Way of the Ninja

Arc 1: Four Weapons

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of skeletons.

Chapter 3: Story of Light and Dark

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"So… How much farther do… we have to climb…?" Axel said between breaths as he reached for the next handhold. Apparently, Ventus was taking him to some monastery at the very top of a mountain to train at before they could rescue Kairi. The problem was that whatever path used to lead up the mountainside was no longer available, so they had to climb up the hard way.

Ventus was already much higher up than Axel, and looked down at him with a grin. "Not too much farther now, don't worry." He scrambled higher up the steep mountainside, seeming to find places to put his hands and feet effortlessly.

"And… You'll explain… when we get up there…?"

Ventus paused for a moment, before resuming his climb. "Yeah. You do deserve an actual explanation." He suddenly disappeared over a ledge, only to reappear, looking down at Axel, with an arm extended down towards him.

Realizing why Ventus was doing that, Axel shook his head. "No thanks…. I'll get up there… myself…"

"You're just as stubborn as your father was," sighed Ventus. Before Axel could protest, he leaned farther down and grabbed his wrist, pulling him up.

"Thanks, but I was doing just fine on my own," Axel grumbled, getting to his feet.

"Sure you were," Ventus laughed. "Anyway, allow me to present… the Monastery of Departure." He extended an arm towards the structure before them.

Axel frowned. All he could see was a very high, off-white wall, with bright green ivy clinging to it in some places. "Don't tell me we're going to have to scale this thing, too."

The blond laughed again. "Come on. The entrance is around this way." He led Axel along the wall, and around a corner, to a round gate made from gold embedded in the wall. The gate was open, revealing a courtyard made from various blue-tinted cobblestone arranged in an intricate design. Around the courtyard was what appeared to be an obstacle course of sorts. Beyond the courtyard was a building colored similarly to the wall around it, with a roof made from golden shingles. All in all, it looked beautiful, yet simple.

"Wait," said Axel. "If the entrance is over here, how come we didn't just climb up this part of the mountain…?" He looked behind himself down at the mountainside, and gaped in disbelief at what he saw- a wide, well cared for path winding down the mountain, with no obstructions or anything to block it as far as he could see. He furiously turned back to Ventus, who was trying not to laugh. "You… Are you kidding me?! We could have taken this path the whole time?!"

"Sorry," the blond snickered. "But it was a good way to test your stamina."

"Then why'd you help me at the end?"

"To see if you were willing to accept help," Ventus said seriously. "Being willing to accept help is a sign of strength."

"I thought I already accepted help," said Axel. "You're helping me get my sister back, right?"

"Yes, I did say that," Ventus said with a sigh. "But first, I owe you an explanation."

Axel nodded. "You sure do. I couldn't care less about the map, but why'd they take my sister? What does she have to do with these weapons?"

"It's a very long story," said Ventus. "But if you're willing to actually listen, I'll tell it to you."

"Alright, fine," Axel said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall. "I'm all ears."

"Thank you." Ventus nodded at him. "As I've already told you, I'm over a hundred years old. My father, however, was over a few thousand years old when he died, and his father before him was as old as the land itself."

"Wait, what?!" Axel stared at the blond incredulously. "How can someone be that old?!"

"If you wouldn't interrupt, I will tell you," said Ventus, scowling. "I never met my grandfather, but my own father said he was a wise man, and more powerful than any force in this or any world. His name was Yen Sid, and with his power, he created this world and everything in it. I don't know where Yen Sid came from, or how he gained enough power to create our world, but he wasn't a god. He was just a man, though a very powerful one.

"He knew that a balance had to be maintained on this world, and so, he created two sons for himself. My father, Eraqus, was responsible for the light, while his brother, Xehanort, was responsible for the darkness. The two were meant to keep their respective element in check, and continue to maintain the balance even after Yen Sid was gone. However, Yen Sid did not foresee Xehanort's ambitions, and after his departure, Xehanort sought to upset the balance and bring the whole world into darkness.

"Being the sons of Yen Sid, both Eraqus and Xehanort were immensely powerful. Xehanort created a ghastly army of beings that couldn't feel pain or remorse for their actions to fight against his brother, and a serpent that, with a single bite, could turn others to his side and put them under his influence." Ventus paused for a moment, his expressions hardening, before continuing.

"Eraqus, on the other hand, gave small parts of his power to a number of his own followers, and then used four of those same powers to create four golden weapons- the Weapons of Light. With the Elemental Masters at his side, and armed with the Weapons of Light, he battled Xehanort and defeated him, causing him to lose his physical form. He then used the weapons to banish Xehanort to the farthest side of the world, where no one lived, and turned Xehanort's army into stone and sealed them deep underground. With Xehanort gone, he allowed the serpent to go, believing it couldn't do anymore harm.

"A few thousand years passed, and Eraqus found love, and later also had two sons." Ventus smiled absently. "Of course, those were my brother and I. He taught us everything we knew, and trained us to one day take his place. However…" His expression hardened. "Something happened… and before I knew it, I lost my brother, and another war had begun that needed the newest generation of Elemental Masters. This war was won much more easily than the last, but when it was over… something happened to disturb the Weapons of Light. They are incredibly powerful, nobody can handle the power of all four at once.

"To keep them from being disturbed again, I hid them in four different places, and placed a guardian at each location to protect them from being stolen. Of course, I expected that I would have to wait at least another hundred years to have to retrieve them, and even my memory isn't completely perfect. And, even if I can remember, there's always the chance I might be killed before I can do anything to protect them, and would have to pass the task on to someone else. So, I drew a map to show the locations of the four Weapons of Light, and gave it to an honest man."

"My father…" murmured Axel. "Then… This was all recent… I was just a kid, then!"

Ventus shook his head. "The war ended years before you were born, but the weapons were nearly stolen when you were a kid. That much is true."

Axel kept his arms crossed over his chest, deep in thought. "You said that you and my father fought lots of battles together. Were those… in the war?"

Ventus nodded. "Yes. Your father was a brave warrior, and he helped many people during the war."

"And if you were fighting with those Elemental Master guys… Was he one of them?"

Again, he nodded. "Lea was the master of fire, and one of my closest friends. In fact, I taught him a technique that my father had taught my brother and me, and I promise you it'll be a huge help when we save your sister."

"Speaking of which, why'd they take her?" Axel asked, frowning. "You never answered that."

"It could be any number of reasons," said Ventus. "They might think she's an elemental master, or they may be under the assumption your father is alive and they can use her against him."

"Well, we still have to get her back," declared Axel. "I'm only here because I want to save Kairi."

"And I promised you we will," the blond said. "But you have a lot to learn before you're ready to save her at all."

"But I can't just wait around until it's too late," Axel protested. "I want to save her as soon as possible!"

"In that case… I'll only teach you one technique," said Ventus. "The same one I taught your dad so long ago. You remember when I saved you from those skeletons, right?"

"Yeah… You did that light-tornado-thing," said Axel. "How'd you do it?"

"That's what I'm going to teach you," Ventus said, smiling. "Starting today, you're going to learn something my brother and I used to call 'spinjitsu.'"

"Spinjitsu?" Axel snorted. "It sounds pretty lame to me."

Ventus shrugged. "We were just kids when we came up with the name. It sorta stuck."

"Alright then," said Axel. How do I learn this spinjitsu stuff?"

"It's simple." Ventus walked across the courtyard and sat down on the front step of the building, where a still-hot kettle of tea, a bowl of sugar-cubes, and a small teacup were already set up. Pouring the tea into the cup, he continued. "All you have to do is finish the obstacle course before I finish my tea."

"Really?" Axel smirked as Ventus added two sugar cubes to his tea. "That should be no problem!"

"Oh?" Ventus raised an eyebrow as he stirred the tea so that the sugar would dissolve. "I wouldn't be too sure." As Axel watched, Ventus brought the cup to his mouth and, in a single long sip, down all of its contents. With that, he stood up and looked in Axel disappointedly. "You've failed already. You'll have to do better tomorrow." Before Axel could protest, Ventus disappeared into the monastery.

~o~o~

Author's Note:

(I'm going to use a different format to try and make this easier to read)

Ah, backstory. How we love you. Of course, it just so happened to take up most of the chapter, so I'm okay with it. Not only that, but it is very important to know. Some parts of it may not be important for now, but they will come back in one way or another. That much, I can guarantee.

Despite how backstory heavy this chapter is, I'm much more satisfied with it than I am with the previous chapter. I managed to fit more than one part of the episode into the chapter and it still flowed well. Of course, I was still very distracted while writing, and had massive writers' block. Luckily, I recently learned that cat videos apparently increase productivity, so between watching cat videos and owning a cat of my own, I was able to get this chapter done.

This is the last chance for anyone to suggest weapons for Sora and Roxas (though it's not like anyone's actually reviewed at all). Next chapter, we're meeting them and Riku. If you're going to review at this time at all, I'd really like it to be now, at least to tell me what weapons you want them to use. I don't like to beg for reviews, but… Please review and tell me what you think.