Stepping out of the portal, Nick was the first to notice that they had returned to a world they'd visited before; Port Mystic, to be precise.
"That's odd," Nick wondered. "Why are we back in Port Mystic?"
"I know we sealed the keyhole here," Haruka noted. "But I'm still getting this strange feeling..."
"We'd better split up," Mina proposed. "That way, we should be able to find the source faster."
"Good idea, Mina," Nick replied. "Haruka, you head to the west. Mina, you take the north side. Maylin, you go east. I'll take downtown."
That said, Nick and the gang split up and went their separate ways.
In the downtown area, Nick began looking for any signs of a disturbance in the world's aura. So far, everything seemed all right.
"I wonder if it was a false alarm..." Nick wondered as he continued his search.
After about 20 minutes, Nick was contemplating heading back to the suburbs, until a flash of silver caught his eye. Nick quickly turned around and noticed a silver orb floating in-between a nearby alleyway.
"Of course," Nick stated, walking up to the orb, which clearly resembled the Absent Silhouette orbs that he'd seen recently. This orb had three keyblades on it. The first two Nick recognized as Oathkeeper and Oblivion, which meant that Roxas was the first opponent. The third keyblade on the orb resembled Diamond Dust, Elyon's keyblade, only this one was a shade darker and the keychain design was different.
"Could that be Sakura?" Nick asked, vividly remembering that during the Keyblade Wars, Phobos had tried to turn Elyon into a Heartless by corrupting the Crown of Light. He'd succeeded for a short while, until Nick and the gang had encountered them after defeating Vexen. Nick had been able to purify the crown before any lasting damage had been done.
When they had journeyed to Castle Oblivion in hopes of stopping Organization XIII, Nick and the gang had encountered someone very similar to Elyon wearing a black Organization robe. The mysterious look-alike had introduced herself as Sakura, the Crown of Meridian; Elyon's Nobody.
As Nick, Sora, and the Guardians made their way through the card-worlds of Castle Oblivion, Elyon had faced off with Sakura, eventually defeating her.
Nick had remembered Elyon telling him that Sakura had something of a crush on Roxas, which alone was odd enough, since Nobodies had little, if any, actual emotion.
"So, it's a double battle they want, huh?" Nick stated to himself, preparing to jump into the orb. A distinctively familiar voice stopped him before he could.
"Is that you, Nick?"
Nick turned around. His old friend Dorie Goodwyn was standing right behind him, though she seemed a few years older.
"Dorie! You look a little different," Nick noted.
"I guess it must be because of the magic in the air," Dorie noted, holding her magic wand, the Sweet Poron, in her left hand.
"Hey, Nick? I never got a chance to thank you properly for saving my life back there," Dorie explained, referring to Nick and the girls' first visit to Port Mystic, when Will had shown up and nearly disposed of Dorie. Nick had saved Dorie at the last minute with a special power that the Oathkeeper seemed to radiate whenever there was a crisis situation.
"Is there anything I could do to repay you?"
"I think there might be. You see this orb?" Nick replied, pointing towards the Absent Silhouette orb.
"Yeah. What is it?"
"There's two members of a group called 'Organization XIII' waiting for me in there, and I'm not sure I can take them both on my own. Could you help me out?"
"I'd love to," Dorie responded.
"Okay, then. Before we go, let me give you something," Nick continued, holding out his free hand. Almost instantaneously, his backup keyblade, Divine Rose, appeared in his hands.
"Here, take this. You can use it to fight," Nick stated, handing Divine Rose to Dorie, who took it and held it in a fighting stance, similar to Will's fighting pose (one hand sticking out, the other holding the keyblade forward).
"I don't think I've ever used one of these things before," Dorie noted, studying the keyblade.
"Trust me, Dorie, the keyblade knows. You'll pick up a good fighting style as we go along," Nick reassured.
"Thanks, Nick," Dorie replied.
"Shall we?"
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(Worlds are just like us, in a sense. They have hearts, they can feel when something's wrong, and at times, they can fight back.)
S.P.D. Gold Ranger presents:
W.I.T.C.H.: Key to Her Heart
This Chapter: May 15, 2007
Summary: Back in Port Mystic, Nick and a grown-up Dorie go head to head against Roxas and Sakura. After that, Luxord appears in Taisho Era Japan, and he seems to be hiding something...
World Exploration Theme 1 (Port Mystic): "Welcome to Wonderland"
Absent Silhouette Theme 1 (Roxas and Sakura): "The Other Promise" from Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+
World Exploration Theme 2 (Taisho Era, Japan): "A Very Small Wish"
Absent Silhouette Theme 2 (Luxord): "The 13th Struggle"
Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing used in this story except for my characters and created keyblades. W.I.T.C.H. and Kingdom Hearts are copyright Disney and Square Enix. Ojamajo Doremi is copyright 4Kids Entertainment, Toei Animation, and whoever licenses it in their country. Steel Angel Kurumi is copyright ADV Films. Can we get on with this now?
BTW, check my profile page in the next few days for previews of stories coming from me this summer!
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Chapter 10: Sidequesting Adventures, Part 2! Clearing the Absent Silhouette!
Coming out of the orb, Nick and Dorie stepped into the area Nick immediately recognized as the Station of Serenity. Just a couple feet away, there were two black-hooded figures waiting for Nick and Dorie.
"Are they the ones you were telling me about?" Dorie asked.
"Yeah," Nick responded, holding the Oathkeeper in a fighting stance.
"You came after all," Sakura taunted. "I was beginning to think you'd chickened out."
"And miss the fight of the century?" Nick shot back. "You must be kidding."
"All right, then," Roxas continued, drawing his Oathkeeper and Oblivion. "Let's get into it."
With that, the battle began.
Roxas was already on the offensive, leaping back and spinning his keyblades. Quick as a flash, Roxas struck, creating a dual shockwave. Nick swiftly dodged the attack and charged right for Roxas. Unfortunately, the Key of Destiny anticipated the move and leaped into the air, turning into a spinning keyblade tornado of sorts and striking the floor right where Nick was, knocking the keybearer off balance.
Meanwhile, Dorie and Sakura were facing each other down, waiting for the other to make the first move.
"Not much of a talker, are you?" Dorie taunted.
"I could say the same for you," Sakura shot back, holding her Dark Crystal keyblade close to her.
After a couple of seconds, it was Sakura who made the first move, turning into a mass of light (of sorts) and charging for Dorie. The young apprentice witch saw the move coming and did a sort of 360 spin before bringing Divine Rose down, trapping Sakura's keyblade.
As Sakura struggled to wrench Dark Crystal from Divine Rose's hold, Dorie saw her chance, pulling Divine Rose back and knocking Sakura skyward with a swift spin attack. Out of instinct, Dorie held her hand into the sky. As if by reflex, Dark Crystal came flying into Dorie's possession.
"How... how did you do that?" Sakura asked, quite visibly surprised that someone had taken her keyblade from her.
"I guess you could call it 'instinct'," Dorie replied, Dark Crystal floating a few inches behind her.
Dorie stole a quick glance towards the other side of the battlefield; Nick and Roxas were really going at it, trading attack after attack with their keyblades. Stars and sparks flew as keyblades clashed.
Just then, Roxas lost his balance and began falling. Nick saw his opportunity, knocking Roxas high into the air with a powerful vertical attack. Just like with Sakura, Roxas' keyblades came flying out of his hands from the force of this attack.
Not wasting any time, Nick raised his free hand. Roxas' Oathkeeper and Oblivion came flying into his possession.
"Wow. You two are quite skilled," Roxas noted.
"We make a habit of it," Nick replied, drawing his Fatal Crest keyblade as well. Dorie noted to herself that Nick looked quite intimidating with four keyblades in his possession.
With a mighty battle cry, Nick charged forward, his keyblades trailing behind him.
Suddenly, Roxas thrust his left hand out, shooting a powerful laser beam for Nick. Said beam was easily deflected by Fatal Crest. Nick noticed that whenever he performed an attack with Roxas' keyblades in his possession, they would attack all on their own.
"This may be bad," Sakura noted to Roxas. "They took our keyblades!"
"True, but there's still that other trick we learned," Roxas replied. Nick and Dorie stayed cautious, keyblades at the ready.
"You mean...?" Sakura continued, quite surprised at what Roxas was referring to.
"Exactly."
"Hello? If you two would be so kind as to stop blabbing to each other, we could finish this fight!" Nick exclaimed, getting just the slightest bit impatient.
Just then, Dorie was the first to notice that both Roxas and Sakura were brimming with dark energy.
That can't be good, Dorie thought, readying herself for whatever the two Nobodies were planning.
"Shadows of Oblivion!!" Roxas and Sakura suddenly called out, disappearing from sight.
Before Nick or Dorie could locate them, Roxas and Sakura came back into view, rushing towards the two at superluminal speeds. Each attack the Key of Destiny and Crown of Meridian made caused a sizable amount of damage, as well as knocking the two around in the air like rag dolls.
Suddenly, Nick noticed something: whenever one of them reappeared for another attack, their guard went down as they raised their weapon.
Taking advantage of this golden opportunity, Nick reached out and took hold of Sakura's arm before she could strike. Nick began spinning her around, throwing her right into Roxas just as he reappeared. This surprise attack caused the two Nobodies to crash into each other, completely out of synch.
Dropping to the glass-tiled floor of the Station of Serenity, Nick charged forward as the two were falling. Charging his keyblade with his elemental power, Nick threw it for the flailing Nobodies like a boomerang. The second the Oathkeeper struck, everything faded to white for a few seconds.
Once the flash had cleared, Roxas and Sakura stood still for a moment, their keyblades having returned to their rightful owners.
"Did we do it?" Dorie asked.
"I think so," Nick replied.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, both Roxas and Sakura disappeared, leaving behind their Absent Silhouette orb and Sakura's Dark Crystal keyblade. Dorie took a few steps towards it, and the mystic blade instantly flew into her free hand. A couple seconds passed, and the two were warped out of the arena.
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"Wow. That was actually a challenge," Nick noted once he and Dorie had returned to Port Mystic.
"I haven't had that much fun in a long time," Dorie responded, twirling the Dark Crystal keyblade she'd acquired at the end of the battle.
"Guys! What happened?" Maylin's voice rang out, as she, Mina, and Haruka ran up to Nick and Dorie.
"Just another Absent Silhouette battle," Nick explained. "Dorie and I took care of it."
Before Nick could say anything more, he suddenly felt a pulse shoot through him. Out of instinct, he pulled out his Drive orb, which was glowing a bright yellow.
Nick looked behind him; both Maylin and Haruka were glowing the same color.
"What's going on?" Dorie asked, a bit confused.
"You'll see," Nick replied before holding his arms out and concentrating.
"Light, GIVE ME STRENGTH!"
With that, the familiar silver light exploded from Nick as Maylin and Haruka disappeared from sight.
Once the flash had cleared, Nick had changed once more. This time, the silver on his clothes had shifted to a bright yellow. His right hand was tightly gripping Haruka's Sweet Crest keyblade, and floating close by his left hand was Maylin's Chinese Spirit keyblade.
"Wow! That's so cool!" Dorie exclaimed.
"I had a feeling she'd like it," Nick stated.
No sooner had Nick said that than a portal opened right behind them.
"I guess you have to go?" Dorie asked.
"Just for a little while. We'll come visit again. I promise," Nick replied before following Mina into the portal.
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This new portal led back to Taisho Era, Japan.
"Let's see if we can find the disturbance," Nick replied. "I want to get back on track as soon as possible."
After splitting up, Nick headed towards the nearby forest, where he could see a shrine standing tall. Nick looked at the sign on the entrance. It read: "Kagura Shrine".
"Wait. Isn't this where Kurumi lives?" Nick wondered.
It was at that moment that Nick noticed another Absent Silhouette orb hanging right above him. The weapon image for this one was a card.
"Luxord, huh?" Nick noted. "This will be fun."
Wasting no more time, Nick jumped into the orb, appearing in Havoc's Divide in The World that Never Was. Out in the distance, Nick could see a massive, heart-shaped moon – the essence of Kingdom Hearts.
"Am I glad these arenas are only memories," Nick noted to himself.
Suddenly, giant cards formed a sort of circle around him before dispersing to reveal Luxord, the Gambler of Fate.
"Well, well, look who decided to show up," Nick taunted.
"I'd rather we just skip the formalities," was Luxord's simple reply. "As before, the first to run out of time is the loser."
"Okay, then. Let's rock," Nick stated, brandishing the Oathkeeper.
Nick: 20:00
Luxord: 20:00
Luxord opened the battle by flinging a few of his cards for Nick, who easily cut them down with a spinning attack. Nick saw his opportunity as Luxord let his guard down, charging forward and performing a few combos on Luxord, thus slamming him into a nearby wall.
Nick: 19:15
Luxord: 17:23
Luxord picked himself up. "A challenge, is it?" the Gambler of Fate proclaimed, lining four cards up behind him. Nick ran up to Luxord, and the aforementioned cards began rotating between X and O.
"Do you know the rules?" Luxord taunted.
Nick thought for a few seconds, then made his move, striking Luxord as the first card became an O. "Not bad, kid," Luxord noted.
Nick: 18:23
Luxord: 14:18
Taking his chance, Nick rushed forward, stopping just short of Luxord and slamming the Oathkeeper into the ground. The resulting force created a shockwave that knocked the Gambler of Fate into the air.
"Cards!" Luxord chanted, riding one of his cards to the other side of the arena.
"Oh, no you don't!" Nick shouted, raising his keyblade and shouting "THUNDER!!" The resulting electric attack blew Luxord right off of his transport.
Nick began another attack, but before he could get a hit in edgewise, Luxord disappeared into one of his cards and shuffled it with a few others. "Look closely."
Nick walked up to the rotating cards and thought for a couple seconds, studying the backs of the cards when he was able to see them. Once he'd decided, Nick tapped one of the cards with his keyblade.
The card Nick had selected spun around to reveal Luxord, ejecting him from his card. Nick took the opportunity to draw his keyblades and attack, finishing with his classic "Cross Attack", in which he struck horizontally with Fatal Crest, and vertically with Oathkeeper. The force of the attack knocked Luxord far back.
Nick: 14:21
Luxord: 10:56
Nick charged again, but before he could get another combo in, Luxord jumped onto one of his cards and flew high into the air, just out of Nick's reach.
"Don't squander your time, kid!" Luxord taunted from his position in the air.
"Oh, a wise guy, huh?" Nick shot back, pulling out his Drive orb. "We'll see how snooty you are after this! Light, GIVE ME STRENGTH!"
The familiar explosion of silver light filled the arena, and when it dissipated, Nick had transformed into Limit Form.
"Strike Raid!!" Limit Form Nick exclaimed, drawing the Kingdom Key and throwing it like a boomerang for Luxord. The spinning keyblade hit its target, only to have Nick call it back and throw it again. This went on for a while until the twirling Kingdom Key finally knocked Luxord off of his card platform.
Nick: 13:21
Luxord: 07:32
Limit Form Nick began another charge, his keyblade in front of him.
"Ragnarok!!" Limit Form Nick exclaimed, floating a few inches off of the ground. As Luxord came down from his fall, Nick began performing rapid midair combos that sent the Gambler of Fate flying yet again.
Once Limit Form Nick had Luxord in his sights, he fired a stream of energy rays from the tip of the Kingdom Key, each one slamming into Luxord and doing considerable damage.
Nick: 11:54
Luxord: 04:11
Limit Form Nick wasn't done yet, however. As Luxord came tumbling down, he balanced himself and put up a shield made of cards.
"What a coward. Sonic Blade!!" Limit Form Nick exclaimed, sticking the Kingdom Key in front of him and barreling forward at superluminal speeds. Luxord couldn't bring his card shield around in time, and Nick slammed right into the Gambler of Fate before spinning a 360 and rocketing back for another strike.
The rapid assault kept up until Limit Form Nick charged forward and finished the Sonic Blade attack with a dashing uppercut that sent Luxord flying all the way to the other side of the arena.
Nick: 10:11
Luxord: 01:44
"One more! Ars Arcanum!!" Limit Form Nick shouted, his Kingdom Key glowing a familiar shade of orange. With that, he charged for Luxord, who was just picking himself up, only to be met with a rapid, merciless series of attacks from Limit Form Nick's supercharged keyblade.
Nick finished the attack with a lethal overhead strike, and that was the end of it.
Final Results:
Nick: 09:55
Luxord: 00:00
Once the flash had cleared, Luxord had recovered his cards, and was standing near the doorway back to Proof of Existence.
"You play the game quite well."
With that, he was gone, leaving behind a silver crystal. Nick picked up and put it in his pocket after reverting out of Limit Form.
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Nick leaped out of the Absent Silhouette orb, another victory under the belt.
"Let's see..." Nick thought, counting the battles he'd had with the spirits of Organization XIII. "I fought Zexion here before with Mina. After that, I fought Marluxia at Proto Merkabah, Lexaeus before the Sapphire Cup, Larxene at Mizar's Palace, Roxas and Sakura back at Port Mystic, and Axel at Timeless River. I'm a little over halfway through these fights."
Nick began contemplating what Lexaeus had said to him about the Absent Silhouette and the Thirteenth Order. "Lexaeus said that whenever I defeat a member of the Absent Silhouette, I can release their spirit into Kingdom Hearts so they can eventually become complete humans again. But that's not gonna happen if we don't stop Diablos and get Will back on our side..."
The sound of footsteps behind him caught Nick's attention. He turned around and saw Kurumi standing there.
"What's up?" Kurumi asked.
"Oh, just thinking about stuff," was Nick's simple reply.
"What kind of stuff?" Kurumi continued, her natural curiosity showing quite clearly. "Talk to me."
Nick and Kurumi began walking down the path to the forest. "You know Will? That girl I told you about?"
"The one that fell to the darkness?"
"Exactly. When she fell to the darkness, she took one of my best friends from me. Actually... Irma and I..."
It took a couple seconds, but Kurumi soon understood. "You loved Irma, didn't you?"
"I still do, Kurumi," Nick replied. "That's why I'm on this mission. My friends and I are fixing the damage that Will and the Heartless have caused to the worlds in hopes that I can find Irma and return home."
"Oh. I see," Kurumi stated. "Well, trust me, Nick. If there's anything I've learned during my time with Nakahito, it's that anything can happen if you put your mind to it. I'm sure you'll find your friends again. I promise."
"Thanks, Kurumi. That really means a lot to me."
"Nick! I found something!" Mina's voice rang out as she rushed up to Nick, holding a book in her hands.
"What's up, Mina?"
"I found this book downtown," Mina explained, holding the book out towards Nick. It looked old and kind of tattered.
"There's a note on this book. It says, 'Bring this to Leon'. Wonder what he wants with it?"
"Then we'd better go check it out," Nick replied before turning back to Kurumi.
"I gotta go, Kurumi. Thanks for the pep talk."
"Anytime!"
With that said, Nick rushed off, following Mina back to Traverse Town.
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Author's Note: Okay! I showcased Limit Form's attacks just for you guys! Now, I know the new form (which was introduced after the battle against Roxas and Sakura) didn't get much action, but I assure you, it will be featured prominently in the next chapter. Either way, here's the details:
NEW FORM!
Name: Overdrive Form
Partner(s): Maylin and Haruka
Focus: A form that handles both the Keyblade and magic.
Keyblade(s): Two (default: Sweet Crest and Chinese Spirit)
Abilities: Overdrive Strike (a powerful finisher that successively damages a single enemy), Overdrive Vortex (a powerful finisher that deals damage to many enemies by trapping them in a spinning vortex of power), Lethal Frame (a powerful finisher that casts Stop on every enemy in sight, then damages them considerably), Magic Overdrive (powers up magic)
Special Abilities: All ground combos become air combos, and Nick can move very fast.
Advancing Form Ability: Wind Flip (backflip into a second jump, covering a lot of height and reflecting any attacks for the duration of the jump)
Nick's newest form is Overdrive Form, which nicely balances strength and magic. The finishers are quite powerful, especially Lethal Frame, which I believe is also a new sleight for Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories. The Advancing Form Ability, Wind Flip, is Nick's answer to Aerial Dodge. The Wind Flip pushes Nick even higher than a full-power Aerial Dodge on his second jump, as well as deflecting any attacks targeted at him while he's in the second jump.
Next time:
Chapter 11: Monkeys on the Loose! The Storybook Tale of Kei and Yumi!
Nick and the gang bring an old book to Leon, only to discover that a whole new world lies inside it. And there's someone in this world that needs Nick's help...