Episode One: The Beginning
Part 1-4
"Well, I remembered during the last battle that a year ago, me and another Keyblade Master found another shard just like that!" Arkanin smiled. Arkanin took off her left glove and grabbed a pen from the desk with her right hand. She drew the Heartless, Nobody, and Legendary symbol on the top of her left palm.
"Now, if you look at the shard carefully, you can see the Heartless symbol. The one I have back at home has the Legendary symbol. I don't know all of the details, but I believe when the three shards combine, something good is supposed to happen. These shards slightly absorb the energy around them. That is why the shard slowly glows different colors. This tells us what element we are. Right now, it keeps on changing from light blue to dark blue, signifying that our elements are Water and Ice. If Mikayla was very close, then the shard would also glow yellow, for lightning." Arkanin explained, while doodling her explanation on her palm.
Arkanin finished her doodle. Other than the three symbols, there were three diamonds which resembled the shards. She also had drawn a weird symbol which somewhat resembled a key.
"Alrighty. . . " Arkanin sighed, thinking to herself. She grabbed her glove and put it back on, and then continued, "We should head back to my place, and get the other shard. Then, before looking for the other shard, look some stuff up. It would suck if we ended up destroying the world or something. Are you up for it, Ame?"
Arkanin began to stretch her arm and rub her head, cracking her knuckles right after.
Once again, Ame's bangs covered her eyes. Her voice quivered with a hint of sadness, yet the creepy grin had formed on her face again. "Destroying the world...? Yes. That would be rather unfortunate, wouldn't it?"
She looked up and the grin transformed into a true smile. "Just kidding. And yes. I think I can go. The library's about to close, anyway. So, what are we waiting for?"
She practically skipped over to the exit of the library. "Come on, slowpoke! We don't have all day," she shouted in a singsong voice.
Whoa, Ame," Arkanin laughed, "Wait up for me, you don't know where I live."
Arkanin joined Ame at the exit and then asked, "Any idea where Mikayla is?"
Ame let out a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of her head, sheepishly. "Ah. Right. You lead the way, then. As for where Mikayla went, I have absolutely no clue. She just kind of left."
"Ah, don't worry about Mikayla then. She always manages to find a way to locate my exact location. . ." Arkanin smiled. Exiting the library, Arkanin began to go to her house.
Ame followed Arkanin, and tilted her head to the side. "Really? She can find your location? How?"
Ame averted her eyes and whispered to herself, "She's more of a stalker than I am! I must learn from her..."
Arkanin decided not to comment on Ame's last comment.
"I don't know, she just does. . ." Arkanin shrugged. Arkanin ran into the next alleyway and called back to Ame, "We're going to be taking a shortcut, try to keep up!"
"Alrighty!" Ame exclaimed, breaking into a run as well. She followed Arkanin down the dark alleyway, hoping that no more Heartless would attack them.
Arkanin looked back and noticed Ame running.
So. . . Is she adjusting her pace? Or does her quick speed come and go. . . Oh well, here comes the first set of jumps. . . Arkanin thought to herself.
Arkanin vaulted off of a sturdy box and planted her feet on the wall. After hitting the wall, Arkanin pushed off and twisted in mid-air. She caught the ledge of the building to her right, climbed up, and rolled onto the building.
Arkanin took a moment to stretch, as she waited for Ame.
Ame skidded to a stop in front of the box and looked up in Arkanin. "How do you do all of these acrobatic things and expect me to keep up!?!" she cried out, a tad angry. Grumbling, she took a step back and attempted to follow the suit, but failed miserably once she had to twist in mid-air. With a few grunts and screams of pain, she hit the wall, the box, and finally, the ground.
"Owww..." she moaned, not bothering to get up yet. "You do know that I spend half of my days in the library, right?" she questioned. "My only experience with physical activity is fighting."
". . ." Arkanin stared at Ame, obliviously. She rolled her eyes and said, "But you said you would keep up. . . Hang on a moment."
Arkanin looked around and noticed some rope. She looked around to make sure the rope had no apparent owner. When Arkanin decided that the rope was free, she let it drop to Ame, holding onto the other end. Unfortunately, the rope only fell half way.
"Ame, here, you need to jump for it!" Arkanin shouted, smiling at Ame. She stared at Ame, who was still on the ground, and held in laughter
"I said I would, but I thought you meant with running!" Ame called back, slowly getting up. She gritted her teeth and checked her arms. A few purple bruises dotted her pale skin, and it felt like a few were probably on her back too. They'd probably heal within a week. Focusing her attention back on getting to where Arkanin was at, she glanced at the rope that had snaked it's way down from the other building.
"Alright. I think I can make it." With a grunt, she took a running jump towards it, and grasped it tightly once she had gotten a hold of it. She started to pull herself up, a little slower than she would've liked to, but she eventually made it onto the building. Panting, she looked up at Arkanin, "Gee whizz, woman! Not everyone was trained by ninjas!"
Arkanin gave a dumbfounded look, "Yeah. . . I found that out a year ago actually."
"Ok. . . I think I can make the path easier to jump. One more jump and then it'll be running from there. We'll take a break after a while and then dash the rest of the way. I think there are some jumps during the dash, but I'm not sure. . ." Arkanin explained, "I do know that to get to my place, it is VERY complicated, so if you can't handle it then you'll have to wait outside."
Arkanin leaped onto the next rooftop, but landed short and fell backwards. Quickly, Arkanin grabbed the pipe that was connected to the wall and used it to climb up. Once Arkanin was on the ledge, she looked back at Ame and stated, "That was a fluke. . . This is actually a very easy jump."
"Alright! I think I can make that one," Ame called. As a precaution, she backed up to the very edge of the roof she was on and ran forward, doing another running jump. She tried to aim herself at the roof across from her, and it wasn't until she felt her feet touch the solid tiles of the roof that relief spread through her. Automatically, her knees buckled and she put her hand out to steady herself. She looked back up at Arkanin.
"See! I can do simple jumps. I just can't jump off a box, then a wall, then twist around. That's just way too complex," she said, panting a little.
"Right, right, right. . ." Arkanin shrugged, trying to get over the fact that Ame wasn't a ninja.
Arkanin observed her surroundings and then walked over to the ledge. On the edge of the wall, was a ladder that was connected to it. Arkanin turned to Ame and said, "Hey, here's a ladder. It's going to be a long dash, yell when you're tired."
Taking a few steps back, Arkanin leaped off of the building, impacting the other building's wall with her feet. After impacting, Arkanin pushed off and grabbed for a pole that was sticking out of the building. Using the pole to gain momentum, by swaying her body back and forth, Arkanin let go and impacted another wall. She launched herself off of that wall and landed on a pipe, which she used to descend swiftly. Arkanin walked over to the ladder and sat next to it.
"C'mon, Ame." Arkanin yelled.
Ame watched in shock as Arkanin took the more complicated way down. Privately thanking God that there was a ladder, she made her way over to it. She descended rather quickly, sliding down it so that she wouldn't keep Arkanin waiting.
"Why didn't you take the ladder?" she asked, looking over at her friend, and dusting off her slightly stinging hands.
"Ladders are boring. . . Plus I need to do all I can to stay fit. I wouldn't want to be unfit and unable to protect you or any other Keyblade Masters that we may encounter." Arkanin explained.
Arkanin started to run in place, taking a look around. She smiled and then started to jog backwards to say to Ame, "C'mon, we'll run from here. Hope you can manage sharp turns."
Arkanin broke into a run and ran out of the alleyway.
"Protection? I'm not that weak, am I?" Ame thought to herself, but shook her head. It would make her only seem weaker if she slowed Arkanin down anymore. She broke into a run as well, following Arkanin out of the dark alleyway.
Arkanin managed to catch what Ame had said and felt bad, but didn't want to say anything. She took a sharp turn left after completely exiting the alleyway. Then, a few yards over, she made another left and slowed her pace a bit, waiting for Ame.
Ame was caught a little off guard by the sharp left turn, despite the fact that she had been warned. However, she managed to make it before she ran into the wall. Soon after, she managed to catch up with Arkanin.
Arkanin sped up just a little bit, making sure not to leave Ame in the dust. She kept running straight ahead, looking around for a spot to take a break.
Noticing that Arkanin had increased her speed, Ame did as well. She wasn't too tired, but was hoping that they'd get to Arkanin's house soon. She was looking forward to see it.
Arkanin stopped abruptly and turned to Ame, "Hey. . . You tired yet? I'm thinking that if we take one last dash, we'll make it there in no time."
Ame skidded to a stop, almost running into her. "No, I'm not too tired. I think I can make it," she said with a smile.
"Ok!" Arkanin stated, smiling back at Ame. Quickly, she took off dashing straight ahead.
After a minute of running straight ahead, she took an unexpected right turn and kept running. Stopping when she was half way in the alleyway.
Ame rushed to follow Arkanin. This time she was more prepared for the right turn and Arkanin's stop. "Is this it?" she asked, once she had skidded to another stop.
"For the running, yes. Now to get into my house. . . Uh. . . If you want, I'll try and find a way for you get in easily. Unless you think you can follow me. . ." Arkanin answered, staring up at the wall. The only thing noticeable was a silver pole with a pink ribbon tied to it sticking out from the wall.
Arkanin took a few steps back, and then took a running start. When she was a foot away, she jumped onto the wall, impacting the wall with her right foot. She brought up her left foot and began to run up the wall a bit. As soon as she started running out of momentum, she pushed herself off of the wall and kicked off of the other wall, grabbing onto a pipe on the opposite building. She climbed up the pipe until she reached the end of it. She then jump off of the pipe and grabbed the pole that was sticking out. She hung there for a moment and then looked down at Ame.
"Um. . . If you don't want to attempt this, I think there is another ladder on the other side of this building. You'd have to go there and then walk back to the ledge above here. Then, drop down to the pole and get inside this hole in the wall. Then we'll be there. That, or you can attempt to come by this way." Arkanin smiled, throwing herself into the hole and inside the building.
Ame laughed nervously. "I think I'll pass. See you in a bit."
She walked to the other side of the building, and scanned the area for the ladder Arkanin had spoke about. She caught sight of it against the wall, which was almost the same color as the ladder itself. Smiling to herself, she walked over to it and began her ascent. She soon reached the ledge, and pulled herself up.
"Now... Where's that pole?" she mumbled, her feet automatically moving forward. "Ah! There it is."
She knelt down and slowly lowered her legs off of the roof, her hands hanging onto the ledge. Using her hands, she began to slowly edge towards the pole. When she was finally within reaching distance of it, she swung her weight towards it, letting go of the roof with one hand, yet still hanging on with the other. Her hand wound it's way around it's silver frame, and she let her other hand fall from the roof and grasp the pole as well. Using the weight of her body again, she swung into the hole.