, that was harder to see until you'd really focus in on it. "…And that."
In the valley below, there were two strange white creatures moving towards the castle—being Nobodies. Sora, with a quick assessment, put a hand on his hip and nodded. "We'll handle 'em!"
"Well, that's good to hear." Leon spoke. His words sounded like he was relieved, but his tone didn't match it, mainly as it was still in a monotone. "So, Sora—you know what's going on then?"
As Sora was speaking, Penelope summoned Leviathan and readied herself, looking back with a glare. Donald and Goofy didn't know what her deal was, but they wondered if she was aware of something they weren't. "There's this guy, Pete, who's been going around plotting with the Heartless. But he's not smart enough to tie his own shoes." Sora explained, casually applying a burn to Pete while he wasn't there. "The ones we need to worry about are the Nobodies."
"And those Organization XIII guys in charge too!" Goofy added in. Suddenly, a voice came in from behind them, and (most of) the group was clueless as to what was going on. "You called?" Someone asked, sounding like they were close by.
Sora ran out of the Bailey to look around, with Penelope following behind him as she clutched onto her Keyblade. Donald and Goofy tagged along with them and paused as Sora stopped to look around. The same voice spoke, "You're doing well." Sora, who didn't get what was going on and was beginning to get a little flustered by it, summoned his Kingdom Key and went into a fighting stance. Penelope came up beside him, ready in her defensive stance.
"This calls for a celebration…" With that, several dusks appeared. Donald and Goofy ran out to handle the ones outside. Sora was going to help them, only to see Leon with his Gunblade readied and two Dusks appeared in front of him. They swirled past Leon and headed into the Bailey, only for the gate to close. Sora, Penelope and Leon decided to take the nobodies inside the Bailey, making sure to protect the gate.
Penelope started off the battle strong. "Radiant Midnight!" She cast, hitting some of the Nobodies there, and allowing Sora and Leon to start hitting more of them. Penelope brought some of her enemies into the air with her and battled them a little more effectively.
Sora seemed to be struggling a little with the Nobodies he had to do a duel stance with, which Penelope observed. Leon was doing just fine, handling the Dusks at his own pace. When Sora failed the Duel Stance, it didn't put him into a good shape, nearly taking him out. Penelope panicked and got in between Sora and the Nobody and took a hit for him though it hurt.
"Out of the way!" Penelope yelled, landing a strong hit onto the Nobody before casting Cure onto Sora. The chestnut-haired boy was surprised to find that Penelope was still able to use it (and to an extent, Radiant Midnight). More nobodies came at Sora, and Penelope defended him.
While the three were fighting, they were able to protect the gate. Unfortunately, some damage was done to it, but that was fine. They heard the same man's voice echo outside, and Penelope seemed to get upset when she heard it again, clenching her teeth once more. Nobodies, or whomever was talking appeared to be putting her into a continually bad mood.
"The Keyblade… a truly marvelous weapon." said the currently disembodied voice. Sora and Penelope headed out of the area they were in prior to figure out what was going on, though the voice seemed to comment on Sora (and to an extent, Penelope) as they still had their weapons in hand. "Were it only in more…capable hands…"
Sora looked around and called out to whomever was talking. "Show yourselves!" He ordered, getting tired of the fact they seemed to be taunting him from the shadows. They appeared up above, with Hollow Bastion's castle in the distance. There was one figure at first, but when they raised up their hands, five additional figures appeared. Penelope tapped Sora on the shoulder and pointed to where they were with Leviathan, and he looked up in shock as Donald and Goofy were joining them. "Organization XIII!" Goofy explained.
Penelope scoffed at such, flipping her hair. "More like Organization VI. Then again, it's not like they changed their name the more members they lost." She sighed. Though Penelope didn't intend on facing all of them at once, her allies seemed to have different ideas. Sora looked back a Donald and Goofy and nodded at them, before looking back at the six figures above them.
"Good. Now we can settle this!" Sora exclaimed, getting into a fighting stance.
Penelope put a hand on Sora's shoulder and gave him a stupefied look at the fact that was willing to recklessly charge into battle like this when he had no idea what he was up against. "Uh… Sora? That's a pretty dumbass move in my opinion, and I wouldn't recommend facing off against all of them at once."
The good thing (if it could be considered good) was that Organization XIII had no intention of being confrontational and getting into a fight now.
The figure who had first appeared to them sounded disappointed. "What a shame… And here I thought we could be friends."
"Knowing what you pulled, being friends with any of you is nigh impossible!" Penelope retorted, glaring at the six figures. It didn't matter what was said, however. The six figures disappeared into darkness, all laughing. They could've done better on their laughs, however, as they didn't sound all that villainous.
Donald didn't want them to leave and tried to stop them, taking the route of the nearby stairwell in hopes of catching up with them. One of the six figures reappeared in Donald's path and brought him to a screeching halt. He looked up where they were, and then in front of him in hopes he could try and process just what in the heck was going on. "What's the big idea?!" The duck asked, ready to whack this fella on the head.
Penelope recognized the guy's voice when he started talking. "Oopsy-daisy!"
Sora didn't appreciate how this member of Organization XIII was casually clogging up their time, expressing how he wanted him to move. "Move!" Sora ordered, getting a little frustrated. Much to Sora's dismay, it didn't happen, as the guy still remained there.
"Now, do you think that's polite, shutting me down like that?"
"I said get outta the way!"
"As if! You can talk all you want, but that won't change a thing."
Donald jumped back, getting angry. Sora also got into a fighting stance, ready to force this staller out of his path. "Then we're gonna MAKE you move!"
"See, that would work—if I were just any old dude." Continued the guy. "'Cept I'm not. I'm with the Organization. Nothing "any old" about me."
"Ha! Tough talk for someone who stood on the sidelines while his Nobody flunkeys did the fighting!" Sora sassed back, getting a laugh out of Penelope.
With a gleeful smile and a clap of her hands, she said, "Sora, though you're normally nice and pleasant, I'll have to admit that was a sick burn you gave there. You earned yourself a point!"
"Oh, dear." The guy said, slightly leaning over and continuing to address Sora. "I think you got the wrong impression."
"You gonna cry?" Sora asked, continuing to taunt him.
"As if! Why don't I remind you how tough the crowd you're dealing with really is?"
Sora straightened up for a moment, not getting it. "Remind me?" He asked, only to shrug it off and go back into position for the fighting stance he had been maintaining for a little bit.
For whatever reason, the guy laughed upon seeing Sora's face. "That's RIGHT, he used to give me that exact look."
"Who, Roxas?" Penelope asked, trying to figure out what the guy was talking about. Still, this match-off was still primarily between Sora and this Organization member, and Penelope was finding that her comment didn't have as much impact (as usual).
"I guess you think you can psych me out by saying really random stuff!"
"Gee…" Sora's opponent continued, pondering a moment. Leaning forward and stretching his arms out, he replied, "I just don't know."
Then, there was an awkward standoff, with an equally awkward silence between Sora, Donald and Goofy, and the Organization XII member, whose arms remained in the same position like he was challenging the three to attack him. Penelope remained as a spectator, standing there and trying to figure out what was going on now. She shifted back and forth between the opponents, and then asked, "…Okay? So, it's quiet. Are we just going to stand here, or…?"
Finally, the Organization XIII member gave up. "Be a good boy now!" He said, saying good-bye to Sora as he vanished into the darkness. Donald tried to make the jump on him as he was leaving, shouting "Wait!", except the duck was too late and only ended up falling on his face and making an embarrassment of himself. "Nuts! He got away!" Donald frowned, squinting his eyes and remaining on the ground.
"That was weird." Sora said, straightening back up, with his Kingdom Key to the side. "WHO gave him the same look?"
"Roxas? Or… that girl, perhaps?" Penelope asked herself, trying to figure out what he was talking about.
Goofy looked over at Sora and smiled. "Y'know, I think he was just tryin' to confuse ya."
Sora shook his head a moment, clearing out his worries. "Yeah, you're right. Only one me!" Despite that there was confidence in Sora's tone, Penelope seemed to slightly laugh at him when he said that, completely disagreeing. Still, she supposed that now wasn't really the time to mention what she was thinking, as her statements probably would be disregarded and now wasn't the time to worry.
She joined back in with Sora and Goofy as Donald was finally getting up and coming back over to them as well. Sora was admiring his Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Honorary Member card and gazing up at it when Leon finally got his butt out of the Bailey despite all of the commotion that had been going on outside. Sora was reading it off again when his card started glowing. Everyone was confused, especially when Sora's Keyblade started glowing and Penelope's Keyblade appeared in a burst of light and darkness and also began to glow.
As they were trying to figure out what was going on, with Sora and Goofy briefly speaking amongst each other to piece together what was happening, Sora motioned Penelope beside him and then clutched his Keyblade and pointed it downward. Penelope, trying to catch on, did the same, and the tips of the keys continued to glow. Suddenly, a crown shape etched in light appeared on the ground and sent Sora and Penelope into a twilight vortex swirling with dark clouds and pale, orange and yellowish lights.
When Sora's card flashed again, a Keyhole appeared above it when a beam of light shot out of it. From there, the two Keyblade wielders nodded and knew what to do, twirling their blades and then pointing at the Keyhole. Beams of light shot out and the Keyhole reacted, bringing Sora and Penelope back into reality.
It took a brief second for it to piece together in Sora's head and then, it occurred to him. "Ohh… now I get it. That must've been the gate Yen Sid talked about."
"What?" Penelope asked, appearing to be in disbelief.
Donald and Goofy were happy to know that they found the gate. Penelope was trying to figure out what in the hell just happened and was trying to piece it together with logic. Or, the logic that she had left. The longer she traveled, the more it seemed to shatter.
Sora turned back to Leon, looking guilty. "Sorry to run, Leon, but other worlds are waiting."
Leon nodded, understanding what Sora had to do. "Organization XIII…" He sighed, crossing his arms. "They look tough. Be careful out there."
Sora, Donald and Goofy nodded. Penelope was still really confused.
"A gate… fit into a card? That makes no sense. That's way too convenient for the plot. Why did a tiny card fit a huge gate?" She asked, tugging on her hair and beginning to pace.
Meanwhile, her allies were still in a completely different world that cared not for her logic or as to what just happened. "See you soon!" Sora said to Leon, who saluted the trio. Looking to Penelope and interrupting her tangent, Sora added, "Come on, Penelope, we need to start getting going! We can worry later about… whatever you're talking about."
"A gateway fit itself into a tiny card! How can I not be worried? I'm… I'm lost…"
As much as Penelope was trying to question it, it didn't seem to matter.
However, it seemed that the group dynamic was reverting to normal. At least, for now, it was.
-o-o-o-o-
Though I'm primarily working off of a Kingdom Hearts 2.5 ReMIX Script (for Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix) as well as a playthrough of Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix, I don't think I'm going to add in the Organization XIII conversations in between some of the worlds depending on the circumstance.
The dialogue in question I'm referring to in this instance is the Organization's commentary on the fact that Sora is the one wielding the Keyblade. I've noticed that there is a difference in how they worded it in Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix and the Kingdom Hearts 2.5 version of Final Mix, though they're basically getting the same point across.
Anyway, I apologize that this chapter took so long. I'm unsure how the update schedule will work for this story, but it may end up being fairly erratic. What I'm thinking about doing is writing chapters ahead of time and then getting them edited and posted later on so they're at their best quality. It is a technique I've been using with 'The Three Heroes' and 'Tomodachi Life: Imaginaria' (which is a story I haven't posted onto this site but I'll probably get to it eventually).
Other than that, like usual, please review if you like, please try to refrain from flaming, and please tell me now I can improve.
I will see you all in the next chapter.
Ciao!