Ack! A long chapter, finally! O.o I think I have arthritis now, or maybe carpal tunnel. xD
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any other brand name mentioned herein.
Chapter 4
"Everyone, listen up," Xemnas said. "We are going to test your abilities now. Lexaeus, if you will." He nodded to Stacey's guide, the man with the orange hair. He nodded silently and pulled six red bands from his pocket, then handed them out to each of us. "All of you that have been handed a red band are on a team," Xemnas explained. He then took a white band out of his pocket and tied it around his forehead. The other "original" members quickly did the same. "We are on opposing teams, and will be fighting each other. In a moment, we will head into the training room to test your abilities. You are completely unarmed until you can figure out how to summon your weapon and use magic- two of the many new powers you have obtained upon becoming a Nobody. In a moment, we will head into the training room, and we will commence the test. It is not over until either one of you has died or you have all summoned your weapons and used magic once."
I gulped and looked over at Xangrom, who had a serious expression on her face. She was listening intently, but a look of worry spread over her face when the possibility of death was mentioned.
"Xangrom, you okay?" I whispered to her.
She nodded and turned to me, smiling. "I'm fine; don't worry about me. But your hands are shaking. Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine," I whispered back.
No, I'm not. This doesn't sound very good, I thought to myself.
Xemnas opened a portal and motioned for us to step through it. "If you will," he said. We all went through in a large group, but a few of the group members had never been through the portals before, and because of this, it took a little over a minute for us to clear the confusion and reach the other side. When we emerged from the wormhole, the room was almost completely dark. No more than some walls, our opponents' white headbands that now glowed in the dark, and a few large rocks were visible.
"Commence," the Superior called. I immediately dove for cover behind a boulder and felt something fly by my ear in the darkness.
What was that? I thought to myself.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," a voice mocked as something else whizzed past my ear again, barely missing this time. I cursed loudly as shrapnel from the boulder hit my leg, and a shard of rock found its way into the back of my left leg. Something warm dripped down the back of my foreleg, which I assumed was blood. I dashed blindly through the darkness, trying to take cover where I could not see any white headbands. I eventually settled behind another boulder, breathing as quietly as I possibly could.
"I can still see you," the voice taunted. I whirled around to pinpoint the source of the voice, but there was no white headband to be seen. "No, over here!" This time, the voice came from above. I looked up to find that, once again, nothing was here. "No… behind you," the voice whispered in my ear. I turned around to see a white headband two feet from my face, belonging to the man with the eyepatch. He drew his arm back, ready to strike me with his elbow.
"No!" I shouted, putting my arms up defensively. Half a second before he hit me, there was a flash of light. As I flew backward in the air, a thin trail of blood flowing from my nose, I noticed that I was holding something.
What the Hell is that?
I looked down to inspect the item in my hand. It felt solid in my hands, similar to how my shinai had felt during kendo practice. It was about two pounds heavier, and it felt slightly longer than my shinai.
All right. I'll run with this, I thought.
"Get up!" the man shouted, reappearing a few feet in front of me. I turned my wrists open and made a stabbing motion, performing a tsuki-a throat strike- into thin air as the man disappeared.
"Over here, girlie!"
I closed my eyes in thought, gathering all of my energy into my arms.
Focus.
A moment later, the weapon began to glow red-hot. I looked at it in amazement, wondering if I had done that myself. I could see that the weapon was metal, with a welded-on cap holding four smaller pieces together. The weapon's handle was made of carbon and fiberglass, and seemed to resist heat better than the weapon itself. Despite this, my arms began to burn as the weapon heated up.
A metal shinai?
"If you won't come to me, then I'll come to you!" the man shouted, attempting to rush me. I let out an intimidating shout, then struck kote- a wrist strike- as the man tried to strike me again, this time with the blunt edge of his weapon. He let out a yelp and disappeared, reappearing about twenty feet away.
"Ow. That burned a little," he mocked, firing his weapon, which by then I had determined was a gun. I screamed and waved my shinai in a pathetic effort to deflect the bullet. I felt a large gust of wind, then heard a loud explosion as the bullet went flying to the other end of the room. I looked at the end of the shinai in wonder.
"So you can cause explosions, too, then," the man mused. There was a flash of purple as he dismissed his weapons and strode over to me, giving me a noogie.
"Ow!" I complained. "What are you doing?"
"Good work, girlie. You pass. Now go help your friends out, yeah?" he said, teleporting out of the room.
My thoughts immediately shifted to Xyton.
"Hey, Xyton!" I called in the darkness. "Where are you?"
"Over here!" he whispered. He had stationed himself behind a boulder about six feet from me. I ran over to him, taking cover as well.
"Have you managed to summon your weapon yet?" I asked.
"No," he squeaked as the boulder we had been hiding behind shattered. There stood Lexaeus, with a huge tomohawk in his hand. And I mean huge.
"You'd better hurry up then!" I shouted at him. Then, a lightbulb went off in my head.
"Xyton," I said, raising my shinai above my head. It began to glow red again, illuminating his horrified face.
"Saeliax!" he shouted, alarmed. "What the Hell are you doing?"
Similar to what had happened to me, there was a flash of light as a weapon appeared in his hand. When the light faded, there was a small handgun in his hand.
"There you go," I said.
"Um… thanks?" he said, lowering his arms slowly.
"Now focus all of your energy to your arms and see what you can do," I instructed. "I don't know if it'll work for you, but that's how I figured out how to use magic."
He did as I instructed focused for a moment as Lexaeus brought his tomahawk up over his head, then pulled the trigger. A silver ball flew from the barrel and hit Lexaeus in the elbow. The man cursed as the bullet lodged itself in his arm, and the flesh around the wound began to darken a bit.
"You pass," the man grunted as he teleported away. I turned to Xyton, smiling.
"That was awesome!" I cheered. "So, you can control poison?"
He looked at me, bewildered. "I guess so."
Just then, the lights in the room flickered on. We all groaned as our eyes adjusted to our surroundings. Above us, in what looked like a spectator's area, stood Xemnas.
"Congratulations," he said. "You all have passed. If you will all find your way up here, we will begin the second portion of the test."
I looked around the room, surprised to find that all eleven of us had been reunited in the darkness.
"Excuse me," Xielagh interjected. "How are we supposed to get up there?"
Xemnas smiled. "You'll have to find a way."
We all gathered in the center of the room, hugging each other and learning each other's new names as well as trying to find a way up to the spectator's area.
Ricky- or, rather, Xyckri- finally came up with an idea after about five minutes of talking it over.
"…Why not use one of those portal things?"
I looked up at him slowly, then slapped my forehead. "Duh!" I shouted. "Xyckri, I don't know what we'd do without you."
He smiled at me and ruffled my hair. "Awwww, you're too kind. Now… how to make one appear?"
"I saw the Superior open one like this," I said, extending my open hand in front of me. Nothing happened.
"Maybe… try thinking about opening the portal?" Saxxon suggested. I followed his suggestion, but nothing happened. I sighed in disappointment.
"Try thinking about where you want to go, then," he said.
I tried again, and within seconds, a small portal had appeared. Daxxin, Danni's Nobody, stifled a laugh.
"It looks anemic," she giggled. I looked at my "anemic" portal and scowled at her.
"Whatever. I personally think it's pretty good for a first try," I said. "Now hurry up and go through; holding this thing open is kind of draining me."
The group hurried through, and we wound up standing beside Xemnas. He looked surprised, but I took it as a good sign.
"Well done," he said. "Now we can commence with part two of the test."
Xemnas snapped his fingers, and several small, humanoid creatures appeared before him. They were silver, and stood about four feet tall. Their movements were extremely exxagerated and jerky, similar to the Heartless.
"Inform the others that part two of the test is about to begin," Xemnas commanded. The beings gave a slight nodding motion and vanished into small portals. Within five minutes, all of the other members had gathered inside the training hall.
"Welcome to part two of the test," Xemnas said. "You will be split into teams of three for this portion. There will be eight teams- four teams of the original members, and four of our new recruits. You will decide on a position- either point, center, or anchor- on the team, and you will fight a one-on-one match with the appropriate member from the opposing team. The match is over when one of you is either dead or unable to stand. Are there any questions?"
A blonde boy about our age, one of the original members, raised his hand and said, "Um, there are thirteen of us and eleven of them. How can we divide into teams of three?"
Xemnas smirked. "Number XIII. Since you brought this issue up, you can fight on one of the new recruits' teams."
The boy groaned and dragged his feet as he made his way over to our group.
"Any others?"
Everyone remained silent.
"Very well, then. You may now split into teams."
Immediately, Xangrom ran over to me and grabbed ahold of me by my hair.
"Good! Now we just need one more person!" she said. "Xyckri! Over here!" Xyckri ran over to our group and grabbed a handful of my hair as well, holding it up in the air.
"Okay! We're a team!" He called to Xemnas. Xemnas smirked and walked up to our group.
"You three may fight first, then," he said. "You may take some time to decide what position you would like."
My two teammates dragged me away from the Superior and we began to discuss our plan of action.
"I call point!" Xangrom said immediately. "I wanna fight first!"
Xyckri laughed. "A little eager to show off our new weapon, are we? Saeliax, it's up to you. Which position would you like?"
I thought about my options carefully, and decided that it would be best to let Xyckri fight first. The whole time I was thinking, though, I found myself subconsciously staring into his eyes, and a slight blush crept over my face when I realized that his eyes were the same beautiful hazel as Ricky's had been.
"…Um, I'd like to take anchor, if it's alright with you," I said.
"Fine with me." He smiled at me before tucking a strand of hair behind my ear and handing me a red hair ribbon.
"So it doesn't get in the way," he said. "Your hair, I mean. I meant to give it to you at the movies, but I kind of forgot."
"Thanks," I replied, blushing a little more. I tied my hair back quickly and led the group back to Xemnas.
"We're ready," I informed him.
"Ah, good," he replied before turning to the other team.
"We will now begin," he announced. "Both teams, please make your way to the training area."
I began to open a portal, but Xangrom stopped me. "I'd like to try this time, if it's alright with you," she said.
"Oh, it's fine by me," I replied.
She nodded, focusing as hard as she could on making the portal open. After about a minute, she finally opened a full portal. I scowled and looked at the perfect portal she'd produced.
"Okay, so I know I suck at opening portals, now," I mumbled.
"You did fine," she said, jumping through. "Come on."
We wound up exactly where we intended to go, on the left-hand side of the battlefield. A blue-haired man with golden eyes and an 'X' shaped scar on his face from the other team stepped onto the battlefield, and Xangrom followed suit.
"Go, Xangrom!" Xielagh shouted from the spectator's area. "Knock 'em dead!" She turned and gave Xielagh a thumbs-up.
"Saix," Xemnas said. The blue-haired man looked up at the Superior and nodded.
"Ready, sir," he said flatly, summoning his weapon. It was a huge claymore the size of a child. I inwardly doubted that Xangrom's weapon would be able to parry a blow from that thing, or even do much damage against the man. He looked extremely powerful.
"Xangrom."
Xangrom summoned her weapon and looked up at him, grinning. It was a fountain pen.
"Ready, sir!"
"Begin!" Xemnas shouted.
Immediately, Saix launched a head-on assault on Xangrom. An inhuman snarl rose from the man's throat as he closed the distance between them and swung his claymore at her in a powerful arc. Xangrom gracefully leapt out of the way and swiped the pen in midair as if drawing a horizontal line. Saix hissed as a horizontal slash of black ink found its way into his eyes a second later, blinding him. He began to slash wildly at nothing while Xangrom moved away from him quietly. Suddenly, her boot scuffed the tile floor, alerting Saix to her whereabouts. He turned on his heel and rampaged after her, but as he swung his claymore, she leapt onto it and jumped onto his shoulders from there, throwing him a bit off-balance. He roared, dropped his claymore and plucked her off of his back, then proceeded to rip her in two. Instead of the carnage that we expected to follow, she turned to a shower of black ink and cascaded down onto Saix, dying him completely black.
"Looking for me?" she asked mockingly, poking her head out from behind a rock. Saix's ears perked up and he launched himself at her, only to meet face-to-face with another ink clone. The real Xangrom appeared from behind a wall and, brandishing her pen, she proceeded to draw herself a sword in midair. A second later, the same sword she'd just doodled materialized in her hand. "Now, let's end this."
Again, Saix rushed at her angrily. She swiftly raised the ink sword above her head and struck men- a head strike- before Saix could swing his claymore once. The sword exploded into small beads of black ink and melted on the ground as Saix collapsed.
The whole room went silent.
"One point for the… newcomers," Xemnas announced, sounding shocked. "Demyx, please clean him up."
"Yes, sir," a boy with sandy blonde hair said. He teleported down to the battlefield, scooped up the man and teleported away quickly, returning within the minute.
"Centers."
"Good luck, Xyckri!" I cheered.
The man with the eyepatch was next from the other team. He had a cocky smirk on his face as he stepped onto the battlefield.
"Xigbar," Xemnas called. Xigbar's guns appeared in his hands.
"Ready, Boss Man!"
Xemnas rubbed his temple. "Xyckri."
"Ready, sir," he answered calmly, calling forth his weapon: a glove.
The weapons keep getting stranger and stranger, I thought to myself.
"Begin!"
This time, it was Xyckri that made the first move. He opened his hand and raised it slightly. Immediately, the ground began to split and fracture into small tile sediments. With a flick of his middle finger, the cloud of sediment circled around him and flickered like a candle flame, but otherwise did not respond.
"Shit," he cursed as Xigbar teleported closer to him.
"Come on! This won't be any fun!" he taunted. Xyckri paused for a moment to take his glasses off. He glanced around before throwing them to me.
"Watch those for me, would you?" he said. I nodded, barely catching them.
"Can we get on with it then?" Xigbar asked in a bored tone. Xyckri looked up at him and smiled. He yelped as he was dragged out of the air by a cluster of sand around his ankles.
"Gladly," Xyckri answered smugly. His opponent teleported away from the sand and reappeared behind him, taking cover behind a wall. He open-fired on Xyckri, and a thin-arrowlike bullet lodged in his leg, while another found its way into his right thigh. He gasped and began to collapse from the pain, and Xigbar teleported himself closer to him. Right before he hit the floor, Xigbar kicked him in the stomach with the toe of his boot, sending him flying about twenty feet across the room. He rolled another ten feet when he landed, slamming into a boulder. A bit of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he tried to use the boulder to help him stand. Xigbar strode across the floor to him, a smug grin on his face.
"What's the matter, princess?" he sneered. "Too weak to fight?"
This struck a chord with Xyckri. His masculinity had just been insulted! He lifted his gloved hand, and with it rose a larger pile of sediment than there had been before, leaving a crater in the ground. Using his hand, he directed it towards the barrel of Xigbar's arrowgun.
"What the Hell?" Xigbar shouted, pulling one of the triggers. There was a loud bang as the gun exploded in his face. Xyckri had passed out right as Xigbar collapsed to the ground, unconscious from the shock and the pain. The glove on his right hand had been seared away when the gun exploded, as well as a bit of his hair.
"Tie!" Xemnas announced. "Demyx, you know what to do."
Demyx rolled his eyes as he cleaned up the two of them, teleporting them to the infirmary. "Yes, sir," he huffed.
"Anchors, step forward," Xemnas said flatly.
"You can do it, Saeliax!" Xangrom cheered. Wiping a bit of blood from my face, I turned around sheepishly and gave her a thumbs-up. "Kick some ass!"
From the other team, a tall man with shoulder-length pink hair stepped forward and summoned his weapon, a long pink scythe. It took all I had not to burst out laughing at him. He looked pretty fruity; so, I assumed that it would be an easy win on my part. His intimidatory preemptive strike had failed miserably. I summoned my weapon as well, readying myself.
"Marluxia," Xemnas said. The man nodded, never taking his eyes off of me.
"Ready, sir."
"Saeliax."
"Ready to go, sir," I answered.
"Begin!"
My shinai began to glow as I focused all of my energy into the blade, but Marluxia had disappeared before I had fully prepared myself.
"Too slow," he whispered in my ear. I whirled around to receive an uppercut in the stomach, sending me flying. I coughed up some blood as I landed face-up on a boulder. I struggled to stand as he approached me, scythe at the ready. He quickly raised the scythe over his head and prepared to strike. I noticed that the sharp edge of the scythe was pointed down. Towards me.
He's going to kill me! I panicked. I pointed my shinai upwards in an effort to block the scythe rushing down towards my neck like a guillotine. Again, I felt a gust of wind rushing towards Marluxia followed by an explosion, larger this time, and squeezed my eyes shut. When they opened, I saw that Marluxia had been knocked backwards across the room. I stood up slowly, my back aching horribly from the impact. He stood up slowly and brushed himself off, largely unaffected by the blast.
Shit, that didn't even faze him! I thought. He rushed me again, slashing madly the way Saix had in the first round. Remembering some techniques from kendo class, I parried a few of the slashes and struggled desperately as our weapons locked. He was a lot stronger than he looked, and I understood now why he took the anchor position. Stuck at an impasse, Marluxia pushed me backwards and swung the scythe in an arc to try and knock me down out of the air. I clenched my empty fist and felt my fall slow down as the air's temperature below me dropped dramatically. The temperature slowly began to rise again as my feet touched the ground. What just happened? I thought.
Again, Marluxia began slashing away at me as he did before. We locked weapons again, and I began to focus all of my energy to my blade again. Then, a lightbulb went off in my head. In a matter of seconds, my shinai had begun to glow white. I cut through his scythe like butter, and the scythe's blade clattered to the floor noisily. He backed away as I held up my free hand and balled it up into a fist, compressing the air in front of him. I opened my hand again quickly, which resulted in a deafening explosion. Marluxia had fainted before he hit the floor.
"Awesome job!" Xangrom cheered fro mthe sidelines. Almost immediately after that, my vision blurred and I dropped to the floor, exhausted.
"One point to the newcomers," Xemnas announced slowly. "Victory goes to the… newcomers…?"
I smiled weakly upon hearing this before completely losing consciousness.
R3v13w plznthx? C:
