Kingdom Hearts: The World's Reluctant Heroes

by Blackdrag-rose

Chain/Days: Vexen's Plan

"So, this is Castle Oblivion... too much white, if you ask me." Sombra remarked, not because she hated the color, rather her comment was due to the fact that there was simply for too much of the color around them, though at the same time she really didn't get the feeling that this was a castle, rather it was like Marluxia called it that to help him come to terms with the time he spent here.

"Wait... I've been here before." Aqua said, as she glanced around the chamber they were in and realized why it seemed so familiar, as she had walked through a similar hall after she turned her old home, the Land of Departure, into a new state to keep Ventus' slumbering body safe from those that might seek to do him harm, causing her to realize that they were close to one of her friends, "I'll have something to do once we're done with the Organization."

"We must be cautious, since we now in their territory." Mickey added, where he glanced around and found that there was next to nothing for their enemies to hide behind, though he couldn't help but feel that someone was watching them right now, no doubt coming up with a plan of attack, before noticing that Sombra had disappeared, 'Wait, where did Sombra go?"

"It's one of her powers." Riku said, as while they were training in the Darkworld he and Sombra had trained, both to allow him to get used to the dark power that was inside him, a remnant from his mistakes and being possessed by Seeker Ansem, while at the same time allowing him to see that Sombra's powers were far more than even Sora knew, like one that allowed her to be like a chameleon, meaning she was still nearby, "We've got company."

Sure enough the area in front of them was replaced by a surge of dark energy, which appeared to be one of the members of the Organization warping from one part of the castle to this area, though this time the figure had dirty blond hair and two bangs, one of each side of his head.

"So, you must be Riku... and I take it that the mouse is King Mickey... though you'll have to forgive me for not knowing who your companion is." the figure said, where he glanced around for a moment and noticed something that worried him, as the one who set off the alarm was nowhere to be seen, as in Sombra seemed to be missing, which caused him to focus on the trio that was in front of him, "Where is Sombra? I know she's here, as that alarm wouldn't go off unless she's here."

"Don't know. Maybe she's somewhere else in this place?" Riku replied, feigning ignorance to what this place was, who this Nobody was, and what Sombra was up to, because doing this might cause the figure to make mistakes that Sombra could use to their benefit, how he had no idea, but he trusted his friend to know what to do next, "Anyway, who are you? And, more importantly, what do you want from us?"

"I am Vexen, a humble researcher. As for what I want, may I ask that you come with me?" Vexen answered, because he knew that if he presented himself like this he would be able to get Riku on his side, as he wasn't presenting himself as the villain they might be expecting him to be, meaning it would be easy for him to get the information he needed before he turned his focus on Sora, "I assure you, I am not planning anything nefarious."

Mickey and Aqua knew that Riku would never go along with the Organization's wishes, especially since they knew that the boss of the Nobodies was making his own Kingdom Hearts, though that didn't stop the boy from walking forward for a few seconds, making Vexen think that he was going to go along with him, before Riku punched him in the face and knocked him back into the wall behind him.

"Sorry, but I have no interest in following you anywhere. Come on, let's go." Riku said, glancing at Mickey and Aqua for a few seconds as he continued down the hallway, letting them see that he had bloodied Vexen's nose with that punch, no doubt a sign of his growth thanks to all of the training they had done in the Darkworld, but the Nobody seemed fine with the situation as they headed into the hallway.

Vexen smiled for a moment as he pulled out his notes and jotting something down, all while unaware of the danger that was still lurking in the shadows, because while Riku's group had moved forward the true threat remained standing by the wall that the Nobody had been knocked towards. Sombra smiled for a moment as she thought about how lucky she was to have obtained the chameleon ability from the Stealth Sneak on Tarzan's world, one that had gone mostly unused since she acquired it, but thanks to her powers and new abilities she was able to erase her entire presence with ease. In fact she could stand right in front of Vexen if she wanted, maybe taunt him if she was in the mood to do so, and he wouldn't see any of it, but for the time being Sombra remained out of the way, observing the researcher as she wondered what sort of information he could lead her to. That was the point of the group splitting up like this, Riku was going to go find Sora and the others, since they were sure his group had to be in the castle as well, before worrying about the Organization, while she, in turn, would go see if there was anything else before turning her attention on the Nobodies as well.

Once he was done with his notes Vexen started to move down the hallway and headed for one of the rooms, though as he did so he paused every now and then, sweating a little as he glanced at the shadows, as if expecting Sombra to jump out at any given moment, before moving again and only stopping when he reached an interesting chamber that seemed to be off the beaten path.

The chamber turned out to be a large lab of sorts that had a number of devices inside it, screens that collected date while showing him other things, consoles that he could input data in and update whatever he was working on, and devices she had no idea what they did. Based on what she was seeing the other members of the Organization who were in this castle either had no idea that this room existed or they didn't come here all too often, though she did find cans that had been filled with tea resting on one of the nearby shelves, along with some food containers that were totally empty. Such a thing made her wonder how much time Vexen actually spent in this part of the castle, since it had to be far more than what Seras was able to figure out in her short time in the Organization, before she grinned as she found what was holding all of Vexen's attention. There was a side area to the lab that they were in, one that had two rows of capsules that were sized to fit someone of Sora's size, and inside eighteen of them were what appeared to be white dolls that seemed to be in stasis, while she found that there was another on in front of Vexen's station.

The one Vexen was working on eventually took on the form of Riku, but back when Seeker Ansem was in control of his body, allowing Sombra to understand that these things took on the form of the data or heart that was put in them, which caused her to wonder about the missing doll as she wondered what the other eighteen were for.

"Good. A Replica can take on a form when given basic data, and the fabricated memories I created... in fact, this one is far better than Xion, as he already has a heart!" Vexen stated, meaning he liked to talk to himself when he was sure no one else was around, or maybe the other members of the Organization ignored him and this was to help himself get used to that fact, where Sombra was sure that he was quite pleased with himself as he released the Replica from his container, "Come, let us see how Sora and the others like this!"

Sombra remained in her hiding place, letting Vexen and the Replica depart from the chamber, and once she was sure that they were gone she approached the terminal, only to find that the scientist didn't even bother to protect the devices he used, rather it was far too easy for her to open folders and read stuff. She found that Vexen had the entire plans that the ones assigned to Castle Oblivion were supposed to abide by, using Namine's powers to break Sora down, tear apart his 'Chain of Memories' and build a brand new one, to make him into one of Xemnas' loyal pawns. The interesting thing came when she noticed Vexen's more recent entries on the plan, indicating that Namine had no desire to play along with him or the rest of the Organization, and yet, as far as she could tell from the information, none of the Nobodies had tried to force her and her 'High Rank', the wolf that was with her, out of the castle. That either meant her power was far more than any of the Nobodies were used to dealing with or she was far too important to treat like a pawn, and Sombra found that the foolish scientist had his own plans for everything, including the other eighteen Replicas, only he failed to write down what his plans were.

In the end Sombra chuckled as her darkness enveloped the chamber, keeping it contained so that no one else would be able to enter it until she brought the new barrier down, as there was so much she could do with eighteen Replicas, while at the same time crippling whatever plan Xemnas, Xehanort, and their allies had were working towards.

"No! What's going on?!" she heard Vexen ask, where she stepped outside the room and found that they hadn't gotten very far, rather it seemed like they might have been rehearsing what Repliku, or whatever he was called, was supposed to do when he encountered Sora and the others, only now the Replica seemed to be dead, it was just resting against the wall with lifeless eyes, like someone had stolen his heart, "You were working a few moments ago."

"Well, what do we have here? It seems like some dark power has ripped the Replica's heart from his body." Sombra said, as she felt a trace of temporal energy in the area, like someone from the future or past had stepped into this period for a few moments and made off with the Replica's heart, while at the same time she found that Vexen shuddered as he looked back in her direction as she cancelled her chameleon skill, "Come now, you didn't think that Riku and the others would leave the Darkworld without me joining them, did you?"

"You... even with that information this doesn't make sense! You were busy fighting the Heartless... you shouldn't have had the chance to escape!" Vexen stated, where he held his hand out for a moment and Sombra found that his weapon was a near full body shield that was almost icy blue, reflecting his power over ice, while he stood like he was stealing Goofy's moves, using a shield as a defensive tool while utilizing his ice as his offensive weapon.

"Standing and fighting? And here I thought you were clever." Sombra remarked, because she knew that Vexen knew about her power, and that she was far stronger than she was letting on right now, which was why it was surprising that Vexen dared to stand before her like this, causing her to hold out her hand as her Keyblade formed, "But if you would rather fight me, despite knowing of my powers, than I'll take you out."

In the next moment she rushed through the air and brought her Keyblade down on the Nobody that was in front of her, where Vexen paled as he realized that all of the information he had on her was accurate and swung his arm towards his foe, allowing the edge of his shield to stop her weapon in it's tracks. The resulting collision shook the section of the castle they were in, where the Replica's body disappeared as Sombra teleported it further down the hallway, but once that was done both she and Vexen had the same idea as they raised their left hands, hers full of fire while his had ice. It was easy to tell that her foe was using the Blizzaga spell while she was using Firaga, where the two thrust their hands out and forced their spells to collide with each other, though as Vexen struggled to hold his stance he realized that he was going to be overpowered. The reason he thought that was because even just this spell seemed far stronger than he assumed it would be when it was in Sombra's hands, in fact his ice was being pushed back like it was nothing special, before he found that Sombra blasted him back and scorched his arm, burning away the arm of his coat in the process.

Vexen mentally freaked out with that discovery, as he knew that Sombra was strong, possibly enough to interest Xemnas and the higher ups in the Organization, but even so he never thought that the gap in their power would be this severe, a fact that reminded him that this was only his foe's base form, meaning the true difference between their powers was like night and day, before a slash appeared on his chest.

"What... How?" Vexen asked, because he knew that Sombra had slashed him, there was nothing else that could have done this to him in that short split second, and yet he knew his shield had been in position when the attack happened, so he had no idea what was even going on right now, before he fell to his knees as he felt weak.

"I blasted your defenses open, and you never recovered." Sombra replied, as the detonation of his Firaga spell had pushed the shield out of the way enough for her to damage her foe's chest, where Vexen seemed to let out a weak sound while his body broke apart before her eyes, turning into a white and black mist of sorts, meaning the scientist must have been the weakest of the Organization's members, causing her to sigh as Vexen fully vanished, "Time to see what the others are up to."

With the first member of Organization XIII dealt with Sombra dismissed her Keyblade and continued down the hallway, as she was very eager to see what Radiant, Riku, Sora, and the others had gotten into while she was dealing with Vexen and his Replicas, making her eager to catch up with the others and face the rest of the castle's challenges.

Comments

[Xalok]

That's some great Loot Sombra got herself there.

[Ze1a7in]

Xehanort's time hopping continues, I see.

[Hexan Tronic]

Kinda feel bad for Vexen here. Didn't even get a chance to become a turncoat.

[Xarmar13]

I figured that Vexen, Lexaeus and Zexion will still get destroyed like what happened in CoM, the question that remains is what plans the author has for Larxene and Marluxia.

[Yogiboy]

The battle begins.

[Black--Soul]

Sombra is devastating them already, poor fools