Sora and Riku

I know this is sudden seeing that you just got back home.
In 3 months there is a tournament that is being held known as the Smash Tournament.
I have suggested to the Master Hand that you two participate in this exclusive event, which he has agreed to as long as you fully participate.
Do not worry on transport; a portal will open when it is time for you to leave. Be warned. At the entrance there is a knock out competition. You must win this match to be able to proceed. Don't dwell on it. I know you both will do excellent. Each participant represents both their home land and which side they are on. This means you both will be representing Destiny Islands along with your light and twilight.
I will send another letter later when I have more information.

King Mickey

Not long ago, Sora and Riku returned to their home in Destiny Islands. Both boys had been sitting on their favourite Paopu tree on the small island, not far from the main island. They were relaxing, thinking about how little the island had changed and where the door to light had come from. It hadn't been more than 3 minutes since they arrived on the island when Kairi had come running up to them, holding a bottle with a letter inside.

"So what are you going to do? Are you going to go?" Kairi took the letter off them and re-read it over and over again. Sora scratched his head, while Riku looked out at the ocean, deep in thought.

"It would seem fun to go. I mean. I've been in tournaments before and they're lots of fun." Kairi glared at Sora's statement. They had just gotten back no more than 1 hour ago and now Sora's thinking of leaving again? The letter crumpled in her hands as she gripped it tighter.

"I guess going would be interesting. Even though I love this island, it can get extremely boring…yea. Let's go. How knows, maybe we can find more allies." Sora jumped for joy. Kairi, by this point, had completely torn the letter in two.

"But you two just got back. Maybe you guys should wait until next time. That way you'll be ready." She put on a fake smile and stuffed the letter -or what's left of it- into her pouch.

"But Kaaaaaiiiiiiriiiiii. This only happens every so often by the sounds of it" whined Sora. For the Keyblade Master who risked his life, could be a child whenever he wanted his own way.

Riku eyed Kairi as she waved and ran back to the dock, claiming that it was late and she had to help the mayor, but she just wanted to avoid answering. They waved as they saw her row back to the main island. Riku continued looking at the main island, looking from one end to the other, like something out of the ordinary could happen at any second.

Sora nudged his friend's arm. "Thinking about Kairi now are we?" The brunette held a sly grin, even as Riku punched his arm fairly hard, giving him a dead arm.

"Now why would I be thinking about her when I've got the love of my life standing right beside me?" The platinum blond mocked while messing up Sora's hair. Sora moved away from his friend's hand, but Riku held him still so he couldn't make an escape from toying with his hair, and just like Riku expected, Sora tried to escape the elder's grip. The disadvantage was Riku being the stronger one, he couldn't even move an inch.

"Come on Ri. Cut it out." But Riku didn't stop, but he lightened his grip ever so slightly. The brunette took this as his chance to make a run for it. Riku chased him all around their island. Whenever Riku would come close to catching the brunette, he would slow down just slightly, enough to be just a hands reach away. Sora got cocky and looked behind him, seeing that Riku was a few feet behind him. Thinking that Riku had slowed down because of his wounded heart, ran faster…just to run straight into a tree.

But Riku had actually slowed down because he saw the direction his friend was running and made it seem his was getting tired. The platinum blonde doubled over in laughter about 2 feet away. Sora slid down the tree, seeing stars everywhere. He gripped the tree -or tried to- while Riku held his stomach.

"I could…use…some help…Ri…ku…" Sora's head spun. He couldn't even think straight. One of his thoughts was a monkey cracking a coconut on his head and then eating his brain. How he came up with that, he had no clue.

Riku continued laughing, but he managed to stand up and stumble over to his fallen friend. "You know…You should start watching where you run" he said in between fits of laughter. Riku gathered Sora into his arms, bridal style, and headed back to the dock. "I hope you still have enough energy to row. These boats won't fit two people anymore."

"Riku? What would you do if a monkey tried to eat my brain?" The brunette's vision and senses were not getting any better. Normally at a stupid question like this, Riku would be laughing his head off. But not this time. The platinum blonde looked at Sora with confusion. He did always talk about monkeys, they were one of his favourite animals, but at a question like this, he must have hit his head extremely hard.

Riku stopped as they arrived to the dock and looked at Sora's eyes. What once held joy and happiness, now held great confusion and his pupils expanded and shrink at alarming rates. "Are you feeling alright Sora?" He didn't want to, but he put Sora onto his feet to see how well he could stand.

The second Sora's feet hit the ground; he collapsed into Riku's chest. "Why wouldn't I feel fine? I just want to know about brain eating monkeys. After all there are many many many many many MANY, heart eating ones." Sora looked up at Riku. "You know? You have very pretty eyes Ray Ray."

"OK. That's it!" Riku put Sora over his shoulder and walked back into the island. Ray Ray was the name given to him when they were younger and he down right hated it, so they settled for 'Ri' or 'Ku' instead. None of the kids understood why and Riku was never in a good mood whenever the name popped up.

Riku had a particular place in mind. It was the one place where no one could find them. Only Kairi knew because Sora showed her. It was known as their "secret place". A safe haven for the boys if anything bad happened. It was located right next to the waterfall and hidden by a mountain of bushes and leaves. The perfect place.

Once there, Riku put Sora down, who again fell, this time onto his back. He didn't even groan or complain. 'I guess he has matured in some things. But his attitude needs a serious make-over. Lets see. Yep, thought so.' They had grown a good bit in the year they were gone, so they would have to bend down to get in. "You're going to have to somehow get inside Sora. There is no way in hell am I dragging you through." His only reply was Sora raising his hand and grunting. "Oh my…"

Riku gave up. He bent down, entered the cave half way and grabbed Sora's ankle, dragging him inside until they could stand up properly. "I…will never…forgive you…for making me…drag you…into the cave..." panted Riku. 'Sora's even heavier to drag than he is to carry. What is with him?'

"Ray Ray is a sissy. Ray Ray is a sissy. Hahahahahaha" teased Sora. He had seriously lost his marbles and there was no way of finding them again unless you like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Riku got ticked off and punched Sora's arm, only to hit the ground. "Huh? Sora?" Riku looked around. Everywhere he looked he saw black. Nothing but black. "Sora?" he called again.

"He's not here" came a voice. Riku tried to stand up, but he was chained to the ground. Shackles clipped around his ankles and more appeared on his wrists, dragging him towards the ground. "You know you can't resist the darkness. Let it fill your heart once again."

"Ansem! What do you want!?" The voice laughed. More chains appeared on Riku's neck, pulling him down until his back hit the cold hard ground.

"Riku! Are you OK?" It was Sora. He was leaning over the platinum blonde with his hand on his forehead.

"Wha? What happened?" Riku sat up from the rock. "Wait. I'm on a rock?" Sora shook his head. In honesty, Riku had scared the living daylights out of him. He's never acted like that before, unless you count Ansem taking control of him.

"It started raining so I moved you further inside. You started thrashing around and I kind of dropped you…on the rock…my bad." Sora rubbed the back of his head in shame. It wasn't his fault though. Riku had punched him square I the jaw a couple of times, but he got over that pretty quickly in fear of his friend.

"Thanks." Riku stood up wobbling slightly, and walked over to Sora, embracing the shocked brunette. "You saved me from a nightmare…again."

Sora smiled and returned the hug. "You were really freaking me out back there. I thought you were gone for good this time."

They stood there for what seemed like eternity. Time seemed to stop and all was still. The rain was the only thing that filled their ears. Thunder rolled while lightning struck across the sky. Sora clung tighter, squeezing the platinum blonde that he could hardly breathe. Riku knew why. It was a night like this that everything in their lives went horribly wrong. Riku had joined the darkness, let Ansem and Maleficent control him by feeding him lies which forced him to fight against his best friend, scratch that, the love of his life. He hated those days. The only thing he found enjoyable about it was the fact Sora was looking for him. But in the end he knew Sora would choose Kairi, and sometimes, just every now and again, he wished Kairi had never come to the island. That way, Sora could be his and his alone.

More and more thunder rolled, and twice as much lightning struck. It roared in their ears, a horrible piercing sound that would leave you deaf if you were outside, directly in the storm. For once in his life, Sora had never left so scared. Memories flooded back of that day. He just wished that he had grabbed Riku's hand, the hand he could have been with for the rest of his life. The only thing was Kairi. Sora saw the way Riku stares at her, and just to cover it up he always replies that the brunette is the love of his life, each word holding a handful of sarcasm. He hated fighting against Riku; he was surprised that he wasn't dead. Riku could have easily beaten him, chopped him into sushi ten times over without even breaking a sweat. But each strike was held back, like a scared child who didn't know right from wrong.

Outside the storm grew worse and worse. The wind howled while the caves whispered, spilling their secrets in an unknown language. But only the storm knew each one, sworn never to reveal until spoken to by the Gods. The trees twisted this way and that, trying their best to stay planted to the soft soil they call home. The waves rise and fall, like a metronome swaying back and forth. A bird; small yet with a long tail and blue in colour, lay on the beach of the kid's island, weak from hunger, thirst and exhaustion. The water moved around it and the wind blew away from it, afraid of its strange appearance.

Riku sat against the cave wall, Sora sitting in between his legs with their arms still wrapped around each other. The brunette hid his face in Riku's chest, tears making streams down his child-like face and onto Riku's shirt. Riku stroked Sora's spikes with one hand and rubbed his back with the other. "Get some sleep Sora" he whispered in his ear.

"Bu-but y-you'll le-le-leave me a-ag-ain" he cried back. Sora moved his hands so they lay on his friend's chest and lightly hit his friend.

"I'm not leaving Sora, and to prove it, I'll fall asleep first, deal?" Sora continued to hit Riku's chest, thinking about the question, whether or not to believe him. He wants to believe him, he truly does, but when he raised his head and answer, Riku's own head was down, breathing slow and deep.

"Forgive me." Sora moved away from Riku, unwrapping Riku's arms from around his waist. When the platinum blonde didn't move, he ran back to the entrance and crawled out into the storm. The raging diminished as he walked further and further away from the secret place, until he came across the blue bird. It cheeped silently beside the brunette's shoe. "Sorry bird. But I'm not fit for this world anymore." Sora continued walking and finally into the water. Knee height, waist height, the more he walked out, the sooner his life would end. Chest height and finally above his head, not even breaking the water's surface for air…knowing he didn't have to go through so much pain, so much torture. Everything will end and nothing will be the same.