Freshman Year 1: New Tidings
Sora would bring Riku back. Four years of dealing with Riku can't end like this. Riku stood at the top of a tall building, just as the light raindrops started landing harder and harder. Sora looked up and their eyes connected. Riku never lost those cold eyes, but Sora wouldn't back down this time. Riku jumped off the building, summoning his sword amongst the darkness swelling around him. Sora ran up to need him, drawing forth his own blade. Their swords cracked together as each flew by the other. They still haven't spoken, but the swords spoke for them, and for once, it seemed like they connected heart to heart. There was no room left now for sympathy, Riku has had all this pain coming to him, and Sora would use any means to get him back where he belonged.
"… And I don't want you playing Smoosh, or whatever that game is while you're there," Aunt Samantha reminded him. "I don't want some punk to knock you out."
"Sam, I wouldn't get knocked out in Smash," the early September air was already getting cool for the island as Sora and Samantha drove to the High School campus.
"There are definitely kids that could beat you, you haven't fought with anyone in your life, these kids spend all their lives training," It was true, Sora never even pushed a guy, but that didn't stop him from training during the summer once he was admitted to go to school next year.
"And please don't throw any parties at your dorm room, I know that Roxas would tear it apart. And where would you go if you got kicked out? Roxas and Xion could only keep you so long."
Samantha had to leave to twilight town for business, so she called Cid, the dorm supervisor, and asked if Sora could stay in one of the junior/senior dorms. He allowed, if Sora would work on weekends for Cid, and if he kept out of the upperclassmen's hair.
When they arrived at the campus office, Cid showed them to Sora's dorm room. It had two single beds in opposite corners, two desks, a small table with chairs, and one large couch. The room was a very pale blue, closer to grey, with blue curtains protecting the room from the always-hot sun.
"Most juniors and seniors opt in to rooming with a friend, if they decide to house here. We had a few extra rooms in case any more wanted to come over," Cid was a good friend of Samantha's, and he said that he would give a dorm to a student that needed it, and he also wouldn't make Sora work as hard as other students.
Looking at her watch, Sora knew that she had to go get ready for her flight. "Ok Sora, remember that Cid's the boss and you have my number if anything goes wrong."
They embraced while exchanging I-love-yous and eventually Sam left, leaving Sora and Cid at the kitchen table. They went over dorm rules, common things that Sora could assume, along with meal schedules. The dorms provided breakfast and dinner, while theschool included lunch in his tuition, so he could only spend seven dollars for lunch every day (except weekends).
Cid left when they were done, leaving Sora to set up his stuff. He put all his clothes in his bed's respective drawer, and his school supplies in his backpack. Sora forgot to bring posters or anything to decorate his room, and it definitely lacked personality.
Sora wandered around his dorm until eight o'clock, when he got bored he decided he would go around the school campus, to get used to the building layout. He never saw the campus before but it wasn't hard to remember. The buildings were on three sides of the rectangular campus, with the main entrance on the fourth side. The school building was straight ahead, while the cafeteria and the surrounding eating area was to the left. To the right from the entrance there was a large, circular building that topped with a dome. A huge homemade poster hanged above the doors with the words Smash painted in lighting styled words.
Sora heard about how the new seniors got together near the end of summer and made a poster they all agreed on. They all agreed because the poster was packed with different ideas, characters, and even names stuffed between doodles. Sora couldn't enter the school to memorize the classes, so he returned to his dorm and played on his phone until he fell asleep.
Sora, Kairi, Xion, and Roxas all agreed they would get to school early to go over their class schedules. The school only has one administrator to send them out, so most students get them at the end of summer.
"Alright guys, let's bust these out and see who gets screwed," Roxas hated getting separate schedules from the group ever since he spent sixth grade practically alone.
"Hey Roxas, Xion," Axel walked over to the group, with Riku beside him. Axel was the only one in Roxas' sixth grade class that he befriended, and they became pretty close and stayed that way.
"Hey Axel, we were just gonna find out our schedules," Roxas started ripping open his envelope, signaling for the rest to do the same.
"Wakka and I are in the normal classes, while little Riku here has all honors classes," Axel was slightly older than Riku, and made a point to emphasize it.
"Nice, Axel, I'm in norms too!"
Xion and Riku were in honors while Axel, Wakka, and Roxas seemed to be in the normal classes. Sora watched as Kairi finished opening her envelope.
"Nice!" Kairi exclaimed. "I got into honors!"
Sora kept a smile on his face, but inside he was mad, sad, and disappointed all at the same time.
"Alright then, the men will hold the normal classes, while all the ladies can study honors like lame-o's," Axel didn't hang out with Roxas' other friends, but Axel never acted different, around friends or strangers.
"Alright Axel, chill or I'll kick your ass," Riku was silent until then, he normally talked only when he had to. Sora tried to befriend him all during middle school, to no avail. If anything, Riku ignored him more.
The morning bell rung, signaling students to get to their home rooms and prepare for class. Sora, Kairi, and Riku were in one home room while Axel, Roxas, Xion, and Wakka were in the other. Sora and Kairi were always in the same classes, but if she was smart enough to get into honors, he didn't want to hold her back. He was, however, mad that Riku was in all her classes.
It wasn't long until girls started going over to Riku's table, but nobody who knew him was surprised. He grew his hair out over the summer, and his face matured as well. Sora was just thankful that Kairi resisted his good looks and alpha attitude.
"… Sora!" Sora was spaced out and completely blocked out Kairi's talking while he envied Riku. When he came to and made eye contact she continued. "So we have mostly different classes except for lunch, health, and gym. So, I'll see you in health first."
The bell rung and Riku's table dispersed, Kairi waved goodbye to Sora as she exited the room. Riku was at the door and Sora thinks he caught Riku giving him his famous cold-death glare, before Riku exited with Kairi.
Sora's group made its way, period to period, sitting through the teachers introducing themselves and their plans for the curriculum and class rules. Most classes were assigned seats according to last name, but Roxas sat close enough to Sora to exchange glances or jokes. In health class, Kairi was placed very far from Sora, but was at the same table as Riku. Most of the classes used regular desks, but health and the science classes used rectangular tables.
Health was right before lunch, and the whole group walked back to their lockers, outside of their home rooms. Kairi, Xion, and Roxas waited for Sora so they could walk to the cafeteria together. They collected their lunch and walked around looking for a seat, but the room was completely filled. They went outside to look for a spot, but everywhere good was taken. The group wandered around looking for anything to sit at.
"Damn you, Sora. First day of school and we got nowhere to sit!" Roxas didn't like when things went wrong.
"It's fine, Sora. You know he gets crabby when he's hungry," Xion offered. Everyone was hungry, high school lunch period was almost an hour later than it was in middle school.
The group saw Riku's group sitting by a large rock, using it as a table.
"Hey Axel, can we join you guys?" Roxas was the diplomat to other groups, since Axel was his connection to a lot of people.
"Not up to me, man. Riku, can they sit here?" There was plenty of room, as there was only Riku, Axel, Wakka and Tidus, along with a few girls that would temporarily sit with them.
Riku glared at Sora for a couple moments until he finally said "fine," and the groups merged. Sora sat between Kairi and Xion, who got to sit next to Riku. They knew that Xion liked Riku, so they would let her sit near him when they could. Xion used to have short hair in middle school, but she grew it out, and it became so long over the course of one summer, as it rolled down to the small of her back. Xion also grew really mature like Riku. Axel always seemed like he was mature, while Sora, Roxas, and Kairi were still slightly baby-faced.
They were eating in silence until Axel brought up Smash, "So, Sora, Roxas told me you've been practicing for Smash, thinking of knocking the snot out of my buddy Riku, here?" Axel rubbed his hand over Riku's head, ruffling his hair, until Riku elbowed his side.
"Well, you never know, huh," Sora responded jokingly.
"Oh, Shit! Sora wants to fight Riku!" Wakka got really excited and flailed his arms around. Riku's face glared down at the rock.
"No, I didn't mean it like…"
"I'll talk Leon into letting you two fight today, I'm pretty sure Sora would kick your ass, Riku!" Axel jumped in on the party, this time elbowing Riku.
"We're all probably crap at Smash, nobody really practiced before now," Kairi always tried to keep the peace, although all the guys were already rowdy at the challenge.
"You kids need to calm down, I'll fight him, but I won't go easy on him." Riku said as he got up and threw away the rest of his lunch, walking back into the school. "See you later, Kairi, Xion," Riku said, clapping Axel and the back and giving Sora one last glare before heading back into the school.
Sora was sure Riku knew he was joking, but became pissed anyways. Wakka and Axel didn't help the situation at all with their jokes. Sora dreaded gym the rest of the day, because it was last period for them.
The group reunited standing inside of the gymnasium, chatting about how school was, when a long haired man wearing a black jacket and pants walked in.
"Attention, class. I am Leon, the gym teacher and school counselor. I'm sure some of you are excited to finally be able to participate in the famous sport Smash, but today I want to go over the rules and class expectations." There were some groans in the class, but many students really didn't know how it was played.
"Smash is basically a one on one fight to submission. The school has invested lots of money to create this college-level facility. When you enter the arena, you are placed in a copy of your body, so that any injuries sustained are on the clone body, leaving you completely safe from sustained injuries. Every kick, slash, and punch your arena self experiences will feel completely real to your mind," Sora thought it was just like a street brawl in an arena, but not sustaining injuries was very appealing, especially to a new Smasher like himself.
After many long minutes of rules and boring things, more members of the class were audibly groaning. When the sounds became too much, Leon stopped talking.
"Fine, we can go over summoning your wearing today. I can take a few students in the arena at a time to see."
Riku, Axel, and Wakka entered first. While Leon was explaining how to use their energy to spawn their weapon, Riku held out his arm and a sword manipulated into his hand. The whole class was surprised, even a few gasps were let out.
"Hey, Riku, are you related to Kyoshi? He and I fought when I used to compete and he looks just like you."
"Yeah, he is my older brother."
"Well, if you turn anything like him, you'll have a bright future in this sport," Sora just watched as everyone seemed to become Riku's fans.
Riku leaned on his sword while Axel and Wakka worked on summoning their weapons, until they both succeeded. Axel had flaming chakrams, while Wakka had a ball and bat.
"What the hell is this?" Wakka was really angry that all he got was a blitzball and bat.
"Don't look at me, your weapon is connected to your soul." Leon said.
Minutes went by until Sora, Roxas, Xion, and Kairi got in. They all spawned a giant key as a sword. Sora stared at his weapon, it looked heavy but was quite light in his hand.
"Wow, it's been awhile since I've seen a keyblade wielder, let alone four," if Leon was surprised, this must have been good.
"What does it mean, having a keyblade?" Xion asked.
"Imagine having endless potential for growth. Your blade is only as strong as your heart is. Some peoples weapons become key blades with enough training, but starting off with one is extremely rare.
The class ended soon after and they returned to their lockers.
"So, Sora, you gonna invite us out to your new place or do I have to beg on my knees?" Roxas had come up when he finished packing what he needed, while Sora was only half done.
"Yeah, let's have a party at Sora's!" Kairi joined in.
"Uh, I'm not allowed to have parties at my dorm," Sora really didn't want to get kicked out on his first day.
"Fine, we won't have a party, we'll have a group study session, right?" Roxas elbowed Sora when he said that.
"Yeah, yeah a study session is alright I think, but please don't invite anyone else, I don't want a chain that has the whole school there."
It was seven o'clock when Roxas and Xion showed up at Sora's dorm room.
"Nice place, pretty boring though," Roxas said as he plopped down on the other bed in the room.
Xion must have done her makeup before they got there, because she looked great. Roxas probably invited Axel over, which meant Riku might come as well. Hopefully Axel told Riku whose place the party was at so he wouldn't want to come.
Kairi arrived, along with some blue haired junior that Sora saw around the school. Her name was Aqua and she lived in Kairi's neighborhood.
Axel and Wakka came in and Sora thought he was safe until Riku walked in a moment later. They locked eye contact, and Riku looked like he was going to kill Sora, so he broke contact first. Riku sat on the sofa while Wakka and Axel talked with Roxas. Sora was showing his room to Kairi and Xion and before he knew it, Aqua was sitting on his couch talking to Riku.
Roxas, Axel, and Wakka came to the couch and continued talking. Sora watched as Roxas looked at Aqua and Riku talking when Roxas yelled "Oh, Riku needs a Junior to coach him so he can beat Sora!"
Axel and Wakka laughed saying "Come on, Riku! You can beat him with no arms!"
"Or can he? Wakka, do you think Riku even has a chance?" Axel continued.
"No way, Axel! You heard it yourself, Sora's got himself a special sword! Riku's cooked!"
Riku slammed his fist down on the coffee table and stood up, walking over to Sora in his corner. "We can fight tomorrow, Leon will allow it. I'll kick your ass, kid." Riku punched the wall right next to Sora's head and walked out of the room.