Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts of Danmachi. Both belong to their respective owners
Hey everyone, Keybladewielder97 here with a new chapter update!
I know this is late news, but I still gotta say it: POKEMON LEGEND Z-A IS COMING! LET'S GOOOOOOO!
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Once again, thank you so much DroodleKey for giving me such an amazing Cover Image.
Let's start the chapter.
Chapter 24: Under Resort Mayhem
""""There's a second entrance to the Dungeon!?"""
Everyone in the tent looked shocked at what Sora revealed to everyone. The Keyblade wielder nodded to everyone with a small frown. He folded his arms in contemplation.
"Yeah, that's what Hermes is claiming. If that's true, then that definitely spells trouble," Sora said with a frown.
"No kidding," Welf rubbed his forehead with a troubled expression, "another entrance to the Dungeon is just asking for trouble. I don't want to deal with Monsters breaking out of the Dungeon and wreaking havoc on the surface."
"As concerning as it is, Lili is wondering if Lord Hermes made any mention of Master Bell. Have you caught any detail relating to Master Bell?" Lili asked.
"None," Sora answered as he folded his arms, "it was mainly about the second entrance and the Loki Familia investigating it."
Bell gave a soft frown. He's already the center of attention thanks to his Level Up, and Hermes is a God who is expressing interest in him. He'd like to give the benefit of the doubt to Hermes, considering how Hermes is rather friendly with him. However, seeing how Hermes is willing to enter the Dungeon just to meet him and not wait for him to return to the surface certainly raises a few red flags.
However, Bell is focusing on the bigger issue at hand
"...I think we shouldn't worry too much about Lord Hermes's attention towards me," Bell said aloud with a frown, "what I'm worried is about this second entrance. How exactly are we going to deal with this?"
Sora groaned while he scratched the back of his head.
"To be honest, I'm still trying to figure something out with this whole second entrance," Sora admitted, "I think for now, let's just focus on what we're originally here for: taking out the Heartless in the Middle Floors. We'll figure out a plan afterward."
"That's a plan I can get behind. We already have a lot on our own plate," Welf agreed.
Though as shocking as it is to learn about this second entrance, this doesn't have any direct impact on Welf. He'll leave it to others, like the Loki Familia, to investigate this whole mess. And if the Loki Familia can solve this whole mess, then it's something he won't lose any sleep over.
"Lili guesses that this is the best course of action then. Though, we need to keep an eye out for Lord Hermes regardless," Lili pointed out.
"I can only hope it doesn't escalate into conflict," Bell said with a concerned look.
Bell can only hope that he won't be dragged into any unnecessary schemes.
~ Break ~
'How did I get dragged into this...?' Bell thought with confusion.
After the brief meeting, everyone decided that it would be best to get some rest. Welf wanted to head out and get some fresh air after what he learned. He was gone for a while, which was worrying, and Bell decided to head out and search for Welf.
The minute he stepped out to find Welf, Tsubaki immediately approached him with a smirk, all the while dragging a very annoyed Welf behind her. Before Bell could even question what was going on, Tsubaki immediately grabbed him and dragged him to a tent where it currently had a few female members of the Loki Familia.
Apparently, the girls seem to be discussing something related to stories and legends, especially when it comes to Spirits.
Specifically, the Spirit Aria, a well-known Spirit that appeared in Dungeon Oratoria. It is a book compiled of legends and stories about several figures. The girls are trying to figure out if there is a connection between Aria and a mortal. Tione brought up the possibility of Aria sharing her blood with someone, just like how a Spirit shared their blood with Welf's ancestor.
"Well, I'm not really sure about descendants," Bell answered, "but supposedly, Albert did have a child."
"What!?" Tiona exclaimed in shock, "I've never heard anything about this?! Did you get your hands on one of the original stories, back from a thousand years ago!?"
"W-Well, no," Bell sheepishly answered, "it was something my grandpa told me as a child."
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this, looking rather bewildered.
"So...your grandfather makes picture stories?" Tione asked.
"No, it was something he told me orally," Bell explained.
"Suppose Albert did have a child," Tiona began with a curious look, "what happened to the child? At the end of Albert's story..."
Bell nodded, "he got involved in a great battle, and ended up disappearing afterwards."
The room went into a short moment of silence once more, before Tiona tilted her head.
"By the way, who were the women in Albert's party again?" Tiona asked.
"Well..." Bell had a reminiscent expression, "there was the Amazon Queen, Evelda. Then there's the High Elf queen, Celdia-"
"What the hell are you implying!?" Alicia Forestlight, a female Elf of the Loki Familia, cuts off Bell with an indignant expression, "Lady Celdia is the pride of our people! It's unthinkable that she would have a child with someone from another race!"
"Um, Alicia, I don't think that is what Bell is implying-" Lefiya tried to intervene, seeing how Alicia was jumping to the wrong conclusion.
"To avoid any careless remarks," Alicia continued, not hearing Lefiya's words, "Lefiya and I will educate you about this matter!"
"W-Wait, why am I being included!?" Lefiya looked shocked upon hearing this. "Alicia, please calm down for a moment!"
"Um..." Bell looked lost on what to do here, unsure on how to deal with an angry Elf in front of him.
Before the situation could escalate even further, the tent's flaps opened.
"Hey Bell, are you in here-?" Sora asked, before he stopped himself when he saw that Bell was in the room, "oh, there you are Bell!"
"S-Sora!" Bell greeted, relieved to see Sora here, "w-what brings you here?"
"Well, I noticed that you were gone after you went searching for Welf. And then Welf came back and told me how you were dragged off somewhere, so I came looking for you," Sora told Bell.
"I-I see. Well, I'm about to leave-" Bell said, as he wanted to excuse himself and leave.
"Oh hey Sora," Tsubaki greeted with a friendly smile, making Sora flinch when he noticed her, "what a pleasant surprise to see you here!"
"H-Hey Tsubaki..." Sora gave a small nervous smile, "nice seeing you here as well. Well, wouldn't want you to bother you and whatever you're doing-"
"Actually, you think you could help us out with something?" Tsubaki asked.
"Help? What for?" Sora asked while blinking, "if it's about my weapons..."
"No, it's nothing like that," Tsubaki reassured Sora, even though it inwardly hurts her that she couldn't question him about the weapons, "do you happen to know any stories related to Spirits?"
"Spirits? Well, I do know-" Sora started.
"Ah ha ha ha-!" Bell immediately cuts off Sora with a forced laugh, as he realizes that Sora is slipping with his knowledge once more, "Sora, let's get some sleep! I'm sure you're tired after everything-"
"Hold it," Tsubaki cuts off while placing a hand on Bell's shoulder, "your fellow Familia member has something to share with everyone. Sora, you know a thing or two about Spirits?"
"W-Well..." Sora started to realize what Bell was trying to stop him, but it seems like Tsubaki isn't letting him off the hook that easily. Especially with everyone in the room staring at Sora with curious expressions. However, the damage has already been done. "I guess you could say that."
"Sweet!" Tsubaki cheerfully said, "so you happen to know anything about Aria?"
When met with that question, Sora could only blink in confusion.
"...Who's Aria?" Sora asked with a clueless look.
The moment Sora asked that question, every girl gave an incredulous expression.
"""""Seriously!?""""" everyone practically screamed.
"What kind of rock did you grow under!?" Tione asked.
"Yeah! I can't believe you don't know Aria, one of the most well-known Spirits in all of legends!" Tiona exclaimed. "Don't tell me that you never read Dungeon Oratoria!"
Sora could only tilt his head in puzzlement. "First time I'm hearing about it."
Sora's admission practically made Tiona recoil in pain upon hearing this.
"P-Please forgive Sora!" Bell yelped while stepping in front of Sora, "Sora grew up on an island far away from the mainland! So he never got the stories here!"
When Bell said this to everyone, everyone blinked in bewilderment. Understanding soon dawned on them.
"Ah...that explains it," Alicia muttered.
"You grew up on an island..." Lefiya muttered, before a mixture of confusion and curiosity appeared on her face, 'but...how did he manage to grow so strong if he's away from the mainland? Did he fight monsters while on that island...?'
"We've got to fix that!" Tiona declared, as she stood up with metaphorical fire in her eyes, "you need to know about Dungeon Oratoria and the wonderful stories it has! I'll get you a book and have you read it-!"
Tiona was soon cut off when a chop to the head once more, courtesy of her sister.
"Enough you dolt," Tione sighed with exasperation, "I'm sure Sora can catch up with the literature of the mainland on his own. We're getting off topic."
"Oh right..." Tsubaki muttered, realizing what they were originally talking about, "well, to make things short, Aria is a legendary Spirit who is connected to the Hero Albert, another famous figure in Dungeon Oratoria. We're trying to find some kind of connection between Aria and a mortal, much like how Welf's bloodline is connected to a Spirit."
"That right?" Sora said with a raised eyebrow. "Well, I don't know anything about Aria, so I can't help you there."
"We kind of figured that out with your lack of knowledge about the mainland's stories," Tione replied, "still, you said something about knowing Spirits. Do you know any Spirits that shared blood or some kind of connection with a mortal?"
"Well..." Sora looked rather hesitant on what to share. In the past, he did encounter various Spirits; however, the Spirits he encountered weren't exactly from this World. And he can't exactly say he doesn't know, otherwise he'll be contradicting himself, which could raise some suspicion.
'A connection between mortal and Spirit...well, there is someone who comes to mind...' Sora thought, remembering his times with them.
"It's not exactly a story, but something I personally encountered," Sora told everyone.
This caused everyone to blink in surprise upon hearing this.
"W-Wait, you mean you witnessed a mortal and a Spirit forming some kind of connection together!? It's not a story you read!?" Lefiya questioned with shock.
"Yeah," Sora confirmed.
"Um, Sora...?" Bell looked a bit worried about where Sora was going with this.
Sora just gazed toward Bell and gave a reassuring nod, silently telling Bell that it would be alright. Seeing the reassurance from Sora, Bell could only silently nod as he let Sora continue on.
"It's not exactly a Spirit sharing their blood with a mortal," Sora began, "so my story isn't going to be relevant to what you girls are trying to figure out."
"It's fine! I'm more curious about your personal encounter with a Spirit!" Tiona said with an excited and curious look. It was a sentiment that was shared among everyone in the tent.
"Well, where to start..." Sora hummed in thought, as he tried to find the right way to explain his story without giving away too much.
"Well, to give some context, my friends and I got separated from each other after we left our home. I had to travel to a bunch of different places in order to search for them." Sora started.
"You traveled around the mainland before coming here?" Tiona asked.
"Something like that," Sora answered with a shaky grin, "anyway, I ended up traveling to a place called Agrabah. It's a city located in the desert."
"Agrabah? I never heard of that city before," Tsubaki remarked, "and you said it's in a desert? Are you talking about Kaios Desert?"
Sora has no idea what that place is, but considering that they said it, it means that this Kaios Desert exists in this World.
"...I don't think it's in the Kaios Desert. It's in another desert entirely," Sora hesitantly answered. He's not exactly wrong with that statement, as it is in another desert...that's in another World.
Sora was really hoping that there would be more than one desert in this world.
Tsubaki narrowed her eye at Sora for a bit, before she shrugged, "eh, I guess some locations aren't exactly well spotted on the map. I mean, we don't exactly have a complete map of the world, with the Dragon Valley being one of them."
'Whew, dodged that one,' Sora thought to himself, relieved that he dodged the bullet there.
"So it all started when I ran into Jasmine, who is the princess of Agrabah..." Sora started.
From there, he told everyone the story of his adventures in Agrabah. How the city was under the control of Jafar, the royal vizier who deposed the sultan and wanted Jasmine as his lover. He recounted how he met Aladdin for the first time, as well as meeting the Spirit of the magic lamp, Genie, who was able to grant the user three wishes.
"A Spirit who grants three wishes? I've never heard a Spirit capable of doing such things," Tiona remarked with surprise.
"I'm surprised there aren't any stories regarding this Genie," Tione said with a frown, "you would think that a Spirit as significant as Genie would gain some form of recognition."
"Well, it's a local myth among Agrabah. I'd imagine it wouldn't spread too far from its origins," Sora said.
"Still, a Spirit capable of granting you three wishes," Alicia spoke up with a contemplative frown, "what kind of wishes are we talking about here? Is it basically any wish that you want?"
"Any wish," Sora answered, before he gave a small frown, "though, Genie told me that there are three things that are forbidden: taking someone's life, forcing a person to fall in love with another, and bringing back the dead. He also said something about 'ix-nay on the wishing for more wishes'...which I think means you're not able to wish for more wishes."
"So those are the limitations..." Alicia muttered.
"So...if I asked the Genie to grant me another spell despite having three spells already, do you think it's possible?" Lefiya asked.
"Knowing him, he can make it work," Sora answered with a grin.
"...That's amazing. A Spirit capable of that much..." Lefiya muttered with awe.
"As surprising it is to learn about all of this," Tsubaki spoke up, "I think we're getting off track here. So as it turns out, Aladdin and Genie have this connection with each other, with Genie being the Spirit granting Aladdin his wishes. I can certainly see why you said that it's not related to a Spirit sharing their blood with a mortal."
"True, though..." Sora looked like he recalled something, but it looked to be a rather unpleasant memory.
"Seems like there's something more to this story," Tsubaki remarked.
"Yeah...and it's not exactly a pleasant thing for everyone involved," Sora said.
It was from there that Sora continued the story of how he and his friends had Aladdin and Genie's help to rescue Jasmine from Jafar's clutches. However, Jafar proved to be a scheming and cunning villain, as he managed to nab the magic lamp from Aladdin's grasp and forced Genie to serve him. It was from there that things turned for the worse when Jafar used Genie's wishes to locate the keyhole (though Sora omitted that part with treasure instead), and forced Genie to fight him and his friends.
Sora and his friends managed to fend off Genie and pushed Jafar against the wall. However, Jafar used his last wish which was shocking for everyone in the tent to hear.
"Jafar's third wish...was to become a Spirit!?" Lefiya yelled out in absolute shock.
"That's impossible! No mortal in history or any story has ever become a Spirit!" Alicia argued.
"But it's true," Sora refuted with a frown, "Genie is able to make any wish come true. I've witnessed Jafar transformed into a Spirit before my very eyes, and I can confidently say this in front of a God."
Stunned silence was made in the tent.
It was only natural. It's one thing for a spirit to share their blood with a mortal, as it's rare but feasible; a mortal being able to change their entire being into a Spirit is another thing entirely.
"So..." Tiona said with a concerned frown, "if Jafar became a Spirit...doesn't that mean he gained the powers like Genie?"
"Yeah," Sora nodded, "Jafar used that newfound power to fight us. It was a rather tricky battle, considering that he was able to manipulate the terrain around him to constantly shift, invulnerable to lava and fire, and shot beams from his eyes."
"Then...how exactly did you survive the ordeal?" Tione asked with a frown, "seeing that you're still here, that means you must've resolved it...right?"
"Defeating a Spirit is no easy feat..." Lefiya muttered, and inwardly shuddered when she remembered her fight with the demi-spirit.
"Oh, that? Well, you gotta remember something: Jafar became a Spirit like Genie. Jafar forgot to take into account of one thing when he became a Spirit like Genie..." Sora trailed off with a smirk.
Everyone looked a bit confused when Sora didn't give them a direct answer. Lefiya fell into silence, as she tried to think about what Sora was trying to hint at. The young elf mage's eyes then widened upon realization.
"If Jafar became a Spirit like Genie...then Jafar became a Spirit of a magic lamp!" Lefiya said aloud with realization.
Everyone's eyes widened when they heard this.
"That's right...!" Tiona said, "Jafar is a Spirit of a magic lamp, then that means he's bound to it! So Jafar would eventually be trapped in it!"
"You got it!" Sora snapped his fingers with a grin. "After we managed to fend him off, I was able to use the lamp against him and trapped him in it. So he won't be a problem to anyone anymore."
Even if he said that, it was a temporary measure, as Jafar was able to come back after some time. However, Sora managed to put a stop to his schemes and take down the malevolent Spirit. Though, Sora felt that particular story wasn't necessary to share with everyone.
"So in the end, Jafar's pursuit of power became his undoing and imprisoned him," Tsubaki remarked, and gave a small snort, "what a fitting end for someone like him."
"Still...a mortal becoming a Spirit. I'm still trying to comprehend such a thing is possible..." Alicia muttered while she looked astonished.
"So what happened after that?" Tiona curiously asked. "After you defeated Jafar, was everything pretty much resolved?"
"Oh, about that..." Sora started with a small frown.
"There's more to this story?" Tione asked with a raised eyebrow, to which the Keyblade wielder nodded.
"After we defeated Jafar, we went to check up on Jasmine. However, it turned out that Jafar was in league with others that are just as bad as him, and they captured her during the fight." Sora said with a frown.
"No way!" Tiona cried out in dismay. "After everything that has happened, Aladdin still couldn't rescue her after everything he has done!?"
"Yeah, it was pretty disheartening to discover about it," Sora said with a frown, thinking about how Maleficent manipulated Riku into kidnapping Jasmine.
"Wait a moment," Lefiya said while realizing something, "Aladdin still had Genie around, right? Didn't Aladdin have a third wish that he could still use?"
When Lefiya pointed this out to everyone, they realized what Lefiya was implying.
"Oh right, Genie!" Tiona said with recognition. "I guess Aladdin used his third wish to bring Jasmine back to his side!"
"Unfortunately, you're wrong in that regard," Sora told her.
"Huh?" Tiona looked a bit baffled that she was wrong.
"Wait, if Aladdin didn't use that third wish to bring Jasmine back to his side, then what did he use that third wish for?" Tsubaki asked.
Sora simply grinned.
"Aladdin wished Genie to have his freedom," Sora revealed.
Everyone in the tent fell into stunned silence upon hearing this.
"He...He set Genie free from the lamp?" Tiona muttered in surprise. "Rather than use the wish to bring back Jasmine, he sets Genie free instead!?"
"But why though?" Lefiya said with confusion. "Aladdin had the method to bring back the person he loves. Why didn't he use it?"
"It's because Aladdin made a promise to Genie," Sora explained, "Aladdin saw Genie as a friend, and he promised Genie that he would use his third wish to set Genie free from his lamp."
"That's..." Tsubaki trailed off, finding it rather surprising to see someone make a selfless wish, rather than use it to reunite with the person they love.
"I guess Aladdin is a good friend to help out Genie like that," Tiona said with a soft smile but then turned into a frown, "but still...he gave up that chance to rescue Jasmine from their clutches."
Sora simply chuckled upon hearing this.
"Oh don't worry about it, I found and helped her reunite with Aladdin," Sora reassured.
Everyone fell into stunned silence once more, before all the girls turned to Sora with irate expressions.
""""""Don't leave us hanging like that!"""""" every girl screamed.
Sora could only give a sheepish chuckle while scratching his cheek.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to leave you all hanging. I was going to reveal it eventually." Sora told everyone.
Everyone could sigh with exasperation while tension left them.
"Well, I guess Aladdin and Jasmine got their happy ending after all," Tsubaki remarked, before she turned to Sora, "still, you're familiar with Genie, right? You think it's possible to meet up with him and ask him if he knows anything about Aria?"
"Oh right, Genie is still around in Agrabah!" Tiona said with realization, and an excited look appeared on her face, "I really want to meet a Spirit!"
Sora could only give a nervous chuckle.
"Unfortunately, I don't think it's possible..." Sora said.
"Huh? Why not?" Tiona pouted.
"Well...after everything that has happened, Genie decided to go traveling. Now that he's not bound by the lamp, he wants to see the World. So it's hard to say when I'll meet up with him again. Plus, it's rather hard to find Argrabah on the map and I don't have the proper method of tracking back to that place," Sora explained.
Sora wasn't lying in that regard. After everything that happened in Agrabah, Genie decided to fly off into the distance and experience what the world has to offer. As such, it's hard to say when Genie will be back in Agrabah. But knowing Genie, that Spirit will eventually come back to visit Aladdin and Jasmine.
'A shame I can't summon Genie...' Sora thought, remembering back when he could summon Genie to help him out in his adventures.
"Well there goes a valuable source of information," Tsubaki clicked her tongue.
"Even so, I managed to hear a wonderful story from Sora!" Tiona cheerfully said.
"It was certainly an interesting story to hear," Lefiya agreed while nodding, "thank you for sharing this story with us Sora."
"It's not a problem," Sora waved off, as he then stood up while stretching himself, "well, I think now is a good time to turn in for the night. Good night everyone!"
And with that, Sora and Bell left the tent, leaving the Loki Familia (plus Tsubaki) to talk amongst themselves.
~ Break ~
Morning arrived in the Dungeon, and the crystals' lights turned bright, signaling that it's day in the Dungeon.
Initially, Bell planned on going to Riviria to investigate if Heartless are lurking about. However, there is a change in plans as he was approached by Hermes of all people. Hermes wanted Bell to come with him, as the God claimed that he needed Bell for a particular task.
Bell was worried that Hermes wanted alone time with him. He hoped his party was around to help him out, but all of them were occupied: Lili went off with the other female members of the Loki Familia to do something, Welf wanted to take care of weapon maintenance, and Sora was off washing dishes from breakfast.
In the end, Bell couldn't bring himself to say no to the God's request.
Currently, the two were making their way through the forest, with Hermes leading the way. And soon, Hermes approached a tall tree and nodded as he began to climb it.
"I know you said you wanted to talk to me alone, but why do we have to climb up a tree?" Bell asked with a confused look.
"Don't worry, you'll find out in just a moment," Hermes told Bell with a reassuring tone.
For some reason, Bell had a very bad feeling about this. Bell gave an unsure look, but he slowly nodded.
"Um...alright," Bell simply said as he followed Hermes's lead.
The two climbed the tree, with Hermes slowly treading on a branch. As he finally got to a good spot, he turned to Bell.
"There's a good reason why I brought you here," Hermes told Bell as he made a quiet gesture, while also pointing to a certain direction.
Bell could only blink in confusion, and turned to where Hermes was pointing to. His eyes could only widen in shock at what he saw before him; before Bell was a pond large enough to fit several people. Those types of people revealed to several females that belonged to the Loki Familia, and Lili was among them as well!
"Wha-!?" Bell made a flustered expression as he turned to Hermes with an incredulous look, "wait, you brought me here to-!?"
"We're peeping," Hermes said without shame, "when women are naked, it's a man's responsibility to sneak a peek on them."
"Who in the World told you that!?" Bell whispered with an incredulous expression. "This is clearly wrong to do!"
Hermes gave a small 'tsk-tsk' gesture with his finger.
"That is where you're mistaken. All of this is part of a man's romance." Hermes told Bell like he was giving him life's most important lessons.
'It's clearly not!' Bell mentally screamed.
Bell thought about leaving to make sure they weren't caught.
However, a new presence made themselves known.
"Romance, hm?" a voice said behind them.
Both Bell and Hermes blinked at the new voice that entered the scene, and they were soon grabbed by the back of their collars and lifted up into the air. Before they could see who it was, their vision suddenly turned into a blur as they were pulled away with intense force.
The bathing females remained none the wiser of what occurred nearby them.
~ Break ~
"...So...what exactly do we have to say for ourselves," Sora questioned with a frown, standing before the two.
The two of them were sitting on their knees. Bell looked really scared and ashamed, while Hermes didn't look the least bit guilty.
Sora took them to an area far from the bathing area, and had the two sit in seiza position as he stood before them with arms folded.
Sora, who finished cleaning the dishes from breakfast, spotted Bell and Hermes walking in a certain direction. It brought a couple of concerns to the Keyblade wielder. Already, it appeared that Hermes was trying to get Bell alone with him.
Sora also remembered that Lili told him that she was going to be joining the other females in bathing in a small pond that was nearby the area. Sora grew concerned when he saw Hermes leading Bell towards the area, and decided to follow them. He managed to remain undetected as he continued to trail after them, and his ears soon picked up the conversation that was held between Bell and Hermes.
The Keyblade wielder wasn't amused by what he heard, and decided to put a stop to this ridiculous activity.
Thus, Sora took the two away from the area.
"Bell?" Sora started when looking at Bell with a raised eyebrow.
Bell broke out in a cold sweat and felt that he needed to explain himself fast before Sora reached a wrong conclusion about him.
"I-I never knew about Hermes's plan, nor have I intended on peeking on the girls while they bathe!" Bell frantically explained while he gestured to the God next to him, "L-Lord Hermes took me with him and didn't tell me about spying on the girls while they bathed!"
"Hey now, that's rather harsh, throwing me under the wagon..." Hermes whined.
"Quiet," Sora told the God with a frown, before he turned to Bell with a raised eyebrow, "so you never intended on peeking on them?"
"Never! I swear!" Bell hurriedly answered with an anxious expression.
Sora stared at Bell for a short moment, before he gave a small smile and nodded.
"...Yeah, you're not the type to do this sort of thing," Sora told Bell, much to Bell's relief.
However, Sora's smile turned to a frown as he turned to Hermes with a raised eyebrow. "Well Hermes? Have anything to explain for yourself?"
"...Well, for one, color me surprised when you dragged the two of us here so quickly," Hermes remarked with an easy-going smile, "I never knew Hestia managed to recruit such an agile member into her Familia."
"Don't change the subject," Sora told the God with a frown, "you dragged Bell into spying on the women while they were bathing. You honestly think I'm just going to write that off?"
Hermes gave an exasperated sigh, as if he was dealing with a child who didn't know any better. "C'mon, do I really need to repeat myself? You and Bell truly are young boys at heart. You'll never experience true romance if you don't partake in this type of activity. You're missing out on a lot of things."
The moment the God said that, Sora's expression soon formed into an expression of un-amusement and disgust, an expression that Bell never thought he'd see on Sora.
"...To take the words of a certain lightning user, I didn't ask you for your garbage opinion," Sora told the God.
"Ouch, now that's rather harsh," Hermes feigned a wince, "c'mon, you and Bell gotta learn to live a more exciting life. You won't be living an exciting romantic life if you choose to live like this."
"...Yeah, no," Sora shot down, "I can confidently say that I know better definitions of romance compared to the likes of you."
And Sora meant it. Throughout his journey, he witnessed the selfless acts that people did in the name of love.
How Eugene, despite being mortally injured, chose to cut Rapunzel's hair in order to save her from Gothel, rather than using her hair to heal him.
How Hercules risked his life to save Meg from Styx.
How Will Turner and Elizabeth's love for one another will persevere despite being separated for 10 years, and can only reunite for 1 day ashore.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg of what he witnessed.
And this God has the nerve to say that peeking on women while they bathe is the definition of romance. Sora wasn't going to allow this God to walk away without suffering any of the consequences.
"Say Hermes...why don't you use this time to chill out?" Sora asked with a smile that looked a bit too friendly in Bell's opinion.
"Eh?" Hermes lets out a confused noise, before Sora's hand completely clamped onto his face.
The sounds of a God's screams echoed throughout the area.
~ Break ~
"Where in the world is Lord Hermes...?" Asfi muttered to herself as she was looking through the nearby area of the camp.
She hadn't seen her patron God for quite some time, and it began to worry the Captian. Usually, when you take your eyes off the God, the God himself will cook up schemes that are never pleasant for her or anyone else for that matter. As such, she needs to find her God as soon as she can to make sure he isn't causing any trouble.
She hasn't found her God in the camping area, so she decides to investigate the area nearby the camp to find where Hermes is.
She soon entered an area that had a small clearing, and she stopped in her tracks upon who she saw.
"Lord Hermes...!?" Asfi whispered in shock and confusion.
The God before looked like a frozen statue. His entire body was covered in ice. His knees were on the floor, his arms were in the air like he was struck by a spell, and his mouth was frozen shut by ice. For a moment, she thought her God was killed by becoming entirely frozen. However, she noticed that the God was shivering, and his eyes were frantically moving around, which showed that his body was simply encased in ice to prevent movement.
"What happened!? Why are you-!?" Asfi said aloud in confusion and alarm as she immediately made her way to her patron God. As she got closer, she soon noticed a wooden board that hung around the God's neck.
She kneeled down to the ground to get a closer look at the board and began to read it.
I'm a filthy pervert who attempted to peek on women while they were bathing.
The moment Asfi finished reading it, her facial expression soon morphed into a blank expression.
"...Ah, that explains it," Asfi muttered.
Asfi is well aware that her God likes to get into perverted shenanigans. After all, she had to witness what her God had done and apologize on his behalf. The fact that there's a sign saying that her God attempted to peek on women is something she easily believes.
And it seems like someone caught the God and froze him in place.
"...Well, I have confirmed that you're within a safe vicinity, Lord Hermes," Asfi said with a calm tone, as she stood up and began to walk away. "If you'll excuse me, there are other responsibilities that I need to attend to."
She chose to ignore the muffled cries for help from Hermes.
~ Break ~
Sora and Bell were making their way through the forest of the 18th Floor. The reason why is that they needed to clear Bell's name. Just in case Hermes says that Bell and Sora were also there, then Bell and Sora could tell them that they were exploring the forest, far away where the bathing area is.
"Honestly, you need to stay away from that creep Bell," Sora told Bell with a frown, "that guy obviously spells trouble."
"I-I understand, but...don't you think you were too harsh? Hermes is a God, after all..." Bell said with concern.
Bell clearly doesn't approve of Hermes's plan to peek on women when they're bathing, but what Sora did to the God was rather...excessive in Bell's opinion.
"He's lucky I left a perv like him with frostbite. Honestly, I could've done worse," Sora huffed.
"P-Please don't..." Bell muttered while sweatdropping.
"In any case..." Sora started while looking around him, "I think this is a good time to do some investigation around the 18th Floor. I haven't checked out the rest of the 18th Floor, so I'm not sure if any Heartless are lurking about."
"Is that right?" Bell said while blinking upon hearing this. "Then I guess now is a good time as ever then."
Sora nodded as he began leading the way. As he did, Sora turned to Bell with a curious and confused look.
"So have you learned anything on why Hermes is fixated on you?" Sora asked.
Bell shook his head.
"Unfortunately, I didn't get anything, other than...you know," Bell looked rather awkward when pointing out the recent event, "...it can't be just that alone. It must be something important if he's willing to enter the Dungeon, and the Dungeon reacts violently to the presence of Gods."
"Hm..." Sora hummed with a frown, "well, let's hope he gets out as soon as possible. I don't know what'll happen if the Dungeon reacts violently against him while we're investigating the Heartless."
"Hopefully that won't come to pass," Bell said.
Just as the two were making their way through the forest, Sora's ears soon picked up a noise that was made. His senses, which are better than Bell's, began to pick up twigs on the ground being snapped, as well as the ruffling of leaves from the trees.
It was as if something else was here beside them.
"Hey, Bell." Sora immediately said as he clamped a hand on Bell's shoulder.
"S-Sora?" Bell said with a confused and concerned look.
"Stay close. I think we have company," Sora told Bell as he manifested his Kingdom Key in his hand.
"R-Really!?" Bell looked alarmed upon hearing this as he brought out his Hestia Knife in preparation. Bell gave a small curse to himself, as this was the only weapon he had on him. He didn't have his armor and other knives, as he and Sora immediately had to leave camp.
Immediately, Sora and Bell stood back to back as they kept a look out for their surroundings. As they stood in one spot, their entire surroundings were entirely quiet. It was as if the new presence took note of their actions, and began to take a more cautious approach.
At first, it was quiet for Bell. However, as moments passed by, Bell could hear faint noises being made around their surroundings. A drop of sweat ran down Bell's as he kept looking around his surroundings. Sora, on the other hand, wasn't frantically looking around. Instead, he narrowed his eyes in concentration as he was using his ears to pick up the exact location.
'...It's close.' Sora thought with a frown, his ears picking up faint noises around him. The unknown entity is moving all over the place, it's as if it doesn't want its path toward them to be predicted.
However, Sora's senses are not to be underestimated, as he picked up a noise in the air that was closing in on them.
"...Defense!"
Sora immediately raised his Keyblade into the air, and Reflect magic manifested around him and Bell. Bell yelped in surprise at Sora's sudden action, but even then, his reaction was cut short when he saw something crash against the barrier.
But the strangest thing is...Bell couldn't see a who or what crashed into the barrier. Instead, he could only see the Reflect magic blast away with an invisible being with force. Bell could only see branches of trees being broken by some invisible.
Something told Bell that there was something there, so the white-haired teenager raised his hand and pointed his hand forward.
"Firebolt!"
A blast of Light Firaga erupted from Bell's hand and soared through the air. Bell watched his fire spell soar through the air in a straight path, before it changed direction and headed downwards. Soon, the magic seemed to have struck something, as it hit the invisible target.
Bell's ears soon picked up a shrieking sound echoing through the air.
Sora and Bell watched as the white fire burned the target, and the fire seemed to be giving a rough outline of what the invisible figure is before them.
"Wait...isn't that...?" Sora muttered when he saw the outline of the figure.
"W-What is it Sora?" Bell asked while looking at the invisible figure before them with caution.
Bell's question was soon answered when the invisibility of the figure began to wear off, and the fire was starting to die out. Bell's eyes widened at what he saw before him.
The figure before them appeared to be a bipedal lizard resembling a chameleon. Its entire body was light green and was covered in intricate black markings. It has five short spikes along its back. Its hands and feet have four toes each, two in front and two in back, with black claws. Its prehensile tail is curled up behind it in a spiral. The mouth was lined by short, pointed teeth, along with a pink tongue. It possessed large yellow and orange eyes with small black pupils. It also has a large, white horn.
But the feature that indicates what the monster is before them is the Heartless emblem on its chest.
"...A Heartless!" Bell muttered with alarm and recognition.
"Yeah, and it's a Heartless I've encountered in Tarzan's World. It's called a Stealth Sneak Heartless!" Sora told Bell.
"Stealth Sneak...?"
"Be careful Bell! This Heartless is really tricky to deal with, as it goes invisible!" Sora warned Bell.
Sora had trouble dealing with this Heartless back in Tarzan's world, as its invisibility made it hard to keep track of. It also didn't help that Clayton rode the Stealth Sneak Heartless and shot at him and his friends. Thankfully, there's no gunman on top of the Stealth Sneak Heartless.
"G-Got it!" Bell said as he prepped his Hestia Knife.
However, the Stealth Sneak Heartless soon did something unexpected.
It immediately fired off laser beams from its eyes, heading toward Sora and Bell. Sora immediately swung his sword to deflect the incoming magic blasts. As Sora blocked the blasts, the Stealth Sneak Heartless immediately turned around and hopped up into the air, running away from the two.
"It's running away...!?" Sora said aloud in confusion and surprise, "oh no you don't! Get back here!"
Sora focused on the Stealth Sneak Heartless that was running away, and planned to use his Airstep to immediately close the distance between them.
However, before Sora was about to make his way towards the Stealth Sneak Heartless, the trees suddenly rustled, and Powerwild and Bouncywild Heartless jumped out and leaped towards the two. The sudden appearance of the Heartless disrupted Sora's focus, as he immediately focused on the Heartless that suddenly came at them.
Sora immediately swung his Keyblade to cut down the incoming Heartless before him. Behind him, Bell managed to cut down his fair share of Heartless. Suddenly, Sora and Bell found themselves being surrounded by a large number of Powerwild and Bouncywild Heartless.
"This sudden amount...!" Bell said aloud with alarm, before he realized something else. "Wait, the Stealth Sneak Heartless is getting away!"
"Why now of all times...?" Sora groaned in annoyance, seeing how the Powerwild and Bouncywild prevented him from using his Airstep to get to the Stealth Sneak.
"Sora, leave them all to me! You should focus on catching up to the Stealth Sneak Heartless!" Bell told Sora as he held up his knives in preparation.
"I have a better idea," Sora declared, as he wanted to take care of the problem here and now. He held up his Keyblade into the air. "Light!"
Immediately, three rings of Light manifested around Sora and Bell, and within the rings of Light were colorful crystals that began to rapidly orbit around Sora and Bell. The rapidly revolving rings and crystals began to take out whatever Heartless were in their way.
In a short period of time, Sparkga took out all of the ambushing Heartless in the vicinity.
"...Oh," Bell muttered with an owlish look. He almost forgot that Sora could pull off a wide area of attack to wipe out the Heartless.
"We better get going! The Stealth Sneak Heartless couldn't have gone far!" Sora told Bell, as he immediately took off to chase after the Stealth Sneak Heartless.
And with Sora's impressive speed, he was already ahead of Bell by a good distance, something to Bell's chagrin. Bell was certainly fast, but there was a huge difference between his and Sora's speed.
"W-Wait up Sora...!" Bell called out to Sora, as he made the effort to catch up with the Keyblade wielder.
~ Break ~
"Alright, where the heck is it?" Sora muttered to himself as he ran down a path on where the Stealth Sneak Heartless made off.
Thanks to the earlier distraction, the Stealth Sneak managed to hide itself. As such, Sora had to guess where it ran off. The chase for the Stealth Sneak Heartless led Sora to the eastern wall area of the 18th Floor, which was filled with crystals and a clearing. Sora stopped and took a good look around his surroundings. However, the Stealth Sneak Heartless was truly living up to its name, as it managed to hide its presence well.
"Great...don't tell me I have to search this entire floor to find this Heartless..." Sora groaned in annoyance.
The Keyblade wielder gave an exasperated sigh as he began to move forward. As he began making a few steps, he soon heard a voice calling out to him.
"S-Sora, please wait up...!" a familiar voice called out.
Sora blinked and turned around to see Bell trying to catch up to him.
"Why is Bell so far behind...oh wait," Sora muttered with realization, as he recognized that he left Bell behind due to his impressive speed. A sheepish expression soon grew on Sora's face.
"Sorra Bell, couldn't let the Stealth Sneak get away!" Sora apologized as he scratched the back of his head in a sheepish manner. "Be careful though! The Stealth Sneak Heartless may be in this area!"
"G-Got it...!" Bell called out, still trying to run up to Sora.
Seeing that Bell was beginning to catch up to him, Sora soon turned around and began to walk ahead to investigate the area. He spotted a narrow path made by large crystals leading to a small clearing.
"I wonder..." Sora muttered to himself as he decided to go and investigate the area to see if Heartless was hiding in the area.
The Keyblade wielder made a few steps approaching the narrow path before him. Just as he was about to step into the narrow path...
The ground underneath Sora suddenly collapsed, which revealed a massive and deep hole underneath him. Normally, any normal Adventurer would've fallen into the trap. Sora, however, defies falling into your conventional Adventurer.
"Hah, nice try! It'll take a lot more than that to trick me!" Sora confidently called out to whoever set up the trap before him, as he was hovering in the air.
The Keyblade wielder was using his Glide ability to hover in the air, thus preventing him from falling into the trap.
"Sure is a deep hole..." Sora noted while blinking at how deep the trap is.
"S-Sora, are you alright...!?" Bell asked with concern as he was finally catching up to Sora.
"I'm good, no need to worry!" Sora reassured his fellow Familia member and started to move forward. "Though be careful! This area may have more traps-!"
Sora was immediately cut off when a burst of dark purple energy emerged from the trap and engulfed Sora in its energy.
"Huh-?" Sora made a confused noise as he noticed that he was engulfed by this dark energy, "wait, isn't this-?"
Before Sora could say anything else, he found himself being yanked down into the trap by the energy.
"S-Sora!" Bell cried out in alarm and shock as he saw Sora being dragged into the hole. He approached the hole and looked down, only to see Sora being dragged down into the dark hole.
"How deep is this hole...!?" Bell quietly said with panic. "No, wait, Sora should have methods to get himself out of the hole...though why was he dragged into-?"
The white-haired teenager soon cried out in pain when he felt something strike him in the front, sending him away from the hole. Bell rolled onto the ground, before he managed to quickly pick himself up. He looked forward, only to see nothing. However, he saw small rocks and grass on the ground move.
The Stealth Sneak Heartless is standing before Bell, and it is invisible.
"Not good...!" Bell quietly said as he raised his Hesita Knife in preparation.
He fought various Monsters and Heartless, but not once has he encountered an adversary capable of turning invisible.
'...Wait,' Bell thought to himself, remembering something important when he first encountered the Stealth Sneak Heartless.
Bell immediately pointed his hand forward.
"Firebolt!" Bell fired a bolt of fire from his hand, and a streak of white fire soared through the air and toward its target.
Immediately, the white fire changed course and turned left. His spell struck the invisible target, making the invisible target stagger from the white fire. And to make things better for Bell, the white fire clung to the invisible Heartless, outlining its shape.
He may not be able to see the Heartless, but his Firebolt's homing capabilities will easily point out where it is.
'As long as I keep using my Firebolt, I won't be blindsided-!' Bell thought, but his eyes soon widened when the Stealth Sneak Heartless clapped its arms together, shooting forth a blast of energy toward Bell.
Bell immediately moved to the right to avoid the incoming blast. Bell's eyes widened even further when the Stealth Sneak Heartless hopped up into the air and landed in front of him.
Bell cried out in pain when the Stealth Sneak Heartless turned around and kicked him with its back leg. The white-haired teenager was sent back a small distance and his back landed on the ground. Bell immediately picked himself up, and saw the Heartless was charging at him.
Bell immediately rolled to the side, avoiding an oncoming tackle from the Heartless. The body charge made the Stealth Sneak Heartless end up a fair distance away from Bell.
"It's faster than it looks...!" Bell muttered in alarm. The Stealth Sneak Heartless turned around, and immediately clapped its hands once more to shoot forth a blast of energy.
Bell immediately cast his Firebolt to intercept the incoming blast, and he moved forward and engaged the Heartless in close combat.
The Heartless saw Bell coming towards it, and began to run forward towards Bell to hit him with a body blow. Bell, however, sidestepped to narrowly avoid the incoming attack, and then delivered a slash to the passing Heartless. He could feel the impact of the cut, indicating that he hit the invisible Heartless.
Bell immediately turned around and raised his hand to fire a Firebolt once more. It struck the back of the chameleon-like Heartless, which caused it to scamper around in pain, as if it was trying to put out the fire on its body. As it did, the invisibility soon wore off, revealing the real form of the Stealth Sneak Heartless before Bell.
The Stealth Sneak Heartless turned around, and energy began to build up in its eyes, and short forth two blasts of magic. Bell ran forward towards the Stealth Sneak Heartless and jumped out of the projectile's trajectory. However, Bell was caught off guard when the projectile shot from the Steath Sneak changed trajectory, and turned towards him.
"Wha-!?" Bell cried out in pain once more as he was struck by the magic bullets. He rolled onto the ground once more, but then forced himself to stand up. "It can fire magic that can home in on you...just like my Firebolt!"
Bell looked unsettled by this revelation. This Stealth Sneak Heartess has proved to be the trickiest opponent he's ever dealt with. The Heartless Minotaur was rather straightforward with its battle style, and the Heartless Infant Dragon mainly had the distance advantage and its ranged attacks.
Sora was right. The Stealth Snake Heartless is a tricky Heartless to deal with.
'I can't use Argonaut to help me out either...' Bell thought with a frown. It's a useful Skill, and Argo Lumina can certainly give him an advantage. However, he needs to stand still in order for it to manifest. The Stealth Sneak Heartless isn't going to give him the luxury to stand in one spot either.
"...Looks like I'll have to resort to that then," Bell told himself as he stood up.
He pointed his hand towards the Heartless.
"Firebolt!"
~ Break ~
"W-Wooooaaah-!" Sora yelped as he felt himself being yanked downwards by some force. Whatever the force was, it was powerful enough to drag him down of all people.
Sora noticed that his forced descent led him into a large cavernous area, and spotted a light-purple pool of liquid awaiting him. Sora had a bad feeling about the liquid before him and channeled magic to his shoes.
The Keyblade wielder soon landed on the liquid, making a small splash around him. However, the spiky-haired teenager wasn't sinking into the liquid, but rather, standing on top of it.
'I haven't used this trick for a while since I faced Aqua in the Realm of Darkness,' Sora thought to himself, remembering the time when he went into the Realm of Darkness and fought a corrupted Aqua at the Dark Margin.
Sora blinked when he noticed something within the light-purple pool beneath him, and squinted his eyes to get a good look.
His eyes soon widened in shock and horror.
Underneath him were countless skeletons wearing armor, or had weapons laying near them. However, Sora also noticed that a lot of the bones looked like they were crushed underneath a massive weight, with a lot of them having cracks all over or fractured into pieces.
"What happened here...!?" Sora muttered in alarm, before his ears picked up noise nearby.
The Keyblade wielder looked up, and he could only blink at what he saw before him.
It's a pitcher plant-like monster whose main body is under the flap. Its main body is dark magenta with patches of black over its body. It possesses six long tentacles longer than its main body. It has one eye and a crown-like appendage above it.
But the most distinctive feature of it was the Heartless Emblem on the center of its body.
"A new type of Heartless?" Sora said with a frown, before he began to realize something familiar about it. "Wait a moment, I've encountered this type of Monster before."
During Sora's travels through the Deeper Floors in search of useful drops to get some Valis, he encountered a plant-like monster known as the Venenthes, a stationary monster guarding areas of the Dungeon. For most Adventurers, they would take utmost caution when dealing with it, as it is classified as a Level 4 Monster. Sora, however, easily dealt with the plant-like Monster.
And seeing this monster before him...
"Another hybrid," Sora said with a frown as he prepped his Keyblade, "...and it's got more arms. Guess being a Heartless gave it extra abilities."
The Heartless Venenthes shrieked as it began to rapidly whip its tentacles all over the place. The speed that moved its tentacles was so fast, that only a Level 6 had a chance of avoiding its attacks in the first place. It showed Sora that this hybrid was building up its strength over the time it wasn't discovered by the Keyblade wielder.
"Defense!" Sora immediately formed Reflect magic around him, defending him from the onslaught of tentacle whips that were flailing all over the place.
Once it ended its tentacle assault, Sora pointed his Keyblade forward and shot forth Ragnarok, letting the bullets of Light fly through the air and home in on the Heartless Venenthes. The Heartless Venenthes shrieked in pain when struck by the Light, but the eye soon glowed with dark energy, and shot forth a beam of Darkness.
"That's new!" Sora commented as he moved to avoid the laser. However, just as the laser struck the floor, the eye of the Heartless Venenthes looked towards Sora, with the laser following its gaze.
"If that's the case...!" Sora dismissed his Kingdom Key and brought out his Grand Chef Keyblade, and immediately performed a Formchange to change his Keyblade into a shield.
Sora immediately brought forth his shield, and the dark beam soon collided with the shield. Sora gave a light grunt as he endured the force of the dark beam, and the dark beam split off into different paths when met with Sora's defense. The clash between beam and shield lasted for a short moment, before the Heartless Venenthes couldn't keep up its assault and the dark beam died down.
Sora used this opening, as his body was engulfed in blue energy as he used his Airstep to close in on the Heartless. He planned on unleashing a Flame Barrage to burn the Heartless hybrid away. However, the Heartless Venenthes shrieked as it immediately unleashed a dark-purple shockwave from its body. The dark-purple shockwave struck Sora, and he was engulfed in its energy.
"Wha-!?" Sora was immediately shot down to the ground with intensive force. Sora landed on the surface of the acid, and this time, he felt a heavy weight around his body. Sora's eyes widened in realization.
"So that's how it dragged me into the trap! It's able to use Gravity magic!" Sora said in realization.
This Heartless Venenthes was pulling up one trick after another, and its Gravity Magic proved that it was going to be a troublesome opponent for Sora to deal with.
The Heartless Venethes shrieked once more as it flailed its tentacles around. Sora immediately brought up his shield once more, blocking whatever tentacle attacks came his way. As Sora was blocking, the Keyblade wielder gave a small frown.
'Right, getting in close won't be so easy then and I gotta deal with these troublesome tentacles,' Sora thought, and decided the next course of action.
Once the tentacle assault ended, Sora dismissed his Grand Chef Keyblade and brought out his Kingdom Key once more. Sora then pulled back his arm that was holding the Keyblade.
"I'm taking a page out of your book Bell," Sora declared, as his Keyblade ignited with fire.
Sora then threw forward his Keyblade, performing a Fire Raid as the flaming Keyblade spun through the air and sliced a few of the tentacles. The flaming Keyblade flew forward for a bit, before it proceeded to turn around and head back towards Sora. On its way back, the Keyblade sliced through the rest of the tentacles.
The Heartless Venenthes shrieked in pain when it felt its tentacles sliced apart, and the flames that were burning its ends.
Sora caught the Keyblade and prepped himself for his next course of action. However, a part of Sora wondered why performing this technique felt oddly familiar to him. Once again, it felt like his body just knew how to perform this technique, even though it was his first time using this sort of technique.
Sora decided to think about that later, as he dismissed his Kingdom Key and manifested a new Keyblade in hand.
The Keyblade has a guard made of two yellow canisters. The base of the blade shows a door and the mechanism holding it in place. The blade itself is a long shaft, with a claw serving as the teeth. A worker's helmet is shown at the tip of the blade.
Sora felt the Happy Gear Keyblade is needed for this situation.
Immediately, Sora had his Happy Gear soon disassemble itself into pieces, before they began to reform into two blue yo-yos bearing the Monsters, Inc. logo and blue strings of light.
The Heartless Venenthes shrieked as dark energy began to build up once more, which indicated that it was about to fire off its laser again.
"Back off!" Sora immediately spawned two portals on both sides of himself, thrusting the yo-yos into them.
Multiple portals immediately manifested near the Heartless Venenthes, and copies of Sora's yo-yos emerged from them. Each of the yo-yos hit its mark on the Heartless Venenthes's body, greatly damaging it while disrupting its charging process.
It doesn't matter if the Heartless Venenthes is keeping its distance away from Sora; Sora's shotlock, Warp Trick, can create portals, rendering the distance between the two of them pointless. When Sora saw the Heartless Venenthes was staggering from the damage, Sora dismissed his Happy Gear Keyblade and immediately brought out his Grand Chef Keyblade.
"Let's finish this-!" Sora declared as he was about to use Airstep to close the distance between them once more. However, his instincts screamed incoming danger, as he immediately brought up his shield to block an incoming attack from the side.
Sora's eyes widened when he saw the tentacle of the Heartless Venenthes back at full length.
'Wait, I thought I cut the tentacles in half! How did-!?' Sora thought in confusion, before he noticed something in the corner of his gaze.
One of the tentacles that Sora managed to cut off was seen growing back to its original length at a rapid rate.
"Oh come on!" Sora yelled in annoyance, seeing how the Heartless Venenthes possessed the ability to regenerate its limbs.
First is the Gravity magic preventing him from getting close. Now this hybrid has regenerative limbs!? This monster is proving to be more annoying to Sora by the second!
And because of this, Sora decided to resort to a rather...destructive method to end things here and now.
Once all the tentacles of the Heartless Venenthes regenerated, the hybrid decided to whip its tentacles once more. However, Sora already saw this coming as he switched to his Kingdom Key and raised his Keyblade into the air.
"Gather!" Sora cast Magnega, creating a strong magical force that dragged the flailing tentacles into one place.
"Bind!" Sora then cast the Bind spell to force the tentacles to stay in one place.
Sora then proceeded to hop onto the tentacles and use his Flowmotion to use one of the tentacles as a rail to make his way toward the Heartless Venenthes. Once the Heartless Venenthes saw Sora getting close to it, it immediately unleashed a wave of Gravity magic to drag Sora back down to the ground.
However, Sora knew what was to come, and narrowed his eyes in concentration. Once the wave of Gravity magic got close to Sora, Sora immediately vanished. The shockwave of gravity magic passed through where he once was and hit the floor of the cavern. The Heartless Venenthes didn't see the Keyblade wielder anywhere, and it grew confused.
That is, before Sora suddenly appeared in front of it. The hybrid failed to realize that Sora utilized his Sliding Dive, a Flowmotion technique that allows the user to teleport to where the target is and deliver a strike. The teleportation aspect allowed Sora to bypass the wave of Gravity Magic.
But Sora wasn't going for an ordinary sword strike. Instead, Sora pointed the Keyblade in front of the Heartless Venethes's eye, and a massive amount of energy suddenly manifested before it.
"Mega Flare!"
~ Break ~
"Fire Tooth!"
4 blades of white fire spun through the air and homed in on the Heartless from all directions. The Stealth Sneak Heartless couldn't find any openings to avoid the assault. The chameleon-like Heartless blasted lasers from its eyes and shot down one of the incoming blades, but it was too late to stop the rest of the other blades.
The Firebolt Raids soon sawed their way into the Stealth Sneak Heartless. One dug into its right side, the second severed its left arm, and the third severed the curled-up tail of the Heartless. The Stealth Sneak Heartless soon collapsed onto its knees and struggled to stand up. The state of the Stealth Sneak Heartless looked badly burned, as suffered an endless onslaught of Bell's Firebolts. And once Firebolt Raid manifested, that's when things took a turn for the worse for the Stealth Sneak Heartless.
It looked ahead to see Bell manifesting a new Firebolt Raid in his hand. When the chameleon-like Heartless saw Bell was preparing to finish it off, the Stealth Sneak Heartless immediately went invisible to flee the scene.
It was a rather fruitless action, as Bell's Firebolt is capable of homing in on its target. Even without the homing capabilities, it failed to realize that Bell already executed his plan to finish it off. Before it could make a single step, a white flaming blade appeared out of nowhere and descended towards it.
The white blade flew through the Heartless's neck and embedded itself onto the ground. The flames dispersed, revealing the Hestia Knife in all its glory.
The Heartless remained still before its head fell off its body and dropped onto the floor. The Stealth Sneak Heartless soon dissipated into Darkness, not leaving a trace behind as if it never existed.
Bell sighed in relief, seeing that the battle was over.
'Glad that worked out...' Bell thought to himself while panting from exhaustion, thinking about how he finished off the Heartless.
His Fire Tooth technique is a rather overwhelming technique that assaults the enemy from all sides, and they have a tough time trying to avoid it (if they can). Once the Stealth Sneak Heartless was distracted by the technique, Bell used his Firebolt Raid on his Hestia Knife and threw it upwards into the air, away from the Stealth Sneak's sight. Bell knew that his Firebolt Raid would home in on the Heartless and descend towards it.
However, Bell needed to make sure that it wouldn't take notice of the incoming blade to finish off the Heartless, so he manifested a Firebolt Raid for the Heartless to see to distract it from the real threat.
Bell's plan paid off.
"That was a tough Heartless..." Bell muttered to himself, and then winced a bit from the blows he received from the Heartless. The Light Armor truly worked wonders for Bell.
"...I gotta see how Sora is doing on his end-"
Before Bell could finish that sentence, a massive explosion erupted behind him. An explosion that was so sudden and massive that it knocked Bell off his feet and onto the ground. The white-haired teenager stumbled to get up, and quickly turned around to see the area where Sora fell into.
His eyes widened when he saw a massive amount of smoke and dust emerging from the explosion.
"Sora!" Bell called out in concern and alarm as he ran into the area and made his way through the smoke and dust cloud.
He slowly made his way through the smoke, trying to find Sora in the low-visibility area. As time passed by, the smoke began to clear up as well. Once he got a clear vision of where Sora fell into, his eyes widened in shock.
The entire area before Bell was reduced to nothing but rubble. It looked like the entire land collapsed into itself, leaving a rather massive pit filled with rubble.
The white-haired teenager looked around to see if Sora was anywhere, but he couldn't spot the Keyblad wielder anywhere.
"Oh no...don't tell me...!" Bell whispered in alarm and horror, thinking of the possibility that Sora ended up getting buried by the earth around him.
Before Bell could even conclude on what happened, the ground underneath Bell shook a bit. Bell blinked when he felt something stir underneath him, and saw the rubble in the pit was shaking a bit.
"What is-?"
Bell was cut off when the rubble suddenly exploded, sending debris to fly in all directions. Bell raised his arms to block the tiny pebbles that flew his way, and lowered them to see what happened.
Bell could only blink at what he saw.
"Whew, almost got buried there!" Sora said with relief, his clothes being covered in dirt and dust. The Keyblade wielder stood among the rubble in the pit, all the while holding some sort of drill-like object in his hand.
"Alright...unleashing Megaflare while you're underground isn't a good idea. It'll cause the area around you to collapse." Sora told himself while dusting off the dirt off of his body.
Thankfully, the Keyblade wielder won't find himself being buried by rubble with his trusty Drill Punch to dig him out of the ground.
"Sora!" Bell cried out in relief, to which Sora blinked as he turned around to see Bell running towards him.
"Oh hey Bell!" Sora greeted with his usual friendly grin, before he noticed Bell's state, "hey, you don't look so good. Hang on."
Sora held his hand towards Bell and casted Curaga, letting Bell recover from his injuries.
"Ah, thanks Sora," Bell thanked with relief.
"No problem. How did you end up like that anyway? Oh, did you end up fighting the Stealth Sneak Heartless?" Sora asked in realization.
"I have," Bell confirmed, "it was a rather tough Heartless to fight. Thankfully, I managed to defeat it."
"Well that's great to hear!" Sora praised as he patted Bell on the shoulder, "looks like that's one less threat we have to worry about!"
"Y-Yeah. Though, what happened on your end Sora? How did," Bell gestured to their surroundings, "all of this happened?"
"That? Well, it turns out that-" Sora was about to explain, but he noticed two figures approaching the edge of the pit they were in.
The two figures were men dressed in white robes. Even their faces were covered in white cloth, and the only visible part were their eyes.
"What the-!? Did those two defeat the Venenthes!?" one of the robed figures said aloud in shock.
"How!? How did those two brats defeat them!?" the second figure said aloud in disbelief.
"Wait, you know about-?" Sora was about to question, but was cut off as soon as he saw a dark aura suddenly manifest from the two.
"Release the dark Violas!" one of the robed figures declared.
Immediately, pools of darkness began to emerge, as Heartless Violas emerged from the shadows.
Sora and Bell's eyes widened at what they saw.
"Heartless!?" Bell yelped in shock and alarm.
"They can control Heartless!?" Sora said aloud in surprise. 'They're able to call out Heartless, just like how Zanis did with his Heartless! Are they the ones who granted him the ability!?'
Sora shook off the questions, as he felt that he'd think about it later and focus on the matter at hand.
"Bell, get ready!" Sora warned.
"R-Right!" Bell immediately raised his knife in preparation.
"This is where you die, Adventurer scum!"
The Heartless Violas gnashed their teeth and moved forward to take a bite out of Bell and Sora.
However...they were soon interrupted by an unexpected force.
A trail of fire swept through the battlefield, incinerating the Heartless Violas.
A rain of energy bullets fell from the sky, blasting down multiple hybrids.
Icicle pillars erupted from the ground and impaled the Heartless Violas.
Boulders flew through the air and crushed the remaining Heartless.
"Wha-!?" one of the robed figures looked shocked at what was happening, before he cried out in pain as chains erupted from the ground and hit his flank, making him fall to the ground injured.
"Huh-GAH!" the second-robed figure cried out in pain as he was struck by lightning.
Bell could only blink in astonishment at what was happening before him.
"W-Wow Sora, you made quick work of them..." Bell remarked.
"...That's not me," Sora told Bell with a surprised look on his face.
"W-Wait, you're not? Then who-?" Bell said in confusion.
It was then a new voice entered the scene.
"I was wondering what the source of all that noise was. To think I would find you here," a new voice spoke.
The source of the voice landed right in front of them; the two saw the figure's back.
"What a surprise to run into you here of all places...Sora," the figure said as he turned to face the two.
Sora blinked at who he saw before him.
It's a slender teenager wearing a dark grey shirt under a short-sleeved white jacket with a single gray stripe running down both sleeves. He also had baggy black pants, and wore white sneakers with blue highlights. The teenager also wears yellow wristbands on both of his hands.
However, it wasn't the clothes that stood out to Sora.
Rather, it was the teenager's orangy spiky hair and indigo headphones that made Sora's eyes widen in recognition and shock.
"...Neku!?"
And that's a wrap to this chapter.
That's right, the mysterious boy is none other than Neku from The World Ends With You!
I was certainly amused when some of you guessed a Xehanort clone, Riku Replica, Vanitas, or the protagonist from KHX. However, Neku was set in stone from the very beginning.
And why is Neku of all people in the world of Danmachi?
Keep reading and find out.
Oh, and for better visualization of Neku's outfit, just google TWEWY NEO Neku Concept Art.
And to make things more funny, imagine Sora's disgust face matching with Tanjiro Kamado's disgust face from Demon Slayer when he reacted to Hermes's definition of romance.
(Heartless Venenthes)
Yeah, I made the Venenthes are Heartless Hybrid, and I buffed it a LOT. This is mainly due to the fact that it kept feeding on Hearts from Adventurers, which in turn gave it more power. It was left alone for a good period of time, so it became quite strong.
Though do keep in mind, the Heartless Venenthes isn't stronger than Sora, but it did have a few tricks up its sleeve to keep Sora on his toes. Once it ran out of tricks, it was easy for Sora to just overpower.
And sadly, if Bell and Lefiya were to face it, they wouldn't stand a chance. That's why I had Sora deal with the Heartless Venenthes.
(Fun Fact of the Day)
In Italy, Disney's official materials (articles on the Italian Mickey Mouse and their strategy guide) claim on how in Kingdom Hearts 1, they claim that "the invincible Heartless prince" Darkside is the Big Bad of the game, and that the game ends with Sora fighting him in Neverland.
I wonder why Neverland of all places?