Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return

Sora's eyes widened at Leon's answer. Yes?! "W-where are they?" Sora stuttered. "Why aren't they out?" He felt the panic building inside him, the darkness becoming a more imminent threat. This is bad...this is so bad...

Once they were in the dead center of the area, Leon stopped walking and turned around to face Sora. "They only come out at certain times," he said calmly. He casually lifted his wrist to look at the watch he had on. "And that time would be right...about...now." As if on cue, the Heartless began to spawn, Soldiers making a circle around the two of them.

Sora grunted in surprise, his Keyblade appearing in his hand. "Why are we here, then?!" he asked frantically. "I can't fight right now!" He was too weak from being unconscious two days and he had no will power. That was not a good combination.

Leon grunted and took two steps running, leaping over a Soldier Heartless. "Good luck, Sora!" he called, ignoring Sora's protests. He was the Keyblade Master; he needed to learn how to act like one. Leon was going to step back and see just how the brunet reacted to pressure.

 

Riku clicked out of the article once he was finished, acquiring more information about the Keyblade. One thing he already knew was that the Emblem Heartless that were defeated release a heart. However, one thing he didn't know was that if a Heartless were not eliminated with the Keyblade, the stolen heart goes to the Realm of Darkness, which caused the Heartless to be recreated. No wonder there were so many; people in other worlds were trying to fight them off too, like Leon and Yuffie.

"Go the the article on Nobodies," Roxas said sternly, impatient to learn about his own kind. He hadn't heard much more about them other than that when a heart was captured, the body and soul created the Nobody.

 

Sora followed Leon with his eyes, his posture showing his thoughts of panic. "Leon!" he cried out. To his left, a Soldier came spinning in, going for an attack. Sora grunted and lifted his Keyblade, his blade connecting with the Heartless'. To his dismay, Leon didn't turn around. And then he noticed something else: more and more Heartless were popping out of the ground around the original circle. Already there had to be a hundred more!

Leon didn't stop until he was at the top of the path, the man turning around and stopping at the very top of it. He turned around, his eyes landing on the scene below him. "Hmph." Sora wasn't doing good so far; he wasn't going on the offensive. He needs to get his act together, he thought. 'Cause in the real world, nobody will be there to save him from himself.

 

When Riku clicked on the file, the Nobody insignia popped up next to the article, just like in the Heartless file. He scanned the article alongside Roxas, interested to learn about their most recent enemy.

Roxas leaned in toward the computer a little more, his bright blue eyes scanning over the words. As he read, he discovered that his own kind lacked hearts to possess light or darkness, but Roxas remembered Ansem telling him he was one of the dark. He was slightly confused, but realized that he believed Ansem's personal message than one recorded on a computer. He was one of the dark, and that wasn't ever going to change. Pushing his thoughts aside, the boy continued to read, discovering that his kind was "nothing" but can act with definite planning. His eyes widened when he finally reached a familiar name. "Organization XIII," he muttered to himself, more interested now. Every member of the group kept their human forms because they originally held strong hearts and remembered their past lives. But Roxas hadn't known anything about Sora...at all.

A spunky ninja walked down the slopes of the rocky landscape, searching for her comrade. She heard noise from up ahead and curiously ran forward. That was when she spotted the older guy. "Hey, Leon!" she greeted, running to meet him near the cliff.

 

Leon looked over his shoulder slightly, giving his hyper friend a slight wave. "Yuffie," he said in greeting. He didn't bother looking at her again or initiating conversation, busy focusing on Sora's fight. He was starting to fight back, but he was still lagging.

Sora grunted, swinging his Keyblade at an angle to cut through the last of the original Soldier Heartless. That alone had been a hard task, but now he noticed a large difference in the number of Heartless around him. He had been in this position before, the one where he stood in the middle and the Heartless were so plentiful that he couldn't see the ground except for what was around him. He groaned; there had to be about a thousand surrounding him.

 

"Satisfied?" Riku commented as he clicked out of the file. Roxas had seen what he wanted to, so now it was time to move on to the article on Ansem himself.

Roxas's lips formed a grim line as he stared at the computer. "No." He stepped away from the device, taking a few steps toward the weird electronics on the other wall. That hadn't told him anything about who he really was, and why he was so different. He knew it was because he had half of a heart, or something. Roxas shook his head. I don't even know who I am!

Yuffie came to a silent stop next to Leon, following his gaze onto lower ground. She instantly gasped, eyes widening at the sight of Heartless just beyond the path. And in the middle of them was... "Sora!" she yelled in surprise. What was he doing?!

 

Sora looked up slightly at the cry, though that was a mistake. He grunted, feeling a Heartless knock him in the back. He did a front flip and then spun around a battle cry leaving his lips as he swung back at the Heartless that had hurt him.

"Leave him be," Leon ordered, folding his arms across his chest. Sora may not have been doing well thus far, but Leon secretly had faith that Sora could pull himself out of this slump and beat all the Heartless down there. At least, that's what he hoped.

 

Riku didn't continue the brief conversation, and instead read over Ansem's file. As soon as he was done with this article, they were finished with the computer. For now, anyway.

Roxas's hands were balled into fists at his sides. What was he going to do now? He had no idea who he was. Ansem wouldn't tell him anything last year, and his stupid computer wasn't going to tell him anything now. Great. So he was out of luck? Fantastic. Just what he needed on top of everything else.

Yuffie brought a hand to her mouth when she caused Sora's injury, wincing slightly before turning to Leon. "You're just gonna let him do that alone?" she said, noticing how strict Leon's voice was. "He's still recovering, isn't he?"

 

"I'm not just leaving him alone, Yuffie," Leon started. "I'm the one who sent him down there to face them all. Yes, he's recovering, but he can't afford to waste any more time." The worlds depend on Sora, and if he's too busy recovering over a fool's mission, a lot of people are going to lose their hearts. It was a grave thought, so he simply kept it to himself as he watched Sora keep fighting.

Sora swung through a few more Heartless, his attacks weaker than usual due to his fatigue. He winced at his tiredness and flexed his left hand only to have it remain empty. The realization that he couldn't summon a second blade distracted him, and he barely dodged an attack right after that.

 

Riku sighed in satisfaction after a few more minutes of silence, having gotten all of the information he needed. He set the computer back on security mode and turned to find Roxas staring at the floor. "We're done here," he said. "Let's head back." He didn't wait for Roxas's nod of acknowledgement, instead heading out of the room.

Roxas followed Riku out in silence, his eyes glazed over in thought. How was he going to discover himself? He knew who he truly was personality-wise, but what kind of Nobody was he? A depressing thought approached his mind and he lowered his head slightly; he couldn't possibly ever find out now. The only man who really knew was dead.

Yuffie looked from Leon to the young boy down in the battlefield, staying silent now. She understood what Leon was doing. He was challenging Sora, making him recover this way, by fighting and conquering his own doubts and fears.

 

After a while, Sora started getting in the swing of things. He still wasn't fighting his best, but he was doing better. At least he wasn't missing every other blow and barely dodging Heartless attacks. A harsh battle cry left his lips as he knocked away a group of shadows, his attack destroying at least three in that one blow. When he had a moment to recover, he looked around. Judging by the look of things around him, he had killed about one hundred and fifty, leaving eight hundred and fifty more.

 

Riku was out of the twisting and turning hallways and back out into the sunlight. No Heartless greeted him as he walked along, and eventually, as they were about to make their way back to the Bailey, he heard sounds of battle. Riku stopped, alarmed, and looked to Roxas, who was still off in a daze. "Roxas, snap out of it. Do you hear that?" he asked, referring to the noises not too far off.

Roxas blinked at the words, knocking him out of his thoughts. He looked up at Riku and then listened, nodding with furrowed eyebrows when he did hear the noise. "Yeah... And something doesn't feel right either," he admitted, reacting to the sudden twist in his stomach, which had occurred when he took the time to recognize the battle sounds. Roxas looked toward the direction of the noise and tilted his head to the side, arching an eyebrow. After a second, he started running in that direction, prepared to summon his Keyblades if need be.

 

Leon stood where he was, arms folded across his chest as he watched the scene before him. "Oh, Sora," he groaned, bringing a hand to his forehead. He was making a ton of mistakes in battle, leaving his back wide open for attacks. He wasn't utilizing his speed, and he wasn't thinking, either. He was swinging without paying attention to where his targets were moving, and those mistakes had just lead to Sora getting knocked down to the ground pretty hard.

Sora grunted, rolling off his stomach and onto his side. He looked up at the top of the cliff briefly, seeing Leon and now Yuffie just standing there. They weren't going to help him, not even when he was down and obviously winded. He looked around him and saw a swarm of Heartless rushing in towards him, his eyes widening.

 

"You can do it, Sora!" Yuffie hollered quickly, cupping her hands around her mouth. She then lightly whacked Leon in the arm, looking up at him. "Have a little faith. The kid's had a hard time. He needs some time to get back in the game."

Roxas ran a few steps ahead of Riku, running in the direction of the battle. It sounded like a battle and by the feeling in his stomach, definitely seemed like one. He knew Sora was recovering, so it couldn't have been him fighting, could it?

 

"I have faith," Leon stated, keeping his eyes on Sora. "The Heartless don't care about that, though." He was actually starting to get a bit concerned; the Heartless were getting stronger as the battle went on. Sora was too, but he wasn't nearly as strong as Leon had predicted he would be by this point.

Sora set a hand on the ground and then sprung himself into a back-flip, the Heartless running into each other instead of getting to him. Blizzard! He pointed his Keyblade at them and saw particles of ice come out the tip of his weapon, hitting the shadows while they were still clumped together. Two more hearts floated up into the sky.

 

Yuffie frowned slightly, glancing back down at the battlefield. After a few seconds though, she picked up on rushed footsteps. Turning around, she saw Riku and Roxas running toward them. "Hi guys!" she greeted, waving, happy to see them despite the situation.

Roxas reached Leon and Yuffie first, eyes strict. "What's going on?" he asked quickly, trying to peek around them to see what was happening. He heard the sounds of battle, much louder now that he was closer.

 

Leon turned halfway, looking at Roxas and Riku. "You guys done with the computer already?" he asked, directing the question more towards Riku. He had previously suspected the older teen would be interested in a lot of stuff on the computer and be on there all day. Apparently he had been mistaken.

Sora saw two more rush at him and he raised his Keyblade, slashing through the two Heartless without giving them a chance to strike him. He was getting better at fighting, but he probably had only fought through 1/4 of the Heartless, and he was already tired.

 

Riku nodded. "For now. I'm sure we'll be looking into it later," he replied. There were still many files to go through, and he had a lot of unanswered questions left that needed solutions. He wasn't quite through with that computer yet, but it seemed it was a good idea that he was done now, considering the circumstances as of now. "How's Sora?" he asked either of the two, his eyes darting from Leon to Yuffie.

"Oh, he's holding up pretty well after all he's gone through," Yuffie answered with a positive nod.

"Good. Then what's going on down there?" Roxas asked again, taking a step forward and between Leon and Yuffie to see what was causing all the commotion. His eyes widened instantly. "Sora!" he gasped, but not loud enough for the brunet to hear below.

"What?" Riku said, voice tight and eyes alarmed as he looked at Roxas. He rushed forward on the other side of Yuffie and looked down into the canyon. He tensed, a gasp leaving his lips.

 

Sora ground his teeth together, his shoulders slumped in exhaustion. He had to fight through more Heartless, but he just couldn't bring himself to. He didn't have the strength, physically or mentally. It's all because of the stupid Organization, he thought bitterly, eyebrows furrowed as he aimlessly swung and destroyed a Heartless. They ruin everything!

Leon stood by silently, keeping his eyes on Sora. He was still fighting, which showed he probably hadn't heard anything going on at the top of the canyon. That wasn't surprising, though, considering that it was pretty loud in the battlefield. He silently hoped Riku and Roxas wouldn't try to rush down, for this was something Sora had to conquer by himself.

 

The things that had to deal with the computer were already on Roxas's last nerve, but this did it; seeing Sora fighting down there set him off. "Are you crazy? He's in no position to be fighting right now!" the blond Nobody cried, anger in his voice. He glared up at Leon, fists at his sides. He didn't know Leon that well, but he knew now that he was insane for making Sora do this. Alone.