“The opposite, actually,” said Riku.
Xemnas let out a chuckle. “Perfect. On your guard!”
Twin swords, glowing with a dire red light, formed in his hands—the Ethereal Blades.
In the next moment, they clashed against Soul Eater.
ANTHEM—MEET AGAIN / AXEL’S LAST STAND
CHAPTER 1
RADIANT GARDEN
IN TWILIGHT TOWN, WHERE THE SUNSET’S LONG SHADOWS teem with mysteries…
Hayner, Pence, and Olette were in their usual spot.
The three of them had gotten together in the storage space they’d claimed under the train tracks.
“I’m absolutely sure of it,” said Olette, clutching her little cloth purse.
Hayner slumped his shoulders. “But that can’t be right.”
“Then how would you explain this crystal?” Olette opened the purse and took out a blue orb.
“Well…,” Hayner started, folding his arms, and fell silent.
“Besides, I made the purse myself. There’s no way I can be wrong about this.”
She was completely adamant. Hayner looked to Pence for help.
“Sora and his friends had one, too. The same purse with the blue crystal in it. There can’t be two of the same thing,” said Pence.
Hayner and Olette nodded.
“Except there are,” he went on. “Where could they have gotten ahold of another purse and another crystal?”
“We’d have to ask them,” Hayner said with a frown.
“I’ve got a theory. Maybe there’s a copy of this world, and that’s where this purse and crystal came from. And things that aren’t here are there.” Pence grinned at them.
“So in the other world, where Sora got these—maybe that’s where Kairi is?” said Olette.
She sounded uncertain, but Hayner jumped up and stood atop a pile of boxes to shout, “I get it! Pence, you’re a genius!”
“But we don’t know where it actually is or how to get there…” Looking up at Hayner, Pence heaved a sigh.
At the same moment, in the same town, in the white room of the haunted mansion…
Soul Eater met the Ethereal Blades.
Surrounded by the walls covered in Naminé’s drawings, two men with swords glared at each other.
They bore strong similarities to each other. Not only were they wearing the same clothes, but their resemblance was closer than that of brothers, from their faces to their builds.
“Xehanort’s power should be greater than this,” said Xemnas.
Ansem—or rather, Riku—scowled in distaste, his fingers tightening on Soul Eater. He couldn’t land a blow on Xemnas, who appeared to be doing no more than standing still. In fact, he couldn’t even move.
“What’s the matter?” Xemnas said, trying to provoke Riku, and the Ethereal Blades disappeared from his hands.
Gritting his teeth, Riku readied Soul Eater. Xemnas took a step toward him.
A small cry came from Naminé. “—DiZ…!”
Without a sound or any other signal to his presence, DiZ stood behind Xemnas, quietly watching him and Riku.
“Ah… Now I see.” Xemnas paused and shifted his gaze to DiZ, narrowing his eyes.
“Xemnas,” DiZ called to him.
But Xemnas did not even fully turn toward him, only smiled dauntlessly—and vanished.
“Maybe you were just trying to help,” said Riku, “but you ruined my chance to take him down.”
He turned Soul Eater on DiZ.
The Gummi Ship touched down on the next world—which happened to be Hollow Bastion.
“I thought everything was under control here…or it was supposed to be…” Sora scratched his head as suspicious dark figures scuttled by in front of them.
“There’s more Heartless?” Goofy mumbled, astounded, readying his shield.
“We’d better go ask Leon what’s up,” said Sora, charging into the Heartless. They were scattered into nothing before the others had time to blink. “That’s a few less to worry about!”
Goofy stowed his shield. “Gee, Sora, you’ve gotten pretty strong,” he said lazily.
Sora rested the Keyblade across his shoulders. “I always was!”
“Nah, not really,” Donald remarked, and Goofy nodded.
“Aw, you too, Donald?” Sora pouted.
“You weren’t this strong when we first met ya,” said Goofy.
Donald roundly agreed and added, “You were kinda helpless back then.”
Goofy bobbed his head.
“C’mon, guys!” Sora protested, crossing his arms, and then someone came running toward them.
“There you are, lads!”
“Uncle Scrooge!” Donald hopped up.
The old gentleman duck in the top hat stood before them holding three ice cream pops.
“Wak?” Donald cocked his head and leaned in for a whiff of the ice cream.
“Bless me bagpipes, I’ve finally done it!” Scrooge crowed. “I re-created that old sea-salt ice cream!”
“Ice cream? Ooh, I’ll have one!” Sora wasted no time scampering up to Scrooge and taking one. Donald and Goofy accepted the other two.
“It doesn’t taste funny this time?” Donald uncertainly examined the blue ice cream.
“Try it and see!” Scrooge urged them.
Sora didn’t need the encouragement to take a bite. “It’s salty! But sweet…”
He took another bite. It was a curious mix of flavors, with a subdued sweetness emerging behind the salty flavor.
Sweet, cold but salty ice cream. Somehow…it tasted familiar. Like something he knew from long ago.
“Wak! That flavor!” Donald cried after tasting it.
“What about it?” asked Sora, but Donald just kept staring at the ice cream. “C’mon, what?”
Donald seemed perplexed. Sora shrugged and went on eating his.
It really felt like he’d tasted it before.
Yeah… Sitting with the others, watching the sunset somewhere… But where was that?
“This is pretty good!” said Goofy.
Scrooge puffed out his chest with satisfaction. “Aye, isn’t it unique? When I was a lad, all the young’uns were crazy for it.”
“Can I have another one?” Sora held up his bare ice cream pop stick.
“That was fast!” Donald exclaimed.
“Maybe you guys are slow,” Sora retorted, but he licked the stick as if he did regret finishing it so quickly.
“Well, you can have as many as you like!” Scrooge reached for a mini-freezer behind him and took out another ice cream pop.
“Don’t eat too many,” said Goofy, just a tiny bit concerned. “You’ll get a stomachache.”
“But I’ve wanted ice cream for ages!” Sora took the second one and chomped down.
“That sea-salt ice cream is something, isn’t it? But sadly, the rest of town’s in no state to enjoy it,” said Scrooge, worry clouding his face. “Would ye mind helping out Leon and his chums?”
“Oh, right! We’d better go!” Sora crammed the rest of the ice cream in his mouth and took off.
Right then, Leon was in Ansem’s study, fighting with his gunblade. Heartless appeared one after another to surround him.
“They just keep coming,” he muttered, then glared at the main terminal’s screen. “Is the MCP making Heartless by itself…?” He began typing on the keyboard. “Tron…”
There was no reply—not from Tron, anyway. Instead an alarm sounded and a message appeared on the screen:
IGNORANT USERS. OBEY THE MCP.
A deep frown rose on Leon’s face.
The trio ran to Merlin’s house, driving off Heartless along the way.
“What happened to this place, Leon?!” Sora shouted the moment he opened the door.
Cid didn’t seem to notice, completely absorbed in whatever work he was doing at the computer. Yuffie and Merlin were peeking over his shoulders.
“Hurry up, Cid!” Yuffie stamped her foot.
&n
bsp; “Maybe if ya kept quiet!” Cid snapped.
“Confound it, how long will this take?” Even Merlin sounded impatient.
“Um, what’s going on?” Sora warily tapped Cid on the shoulder.
“Aha! Talk about yer good timin’.” Cid paused in typing and finally turned to the newcomers.
“The MCP is causing a bunch of trouble inside the computer,” said Yuffie.
“Not again!” Donald slumped in dismay.
“How’s Tron doing?” Sora asked.
Cid and Yuffie exchanged glances.
“We can’t reach him…” Yuffie glanced back at the screen.
“We’ll go check on him!” said Sora.
“Thanks, kid. Meanwhile, we’re puttin’ together an MCP eradication program. I got a hunch it’s almost finished, too,” Cid told them with some self-congratulation.
Merlin looked askance at him and sighed. “Well, I hope your hunch is right for once.”
“Listen,” Yuffie said to the trio before the other two could bicker anymore, “we’re gonna need Tron’s help when the program’s complete…”
“Got it. We’ll make sure to tell him!” Sora nodded.
“All right, lads, we’re counting on you!” said Merlin.
Sora grinned at him and headed off for Ansem’s study with Donald and Goofy.
The path to the castle was crawling with Heartless, and so was the postern. The trio fought their way through to the study, where Leon and Aerith were waiting for them.
“Did you check in with Cid?” asked Leon with his gunblade still raised. They had to keep on guard against the onslaught of Heartless.
“Yup!” Sora replied. Aerith gave him a tiny smile.
“And the program?” said Leon.
“He said it’s almost done,” Donald reported.
“Oh, thank goodness!” said Aerith. “Hey, Leon, why don’t you go back and help Cid? I’ve got this place under control.”
Leon frowned, wrinkling the scar between his eyes. “Are you sure…?” Receiving a pointed look, he broke off and nodded. “Right. It’s all yours.”
“How’s Tron?” asked Sora.
“We still can’t get in touch with him.” Leon glanced at the big computer screen. “Maybe you guys should give it a shot.”
“We’ll just go talk to him in person.” Sora went to the oversized keyboard and looked up at the screen.
It still displayed the message in red text:
IGNORANT USERS. OBEY THE MCP.
“Then I’ve got a favor to ask,” said Leon. “When you find Tron, could you tell him to come to the I/O tower? That’s where we’ll upload the MCP eradication program.”
Aerith nodded, agreeing with the plan.
“The I/O tower,” Goofy repeated thoughtfully to help himself remember.
“Thanks. And watch your backs,” said Leon.
Sora typed in his and Donald’s and Goofy’s names, and they were transported to the world inside the computer.
When they found Tron inside the Space Paranoids world, it was just in time—Heartless were bearing down on him from all sides.
“Tron!”
“Sora! Watch out!” Tron cried, and in the same instant a red laser beam blasted him to the ground.
“Are you okay?!” Goofy ran to him as Sora took up the Keyblade and plowed through the lasered Heartless.
“Take this—Fire!” Donald blasted it with some magic.
After Goofy helped him to his feet, Tron knocked back the Heartless that came after him. The creatures regrouped to surround them again.
“Here I come!” Sora knocked them away all at once. Donald, Goofy, and Tron were there to finish them off. “Whew… Did we get ’em all for now?”
Sora checked the area nearby. There were no more Heartless in the vicinity that he could see.
“Thanks.” Tron sat down on the spot in exhausted relief. “You really saved me.”
“So what’s going on in here?” asked Donald.
“The MCP is ready to wage all-out war against the users,” said Tron. “What effect is that having on the outside?”
“It’s causing trouble with the town’s control system. But Cid’s making a program that can de-rezz the MCP.” Sora plunked down beside him for a breather.
“We gotta go pick it up at the I/O tower,” Goofy added, peering curiously at Tron. “He thinks we can use it to stop the MCP for good.”
“That’s amazing! We’ll try it!” His spirits lifted, Tron jumped to his feet, then paused and cocked his head. “But who’s this Cid?”
“He’s a friend of ours. Leon, and Merlin, and Aerith and Yuffie… They’re on the outside, trying to help you,” Sora said as he got up, too.
Hearing that, Tron smiled broadly. “I must have a lot of user friends!”
He sounded truly glad for it.
“Well, let’s get to that I/O tower!” Donald held up his wand in determination.
Cid went on typing, his face grim as he stared at the screen.
“Finished?” Leon squinted at it anxiously.
Cid sucked his teeth in frustration. “Would be if it didn’t involve parsing that old loon’s magic.”
“Old loon, you say?!” Merlin’s voice rose to a falsetto with indignation. He pointed his wand at Cid. “Why, I’ll show you who’s old!”
Just as he made an ominous wave of his wand, Cid removed a small disc from the computer. “Done!”
Merlin’s spell struck him in his moment of triumph and knocked him flat. But Cid didn’t even seem to notice, smirking from the floor with the disc safe in his hand. “There ya go, Leon. One homemade program topped with loony wizard magic.”
“All right. I’m off.” Leon took the disc and headed briskly for the door.
“Be on your guard!” Merlin called after him.
The trio and Tron stood in the I/O tower amid deafening alarms.
“C’mon!” Donald stamped his foot.
“Hurry up, Leon!” Sora yelled at the ceiling—and finally a bright light beamed down from overhead.
“Here it is!” Tron took a flat disc with a hole in the middle from his back and held it aloft. It floated up, drawn into the light, and after beginning to glow itself, drifted back down into his hands.
“Does it feel right?” Donald asked.
“This is a very strange program…” The shining disc illuminated Tron’s puzzled face.
“That’s Merlin’s magic!” said Donald with a streak of pride in his instructor.
“Huh? There’s a power boost for me, too!” Tron replaced the disc on his back and turned to Sora.
“So…it’ll work?” Sora grinned.
“Well, like you users say—we won’t know until we try!” said Tron.
Sora nodded. “Then let’s try it!”
“It’s time to face the MCP. Let’s go!”
Tron led the way out of the tower.
“The MCP is straight ahead.”
Tron had brought them to a huge round building with some kind of cylindrical machine hanging from the ceiling.
“So there you are.” The man who greeted them was dressed like Tron, except with orange glowing lines and patterns, and regarded them with stern disdain.
“Who’s that?” Sora whispered to Tron.
“Commander Sark. Second only to the MCP.” Tron quietly readied his disc, which also served as his weapon.
“Does that mean he’s the strongest after the MCP?”
Tron nodded as Sark fixed a nasty glare on him.
“Tenacious little bugs. Your time is up. Prepare for de-resolution!” Sark summoned up Heartless to attack them.
“Wak!” Donald furiously waved his wand.
“You take care of those things,” said Tron. “I’ll deal with Sark!”
“Roger!” Sora replied, and the trio took on the Heartless to cover Tron as he charged at Sark.
“Traitor!” Sark also had a disc, which he hurled at Tron.
“Sark!” Tron knocked it aside with his ow
n. The weapon rebounded and struck Sark in the chest.
“Guh—!” Sark collapsed to one knee.
Sora rushed in with the Keyblade, and Sark toppled face forward to the floor.
“…Tron.” The new voice rumbled from above their heads, where the alarms were blaring.
The four of them searched for the source until they saw the eerie bright red face on the enormous cylinder before them.
“Is that the MCP?!” Sora repositioned the Keyblade.
“That’s right. Didn’t pay much attention to visual interface, did it?” Tron remarked, looking up at the program.
“Tron, you still don’t understand?” it said with its unsettling voice. “We have no need for users. We programs have advanced; they are superfluous. Merge with me, and the world will be ours to control!”
“You’re the one who doesn’t get it.”
As Tron glared back, the expression on the huge, weird face twisted with anger. “Sark… Sark!”
Hearing his name, Sark dragged himself upright.
“All of my functions are now yours,” the MCP told him, and Sark’s body grew. Barriers of light formed around the MCP.
“Whoa!” Sora jumped back.
“Sora—let’s do this!” Tron tossed his disc up at Sark, now towering over them, and it found its mark on his jaw. Sark halted for a moment, so Sora leaped up high and bashed at his head with the Keyblade.
“Wak!”
The barriers of light surrounding the MCP began whirling with ferocious speed, knocking Donald and Goofy aside.
“Wa-whoa!”
“Sora, over here!” Tron called. There was a gap in the barriers.
Sora jumped down from Sark and dashed over to Tron.
“We’ve got to feed the program into the MCP through here!” Tron put his hand on Sora’s shoulder.
Sora felt a mysterious power flowing into him. He raised the Keyblade, and a beam of light shot out at the MCP.
“Wow!” Donald marveled. “That’s neat!”
But as soon as the words left him, an earsplitting metallic shriek rang out. The face of the MCP warped and disappeared from the cylinder, and white light swirled in its place.
“We did it!” Tron jumped for joy and hugged Sora.
Kingdom Hearts II Vol 2 Page 11
