The instant Sora, Donald, and Goofy stepped through the door, they were met with a blinding white light. As the light faded, just as they expected, the first thing they saw was the ornate, alabaster, white rose adorned hallway of Castle Oblivion. And clashing with the pure white was the figure that Sora immediately glared at on sight. The black coat clad figure who lured them here. The trio ran forward, ready to draw their weapons at a moment's notice.
Yet the hooded man simply asked in that smooth, enigmatic voice of his, "Well Sora. Did you enjoy meeting your memories?"
There was no way he was simply here to ask Sora how his visit to his friends were, even if they were just figments. "Yeah, it was good to see everyone. But what do you really want from me? And what did you do with Ruby?" Sora demanded, still not trusting this man any further than he could throw him.
The figure simply shrugged and countered Sora's question with another. "What do you have to give? Would you relinquish it if it meant having her back?" The figure stepped forward, prompting Sora, Donald, and Goofy to draw their weapons. Sora had already begun when he was asked if he'd give whatever he had to get her back. To them, that as good as confirmed that Ruby was here!
Before anyone could strike, a strange ovular geyser of darkness surrounded by trails of what looked like thorny vines, like the one the mysterious man before them used, manifested behind him. From it emerged ANOTHER figure clad in the same black coat but this one had his hood down, revealing a young adult man with fair skin, bright red hair slicked backwards into long red spikes, and teardrop-like markings on his cheeks under his teal eyes.
"Hello~." the redheaded man said in a sing-song manner.
Sora was a little taken aback by the sudden entrance of ANOTHER black coated figure. If this man was dressed in the same way as this other person, they must have been allies.
"What do you want?" the hooded man asked with what sounded like a subtle edge of annoyance, not looking at the newcomer.
"I got bored, what with you hogging the hero." the newcomer said in a snide tone, making Sora even more uneasy. This guy was here for him?
The hooded figure still didn't look at his cohort, merely huffing before throwing something at him. The redheaded man caught it effortlessly, showing it was a card like what he gave Sora before. After which, the first black coated man finally turned to the new arrival and asked, "Then perhaps you'd like to test him?"
"Perhaps I would." the redheaded man repeated.
The next moment, hooded man had vanished in another geyser of darkness, leaving only the newly arrived ally of his in the room with the trio. At least it seemed they wouldn't be potentially fighting two of them at the same time.
"My show now, Keyblade Master," the redheaded man said as he presumptuously grinned at the confusion that must have been brimming in Sora's mind. "Who am I? Oh, my name's Axel. Got it memorized?"
The way he asked that question after introducing himself with such a coy grin, and even pointing to the right side of his temple for emphasis, caught Sora a little off guard. This guy, Axel, seemed a bit full of himself. He was expecting more cryptic...stuff, like the last guy. Not...this. "Um… sure."
His mildly befuddled response seemed to please Axel, who grinned and said, "Good! You're a quick learner." Sora couldn't tell if he was being serious or patronizing. But that wasn't what was important to Axel right now. "So Sora, now that we're getting to know each other better…"
When he paused, Axel raised his arms up at his side with his palms facing the ceiling, with the smile replaced by a much more serious expression. The next moment, he thrust his arms out to the side as spiraling flames suddenly erupted at his open hands, surprising Sora, Donald and Goofy. What was even more surprising was something seemed to come out of the fire. They looked like some sort of spiked wheels. Each had a circular main wheel with a black cross-shaped handle, the edge of them sporting four spikes and a small ring bisecting it as well. Another spike identical to them was attached to each of those rings, making a total of eight spikes. The interior of the main wheel and the outer edge of the half of each of the four rings on the interior of the wheel were red, as were the inner edges of the other halves of the rings. The rest of the weapons bore a rich, silver outline. Axel looked at the three guests again with a smile as unsettling as the words that finished his previous thought.
"Don't you go off and die on me, now."
Wasting no time, Sora rushed toward Axel with Donald and Goofy. With shockingly swift reflexes, Axel managed to sidestep the strike, nonchalantly twirling his ornate weapons all the while. Goofy barely had time to raise his shield to protect himself from the pointed blade of one of the rings as Axel threw it in his direction, igniting in a fierce blaze. What they didn't expect was for Axel to suddenly reappear where he threw the ring! Right between Sora and Donald! Before they could react, Axel threw his other ring at Sora, grazing him with the flaming blade. Yet again, Axel vanished and appeared where he threw it!
Sora began to get frustrated when he realized Axel was just messing around with them! He swung his Keyblade, only for Axel to further rub it in by briefly squatting and seemingly about to jump, only to appear behind Sora again. He gave him a tap on the shoulder, alerting Sora who quickly swung around. But before he could make contact, Axel suddenly swung his left ring at him in a diagonal arc, throwing the Keyblade off, before following it up with swinging the right ring the reverse of his initial strike's trajectory. Switching back to the other ring, Axel ignited it with another strike to the vulnerable Sora and threw it, and the other one at him shortly afterwards. When he called both of them back to his hands, he gave a confident grin and called out, "GOTCHA!" before suddenly flinging both blazing rings at Sora, sending him sprawling backwards.
"Sora!" Donald and Goofy called out. Donald and Goofy glared at Axel, immediately rushing to action as the red haired man loomed dangerously over Sora. "Hey! Back away from Sora! BLIZZARD!" Donald yelled, launching a small glacial crystal at their fiery foe. Axel winced and hissed out in pain as the crystal struck him in the back. "HOIYAH!" Goofy yelled as he reared his shield back and began to twirl around in a circle, striking Axel with his shield rapidly. Thus giving Sora the time he needed to recover.
As Sora shook off the pain when seeing Axel was momentarily stunned from the combined attack of his friends. He took the opportunity to strike and managed to land three hits before making a mighty leap just above the taller man, knocking him right over his head. It seemed to have dazed him further and Sora was about to attack again but he was surprised to see Axel was gone in another blur.
"Hey! Warping in cheating!" Donald yelled in annoyance at their opponent, who seemed almost...BORED.
"Gotta use what you got in a fight. Speaking of which, you guys CAN keep attacking, y'know." Axel said with a nonchalant shrug, further annoying the trio.
From his side, he saw Sora leap at him but blocked the oncoming Keyblade with his own weapon. Even as Sora maintained his footing while striking repeatedly, each attack was stopped by a smugly smirking Axel. "Stop taunting us!" he yelled with frustration.
"Just gotta make sure you haven't forgotten everything," Axel said in a patronizing manner as he held back Sora's assault. Not that Sora cared, but it seemed like Axel was having fun in the fight if the cheeky looking smile on his face was anything to go by. A smirk that widened to an almost crazed looking grin as he yelled, "You won't forget THIS!"
The next instant, Axel warped to the center of the room on the current floor and focused his fiery powers upon himself. The flames surged around his body, create a dome of fire around himself. "BURN!" he shouted as he thrust his hands out. The instant he did, the blazing dome surged outward, filling up the room. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were forced to run as fast as their legs could carry them.
Though he avoided getting burned and Goofy reacted fast enough to turn at the last second to protect himself with his shield, Donald's tail feathers were caught on fire. All his squawks of pain filled the room as he ran around and tried patting the fire off his keister. When he managed to prevent himself from being burnt alive, he had an intense scowl aimed right at Axel. "You flame brained punk! I'll make you pay for that!"
Axel only raised an eyebrow with his lips creasing into a smirk in response. "Ha. Yeah, because you've been doing SO well at that so far." he taunted with a twirl of his weapons.
"Sora!" Goofy called out, turning to the Keyblade Master with a nod. Sora picked up on what Goofy was thinking and nodded right back. So with a great heave, Goofy pulled back his shield arm, and delivered a fierce uppercut to Axel, who seemed completely caught up in taunting Donald. Just like the first time they came up with this maneuver, Sora jumped up and struck Axel again, propelling him higher. And with a great leap, Goofy delivered the final blow, slamming his shield down onto Axel and sending him into the floor with a great crash.
The powerful impact left Axel sprawled on the floor spread eagle and dazed. Not waiting to give him an opportunity to recover, Donald yelled out, "Gotcha now! BLIZZARD!"
Axel let out a groan where he lay as the frigid crystal flew in his direction. "Uggh… Gimmie a break…" he muttered in seeming irritation. As the spell struck true, streams of darkness seemed to slide around Axel's body, enveloping him completely within moments. And in the next instant, he was completely gone, leaving the trio surprised and confused. Was he gone for good? Did they destroy him? They didn't know. What mattered was that they prevailed.
They saw a card like the one that the hooded figure tossed to Sora when they entered this place. "Another one? What's it do?" Goofy asked.
Jiminy, grateful the fight was over, hopped out of Sora's hood and took a look at the card. "Hmmm… Kinda looks like the one you used when you made Traverse Town." he observed. In fact, it was completely identical, apart from the image it bore.
"Then I guess we're gonna need it to keep going." Sora deduced. Every one of these cards were a world from his memory that he had to revisit.
"That's right."
Sora gasped as he heard that unwelcomingly familiar voice. There, leaning to one of the walls at the other end of the room with his arms crossed and a coy smirk creasing his completely unbothered face, was...
"Axel!"
As Donald exclaimed his name in disbelief, the red haired man walked briskly towards them, proudly explaining his survival to the weapon toting trio. "Did you really think after an introduction like that, I would give up oh so easily?"
Sora's brow furrowed when he realized what Axel meant. He wasn't fighting at his full strength. "You were testing us." Sora deduced.
Axel nodded, gesturing proudly to the confused trio. "And you passed. Congratulations, Sora! You're ready to take on Castle Oblivion." he congratulated in that constant, patronizing manner. "Follow your memories. Trust what you remember. Seek what you forget. Then you will meet someone very special."
The mention of 'someone very special' caught the trio's attention. Someone very special to them? "You mean King Mickey and Riku?" Goofy asked hopefully.
"And Ruby too?" Sora asked, his voice half hopeful, half demanding.
A huff of amusement escaped Axel as he shrugged in response. "I don't know. You'll just have to give some more thought to who's most important to you," None of them seemed to understand what he meant. And what he said next didn't help things. "Our most precious memories lie so deep within our hearts, that they're out of reach. But I'm sure you can find yours, Sora." THERE was the cryptic stuff they initially expected.
"How? When? And why me?" Sora asked, still having no clue what any of this meant. Let alone why these robed figures were going through all this effort for him.
Axel shook his head with an expression of disappointment and pity. "You have lost sight of the light within darkness. And it seems you've forgotten that you forgot." he said, almost as if purposely trying to confuse Sora. And it certainly was working.
"The light within darkness?" Sora repeated, trying to find the meaning of the riddles that these black robed weirdos were hitting him with. So many questions and not a single answer in sight yet.
Axel could see the confusion on the boy's face clear as day. The desperation to figure this out, especially if Ruby, Riku, and King Mickey were on the line in some way or another. "Would you like me to give you a hint?" Axel asked, offering a hand to Sora in a gesture of seeming peace or aid.
A most unexpected offer as well. Axel definitely wasn't a friend or an ally. No more than that other suspicious man in the same hooded cloak. Yet here Axel was offering him some form of help. And with how confusing all of this stuff had been so far...
"Sora, do ya need it?" Goofy asked the uncertain Keyblade Master.
Sora wasn't sure what he should do here. He was already immensely confused after his encounter with his friends from Traverse Town, but could he trust Axel? Even now, Axel's hand was outstretched, seemingly still willing to give him that hint. But remembering how little they knew about Axel and his mysterious compatriot, and the fact that they had taken Ruby, Sora knew he had no reason to trust him. "I'm gonna figure it out for myself." Sora said, his face hardening with determination. He wouldn't leave himself at the whims of those who kidnapped Ruby. Brandishing his weapon, he delivered a warning to Axel. "If you're in my way-"
"Don't worry, Sora! We'll protect you!" Donald proclaimed, jumping in front of Sora. These strange guys clearly wanted him most of all, but if they wanted to do whatever nefarious plan they had in store, they'd have to get through him and Goofy first. A sentiment the captain of the guard mirrored bravely in silence.
Seeing the trio was resolute in their choice, Axel smiled and shifted his outstretched hand to a pointed finger. "Good answer. Just what I'd expect from the Key-blade-mas-ter." That smug, patronizing attitude of his was REALLY grating on the nerves of Sora, who remained ready to strike should Axel try to resume their fight. But surprisingly, he didn't. Instead, he simply left the three of them with a cryptic warning. "But be forewarned. When your sleeping memories awaken, you may no longer be who you are now." With that, the ovular geyser of darkness rose up from where Axel stood, and he vanished.