As the trio left the hideout, Sora looked back toward the square where they encountered Leon. A place he fondly remembered. For it was there that he met Ruby, Donald, and Goofy. The place that they became friends and embarked upon their journey together. And now...Ruby was somewhere within the castle that made this fake Traverse Town. "Guys? Let's hurry. Ruby's waiting for us." Sora said with a determined voice as he rushed toward the giant pair of doors leading to the first district.
As Donald and Goofy followed close behind, the trio soon skidded to a halt as a Soldier Heartless emerged in front of them, flanked by a small group of Shadows. With weapons readied, Goofy charged forward, knocking the Soldier off balance and a few of the shadows out of the way. Sora followed after Goofy, cutting down the stragglers and any that got too close. Donald was about to use a spell but hesitated as he remembered what happened the last time he tried that. Nothing. But he knew he couldn't stand by and do nothing while Sora and Goofy were fighting. So, taking a breath, Donald swung his staff in front of himself, and yelled, "Fire!"
To his surprise and joy, flames gathered at the tip of his staff in a spherical shape, before launching from the tip like a bullet, and destroying a Shadow rushing at Sora upon impact. Sora and Goofy looked at the smiling Donald, who was utterly elated at being able to cast magic again. "Oh boy! My magic's back!" he cheered, earning a thumbs up from the other two before they focused back on the fight.
Sora felt something as he kept fighting. The more he fought, striking and blocking the Heartless one after another, his muscle memory seemed to at least be returning. One swipe to his back knocked him off balance though as he tumbled forward. One of the Soldiers was responsible for clawing at him and from what Sora realized, was reeling themself back and lunging forward with a slamming kick. In a burst of instinct, Sora lunged away from the Heartless with his free hand outstretched. Upon touching the ground with it, he managed to stand himself back up as he tumbled forward. Realizing what he did, his eyes widened with cheery realization. He remembered how to use his trusty Dodge Roll!
"Way to go, Donald!" Goofy cheered, heaving his shield arm back to bludgeon the Soldier he was holding back. The trio may have forgotten their most powerful techniques, but they were far from helpless. A bunch of dime a dozen basic heartless weren't going to be nearly enough to stop them! Something the Heartless learned the hard way as one by one, they were destroyed with ease by Keyblade, magic, and shield.
"Yeah! Still got it!… sort of." Sora cheered, twirling his Keyblade around and resting it upon his shoulder, followed by sharing a high five with Donald and Goofy. It was nice to know that they could at least remember the techniques they forgot.
"Alright, let's keep going!" Sora cheered, leading the way toward the other major district of Traverse Town. The clock tower in front of the fountain where they found the Keyhole. Even if it was long since sealed, surely they might find something of note around there. And sure enough, they definitely saw someONE of note.
It was none other than Cid Highwind! The scruffy, upward styled blonde haired ship technician who upgraded their gummi ship get to all the other worlds they visited! Including spacing out the cramped conditions of said ship for all of Ruby's friends. The blonde curmudgeon turned with a cheery smile, ever with that little toothpick in his mouth, as he waved to the boy. "Well waddya know? It's Sora!" His exuberant greeting surprised Sora. Did he actually...oh wait. No, it was probably just Sora's memories making him remember. Sure enough, that was the case as Cid scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Wait, what am I sayin'? I don't know you. But you LOOK like a Sora, what with the spikey hair, and the baggy pants..."
Sora smiled and reassured, "It's okay, Cid. That's my name." At this point, there was no point being concerned or confused about it, so Sora decided to just try rolling with the situation as best he could.
Hearing his name from the boy's mouth caused Cid to puff his chest out with pride. "So you've heard of me?" he said, rubbing his nose in a mildly smug manner. "Well I can't say I'm surprised." he added, his voice brimming with self-confidence.
Sora shook his head as he smiled. Cid certainly hadn't changed one iota in this place. But they could focus on that later. "Anyway, maybe you can help me out. A friend of mine's supposed to be somewhere in this castle- er, town. Got any ideas?" Sora asked.
"Your friend, huh? Lately all this town sees is Heartless. Can't even take two steps without gettin' attacked. In fact, this plaza's the worst. Word is, a jumbo-sized Heartless shows up when that bell rings," Cid said while gesturing behind himself with a hitchhiker's thumb to the bell tower. "If you value your hide, you'll get outta here while the gettin's good."
Taking his own advice, Cid turned around and left right away. Goofy had an unsettling feeling, looking at the bell Cid mentioned. "Gawrsh. Maybe we should leave."
Sora looked back at Goofy with a raised eyebrow. "Don't you wanna see the Heartless?" he asked, like it was something totally normal.
"NO, we DON'T!" yelled an angry Donald, unable to believe Sora would be so casual about something so potentially dangerous. It seemed that Sora's curiosity and recklessness once again insisted on going hand-in-hand at the worst possible times.
Before he could further rant, the sound of a bell rang throughout the town. Almost immediately, Donald's annoyance turned to shock and worry as he exclaimed, "The bell!" If what Cid said was true, then...they were about to fight a big, strong Heartless.
The group stepped together, moving back to back as they scanned the area cautiously. Wherever this Heartless was coming from, they couldn't afford to let their guards down now. "Be careful, Sora!" Goofy called out as their eyes scanned the area.
As if on cue, across from them near, the water fountain, appeared a batch of striped, metallic shapes of varying shades of purple and lavender falling from the air. When they hit the ground, the trio realized that those shapes were actually metallic appendages. A pair of clawed hands and crab claw-like feet, all converging upon a cylindrical torso to form a limbless body which had the Heartless Emblem on it. A moment later, a round head in the shape of a knight's helmet fell on top of the torso, completing the creature's body. "Guess that's the jumbo-sized Heartless?" Goofy said, his own worry rising as he kept his shield up.
"Hey! This is the Heartless we all fought together when we first met!" Donald exclaimed. He'd recognize this particular one anywhere! Especially since they fought it twice! The second time with it...inexplicably being a different color, and transforming. A trick he hoped it wouldn't repeat here.
Brandishing his Keyblade, Sora's gaze firmly locked upon the Heartless as its limbless body lumbered and clanked in his direction. They didn't have Ruby with them this time, but Sora knew they could take this thing down. They'd done it before, and they'd do it again. "Let's go!" And with no hesitation, the trio leapt into action. In response to their charge, the Guard Armor Heartless swung its fists downward, delivering a punch toward each of them. Sora managed to role out of the way, though Donald and Goofy were less elegant in their evasion with Donald flopping backwards just in time, and Goofy of protecting himself with his shield. Sora wasted no time striking at its right hand with his Keyblade, drawing its attention.
As the Heartless turned to him, Donald shook his head and hopped up, swinging his staff in a sweeping motion in front of himself. "Blizzard!" And as he'd hoped, out from his staff flew a small collection of sharp, frigid crystals that struck into the Heartless's metallic legs. The duck was REALLY starting to miss his higher powered spells, but at least the basics were coming back to him easily enough. Only expected of a master of the arcane, but now wasn't the time to stoke his own ego. They had a Heartless to fight.
One that Goofy was having a hard time getting close to as it suddenly began twirling its hands around itself, forcing Sora to back off as well. Just as it did when they first fought it, this Heartless wasn't even reacting to their attacks. At the very least its attacks seemed predictable. And speaking of predictable, Donald soon found himself getting a blast from the past as his frigid attack drew the attention of the Heartless's feet. As they started stomping toward them, he let out a brief sigh before saying, "Not again… WAAAAAAAK!" And just like the first time they fought it, Donald was forced on the run by the Heartless's feet. But at the very least, he was still able to outrun them while the others dealt with its hands.
Just as Goofy blocked a fist from the Guard Armor's hand, Sora leaped up and over his friend to strike at the momentarily dazed limb. The other almost came at him from the side but the young man landed to the ground in time to avoid it then ran around as Goofy went another direction. The head on the torso seemed to have difficulty tracking both of them even with its limbs being able to separate. Donald was returning to his friends with the stomping feet still chasing him but saw Goofy ready to meet him halfway. They ran together to another area of the Second District, together, now being chased by the arms and feet. "What do we do now?" Goofy asked, looking at his shorter companion with worry.
Donald glanced back at them, thinking but also trying to avoid the nearby threat. "I think I've got two shots of magic left within me. So I gotta use them wisely," he said with some hesitation before they turned to a corner and headed back where Sora was. "Think you can give me an opening?"
Goofy's worry faded almost instantly as a smile touched his face. Donald sounded like he had a plan in mind, so he chose to trust his friend's judgement. "Sure." the guard captain said with confidence.
Glad to know they were on the same level, Donald looked ahead to see Sora keeping the torso of the giant Heartless at bay. "Sora!" he called out. "When I cast my next spell, strike that center part of the Heartless!"
Sora looked back at Donald, listening intently to his plan. While he didn't know entirely what Donald had in mind, he trusted him. By now, all of the collective pieces of the Heartless were returning to its main body. Donald rushed toward the Heartless with a leap, letting out a quacking battle cry as he prepared to launch his spell. As Sora kept up his distracting assault on their target, Donald's lashed out with his staff, unleashing the frigid magic of a Blizzard spell. The scattering, icy crystals struck across its body, causing the Guard Armor to shake and rattle before collapsing into a pile. "We got it now!" Goofy shouted before charging at the downed enemy like he was a battering ram with his shield in front.
"Let's go!" Sora cheered valorously. Now that it was down, it was time to finish it off while they still could. And in a knee jerk reaction, he gave a leap, using his Keyblade for elevation, before swinging around and sliding forward with a horizontal swing, cutting through all the downed Heartless's body parts, destroying the weakened arms and legs.
Standing up in the wake of his dash, Sora looked down at his Keyblade with a look of amazement. "Wait a sec… I remember doing that. Hey guys! I think I remembered one of the abilities I forgot!" he cheered.
"Way to go, Sora!" Goofy called back with a thumbs up. Maybe it wouldn't be too hard to remember the abilities they used while going through the castle.
What he was apparently also forgetting was the fact that the torso was the main part of this Heartless. "Sora! The body's starting to move!" Donald called back. By the time Sora looked back, the head had already floated back up above the cylindrical torso.
"Oh… Oops." Sora said, not sounding that concerned about his forgetfulness. The Heartless seemed eager to give him something to think about however as it suddenly began to whirl around and like an out of control top, began to zoom across the district. Sora, Donald, and Goofy managed to roll out of the way before the Heartless heaved up off the ground, and slammed itself down, causing small shockwaves of dark energy to form around its base. The creature was determined to crush Sora, whether out of offense for its mutilation or sheer instinct.
Whichever was the case, Sora quickly raised his Keyblade, pointing the tip at the Heartless, and yelled out, "FREEZE!" Sure enough, just like Donald, he unleashed a small frigid crystal that struck the Heartless right in its emblem, causing it to shudder and shake as the crystals punctured its metallic shell. The creature gave a harsh tremble before it fell to the ground, head rolling off its neckless torso. And like when they first fought it, a giant heart emerged from its torso and rose up into the night sky.
"Way to go, fellas!" Goofy cheered, high-fiving Donald victoriously. Yet another Heartless felled! Or well...a familiar Heartless RE-felled, perhaps would be the better term. But whatever the case, they won!...Again!
Yet Sora wasn't feeling as elated as he normally would. This victory didn't feel the same without Ruby by their side. And even now, despite knowing for certain they all met in this town, Sora, Donald, and Goofy saw no sign of Ruby. They had hoped, especially Sora, that maybe they'd find some hint of her with the destruction of the 'jumbo-sized Heartless', but they were no closer to finding her, Riku, or the King than they already were.
"Ruby..."