Chapter Three: Xsirch: Struggle

The announcer went up to the platform. "Well, Today's competitors are: Xsirch, my personal favorite; DeWayne, the newcomer; Hayner, the quick thinking action lover; Seifer, the runner-up for the top; Setzer, the champion; and Vivi, the unexpected fighter."

"Xsirch! Hayner!" Olet, and Pence yelled.

"SEIFER!" several others yelled.

"VIVI!" two men called.

"SETZER!" a large group roared.

I faced off against DeWayne. We were using heavy, solid foam swords

Then he struck me so hard on the head I was seeing stars. I retaliated with a figure 8 combo. That brought a cheer from my friends. I blocked the next hit. He struck at me, and I dodged. I tried a counter attack, and scored. He tried to trip me, and I dodged it. I struck at him, and followed up with the figure-eight combo. At that moment, the timer ran out, and I was declared winner of my round.

Then it was Vivi against Seifer. It was a quick match. Seifer struck at Vivi and scored a light hit, but then Vivi struck at Seifer and almost knocked him out. That was the end of their match. As Seifer passed by me and Hayner, he told me something.

"Thrash him."

Vivi nearly did me in. I barely managed to block him, and kicked his feet out from under him. However, he slid fluidly out from my strike, and kicked me in my chest, knocking me to the ground. He slammed his foam bat into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I barely avoided a second hit. Instead, I rolled and slammed my bat into his groin. Vivi staggered, and collapsed.

Time stopped for everyone but me

Then a white thing came out of Vivi, the same type of thing that seemed to be stalking me recently. The creature spawned three more of itself.

"Again?" I yelled.

Damn… I thought. Suddenly, the key-shaped blade appeared in my hands again.

"… Again?" I moaned. What was with all of these weird things happening.

One slashed at my feet, but I blocked it and countered with a slash. I slashed another creature in half with my Keyblade with one hit. I did my figure-eight combo and dispatched another. The last nobody tried to flee, but I threw my Keyblade after it and killed it that way. Suddenly, I became aware of a man approaching me from the side.

"All right, Roxas! Fight fight fight!" he clapped. He flipped down his hood, and I saw a man with spiky red hair and green eyes. When I didn't respond, he looked injured. "What? Don't recognize you old buddy Axel?"

"What the… Who are you?" I asked.

The man, Axel, looked around. "This town in his creation, right?" he asked rhetorically. "That means that we don't have time for a Q and A."

"Answer me." I said. The man looked at me despairingly.

"I don't know what's gotten into you…" he said, as circles of fire appeared around his hands, forming into a pair of spiked chakrams, "…but you're coming with me, conscious or not."

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" I raged, throwing the keyblade down on the floor in frustration. The keyblade, however, immediately reappeared in my hands in a flash of darkness.

"Lucky number thirteen: Xsirch. The Keyblade's chosen one." The man muttered.

I saw that questioning would get me nowhere. This man's weapons identified him as an overt threat. I had to protect myself.

"All right, fine! You asked for it!" I said. I got ready to attack him.

"Well… that's more like it." Axel said.

Suddenly, a man in red and black appeared between us.

"Xsirch!" he said in a commanding tone of voice, "This man speaks nonsense!"

"Listen, you!" Axel yelled. "I'm not about to let the Organization hunt down Xsirch because they think he's a traitor!"

He blasted some flame at the figure, but it evaporated in a hiss when the figure activated an energy shield. Then the figure disappeared.

Suddenly I screamed out, "Hayner! Pence! Olet! "

Time was restored. The two men were gone.

Hayner entered the ring, as if nothing had happened.

"Hey Xsirch, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing… I've just got a lot on my mind." I said, masking my confusion at what had just happened.

Hayner unceremoniously slammed me in the head with the foam bat. I leapt back.

"I wont go easy on you." He smirked.

"Just make sure you can walk once I'm done with you." I snarled.

I ended up taking to the air. I ran up one of the light-poles, and jumped into the air. Hayner hurled his foam bat up at me, and I blocked it. He caught it, and when I landed we were at it hammer and tongs again. We went on like that for a long time, until we both were staggering around with exhaustion. Once we ended up back to back, peering around for each other. Then I struck with the last of my strength, and Hayner went flying. Then I fell and everything went black-

"You're finally awake."

I looked behind me. A beautiful girl was sitting behind me.

"My name is Sara." she said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Caris." I said. "Where am I?"

"You are in the tent of healing." She said. "You suffered from exhaustion when you finished fighting Roxas, and you got a deep cut on your shoulder when you fell. You won your match, but I would advise against fighting Setzer."

'Why?" I asked. "I feel fine now."

"When you fell, your left shoulder struck a piece of glass, and the shard was deeply imbedded in your shoulder. I have bandaged it, but more damage to it could get it infected. And that could mean complications. If I were you, I would forfeit the match." Sara explained.

"Well," I said, "A minor injury can't hold me back from combat."

"I wish it would." Sara said, a little sadly. "If you get sick with infection…"

"It's okay." I said. Why was she so concerned for my safety? "You're a healer?"

"Not really." Sara laughed. "I'm just here to earn some money. I sing. Would you like to hear me sing?"

"Okay." I said.

She began to sing. Her voice was like the finest music ever. The song was sad, and stirred something inside of me. Then the tune took a turn, and I recognized the song as one from my home!

When she finished, I spoke in a hushed voice. "Where did you hear that song?"

"A traveler taught it to me." Sara said. "She was from a faraway land called Earth. She said that it is in another world altogether."

Shrugging, I stood and dressed. I walked outside, and stepped up onto the platform. Hayner was practicing.

"Hey." I said.

"Oh, hey." Hayner said.

"I have decided to resign." I said. "Too great of a risk of infection. You'll be fighting Setzer."

Hayner opened his mouth to argue, but I silenced him.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"Okay, if you're sure."Hayner said. "But you are better then me."

"No." I said. "I got lucky with one hit."

I stayed in the tent of healing all day, until Hayner, Pence, and Olette came to visit me.

"Here." Hayner tossed me a blue gem. "You deserve it! Don't try and argue! I'm not taking it back."

"Where did you get the gems?"

"I beat Setzer and these gems were the prize!" Hayner bragged. He held up a similar, but different colored gem.

Later that day, we went and sat on the clock tower. After talking about random nonsense, I left and tried to go to the Old Mansion. I wanted to search for clues about how that keyblade worked. However, on my way there, I was waylaid by a group of those white creatures. They tried to drag me away. However, I ran away. They followed me.

"Hey!" Seifer yelled as I ran past him. "Who are they?"

"I don't know." I said.

"Well, they've already crossed the line!" Seifer growled. "Find a weapon!"

I grabbed my foam bat, but I knew it was useless. Time stopped again, and the white things advanced upon me.

"Xsirch! Use the keyblade!" A female voice said. Then I saw a white hole in the sky, shaped like a segmented heart with a cross on the point of it. That was weird, because a moment ago there was nothing there. Then I saw a tendril of whiteness snake down, and it made a wide circle around me and the white creatures. Then I felt like I was falling, and I finally landed on a platform suspended over an abyss. On the floor of the platform, there was a picture of a teenager holding a black key-shaped sword. To his left was a group of circles, each with a face inside them. The first one was of a girl with short black hair and purple eyes, smiling happily, with a headband that seemed identical to the one I wore, except instead of the word "Xion" it said "Yuffie." Around her circle was the words "Yuffie Kisaragi Stromwind." The next face was of a teen with straight black hair, with a white-gold dash in it. He was smirking confidently, and in a line around his circle there were words saying: "C. Cruz Aquarius". The third face was of a man with a scar on his cheek. He seemed to be hefting a strange type of punching blade next to his face. Around his circle was the words "David Frostmourne." The next one was of a serious looking teen with longish hair and brown eyes, with a small lightning bolt tattoo on his face. His right eye seemed to be mechanical, and around his circle was "Rodney Castro Zeus". The last face was of a worried looking female face. Her lip was pierced, and she had purple eyes, like the first girl. Around her circle was "Ashley Lightbringer."The tiles making up the background of the pictures seemed to be black stained glass, and there was light shining through them, as well as a light far above that cast my shadow.

Around me hovered a sword, a mage's staff, and a knight's shield. I automatically gripped the sword. I knew no magic, and the shield would be useless. Then the other weapons disappeared, and a small stairway appeared, leading up. A group of the smaller white creatures walked forwards, and I fought them off.

I ran up the stairs. I reached an identical platform, but instead of the previous black background, there was a dark green background.

Here, a book, a magnifying glass, a whip, and a pair of glasses appeared. I picked up the book.

Another stairwell appeared, and I climbed again, until I arrived at the next, blue platform.

From my shadow emerged a huge heartless. I raised my sword from the black platform. Instantly, a mixture of light and darkness shot from it, striking the Heartless in the center of its chest. It faded into darkness. Another stair appeared.

A figure appeared. It turned around… What-

I faced a figure that looked just like me.

I readied my sword for combat. The other me raised an identical weapon. We hurled ourselves at each other. We tried to hack each other apart. Slash, spin, block, duck, slash, uppercut, punch, dodge. Neither of us was getting anywhere.

Suddenly, I was aware of a ticking timer. It was not in the Station, but in my mind. I knew without a doubt that if I did not escape soon, I wouldn't be escaping at all, but would go to join the others in the eternal fall from the top of the abyss. I hurled myself again at the other me. This time, I reached for the Xion headband that was wrapped around the head of the other me, just as it was on me. I pulled it off. I threw it over the edge of the Station. The other me did exactly the same thing as I, but its throw was muddled. In a flash, we were both at the edge of the Station, and then we were falling. On instinct, I lashed out with the sword, and caught the edge of the station, barely hanging onto it. The other me wasn't so lucky. He caught his headband, but missed the edge. He fell the eternal fall of those who could not escape the Station of Awakening, screaming. I clawed my way back to the top of the station, and replaced the Xion headband on my head.

I had started walking towards the doorway that had appeared, but suddenly I seemed to be moving at the speed of glue. The floor beneath me began cracking. I ran in what seemed to be slow motion, and seemed miles away from the door.

Is this it? I wondered. Have I come all this way merely to be defeated by this final test? No… I will not allow it to end this way… not yet!

I sprinted at the speed of glue for the doorway. I was almost there! I reached out and touched the door frame. My hand closed around the handle. I pulled the door open, and I started going inside, but the floor beneath me crumbled away. I fell, once again barely saving myself by grabbing the edge of the door. I pulled myself up, and fell through the door, into… the first platform. There was a small rock lying randomly on the platform. However, hovering up over the edge of the platform was a huge monster.

I hurled a rock, distracting the Monster while I got on the other side of it. Then the Monster snatched me up, and when it threw me up in the air, I struck at the 40-foot gargantuan figure. When I landed, I slashed up its legs. Then it went flying off the platform. In a swipe of its claw, the platform began flipping over and over. I was hurled off. I threw my weapon with all of my strength. My keyblade struck deeply in and stayed there. Then the giant Monster came flying back up towards the platform, and the airflow dragged me back to safety. I slid under another attack, and slammed my weapon into the monster's head. The monster gave a roar of pain before dissolving into white mist. A wave of light returned me to the normal world.

"What was that thing?" I asked myself.

Something really weird has been happening lately. Dangerous, too.