Chapter 3: Suit Yourself
"Uhh… Why the hell is it always giant monsters?" Riley said as he and the others looked up at the oddly moving suite of armor. Huey sighed in frustration as he settled into a stance, calling forth his keyblade with a burst of light.
"Umm… Huey, baby, you got that?" Jazmine asked as she moved behind him when the armor's leg stomped the ground creating cracks in the stone. Huey glanced back at her as Ming scoffed, stepping before the others.
"I think I can handle this myself. You all can back me up if you feel the need." Ming said in confidence as she cracked her knuckles. Traban rolled his eyes, but made no move to stop her. Perhaps this battle would give one of them their weapon like the Darkside incident had given Huey his…
"I think you'll need more than just a little-" Traban was saying before a purple blur collided with him, knocking him through a nearby wall while the others watched wide-eyed.
The thing that had crushed Traban was the left arm of the armor. It retracted itself as if on a wire and stood at the ready, though still moving oddly.
"That's it; I am kicking this thing's ass." Ming said as she ran at it.
She dodged its rapid punches and kicks, moving quickly before jumping at its head. She cocked her leg back as she forced her body to spin mid-air. Her leg lashed out as it collided before with the side of the Heartless boss's head. The creature of darkness stopped all movement and feel to the ground in a heap as Ming landed nimbly, flexing her leg out and giving off practice kicks.
Huey and the others stared at the unsatisfied fury on her face, probably from the lack of a challenge rather than Traban having been hurt, though that didn't stop them from staring at her in awe. They had played Kingdom Hearts, having fought this same monster, and they were sure that this thing had to be more powerful than that. The thing had nearly crushed Sora, Donald, and Goofy before them, so what made Ming so much stronger?
"Maybe it's the fact that she could break an oak tree with a kick. Or maybe we're just more powerful than they were." Huey thought as he relaxed the grip on his keyblade, though he didn't dismiss it because the thing had yet to fade back into the darkness.
That was when things went… well, wrong. Ming, standing over the fallen suit of armor in victory, was back-handed by the right hand of said armor all the way back to them. She slid across the ground at their feet, writhing in pain. Their faces showed their surprise and shock at the sudden and quick action made by the bulky thing. Ming, knocked down at their feet, and Traban probably unconscious inside the building his body broke through. Huey's eyes hardened as he narrowed them at the now rising armor.
"Okay, this has gone on long enough!" Huey roared as he and Riley ran the armor.
One of the armor's massive gauntlets shot out at them as though rocket-propelled. Huey jumped over it as Riley baseball-slid under it. It stuck where they had been, smashing into the stone floor of the courtyard, and creating a fairly good-sized crater. As the dust cleared, the giant Heartless saw that there were no bodies remaining-Just more pieces of stone.
"Stay in here while I help Huey and Riley." Traban said as he clutched at his right arm, moving sluggishly toward the giant hole in the warehouse wall.
"But you're hurt! Shouldn't you try to heal yourself and Ming?" Jazmine asked as she and Cindy cradled Ming's twitching and unconscious body. Traban gave Ming's body a sparing glance as he looked at the other two from over his shoulder.
"I would heal her, but it seems that my body instinctively used all my power just to survive that punch the Guard Armor gave me. I wish I could heal her right now, but I'll have to come back after I've recovered my energy." Traban said, looking downward at being so useless in Ming's pain.
"Then why are you going out there? That thing will kill you now without any power!" Cindy asked hysterically, looking at Traban with an emotion he couldn't place in her eyes.
"I'll be fine. It's time that I gave up myself, in order to protect those I love…" Traban said, before he was engulfed in light.
Huey and Riley, battered and beaten, took ragged breaths as they held themselves up in order to fight the Guard Armor Heartless. The Guard Armor cocked back a fist and just as Huey was about to push Riley out of the way, a bright light stopped all of them from moving. The enormous Heartless stepped back as it tried to shield it's self from the light as though it was burning in the brightness. When the light died down a beam of purple light shot out at the Heartless and caused its right arm to be blown back into a wall.
Huey and Riley looked back just in time to see Traban jump right behind them. He still looked the same, but two things were different about him. He felt at least twice as powerful as before, and the staff clutched tightly in his hands was new as well. It was as tall as he was, black as night, and the Silver Star atop it glowed an anti-light purple. Traban twirled it a bit before shooting another purple beam out at the giant monster's torso, knocking it back a few feet.
"Cure." Traban said curtly while still glaring at the Heartless. A green light engulfed Huey and Riley while they felt their injuries and weariness fade away into nonexistence. Huey sighed in relief as he held out his hand, summoning his Keyblade to him while Riley looked between Traban and Huey.
"Aye, ya'll niggas is something. Where the hell my weapon at, huh?" Riley said as he threw up his empty hands in frustration.
"I don't know, but until you get one, why not just keep doing what you're doing?" Traban said, not taking his eyes off the towering creature before them.
"Whatever… cheaters…" Riley muttered as he put up is fists and stood at the ready.
"Traban, do long range, Riley and I'll get up close." Huey said before he and Riley took off like rockets.
The giant armor Heartless must have caught on to their plans, responding by splitting apart. The arms of its body swarmed over Riley, attempting to smash him into dust. Huey leapt away just as the keyblade screamed warning in his mind. The giant suit of armor was closing in on him with its giant feet raised to crush the young Keyblade-bearer. A giant foot lashed out, and it sent Huey hurtling through the air. Huey flipped in mid-air to ready himself just as purple beams of energy shot out, knocking the feet back, and some hitting the fists that were fighting Riley.
Huey turned his attention to where the beams had come from just as Traban was spinning his staff in hand, knocking away the Heartless's head and shooting the torso. Traban jumped up high as he landed atop the torso, shooting at the head right before a giant hand batted him away, but he managed to recover.
Huey took a deep breath as he allowed energy to fill his senses. The suit of armor must have decided it was stronger as a unit, because now all the pieces were back together in disorder. Now walking on its fists, the Guard Armor had its head poking out upside-down. It leapt at Huey from across the courtyard and landed with a shuddering groan. Huey narrowed his eyes while brandishing his keyblade. Huey jumped high to the torso as he began a long string of combo-attacks to the armor
The Reverse armor held up its arms and feet, trying to shield its center body. It screeched its limbs out, a strange mechanical sound like rusted steel plates rubbing against each other, and spun its parts around its head like a tornado. Huey used the Keyblade to block, and was knocked back away from most of the damage the whirling appendages could have done. As soon as the thing stopped Riley had jumped down from a nearby roof and stomped its head into its body before jumping off to where Huey and Traban were.
"I don't think it liked that, Riley." Huey said with a slight smirk.
"I don't give a fuck." Riley said back as Traban's staff orb glowed brightly.
"I'll try and shot it with a stronger blast." Traban said before he shot the large blast of energy… or magic, at the armor, but missed and blew a large hole in a wall. Huey and Riley both turned to look back at him as he blinked at his miss.
"Nigga… what was that?" Riley said as Traban coughed.
"Hey, we all know I'm not exactly the best shot, okay?" Traban shot back Huey raised a brow.
"It's a giant suit of armor. How the hell did you miss it?" Huey admonished as Traban glared at both of his companions.
"Well, you go ahead and shot some magic-energy stuff that you have no clue how you're doing it, and see how well you do! I've only been doing this crap for ten minutes now and it's mostly been on instinct or something." Traban snapped as Huey and Riley exchanged looks.
"Umm… we should go for the head. It seems pretty protective over it and its torso. But I thing since the torso is mostly sheltering the head, that's why." Huey said as Riley nodded ad both turned away from Traban, who sighed in annoyance as he readied his staff.
The Guard Armor whose head, which had now shot out of the torso and resumed its upside-down glory, it slammed its fists together with a loud boom.
"Right, it's gotta be important then!" Traban said as he aimed at the armor, taking shots at the head, but only managing to hit the top parts of its torso.
Huey and Riley split up, running and hopping over debris to get at the large Heartless. It immediately raised its gauntlets, and Traban shot at them immediately as Huey and Riley moved under his cover-fire.
Riley and Huey jumped, avoiding being hit by the two rocketing gauntlets. As they closed in on the suit of armor itself, they came together and double-teamed it with a barrage of attacks. The Armor, however, had learned this trick, and called its hands back to it as its feet kicked and stomped at the two tiny fighters.
"The hands coming back to it!" Traban shouted as he rushed over to the armor himself, sill shooting off blasts while he ran.
As the gauntlets were recalled, Huey leapt up and landed atop them, shacking and slashing as he did. With a battle cry, he kicked off the knuckles of the armor's fists and attacked the giant Heartless's head, the impact of his keyblade denting the helmet and causing sparks from the clash of steel. Huey then raised his keyblade, and rather than slash with his weapon once more, thrust his keyblade through the gap in the armor's visor, driving it deep into the Heartless's head. He really hoped that it would be enough to kill the thing.
"Die!" Huey bellowed and as before, the Armor seemed to fly apart. All of its component pieces flew around in a twister as Riley and Traban backed away from it to avoid getting hit.
Huey muttered a curse as he kicked off the helmet, and struck the head in the center again before nimbly bouncing off a foot to land outside the chaos of whirling limbs. The whole Armor fell to the ground, and Huey was pleased to hear the sound. Huey while still in the air, raised his keyblade high once more and descended onto the unprotected head.
"Take this!" He shouted, slamming his weapon into the faceplate of the giant Heartless. Huey kept hitting the faceplate of the Heartless as hard as he could; raining blow after blow down onto it. Finally, with one last mighty blow, the head of the Heartless flew off its shoulders and slammed into the pavement below. The rest of the body fell apart, and Huey jumped off as the whole construct collapsed into a heap of metal. He landed and went down to one knee, gripping the Keyblade tightly, panting for breath as he thought about just how ridiculously long the battle was going on. He slowly stood up, and surveyed the fallen creature of the dark.
"Pick on… someone… your own size… next time…" Huey rasped out between deep breaths as he turned and started to walk away stretching.
"It's not over yet…" Traban said as the armor shot up and resumed its odd movements at a faster pace. Huey cursed beneath his breath as he gazed up at the thing.
"Hue, what we go do?" Riley asked as Huey was about to respond when-
"Fire! Blizzard! Thunder!" a raspy voice shouted out asthree powerful blasts of fire, ice, and lightning hit the Guard Armor in quick succession. The giant suit staggered under the onslaught just as a spinning shield passed over their heads in a flash. They watched in amazement as it struck the Heartless' right arm, knocking it clean off.
Huey, Riley, and Traban looked back only to see a duck with a magic wand, and a six-foot dog-thing coming fast to join them in battle. The dog was fully dressed, wearing a tall cap with goggles on it, a green vest with a lot of pockets and what appeared to be metal-toed slippers. And gloves. Big, four-fingered white gloves. He reached out and caught the shield, which had circled back to him.
The duck wore a blue hat that resembled a beret, with a zipper winding around it. On his body he wore a blue tunic with several pouches and additional zippers. In his right hand, he held a magic wand that crackled with power. Strangest of all though, (at least to them) was the fact that the duck wasn't wearing any pants.
The two unknowns came to a stop on either side of the three fighters, supporting them as the Guard Armor pulled itself back together. Surveying the five foes before it, the Heartless raised its fists for the fight. Riley looked back and forth between the dog-thing and the duck, and they looked back at him. He turned back to the Guard Armor, and shrugged, saving his smart-ass comments and quips for another time.
"How did you two get in here?" Traban asked as Huey, Riley, and the dog rushed forward to do direct combat with the armor, "I know for a fact that there was a barrier of some kind that kept Naruto and Dr. Cox out."
"Yeah, and it was really hard to slip past it to give you guys a hand. We took care of some of the injuries that girl had." the duck said as he and Traban shot spell and energy at the Guard Armor.
The duck (Donald) launched several blasts of fire into the Armor.
"I need to get to its head! That's the weak point!" Huey shouted as the dog-guy (Goofy) nodded and stopped, holding his hands out in a cradle.
"Hop on! I'll give ya a boost!" the guy said as Huey nodded. He jumped up, his feet landing on the dog's palms.
"Alley-hoop!" The dog-guy said as his sent Huey soaring into the air.
Huey flew into the face of the Guard Armor, his keyblade already out to thrust into the creature ahead. Huey struck the Heartless' helmet, and dropped onto its torso, leaving his keyblade impaled in the head.
"Hit it with lightning!" Huey yelled as the duck-guy nodded, blasting the keyblade with lightning as it flowed from the keyblade into the Guard Armor. The armor's faceplate snapped off, revealing a black orb with glowing yellow eyes. Huey recalled his keyblade to his hand and raised it yet again, this time smashing it into the monster's true face.
The power of the keyblade shattered the orb into dust with a burst of light. The eyes and darkness disappeared as the whole suit of armor wobbled. Its limbs, now without a guiding will, fell into a broken mess as this time, the armor began to shatter and split apart, dissolving away slowly back into the darkness from whence it came. Huey, for his part, quickly escaped the wreckage as a large, glowing heart left the remains and sailed away into the sky just as the last of the Guard Armor vanished.
Huey and the others stood there for a few moments, making sure the Heartless was really gone. He then turned back to the others looking at the dog and duck guys, his keyblade still out even though he they weren't a threat. The dog, Huey knowing him to be Goofy, stepped forward with a look of concern.
"Hey… are you okay?" Goofy asked as Huey nodded, though the scowl that sat naturally on his face twitched upward at Goofy's simple tone. He always did like the dog-guy as a kid…
"Yeah… Thanks for the help." Huey said gratefully as Riley and the others joined him.
"Aw, shucks! Don't mention it! One for all, and all for one!" Goofy said as Huey blinked at him.
"Excuse me?" Huey said as the duck, which he also knew to be Donald, scowled at Goofy. For a moment, Huey entertained the question of could ducks scowl or was he just imagining it.
"You just had to say it, didn't you?" Donald said as he crossed his arms… or were they wings? Huey shook his head as he simply decided that in the universe of Kingdom Hearts, everything had human-like qualities.
Goofy grinned and shrugged sheepishly as he turned his attention back to Huey.
"My name is Goofy!" Goofy greeted with a strong handshake as Huey's entire body wobbled with his arm.
"And I'm Donald Duck!" Donald added good-naturedly as he politely shook Traban's hand.
"Yes, we know. We've… heard much about you in your service to King Mickey?" Traban lied expertly as Donald and Goofy puffed out their chests in a show of heartiness.
"Yeah, we've- Oh shit, the girls!" Riley said, but then remembered that the girls were still hiding in the warehouse. All five of the males gulped as they rushed to the giant hole in the warehouse where Dr. Cox and Naruto were looking over the girls.
"Are they okay?" Huey asked as they entered the warehouse. Dr. Cox spared him a glance as he continued checking Ming over.
"They'll be fine, but this one and you all will need-"
"Aww, man! Did we miss one heck of a party!" a girl's voice floated from the hole entrance as everyone turned to see a short-haired girl in a tank top and shorts jump down from the roof. After her came a long-haired male in black leather with a three-foot sword in hand. He scowled at the scene as the girl cheerfully hopped over to Goofy, and Donald. She patted them in greeting and move onto Naruto, bending at the waist and staring into Naruto's surprised eyes.
"Who's this Donald, Goofy?" the girl asked as both looked at her before looking at the male that came with her.
"Them too." the male said as he jabbed a thumb at Huey and the others. Huey narrowed his eyes as he recognized the two easily.
"Who are you?" Huey shot back as the girl turned away from Naruto and him, looking a little all to happy to give an introduction while the guy rolled his eyes.
"I'm Yuffie Kisaragi! Number One Ninja in all the worlds!"
"Hey, that's my title!" Naruto shot back as he and Yuffie started glaring at one another.
"Oh yeah!"
"Yeah!"
"Enough! Anyway kid, over there's Squ-"
The guy Dr. Cox was about to introduce growled at him, his eyes narrowing as he raised his sword slightly.
"Fine, you brat. He's Leon, and they're supposed to be Traverse Town's Defense Force. But, apparently, they've been one-upped by you all." Cox said as Leon scoffed and Yuffie shrugged before she looked around at all of them.
"Okay, seriously; who took that thing down? We've been tryin' for months!" Yuffie said as Leon looked indignant at her exclamation.
"They did it, and they looked so cool too! We only came here once the barrier went down and started helping these girls." Naruto said as Dr. Cox rolled his eyes, muttering something about bratty kids.
"How'd you do it?" Yuffie asked as she rounded on Donald and the others, "Nobody's been able to beat Guard Armor!"
"That's not our main priority right now, Yuffie." Leon stated flatly as he looked over at Huey, his eyes narrowing as he spied the Keyblade.
"This boy… and that must have done the deed." Leon concluded as Huey's keyblade shined unassumingly in the moonlight of the forever night-time town.
"What about my weapon?" Huey said, gripping it tightly before making it disappear before their eyes. Leon blinked before he glared at Huey's smug expression.
"Enough! I don't know if any of you became blind in the last two minutes, but this girl is injured. You, Staff Boy, carry this one since she's unconscious. Follow me, all of you, and hope to whatever God you ray that I don't need a gun to kill all of you after tonight." Cox said as he stood up and walked out of the warehouse, Huey and the others close behind while Traban carried Ming.
After getting to a set of rooms, which they found out was the hotel that Riley and Ming had been hired at; they placed Ming in a room assigned by Dr. Cox. Huey and the others were to rest for a bit, but Leon's hand on Huey's shoulder stopped that plan before it got started.
"What?" Huey asked without bothering to turn around. They were all in the lobby of the hotel while Riley was speaking to his and Ming's boss about what happened.
"We have some things to talk about… Your keyblade in particular." Leon said stoically as Huey's eyes narrowed.
"What of it?" Huey asked as he finally turned to Leon, both sitting down in the chairs of the lobby.
"The Heartless were drawn to you all because of it." Leon stated flatly as Jazmine blinked. She had always wondered about that.
"But, how?" Jazmine asked as Leon glanced at her.
"Well for one, it's only been heard of in ancient legends." Yuffie explained as she took a seat on the middle sofa with Traban in the middle and Cindy on the opposite side of him. Leon sat forward in his chair as he stared intently at Huey.
"That weapon is supposed to be immensely powerful, capable of bringing great good… or great destruction." Leon explained further, though his voice took on a more ominous tone.
"The Heartless fear it because it can destroy them with a touch." Leon said quietly, looking over the others as Huey raised a brow.
"So?" Huey said, trying to make Leon get to the point.
"That thing isn't a toy." Leon snapped.
"I know that." Huey snapped right back, getting annoyed by Leon's attitude.
"You know, we did alright without your help." Huey stated further as Leon glared at him.
"You nearly got your friends killed… or… w-worse." Leon said, his voice going quiet again.
"You're all far too reckless." Leon said with a shake of his head, "Why'd the Keyblade choose someone like you?"
"Because it doesn't want arrogant assholes like you." Huey shot back heatedly as he stood from his chair, feeling a shot at his pride from being called reckless. He was far from it! Leon rose quickly as he and Huey glared each other down.
"Leon, calm down!" Yuffie said, already in front the scarred teen.
"Huey, that was too far!" Jazmine said, in front of Huey as she looked him in his eyes.
"I don't like the fact that he's making assumptions based on what we told him. He wasn't even there for the fight, and he's making judgment calls from a Boss Battle we were just thrown into." Huey growled as Jazmine pushed him back into his seat with a sigh. Yuffie sighed as well when Leon took his seat, but didn't move from in front of him.
"Look Leon, they took out Guard Armor, and everybody's okay. Can you just hold off on the hard-ass routine for a bit longer?" Yuffie said, knowing they didn't need even more enemies; especially one of the Keyblade-bearers.
"I do not have a "hard-ass routine" and I'm not making judgment calls. I get that they were thrown into a battle, but to allow those without any weapons, abilities, or powers to fight wasn't smart. They only lucked out and were able to stall because that guy got a power boost and his weapon." Leon said as Yuffie rolled her eyes. Whether she knew it or not, she had instantly won Huey's favor.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving." Yuffie said out of the blue as Jazmine and Cindy nodded. Traban and Huey exchanged looks while Leon merely scowled deeply.
"I could eat…" Leon said suddenly, remembering that he and Yuffie had skipped dinner when they heard that the Guard Armor attacking.
"Pizza…?" Cindy suggested as Leon and Yuffie looked at each other and nodded.
"Pizza." They declared as they all moved out of the lobby. Traban and Huey got Riley as they walked out of the building, and they all left for pizza.
Ming opened her eyes groggily as a high white ceiling swam into her view. She blinked and moaned softly as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She sat up and looked around, noticing the man next to her bed. To her disappointment, it wasn't Traban, but Dr. Cox.
"Decided to join the living again? Good. It's easier on paperwork." Dr. Cox said man, whipping out a pen-light. He flashed it in her eyes before writing some things down on his clipboard.
"Ah… Where I am?" Ming asked as Dr. Cox didn't even bother to look up from his paperwork.
"Local hotel, which apparently you're employed at. This place also doubles as a clinic since I keep most of my stuff here. Best rooms, best beds, best food, and its kept clean. Of course, it's only after Doomsday I'm appreciated, but eh, it keeps me in beer. You'll get me a discount, right?" Cox said, more to himself than Ming as he adjusted his white lab coat.
"Who are you?" Ming asked, but she already knew as he glanced up at her.
"Dr. Perry Cox, and you are?" he said as she nodded.
"I am Ming Long-Do." Ming said as Perry was still writing in his clipboard.
Cox went through a standard checkup, making sure Ming didn't have any broken bones or other injuries. It was something Ming had gone through many times back home; both under her boyfriend Traban, and her best friend Jazmine.
After a time, she didn't know how long it had been, she heard a familiar voice as Traban and Riley popped up at her window, though they were accompany by an unfamiliar blond boy.
"Hey! Hey, Dr. Cox! Dr. Cox, look who I found!" the blond said as he pointed at the two smiling idiots in Ming's life.
"You needed something, Sally Perkins, Hailey May, and Rosella Marks?" Cox asked flatly as Naruto coughed.
"It's Naruto." Naruto said as if this was a normal occurrence.
"Traban." Ming's boyfriend said with a slight smile.
"And I'm Young Re- Ow! I mean, Riley." Riley, her other idiot said as Traban smacked him upside the head.
"We just stopped by to see how Miss Ming was doing, Doc." Naruto said as Traban ruffled the boy's hair brotherly.
"Yeah, the kid's alright, Dr. Cox. A little high-spirited, but alright. Oh, and we got this for Ming." Traban said, but then snapped his fingers as he disappeared from the window and reappeared with a box of pizza.
"She's fine, and she needs rest; not pizza. She also does not need to listen to you three circus monkeys screeching at two in the morning, and-"
"No, it's okay Dr. Cox. Besides, I haven't eaten all day." Ming said as Traban reached in the window and handed her the box. Ming opened it to find that the pizza was still hot and fresh as she sniffed it. She smiled as she closed the pizza box and placed it by her bedside, "Just like Eighth Grade…"
"Yeah, except both your legs aren't broken, and Huey isn't here next to you." Traban said as Riley and Naruto were playing rock-paper-scissors behind his back.
"So, you've given her your greasy, artery-clogging, heart-stopping tasty food. Now you can go, and you get some rest." Dr. Cox said as he walked up and closed the window, knowingly doing so on all three of the young males' hands.
Ming chuckled a bit as she heard their faint yelps of pain and curses before all three fell to whatever ground was below. She was sure that by tomorrow things would be just as serious as they always were. They would probably be getting back to their jobs, working for months just to get some starting cash, and then they'd be off to traveling the worlds. She sighed peacefully to herself as she snuggled into the comfy hotel bed. That all sounded nice, especially the traveling part. She always wanted to travel.
She just hoped that she'd get more powerful as they traveled. No since in traveling to save the worlds and find a way back home if she couldn't get any stronger doing so.
Yeah, she thought with a yawn as she snuggled her head into her soft pillow, she'd get stronger with Traban and her friends by her side.
Those were Ming's last thoughts before falling into the peaceful bliss that was a comfortable sleep.