Traps galore!
The second battle had just finished, with Sephiroth winning by sending Rose plummeting into an endless abyss. He didn't even seem happy as he arrive back to the main hall. Everyone was still gasping at what they had seen.
"Such...power..." Bass said with some excitement.
"Such ruthlessness." Was Bowsers response. The game master stopped any further comments.
"Alright. Time for the next bout. Will the two fighters please step forward."
Link, the green garbed hero of time and Sora, the Keyblade master stepped forward. The fairy on links shoulder began to flutter as it tried to pick up on his opponent's weaknesses.
"Oh, by the way..." Raising his hand up, he snapped his fingers. A cage of some kind of glass appeared over the fairy, imprisoning it. The cage floated over to his hand and stayed there.
"Navi! You let her go!" Link's hand prepared to draw his sword.
" I'm just trying to make the fight fair. This little fairy would allow you to find out your opponent's weak spots, which would give you an advantage. Do not worry, she will be returned to you after the battle."
"She'd better be." Links hand returned from his sword.
"Now, to decide the next battle arena." Grabbing the wheel, he spun it like he had done before. The wheel continued to spin for several moments before it finally stopped on a picture of a tower covered in runes.
"The trigger tower!" In flashes of light, both warriors had vanished, and reappeared in a huge tower. Both fighters gasped as they saw that the walls were all covered in symbols and runes. The game master appeared in the center of the room.
"You are now in the Trigger tower. As the name implies it is filled with traps, each triggering a different event, good or bad. This is a single knockout challenge. Both fighters, get ready!"
Link drew his master sword from its hilt, the blade covered by a glowing aura. Link held out his hand infront of him, and in a flash of blue light, his Keyblade appeared in his hand. The chain dangled as he wielded the giant key.
"May the best fighter win."
"Likewise."
"Begin!!" Both fighters, wielding their weapons, lunged forward. Their blades clashed as they met halfway. Both pushed back at the same time, forcing the other back.
"Firaga!" A huge blast of fire shot from Sora's keyblade straight at Link. Link quickly pulled a mirror like shield from his back. The attack hit the shield and it seemed to glow a bright red color.
Putting his shield back, Link pulled a boomerang from his back and tossed it at Sora. Sora raised his Keyblade to block it, but was caught off guard when Link lunged forward. He was unable to block Link's assault and was knocked back.
As he tried to get up, Link again attacked with his sword. Sora quickly backflipped to avoid Link's sword. Back on his feet, he shot another blast of fire towards Link. Once again, Link blocked it with his shield but this time, something Sora didn't expect happened.
As the blast of fire hit the shield, it turned a searing shade of red and suddenly, a stream of flames shot from the shield. Sora quickly dived back to avoid the flames, only getting slight burns on his shoes.
"What was that!"
Link held of his shield so it shone in the light.
"My mirror shield absorbs magic energy, then hurls it back towards the user with double the power. Your magic won't work on me."
As Link put his shield back, he noticed three glowing orbs of light positioned in a triangle on the ceiling.
That looks like the triggers in the temples. So maybe…"Grabbing his boomerang, he tossed it towards the lights. It struck the lights in perfect order, causing them to go out.
"What were you aiming at?" Sora didn't have to wait long for his answer as the ground beneath him began to rumble. The floor suddenly split in two, the two sides moving to the sides. Hissing could be heard coming from the pit.
As both sides began to move, the sound of sliding metal could be heard behind them. Turning around, they both gasped as large metal spikes slid from the walls.
"Well…didn't expect that to happen."
Quickly grabbing his hookshot from his pack, he fired a metal spike at a near by ledge. Yanking it back, the chain quickly pulled him up to the ledge, away from the spikes. He looked down as he wondered how his opponent was going to get out of this.
Sora was wondering the exact same thing, as was getting closer and closer towards the spikes. He didn't have anything like Link's Hookshot, and soon he would be impaled on the spikes behind him.
"What to do, what to do, what to do?" Sora was beginning to panic, until he noticed a doorway ahead of him. On the far wall. Over the pit of still hissing snakes.
"Oh, great. Impaled on spikes, or bitten by snakes. I don't know which is worse." He almost fell down as the floor began to speed up, the spikes even closer then before.
"Uh-oh! I'll take my chances with the snakes!" Breaking into a run, he leaped off the ledge, flying through the air. He jumped short, falling faster then he thought. He held at his hand and just barely grabbed the ledge. Snakes attempted to bite at his dangling ankles as he tried to pull himself up. Grabbing his Keyblade in his free hand, he raised it up as silvery energy began to surround it.
"Aero!" a cyclone of wind shot from the blade, surrounding him in swirling winds. The snakes were blown away as the cyclone slowly raised him up above the ledge. In moments, he was standing on solid ground.
"That…was close." Before he had a chance to relax, something whizzed past his head, just missing his ear. Looking up, he saw Link, armed with a bow and flaming arrow. Link shot three more, which Sora quickly knocked away. Before Link could fire anymore, Sora quickly ran down the hallway.
"So he runs." Quickly putting his arrows back in the quiver, he also ran down a hallway.
Meanwhile, in the main hall, the screen changed, now showing a map of the tower. It showed Sora was on one side, and Link the other. Both were quickly moving towards each other.
Sora was walking through a hall with a suit of armor every few feet. He was looking around to find any of those puzzles the game master had spoke of. He was walking up the long flight of stairs, when he though he heard something move behind him. He turned around and gasped as he saw one of the suits move, brandishing a huge battle-axe.
"How did that happen?"
Meanwhile…Link stood perfectly still, as the panel he had just stepped on had sank in, triggering a trap. Sweat began to roll down his face as he waited for something to happen. Slowly inching forward, he pulled one of the arrows out of its quiver and tossed it to the ground.
Nothing happened. Link slowly bent down and picked up the arrow, and still nothing happened.
"Guess that trap was a dud."
Back to Sora…Sora quickly grabbed his Keyblade as the living suit swung its huge battle-axe at Sora. Sora grunted as he was pushed back by the force of the weapon.
"For a living suit of armor, this things strong!"
Pushing off with his feet, backflipped over the suit, landing a few feet behind it. As it turned around to attack him, he tossed his Keyblade, sending it spinning like a boomerang.
It struck the its helmet, knocking it away. As the Keyblade returned to him, the suit simply grabbed another helmet from the wall, placed it atop its shoulders and faced him to attack him again. As it struck, Sora quickly dived down and slid between its legs, getting behind it.
"Valor form!" A huge prism of energy surrounded him, glowing before it shattered, showing the new Sora.
His clothes had changed to a dark red color, with gold trim. His Keyblade had changed to a silvery color, and had seemed to grow in size. Holding the blade in both hands, a ball of energy began to gather at the tip.
As the suit turned around, he was faced with a huge glowing ball of energy. It began to back up as the energy continued to build. When it had grown to a large enough size, it began to blink.
"…Fire…"
The blast of energy shot from the blade, striking the suit with great force. It was sent flying back, slamming into the wall so hard, cracks began to run up the wall. The blast had caused the armor to drop its battle-axe, which Sora picked up.
"This could come in handy." Wielding the battle-axe, he continued to walk up the flight of stairs. He didn't notice as he stepped on a trip-wire.
Back to Link…As Link was walking, he heard the sound of a rope cutting. He had seconds to react as a huge pendulum came flying towards him. Quickly diving down, it cut through the back of his shirt, leaving a huge gap.
"Phew… this place is more dangerous then I thought."
Back on the main screen, it showed that both fighters were both about to enter the same hall. Link was above, and Sora was below. It also showed, that Link was going to get there first.
As Link continued to run up the steps, he saw a passageway up ahead. He quickly ran up, and almost fell over as he saw he was on a ledge. Looking down, he saw he was above a huge chamber.
He was about to turn around, when he heard something in the hallway below. Something like footsteps. Quickly, he grabbed his bow as he heard the footsteps getting closer. Docking an arrow, he laid in wait, like a hunter stalking its prey. He didn't have to wait long, as Sora stepped into the chamber.
Sora saw that he had stepped into a room, with several hallways leading all over the tower. As he tried to decide, he heard the unmistakable sound of an arrow shooting from a bow. Quickly using the axe to knock it away, he turned around and saw Link above him, another arrow loaded onto the bow.
Link began to quickly fire arrow after arrow, never seeming to run out. Sora was jumping back in forth as he tried to avoid being struck by the flying projectiles. As he stepped into the middle of the room, an arrow landed between his feet.
"Next one won't miss." As he loaded another arrow, it began to glow a bright yellow color, aimed precisely at Sora.
"There won't be a next one. Gravi!"
A black orb of energy appeared infront of Sora. Swinging his new battle-axe like a bat, he sent it flying towards Link. Link braced as it came forward, but stopped when it seemed to pass into the ledge he was standing on.
"You missed!"
"Wasn't aiming at you!"
A confused look appeared on his face, before the sound of stone crumbling echoed through the chamber. He didn't have time to react, as the ledge below him grew to an unbearable weight, and broke the wall, sending him plummeting to the ground.
Slamming had into the ground, he dropped his sword and it skids across from him. The fall had caused some damage, as he was straining to stand up. As he attempted to stand up, Sora came towards him with his Keyblade ready.
Link quickly dived to the left, grabbing his fallen sword and grabbing his shield off his back. As Sora came at him again, he held up his shield to block the attack. The sound of metal on metal rang through the air as the two collided with each other. Both pushed back as their attacks failed to do anything.
"Time to finish this. Valor form!" Again, a prism of energy surrounded him and when it shattered, he had changed. This time his clothes were a light blue color and he held a black Keyblade in his other hand.
"Keyblades of light and darkness!" Lunging forward with both blades, Link did something unexpected. He tossed his shield up in the air, and grabbed his bow. Grabbing a light arrow, he fired up in the air, striking the shield.
"What was that suppose to accomplish?" He got his answer moments later as the arrow continued to bounce of the wall behind him, striking him hard in the shoulder. He was knocked to the ground as the arrow dug into his shoulder.
"That…was what I was trying to accomplish." Putting his bow back, he picked back up his shield and began to walk towards Sora.
"Give up already. You fought proudly."
"No…I won't…give up." Using what energy he had left, he lunged forward with both blades ready. Link soon did the same as they both prepared for one, final slash by.
A huge flash rang through the room as both fighters passed. For a moment, time seemed to stand still. Moments later, Link went down to one knee, a huge cut above his eye and across his arm.
A smile spread across Sora's face, before blood began to flow from a slash on his chest. Completely drained of energy, he fell forward, defeated. His Keyblades slipped from his hands, landing next to him as he lost consciousness.
As Sora lost consciousness, the Game master appeared in the center of the room.
"Good job Link. You both will have your wounds taken care when we return. Now, to get back." In a flash of light, they were back in the main hall.
"Now, on to the next fight." Spinning the wheel, it landed on a black void.
"The dark realm! Both fighter get ready!" in another flash, both Bass and the NME shadow had arrived in a realm completely void of all light.
"Begin!!!!"
The shadow quickly lunged forwards, it's one eye staring down at Bass. As it came forward, an orb of dark energy began to gather in Bass's hand.
"You're not worth the effort. Darkness overload!" A huge blast of purple energy shot forward, completely enveloping the shadow. His screams echoed through the void and in seconds, he had completely disappeared.
"Not even worth my time." In a flash, Bass left the void and returned to the main hall.
End chapter