Kingdom Hearts: The World's Reluctant Heroes

by Blackdrag-rose

Nobody: The Land of Dragons

After ensuring that Leon knew to contact them if things changed with the Heartless army, Sora and his friends returned to the Gummi Ship before blasting off into space, as it was time for them to track down the first world they would explore, as Hollow Bastion seemed like the Traverse Town of this adventure. Sombra found that things returned to normal, or at least what 'normal' was during their flights between worlds, as in Sora, Donald, and Goofy were focused on flying while Radiant continued to gather resources in their private realm, and both Fluttershy and Seras tended to the garden area. It was as if nothing strange had happened during the end of their previous adventure, though she could see that Seras was helping Fluttershy out in whatever way she could, staying true to the idea that they were sisters and not anything else. Even the rest of the group that was inside the ship busied themselves with the work that they had either been assigned or had given themselves previously, even helping the trio in the private world since even hard work could be rewarding.

Eventually Sora encountered a new object in space, a warp zone that seemed to take the shape of a door, and found that it warped them to what appeared to be a battleground of sorts, as he had to navigate around an asteroid field of sorts and had to fire on the enemies that happened to be in the area. It was easy for Sombra to tell that the enemies this time were the same as before, various Gummi Ships with the Heartless and Nobody emblems on their surfaces, causing Sora to open fire on them the moment that one started to attack their ship, something that caused Sombra to smirk a little. Their ship had a collector that gathered all of the freed gummi blocks that were part of the enemy ships or even trapped inside some of the asteroids, plus a converter that transformed those pieces into additions for the ship's defenses and guns, and even added to the space inside the ship. The best thing was that Sombra and most of the others could sit back and relax whenever they found one of these areas, because Sora was far too skilled in flying the ship and dealing with their enemies, meaning there was no reason for anyone else to get involved, though Sombra did snatch the hearts from the Heartless ships.

In the end it didn't take Sora long to tear through the enemies that were in the way and bring their ship out of the area they had been warped to, where they found that they were above the first new world of their adventure, one that seemed to be a palace of some kind, and when Sora's group warped down to a safe area it seemed to put them in a bamboo forest.

"You know, it's nice to visit a brand new world... so much to discover and explore." Fluttershy commented, while at the same time Squeak sat on her shoulder and voiced his approval, even though Sombra knew the critter was only interested in the various chests that were waiting to be looted, so they could focus on their enemies, "I wonder if we'll find some new animals along the way... I haven't been able to use my other skill for quite some time."

Sombra knew what she was talking about, as the World had blessed Fluttershy with two skills before the start of their very first adventure, one being 'Tower Farming' and the second being 'Animal Friendship', though it was the latter that she was referring to right now, as she hadn't had a reason to use it for some time. It reminded her of Radiant's skills, those being 'Grand Walking' and 'Equipment Creator', both having been put to good use since they were always walking during their time in the various worlds, so Radiant was constantly growing as they traveled. In addition to that they had whipped her second skill into shape, creating all sorts of accessories that had aided them over the course of their adventure, like Riku's amulet that they had altered not all that long ago and the special coats they used to mess with the Organization. That was why both of them were able to keep up with Sombra's insane growth, since her 'Boundless Necromancy' allowed her to absorb the hearts of the Heartless they took out, but she had simply switched to collecting them for the time being.

Her thoughts were interrupted as they turned the corner and found a young lady, who was clearly pretending to be a man since she was wearing armor, standing in a clearing in the forest with a large rock nearby, one that just so happened to be where they noticed the shadow of a familiar noodle shaped dragon talking to the girl.

"Mushu? Is that you?" Fluttershy inquired, where they found that the pair stopped what they were doing and the dragon that had been one of their summons during their first adventure, who they only tested back in Traverse Town, emerged from his hiding spot, taking away the shadowy figure of himself that he had been using to talk with the girl.

"Sora, Donald, Goofy... Sombra, Radiant, Fluttershy... and, um, I have no idea who you are." the red dragon, Mushu, replied, though he seemed happy to see them again, even though he was confused by Seras' presence, while they confirmed that he was definitely a small dragon with a noodle body, making him just as tall as Fluttershy's worker rabbits.

"My name is Seras, and I'm Fluttershy's sister." Seras said, as that was what she was going to tell everyone and there was no stopping her from making sure everyone knew that particular fact, not that any of her friends were going to stop her, which was when they focused on the girl that was awkwardly standing off to the side, "Whose your friend?"

"I am Mulan... no, um, I mean I am Ping, son of Fa Zhou." the girl replied, where it was clear that Mushu must have been in the middle of coaching her on what to say and how to act, since her acting was quite bad if Sombra was being honest, and Mulan could tell that they didn't believe her, causing her to groan as she leaned against one of the nearby stones.

Mushu was of the opinion that since the group had called upon his aid, back during the Heartless affair despite the fact that all they had done was test his power out, that meant they were in debt to Mulan, or 'Ping' since they needed to remember that fact, since he happened to be a Guardian Dragon for Mulan's family. Sombra was sure that the dragon wanted them to render aid to Mulan, who was apparently trying to protect her family's honor by taking her elderly father's place in the army, either because she feared for his life or because this world seemed to be one focused on honor. Since Mulan needed some time to get used to walking and acting like a man, so she could fit in with all of the other new recruits in the army, Sombra had Sora, Donald, and Goofy show her the ropes as best they could, especially since they could head into the main camp when it was time to do so. At the same time she, Radiant, Fluttershy, and Seras remained in the bamboo forest, keeping an eye on the Heartless that were definitely in this world, Shadows and Soldiers, though there were two more types that were of interest to Sombra, a centaur warrior she called 'Assault Riders' and a ghostly sorcerer that ended up being called 'Nightwalkers'.

The Assault Riders definitely had power and speed in their hearts, while the Nightwalkers were more magical based, as she sampled a heart of each to add them to her list of foes, though Sombra made sure to hide their presence in the forest as Sora's team dealt with the enemies, Shadows, assaulting the camp for some reason.

"Is there a reason we're staying behind this time?" Fluttershy asked, because while she assumed that this might be due to the fact that there would be too many of them if they went in with Sora's group, something told her that there was another reason behind the decision and she was interested in what Sombra's reason might be.

"As you saw females aren't allowed in the army, at least in this world... and honestly, I'm not interested in playing with the leader of the army that Mulan will be forced to listen to for some time." Sombra replied, as while she could have easily used her magic to cast illusions on them, to make them all look like males, she knew someone was going to mess things up and that someone was most likely Mushu, so it wasn't worth the effort in her mind, "So we'll stick to the shadows, keep an eye on this 'Shan-Yu' that the people seem to be fighting, and lend some aid when necessary... given that the Organization likely has a hand in this world, since the World formed a path of sorts here, we should be expecting resistance."

This was where Fluttershy's natural talent, boosted by the World to become it's own skill, came into play, as she could speak to the animals of the forest and the information flowed in, allowing Sombra and the Seras to go over what they were told as Radiant used her bow and her eyes to keep an eye out for potential danger. In addition to that Sombra had Squeak swipe a map of the region they were in and used that to pinpoint the locations of the information all of the animals brought in, only for her to rapidly write up reports on paper that she had Fluttershy send to the Commander by raven. From what she could tell the Commander seemed surprised by the sudden arrival of a messenger bird, though at the same time he was pleased, even though he maintained his stern face, to receive information on Shan-Yu's movements. Such a thing allowed Sora and his friends, accompanied by Mulan, to be sent out for a number of 'training' missions, letting them prove themselves to the Commander while at the same time giving their new friend a chance to grow her own skills.

While they did that, however, Sombra found herself distracted by something else that happened in the world, she felt the presence of something she hadn't felt since dealing with the enemies from their first adventure, it was a font of negative energy that resembled the heart fragments she had captured so far.

"There's a fragment here as well? How many of them are there?" Radiant asked, because she had given up on trying to figure out some of the abilities that Sombra had developed over their adventures, in fact she was sure that it came from her true skill, 'Boundless Necromancy', and any skill her enemies had became her own when Sombra devoured the hearts of the Heartless they bested, like the powerful ones during their first adventure, but even this skill seemed odd.

"I have three of them, and this makes four... when we find it. I'd guess there's seven, at the very least." Sombra replied, but as she said that she glanced at the bamboo forest for a moment as she noticed the strands of negativity seeping from some of the material, meaning the fragment was close at hand, causing her to stand up for a moment as the others glanced at her, no doubt eager to see what she did next, "Since Shan-Yu doesn't seem interested in moving, and the army doesn't seem very eager to get moving, we have some time to kill... might as well collect this fragment before we do anything else. I will be right back with the piece in hand."

Sombra entered the thicker part of the forest without delay and found that the heart fragment was floating in the air right in front of her, though instead of surrendering the piece rushed through the air, like it was trying to evade her, and she used her magic to ensnare it instantly. In that moment, however, she found that the fragment was full of energy, more than what she was expecting from such a thing, and she decided to free it for a few seconds and found that it's movements were more like someone who was playing, causing her to sigh as she used her magic to fake out the piece and try to capture it several times. This was the 'playful' side of the figure that the fragment belonged to, likely ripped out of them by Master Xehanort since he happened to be at fault for so many events in the World, in fact this seemed like an unfulfilled childlike piece that had been torn out of someone. Even as the dreaded Shadow Monarch, the Sovereign of Darkness, and her many titles, as there were many back in her home world, there were limits to what she did and this seemed far too excessive in her mind, hence why she allowed some of her magic to move around with the fragment.

Eventually the fragment settled down and allowed her to capture it, without offering any other forms of resistance, so she was able to add it to her collection as no memories surfaced after claiming it, causing her to sigh as she returned to the others, as there would be time to worry about Vanitas' fragments in the future, for now they had to focus on Mulan and Shan-Yu before worrying about the Organization's plans, making her look forward to what the immediate future held for them.

Comments

[Xalok]

Now the question comes... What animal will Shy find?

[Hexan Tronic]

This is going to be a cake walk.

[Xarmar13]

11869269
My bet's on Shan-Yu's hawk.

With any luck, perhaps once Sombra acquires all of Vanitas' heart fragments, she might gain some insight into the 13 ancient darknesses, something Master Xehanort was unable to acquire from Vanitas since he kept evading the old man's questions. After all, Ventus was a vessel for one of them.