Kingdom Hearts: The World's Reluctant Heroes

by Blackdrag-rose

Nobody: Return to Hollow Bastion

After visiting with Yen Sid, and making sure he knew what was going on while Sombra told him to stop thinking of the many Nobodies as beings who didn't deserve their existence, it didn't take them long to figure out that Hollow Bastion was fairly close to where the sorcerer had placed his tower. When Sora reached an appropriate space outside the world in question he brought the ship to a stop and got ready to teleport all of them down to the surface, where Seras chuckled as she told the others that she was interested in seeing how their friends reacted to her existence. Her comment made sense, of course, as Leon and the others had no idea that the Nobodies even existed, much less that Fluttershy had created one when she was turned into a Heartless, so their reactions would be interesting to see. Once everyone was ready to go Sora found a suitable area to teleport the ground team to and engaged the teleportation system, allowing them to teleport down to the world's surface so they could visit their friends, tell them what's going on, and figure things out.

What they discovered, however, was that the area they were warped to happened to be the edge of a market area, where off in the distance they could see the dark castle that used to be Maleficent's domain, along with another one that was nearby that seemed to be more clean, despite being in the middle of being worked on.

"Interesting, the world has changed since we were last here... or rather, the darkness that Maleficent had enforced upon this world is receding, revealing this world's true form." Sombra remarked, especially since there were streets and houses as well, meaning the darkness that had infested this world was being undone and in a year or two more she was sure that it would be back to it's former glory, which would be interesting to see as well.

"It seems... rather peaceful, actually." Fluttershy said, as this was far better than the last time they had visited this world, though her main focus right now was on the fact that the people were happy and were going about their days like everything was back to normal, making her wonder if they knew what had happened to them or not.

"Uh-oh, we've got Heartless." Goofy added, pointing to one of the roofs they could see, where a pair of Soldiers were doing a few of their motions before they disappeared into thin air, causing the group to nod to each other, as this meant that they might have to fight some enemies while they were here.

Sora simply shrugged to that, because he knew they would have to fight something at some point while they were visiting this world, that just seemed to be the norm during their adventures, before he walked down into the market and found that all sorts of people were out and about, bringing new life to this world. It was such an interesting thing to see, even though most of the citizens would likely think of what happened to them as a strange nightmare, but this was for the best, simply writing everything off as a bad dream as they went about their lives like nothing had happened. The other nice thing was that they were being treated as visitors, confirming that they likely had no idea who had saved them and their world, but that didn't stop Fluttershy from smiling and waving at some of the people as they walked by. In fact they spotted Huey, Dewey, and Louie in one of the shops, who were still selling accessories to everyone else, causing Donald to check in with them for a few moments before they continued along the path that was in front of them and passed by another duck that Donald recognized as Uncle Scrooge.

Goofy explained that Scrooge was a business typhoon that also doubled as a world traveler, much like themselves, and at the moment he seemed to be in the middle of recreating some ice cream from his past, causing them to wish him well as they headed down into one of the neighborhood streets, where they found some Shadows and Soldiers waiting to attack all of them.

"You know, I almost feel sorry for you guys... this is almost like bullying." Sora remarked, where he summoned his Keyblade for a moment as the Heartless attacked them, causing him to utilize Aqua's training as he accurately struck his foes without showing any wasted movements, showing Sombra that the year of training had been good for him.

Sombra understood what Sora was talking about as she slashed through a Soldier and absorbed the heart that was freed from it, these Heartless were far weaker than the enemies they had encountered near the end of their first adventure, and they were weaker than the ones that showed up during their dealings with the Organization. It was like Pete had warped to this world after they dealt with him outside Yen Sid's tower, since Maleficent's castle was off in the distance, and was trying to call forth more Heartless to serve as the bases for his mistress' army, only he was summoning weaklings. Donald struck down his foes with bursts of fire, Goofy hit his with his shield, Radiant switched between using arrows and her Keyblade, all while Fluttershy and Seras teamed up to deal with the Heartless that came at them. Sombra, for the most part, didn't have to fight with her weapon, rather she used her gravity magic to seal the movements of her opponents so the others could take them out, while utilizing her own power to collect the hearts that were eventually freed.

While they did that, however, Sombra noticed that spherical items formed in the ground around them, likely some sort of defensive measure since one rushed out to hit a Shadow, sending it flying into the distance, which was when Yuffie, in all her glory, appeared on a nearby wall with a smile on her face.

"Long time no see guys." Yuffie said, where Sombra found that she had changed up her attire, as it was more black and was more casual looking than her previous attire, no doubt a change she underwent to show that she and her friends were now beyond the downfall of their home world, "Where have you guys been?"

"Oh, you know, taking the fight to our enemies, finding new allies." Sora replied, which was the truth, they had found a new enemy organization right after tearing apart Maleficent's group of allies, though as he said that he could tell that Yuffie was looking at Seras, especially since she was so similar to Fluttershy, causing Sora to gesture to where they had seen the small spherical object, "So, what were those things?"

"That's the town's defense mechanism." Yuffie answered, though in that moment they found a few Dusks appearing around them as well, but before she could do anything she watched as the group dealt with them without wasting time, almost like another group of weaklings had been sent at them, causing her to chuckle for a moment, "Well, you guys haven't lost any of your skills... Leon's going to love this."

They found that everyone had gathered in Merlin's house, which was similar to the other houses around them and yet was different from a magical standpoint, where they found that one half was Merlin's place and the other half was more modern, thanks to the console that was resting against the wall, which Cid was working at. As they joined their friends, who were happy to see them, Squeak, Fluttershy's most trusted animal companion, disappeared into the town to track down items to collect, which was fine since they knew he would be back when it was time to leave for another world. Apparently Leon and the others had formed a 'Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee', aimed to undo the damage that Maleficent and her dark allies had done to the world, and based on what Sombra could tell they no longer saw Ansem the Wise as the leader of the world, given what happened before his disappearance. Such a thing caused her to tell them that the one they thought was Ansem the Wise was actually a fake, someone who stole his name and research, though it would take some time before they and the rest of the world would be able to welcome him back with open arms.

Leon also produced a card for them, showing that they were honorary members of the committee despite not working on all of the work that was currently going on right now, rather it was more of a 'thank you' for all of their hard work in dealing with Maleficent, and saving the World from her dark plans.

"So, who are you going after this time?" Leon asked, though at the same time Merlin checked them out and found that all of them, or those who had learned magic during their previous adventure, had retained their lessons and were even stronger than last time he had seen them, especially Sombra, whose magic was beyond everyone else's.

"It's complicated, and I'm not sure we have the time to explain everything to you guys right now, but here's what we can say for right now: our true enemy is Master Xehanort." Sombra replied, because she knew that this wasn't a lot to go on and already knew that Leon's group would have questions, but given that they needed to deal with Xemnas' plans first there was no time for them to just stop and tell the group everything they had discovered, "For the time being we'll be dealing with the leader of a group called Organization XIII, whose collecting hearts to make his own Kingdom Hearts, and once we're done with him we'll tackle whatever plans our true foe has in store for the rest of the World."

"That's good to hear, because we're going to need your help as well." Leon said, where he beckoned for them to follow him as he headed outside and made his way to the wall that seemed to be protecting the town from the potential darkness that was outside their borders.

Sure enough he brought them to a portion of the wall that allowed them to look out at the rest of the world, where off in the distance they found that there was a massive army of Heartless resting in the sunken crater around Maleficent's castle, of all types from what Sombra could see since there was a Behemoth and a Darkside among them, and there were some Dusks on their way to the army. Seras knew what they were doing, they were counting the Heartless to see what Pete's forces were like, no doubt to use them against the town and force them to fight the horde in a desperate bid to try and get hearts while Sombra was busy fighting the horde. As they thought about that more Nobodies, in the form of Dusks and Assassins, which they knew thanks to Seras' information, rushed at them in an attempt to get into the town, though that was a failure on their part as Sora and his friends lashed out at them, knocking the Nobodies back and vanquishing them in no time. This just confirmed that either Xemnas was underestimating them or he was sending out the weaker Nobodies first, saving all of the stronger ones for later in the adventure, where Sombra simply shrugged and blew up her foes with small bits of magic as the rest of the group dealt with all of their other enemies.

With their power the Nobodies stood no chance against them, allowing the group to clear out the area around the gate, and as the last one fell Sombra headed out into an area that had a raised wall that seemed perfect for their enemies to stand on, plus an area behind them that seemed to be useful for the same thing.

"You seem to be doing well... this calls for a celebration." a voice said, which was when Xemnas and the remaining members of Organization XIII, all having their hoods up for some odd reason, appeared on the wall that Sombra had stared at, while at the same time the rest of the group walked out with her, causing the robed figures to pause, "Seras... is that you?"

"Yep, it's me, Xemnas. Sorry for making you guys worry, but I've chosen to side with my sister." Seras replied, where she rested an arm around Fluttershy's neck with a smile on her face, all while Fluttershy smiled as well, showing the others that she was perfectly fine with thinking of Seras as her sister.

"That's annoying... now we have no Keyblades in our possession." another member, Xigbar, remarked, though he was totally shocked by the fact that Sora had improved so much in such a short period of time, to the point where it seemed like he had spent a year training with the wielders that had been rescued so far, "Still, we can rectify this easily... our combined powers should be more than enough to deal with the seven of you."

"Seven? Seems like someone can't count." Sombra commented, where the ledge that was behind her group flashed as the Organization found more people coming into the area, though she knew that Roxas, Xion, Aqua, Ventus, Larxene, Marluxia, Riku, Kairi, and an illusion of Axel, which looked totally real, had appeared, each wearing their gray coats, mimicking what Xemnas and his followers were doing right now, "What do you have to say about these odds?"

Xemnas paused for a moment as the scene unfolded, because he had to assume that each of the gray coats had to have the power to wield the Keyblade, and when he combined that number with the wielders in front of him, in Sombra's group, he realized that there were fourteen wielders, thirteen if Sombra wasn't counted, and now their enemies outnumbered them, to which he and the Organization departed from Hollow Bastion.

"That's what I thought." Sombra remarked, to which she nodded and the people who came to help intimidate Xemnas' group returned to the Gummi Ship, and their own quests, though before she could say anything else Sora found that the card he had been given started to glow for some reason.

What they discovered was that this was the World's way of letting them know that it was time to leave a world, for the time being, especially since Sora had to fire a beam of light into the air to unlock a new path, though as they started to leave Sombra told Leon to keep an eye on the Heartless and to have Merlin contact them if things worsened, all while making her eager to see what sort of worlds they would explore during this adventure.

Comments

[Xalok]

Yeah there is not a lot they can do when out number like that

[Hexan Tronic]

Ah, the amazing things you can do with numbers. You know, I wonder if Xexion and Vexen has reformed yet?

[Blackdrag-rose]

11865934 Considering that we have no idea which Heartless housed the hearts of Zexion, Lexaeus, or Vexen, it's entirely possible that their hearts have already been freed and their original Somebodies are regaining consciousness.

[Hexan Tronic]

11866112
Either that, or Sombra has their heart.

[Blackdrag-rose]

11866135 That's fair. At that point they'd have to be in the bunch claimed during the Chain/Days arc, since Sombra hasn't devoured all of those hearts yet.

[Soluna Eclipse]

11866145
You know.. that just makes me realize Sombra could ironically end the entire plot right now. Since she still has Xehanort's Heart in her collection.. it'd be so easy to just consume it and prevent him from returning at all.

Granted, if Sombra did that we wouldn't have a story so understandable why that's not happening.

[Blackdrag-rose]

11867218 That's right, since Seeker Ansem's Heart, or Master Xehanort's heart if you prefer, is the only heart that Sombra hasn't consumed from the Heartless arc of the story. It's just sitting there in her collection, along with the heart fragments she's collected so far.