Rise of the Blackhearts Staring: Axel

Ok... I feel bad for all of you who are waiting patiently... so here it is, chapter 11. I intended for it to be longer, but I've been neglecting my story. Dont worry though, I got it beta'd.

Chapter 11: Toy's Play

Roxas and Axel picked themselves off the ground where they had fallen after being forced through the portal by Pete. As they straightened up, they noticed the ground was not so solid, but rather spongy.

Roxas hopped up and down, testing it out, yet lost on this phenomenon. "Hey, Axel, why is the ground so bouncy?"

Axel, who was scratching his head, looked around intently, though unsure of where exactly were they. His skin was suspiciously glistening in the light now, and so was Roxas's. "I don't know. But as soon as I get my hands on that overweight cat, I'm going to burn him alive, and have that Chainsaw as raw cooked dog on a stick for added bonus."

Apparently, he wasn't too happy with being tricked to go to another world, though he was more irritated that they somehow got outsmarted by a dumb freaking cat. That's like Goofy getting the best of Saïx...okay, maybe not as exaggerated as that, but point still stands.

"Well, we can just portal out of here, right?" Roxas reasoned, as they could always just move around at will with portals, so why not use it now to get them out of a jam?

"Yeah, fine by me. First stop, we'll be going back to teach that fat cat a lesson to know who exactly he shouldn't be messing with," Axel bit out, not letting Pete get away with this somehow, and held out his right hand to summon the usual transportation that was the Corridor Of Darkness. After a moment's pause after nothing happened, he sighed. "Why isn't it working?"

Roxas then lifted his right hand, trying to as well, but after giving it a few seconds, he frowned. "Awe...c'mon. Mine isn't working either. Don't tell me we're going to be stuck here!"

"We're going to be stuck here."

Roxas sent Axel a dry stare at the male's deadpanned remark. "Not funny."

Axel simply shrugged, getting into his thoughts. "Wasn't trying to be. Well...to go with usual 'look at the bright side' part of things, at least we should look around. We might be stuck here, but hey, nothing is too tough for two ex-Organization XIII members, right?"

Roxas stood quiet for a moment as he took the words in, before smiling, taking Axel's confidence as a source for his own confidence. And the redhead did have a point.

Just then they heard some people talking.

As they turned around to the source, they saw a group of odd looking individuals standing a short distance away. Gesturing at Axel to come on over, he exclaimed as he began to run to them, "Let's go see what they know."

_______________________​

As the Organization XIII member walked throughout the new unexplored world, he stayed on full alert, ready for any sort of danger which could befall him; with his scythe slung over his shoulder and prepared for combat. He knew his powers were weakened in this world, if not, gone altogether. Such was the essence of where he resided now.

He stepped through a darkened area, poised for an ambush, which he knew could come at any time. He was perfectly aware that Maleficent's new stronghold was here, but wasn't exactly sure where.

"What are you looking for?" a woman's sweet voice questioned him.

He flinched back into a combative stance at the abrupt interruption, but recognizing the voice who spoke, he assumed a calm presence once again. Looking up at the lone female member of Organization XIII, who was standing on top of a giant sized bed, he acknowledged her with a, "It's you. What are you doing here?"

"They were afraid that this world was too much to handle. I think you're afraid too, considering you're so uptight," she taunted, laughing a little. In a swift blink of a eye, she then jumped down to his level smoothly, not having to compose herself. "Look, you're even afraid when I called out to you. You should relax. Cowardice doesn't befit someone from the Organization, especially someone who once trotted around as 'the Lord of Castle Oblivion', hmm?"

"You should be afraid too," he easily countered, smiling sinisterly. "If you know what's good for you."

"Fear is only a show of weakness," she quipped.

"Fear is only natural to those with hearts. It keeps us alive," was what he said as he continued walking, leaving her behind.

She hated being ignored, for one thing. Annoyed, she took a step forward as she lashed out plainly, "They sent me here to protect you!" She clenched her fists as he kept going. "Fine, walk away. It's your fu-!"

Before she finished, a large metallic claw grabbed hold of her.

She was gone.

Alarmed, the male Organization member turned around, his eyes darting around sharply as he questioned, "Relena? Where did you go?" He was puzzled as to the fact that she was just there a moment ago, but it didn't stop him from thinking this was something else entirely.

He held his scythe forward, slinking towards the bed where she once was. Lifting up the curtain like apron around it, he could hear little electric motors working. As his eyes adjusted to the dark to focus on what was before him, a face appeared, and it was that of a demonic one eyed doll.

Before the man could react, the metallic claw grabbed hold of him as well.

A light entered the room as the door swung open, and a young boy ran in. "Awe. Cool! I got more of them!" He looked around across the shelf, seeing a bunch of small black figurines with antennae and bright yellow eyes. "These are so fun to blow up!"

The child grabbed a few of the Shadow figures off the counter, and ran back outside.

A dark feminine voice could be heard. "The poor child. He's so ignorant he has no idea what he's playing with."

_____________________​

As Roxas and Axel approached the mysterious weird looking figures, they took casual note, not wanting to alert them the wrong way.

"Oh look, there's some more, three! That triples our chance of replacement! Great, terrific!" It was a potato shaped head with a bowler cap and a mustache who yelled this. He didn't seem to happy to see Roxas and Axel.

"Nobody is getting replaced guys, relax." The soothing voice belonged to a tall cowboy...slanky figure he was, who walked up to them. "Hey there, I'm Woody, and you are?"

Before they could answer, they were interrupted by a green dinosaur jumping between them, who let out a menacing roar. Roxas and Axel both stepped back, though it was more of a element of surprise than anything. "See, I scared you, huh? Look Woody, I scared them!"

Woody didn't flinch, and just agreed, "Yeah Rex, you scared them, you happy? That's Rex, one, the world, one hundred. Maybe you should work on it some more."

"Oh goodie!" the T-Rex exclaimed as he ran off excitedly, looking for someone else to scare.

Roxas, after widening his eyes, befuddled at the whole thing, finally answered Woody's question as he found his voice, "I'm Roxas, and this is my friend, Axel."

The fire wielder just smiled awkwardly.

Another interruption came, this time, by a walking pig. "Hey, Woody, check this out, he's got wings!"

"Yeah, and he talks too! That's so cool!" It was a wiener dog who said this, with a body that looked like a Slinky, and only having a head and a behind...with legs, of course. They were both standing around a man, who was wearing white and green armor.

 

OMGEE TOY STORY yayz!! =D 8D

 

.......uh.........uh........that's......really interesting.........I....I don't know if Toy Story is a good world.....cause.....well....it's basically the real world.......and.....uh.....nevermind......keep going with your story....

 

Toy Story is a good place. Mulan, and other stories all take place on earth, with different laws of physics.

I do not recall toys being alive in this world.

Also... I feel bad, it takes me 12 days to write a shorter chapter, yet it take *TwilightNight* 12 hours to beta it... I will spend less time spamming and more time creating art... I promise all my readers...

Chapter 12: The Commitee

As Sora and Riku traced their steps out of the castle, they became disoriented, and their steps became slow as the lead looked around.

Riku saw Sora's confusion, and questioned, "What's wrong? I thought you said you know how to get back to town?"

The younger teen shook his head in frustration, before sighing, and confessing, "I know there's a town on this world, I just don't know how to get down to the ground level from here..."

Riku looked down at the cliffs, to the waterfall...and the drop seemed endless. "Hmm...I don't think we can go down on our own. Do you know where an elevator is? I'm too used to warping around wherever I want."

Sora thought momentarily, then he remembered the way to the basement, that were through the dark corridors. "Yeah! I think I know a way down!"

Motioning at Riku to come, he then raced in the direction of the dark corridors where he and Beast went to open the main gate before. It was on the lower plane, so it was their best bet back to ground level. As they kept digging through the ruins quickly, they eventually came upon an old elevator shaft.

"Do you trust it?" Sora questioned, eyeing the contraption carefully.

"Of course, it has to work," Riku said, briskly stepping towards it. It looked similar to the lifts located throughout the castle, only instead of the shiny bronze running on cables of light, it was a dingy brown color, and ran on ordinary steel cable. So Sora's hesitation was understandable.

Riku jumped inside, outstretching his hand towards his best friend. "C'mon Sora! What are you waiting for?"

Sora reached out and grabbed hold of his companion's hand, though somewhat reluctantly. Glancing around to see how to operate this seemingly antique lift, he saw there was no crystal, but instead, there was a lever...and taking in a deep breath, he pulled it. The sounds of gears turning could be heard.

The lift dropped rapidly, as though it was out of control.

Sora's life flashed before his eyes as he saw level after level pass him as they dropped down and down, his stomach flip flopping to his throat, and tickling his nerves. Both of them felt almost weightless, yet Riku simply gripped the end of the lift and held on, not showing any fear.

As it reached the lower levels, it jerked to a stop, seemingly having a minor cushion on it, but it still was enough to knock the un-braced Sora to the ground.

Riku, knowing that it was over, calmly gazed down at Sora as though nothing happened, and wondered why he was so strung over, "What's wrong, Sora?"

"W-what's wrong? I thought the thing was broken, and we were both goners!" Sora exclaimed in a craze, his breathing uneven.

"Well, DiZ did tell me that the old lifts didn't move slow, so I kind of expected it," Riku answered, recalling that he knew of DiZ's connection with the castle.

Sora shook his head, standing back up again, and in a frenzied mood, "Well, you could have given me some sort of warning! I was freaking out by then."

"Didn't think you needed it..." Riku trailed off, giving him a repentful stare, in which Sora just let out a breath, and waved it off, obviously feeling better now that it ended. Thinking that they shouldn't wonder on this event too much, he went to ask, "Where's this part of town you were talking about?"

Sora snapped back to attention, now being reminded, "Oh, yeah...is this way. Let's go." He then ran off, Riku at his tail, and led the way to the town where the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee was most active, going through the many sections before reaching a well known building. Bursting through the door of what was Merlin's house, Sora announced his arrival, "Hey guys! I'm back!"

Cid flinched while still sitting on his computer, and he swiveled around in his chair, "What the hell's wrong with ya'kid? Just going around kicking open doors like you own the darn place!" He pointed at him seriously. "Now get back out there and open the door the way it's meant to be opened! And don't forget to knock!"

Sora was surprised at Cid's unusual behavior, but did as asked anyway. "Um...okay." He stepped back through the door, closed it shut, and then knocked softly, feeling a bit odd.

"Come on in!" Cid called.

Sora turned the door handle awkwardly and walked in, not exactly knowing what to expect, and stared at the buffed man confused. "Cid...what's going on?"

A calming, sweet voice spoke up from the side, "Nothing, it's just that this is his house now, so he wants everyone to treat it with respect." Turning to the direction where it came from, Sora saw that it was Aerith, standing across the room, warming up a pot of coffee on the stove. Noticing his eyes lingering on the drink, she sent him a smile as she gestured to it, asking politely, "Would you like some?"

Sora exclaimed excitedly, happy that it was being offered, "Sure, I'll have some!"

Riku walked in behind, his eyes staring around the place as he heard the conversation, remarking, "Nope, there will be no caffeine for this guy, he's hyper enough as it is..."

Sora thought about what Aerith said as it now processed. "Wait...this is Cid's house? Where's Merlin?"

Cid and Aerith looked at each other, then looked back at Sora, before the man explained, "He left all of a sudden, saying he had business to take care of, something about a man in black snooping around his home town."

"The Organization is messing with other worlds too? Alright...I'll look into it," Sora responded to them confidently, leaning back with his hands holding onto his head. He knew this time would be easier, as now he was aware that he had one of the strongest fighters he'd ever seen with him.

Cid looked over and scratched his head, confused as to why the kid always seemed optimistic, even when a new challenge was set before him. "Alright then, kid, if you say so." He gave a nod to Riku after. "Now who's your friend?"

"Oh! This is my best friend, Riku, the one I was looking for, remember?" Sora introduced with a sheepish smile, as though he absentmindedly forgot he had a friend with him, and Cid just now reminded him of it.

Aerith greeted him cordially, "Nice to meet you, Riku. How are you?"

The platinum haired teen was surprised with her pleasantness, and her overall demeanor of elegancy, "Oh, I'm fine, um, how are you?" He gave her a courteous smile, the woman managing to remind him of Kairi somehow, which sent him back to why he was there: to deal with the Organization.

"I'm doing just well, thank you," she returned, chuckling a little to herself at his response, finding it adorable.

Sora looked around the room, not spotting the others, "Hey, where's Leon, and Yuffie?"

"Leon and Yuffie left to go figure out why someone else had the Keyblade, I think they went to see the king," Aerith replied, her emerald eyes boring unto to Sora gently.

Sora stepped back, "Someone else with a Keyblade?" His eyes shifted over the place. "Was he here?"

"Yeah, I think he was with those guys in the black trench coats, I never liked them guys, it kinda reminded me of the time when I was..." Cid began...and continued, but got ignored unbeknownst to him as Aerith went to answer Sora's question.

"Well, yeah, he was here, but they left. I don't know what happened to them. However, they did mention one of them looked just like you..."

Sora's eyes widened in realization, and turned his head sharply to Riku, who came to the same conclusion, "It was Roxas! And I'm guessing Axel too. Where should we look first? They might be still close..."

Riku pondered this for a moment. "Well, I would check wherever the trail is the hottest..." The oldest teen then faced the Gummi Ship master, interrupting his speech to himself...which he kept going on with until now. Cid flinched once more at that, though now paid attention to the matter at hand, knowing gladly what was coming up next.

Sora, staring over at the blond man, inquired with a small smirk, "Hey Cid, you got a Gummi Ship for us?"

Cid smirked backed at the boy confidently, "Do I?" He then began laughing, slapping his knee in excitement.

 

Hmmm....good point....ah well....your story....

 

*stares in amazement*

KEEP 'EM COMING!!! this is awesome!!! though Axel isn't my favorite member, I still enjoy this a lot.

 

omg I like cried at this! Roxas is my fave! so sad :( but happy :)

 

The Ultimatum

Chapter 13: The Ultimatum

As Riku and Sora walked though the village, they noticed it certainly seemed to be lacking modern technology at its finest. The appearance was a bit primitive, as if it was somewhat back to the time when there was still a abundant forest surrounding small towns, and there were no such things as electronics.

"Well, what do you think we should be looking for?" Riku inquired, with a puzzled look on his face.

"Well, he said he was looking for a man in black, so let's start looking for whatever the Organization is up to first!" Sora said excitedly, while Riku ignored the grammatical error.

Suddenly, they heard a loud trumpet blast. "Hear ye! Hear ye!" an over officious man wearing some sort of weird gown with frills and a mustache spoke up with an announcement. He looked similar to the struggle judge from Twilight Town, and he walked to stand next to the man who had blown the booming instrument. "The people of this fair city, it is the great privilege to announce the beginning of the great tournament! Whomsoever wins this shall be crowned sovereign king of England!"

Then they see an impressive figure dressed in all black walk towards the registration booth. Only he wasn't wearing a trench coat. Sora then wondered to himself, that maybe it wasn't the Organization who was causing trouble? Maybe it was someone else. It was understandable that the group and this man, was to be mistaken without knowing better.

Riku also analyzed the unknown figure, differently than his best friend. The silver hair, the sword he was carrying...it was obvious he was trouble, and he had that hazardous determination glistening in his eyes like daggers. It was something to be feared, to the normal people, at least. Him? This person simply piqued his interest, and he said enigmatically to Sora without moving his sight from the stranger, "I bet he could win."

The male was out of place in this world. There was something wrong.

Sora glanced back to his platinum haired friend, smirking as he replied confidently, "I don't know, I think we can take him." He set his gaze more intently at Riku, this time, his expression sly. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Riku narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Maybe."

"C'mon Riku, it would be fun," the carefree teen responded to the "look", almost close to whining.

In the end, they both began walking towards the registration booth first, hoping to overhear the man's name as they got closer. They leaned in to listen, only to to hear the out of nowhere shout of, "WART! How dare you leave my sword?! How am I supposed to win the tournament if I ain't got a sword?!"

A brutish man had interrupted their thoughts, who was pursuing a much smaller young man. This said young man seemed only a few years younger than Sora and Riku, and without breaking the stride of his run, he shouted back in fear, "Yes, sir! Right away, I'll go get you a great sword."

Sora and Riku were now torn between two things: investigate the mysterious man in black. Or check in on the young man fleeing in terror.

The brutish fellow then threw an iron helmet at the child as he darted just over a snow covered hill and out of reach...and out of sight.

"Well, I guess that's over," the spiky, brown haired teen quipped with a matter of fact tone in his voice. He turned back around towards the mysterious man in black. Only to realize he was gone.

Riku shifted towards his friend's blank and confused stare, deep in thought, pondering it over in his own mind. "Perhaps we should just investigate that kid for now?"

Sora snapped to attention, contemplating it over for a second, before exclaiming, "Right, let's go!" The two best friends darted to the hill after boy, the focus now into knowing what he was going through.

Shortly making it over the hill in due time, they found the boy standing on top of a anvil, carrying a rather large weapon. It was a sword...a sword which appeared to be oversized for the child. Sora spoke up first, sounding extremely friendly, "Hey, you're that kid from earlier right? By the tournament entrance?"

The young child, who had soft, silky, golden blond hair, seemed startled, "Wha-? I mean, you saw that..." He looked almost fatalistic towards the ground.

Riku went to speak next, tilting his head curiously, "Yeah, what happened?"

The kid sighed. "I always make mistakes like that. That's why they call me 'Wart'. That's not my real name, you know. Still, in anything I do, I always mess up."

Sora smiled kindly, nearing sympathy. "Yeah, that's too bad. Well, at least you got those fancy clothes, huh?"

"Oh, these? They're my squire clothes. I was so excited when I first got them, I thought I was finally going to get some respect when I did. Then Merlin seemed disappointed, and called it a monkey suit. He left to Bermuda...do you know where Bermuda is?"

He glanced up at them questionably, almost as if pleading.

Sora scratched his spiky head, only to say with a lost, blank look on his face, not ever hearing about a Bermuda, "Well, no, not really, but it sounds kinda far."

However, they were soon disrupted by another man in black who stepped forward, as his voice drilled into Sora's head, breaking his line of thinking. He had white hair, and was a very large man, in top physical shape. "Merlin didn't make it that far."

Sora did a double take, now noting the familiar name of this Merlin as it was repeated. Raising a eyebrow, he pondered if it was possible...could it be? Deciding to wait before jumping to conclusions, he opted to hear the conversation. Radiant Garden....the lanky, elder wizard never mentioned any of his background, and he did go away on "business" from time to time, so...

He eyed the blond child, who turned around to face the newcomer, "Excuse me?"

The man kept talking, with a slight crack in his voice, which appeared to betray the strong front he was trying to portray, "I said, he didn't make it that far! We know where Merlin is, but you need to earn his freedom first."

Sora and Riku gave a quick glance to each other, recognizing that he was probably connected with the other mysterious man in black they saw at the tournament, as his clothing was similar. Then Sora noticed something odd about the guy, having a very confused look on his face as he asked quickly, "Are you crying?"

"I am NOT!" the grown man denied vehemently, as if the Keybearer had hit a sensitive subject.

Riku smirked amusedly and shook his head. "Those are tears down the side of your face. You've been crying for a while."

"No, you're just seeing things. I told you, I'm not crying!" he closely snarled, even more defensive than before.

Then the kid cut in on the taunting, wanting to know more of what the man was talking about before, "Okay, but what did you mean we have to earn Merlin's freedom?"

Sora suddenly realized the point of the man's appearance was missed...it was an ultimatum, and he got stern, considering this Merlin might be the one he knew. As he dug his feet into the ground, ready to summon his blade to charge into battle, he ordered sharply in suspicious undertone, "Yeah, what did you do with Merlin?"

The man wiped a tear from his eyes, quite calm, and then answered simply as his mouth opened, "You will enter that tournament, and bet that sword for Merlin's life. If you fail, you lose both. If you win, both will be returned to you." The younger blond teenager appeared to cower in fear at the very thought that he might need to fight. The man in black just added to that reaction, "Those are the rules, you need to win! Or else..."

He stopped ominously.

Sora then drew his Keyblade, but Riku held his hand out to stop him by the time it was summoned, already predicting the move. "Sora, we better play by their rules. If we take him on now, you might lose a friend of yours."

The brown haired fighter set his cerulean eyes on his friend, one, because he just confirmed Merlin, and if he thought the same conclusion, then it must be him. This was the wizard's original world. Riku had a knack for these things, as he was hiding in shadow in the past for most of his days. And second, was because of the fact that he acted out, not paying attention to Merlin's actual danger.

The man clapped his hands, "That's right. You wouldn't want one of your friends in danger now, would you?" With a last, long glance, he then swirled away on his heel, not needing to say anything else, and headed back down the dark alley he came from.

"Who was that kook?" Sora asked angrily, his vision trained on the man. He had half a mind to follow.

Riku shook his head. "I don't know, he doesn't look like the type to play, even though he was crying. I bet he's dangerous anyway. I think now, we need to be on a guard. This is different than the Organization, Sora. I have a feeling we might be dealing with another group...there's two we've seen. Is there more?"

The kid with them appeared as though he had just seen a ghost, his mouth agape. He had jumped when the Keyblade came, yet once the shock had left slowly, he figured that it was a type of sword. And that they can use magic. It was not unknown to him due to Merlin. There was another thing he was worried about, though. "I have to fight in the tournament? I don’t even have a weapon!"

Riku and Sora were both surprised, he was carrying a rather large sword with him. How could that not be a weapon? "Um, you have a sword with you-"

He let out a breath, "Yeah, I know, it's just that I can't fight. Now I need to win that tournament. How can I win if I can't fight? What am I going to do...?"

Sora smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, me and Riku know how to fight, we will join with you, just to make sure you're ok, got it?"

The boy still seemed depressed, but at least he had some sort of support. He nodded. "Alright, the name is Arthur, by the way. I guess it can't be that bad if I have you with me..." He was basing his assessment on Sora's confidence.

Perhaps he had a chance now.

 

Took you long enough ;P. I have nothing to say on greatness that I didn't already, so hopefully, this would continue forward in due time, and you're back in action for this fic >D.

 

Sweeeeeeeet.....I always loved Sword in the Stone......

 

Yeah =3. Honestly, that would make a nice world to see, and we already know Merlin from there.

 

Definitely.....*sigh*.....you can only go on an adventure....if you're fit enough.....if you're athletic enough...if you're physically prepared for it......otherwise....you're just...stuck.

 

Only one thing to say 'bout this... COOOOOLLLLLL!!!!!!!!

 

Go ICSP! Go ICSP! You can do it!