Chapter 18: Mysterious Tower: Drive Forms and Gummis

In the room with the fairies were yet more Wizarding items as well as three small figures, no doubt the fairies themselves. One wore a red dress with a pointy red hat and cape, hair light gray. Another woman had on a green version of the same outfit with darker gray hair and a little slimmer than the one in red. The last was the shortest fairy in blue with black hair.

"Excuse me." Toshiro called out to the three.

They turned to him with kind smiles on their faces.

"Oh my, a Soul Reaper." The one in red said with surprise. "Is there something you need, dear?"

"I was wondering if you could help me with something." He stepped closer to them. "I have no way of contacting the Soul Society, my home. I was wondering if there was a chance you could give me a way to communicate with them."

"Hm, that is troubling." The one in green mused. "That world has been closed off for centuries now, it's nearly impossible to get to."

"I just need a way to communicate." Toshiro said and reached into his pocket, pulling out his Soul Pager. "This is usually how I contact them when I go on a mission to the World of the Living, but it's not exactly made for use on other worlds."

"Oh my," The one in red took the phone gently, "I'm not sure we can help you there. Technology isn't our strong point."

"That's alright, I was simply wondering."

"Though…we might be able to find another way, if you give us some time. We'll send it to you when we're done."

"Thank you very much." Toshiro nodded and took the phone back, even if it was technically useless. It could sense Hollows and contact Soul Society, but both we're now obsolete, making it a waste of space.

They turned as Sora stepped inside with Donald and Goofy behind him.

"Oh, there you are Toshiro." Sora waved at him.

"That's Captain Hitsugaya, Sora." Toshiro reminded.

"Whoops, sorry." The brunette paused, seeming to think. "Ya know, I'm really glad you came here, Captain."

"Why's that?"

"Well, with the three of us, you, Riku and the King, this Organization XIII group doesn't stand a chance."

"Yeah!" Donald agreed. "All of us together will be able to stop them!"

Admiring their determination, Toshiro stepped aside so the fairies could speak with Sora. He didn't know how long it would take fairies to make new clothes, but he was sure it would be faster than if a human were to do it, considering these women had magic on their side. Either way, they needed to get moving so he hoped they were fast.

"Well look who's here, dears." The red fairy smiled. "Sora, Donald and Goofy!"

"Oh if you're looking for clothes you came to the right place." The blue one stepped forward.

"I'll do the designing." The green one called out.

Perhaps this would take a little longer than he'd first thought.

The red and blue fairy came over to Sora and pulled him away from the others to stand in front of the green one before they stood next to her. With a wave of her wand, the green one shot out a stream of light onto the clothes. Toshiro didn't think they looked any different except that now they were green.

"Oh, that will never do." The blue one argued and cast a blue light from her wand. Now the clothes were blue.

'Never mind, this could take ages.' Toshiro grimaced as the red fairy changed the color to a light red, almost pink color.

He caught on to a faint trace of dark Spiritual Pressure and gazed around the room, trying to pinpoint it. Black caught his attention as what looked like a raven flew from the window and out to the sky, taking the dark presence with it. Was it some kind of bird Heartless? He would have thought any Heartless would have tried to get inside to attack, considering they acted on instinct. A Nobody then? Those always seemed to be white or gray in color, though. He didn't have enough information to know whether or not the raven was a danger.

"Aww," Sora groaned, catching his attention, "would you just decide?"

The three fairies gasped, slightly taken aback, before turning to each other and smiling once more. They chuckled a little and then turned back to Sora.

"All right, then." The red one said. "Together now, dears. And no more squabbling."

Together the three fairies waved their wands, their colored lights shooting out and hitting Sora in the chest all at once, a bright light enveloping him and smothering him from view. Donald and Goofy turned away and Toshiro squinted against the light.

Once it dulled it revealed Sora now wearing mostly black, thick yellow straps across the top of the pants to hold up large red pouches. The black jacket was short with a white outline and rested over top of a dark blue shirt with red pockets in the front. His gloves were black with white crisscrossed over it. The only thing that stayed the same was the silver crown necklace around his neck, much like the symbol Toshiro remembered drawing on the table in Twilight Town. How had he not noticed that before?

"He does look rather dashing." The blue fairy said with a grin.

The Kingdom Key came to Sora's hand, though apparently its appearance surprised Sora as well.

"Now those aren't ordinary garments." The red fairy explained.

"They have very special powers." The green fairy added on with a nod.

Waving her wand, the red fairy produced a small golden orb that hovered in front of Sora.

"Take the orb, dear." She said.

Cautiously, Sora reached out and grabbed onto the energy sphere. The energy transferred to Sora, adding to some sort of stored energy within the Keybearer that Toshiro couldn't quite figure out. It had appeared with the new clothes.

"And watch what happens." The blue fairy said excitedly.

The power in Sora increased and a light flashed over his clothes, lifting him up. A sphere of sorts was created around him before it burst and Sora's outfit had changed yet again. It was mostly red now with thick black outlines and a symbol along the arms and pant legs. What's more, he was holding a second Keyblade. This startled Sora as well as the others, looking at the violet Keyblade with golden stars, the teeth end curving around a golden crescent moon with a sharp pointed star inside it, the handle made of white wings.

Toshiro noticed that this form seemed to draw on Goofy's power, though what exactly that did for Sora he wasn't sure.

"Wow!" Donald gaped, amazed.

"Two Keyblades!" Goofy was gaping as well.

"Is that uncommon?" Toshiro questioned.

The animals nodded quickly before they turned back to the smiling fairies.

"This journey's gonna be twice as difficult as your last." The blue fairy stated, giggling as Sora slumped his shoulders.

"Your garments also have other powers, but you will have to discover what they are as you continue along your journey."

"Okay. I'll do my best." Sora stood straight, Keyblades at his sides. "Oh, what about how the Keyblade changes when Captain Hitsugaya touches it?"

"Pardon?"

Sora held the Kingdom Key out to Toshiro, his form cutting off and returning him to the single Keyblade with black clothes. The Soul Reaper followed along and held his hand to the Keyblade for a brief second before letting go. Sora now held Frozen Heavens in his hands and showed it to the fairies.

"See? When he touches the Keyblade, it changes." He explained.

"My, that is different." The red fairy mused. "We met a Soul Reaper before but he never had the chance to meet a Keybearer. We're not exactly sure how such a thing is possible."

"You should probably ask Yen Sid." Toshiro offered.

"Oh, by the way, Master Yen Sid has something else for you." The green fairy piped up.

"Oh boy!" Donald quacked, turning to Goofy, who smiled back in return.

"Thanks a lot!" Sora said to the fairies and left behind Donald and Goofy. Toshiro lingered a bit before heading out after them.

Back in the office they found Yen Sid standing at the window. Upon noticing them enter he gestured for them to approach, looking back out the window. There, a bright orange and yellow ship rose to window height, hovering a little ways away from the tower due to its size.

"Hey! It's the Gummi Ship!" Donald quacked excitedly and raced over with his companions, Toshiro preferring to walk over while examining the craft. He'd seen planes before…from a distance, and the ship did somewhat resemble one, albeit with very bright colors. Still, he had doubts about its ability to fly through space.

Well, the other three had done so already and were still alive and well, so he could assume it was safe.

"So, you guys ready to go?" Sora asked them all. Donald and Goofy nodded in return while Toshiro just shrugged, truthfully still unsure about the ship.

The trio jumped to attention in front of Yen Sid, startling Toshiro with the suddenness of it.

"Now, now. Just a moment." Yen Sid stopped them before they could bow. The trio relaxed their stance. "Because of your previous endeavors, the worlds have returned to their original states. That means the pathways between them have disappeared."

"You need pathways to travel through space?" Toshiro questioned.

"You do if you don't want to get lost." Sora replied. "And there's also only one way to get into a world. Otherwise it's blocked off."

"Precisely." Yen Sid nodded. "Now, if what the King suspected proves true, the worlds have prepared new pathways along which you may travel. These pathways may be utilized by unlocking special gates."

Sora glanced at his animal companions, even glancing briefly at Toshiro only to see the white haired Captain listening intently to the wizard.

"How these gates are opened, I'm afraid I do not know." Yen Sid continued, also glancing briefly at Toshiro. He only knew how to open one gate, and it was one that would take a lot of effort and teamwork. "However, the Keyblade will serve as your guide. When a beam of light radiates from the Keyblade, return to the Gummi Ship. Though the worlds may seem far apart and out of reach, they nonetheless remain connected by invisible ties. As do our hearts."

'Invisible ties to our hearts, eh?' Toshiro mused. 'Perhaps he has a point. During that time when Rukia Kuchiki was torn from our memories, we still held connections to those we thought we didn't know.'

'Just like how you still saw Ichigo Kurosaki as an ally when in your mind you were certain you'd never met him.' Hyorinmaru agreed.

"Got it!" Sora's voice brought him back to reality and Toshiro realized he'd missed part of the conversation, though very little.

"But be warned." Yen Sid's voice grew dark. "As you proceed, the Heartless and Nobodies will be using their own paths: corridors of darkness, to travel from world to world."

Toshiro briefly remembered the portals Axel used to get around, and how both creatures tended to appear out of shadows and nothing.

"They may be attempting to link these dark pathways to the gates between the worlds."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Donald scowled, planting a fist in his other hand…wing…whatever.

Yen Sid smiled briefly.

"Now then, that is all the information I can give you. Go forth, everyone is waiting."

The four all nodded and bowed

"We sure do appreciate the help." Goofy said and saluted, Donald close behind with Sora following along. Toshiro stuck with the bow as that was how he offered his respect to elders.

With that, they were off, back down the strange stairs and out of the tower. Pete was nowhere to be seen, thankfully, and the trio led Toshiro towards their ship.

"By the way, the Gummi Ship is kinda particular." Sora warned, though with a grin on his face.

Toshiro raised an eyebrow at him.

"See, you can't be all serious faced the whole time."

"Yeah, you've gotta have a smile on your face." Donald pitched in, Goofy nodding behind him.

"You're kidding, right?" Toshiro's brow twitched.

"Come on; give us your best smile."

"…No."

Donald put his wings on his hips.

"Well, you're gonna slow us down. Think of something happy and get that smile on or this journey will take ages!"

'I'm going to hate this trip.' Toshiro growled, scowling when he heard Hyorinmaru laugh.

He, I remember in the first Kingdom Hearts when Sora gives that smile...of course, Toshiro wouldn't be caught dead doing that. Still, it had to be said XD Time to head for Hollow Bastion! Enjoy!