//------------------------------// // Chapter XXXII: A Call from a Friend // Story: KINGDOM HEARTS: Dark Order // by OliverSparkle //------------------------------// Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi and Aqua were running all around Radiant Garden searching for Oliver and Flurry Heart after the two ponies ran off to hide somewhere while they handled the two, what they didn’t know yet, fakes. They split into two groups to find their two pony friends. Sora went with Donald and Goofy one way while Kairi went with Aqua the other way. The two groups searched through alleyways, in shops, cafes and behind the bushes. But no sign of the two alicorns, not even a hair from their manes. They searched for them for about seven hours before regrouping back to the Gummi Ship in the middle of the area of Radiant Garden. “Did you find them, Sora?” Asked Kairi. “No, we can’t find them anywhere,” Sora sadly answered. “Oh where could they be?! We don’t have time for this!” Said Donald in annoyance while crossing his arms. Just as those words came out of his beak, they all heard hoofsteps running from a near distance behind them. They turned and saw Oliver running towards them as quickly as he could with Flurry Heart holding onto her brother’s neck. “Let’s go! Let’s go! They’re after me and Flurry Heart!” Oliver shouted before running past the guardians. “Those Unversed just don’t give up, huh?” Donald said unamused with his arms still crossed. Suddenly, they heard a loud rumbling noise coming from the distance to where Oliver and Flurry Heart was running from. And coming spinning rapidly from that distance was, another Monster Tower. “Another one as before?!” Sora asked in shock. “Guess the Unversed like taking ideas from the Heartless,” said Aqua while glaring at the Monster Tower. “Seems that way,” Replied Sora as the five summoned their weapons just before the Unversed landed near them and continued to spin rapidly. “Fire!” Donald shot two fire balls from his staff and they smacked the Monster Tower on the top making four Floods fall from it and disappeared in purple dust. Goofy hid behind his shield and quickly charged through the Monster Tower making two Floods fall and disappeared in purple dust. Suddenly, the Monster Tower slide to the ground and also smacked Goofy making him fly forwards and landed on his front while dropping his shield. “Goofy!” Sora shouted before glaring at the Monster Tower and started charging towards it. He then jumped towards the top of the Tower and smacked it eight times with his Keyblade. “This is it!” Sora smacked the top really hard with his Keyblade before landing on the ground safely and started to his way towards Goofy who was slowly getting back onto his feet. “Goofy, are you okay?!” Asked Sora worriedly. “I think so,” answered Goofy while rubbing his head with his free hand. Just then, Goofy saw something coming towards them and shockingly shouted, “Watch out!” Sora turned behind him and saw the Monster Tower shooting towards them. The boy let out a small gasp of shock before he and Goofy quickly jumped forward and landed on their fronts just as the Tower shot to the ground and collapsed into lots of Floods while showing the darkness ball that was keeping the Floods together in one. Aqua spotted the ball and shouted, “Quick! Destroy that ball! It’s what keeping the Floods to form back together!” The four gave her a nod before Sora ran towards Kairi. “Kairi, you ready?” Kairi gave Sora a nod in response as they glared at the Monster Tower before jumping into mid air together. They both held each other hands before reaching their free hand out while shouting, “Light!” Just then, two big bright light wings appeared behind them. Sora and Kairi flew towards the Monster Tower and smacked it several times as the wings turned into feathers and they landed on their feet with their Keyblades returning. The ball was now destroyed and disappeared into dark smoke with the Floods falling apart and disappeared as well. Donald, Goofy and Aqua walked towards Sora and Kairi while watching the Floods vanish. “Well that was close,” Donald said in relief. Just then, they saw Oliver walking towards them with Flurry Heart riding on his back still. “Are you guys alright?” Asked Oliver. “Yes. We’re all fine, Oliver,” replied Kairi politely. “Where were you two?” Donald asked, “We’ve been searching the whole place for you.” “After we went off somewhere to hide,” Oliver began to explain, “Flurry Heart spotted a nice flower bed that was near a park and wanted to smell the flowers and play on the children’s swings, until the Unversed showed up and ruined her fun.” Flurry Heart nodded her head with a sad look on her face. She was enjoying being gently pushed on the swings by her big brother, but thanks to the Unversed, they’ve ruined her fun at the Radiant Garden Children’s Park. Sora gave the poor baby a sad look, but then replaced it with a happy smile as he thought of a way to make her happy again. So he walked up towards the alicorns and bent down to make better eye contact with Flurry Heart while she started to look at him in confusion. Sora bent his head down and after a few seconds, he quickly but also gently levitated his head up and made a funny smiley face at Flurry Heart in hopes that might make her laugh. And it did, because Flurry Heart was now happy again and was also laughing at Sora’s funny face special once again. “Gwarsh! She really does love your funny face special, Sora!” Goofy said kindly. Sora smiled at the captain and let out a small laugh of his own. “Well, I figured it would help her feel happy again. And it seems it did.” Flurry Heart giggled a bit but also continued to smile at her favourite Keyblade wielder. Just then, Sora’s Gummi Phone started to ring from his pocket. “Huh?” Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Another call?” Goofy started to scratch the top of his head with his left finger, “Who’s it from?” “Not sure, but I best answer it to see,” replied Sora. Sora pressed the green phone button on the screen and the video call appeared to reveal Riku. “Sora, are you there?” Asked Riku on the video call. “Oh! Hey, Riku!” Sora said in surprise but politely and happily, “Is everything okay? How’s Lightning Twister?” “He’s okay,” Replied Riku, “We’ve just rescued him after he got kidnapped yesterday, but don’t worry, he’s perfectly fine now.” After hearing Riku say the word “kidnapped”, the five guardians and the two ponies were in deep shock. Lightning Twister was foalnapped yesterday while they were at Radiant Garden and had no idea about it. “What?! Kidnapped?! By who?!” Asked Sora worriedly. “By some hippogriff that joined The Storm King long ago,” Replied Riku, “His name was Tempest Plagueis. But like I said, don’t worry, Lightning’s with us safe and sound now. And by us I mean me, Mickey, Fizzlepop and Lightning’s friends.” Donald got annoyed by Riku not calling Mickey “King Mickey”. “It’s KING Mickey!” The duck shouted angrily, “Call him that!” Sora wasn’t happy with the way Donald just spoke to his friend as he smacked the wizard on the back of the head. “Ow!” Donald rubbed the back of his head with his left feathered hand before looking at Sora who was now giving him a cross look. “Donald, don’t be so rude! And besides, Riku is the King’s friend, so he’s allowed to call him just Mickey!” He turned back to the screen on the Gummi Phone, “Sorry about that, Riku. Continue.” “Anyways, the other reason I’m calling you is because we’re all heading towards Land of Departure so that we are safe till we figure things out before returning to the Crystal Empire. We were hoping to stay safe at the Dragon Lands, until we were attacked.” “You were attacked?!” Kairi asked in shock and worried, “By who?!” “Some evil female dragon wearing a coat similar to what the Organization members wore but in red,” answered Riku, “Could be working for Vanitas and Cozy Glow. But I can’t say much about her now since she fell off a mountain and then just disappeared. None of us know if she survived and escaped or she is totally gone.” Oliver placed a hoof on his chin before saying, “Vanitas and Cozy Glow must have prepared theirselves before we could take the chance.” Sora gave Oliver a nod in agreement before turning back to his phone and said to Riku, “We’re coming to Land of Departure too. I’m sure you guys might need some extra help if you get attacked again.” “Sounds like a good idea, Sora,” said Riku, “I’ll let the others know you’re coming, and also keep in touch if anything goes wrong.” The video call ended and Sora gently placed his Gummi Phone back in his pocket. “I do hope the kid’s okay,” said Oliver worriedly, “This isn’t the first time he was foalnapped, and we all know Vanitas and Cozy Glow are still after him.” “I hope so too, especially since I wasn’t there to save him,” Sora said sadly while feeling guilty. He wished he was there to save Lightning before he was foalnapped, but instead, he went to Radiant Garden and not know about the break in and foalnap that had happened two nights back. Donald and Goofy quickly noticed this and walked over to Sora to comfort their friend. Goofy gently placed a hand on Sora’s shoulder and said, “It’s okay, Sora. I’m sure Lightning will forgive you for not being there to save him that night.” “Yeah,” agreed Donald happily but also softly, “Besides, we were too busy with Ansem the Wise to even notice something wrong was going on back at the Crystal Empire.” Sora’s smile finally grew back on his face when those words from Donald and Goofy hit his heart. “You’re right. Thanks, Donald, Goofy. Come, let’s head back to the Gummi Ship and head to Land of Departure before anything else happens to them.” They all gave Sora a nod in agreement before walking off to the Gummi Ship, while Flurry Heart continued to ride on Oliver’s back. But unknown to them, Sunset Replica and Starlight Replica were watching them from above a tall tower and heard everything. “They won’t be able to get to their ship if we stop them first,” said Sunset Replica earning a nod from Starlight Replica. Before they could do anything, they heard the voice of Vanitas from a far away distance. “That may have to wait, you two.” The two replicas glared behind them as a dark corridor appeared near them and disappeared to reveal Vanitas who was grinning evilly at them. “I’ve got another job for you two to handle with.”