Chapter 27: Killing Time
Morning had come, but one could hardly tell the difference because of the black clouds in the sky. In Lance's basement, the rebels and the heroes gathered around the table to discuss their plans for the day.
"So, what's the plan?" Turbo asked, hoping to bust some Heartless skulls today.
"Koal, Sylvia, Rokka and Triana will come with me to spy on the Heartless factory." Lance loaded bullets into his gunblade. He snapped the barrel into place and hoisted the weapon onto his shoulder, "Turbo, Venqas and Cid are gonna stay here to hold down the fort."
"Aw... DUDE!" Turbo groaned, hating being left out. "I gotta stay here with these losers while you all go and do recon?"
"You aren't exactly subtle." Koal asserted. "If we're gonna do this, we're going to need to be subtle. And last I checked, you're a talking blue hedgehog with a pink mohawk and a large hammer. Kind of an antonym to 'subtle.'"
"And you're a purple and black dragon with a bright pink belly and wings." Turbo countered, giving Koal a taste of her own deadpan medicine. Sadly for him, it was a flavor she didn't mind.
"Aerial surveillance. You'd be surprised how rarely anybody looks up."
Lance and his crew exited the basement, leaving Turbo, Venqas and Cid behind to gather dust.
"What now?" Turbo groaned, having an inherent hatred of staying in one place for extended periods of time.
"Hey, if you two're looking for something to do, why don't you go pay a visit to Merlina?" Cid could tell their looks marked them "bored out of their damn minds."
"That Sorceress from Sonic and the Black Knight?" Turbo jumped back with an astonished look upon his face.
"What's Sonic and the Black Knight?" Venqas raised an eyebrow.
"A book my father wrote. He claimed it was autobiographical. My mother claimed he was just making up an excuse for forgetting a date."
"Naw, this gal's the granddaughter of Merlin the wizard." Cid was unfamiliar with Turbo's reference, but didn't let it throw him off his focus. "She's been helpin' us with magic. I was thinking she could teach Venqas a thing or two, since Merlin taught Sora about magic."
"Yeah, maybe you'll be more useful if you learned some magic." Turbo suggested.
"Wait... magic? Me? Learn?" Ven sputtered.
"Tell her Cid sent ya." Cid instructed with a casual grin.
Venqas and Turbo approached a stone building with a sturdy wooden door that had a flame symbol engraved onto it. It was an old building, but one that was in markedly good repair.
"This is the place... I guess." Venqas remarked, reading a note Cid had given to him detailing the address. The note read, in no uncertain terms, "Old building, 'bout a block over with a flame symbol on the door. Ya can't miss it."
Venqas threw caution to the wind and knocked on the door. All of a sudden, the symbol lit up like fire, flickering a bright orange-hue.
"Whoa!" Ven gasped, fumbling a few steps backwards before Turbo caught him with his hand against Ven's back. The door creaked open to reveal a young woman in a royal-looking purple and gold cloak. She looked to be about Ven's age, perhaps a year or two older. Her skin was pale, a shade that denoted that she almost never went outside, for there were more interesting things inside.
"Can I help you?" The young woman's voice carried a faint English accent, like she was something out of medieval times. Looking upon her face, Ven could almost see Triana, as if the two were related by some anomaly. But it was just a passing thought in his cluttered mind. He spoke to the young woman,
"Uh, are you Merlina?" Ven was nervous, Turbo having made all sorts of jokes the whole way here about sorceresses doing everything from turning teenage boys into their pet cats to setting them on fire just for kicks.
"Why are you here?" The young woman glared at the mention of her name,
"Well... I uh, that is..." Venqas didn't know what to say right here, imagining saying the wrong thing and getting turned into a flaming house cat for it.
"Cid sent us." Turbo spoke up, as if giving a password.
"Oh, then Merlina I am." The young woman giggled, her demeanor changing from mysterious and off-putting to cute and inviting. "Please, come in..."
Writer's Notes:
Since apparently I didn't make it obvious what age certain characters are, Triana is fourteen-fifteen years old, Venqas is around fifteen years old, which makes Merlina roughly sixteen or seventeen, in case you were wondering.
Chapter 28: Making Magic 101
Ven and Turbo entered the young woman's home at her beckon. The door closed behind them, as if on its own free will. The house was one large room. Papers were scattered all over the granite brick floor. Lanterns lined the walls, creating light without the need for any electricity. Countless books lined the numerous bookshelves, ranging from spell books and ancient tomes to video game guides and Japanese manga.
"So, Cid sent you two?" Merlina inquired.
"Yeah, I'm Venqas and this is Turbo the Hedgehog." Venqas was quick with the introductions. "We needed to kill some time and Cid sent us here, said you could teach me a thing or two."
"You look sort of familiar." Merlina inspected Venqas closer, paying special attention to his face and hair. "It's like I've seen you somewhere before..."
"Couldn't possibly." Venqas was never smooth with the ladies.
"I know I've seen someone who LOOKS like you..." Merlina continued to inspect Venqas.
"I'll leave you two kids to play." Turbo began to walk away wearing a smug grin. "If you need me, I'll be touching something I probably shouldn't!"
"Oh, I got it!" Merlina came to a conclusion. "You're the new Keyblade bearer!"
"Yes I am." Venqas summoned his Keyblades, as if to show off.
"Three?" Merlina gasped in pure excitement. "Wow! That is so COOL!"
"And here we have the fangirl in her natural habitat." Turbo gawked. "In a room filled with books and squeeing over a boy with spiky hair." Merlina shot Turbo a nasty look, and all of a sudden, he was trapped in a glowing white bubble of magic!
"Wow..." Venqas was impressed by this display of what magic could do.
"Yes, it's what I do." Merlina giggled. "So, you're here to learn some magic?"
"I guess so."
"Good, I've been hoping to teach you some cool spells."
"Like ones that could get me out of this s-"
"Don't even THINK about going all 'downer' on us!" Turbo commanded from inside the bubble. "...Uh, hey. Not for nothing, but how much air do I have left?" The bubble disappeared and Turbo fell on his backside. "That was a little unnecessary.
"So, the magic?" Ven asked. Merlina waved her hand and a large stone platform appeared in the middle of the room, large enough for someone to stand and freely move around on.
"We'll start you off with the basics." Merlina got onto the platform and helped Venqas up. "A simple elemental spell..." She motioned to a book and it floated over to her. "Let's see... Earth... Freeze... Wind... Fire... Thunder... Ah, this one's good." She conjured up a staff and a training dummy. She pointed the staff at the dummy. A raging high-pressure torrent of ice-cold water was unleashed from the tip and blasted the dummy across the room. "Wategun." She grinned. "But we'll start you out with the basic level, 'water." Another training dummy appeared in place of the first one. "Point your Keyblade at it, clear your mind, imagine the enemy being swept away by a flood and say the word 'water'." Venqas pointed his Keyblade at the training dummy and imagined a flash flood sweeping the dummy into oblivion.
"Water..." He whispered. A blast of water shot from the Keyblade's tip, but it propelled him backwards into a wall instead of doing so to the dummy. Turbo burst into laughter.
"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Merlina jumped off the platform ran over to Venqas.
"I'm fine..." Venqas sighed, more than a little dazed. His thoughts were going a whole other way-
"That was incredible!" His mind raced, "I just used magic! And imagine how useful that spell could be -it could make enemies more vulnerable to Koal's electricity breath or it could be used to rust metal enemies! This freaking rocks!"
"Uh, can we try a different spell?" Venqas did his best to mask his excitement, as if he didn't want anyone to know that he was enjoying himself for the first time.
"Uh, sure." Merlina opened her spellbook and flipped through the pages, "Maybe this will suit your fancy -Cure." She waved her staff. Venqas was bathed in a green light and the bruises he had sustained from slamming into the wall dissolved instantly! "See? Easy. Now you try."
"Sweet, but who do I practice it on?" Ven asked. Merlina shot Turbo an evil grin,
"Don't look at me..." Turbo began to creep backwards, wearing a worried frown upon his face.
"Wategun." Merlina fired a raging blast of chilling water from her staff to knock down Turbo. "Try it on him. Just raise your Keyblade, imagine him being healed and say the word 'cure." Venqas did just this.
"Cure." Turbo's bruises vanished instantly in a shroud of green light.
"Wow, you're a natural!" Merlina cheered at Venqas' success. "Maybe it's time I taught you an advanced spell."
"Sure, what the heck." Venqas let a little smile escape his watch.
The young sorceress flipped through the book, trying to find a suitable spell for Venqas. Sadly, the advanced spells were some of her least favorite, "Stop? Useless... Gravity? Impractical... Magnet? Boring... Reflect? Seriously, who uses that?...Ah, here's a good one -Holy." She summoned a swath of training dummies on the podium and then she went onto the podium. She slammed the edge of her staff on the ground and a white light blasted all the dummies to smithereens!
"Now THAT is magic." Turbo remarked. Venqas was eager to try it and jumped onto the podium.
"Okay, how's this work?" He asked.
"Just concentrate your energy at the tip of the Keyblade and let it all loose with a single blast." Venqas began to accumulate all of his willpower at the tip of his weapon. He then raised the Keyblade high... but nothing happened. A spark flashed on the end as if to tell him he did it wrong.
"Um..."
"Oh, I guess your power is all used up." Merlina giggled. "You're new to magic, so I should have figured that you'd have less MP."
"MP?" Venqas asked.
"Magic Power. Once your magic power is used up, you'll have to let it recharge for a while before you can do any more."
"Still, woulda been kick-ass if you'd learned that 'Holy' thing." As much as Turbo didn't like being left out of the action, he was glad that Venqas now had a chance of becoming a credit to the team.
"Oh, one more thing..." Merlina summoned a treasure chest out of thin air. She opened it, revealing a black hoodie with short sleeves and a zipper. She took it out, unfolded it and displayed it to Venqas.
"What's that?" Venqas asked.
"It belonged to Sora, your predecessor. Come to think of it, you look a lot like him... Maybe that's why I thought you looked so familiar."
"Sora was my father." Venqas was surprised to keep hearing about his father and how much he supposedly looked like him.
"Wow, really?" Merlina gasped,
"Hold on a sec, you said you thought Ven looked familiar and then recognized him as the new Keyblade bearer, but you didn't know Sora and he were related?" Turbo interjected, never one to be on the same page as anybody else, "Then how'd you know about Venqas being the Keyblade bearer?"
"My friend, the Herald told me about him." Merlina stated. "He asked me to teach him some magic so that he'd be more versatile and-"
"Wait, you know the Herald?"
"Well, it's more of a pen-pal/co-worker thing. He was very adamant that you get this hoodie."
"Why? It's just a hoodie... right?"
"Put it on!" Merlina ignored Venqas' question. She handed to hoodie to Venqas and he cautiously put it on over his shirt, leaving the zipper open. It draped down to the midsection of his torso and ran up in the back. Aside from that, it fit almost perfectly, the black fabric complimenting his white t-shirt."My, my... you look quite dashing in that outfit..."
"Really?" Venqas asked with an excited grin.
"Yes, you should show your friend, Triana."
"You know about Triana?" Venqas asked.
"The Herald told me all about the four of you." Merlina nodded, "And he told me that you might have a thing for the Hylain Princess..."
"Even the HERALD makes cracks about us?" Venqas exclaimed in disbelief. Why did everyone think they liked each other? Sure, Triana was cute and all, but he had never shown direct affection for her. But apparently thinking someone is cute is enough for other people to start planning your wedding...
"Oh, before I forget, I should tell you that that hoodie has very special magical powers." Merlina derailed Venqas' train of thought.
"Like what?"
"You'll find out soon enough. Why spoil the surprise?"
"Last 'surprise' I had was my world getting eaten by the Heartless, so naturally, I don't like surprises."
"Well, this is one of the more 'know it when you see it' surprises." Merlina was under orders from the Herald to let Venqas figure out the hoodie's powers on his own, but that wasn't to say she couldn't have a little fun with Venqas' head, "Not one of those 'tell you what it is' surprises. And trust me, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"You're a sorceress AND an otaku." Turbo smirked, "Why SHOULDN'T we believe you?" Merlina snapped her fingers and the floor below Turbo's feet became covered in a fine, slippery sheet of ice. Turbo began to fumble and fell on his backside, the cold ice sending a chill up his spine. "That was uncalled for..."
Chapter 29: Stratermegy and Burning Crud
Lance, Triana, Koal, Rokka and Sylvia stood atop a cliff looking down upon a large building with complex pipes and gears everywhere. It was a fortress of darkness and a factory of nightmares.
"The Heartless factory." Lance said, trying to set the mood for his allies.
"So, what's the idea here?" Triana asked, cracking her knuckles. "Are we going to knock the place over?"
"No, this is recon, as in COVERT." Sylvia shook her head. "That's why we didn't want your friend with the Keyblades to come. He'd have Heartless all over us in a few seconds."
"His Keyblades WOULD attract unwelcome attention from those vile creatures." Triana nodded her head.
"More like he'd mess up and get us all captured..." Koal grumbled.
"Hey, stop talking about Venqas like that!" Triana snapped at Koal. "He's a coward and a whiner, yes, but he works just as hard as the rest of us! You can't go around bullying him because he's not enthusiastic about being in danger!"
"Um, Triana?" Lance tapped Triana on the shoulder. "We appear to have attracted undue attention." He pointed down to a swarm of Heartless approaching from below, having been attracted by Triana's sudden outburst.
"...Crap..."
"So much for stealth! Let's go!" Koal dove off the cliff and let loose a searing cloud of fire to singe the Heartless below. She spread her wings and parachuted to the ground where the monsters' ashes scattered as she flapped her wings.
"Koal, we're trying to be covert because if we aren't, the bad guys will blow up the goddamn planet!" Lance barked at the brash young dragoness.
"Turbo said that if the Eclipse cannon COULD blow up a planet, they'd be using it offensively somewhere else not for extortion!" All of a sudden, an armor-clad Heartless snuck up behind Koal and struck her with the broad side of a sword grafted onto its armor. Her consciousness once again escaped her at the most inopportune time.
"Koal!" Triana called to her unconscious ally. More Heartless appeared around the remaining heroes, pointing their swords in their faces.
"Well this sucks..." Rokka remarked as he and his allies dropped their weapons. The Heartless proceeded to march them down the cliff, gathering their weapons for whatever reason.
"Okay, now what?" Lance whispered to his allies. "They should have killed us on the spot. Why didn't they, now that we're unarmed?"
"No figuring with Heartless." Rokka shrugged.
"You're questioning THAT kind of fortune?" Triana scoffed. "Well, looks like it's up to Turbo and Venqas..."
"I think not..." Sylvia wasn't going to let those rookies go it alone...
Writer's Notes:
I swear to Captain America, those Armored Guard Heartless will almost NEVER attack you, even when they have you surrounded. Weakest enemies in Kingdom Hearts 2. Yes, I also just said "Captain America" instead of "God."