Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return

Every morning and every night, Sora would take extra time to communicate with Kairi. Mostly he would assure her that everything was alright with him, and that nothing new had come up with Riku, either. He wasn't sure what that meant, but still, that was how it was. Suddenly his phone rang in his pocket, making his heart skip a beat. His phone hadn't rung at all in the past few days. He pulled it out and flipped it open, knowing who it would be. "Hello?"

"I'm ready to meet you. Come to the Roller Rink at 3rd and Cherry."

"Why?" Sora bravely asked. This didn't make sense to him...why would he want to meet him? Didn't the villain want Sora to do some kind of dirty work for him?

"I'll accept you in exchange for your friend. That is, unless you'd rather have him die?"

Sora exhaled a heavy breath, furrowing his eyebrows in anger. The way he said it, it didn't seem like Sora had much of a choice. "I'll be there," he said quietly, anger and surprise coming through in his voice.

 

But so far this morning, Kairi hadn't heard anything from Sora. Of course, it was still mid-morning, so she wasn't too worried. That didn't mean she wasn't concerned, of course. Regardless, she got up and took her dish to the sink, rinsing it and putting it in the dishwasher. She was to meet up with Namine and Roxas again today. She had to admit, though, hanging out with them wasn't the same without Sora. It felt like a piece of the puzzle was missing.

 

Just like the other phone calls, this one ended with Sora being hung up on. The brunet stuffed his phone into his pocket and rose to his feet without hesitation. Thankfully, he already had on a pair of black sneakers. He'd leave right away on his skateboard and get to the building pretty quickly. He headed toward the door and grabbed the board on the way out, shutting the door behind him. As he went down his walkway, he tried not to think deeply on what was going to happen. It made him feel a sense of impending doom in his heart.

 

Kairi stopped suddenly, staring blankly at the wall on the other side of the kitchen. This feeling in her heart, it was one that didn't belong to her. And it was a bad feeling at that. There was only one explanation for this, and that was that Sora was the one having this feeling and it slipped to her. Something must have happened.

 

Sora hopped on his board once he reached the sidewalk and started riding, keeping his eyes on the path in front of him. He had no clue what was going to happen, but he wouldn't contact Kairi until he knew for sure. It would only take him a few minutes to get there, and then once he met this man face-to-face, he would definitely get some answers.

 

Kairi didn't like the feeling in her heart now, mostly because it wasn't hers. Sora hadn't contacted her since last night, so that meant something had happened...or was going to. She decided that the best thing she could do for now was go to Roxas and Namine. And that was what she did, leaving the house and immediately starting toward Roxas's, knowing the two would be together already this morning.

 

No matter what happened to him, though, Sora knew he had to fight for Riku. Even if Riku was freed and he was taken captive....As much as Sora didn't like the thought, it was better than the present state of things, anyway. But, what if I have to leave Roxas, and Namine, and...Kairi?

 

Kairi walked quickly along the sidewalk as she made her way to Roxas's. She wasn't sure what she was even going to tell them when she got there. Sora wasn't communicating would probably set a few things off, and that terrible feeling that settled so suddenly inside her would trigger some worry as well, no doubt. It had already done that for her.

 

Sora made it there in about five minutes. He slowed down when he was outside, the teen inspecting the building without thought. It was a Roller Rink that had been abandoned long before he had ever known about New York. He cautiously held his skateboard in his hand and headed toward the door.

 

Kairi approached the house after just a few minutes, walking up to the door and ringing the doorbell. She didn't hear any movement near the door and nobody even opened it. She started knocking. "Roxas!" she called, raising her voice a little. She suddenly heard her name being called and she stopped. "Roxas?" she called again.

"Back here!" Roxas yelled, in his backyard with Namine. Thanks to his trained ears he had been able to hear his friend from the back of the house. In just a few seconds he saw her rushing to the backyard, and he turned a little more, a quizzical look in his eyes.

 

Namine had been sitting against a tree in Roxas' backyard when the interruption occurred. She thought nothing of Kairi's arrival until she saw the distressed look on her friend's face. Any previous notions she had about a peaceful day faded away, concern finding a place on the blond's face.

Sora set his skateboard down right inside the building and went further in. The only reason he could see was because of a few windows and some holes in the ceiling. Then his eyes landed on the rink itself, which wasn't too damaged. He turned around, scanning the area for signs of a threat.

"Glad you could make it."

 

Kairi approached her two friends, noticing that Roxas was standing up beside Namine near the tree. "You guys," she started, and she realized her voice was trembling a little in fear for Sora, "we have a problem."

Roxas's eyebrows instantly furrowed. "What kind of problem?" he asked. By the look on her face, it certainly wasn't going to be small.

"Sora hasn't talked to me all morning," she informed them, coming to a stop in front of them. "Something's wrong, I can feel it." Kairi proceeded to bring a hand up to her heart, signifying where exactly the sensation was coming from.

 

Namine set a hand on the ground and started to stand herself up, a frown appearing on her lips. If Sora wasn't talking, then that was certainly not good. What's going on...?

Sora whirled around at the voice, the teen seeing a man standing in the center of the rink. He grunted softly and ran over, jumping over a small wall to get into the enclosed area. "Where's Riku?!" he hollered, worried when he didn't see his friend anywhere.

The man shrugged. "Why don't you tell me?" he said evenly. "You're his best friend; you must have some clue which worlds he's visiting."

Sora took a step back in surprise. "Wait...w-what...?" He was extremely confused. Riku was supposed to be with this man, but, was he? He had to have been, though, since this man had known who Riku was. Or was it a bit of truth mixed with a lie?

"That's right," he confirmed. "You tell me where he is, Keyblade brat. Now."

 

"You mean he hasn't talked to you at all, in any way?" Roxas checked, making sure he was hearing this correctly. He watched as Kairi nodded and he instantly glared at the grass. Whatever was going on, it certainly wasn't good. "What kind of feeling do you have, Kairi?" he asked, nodding towards her hand, which rested on her heart.

"It's...a dark feeling," Kairi expressed, having to think on it for a moment. "I don't know how else to explain it." She saw the look on Roxas's face and instantly knew that they were in for some trouble. "I'm not sure what's going on, but there's something."

 

"When did you start feeling this way?" Namine asked, standing upright and leaning lightly against the tree. She had a feeling it had been brought up pretty recently, but she didn't want to assume anything incorrectly.

Sora clenched his hand in a fist lightly, hating the term that people also called him. "Who are you?" he asked, bravely taking a step forward. At that moment, it didn't look like things would turn violent. Before he summoned his Keyblade, he was going to get some answers.

"A bounty hunter. You can call me Johnis," the man said with a small smile. "You see, I was sent to hunt down that Riku kid. Don't know why; I just do the hunting for a bounty. My boss told me about you, and that if I couldn't find Riku, I could always force it outta you."

Sora looked at Johnis in awe, unbelieving. Actually, he completely believed it. All the pieces were fitting together now...all too perfectly. "But I don't know where he is," Sora said through gritted teeth, the teen glaring at the villain in front of him.

"I believe that," Johnis said with a nod. "That's why I'm going to have to find another way to acquire Riku. And you can help me with that."

 

Kairi looked to her best friend, replying. "Almost twenty minutes ago," she told the two of them. "It definitely wasn't something I could mistake as anything else; it was hard to ignore."

"Well that tells us more than enough," Roxas said, his eyes on the redhead. "Whatever's going on, Sora's not talking. He was able to do that last night, which means something worse is going on right now because he hasn't spoken a word."

 

Namine nodded solemnly. Yup, something was definitely going on. The question was, what was it? And how serious was it? Apparently it was pretty bad, since Sora wasn't talking.

Sora scoffed. "Like I'd ever help you!" he said, rolling his eyes. Was this guy insane? Why in the world would he believe that Sora would help him track down and kill a person who was like a brother to him?

"If he hears I have you hostage," Johnis started, "then he'll come running."

 

Roxas crossed his arms, lowering his eyes. "We need to figure out a plan," he said. "Even if we aren't involved, something tells me we need to make it so we are." His gut was speaking to him, like it had many other times in the past. He trusted it fully, because it helped him in a lot of situations.

Kairi kept her hand on her heart. She agreed with Roxas, but had a feeling Sora would disapprove of the idea. But she was willing to do it anyways, because the feeling lingering in her heart was enough to convince her that she couldn't just sit around and hope he was alright. She had to make sure he was.

 

Namine frowned, looking down at the ground. "But we don't even know where he is," she pointed out softly. How were they supposed to help if they didn't even know where he was? And there was no way to contact him, since if something was happening, he probably couldn't answer his cell phone.

Sora froze. He hadn't been expecting this turn at all. So...Johnis led me here so that he could take me hostage, he thought, piecing things together quickly. And then another thought struck him, one that explained more about what Johnis had in mind the past few days. "You told me to break up with Kairi because you didn't want anyone looking for me," he said, his facing turning a little paler.

Johnis smiled widely, pleased that Sora wasn't as dumb as he had heard. "Very good," he said proudly. "Yes, that's exactly why I had you take that action. And then, of course, I had to watch you for the past few days to make sure you didn't talk to anyone else. Apparently she was your only friend, eh, Keyblade brat?"

Sora frowned, but he didn't argue. This man had obviously failed in his research for his mission if he thought Sora didn't have any other friends on this planet. Still, though, in this case, having Johnis thinking this way worked to his advantage. It probably sped up the process. But, did he really want that? Or would it have been better to sit in suspense for a few days? After all, he was in grave danger now...

 

Roxas closed his eyes at Namine's words, feeling defeated. She was right, after all. How could they help out their close friend if they had no idea where he even was?

"I think I have an idea..." Kairi confessed softly, looking to her friends. "I don't know for sure, but I think I might be able to find him." There was something inside her telling her that it was true, and that she really could locate him if she tried hard enough.