Chapter 14: Twilight Town: Kings and Trains

Not really thinking where he was going, Toshiro ended up walking towards the usual spot where Hayner and the others would hang out with Roxas in the virtual world. He sensed Sora stop at the gate and turned to him, Donald and Goofy continuing inside.

"Something wrong, Sora?" Toshiro questioned the brunette.

"It's weird…" Sora huffed, scratching his head. "I feel like I've been to this town before…must be imagining things."

'Perhaps Roxas is sharing a few memories with him.' Toshiro wondered.

'It's going to be a slow process, if he gets any of them at all.' Hyorinmaru agreed. 'He probably only knows Roxas's more recent memories of this town; the virtual one, anyway.'

'We'll see.' He turned away and walked inside, Sora following behind while trying to shake off a strange sense of familiarity.

When Toshiro stepped inside he indeed found Hayner, Pence and Olette, but understandably they did not recognize him.

"What do you want?" The blonde boy growled at them.

"Uh, nothing." Sora put his hands up as a sign of peace. "Just following Toshi - er, Captain Hitsugaya."

Hayner looked at the white haired child, narrowing his eyes. He felt like he knew the kid but also knew he'd never seen him before.

"Now you know. This is our spot."

"Then we'll leave." Toshiro shrugged, turning to leave before noticing Pence approach Sora.

The brunette looked at Pence curiously, wondering what it was he wanted.

"You're…new around here, right?" Pence questioned. "I'm Pence."

The other two stepped over.

"Hayner. Nice to meet you. But we got stuff to do, catch ya later." He left, giving Toshiro a wary glance as he passed.

"My name's Olette." The girl said. "Hey, did you finish that summer homework yet? Independent Studies is the worst, huh?"

"Homework?" Sora coughed. He turned to Toshiro. "Did I miss something?"

"Nope." Toshiro replied.

"Er…Anyway, I'm Sora. This is Donald, Goofy and Captain Hitsugaya."

Pence and Olette shared a glance, smiling, and Toshiro quirked an eyebrow at them. What were they planning? Did they recognize the Keybearer?

"Sora, Donald, Goofy." Olette called out the three of them. "We just met someone who was looking for you."

"He sure was in a hurry." Pence added. "He had on a black coat so I couldn't see his face, but he had these big round ears."

At first, Toshiro thought Pence was mentioning Ansem, until he spoke about round ears, even elaborating by using his fingers to mimic the shapes on his own head. The Captain didn't think anyone from the Organization would be so obvious about trying to get Sora, and he sure didn't think it would be anyone with enormous ears. Then again, Sora's traveling companions were a duck and a dog. The ridiculousness of that still hadn't quite settled in yet for Toshiro, which is why he was taking things so well.

"The king!" Donald said and Sora nodded, turning to Goofy for an extra confirmation.

"Where'd ya see him?" Sora asked Pence.

"At the station." Pence answered.

"Great! Thanks!" Sora grinned.

"See ya; we have to get back to that assignment." Olette grinned back, walking around them to the alleyway outside, Pence following behind her.

The trio waited for them to be out of earshot, Toshiro momentarily forgotten off to the side, before turning excitedly to one another.

"Oh boy!" Donald said happily. "The King's trying to find us!"

"Yeah, let's get to the station!" Sora replied.

"May I ask who this King is?" Toshiro questioned.

The trio jumped, having forgotten he was there. They weren't used to him being a travelling companion yet. Sora grinned at him sheepishly.

"King Mickey travels the worlds as a Keybearer too, but we got separated after defeating Ansem." He explained.

"Ansem?" Toshiro remembered the black hooded man giving his name as Ansem. Was that why he hid his face? But he'd been working with Diz trying to help Sora, so did he have a change of heart? No one in their right minds would assist in saving the boy who killed them.

"Yeah, he's this really powerful man who controlled all the Heartless." Sora's face grew serious. "He possessed my friend Riku and made us fight each other, and then tried to get to Kingdom Hearts using Riku's power. We stopped him and got him out of Riku, but then Riku and the King got trapped in the Realm of Darkness to close the door to it. We restored all the worlds but now we're trying to find them." Sora's face lit up once more. "And now the King is here, so maybe Riku's here too!"

'Riku…possessed by Ansem…could the Ansem we met be this Riku person?' Toshiro mused, following the friends as they raced back towards the station.

'It would make more sense for him to help Sora than if it was actually Ansem.' Hyorinmaru offered.

'It would. But he was rather tall, so unless Sora only has adult friends I think he's a little old to be Riku.'

'Or Riku is trapped in the form of Ansem and he hides his face to avoid misunderstandings, considering what Ansem has done.'

'A realistic possibility.' He paused as they approached the station. 'We'll just have to find him again.'

As all four of them jogged into the open expanse of the station area, Toshiro sensed the approach of Nobodies.

"On guard, you've been found." Toshiro snapped quickly, drawing Hyorinmaru and darting forward, striking down a Nobody just as it rose from the ground.

"Whoa!" He heard Sora shout in surprise before the sound of the Keyblade being summoned reached his ears.

Toshiro didn't have time to worry about what kind of skills the three of them had before multiple Nobodies began to rise from the ground and leap at them. Though they seemed interested in Sora, the trio found that the strange creatures, which they had no knowledge of, saw Toshiro as their biggest threat. As Nobody upon Nobody continued to pour in and their drowsy limbs began to tire, the ice Captain was about ready to release his zanpaktou. Donald's skill in magic was useful and Goofy's ability to jump quickly around and defend from fatal attacks, not to mention use the shield like a boomerang, was definitely helpful, but they weren't ready for so much fighting after a year of sleeping.

"Stand back!" He ordered them as he used the chain-blade to take out a Nobody heading for the exhausted Sora.

"But-" Sora began to argue.

"Stand too close to me and you die." Toshiro lifted his zanpaktou, Sora and his companions moving over to the entrance of the station. "Reign over the Frosted Heavens, Hyorinmaru!"

The clear twilight sky grew dark with clouds and the area became freezing in temperature. This had not happened in the virtual world due to Toshiro suppressing his power as much as possible and the virtual reality not responding to it. Now, however, there was a real weather system and it was possible for Sora and the others to get caught up in it.

"He…he can control the weather?" Sora gaped, his friends staring in awe at the white haired Captain facing off the wave of Nobodies, his icy blade held at his side.

Several Nobodies leaped and Toshiro slashed his blade through the air, sending out a large dragon of ice-water curling through the air and taking out most of the creatures in one go. He then placed the tip of his blade on the ground before slicing up and a wave of ice spiked up from the ground as it rocketed towards the last of the Nobodies, impaling them. They all quickly vanished in a whirl of blue spirit particles.

Toshiro let his power calm, the ice quickly breaking apart at his command and the clouds beginning to clear away as he sealed his zanpaktou, sheathing it once more. The Nobodies were decimated.

"That was so cool!" Sora shouted, racing over to him before stumbling slightly, still tired. "You gotta teach me how to do that!"

"Then you best use it wisely." Toshiro warned. "I told you to back up for a reason. If you had been any closer you would have suffocated from the force of my Spiritual Pressure when I released Hyorinmaru. The Nobodies don't seem to be affected by it."

"Spiritual Pressure?"

"You felt it, didn't you?"

When he thought about it, Sora did remember a sudden unbearable force pressing down on him and thinking for a brief moment that, had he not moved, he would have been crushed. His thinking had been correct.

"That's the power of a Soul Reaper." Toshiro said, bringing the boy from his thoughts. "I have to be careful about using my powers around you, though you'll probably get used to it the longer I stick around."

"So it won't be as bad?"

"Debatable, it depends on how much I'm using. The more I'm using the stronger the pressure."

There was a pause as Toshiro looked around for something, having felt a new Spiritual Pressure. It was masked much the same way Axel's and Ansem's were, meaning they were either from the Organization or just good at hiding their Spiritual Pressure.

"Something wrong?" Goofy questioned.

"Someone's coming…"

A tiny figure leaped down next to them. It couldn't have been more than two foot tall with large round ears and a thin tail. Was it... a mouse? A giant mouse, yes, but still a mouse. It held an inverted version of the Kingdom Key in hand, the shaft being gold and the handle silver.

But while Toshiro was wondering why a mouse had a Keyblade, the trio before him recognized him.

"Your majesty?" Donald questioned with hope and Toshiro quite literally let his mouth drop open. Their king was a mouse?

"Shh!" The King replied in a quiet tone, letting his Keyblade vanish for the moment. "You gotta board the train and leave town. The train knows the way." He turned to Toshiro. "If you would go with them, Mr. Soul Reaper. Thank you for the help."

"Er…" Toshiro wasn't quite sure what to say to a rodent.

"Here." He handed Toshiro a familiar pouch, one he remembered Ansem stealing from Roxas in the virtual world. Did that mean the King was working with Ansem? That made it even more possible that 'Ansem' was Riku.

The King quickly darted off, Keyblade back in hand, and Donald attempted to call after him to no avail.

"Was that really the king?" Sora asked his feathered friend.

"It coulda been." Goofy said while thinking. "Yup, I know it was!"

"Is everyone in your world an animal?" Toshiro asked Donald and Goofy.

"Yeah, problem?" Donald demanded.

Though he didn't say anything, they saw Toshiro grimace as he pocketed the munny pouch and walk towards the station doors. They wondered what his problem was.

The ice Captain hoped he could go home and get away from all these silly cartoon animals quickly.

So I've gotten behind on my work for school and really need to get back to it. So, I may start posting later, with a day or two between each chapter. Sorry, but my mom's decided to start breathing down my neck about it and with school a month away I do need to get working. I have a painting to finish and a book to read. Sorry!

One more chapter of the Twilight Town area and we're off! So now Toshiro's met the king and has his suspicions about 'Ansem'. And Sora gets his first time to see the release of Hyorinmaru. Unfortunately, he was too busy admiring the change in weather to notice how the name he got for the icy Keyblade matches the release command...he'll figure it out eventually. Poor Shiro, surrounded by cartoons XD Enjoy!