Kingdom Hearts: The World's Reluctant Heroes

by Blackdrag-rose

Chain/Days: Invasion

Sombra smiled as she observed the scene that was in front of her, as Riku and Mickey were in the middle of training with Aqua, as the Keyblade Master had regained her skills in no time after calling her weapon back to her side and proved to be an invaluable ally in the Darkworld. This was due to the fact that Aqua not only had great skill when it came to using her weapon, and knew all sorts of ways to improve what she saw in all three of their stances, but her magic was nothing to ignore, like that was her strength and not her actual combat skills. Such magic also came in handy whenever they moved around the Darkworld, as Sombra knew that facing the pureblood Heartless that were in the dark realm would be a good source of experience for those that weren't familiar with fighting them, while Aqua used her magic to make safe zones for them or even protect themselves when Sombra fired her stronger attacks into the darkness. That, in turn, allowed Sombra to learn more about the magic that the people of the worlds could use, causing her to look over her tome as ideas came to mind, so while she may not be able to gain strength from fighting the Heartless, since purebloods didn't drop hearts, the lessons in magic more than made up for it.

Whenever they rested Sombra made sure to fill in the blanks of her information on what happened that had forced Aqua to come to reside in this realm in the first place, where she informed both her and Riku of the Unversed, another type of foe to worry about, one that she, Ventus, and Terra had fought against before facing Master Xehanort. From what Aqua knew the Unversed were negative emotions that came from a person called 'Vanitas', who sought to merge with Ventus so they could forge the X-Blade, but that battle had ended with the weapon being shattered, Ventus falling asleep, and Vanitas had been destroyed. Sombra thought about that for a few moments and considered the heart fragments she had been collecting so far, as they were shrouded in negativity, meaning she might be collecting the pieces of Vanitas' heart, and if that was the case she suspected that Aqua would want them destroyed, to keep him from reforming. Of course her original plan was still her main focus, track down the remaining fragments so she could absorb the whole heart all at once, since the power would be a good boost to her own, but for now she would have to wait until she recovered another fragment.

While they trained against the Heartless that were in the Darkworld, however, Sombra also found that Riku was able to draw on his amulet's power and actually expand the amount of time he could spend in his transformed state, just like she and Radiant had talked about when it was made, causing her to smile as she took down a Neoshadow with ease.

In addition to all of that they also had the arrival of someone who identified himself as 'Noir', who revealed that he was on their side and that he served Seras, before handing over a folder of information that Sombra couldn't help but smile at as she flipped through the various pages. She had been curious as to what Fluttershy's Nobody would decide to do and was pleasantly surprised when she found that Seras had sent her all of the information she was able to obtain of the members of Organization XIII, not to mention the other Nobodies she knew of. Sombra now knew the names, numbers, and even a few of the powers of the other members of the Organization, allowing her to confirm that Xemnas was the one she fought back on Hollow Bastion, as that figure had called their power 'Nothingness' and that was what the leader of the group called his power. There were even warnings about some of them, mostly along the lines of how two of them, Larxene and Marluxia, were Seras' friends, while Roxas, who was Sora's Nobody despite his picture not looking a thing like him, being friends with Axel and Xion, the latter being another Keyblade wielder.

The folder was a treasure trove of information, allowing Sombra to see Seras' thoughts on the members, those she might see as potential allies and ones that were definitely enemies, the oddballs and even those she was still trying to figure out who they were inside the Organization, and when she wasn't reading from it she stored it away somewhere safe, so that only she could take it.

"I know we keep jumping from being in the Darkworld to being in the Realm of Light, but you do have a plan on what to do next... right?" Mickey asked, because while he was happy to finally save Aqua from this dark place, and he even found that his friend talked to Sombra about any potential problems she might have developed while in this world, he really wanted to know if the figure had a plan or not.

"Yes, we are training for the time being." Sombra replied, as she knew that Mickey was growing impatient, especially since they knew that the Organization was trying to make another Kingdom Hearts, that information she had shared with the others when she discovered it in Seras' notes, but she also understood that impatience would only cost them, especially since Xemnas has been at this for a long time now, "Seras said that I would know when it is time to enter Castle Oblivion, I just have to wait for the portal to open."

As Mickey opened his mouth to say something Sombra suddenly felt the air shift and called for Riku and Aqua to stop for the time being as she glanced to the north, where she found dark energy gathering not too far away, causing her to move out immediately since it didn't seem to match the power of the others she had felt in the past. While the others followed her she found that the Heartless that were in the area retreated, in fact Sombra was sure that they were afraid of her and her power, to the point where none of them wanted to see where she and her group were heading to next. She did take a moment to pause as she spotted a pair of slit eyes in the darkness, those of a dragon, she recognized them anywhere, and it made her wonder if the ancient Heartless she had felt several times in the past was coming for her group, causing her to stare at the crimson eyes for a time. As the others focused on the eyes, Aqua even seemed concerned for a moment, the creature pulled back and disappeared without approaching them, meaning Sombra would have to come back and see if she could find it in the future, before she and her allies continued on their way.

Sure enough she found a dark oval portal resting to the north of where they had been training, meaning someone really wanted them to travel to Castle Oblivion, potentially Namine if Seras' information was to be believed, causing her and the others to enter the portal as they set part of her plan into motion at long last.

---

Radiant found that the inside of Castle Oblivion was lighter than the darkness that was outside the structure, in fact the white color was dulled to prevent it from being overpowering, meaning that Marluxia and the rest of his companions must have gotten annoyed with the color and changed it to suit their purposes.

"How are you feeling? Do any of you feel like you might have forgotten something?" Marluxia asked, speaking after closing the main door, though his question was due to the fact that, if everything was going according to plan, Namine should be hard at work undoing Sora's Chain of Memories, that was her power after all, and if she was doing her part none of the four individuals that were with him would have no abilities to speak of.

"Um... not really." Sora replied, where he summoned his Keyblade and showed off a few of the moves he had developed over the course of his first major adventure, while Radiant, Goofy, and Donald did the same thing, where Marluxia stood there for a moment with a smile on his face, causing Sora to wonder if he had done something wrong, "Why did you ask about our abilities?"

"Oh, no reason. Its just that some of us have experienced losing abilities or memories in this place, only to regain them after leaving for a time... I just wanted to make sure you were fine." Marluxia stated, though inside he was freaking out, as this wasn't part of the plan at all, Sora and his friends were supposed to lose all of their abilities, and the memories that were linked to them, so they could set up a number of rooms so Namine could weave a new Chain of Memories for him, to use him as an ally in their plans, before he regained himself, "Since all four of you seem to be fine, allow me to guide you to the dining area for some food."

As Marluxia started to guide the group to the room in question, as he had memorized the exact layout of each room due to being the 'Lord' of the castle, he noticed that Namine's wolf was in the hall as well, though the walls seemed to be in the middle of shifting as she, Namine had confirmed the creature's gender like Seras did with her Vampire, brushed her tail on the wall. The Painter lived up to the name that had been given to it, as new colors rushed over the wall and made the hall more vibrant than before, almost like Namine didn't like the dull white color that they had gone with in the past and had a better idea, thus allowing the wolf to do her work. Of course they were still unsure of the full power of this High Rank, but one thing was certain in Marluxia's eyes, the wolf was a passive Nobody, a support type that could potentially paint who knew what, and he suspected that it might be able to alter the battlefield if it was ordered to do so. The wolf, Ama as he and the others called it for short since Namine gave her a longer name, stopped and rushed over for a moment, sniffing at everyone and even allowed them to pet her for a moment, before she moved down the hall, no doubt heading towards Namine's room, where she slept most of the time.

After that Marluxia brought them to the dining room, the one they used whenever Xemnas was here since he seemed to dislike all of the smaller casual eating areas that he and those stationed here used, and when he entered the room both he and Sora's group found Larxene standing by one of the walls, where he told the group to sit wherever they like before departing the room with his friend close behind him.

"What are you doing?" Larxene asked, as she knew the plan, they had practiced it whenever they were out on missions and had sent the Dusks away, and this wasn't what both of them had agreed on, in fact seeing the four members of the group worried her to no end since that meant something big was happening.

"I am... altering the plan. I suspect either Namine wants us to be nice to Sora's group, or..." Marluxia said, though the last bit seemed to stall in his mouth, like he couldn't bring himself to admit what he was feeling right now, and Larxene could see that something was stalling him, since he usually acted differently than this.

"Fear." a voice stated as the pair entered the library area that also served as an observation area that surveyed the rest of the castle, as there were cameras everywhere and there was a device nearby that allowed them to see everything that was on all of them, especially those that were in the basement, where they found Axel standing nearby with his arms crossed as he stared at one of the screens, "Sora is one of Sombra's friends, and just the name is enough to make even us, who fake emotions, afraid... as if we already had hearts... and you fear what might happen if she learns that we might be doing something terrible to her remaining friends."

"Yeah, I'd say that's pretty accurate." Larxene remarked, where Marluxia found that Zexion was in the kitchen, preparing the food that had been promised to Sora and his friends while they were outside the castle, though all three of them just stood there for a few moments as they considered Sombra's terrifying dark power, "So, be friendly to Sora's group, likely keep them entertained, and try to figure out what Namine is..."

Before she could finish her statement she, Marluxia, and Axel felt a familiar surge of dark energy coming from inside the castle, the type that could only come from someone opening a Dark Corridor, a signature that they didn't recognize no less, and it wasn't long before they found that it opened in the basement for some reason. In the next instant their blood ran cold as a siren sounded, one loud enough to be heard in this room and in a similar room for those in the basement, one Vexen had installed in the unlikely and improbable event that the one person they didn't want to contend with were to enter this place. The trio watched as three figures emerged from the portal in question, one was Riku, even though he seemed far more confident than they had been told, another was a black mouse that could only be King Mickey, and a blue haired girl that none of them recognized, but she seemed important. The next instant filled them with dread as the one person they weren't hoping to see invaded Castle Oblivion, as Sombra, in all of her dark glory, was the last to step out of the portal, allowing it to close when she was fully on this side, though she glanced around with interest in her eyes.

Larxene found that all three of them were sweating from just realizing that they were in danger, as the worst person had just entered their domain, and both she and Marluxia even took a step back from the console, as if their instincts were kicking in, something that only made her wonder what in the world was going on and if they were going to survive what was about to happen next.

Comments

[Xalok]

Well I guess you can call that a code Black.

[Xarmar13]

I get the feeling that the card system in CoM is being thrown out the window with the rest of the garbage, set on fire and blown up with a bunch of high explosives while a large crowd watches in awe and celebratory cheer while a parade is being made in the honor of the one who obliterated that system.

[Yogiboy]

YES! Let the fighting begin.

[Soluna Eclipse]

11829321
Just the Card System? from the way this is going I'm pretty sure Chain of Memories as a whole is being tossed out due to simply not being a viable option anymore. I suspect we're about to see things snowball out of control very quickly.

[Moonlight_Mist]

11829321

[Black--Soul]

Fear is bonded to the survival instinct, a very basic emotion. Good to listen to it.