Chapter 6: Getting to Know You, Without the Musicals!

Tails had been at the helm of his new ship, the Typhoon, for hours while everyone else was either resting, eating, or training somewhere on the ship. Sonic had been pacing back and forth on the main deck for just as long due to how much he hated not being able to run for long distances, which was almost as bad as he hated water that wasn't in a glass. Meanwhile, Gemerl had taken an interest in Riku; mostly because Cream seemed to trust him well enough to hang around and leastly because he wanted to fight the Keyblade Master just to see how strong he really was. He searched every square inch of the ship until he finally found him in the cafeteria talking into a small rectangular device.

"... and how's Kairi? You should be bragging about your first date by now... She what!?" He chuckled and picked up where he left off. "Caught you off guard, huh? That's kinda sad, y'know? You, Mr. Beat-A-Thousand-Heartless, would be caught off guard by a girl's lips." Riku laughed a little more. "Well, make sure my place is just the way I left it, ok? I'll try and call you guys when I get the chance, bye." With that, he beeped his device and it disconnected the signal. He turned to see Gemerl staring at him with his head tilted to the side.

"What is that thing?" He asked, pointing to Riku's litte object in his hand.

"This? It's a DSP, basically a phone."

"What does DSP stand for?"

"Dual System Portable." He let Gemerl have a better look at it by placing his thumb on the edge and slightly pushing it. The phone flipped itself into a two-screened device with a small compartment for a stylus, then Riku reflipped it and extended it into a slightly longer device with a broad screen, an analog pad on the left side of the screen, four buttons on the right side of the screen, and a port for headsets with or without a microphone."It does music, games, internet, pretty much everything you can think of. Cost a LOT of munny, but this bad boy made the burnt hole in my pocket all the more worthwhile."

"Do you use all of that stuff?"

"Not all in one day, just when I need to."

Gemerl was impressed by the little peice of equipment, but not as much of he was of Riku. He seemed to only know how to fight, but he knew plenty about tech as well.

I guess a warrior can't just be all about strength. Riku must be a real handful for anyone who tries to cross him...

"You feeling okay Gemerl?" The robot snapped out of it as Riku's question snapped him into attention.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm good, but I was wondering..." Gemerl hesitated, not sure if he really had the courage to fight Riku, let alone challenge him.

"I'll be in the sparring room." Riku said as he smiled and laid a hand on Gemerl's shoulder while was passing him.

Cream saw Gemerl checking himself for any errors in his systems, any calibrations that needed adjusting, sensors that were on the fritz; basically anything that could toss his situation into one that would favor Riku. She frowned a little, seeing as how that he was going to fight again. Gemerl turned to see the little rabbit with such a sad look on her face that he stopped what he was doing and asked, "Are you ok, Cream? Why do you look so sad?" Cream shook her head and smiled, "Are you sparring with Riku?" Gemerl nodded excitedly, like he was looking forward to it, despite how nervous he felt.

"Yep, I can't wait either! I bet I can land four hits before he can even move his weapon an inch!"

"Are you sure you seem a little... nervous."

"Nervous? Don't be silly, I'm not nervous at all..." Rattle-Rattle-Rattle-Rattle...

Cream giggled, everything from the neck down of Gemerl's armor began rattling like crazy as he tried to convince the girl that he wasn't nervous.

"Well, maybe a little..."

Cream tilted her head and rose her eyebrow a little as if to say, "Are you sure about that?"

Gemerl eased up a little, "Okay, kinda..."

She lowered her eyebrow a little less, but kept her eyes fixed on him.

"Sorta..."

Lower...

"...-ish?"

Her head went back to normal, but no dice on the stare.

"Alright, alright, alright, yes. I am nervous, very very nervous. Happy?"

"Mmm-hm!" She said, smiling as she walked shook his head as he thought to himself.

Sometimes, she can be as confusing as Rouge...

Riku sat on the bench near the entrance to the arena, contemplating on what his strategy should be.

He seems to be focused on ground based attacks, due to his heavy density, but seeing as how he carries himself, he could be well-balanced...

Hey, hope you don't mind me barging in like this, buddy.

Riku jumped at Revrs' sudden interjection into his thoughts.

You! You can hear my thoughts?

Uuuum, shadow... duh!

Oh, right, right, right. So what is it?

Okay, listen up: Gemerl is what this world's government called the Gizoid; pretty much a very powerful weapon capable of immeasureable power. It was created by an ancient civilization said to have originally owned these Chaos Emeralds that Sonic and the others are looking for, plus this really big one called the Master Emerald. If I were you, I'd be sure that you were this fanfic's writer's favorite guy or you're screwed!

Huh!? What are you talking about? This is no time for jokes!

Is it, Riku? Is it really? Oooooooooooooooh...

Rolling his eyes, Riku stood up and stepped through the doors into the sparring arena, where a waiting Gemerl was waiting with his arms crossed. Grinning, Riku summoned his Keyblade and got into his stance. Gemerl stood motionless, scanning Riku's stance and calculated every possible movement he might use in that stance. Afterwards, Gemerl eject a small hilt from his wrist and ignited a curved, jade green ethereal blade of energy, then mimicked Riku's stance in an almost frighteningly perfect mirror image.

I can already tell.. I'm gonna have my hands full with this one.

Looks like Riku has a very strong opponent this time, can he prove to be a match for the legendary weapon of ancient time? Find out next time on Path of Shadows...