I was sleeping on the road with Donald, Sora, and Goofy as I was trying to get back to sleep. But, no matter how many times I tried, I just couldn’t get to sleep. So, I decided to take a little stroll around the place to see if I can find anything to help me with my sleep trouble.
I walked on the path that probably led to someplace at the end of it. I stared at where the road was leading to.
“Hmm,” I hummed as I folded my arms while staring up into the starry night sky. “I wonder where we are…”
“You’re about to enter someplace you might be familiar with,” said a voice behind me. “Or...what you might not be familiar with.”
I turned around, expecting to find someone there. But, no one was there. I looked as I was blinking before turning back around to find an Organization XIII member standing in front of me. “What do you want?” I demanded the member, though I was not showing my Keyblade, Oathbringer yet.
“You’ve done a splendid job so far, Earthling,” the man spoke to me in praise. “You are just the right person for us to complete our goal.”
“Huh?” I raised a brow at that. “What’re you talking about?”
“Nothing you should concern yourself with, for now,” the man replied to my question. “In fact, your path might be just around the corner. The answers that you seek, the friends you’ve made, and the connection between others such as Sora and his companions. Your destiny is coming nigh, Daniel.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I gave him a small, but aggressive growl.
“Hey now, don’t give me that tone,” the Organization member raised his hands in mock defense. “You might be the one who is the link to all of those you befriended in those various worlds. Yes, your friendship with them is very strong and powerful. It is your heart who gives them the strength you need.”
Alright, I’ve had enough.
“Just go ahead and try if you can beat me!” I challenged the man.
“Gladly, but first,” the man spoke again.
“Huh?”
“Your road is just up ahead,” he said, letting his hand go to the path that was going straight ahead. “You may want to visit Castle Oblivion; there, you and I can have our duel. I’m thrilled to be testing my power against you, as I know you do as much as well.”
“What…” I started to say until he disappeared in a black portal. I sighed, shaking my head to get my feelings off from what he had spoken.
I know that Sora won’t trust the Organization, neither do I. They’re bad guys, nothing more, nothing less. That will never change for the good versus evil battle we’re in.
I went back to camp after that.
Morning soon arrived as me, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were making our way on the road after I told them we should visit Castle Oblivion that lay just ahead.
“Hmm,” Jiminy hummed on Sora’s shoulder, his small arms folded. “I cannot say that we should do as that Organization member told you, Daniel. But...I have a feeling that you’re right about we should give it a visit.”
“Right,” I nodded slightly, and then I frowned while we walked on the road.
“Gawrsh, you look a bit depressed, Daniel,” Goofy noted to me as he stepped up to my side, holding my shoulder with a hand.
“How can you tell?” I asked him.
“The frown,” he replied. “You looked depressed when you showed it. Would you care to tell us what you were doing during the night?”
“Sorry,” I sighed, shaking my head. “But, it’s nothing.”
“Are you sure?” Donald asked.
“Yes, can we move on now?” I said to them. “I don’t want to feel pressed about the matter. We need to focus on getting Riku and the King back.”
“That’s our top priority,” Sora agreed as did Jiminy on his shoulder.
“And, I hope to see Sonata again…” I whispered to myself low, when the others didn’t hear it luckily for me.
We made our way to Castle Oblivion as the building soon came into our views. I marveled at the castle, but was a bit frightened about entering it since watching Sora and the others losing their powers from Chain of Memories I watched on my computer way back then.
“Shall we go inside?” Sora asked, snapping me out of my train of thoughts.
“Yeah,” I nodded to him as we walked to the giant door of the castle, with me and Sora opening it before we entered the castle. “I have a slight feeling, though, that we might lose what we have.”
“Huh? Where’d that come from?” Sora asked, looking at me.
“Just a hunch,” I shrugged my shoulders in response.
We walked further inside until Goofy spoke up. “Uh, is it alright to just barge in? Shouldn’t we close the door, or…”
I looked at him before gasping at who stood at the front door. It was an Organization XIII member.
“Well done, Daniel!” the member cheered for me, clapping his hands. “You’ve just entered one way to meet your beloved, and for you Sora, you’re walking right into who you have missed.”
“What?!” I shouted with Sora, Donald, and Goofy as we had our respective weapons in our hands.
“Oh, let me show ya!” Donald growled, raising his staff into the air. “Thunder!”
…
…
…
Nothing. As I had suspected.
“Come on?” Donald pleaded with his magic staff. “Thunder!”
Again, nothing.
“Fire!” he tried again, but still nothing. “Why isn’t it working?” He moaned in confusion.
“I think it’s pretty obvious,” the member of the Organization spoke. “The very moment you stepped foot into this castle, you have lost all of the spells that you had learned on the way through your journeys. That includes you, Daniel.”
I wasn’t surprised. In fact, I feel nothing compared to Sora and our friends.
“Give back our powers!” Sora demanded the member, charging with his Kingdom Key keyblade at the hooded man. However, the member disappeared from the view and reappeared behind at the door in the back.
“Now, don’t get all cooked up, Sora,” the member spoke again. “In fact, I have something that might get you into regaining your powers once more.”
He flew straight into Sora, and then into me as I stood there, unfazed and uninterested all of a sudden.
“Gathered from your memories, I made these,” the member held two cards up for us to see. “To lose what you forget, and to regain what you forget. That’s the way of Castle Oblivion. You might have noticed this, Earthling, correct?”
No response came from me as I simply stared at him wordless.
“Ah, speechless, are we?” the member chuckled at me. “Well then,” he threw the two cards to me and Sora, which we caught. “I wish you two good luck with finding what you forgot, and to lose what you regain in the process. Adios, amigos!”
He disappeared from our sight at last, and I stared at the card I held in my hand with a frown on my expression.
Sora looked at me in concern. “Daniel?” He tapped my shoulder, which snapped me out of my trace.
“Huh?” I blinked in surprise.
“You were zoomed out there,” the Keyblade wielder noted. “Why did you not speak? Is there something you know, but won’t tell us?”
“I have something as well in that regard,” Jiminy added on Sora’s shoulder.
“Sorry,” I apologized, sighing. “But, I felt like I shouldn’t change what was previously made for you guys.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Donald asked, confused.
“Nothing,” I shook my head in dismissal of the subject. “Let’s go. We need to find the King and Riku.”
They nodded and we made our way to the back door of the room. Sora and I opened it, and we stepped through it to the First Floor of Castle Oblivion.
It’s this that gets me a bit on edge, since I haven’t been here. Only my friends who had been in a game of this exact location. I feel like I shouldn’t have been their friend in the first place, which gets me worried I might forget about them with our journey to find Riku and King Mickey. Why is it that I have made a wrong choice in helping them on their journey? I feel not so excited anymore…
“Gawrsh, you sure look worried, Daniel,” Goofy spoke, breaking me from my thoughts. “Is there something on your mind?”
Sora, Jiminy and Donald looked at me as well with concerned expressions.
“I have a feeling I might forget you guys,” I said sadly. “The further we go into Castle Oblivion.”
They shared looks between each other, and huddled together before whispering something to themselves.
Sora then looked at me with his big, reassuring smile. “Hey, don’t worry,” he told me. “Whatever happens, friends won’t easily be forgotten. Right, Donald, Goofy?”
The two nodded with their friend.
We then noticed something odd, and the First Floor of Castle Oblivion was seemingly gone. We gave surprised cries, and we looked around in confusion.
“Um...why are we back in Traverse Town?” Donald asked us.
“Hmm,” I hummed, folding my arms in the confusion. I then blinked in realization. “This must be what is a piece of our memories!” I realized as laughter came from the response.
“How right you are, Daniel,” said a voice that seemed familiar, yet unfamiliar as a black portal came within our view.
“Organization XIII!” I growled at the member. “You must be…”
“That’s right,” the red haired man smiled at me. “I’m Axel. Got it memorized?”
We were immediately back in Castle Oblivion as our confusion was still on our expressions while Axel laughed at our looks.
“This is Castle Oblivion, the thing you saw was from the cards you were given,” Axel reminded us. “To find is to lose, and to lose is to find. The world you saw is one of the things from your memories you had found.”
“Grr,” I growled. “You’re confusing us, Axel! Why are we here?!”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Axel raised a brow. “You are in need of finding the ones you hold dear to yourselves.”
“You mean…” Sora gasped. “Riku is here?!”
“Why, yes,” Axel nodded to the Keyblade bearer. “But first, you need to get past me. Before you can see your beloved ones, you need to be testing your regained powers. Can you guess what you regained from using the cards you were given?”
I folded my arms with a raised brow. “We have regained some of our Magic,” I realized.
Axel chuckles. “You’re quick on this, Daniel,” he spoke to me. “That’s good. Now, remember me when this is over.” He summoned his Chakrams into his hands.
We summoned our own weapons as a fire wall appeared around us. I looked at Sora, who nodded to me in his prepared state.
Me and Sora charged Axel, who was grinning madly as he jumped away from our swung Keyblades. I took the chance when Axel landed on the ground from us, and I charged him with Oathbringer before lashing out at the Organization member.
Axel was slightly taken by surprise, but he smiled and blocked my swing. I struggled with his Chakrams as I grunted in the struggle when he leaned closer.
“You’re good, I like a good challenge,” he told me. “Why are you with them? You can do so much more if you were alone and without friends.”
I grunted. “Don’t you say that...now, Sora!” I called out as Axel was taken aback as Sora came from behind him before the red haired man jumped to the side in a quick reaction when I blocked Sora’s incoming Keyblade.
“Whoops! Wrong one!” Sora cried out.
Axel laughed at our display. “My, fighting each other already?” he asked us.
We broke our exchange and charged him, this time, with Sora taking the lead as he jumped at Axel, who was smiling.
Suddenly, a great fire came from the Chakrams as I stood back in surprise and felt pain aching in my back when I screamed in response.
Sora stopped his advancement on Axel and looked at me in shock. “Daniel!” he called before he, too, was screaming in pain from the flame that was striking him.
“Oh my, sorry ‘bout that!” Axel apologized mockingly as he released us from the flames. “Nah, you two need to go down now.”
I groaned in pain, holding my Keyblade on the ground before another scream escaped from me when I was surrounded by flames again.
I heard Axel’s laughter, and when I had enough, I broke the flames with what I had in me. This surprised Axel to an extent when he stopped laughing to look at me.
“How did you do that?” he asked me.
“Like I’d tell you, Axel!” I replied with a growl. I charged him before putting the flames around Sora out with a blow of wind when the Keyblader knelt to the floor in pain.
“What…” Sora was surprised he wasn’t in pain anymore, and he looked at me as I was running towards Axel.
I swung my Oathbringer forward to Axel, and the Organization member blocked the swing with his Chakrams. We struggled for a moment until I then released myself from the exchange and began to lash out at Axel again.
“Not this time, you twerp!” Axel called out and disappeared before reappearing behind me with his black portal. “Now, go ahead and be in agonized pain!”
He was about to fire his flames from the Chakrams, when he was hit on the side by Sora’s Kingdom Key blade tip and was now groaning in pain.
Axel fell to the ground on one knee, and he looked at us with a happy smile. “Well, looks like I’ll have to retreat for now,” he told us. “Remember, this isn’t over. Not just yet. You haven’t seen the last of me.”
He disappeared from our sight in his black portal at last while the fire wall vanished from around us.
I lowered my Keyblade and sighed in distress. Why did he seem to enjoy himself while taking on the both of us? That made almost no sense.
Donald and Goofy came up to Sora, who was smiling reassuringly at them. They then looked at me in concern.
“I’m fine,” I told them. “I just...don’t feel like…”
“Don’t feel like what?” Goofy asked.
“Never mind,” I shook my head in dismissive to the captain of Disney Castle. “Let’s just go further in and find Riku and our friends.”
They nodded to me in their silent, but concerned response as we made our way to the door that will be leading us to the Second Floor of Castle Oblivion.
Author's Note
This sequel is up early, since I had already written Part 1 of Castle Oblivion earlier as well, too.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. There'll be drama in this sequel in compared to the more adventurous side of the storyline I have in store for the series. It'll be a great help if you can assist me in letting me know of key characters in Castle Oblivion and what kind of the thirteen worlds there are in the Chain of Memories game.
Now, let me tell you; I'm more going for the Re: Chain of Memories remake of the sequel than the original on the Nintendo DS. So, there'll be made a few changes with Daniel put in the story, but otherwise, it'll be the same as the original game. My character won't be a massive change to the original story, but since I want to do something bigger, there'll be moments with him alone in the castle. POV shifts will also happen in it, so we can have a look at all the protagonists in this sequel.
With that, enjoy the sequel, everyone! See you until Part 2!
