Freshman 2: A Slash in the Dark.

"Riku!" Axel and Wakka were running to catch up to Riku.

"What do you want?" Riku stopped and stood in the middle of the road. "I've gotta train."

"We were kidding man, Sora didn't do anything," they both finally caught up and were standing in front of him.

"I'm going to kick his ass so hard tomorrow, I always pay my debts. See you guys," he turned around and continued walking. The sun still hasn't set, surrounding Riku's dark silhouette with the red and orange light of a Destiny Islands sunset as he walked down the road.

"Jeez, what's his problem?" Roxas said as he walked over to Sora. "He even dented your wall."

It was true, if Riku had went for his face, he might have broken his nose. "Man, Cid's gonna kill me."

"Sora, that's not alright. Tell him that Riku did it," Kairi tried to offer help.

"No, Cid said I'm not supposed to have parties here, I would just get in more trouble."

"I can talk to him, Cid wouldn't care if you only had Riku and Roxas over," Xion only wanted to talk to Riku. Even when he threw a fit she didn't seem to care.

"Guys it's fine, Cid probably won't even notice."

"What the hell is this, Sora?" He was keener than he looked.

"Well, I, uh, tripped and my head hit the wall," Sora already looked stupid for denting a wall, why not go the whole way?

"So you tripped over… What, your bed?"

"…"

"Well, I can't say this is uncommon, but you are a guest here, so you'll work this off over the weekend. And don't worry, no need to call Samantha over this.

Sora woke up early the next day. He was up later than usual thinking about his fight. He couldn't eat breakfast, he was so nervous. Leon said it himself, he thought, you can't get hurt under the Dome.

He arrived at school 15 minutes before the morning admission bells went off, so he went by the rock that had sat at the previous day for lunch. Roxas and Xion arrived and saw Sora, going over to sit by him.

"Don't worry man, Riku's gonna be easy," Roxas didn't sound so confident himself, awkwardly scratching his hair.

Kairi walked over and sat down across from Sora. "You don't need to do this, Sora. Riku probably changed his mind by now."

"Yeah, Riku probably forgot about it by now," Xion jumped in. Were they even there yesterday? Do they think I'm that dumb?

"I don't know where you two were yesterday, but where I was Riku punched Sora's wall," Roxas said.

"Ok, ok. It was pretty bad. But look, Riku's over there. Someone should talk to him. Xion?" Kairi looked over at her.

"What? No, I was just kidding, yesterday," Xion's face turned bright red as she pushed some hair behind her ear.

"Fine. I'll go, then," Kairi got up and walked over to Riku. He looks pretty chill, maybe he was kidding. Once Kairi started talking, he started looking like normal Riku. Kairi walked back to the rock. "He said if you wanna puss out, to do it in front of his face."

The bell rung and they all went to their home rooms. Sora and Kairi sat down at their claimed table, Riku was at his, writing on a loose leaf.

"What do you think he's writing? All the moves he's gonna use on me?"

"Sora, it's the second day, I doubt Riku has any moves," Riku heard his name and looked over at them, he smirked and went back to his paper.

"Why did he smirk at me then?"

"I'm pretty sure he smiled at me Sora. Just relax, you cant get injured in the dome, and I doubt Leon would let things go too far."

As the school bell rung, Riku went off to class before Sora got to the door. Sora managed to mostly forget about the fight until health class, seeing Riku, however had brought those fears to light again, he just couldn't shake a sense of danger from deep within him.

Health went by with minimal action, Roxas and Axel were already becoming pains for the teacher and students who wanted to learn – not Sora – like Kairi and Xion, who made faces at them.

At lunch the whole group sat together again, Axel and Wakka somehow managed to talk Riku into coming with them to the rock. They had saved a spot at the farthest part of the rock from Sora just for Riku.

While Sora must have been green from his nerves, Riku was completely calm, having some friendly conversation with Axel, and he even let Kairi and Xion join in on their chat. The lunch period was so peaceful in general, except Sora couldn't calm down. He felt sick; his skin was clammy and he had a cold sweat. Three quarters through lunch he got up and told the adjacent Kairi and Roxas that he had to get something for next period, and he ran inside the school. When Sora ran by, he made eye contact with Riku, his cold cyan eyes countering his deep blue.

Sora went to the nurse and she said she would let him sit in her office until he felt better. He was going to wait out the end of the day, except gym was three periods after lunch, which was over two hours. He managed to miss one and a half periods before the nurse kicked him out. Defeated, he went to his next class, and took his seat by Roxas. Today was not a good day to ignore school, as the second day was when classes truly started and homework was dolled out.

Sora survived the next periods until gym came, he saw Riku and Axel talking to Leon, and he guessed the Match was on. Sora walked into the gym with Kairi, Xion, and Roxas. He hung out with them for a few minutes while the rest of the class trickled in. It wasn't long until the whole class arrived and Leon came out.

"I've heard that a few students here want to see an exhibition match between two pupils, and that sounds alright. Since everyone here is new, I'll go over basic techniques like blocking and at the end of the class we can see the first fight, ok?" News of the fight had spread through the school more than Sora thought, as most of the class became hyped and were chanting random things.

Sora and Roxas practiced swinging and blocking, while Kairi and Xion did a much more lax version of practice. The time came and Leon called everyone out of the arena. Sora had tried to save energy during practice, so he knew Roxas would think Riku would win.

"Alright, will Riku and Sora join me in the arena?" They both got on a pedestal as light surrounded them, transporting them inside the arena.

"If this goes on longer than five minutes, class will be over and I will determine the victor, understood? Keep this civil, keep biting and spitting to a minimum. And no low blows. Ready?" Leon jumped back and raised his arm. Sora and Riku both summoned their swords and prepared to fight. Riku was unfazed and looked calm and collected. Sora could only assume he looked like a mess.

"Begin!" Riku charged forwards at Sora, lifting his sword up. Sora remained where he stood and blocked the obvious down swing. While Riku recoiled, Sora swung at his side. Riku managed to kick him in the stomach and regain his balance.

Riku's sword glowed purple and he swung it in the air. A dark purple shockwave followed his swords swing, heading straight towards Sora. Sora swung down, cutting the energy in half and making it dissipate in front of him.

Sora stood there, dumbfounded as the energy settled. How did Riku make that? Before Sora could ponder, the purple settled and Riku stood in front of him, leaning forward, in a two point position to sprint. Before Sora could move, Riku dashed right by him, leaving a purple pinstripe in his wake. Sora felt dizzy as he located that Riku had stopped right behind him. Sora felt really weak as he tried to swing the sword at Riku, and he fell to his knees.

Suddenly, there was a blinding pain on his right side. Sora collapsed to the ground clutching his side. The pain was undeniable, Riku had cut him with his sword. Sora started bleeding all over the pristine white floor as Riku walked over and stood over him.

"Riku, pin him and end this already, he's going through a lot of pain," if your opponent was either unconscious, submitted, or was pinned, they lost and the match immediately ended.

Riku just stood there and looked around the arena. That punk would let him suffer.

Leon dashed through Riku and soon he was on the floor beside Sora as well.

"Just submit, Riku, and this can be over."

"But I, heh, I won," he could still manage to speak. Sora didn't even think to submit, but Leon was pressuring Riku to do so. Could Sora even talk?

"No release for you, then. If you hold out, Sora, you win," Leon got comfy and leaned on his sword.

With a grunt, Riku raised his arm, but instead of submitting, he summoned his sword and slashed down on Sora, slashing his torso.

"Gah, I submit!" The arena dissipated and Sora was sitting slumped over on the pavilion.

"Good fight guys, keep things in the arena. And Riku, keep this sport respectable and try to win, instead of soaking in the glory."

"Sorry Leon, I've never won a Smash fight before, and it felt good," Riku just stood there.

Sora leaned on Roxas as the four walked back to Sora's dorm. Sora crashed on his bed when they arrived. They had walked in mostly silence, as everyone could tell Sora didn't want to talk about it. How did Riku do that? Could Sora use some sort of energy too?

"Well man," Roxas sat on his couch, feet up on his coffee table. "You put up a good fight. This clearly wasn't the first time he's fought."

"Yeah, Sora," Kairi jumped in too. "Even with his powers you gave him a run for his money."

"Thanks guys," he could still feel the pain, but at least his side wasn't torn up. "Anyways, Leon got Riku too for being a jerk." They all chuckled.

Then Sora remembered the end, and he hoped they hadn't. Even after getting hit by Leon, Riku still had the energy to summon his sword again and use it. Sora could hardly speak, let alone continue fighting. He had to figure out Riku's secret. He definitely trained before, but why was his training so much more successful than Sora's?

Sora relayed the question to the group, they all let their eyes wander the room instead of answering the question. "Go on, guys. Tell me what you think."

"Well, Sora," Xion spoke up. "It seems that he trained on his abilities and you practiced swinging a sword," it was true, Sora did work only on sword techniques, and most of it was blocking sticks from Roxas.

"But how did he summon a sword outside of the Dome? We aren't allowed in there," Sora said.

"Leon said that he fought with one of Riku's brothers, the family is wealthy enough to get a no-frills arena," Roxas said. Riku's dad was a very successful businessman, and his first and second-borns both had fruitful Smash careers. Sephiroth himself is considered one of the best Smashers.

"Well how can I beat that? Sephiroth himself is training Riku, and even if not its one of his brothers," Sora was sitting on his bed but he let himself fall back in exhaustion.

"I don't think so, guys," Kairi broke in. "Remember that girl I brought in, my neighbor? She told me she's training with Riku for extra credit," if students were good enough, they could train younger ones for extra credit.

"Well they must train somewhere, Sora and I can ask Leon about Smash Domes tomorrow. Believe it or not, I could use a little training myself," Roxas rolled up his sleeve and attempted to flex, but Xion thumped him on the back of the head.

Criticisms are appreciated, as I'm writing this story to improve my skills. Have a good one, guys!