"Well, talk about a trip," Haruka admitted as the Gummi Ship returned to the Lanes Between and the barrier surrounding the world dispelled. "Just when I think I've seen everything out here in the Lanes, they surprise me again."
Maylin was silent, thinking back to her days when she'd always poke in on the escapades of Terra, Ven, and Aqua, the days she'd spent honing her skills up until the moment the Land of Departure had vanished into darkness.
"Hey," Nick quipped. "What's up?"
"Oh, just thinking about the past," Maylin stated, chuckling to herself at the fact that Nick was the one asking her about what seemed to be bothering her, instead of the other way around as she had done for him so much on their last adventure.
Well, he's been so good to me, and I've always been a sounding board for his concerns, Maylin thought. The least I could do is let him be a sounding board for my deeper thoughts, hehe.
"Now that I know there might be hope of finding them all alive and well, I just wanna get them back home," Maylin stated. "They were my best buds for so long, after all."
"And friends always back friends up," Nick responded. "That's the biggest lesson I've learned in my life."
"True that," Maylin giggled, leaning over to kiss Nick on the cheek.
"Okay, guys, how about we jet down there and see what the deal is with all these monsters crawling around?" Haruka asked.
"Wait, there's monsters there?!" Maylin shouted.
"I don't think they're Heartless," Haruka answered Maylin's unspoken question. "They just look like the garden variety monsters, probably just ones that muck around this particular world."
"Either way, if there's creeps and weirdos here, then I think that means we need to clean house," Maylin proclaimed. "How about we go down and see what's up?"
"Roger that," Haruka responded. "Prepare for landing!"
(In your hand, take this key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend. No ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love. May your hearts be your guiding key.)
The Blue Time Ranger is proud to present:
W.I.T.C.H.: Key to Her Heart II
Story Created: January 2nd, 2017
Story Rated: T for Teen
Starring: Bryce Papenbrook as Nick Kelly
Cassandra Lee Morris as Maylin Rae
Cherami Leigh Kuhn as Haruka Rose
Kelly Stables as Will Vandom
Candi Milo as Irma Lair
Kali Troy as Taranee Cook
Christel Khalil as Cornelia Hale
Liza del Mundo as Hay Lin
Christine Marie Cabanos as Lily Kelly
Serena Berman as Queen Elyon Portrait
Story Summary: A year has passed since Nick, Maylin, and Haruka saved the heart of all worlds from being consumed by the darkness. Things are getting back to normal in Heatherfield, but true peace is always a fleeting dream. New arrivals start pouring in, including a girl from the future who claims to be the daughter of two of the Guardians, strange new creatures very much unlike the Heartless, and a group of black-hooded tyrants who only aim to bring destruction to the worlds. To save the multiverse from these new threats, Nick, Maylin, and Haruka must once again take up their keyblades and travel through many worlds to keep the balance of light and darkness in check. But what does the mysterious Organization XIII truly want with the worlds?
On Today's Episode: In a world that seemed to have jumped out of every cheesy kaiju movie in existence, our keyblade-wielding trio find themselves in a city where monsters of all shapes and sizes attack relentlessly, only to be stopped by a member of the Hero Association. Despite the fact that most of the city's monsters are easily stopped by either a powerful psychic prodigy or a strange bald guy that can apparently kill anything with one punch, the Heartless are still an issue. But who is this mysterious woman that has taken an interest in our heroes?
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to W.I.T.C.H. or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Elisabetta Gnone and Disney if we're talking the cartoon. The only things of this story I DO own are any characters created by yours truly for the story. Any characters or things I don't own, I am just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of my readers. The same goes for any anime, video game, or comic book series that will be represented here. Besides, if I did own W.I.T.C.H., which I don't, why would I be writing fiction on a fan site?
Author's Note/For Today's World: This chapter, we're visiting the world of ONE's superhero webcomic-turned-manga-turned-anime One Punch Man. You may remember that Tatsumaki was Nick's first summon in the first Key to Her Heart. Timeline-wise, this chapter takes place after the first season of the anime.
EDIT 10/5/18: Added a few scenes in preparation for the revamp of Key to Her Heart: A Fragmentary Passage.
Episode 7: Ballad of Heroes
Nick quickly noticed, once they had disembarked from the Gummi Ship, that lots of people in this city were giving them strange looks. Not condescending or anything, but just surprised looks in general, as if they knew how powerful they were.
"Well, we're keyblade wielders, after all," Haruka stated. "And apparently, knowledge of the keyblade's spread a lot farther than I thought it would."
"It's still creepy, though," Maylin replied. "Some of these weirdos are sizing me up. I hope they're not the kind that haven't seen a woman in years, or I'm gonna have to get physical on their sorry faces!"
"Let's just keep looking around," Nick stated. "I'll whip them into shape if they try anything, but we should probably keep an eye out. Because if the Organization's here, we might be in for a fight."
"Ooh, just let me at 'em!" Maylin proclaimed. "I'm seriously itching for a good fight!"
Haruka sweatdropped at that line, knowing how strange it sounded. "Maylin, isn't that usually my shtick?"
"Hey, I really wanted to give Wisdom Form a real drive!" Maylin giggled. "We took down that ice-blade thing too quickly for us to really show what we're made of together!"
Nick stopped in his tracks when he heard a soft rumbling that seemed to be getting closer with each passing second. He looked back up and saw a particularly large beast charging towards them, wrecking everything it rammed through.
A voice began to blare throughout the city, "MONSTER APPROACHING CITY Z, THREAT LEVEL: DEMON. PLEASE EVACUATE AS INSTRUCTED."
"Well, it looks like you're about to get your wish, Maylin," Nick teased.
"AWESOME!" Maylin exclaimed as the trio summoned their keyblades for battle.
The monster stopped just short of them even as the citizens continued to flee in blind panic. It gazed down at them, eyeing them with some strange contempt, as if it had expected better.
"Ah, I see we have some fresh meat," the monster proclaimed.
"Oh, I wouldn't consider us mere meat, monster boy," Maylin shot back. "You really have no idea what you've stepped in, do you?"
"Enlighten me," the Feral Fang laughed.
"Gladly," Maylin taunted, casting Thundaga and taking great pleasure in watching the Feral Fang recoil in, well, shock (pun definitely not intended).
"You will pay dearly for that!" the Feral Fang roared, only to stop in confusion as something hopped onto its back. "Who are you?! Relieve yourself of my glorious visage this instant!"
Nick tensed up when he got a good look at the new arrival – it was the Omen.
"YOU!" Maylin shouted.
The Omen simply smirked evilly and raised her keyblade, drawing great torrents of darkness to its blade before stabbing it into the Feral Fang's back and sending all of her collected darkness into its body.
The Feral Fang writhed in agony for a few seconds before its body seemingly exploded in a dark flash, only for the remaining fragments of darkness to convalesce into another Demon Tower.
"Have fun," the Omen cackled before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. The Demon Tower began to spiral around, sizing up the three keyblade wielders before lunging for them. Maylin quickly cast Reflect to stop the Demon Tower in its tracks before jumping back to her companions.
"Well, what do you say, Nick? You wanna go Wisdom Form on this thing's sorry face?" Maylin laughed.
"Let's take care of business, then," Nick quipped as Maylin hugged him tightly before vanishing as they united into Wisdom Form, dual-wielding Counterpoint and Fairy Stars.
The Demon Tower continued to undulate through the empty air before attempting another strike, but Wisdom Form Nick simply blasted it back with a super-charged Blizzaga spell that exploded into a star formation of razor-sharp ice crystals on contact.
"Yeah, go chew on that," Wisdom Form Nick laughed as Haruka dashed in to continue the attack, striking at the base of the Demon Tower with a Quake, hoping to at least break apart the monster and give them some breathing room.
Sadly, this was not to be, as the Demon Tower spiraled into the air before crashing down and unleashing a shockwave of the red-eyed Shadows. Wisdom Form Nick cast a powerful Reflect spell, the barrier essentially tripling in size, to defend himself while Haruka leapfrogged off of one of the Shadows to stay in the air.
As if expecting this very move, the Demon Tower thundered out to smash into Haruka's prone form, sending her crashing into the side of a nearby building.
"Wrong move," Wisdom Form Nick growled, aiming both of his keyblades for the Demon Tower and preparing to unleash a massive Thundaga spell.
However, just before he could begin channeling, a soft green glow enveloped the Demon Tower completely, freezing it where it stood. As Haruka picked herself up, she noticed a similarly-colored figure high in the sky.
After about three seconds of waiting, the energy surrounding the Demon Tower expanded as if inflating a balloon, and all of the demonic Shadows were ripped off of the Demon Tower in one fell swoop, all that remained being the Demon Tower's vulnerable core.
Wisdom Form Nick wasn't about to let the Demon Tower regenerate itself, and rushed over to deliver a quick X-slash to the core, shattering it and causing all of the remaining Shadows to evaporate.
"Boo-ya," Wisdom Form Nick quipped before separating back into Nick and Maylin.
"One more freak of nature served up extra crispy!" Maylin laughed. "But who busted the thing up for us?"
"Probably whoever that is up there," Haruka quipped, pointing to the figure in the sky as it began to descend towards them.
Tatsumaki gazed around, not seeing any trace of the monster she'd just obliterated. "Guess it was just another small fry," Tatsumaki quipped. "Oh, well. At least it was fun to rip it apart, unlike that other guy. But who are those guys that were fighting it?"
After descending a few more feet, Tatsumaki smiled, the memories coming back to her.
"Well, it's been a while since I've seen all of you," Tatsumaki quipped once she'd landed on solid ground. "Didn't expect you to make a house call."
"Well, we figured, if we're in the neighborhood, we may as well!" Maylin proclaimed. "Is everything all right over here, Tatsu?"
Normally, Tatsumaki hated nicknames, but after spending most of the previous year as one of Nick's summons and generally (generally) growing to like the boy, she'd made that name the exception.
"Well, mostly," Tatsumaki answered. "This city still has some monster attacks, but that's really all in a day's work for the Hero Association."
"Wait, wait, there's an association for heroes in this world?!" Maylin gasped.
Tatsumaki eyed Maylin like she'd lost her memory or something, but quickly realized that this must be the first time they'd set foot in her world.
"Pretty much," Tatsumaki explained. "It's basically the job of the Hero Association to stop monster attacks against the cities. We each have different hero classes that handle different levels of threats. I myself am a Class 2, S-Rank hero."
"Wow, you're basically the second-strongest hero in this whole world?" Haruka gasped. "Major props to you!"
Nick just smiled, having obviously seen Tatsumaki's immense psychic power first hand while she'd been his summon.
"We just got out of a pretty huge battle with an alien warlord, so we're still cleaning up," Tatsumaki stated. "Either way, if you ever need my help in ripping these things apart, you just say the word."
Nick was about to flash a thumbs-up when something flashed by the group extremely fast, like a gust of wind.
"What the hell was that?" Tatsumaki proclaimed.
"Whatever it is, it's coming back again!" Haruka shouted.
Maylin was already on the move, rushing in front of the group and casting Reflect, causing the figure to crash into the barrier and leap back.
The figure, clad in blue, silver and gold Keyblade Armor, dismissed his glider and summoned his keyblade, Wayward Wind, to his hand, oddly wielding it in a reverse grip style.
"Where's Aqua?" the figure proclaimed.
Maylin took up a battle stance, but was mentally freaking out, as the figure didn't seem to recognize her. Don't make me do this, Ven, Maylin thought.
"I'm not going to ask you again! Where's Aqua?!" Ventus shouted, deciding that enough was enough and going on the offensive, swinging his keyblade so fast that even Nick had trouble keeping up with Ventus' movements.
"All right, you wanna play that game?!" Nick growled, summoning Ecopoint and rushing forward to meet Ventus' attack. Ventus simply dodged Nick's strike and leaped into the air.
Nick was ready for that, however, blasting Ventus with a point-blank Thunder spell and causing him to crash back down to the ground. Nick was already on the move before Ventus even hit the ground, unleashing an Ars Arcanum on the younger warrior.
Ven was honestly surprised that someone knew his signature offensive attack, but decided not to let it bother him, swiftly recovering and striking back with his own version of Ars Arcanum, where the strikes were much faster and more acrobatic than Nick's application of brute strength.
"All right, you've got some explaining to do! How do you know my signature move?!" Ventus shouted.
Haruka didn't wait for Nick to give that answer, leaping over Nick and hopping off of his shoulders to get a boost. Before Ventus could counterattack, Haruka landed right in front of him and slammed Rumbling Rose hard to the ground, causing a localized earthquake underneath Ventus that completely shattered the concrete underneath him, forcing him backwards.
"Come on, Nick, let's get 'em before he can recover!" Haruka shouted as she and Nick rushed to opposite sides of the stunned Ventus.
As Ven tried to break out of his stun, Nick and Haruka spun around and sliced their keyblades through the empty air, creating a cutting light circle around them that stumbled Ventus again.
Nick and Haruka immediately went to work before Ventus could pick himself up, dancing around him and attacking with such force that their swings actually created blades of light that sliced at Ventus over and over.
After a while of this, Nick and Haruka held their keyblades to the sky, charging them with energy before slamming them down to the ground, creating a shockwave that knocked Ventus back to the ground.
Even so, Ventus refused to stay down, cutting a flip to regain his footing and brandishing Wayward Wind, the oddly-shaped blade glowing brightly.
"You asked for it!" Ventus shouted. "Event Horizon!"
Ventus rushed in and began slashing wildly with Wayward Wind, which had suddenly become a glowing sword of light, before leaping and slashing three times, each swing causing pillars of light to erupt around him. Nick was unprepared for the ferocity of the attack and was sent sprawling to the ground.
"There, how's that feel?!" Ventus growled.
"Ven, stop it!" Maylin shouted, summoning Counterpoint.
Ventus suddenly stopped in his tracks, having recognized Maylin's voice.
"W-wait a second," Ventus stated. "Maylin, is that really you?"
"I almost thought you didn't recognize me," Maylin replied.
Ventus touched a pauldron on the side of his shoulder to dismiss his armor, revealing a boy no older than Maylin, with spiky golden-blonde hair and blue eyes.
"You look so different than the last time I saw you," Ventus admitted.
"Well, Ven, it's been almost four years," Maylin laughed. "I'm not the same mousey girl I was before I started learning magic."
"No kidding," Ventus replied. "But... I really do want to know where Aqua is."
Maylin glanced at her reflection in Counterpoint. "I don't know where exactly she is at the moment, Ven, but we did run into Aqua recently. She went back to the Land of Departure... well, what's left of it... in hopes she might find you guys coming back. Where have you been, Ven?"
Ven sighed in defeat. This was always the hardest part.
"I'm... still looking for Terra."
Maylin sighed in defeat herself. "He's still missing?"
"What exactly happened to him?" Haruka wondered.
"Terra was taken by the darkness when the Land of Departure was attacked," Ventus explained. "And I promised myself I wouldn't go back, if there was anything left, until I found him."
Maylin turned back to her companions. "Terra was one of us back then," Maylin explained. "And if I could compare him to any of us, he fights a lot like you do, Haruka."
"Me? Really?" Haruka gasped.
"Yeah!" Maylin giggled. "Terra's all brute force and no real technique, just like how Aqua and I are the supreme mages and Ven and Nick are somewhere in the middle."
Haruka just sweatdropped at Maylin's comparison. I have technique, I just don't often use it... Haruka thought.
"So, to answer your question, Ven, even though I don't know where exactly Aqua is right now, I still think you should go look for her," Maylin proclaimed. "She can't have traveled too far. Maybe you'll have better luck finding Terra together."
"And we'll keep an eye out for Terra while we're traveling," Haruka continued. "It's the least we can do."
"Honestly, I'm worried about him," Ventus admitted. "I don't know what exactly could have happened, but Terra's always had temptation issues."
"Issues? What kind?" Nick wondered.
"Terra has been trying to keep his inner darkness in check for a while," Ventus stated, letting the memories flood through his mind. "Master Eraqus was very strict about his policies on light and darkness. Terra just barely missed his first chance at the Mark of Mastery because of it. After we talked to Master Eraqus about it, he actually decided to let Terra take the exam again. But just as it was about to begin, a terrible darkness invaded the Land of Departure and took Terra away from us before we could fight it off."
Ventus glanced at Wayward Wind. "And I have no idea if she's coming back for me or Aqua anytime soon. I've had to stay on my toes for a very long time because of that."
Maylin suddenly broke out into a sunny smile, confusing Ventus for a second. "Is this darkness named Izanami-no-Mikoto, by any chance?"
"Yes, the mistress of eternal darkness," Ventus replied. "I don't know when she plans to attack again, but when she does, I just hope that I can..."
"She's toast."
Maylin's simply reply made Ventus stare at her in complete shock. "W-wait, you mean someone defeated her? Who could have possibly done that?!"
"You're lookin' at 'em," Haruka responded, gesturing to herself, Maylin, and Nick. "We sent that freak show packing once and for all."
"W-what? I didn't think it was possible once she reunited with her other vessels!" Ventus proclaimed.
"One of her vessels was fighting back," Nick explained, forcing those shadows back into the deepest recesses of his mind. Now wasn't the time, after all. "She gave us the opportunity to strike when Izanami-no-Mikoto wasn't anywhere near full strength, and we took her out for good."
"Then... there might still be a chance to save Terra after all!" Ventus exclaimed, touching the pauldron on his shoulder to re-summon his Keyblade Armor.
"Wait, wait, you're leaving already?" Maylin gasped.
"I'm gonna take your advice, Maylin, and go find Aqua," Ventus answered. "Maybe we can find him before it's too late. But for now, I want you to take this."
Ventus reached behind him and tossed a charm to Nick, who quickly recognized it as a Summon Charm much like the one Aqua had given him before.
"Now you've got another ally to call on if you need some help," Ventus stated. "I saw that Aqua must have given you one, too."
"Thanks for the help," Nick responded. "We'll likely need all the help we can get to take down the Organization."
"Oh, yeah! Watch out for those nutballs, okay, Ven?" Maylin exclaimed, realizing that Ventus most likely didn't know about them. "Organization XIII is a group of thirteen black-hooded Nobodies that are trying to find the way to Kingdom Hearts. We've taken down two of them already, but watch your step, because I'm sure the others have even stranger powers."
Ventus just nodded before transforming Wayward Wind into his Keyblade Glider and flying off through a portal back to the Lanes Between.
"Well... that was interesting," Tatsumaki admitted.
"Trust me, Tatsu, when you've seen all the crazy things we've seen on our adventures, you'll get used to it pretty quick," Haruka answered.
"MONSTER APPROACHING CITY Z, THREAT LEVEL: DEMON. PLEASE EVACUATE AS INSTRUCTED."
"Oh, jeez, not again," Tatsumaki groaned. "I hope it's not another small fry. I'm seriously looking forward to an actual challenge this time. And I'm really hoping that one-punch baldie doesn't beat me to him this time..."
Tatsumaki turned back to the trio. "You guys will be okay while I'm mopping up, right?"
"Of course," Nick replied. "If any Heartless jump us, I'll just sic our new summon on them."
"Good to know," Tatsumaki laughed before flying off like a lightning bolt towards the site of the monster attack.
"She's awesome," Maylin giggled, stars twinkling in her eyes.
"Well, of course she is," Haruka answered. "You practically felt how strong she is whenever Nick summoned her, remember?"
"While this is... well, nice and all, shouldn't we be looking for the keyhole while we're here?" Nick quipped.
"Oh, crap, I almost forgot about that!" Maylin shouted.
"Man, we keep getting distracted, don't we?" Haruka laughed.
"Hey, if we can help people on the way, it's worth it to get a little distracted," Nick teased, remembering how they'd assisted Mei at Watchpoint Antarctica.
As the trio rushed off to scour City Z for the keyhole, they just missed the figure watching them from behind a nearby fountain.
"Is that... is that them? Wow, they're so strong..."
Eventually, the trio's travels took them all the way to the center of the city, where a Godzilla-sized monster was stomping around, aiming its fire breath at Tatsumaki, who simply flew through the bursts with ease to attack the monster.
"Holy crap, that thing is massive," Maylin gasped. "I hope we never have to fight something like that again. Izanami-no-Mikoto was enough when it comes to kaiju."
Nick was about to respond, but immediately summoned the Kingdom Key when a horde of Heartless spawned all around them, most of them being Large Bodies and Bandits with the occasional Lance Knight and Gargoyle Knight.
"Oh, lordy, now they're mixing?!" Maylin exclaimed. "How do we deal?"
"Simple," Nick quipped, bringing out the Dragon Charm that Ventus had given him. "We summon our new buddy and waste them all."
"I like the way you think!" Maylin laughed as Nick concentrated his powers on the Dragon Charm, causing Maylin and Haruka to disappear.
The Heartless seemed to sense the power that was about to erupt, as several of the Large Bodies backed away.
("Id ~ Purpose" by Hiroki Morishita plays)
Nick held the Dragon Charm to the sky, and glowing green wings of light burst from either side of the charm, eventually wrapping around it in a cocoon-like fashion. A few seconds passed before the wings opened up, revealing a girl seemingly no older than Nick with long mint-green hair and purple eyes, along with a rather revealing dress that Nick honestly didn't believe fit someone so young.
Despite this, Nick could feel the strong magical aura she radiated, making him realize that this girl was probably one of those "far older than their appearance suggests" kind of people.
One of the Bandits leaped for the girl, only for her to quickly raise her hand and blast it to dust with a powerful burst of fire.
"Yeah! Don't even think of messing with Nowi!" the girl shouted, floating over to Nick's side and adopting a battle stance.
Nick nodded to his new ally, and together they charged the horde.
A pair of Large Bodies attempted a pincer attack, but Nowi stopped their charge cold with a double lightning bolt attack that dropped both of the Large Bodies, giving Nick ample time to circle around to their backsides and finish them both off with a double swing.
One of the Lance Knights decided to attack Nowi herself, but she stopped it cold with a spiral of fire around her, forcing the Lance Knight backwards so that Nick could split it in half with a flying Blitz attack.
A Gargoyle Knight lunged with its weapon, only for Nick to block it before it could even touch Nowi, then counter its swing enough so that it froze up and allowed Nick to release the Possessor within, instantly crumbling the Gargoyle Knight.
Nowi floated around the Heartless that were still spawning in, dropping spheres of fire and powerful lightning bolts to vaporize them by the dozens.
"Yeah, that's how we do it!" Nowi giggled.
But, just when it seemed to be over, more enemies spawned in, this time being a pack of Nobodies, including many Creepers, Dusks, and Assassins.
"Oh, great, now we have to deal with Nobodies," Nick groaned, switching his keyblade to Absolute Sword. "Why does my luck absolutely blow?!"
"No worries! We'll stomp 'em all flat!" Nowi proclaimed, surrounding herself with green light shaped like dragon's wings. When the wing cocoon opened again, she had transformed into her Manakete form, a large, neon-green dragon with feathery wings. Nowi gestured her head to Nick, and he got the message quickly, jumping onto Nowi's back and holding on as she barreled towards the swarm of Nobodies.
Nowi simply swiped at any Nobodies that dared get close to her, breathing fire to get rid of any long-range pests while Nick played fire support, blasting at Dusks and Creepers with spells from far away.
After a few more rounds of this magical assault, both Nick and Nowi silently agreed it was time to end this battle. Nowi concentrated her magical powers, surrounding her dragon body with flashes of fire and electricity, while Nick channeled his ice and water powers.
As more Nobodies closed in on them, Nick and Nowi unleashed their maelstrom of elemental might in the form of a four-element shockwave that spread out from them at the speed of lightning, instantly vaporizing the horde upon contact.
Once the field was clear, Nowi transformed back to normal, smiling brightly at Nick. "That was fun, huh?" Nowi giggled.
"Always cool to see what we can accomplish," Nick replied.
Nowi spun around and leaped up to kiss Nick on the cheek before returning to the Dragon Charm in a flash of light.
"She seems so young, despite how powerful she is," Haruka stated once she and Maylin had returned. "I can't imagine what she might be feeling about losing her world."
"Here's hoping we can find it and get it back soon," Maylin admitted.
A loud explosion caught the trio's attention, and they looked up just in time to see the kaiju that Tatsumaki had been fighting explode into many, many chunks after a vortex of psychic energy ripped it apart.
"Well, she's done with that thing," Maylin giggled.
"Even kaiju fall before her might," Haruka stated.
Once the battlefield was calm again, Tatsumaki darted back to where the trio was watching, smirking slightly as she did.
"I noticed you're impressed," Tatsumaki stated quite clearly.
"It's like you surprise me more with every time I see you," Nick admitted. "I mean, I know how powerful you are, but it seemed like being stuck in that summon jewel might have limited your powers in a way. Now that you're back and going all out, I'm honestly amazed."
"Have you found this keyhole of yours yet?" Tatsumaki asked.
"No luck yet," Nick answered. "It should be around here somewhere. It usually shows up somewhere that's important to this world."
"Maybe it would be somewhere around the Hero Association?" Tatsumaki quipped.
"Worth a shot," Nick realized.
"I'll provide the transportation," Tatsumaki stated, raising her hands and covering the trio in her psychic hold, allowing them to float into the air with her as she flew off towards the Hero Association building that could be seen far off in the distance, a gigantic tower of black steel.
"This is AWESOME!" Maylin shouted, doing twirls through the air.
"It really feels wonderful to be able to fly, even when its only because of psychic assistance," Haruka quipped. "So let's enjoy the ride!"
Tatsumaki allowed a brief smile at her comrades' antics, but tensed up when she sensed something approaching extremely fast.
Suddenly grinding to a halt, Tatsumaki quickly raised her hands and summoned a psychic barrier, just in time for a large, wyvern-like Heartless to crash into it.
This new Heartless was a large, draconian creature with predominantly brown skin, a tan belly, and black shoulders, feet, and tail tip. It had a rather thin body, but large, three-toed feet, each sporting orange talons. It also had rather short and bulky wings when compared to its feet and tail, which ended in a large, misshapen club with three conical, orange spikes on it.
"What the hell is this thing?" Tatsumaki wondered.
"Oh, fan-freaking-tastic, it's a Dustflier," Maylin groaned.
"A Dustflier?!" Haruka exclaimed.
"Is this one a tricky customer?" Nick wondered, summoning Fairy Stars to his hands.
"Ooh, I hate these stubborn things," Maylin growled, quickly summoning Counterpoint. "Let's take this thing out now."
"Can you keep us aloft, Tatsu?" Haruka asked, summoning Rumbling Rose.
"Not a problem at all," Tatsumaki answered. "Just do your thing, okay?"
"With gusto," Nick proclaimed, dashing forward and attacking the Dustflier with an overhead swing. Haruka followed up with a horizontal strike, and Maylin finished up the triple attack with a point-blank Magic Hour.
However, this barely seemed to do anything to the Dustflier, as it simply flew away and aimed an attack for Tatsumaki.
"Oh, sorry, but that's not working today," Tatsumaki taunted, unleashing a quick flare of psychic energy to drive the Dustflier away from her. Undaunted, the Dustflier soared around before dashing like lightning towards Nick.
Nick simply stood his, well, 'ground', ready for whatever this thing would pull. When the Dustflier pulled a u-turn and aimed its claws for him, Nick simply cast Reflect to block the strike before blasting it in the face with a point-blank Thunder spell.
Maylin followed up with a Thundaga spell, raining lightning bolts down on the Dustflier's back. But still, the creature would not stay down.
While the Dustflier was stunned from Maylin's Thundaga spell, Nick flew in to waylay the Dustflier with an Ars Arcanum, putting as much brute force as he could into each strike.
Sadly, it once again didn't seem to do much to the Dustflier.
"I see what you mean about stubborn," Nick quipped. "This freak just refuses to die!"
"All right, I'm busting out the big guns," Maylin proclaimed, switching to Stormfall and raising it to the sky. "Style Change, Spellweaver!"
When the light died down, Maylin was surrounded by a radiant white glow. Even her eyes were twinkling with the light of a star. Stormfall was floating by her right hand, being telekinetically controlled by Maylin with this new power of hers.
"Let's see how you like this, wacko!" Maylin exclaimed flashing forward to attack, swinging Stormfall in wide, sweeping strikes, her keyblade spinning around as it slashed through the air. After about four strikes, Maylin aimed Stormfall straight for the Dustflier and fired off a bright burst of magic from its tip, the blast driving the Dustflier back.
Not wasting any time, Maylin dashed forward after the Dustflier. Energy began to gather around Stormfall, and Maylin began to spin around like a ballet dancer, spirals of light surrounding her as she did so and lifting the Dustflier higher into the air with each hit.
After about seven straight seconds of spinning, Maylin finished with a swift flourish of Stormfall that created a large ice crystal above her, which instantly shattered and created a shockwave that blasted the Dustflier into a tumble.
Finally, damage seemed to be showing on the beast, even if it stubbornly refused to die. The Dustflier began darting around, almost too fast for any of them to keep track.
"Damn it, stop flash-stepping so I can grab you and rip you apart!" Tatsumaki exclaimed, trying and failing to aim her psychic grip for the Dustflier due to how fast it was flying.
An idea popped up in Nick's head, and he flew over to Tatsumaki.
"I think I've got a plan here, if you'll let me," Nick offered. Tatsumaki just nodded, even if she gasped in apparent shock as Nick let his hand rest gently on her head.
"Harmonization Ready!" Nick shouted, a silver ring of light surrounding him and Tatsumaki before shattering a few seconds later. The Dustflier charged both of them, sensing a vulnerability.
"I don't think so!" Nick and Tatsumaki shouted together, raising their free hands in unison and catching the Dustflier in a double psychic grip, freezing it completely where it was floating.
"All right, you two, do the honors!" Nick shouted.
"Roger that! LET'S RIOT!" Maylin exclaimed, producing a super spell coin. "Hold fast to the ancient laws, and let magic be my guide! BIZZAJA!"
A large cloud of extremely sharp icicles surrounded the Dustflier, as did five large and spiky ice crystals. The ice crystals attacked first, ping-ponging all over the Dustflier and doing large amounts of damage, followed by the cloud of icicles, all attacking at once. While this was happening, four blocks of ice appeared around the Dustflier. Before it could even comprehend what was about to happen, the blocks erupted into four gigantic stalactites of ice, each one piercing through the Dustflier's body and finally, finally finishing it off.
The Dustflier went into a tailspin downward even as it evaporated, leaving only a large energy heart that quickly vanished.
"YES! Suck on that, flyboy!" Maylin shouted.
"I didn't know you could copy superpowers like that," Tatsumaki quipped. "You never did that when I was a summon."
"Hehehe, well, it's only because it's something I learned recently," Nick stated. "What I did there is something I call a 'Harmonization', where I basically copy the power of someone in the world I'm in for a short time. And, well, sorry if I freaked you out when I touched your head, but I gotta touch someone to be able to harmonize with them."
"I'm used to people touching my shoulder, but not my head," Tatsumaki replied..
"Well, I'm pretty affectionate to people I consider my friends," Nick admitted.
This statement seemed to surprise Tatsumaki in a way. "I'm... your friend?" Tatsumaki asked. After her horrid childhood, she had told herself that no one would ever come and save her, much like what Blast had said to her, and that she should be strong enough to save herself. This was why she normally hated the idea of friendship. But she was starting to realize some things about her attitude needed to be changed, especially after her time stuck in the Psyemerald as one of Nick's summons.
Despite her initial views of friendship being little more than a burden, Tatsumaki had been forced to admit that, in truth, she simply didn't want to be alone.
"Is that okay with you, Tatsu? Or did I... cross a line or something?" Nick wondered.
"No, no! I... I just..."
Tatsumaki sighed, then floated over and hugged Nick.
"I... could use some more of those."
Haruka and Maylin just smiled at the beautiful friendship moment.
"How does he do it?" Haruka quipped.
"He's got charisma, obviously," Maylin giggled. "How do you think I fell in love with him?"
"Because he's a good kid," Haruka responded. "Always has been as long as we've known him."
Once the moment had passed, the four heroes continued their flight to the Hero Association building.
"Hey, that wasn't there before," Tatsumaki proclaimed, pointing towards the building. Sure enough, streaks of light were forming into the keyhole they had been searching for, displayed proudly on the front of the building.
"Isn't that convenient?" Maylin giggled. "It shows up just as we get there."
"Maybe it reacts to any keyblade wielders that approach it," Haruka wondered. "That's always been a theory of mine."
Nick summoned the Kingdom Key to his hands and aimed it for the keyhole, firing a beam of light from the tip that flew towards the keyhole with lightning speed and locked it off with a loud click.
"That's another one down," Haruka stated. "We're rolling, all right."
"So, that's all you have to do?" Tatsumaki wondered. "Just lock up that keyhole and this world's all right?"
"Yep," Nick replied. "The keyhole is how the Heartless get to the heart of a world. We lock the only door, and they can't destroy that world anymore."
"Sounds simple," Tatsumaki quipped. "Well, they're probably wondering just what the hell that was down there, so I'd better go and report before they lose their minds."
Tatsumaki reached into a pocket of her dress and produced a small charm, shaped like a much-less detailed version of her face, and handed it off to Nick. "A small thanks for helping out. You could probably use it more than I can," Tatsumaki admitted.
"Don't I know it," Nick stated as he accepted the charm and attached it to the Kingdom Key's chain. The keyblade it transformed into had a short, light green handle and a diamond-shaped, black guard, the top of which was decorated by two bright green teardrop shapes. The tip and base of the shaft were white, while the center is dark green, lined by three diamond-shaped gaps and black, concave edges. The head of the blade is silver, and the teeth are comprised of three large emerald-green teardrop shaped spikes with black edges and a shining green "burst" effect from the top of the spikes. The entire keyblade was surrounded by a soft green glow, obviously meant to emulate Tatsumaki's psychic power. As Nick studied the weapon, the words Psychic Punch came to Nick's mind.
"Well, I'll see you guys around," Tatsumaki stated. "If you ever need my help, just send me a thought and I'll be there to kick some ass."
"Wouldn't have it any other way," Maylin giggled as Tatsumaki floated down to the ground to let the trio land on safe footing before flying off like a bullet to the Hero Association.
"Well, that was fun, huh?" Haruka quipped. "Always nice to revisit a friend."
"One thing, though, girls," Nick stated. "We haven't found a gate to open yet."
"Oh, jeez, you're right!" Maylin exclaimed. "We usually opened a gate right after finding the keyhole!"
"Which means we might still have work to do here," Haruka replied. "Let's see if we can find anything."
"Um... excuse me?"
Nick was debating on whether or not to raise his keyblade in defense, but the voice that had just addressed them sounded kind of shy, and he didn't want to unintentionally scare anyone off, so he let Psychic Punch disappear for the moment as he turned around to face his addresser.
She was a girl about his age, with long orange-red hair that framed her face, with her bangs falling over her forehead and past her eyebrows and the rest of her hair tied back in two long pigtails. that reach past her waist on either side of her head. This girl also had fair skin and light blue eyes, and was wearing a white dress with black straps that fell over her shoulders and tied together in a bow on the front, with matching sleeves on both of her arms, and white pants with grey boots.
"Can we... help you?" Maylin tentatively asked the girl.
"Eep!" the girl squeaked, instantly backing a few steps away.
"Easy, easy," Haruka stated. "We mean you no harm, promise."
"Do you have a name, stranger?" Maylin quipped.
"My... my name is Strelitzia," the girl answered. "I hope you don't think I'm creepy or anything by saying this, but... I've been following you for a while, to all the worlds you've been to. I-I'm not a stalker, in case you were wondering! I-I was just... I just wanted to see you in action, and... well..."
Strelitzia blushed like mad before continuing. "You're all so amazing... so much stronger than even I could have believed... I wanted to talk to you for quite a while, but I... I didn't know if I could get that chance... I didn't want you to think I'm weird or anything..."
"Well, trust me, Strelitzia, when you've seen all the crazy crap that we've seen, not much really registers as weird anymore," Nick admitted.
"T-that's good..." Strelitzia sighed. "Hey, before you leave to go back on your quest, I-I wanted to a-ask you something."
"What is it?" Nick wondered.
"Would you... by any chance, like to have... a d-d-duel with me?"
That had been an unexpected request, one which had all three keyblade wielders stunned into silence.
"I-I just want to see how strong you are personally!" Strelitzia babbled. "I figured the best way to do that was to ask you for a duel..."
"If you've been following us, then you know how strong we are," Nick replied. "I'm worried I might hurt you or something..."
"I can hold my own," Strelitzia responded. "You don't have to worry about little old me."
Surprising all of them, Strelitzia flicked her right hand out and summoned a keyblade. This keyblade had a light grey handle, and its pommel and guard resembled a silvery blue bough bursting with leaves. The guard was asymmetrical, with an opening on the side of the teeth. The base of the keyblade featured an etching of a silver, blue-eyed cobra whose tail was curled into an infinity helix shape. The shaft was formed by a bluish silver, jagged, kris-like blade with a wide, darkened middle, which is etched with a cream-colored ivy design. Curved, leafy boughs serve as the keyblade's teeth, and the keychain was comprised of small, silver sprigs, and its token was a leafed, silver talisman.
"Man, this adventure just keeps on surprising us, doesn't it?" Maylin quipped.
Nick just stood there for a second, the sight of Strelitzia's keyblade causing something in his mind to emerge.
Wait, what the hell? Nick thought. What's this feeling? Why does it seem like... I've seen that keyblade before? ...hold on, that can't be right. I've only known what keyblades are for about a year now!
"Um... please don't hold back, okay?" Strelitzia asked. "H-Here I come!"
Nick was completely unsure how to handle what happened next. His first impressions of Strelitzia made her out to be a very shy girl, sorta timid even though he knew she held a will of steel under that façade. After all, Marie had been the same way when she was younger.
So, with that impression in mind, Nick was completely unprepared for Strelitzia to launch herself like a rocket straight for him, swinging her keyblade, Anguis, with such fierce swiftness that Nick barely even had any time to parry the attack, let alone think of a defensive strategy.
"Holy hell, that was fast!" Maylin exclaimed.
Nick quickly raised Psychic Punch and pushed Strelitzia back, only for her to jump right back into the fray with a swift three-swing combo that Nick just barely managed to parry. Just as Nick was recovering from his defense, Strelitzia lunged back with an overhead swing that sent Nick sprawling.
Nick went into a roll to minimize the damage before leaping through the air, hoping to catch Strelitzia off guard with an aerial swing, only to find that option swiftly neutralized when Strelitzia swung Anguis upwards, knocking him off balance enough for her to leap after him and perform an overhead slash that spiked Nick back to the ground.
"Wow, it's almost like she's a different person when she has that keyblade," Haruka quipped. "But... I could swear I've seen that keyblade somewhere before..."
Nick made it a point to leap to his feet and jump away as Strelitzia charged for his position, deciding it was time to get serious. Nick switched back to the Kingdom Key and held it into the sky, wrenching his hands out to split it into two identical copies that quickly transformed into Oathkeeper and Oblivion.
"All right, now we're getting somewhere," Nick quipped before rushing in to meet Strelitzia's latest strike. The two clashed for a few seconds, each parrying and defending before striking back in equal measure.
After blocking a particularly vicious stab attack, Nick jumped over Strelitzia, firing off Thunder spells from both of his keyblades straight down, causing an electric explosion that momentarily staggered Strelitzia.
Nick took advantage of this chance and went to town, attacking with a left slash with Oathkeeper, then a right slash with Oblivion, followed by a spinning attack with both keyblades. Nick continued his attack with a double upward slash followed by a downward angled double slash, then finished the combo by thrusting both keyblades forward in a stabbing motion, followed by a double uppercut that launched Strelitzia into the air. Wasting no time, Nick leaped into the air after her and continued his attack, starting with a wide slash from Oathkeeper, a stiff right cross from Oblivion, then a pirouette with keyblades extended, and finished with a somersaulting spin slash.
Strelitzia dropped back to the ground, balancing herself on Anguis. "O-okay... I know when I've lost... you're really strong, you know that?"
"I've been told that a lot," Nick quipped once he'd landed on the ground, letting Oathkeeper and Oblivion vanish and re-summoning the Kingdom Key. "You completely blew my expectations out of the water, Strelitzia. No way in hell did I expect you to come at me like that."
"W-Well... if we meet again in the future..." Strelitzia gasped. "I hope I can keep surprising you..."
Nick raised the Kingdom Key and cast Curaga on Strelitzia, fully healing her.
"Well, I should probably get going now," Strelitzia stated, letting her own keyblade disappear. "I do have some things to do, after all."
"Wait!" Maylin exclaimed. "Will we see you again?"
"You just may," Strelitzia giggled. "I want to see you grow stronger, so hopefully you can stop the darkness that's growing closer."
Strelitzia reached into her pocket and pulled out a small crystal orb so she could toss it over to Nick. "Here, take this. You'll probably find more use for it than I would," Strelitzia proclaimed before raising her hand and summoning a highly-decorated book.
"And... Nick?" Strelitzia asked, once again surprising Nick, as he was pretty sure he'd never told her his name. "I hope you remember soon."
Before Nick could ask what that meant, Strelitzia opened the book and flipped through its pages before chanting a spell to warp away in a flash of pink light.
"Wow, she has a spellbook, too?" Maylin quipped. "How about that..."
"Hey, Nick?" Haruka asked. "What did she mean by 'remember soon'?"
Nick looked up at the sky, still pondering that exact question. "Wish I could tell you, Haruka..."
Nick recoiled in surprise as the orb he'd been given began to glow with a bright light, though he quickly recovered enough to hold the Kingdom Key aloft.
Energy began to gather around Kingdom Key's teeth, before eventually absorbing into the ground below Nick and creating the shape of a crown under his feet. As wind began to swirl around Nick's body as he channeled his power, the glow surrounding the crystal created a wave of light that eventually formed into a large keyhole in the sky.
Nick jumped back, spinning Kingdom Key a few times before aiming and firing a beam of light from the keyblade into the keyhole. Reality seemed to shatter in a large circle around the keyhole, lines of light flowing into it before creating a bright flare that caused the keyhole to disappear.
"And there we go," Maylin proclaimed. "Now we can move on."
But as Haruka activated the teleporters, she couldn't stop thinking about what she'd seen on Strelitzia's book. There was no way that was possible, right?
"And world clear!" Maylin exclaimed. "Shall we move on to the next one, buddies?"
"Hold on just a second," Haruka replied even as she began to pilot the Gummi Ship through the Lanes Between in search of the next world that needed their help. "I saw something strange about Strelitzia's book, and, well... Maylin, please don't think I'm crazy or anything..."
"Hey, we're all a little crazy in our own ways, aren't we?" Maylin admitted. "Let's hear it."
"...I think Strelitzia was carrying a Book of Prophecies."
Maylin's jaw nearly hit the floor when Haruka uttered those three words that the young mage never thought she'd hear again.
"Wait, I thought those things had all been destroyed!" Maylin exclaimed.
"Um, could I maybe get an explanation?" Nick asked. "What's a Prophecy Book or whatever?"
"The Book of Prophecies is an ancient tome that, according to legends, can actually see the future by transcribing its events in their pages," Haruka explained.
"Eons ago, before Izanami-no-Mikoto's reign of terror, five extremely powerful keyblade wielders, the Foretellers, were given a copy of the Book of Prophecies to foresee the future and hopefully prevent a war," Maylin continued.
Nick easily caught Maylin's inflection on that last part. "I assume something in that went horribly wrong?"
"Good to see you still catch on quickly," Maylin giggled. "The Book of Prophecies actually ended with a pretty damning warning: 'The fated land will be the battleground for a great war. Light will see defeat and expire, while darkness prevails evermore.'"
"And I'm also assuming that the darkness in question was Izanami-no-Mikoto?" Nick asked.
"Nailed it again, buddy," Maylin proclaimed.
"The Foretellers each created Unions of fellow keyblade wielders in order to gather enough light to oppose the darkness they knew was coming, in hopes of preventing that awful future from coming to pass," Haruka continued. "But... something went wrong."
"Distrust started spreading among the Foretellers, simply due to the fact that one of them had apparently been accused of being a traitor," Maylin stated. "In the end, one of the Foretellers was struck down by her own comrade, having fallen to darkness in his hopes of eliminating the traitor. This, if I remember correctly, was actually the event that gave Izanami-no-Mikoto the jumpstart she needed to grow in power and conquer that world."
"In essence, the Foretellers actually ended up causing the very war they had hoped to avert with their knowledge of the future," Haruka continued. "That was when the remaining Foretellers decided to destroy their books so that nothing like this would ever come to pass again."
"Which begs the question of why Strelitzia has a Book of Prophecies if they were all supposed to be destroyed," Maylin quipped. "I mean, jeez, how many mysteries do we need to solve before this crazy quest's over?!"
"I guess all we can do is keep going until we find some answers," Nick replied as he felt the Gummi Ship stop in front of what was most likely their next destination.
The world in question was represented by a large tree of seemingly divine nature, though it more resembled a normal tree than the spiraling and twisting towers of ALfheim's World Tree. To the far right of the tree was a castle no doubt representing a medieval capital city.
No one said anything as they entered the connection route, still lost in thought about what Strelitzia's possession of a Book of Prophecies meant.
Nick was curious about if it had something to do with the future where Lily had come from, where he had died to protect his future daughter. Maybe Strelitzia was trying to prevent that future in her own way, much like Lily was doing now.
And stranger still, Nick's thoughts would turn to Anguis, the keyblade that Strelitzia had wielded. An odd, extremely fuzzy memory had jumped into his mind when he'd seen the keyblade.
What exactly did it mean?
Despite all his musings about the future (time travel was a cornucopia of disturbing concepts, after all), Nick decided to just take it by ear as their journey continued.
He knew they'd find their answers soon enough. They always did.
To be continued...
New Harmonization acquired!
Telekinetic Tornado
Drive Gauge Points Needed: 3
Purpose: Tap into Tatsumaki's psychic power to snag enemies, move objects, and solve puzzles in inventive ways.
New keyblade acquired!
Psychic Punch
Strength: 14
Magic: 7
Ability: Critical Plus
Description:A keyblade representing the immense strength of the world's most powerful psychic hero. A powerful weapon, capable of inflicting devastating critical blows and increasing critical hit chances by 50%.
New summon acquired!
Nowi, the Eternal Youth
Drive Gauge Points Needed: 3
Purpose: Draw enemies to one place for easier battles, and attack with wide-range elemental bursts of fire and lightning and other spells. When in Manakete form, trades elemental power for immense physical strength and devastating combo attack.
Limit Attack: Vortex Breath, where Nowi uses her dragon breath to draw in nearby enemies and keep them bound to one spot for Nick to attack easily.
Charge Gauge: For every Heartless or Nobody killed, the Charge Gauge fills 1/6th to allow Nowi to transform into her Manakete form. When in Manakete form, for every Heartless or Nobody killed, the Charge Gauge fills 1/6th to allow usage of Nowi's finishing move.
Finishing Move: Elemental Maelstrom, when the Charge Gauge is full in Nowi's Manakete form, unleash all of Nowi's elemental powers at once in a great burst of magic that destroys all enemies on screen at once.
On the next episode:
Nick: Oh, this doesn't look pleasant. This world's at war, apparently.
Maylin: After just talking about a war, I don't think this bodes well, does it?
Haruka: Well, how about we go down there and see what's up?
Tiki: Strange ones from another land...
Maylin: Hey, another girl that can turn into a dragon like Nowi! Maybe this is her home world?
Haruka: Wait, I'm confused.
Tiki: Though you radiate brilliant light, I can also sense a great darkness from within you. What is this strange power of yours?
Maylin: N-Nick? You okay?
Nick: W-what... what's happening to me?! Next time on W.I.T.C.H.: Key to Her Heart II, "The Voice of Naga"!
Nick, Maylin, & Haruka: May your hearts be your guiding key!
