Author's Note:The climax to part one… engage!
Normalcy? Extremely Overrated
Part 1: A Very Unusual School
Chapter Ten
Black God, Blood Angel
Well hello dear readers. What, this chapter was fast? Well, due to a specific date coming up real soon, the author feels he should get this arc over with. Now, that isn't to say he rushed it, it was already planned. That said… sadly I am not your opener this day. So, until the author snaps back from his Pokémon induced trance… you get this guy.
Shin's POV:
I'm getting the lightest feeling that Sora loves the screen… but let's get on to business, shall we? Okay, where were we? Oh, giant fire breathing lizard of death… Yeah, even I was completely clueless about what to do. You see, up until then, we had used our wits or numbers to overpower these kind of monsters. Xion's surprise attacks both played a part on the Tigrex and me having memorized all of Lagia's patterns, along with carrying everything my backpack could carry in materials to the spot made them easy. Then we had Terra for Lagia and both Terra and Kairi for Tigrex. Now, Terra was still not moving, Kairi had been subject to rushed healing, Roxas and Naminé were completely out of the race and Xion apparently had a 3 bullet limit to her usefulness… Did I mention Riku was weaponless? And you would think we had something going for us… nope.
"Okay, you better start spilling, what's that?" I don't think I needed Sora to urge me to do it.
"King of the Skies, Rathalos. It mainly fights on air, breathes fire, has intoxicated claws and tail and is generally considered the same level as the past two. Oh and everyone… SPREAD!" I shouted, knowing that the very notion of moving away would be enough. Sure enough, I saw Riku barely dodge the flaming ball that the wyvern had shot, it going its course and blowing a nearby rock to smithereens. Then, we actually got a good look at the thing. Even possessed, the animal still retained its honor.
Colored in dark red and black scales, this wyvern was what most people connected to the word. Yes, it had two paws and its upper limbs were wings. The shell of scales the monster had was razor sharp, spikes pronounced in most of its complexion. Its wings colored by a beige tone with flame markings in black, its tail as long as its body, leading up to a crimson spike brimming with poison. Its claws, which even now were dripping with the foul liquid. All of it commanded respect. It was just a natural impulse. When you looked at the wyvern, with the crown-like crest, neck striking upwards while it looked down on its surrounding, you felt like kneeling and by the looks on everyone's faces, I wasn't the only one. But I WAS the only one who knew what to do… even if it was a gamble… I hoped Xion also knew about this.
"Xion!" I cried, the girl jolting her head towards me. "You know this thing?!"
"Sort of… I heard the stories from my dad." She answered. It would have to do. I could see she was uneasy since there WAS a heartless inside the wyvern, but she managed to keep her calm since she couldn't SEE it so she could deny it.
"Okay, hold the fort, I need to go to the adjacent area for a few minutes! Fight defensively!" Time to put that Etomology to use!
Hey guys! It's me, your new pal Laguna! So just sit down and enjoy!
"You couldn't just walk in, could you?" I told my ol' pal Tony. We had been tight ever since he financed my campaign, he's also pretty cool to hang out with… if you don't mind not remembering half of it the next morning. Now, the author really wanted me to describe him, but I explained to him that 99% of the world saw the Avengers or at least saw trailers of it so nobody really needs it. If you do… what rock have you been living under?!
"Now, if you just let me get off this armor…" Tony said, four metal arms instantly appearing out of the ceiling and floor and dissembling the red Iron Man suit. "I install one of those in everything I build." He finished with a smile, sitting on the table. "Pleasure to meet you Rufus."
"Yes… a pleasure."
"I'm actually a fan of how you run a company by just sitting on a chair and ordering your scientist to make things work instead of being like the lowly men like moi and actually work. Classy." Wow… burn! "That aside. Now that we have three of the top five richest companies in the world sitting at the table, how about a multimillion gil poker game? I'm serious Rufus, don't doubt this poker face." He made what would only be considered a poker face by him while Rufie… was annoyed.
"No offense Eraqus, but what's he doing here?" He asked, Tony taking it upon himself to answer.
"Well, you see, Disney effectively owns Marvel, hence I have every right to be part of the franchise. Food for thought kids." He had busted out a sledgehammer and clubbed the fourth wall repeatedly right there. "Can't say the same about my associate there, who is a totally normal person, aren't you Bruce?" Probabilities of lawsuit rising.
"Yes, I cannot argue with that but I was meaning the REASON you are here in a supposed private meeting about MY companies interests. You, my direct rival." You could see Rufus was trying his best to maintain his composure, but truth was, he was expecting a one on one talk and was now getting ganged on.
"Well, as they told you, I saw your supposed "newfound way to fuel the world" and at and "endless supply" as you put it and with the help of some friends, I decided to run some research on it." When Tony got serious, it was serious. "For those who don't know, and by that I mean the audience over there, you've been supplying multiple worlds with Magitek generated energy, which you say is done from transforming the latent mana in the air and convert it to commonly used energy. For a while, it was fine. Really, it was. I was moderately angry I couldn't figure out how you did that… but I did. Or I think I did." He nodded in the other guy's direction, who I didn't know really, which was weird since my last run for Presidency was a year ago and I didn't see him with Stark, ever.
"Basically, both our companies had one half of it right. We both knew that and we just up and said, screw it, let's share it. I mean a Magitek generator." Bruce explained. He seemed to have pretty much the same posture as Stark, but I could tell it was forced. He wasn't really happy go lucky, as one that usually is, I can tell.
"What does that have to do with me?" Rufus asked.
"Oh, we're only beginning. You see, the generator took ten meters of diameter and drained a third of the mana in the city to in order to power one house… for an hour." Bruce replied.
"So? Your incompetence is not my fault." He answered in that "I'm so much better than you" tone. He always had an ego, but never to this extent.
"Stop right there buddy. What I'm saying here is that you." He pointed at Rufus. "Seemingly found a way to produce a generator which is only one meter wide, whose about twelve BILION times more efficient than our ten meters one. Sorry, but that's a little suspicious." He finished, laying his feet on the table. "But if you manage to power a house for thirty days with one molecule of O2… well, props to you, you're officially thousands of years ahead of us."
"I can see what you want. You want my plans, isn't that right? That's why you're blackmailing me like this." I think it was just about time I stepped in.
"Yes. We do." I nodded. "But just "we"." I pointed at me and Eraqus. "Stark doesn't want it, he loves a challenge. So it's not your commercial success that's at stake here, it's our trust in you. If you have nothing to hide, you may gain some new costumers here." Rufus then just… started laughing.
"Trust? That's a laugh. I came here to offer you a discount on the account we were friends and you still babble about that?" What was he on about? Did he really believe that that was enough? He turned his back and spat: "When you come begging for my company after being chastised for your inferior tech… don't expect any friendly banter." He then proceeded to leave and slam the door. I didn't even try to follow him, I don't know if I could reach him now.
"Well, that went well… Anyway, who's up for shoarma?!" Oh Tony…
Aqua's PoV:
I swear this woman is mentally insane. The way she fights is just… pardon for the repetition, but… crazy! She had absolutely no care for defense and just wailed on me with both arms. Since all of the spaces in-between fingers were filled by her daggers, each and every time one of her hands passed through my defenses, I got quite a lot of marks to prove it. It didn't take me long to realize that a pure physical confrontation wasn't the way I should approach it even if by now my thighs were all ripped and bloody and my arms weren't that different. She was just fast. When she relented for a second I made my move.
"Reflect!" I chanted, separating us with a prismatic barrier. I caught a brief glimpse of Zack and was happy to see he was doing well or at least evenly matched but I concentrated back on my battle. I dropped the barrier and chanted: "Thundaga Shot!" Shooting a tracking ball of lightning towards the woman. I learned too late that it was the bad decision. She laughed as the magic burst hit her, not damaging her but instead being ASSIMILATED by her body. She started cackling all over as she hunched back. She seemed to be in pain but… enjoying it.
"Oh yes! I just LOVE the feel of thunder coursing through my veins! Thank you bluebird!" Oh she did NOT! Only Zack can call me that and get away with it. It's like "our thing". He's the puppy, I'm the bluebird. I was going to MAIM that woman.
"Oh, so you like thunder huh? QUAKE!" I would normally never use a spell that I learned from him, but this was an exception, I wasn't going to endanger the mission for a feud. The spell consisted of vibrating the molecules bellow the target so hard that it'd break the ground and explode in pillars of earth, the earth canceling the electricity as well.
"It's a little too late for that! Now I'm charged!" She blared, dodging the first pillar and using it as a stepping stone to bolt to the air.
"Great… I just gave her a chance to beat me."I cursed myself for it and I would curse it even more. Suddenly, I saw eight glistening dots of light in the sky, immediately realizing that they were, in fact, her daggers. "Reflect!" I shouted, trying to protect myself from them, but this time, it wasn't going to happen, they broke right through the shell. Even then, I managed to cartwheel in between them, giving me enough time to prepare an attack. Turns out I didn't focus enough on the attack at hand. Only then did I realized the daggers were connected to her fingers by strings, strings she pulled, the eight cords weaving around my body and tying both my arms and legs up in a single movement. The blonde reveled in it like she was just a kid who had been given an ice cream.
"This is more my pace!" She exclaimed, pulling both her hands back. The strings were made of metal so when she did, they immediately sliced my skin and clothing, blood dripping out. But I didn't scream in pain, I wasn't going to give her that pleasure. "Oh! Playing hard to catch, are you?!" She pulled even more, my vision becoming fuzzy with the pain. "How about this?!" I had to bite my tongue not to scream, she had just injected electrical current into the strings. My body was getting full of spasms, I couldn't see straight, but I wasn't about to give up to that sadist. "C'mon bluebird. SQUEAL! SQUEAL!" She taunted, pulling the strings even more AND increasing the electrical current. Then, it was like that electricity lit up a lightning bulb in my head. With my hand I touched the string directly below it and transferred my power into it. At first, nothing happened, but just as I was about to pass out, the wires slowly began to crystalize. "You know, I should say I would let up if you scream, but that'd just a plain lie!" Then she probably felt her hands getting cold. "What the?"
"Ice… doesn't conduct electricity…" I told her, my voice breaking due to the pain. I thought maybe that'd scare her into changing her strategy but I didn't get the reaction I wanted though.
"Hm… that voice… almost there!" Was she really getting… oh god. "Now, let's see, do you freeze my hands first? Or do you just pass out before?!" She then proceeded to increase the current on the seven leftover wires tenfold. I couldn't take it anymore. I screamed. "Oh yes! That's it! You're so HOT when you scream!" My eyes began rotating to the back of my head, my consciousness fading away as the electricity coursed through my body freely when it all suddenly stopped. I still couldn't control my body very well, my nervous system had gone haywire but I still could feel things, things like a strong arm stopping me from slumping forward.
"Get away from my girl you bitch!" Well... as possessive as that sounded, I knew he meant well. I lowly lifted my head to see the woman shouting at the man, who had just arrived. Judging by the gash on his chest, I reckon Zack had him pinned but had to let him go to save him. They bickered like an old married couple but I couldn't make out most of it, even if it was them just blaming each other. "You okay?" Zack asked, nudging my head in his eye's direction. Genuine concern being shown. Most guys these days are too "manly" for that. Not wanting to worry him, I smiled back the best I could.
"Nothing a cure spell can't fix." I replied, doing exactly what I told him and chanting Curaga, stopping the bleeding and regaining most of my locomotive capabilities. "Still… it's disturbing going against a woman that "goes both ways"." I should never have said that.
"That is so unbelievably hot…" I should've seen it coming… guys are all the same, even when we were being attacked he couldn't get his mind out of the gutter. "NO! Begone evil thoughts!" The way he looked at me and the blonde made me wish I didn't know what he was thinking. "You know, I wouldn't mind if you were like that." He told me, pushing the blonde off me.
"Did he really just say that?"Yes, I knew he was teasing me, but he was just asking for it. I blocked the pink scythe and twisted my wrist so I could disarm the man. "I'll try it if you do." Yes, I went there. At the same time I had followed up with the slash but the man had jumped away at the last second.
"OH GOD NO!" He shouted, catapulting the blonde away. Yeah, for girls its hot, for guys… not so much, is it?
"Exactly. Now, do you mind, we should be, you know, fighting!" I shouted, seeing as the other… I don't know what they are really, landed near each other, fuming at how we had just pushed them back while teasing each other. It may be true that in a one versus one scenario we would lose, but I've been paired up with Zack as long as I can remember… Terra hated that.
"Fine… but can we end this quickly?" He asked, gaining my attention.
"That?" I asked, grinning.
"That." He so confirmed.
"Hey… what are they on about Marly?" I heard the blonde ask.
"How am I supposed to know?" I think we know who was the rational one in there.
Me and Zack both held out our weapons upwards and leaned on heads on the blades, concentrating.
"I don't care what it is! I'm just gonna, hurt, maim and possibly kill things!" She screamed, lunging at us recklessly with the man forced to do the same. As soon as they got in range we…
"GO!" Zack shouted, signaling both of us to take whatever magic power we had left and concentrate it on the ground, resulting in a circular explosion that sent both of the enemies into the air. Then, we made our move.
"They vanished?! The bastards escaped!" The pink haired one blurted in midair, swiftly realizing that no, we hadn't, Zack had just appeared behind him and left a pretty big wound on his left arm, vanishing again right after. At the same I had done the same to that sadistic bi woman. Must control myself. We had rehearsed this too much for them to counter. We were just going too fast for them with the aid of a little time magic, vanishing and reappearing on different locations every time, exchanging targets and weaving in some times we both attacked the same target, it was like dancing. However, like dancing, there is always a grand finale. When the time felt right, we met above the two, brandishing the swords downwards and descending, crashing into the ground in a burst of light. That was "Hero's Pride"… Zack thought of the name, not me.
"Alright!" Zack exclaimed, wrapping one of his arms around me while pumping the air with the other as we saw the duo down on the ground, heavily wounded. "Not so tough now, are ya?"
"Marly… I'm getting tired of this kind of crap." The woman hissed, standing back up.
"For once… I agree with you." Nobody had ever gotten up from that, so I can safely say we were surprised.
"Hey losers!" She exclaimed, pulling out a phone. She dialed something and as soon as she finished, the ground trembled as if a seismic wave had just passed right below the mountain. "What about a little hunting trip?" She taunted, laughing as she threw herself off the cliff with the man, landing on a rock bellow and jumping from crevice to crevice in the direction my sister had gone.
"Hunting trip?" Zack repeated. "Don't tell that tremor was a living being!"
"We can't let them get to the others!" I urged, jumping off the mountain with Zack and calling my Glider. Unfortunately, the sky was not our element and we were soon reminded of it when a green flash hit the Glider and made us plummet to the ground.
"What's that?!" Zack exclaimed, landing on the ground without much difficulty. Now, not to bore you readers will cannon fodder, but imagine a green Rathalos with hair on its back. That, was its mate.
"The local fauna. We need to get this over fast!" I urged, Zack nodding, even if we did not have any idea what to against a heartless possessed wyvern.
Sora's PoV:
Finally! Well guys, I've got good news and bad news. Good? We could easily wound the dragon-wyvern-thing by slashing at it since the skin was substantially weaker. Bad? Those wings weren't just for show. Yeah, it was flying above the ground, low enough for it to swoop in easily and the fireballs being hard to dodge but too high up for any real offense.
"What was that?" Kairi snapped as the ground beneath us trembled.
"An earthquake?" Riku wondered, taking his eyes of the Rathalos just for a second. Seeing that, it lunged headfirst into him, jaws wide open.
"Watch out Riku!" Xion shouted, followed by gunfire. The now usual ricochet happened but the speed that the thing was going threw her aim off, the bullet only breaking one of the lower spikes of the wyvern's head. Still, it was enough to have it retreat to a very high location, where we would never be able to reach. He was about fifteen meters into the air now.
"I owe you one." Riku told Xion, who completed:
"Bullet. You owe me one bullet." Holy crap was she obsessed. I mean, she did wink playfully so she was just teasing, but still…
"Okay, now what?!" I asked, looking upwards to see a familiar sight. "Great… more fireballs." We continued to run and run some more to, you know, not get fried?! We were in a kind of a standoff. It's not like we could DO anything. Or could we?
"CLOSE YOUR EYES!" About time. You know the drill. Small cask hitting the ground… boom.
CRASH
Okay, that I didn't expect. When I opened my eyes I saw how the thing had crashed and burned from fifteen meters of altitude… must've hurt. Still, we didn't have time to dwell on it.
"Sora! Tail!" What's with me and dragon rears? Now, I still wanted to live for a couple of years, get a girlfriend, marry, have kids, live my full life and die old so yeah, I did what he asked me to do. It was harder then I imagined though, the wyvern, blinded temporarily, spun around in place while crying in fury. This made so that me getting to the tail was a bit harder. "Christ, fine!" Before I could even say I was lost, Shin swopped in, sliding on his back to go between the legs of the Rathalos and came to be below the tail just as it got its vision back. The first thing it did was arc his neck backward before shooting its head forward, roaring. It was so loud everyone in the vicinity was forced to cover their ears with their hands, and even then, it was like someone was scratching a blackboard on my skull! Fortunately the roar was follow by a cry… of PAIN. I don't know how he took it, but the small meaty end of the tail with tail was now separated from the body. "Kairi! LEGS!" Bossy, isn't he?
"Okay!" She exclaimed, diving to the now pain-stricken wyvern and doing what she does best. Kicking the ass out of pretty much everything she doesn't like. "This is going to hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me!" I don't doubt it. The way she slammed her fist into its left leg even made me cringe. Before we knew it, it was on the ground, moving his paws erratically, trying to get up.
"Sora! On the chest!" I got the easy part it seems. I ran up to the chest, pulling back my Keyblade and secretly hoping something wouldn't pop out the moment I stabbed. As per usual, the thrust entered easily, black liquid oozing out of the beast. The Rathalos roared, heaving and cringing its teeth. Then, it let out a long deep breath and laid its head on the ground, the chest still moving even afterwards. The difference was how that the black liquid had evaporated and normal blood was now gushing out. It took me a moment to realize I had just killed the heartless but done nothing to the animal. Greenpeace should hire this guy. "Done and done. You know, we could make a living out this."
"Dude!" I exclaimed, trying to get why he had to go away before doing all this. "What were you doing? And how did you take that roar?"
"Wha-?" He asked me, pulling a great deal of honey out of his ears. Question two answered. "If you were asking where I was… I grabbed some of these." He showed me a bottle with a giant golden bug. "Flashbugs, true to their name, create and intense light explosion when scared, so if you throw them and the bottle breaks, they will become frightened and work as a flash bang. Why do you think I stayed up all night? Needed to get some of these tricks back in my head." Suspicious wording detected! Initiating questioning.
"What do you mean… "back"?" I asked, instantly making him uncomfortable.
Cue convenient earthquake.
"Is this world so trigger happy on earthquakes? Like the animals weren't problem enough!" Riku snorted as I fell off my feet. This was at least five times stronger than last time. The rocks on our sides trembled and cracked. Worse yet, the very ground beneath us cracked… like the epicenter was…
"The epicenter is right beneath us! Run!" I shouted, the others nodding in agreement. As we had agreed, I picked up Roxas, Riku got Naminé and Shin didn't need to carry Terra, he just needed to pull her hand. She seemed conscious and well… but she was near catatonic. Kairi ran in front of us but suddenly stopped.
"Watch out!" she warned, a pillar of… MAGMA erupting in front of her.
"Oh that's no earthquake…" Whatever had dawned to Shin, I wanted no part of it. The vibration kept getting stronger and more numerous, so was the frequency of the pillars. Suddenly, the earth beneath the sleeping Rathalos opened up and something… erupted from it, gobbling half of the massive wyvern first and throwing the other half away like a ragdoll. "We're dead." There wasn't any hope left in his voice and really, I could see why.
"W-what IS that?" Naminé asked from behind Riku as the black colossus pulled itself out of the hole, fully covering the exit and showing us just how big it was.
"Something that could end a peaceful world…" And before you ask, he wasn't being over dramatic. That thing was… holly shit I don't have words for it. It was AT LEAST five times as big as the rest of the stuff we had seen before but that was the least of it. Firstly, the eyes. Yes, Heartless eyes, but really, I don't doubt we would be equally as screwed if they weren't. The body was made of a seemingly impenetrable black carapace, one which jagged into spikes at various portions of the body, the back and the side of the legs being the most pronounced. Secondly, its enormous maw was made even more dangerous by the fact it had two GIANT TUSKS extending from bellow it, perfect for impaling food or hold it in its mouth. Thirdly, he had just stood up on two legs, revealing his leathery body bellow. It was so big that now blocked the sun as it was coming from its direction. Fourthly, the roar. Oh my god that roar. You may be tired of hearing about how the roars made me cover my ears or how Kairi got thrown to the ground by it, but this… was different. Not only were we catapulted all the way to the wall, the earth and sky seemed to tremble and break at it, various volcanic eruptions littering the area, water falling down the newly created gaps.
"Any bright ideas?!" I heard Riku ask the person who had pulled us out of two out of three messes.
"Start believing in God and pray." Well, that was helpful.
"In other words… run?" Xion asked. Surprisingly, he shook his head.
"No… you can't run from that." His eyes were glossed over as he slummed into the ground. "We're doomed." He finished as the creature fell back down on its fours.
"Not exactly." Suddenly, on the back of the beast, one person, dressed in an ominous black coat appeared. You see, usually, I don't like mysterious, ominous dudes appearing out of nowhere, but now I do believe it was a step up.
"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to explore any options.
"You see, this was nothing but a test… a test where most of you were just unfortunate casualties. Now… if you would be so kind as to deliver us our two test subjects, we will kindly le-"
"HELL NO!" I shouted, summoning my Keyblade and poising it in his direction. "I am not going to hand over my friends to some generic obviously evil guy like you!" What can I say… I value friendship. The man however, was not scared as I hopped he would be, he chuckled. I felt his eyes inspect me even then.
"That's not an ordinary Keyblade Braig, that's… The Key… The Key to the Kingdom…" I heard him mutter, his tone in a mix of amazement, confusion and thrill. He soon changed his offer. "Boy, come with me. If you do, you have my word I will not even as much as touch your allies." Wait. What?! I was so confused when I looked at my Keyblade. Is this SO important?
"No way!" I was more flabbergasted because of what happened next. Kairi just stepped between me and him, fighting stance ready. "Over. My. Dead. Body." She punctuated, Xion and Riku joining her.
"Now, we can't have that can we?" He chuckled, pointing at us with one hand. "But still, you are far too dangerous to be left be, Keybearer, I am willing to delay my plans rather than have them crumble. Akantor, kill." He simply ordered, retreating off his back and to the peak of the nearby rock. As the creature slowly watched us, marked us, I put on my best stance, Riku having taken Shin's dagger, who was now a mess.
"Don't… try." Fear, terror. Just what was this thi… Scratch that, I did NOT want to know what it was at the time, the less I knew, the better. "Tyrant of Flames… The Black God… Akantor. Only an army was able to contain him." Well, damn. Now I knew. Somehow though, I managed to repress it.
"Okay, any plans?" I asked. Immediately, Xion answered.
"Didn't you see the ventral skin? It seemed almost normal. Maybe we can pierce it." She suggested.
"Okay! Distract him, I'll hit to see how hard it is!" Kairi shouted, rushing to the sides. We nodded, me and Riku rushing headlong while Xion pulled out a small knife, wielding it with a reverse grip, and stayed behind us, gun hand pressing against her knife hand, I should've seen it all along with that pose, there are not many people in the world who use that stance. Anyway, we noted that, while it was big and bulky, the thing was also very slow. The claw swipe it tried to do when we approached covered a large portion of space but was so telegraphed we were already airborne when it happened. Riku even managed to land on the claw, using it as a stepping point to jump on its head, driving the dagger where his brain would be. Beginner's mistake. He didn't evaluate how thick the armor was. The dagger did pierce, but only the superficial carapace, becoming stuck without actually doing much to it… only making it very, very, VERY angry.
"Shit…" Riku cursed before the Akantor heaved his chin upwards at such speed he was catapulted into midair. It then stood up on his hind legs and opened its maw, ready to gobble him for an appetizer.
"You owe me two now!" Xion cried, shooting directly at the eye. Somehow though, in an inhuman reflex, it moved its head slightly, having a visible portion of the outer shell being blown out. That was some high quality gun right there. And while it didn't hurt it immensely, it did save Riku… at least from death. As soon as the bullet impacted, it realized there were more of us and Riku could wait, so, it raised its claw and slammed it against Riku, shooting him against the wall, instantly knocking him out cold. Then, it turned to us. Leaving his vulnerable standing position, it now fell on four legs, the ground shaking as he did. "Yes, that's right, give me a clear shot…" Xion was riding a lot on this bullet. She took aim and saw the little breaches the dagger had created as side effects. She smiled and knew she could make a very big dent on the armor, possibly enough for me to capitalize. Unfortunately, so did it. As she pressed the trigger, it opened its mouth, unleashing a black cyclone of wind instantly upon Xion. She couldn't even react, one moment she was trying to fire, the other she was nailed to the wall, probably breaking quite a number of bones in the process. But I couldn't go help her, no, the thing wasted no time coming after me.
"Kai! Hurry up!" I shouted, dodging a downwards claw from it, jumping to avoid the second sweep. It was… getting faster. Like it had just woken up and was revving up as it fought. We had to try something… FAST.
"ON IT!" Was all I heard, a red flash entering my field of vision, right below its chest. Her posture was different from most of the ones I was used to but I really didn't pay it much mind. She used folded both her legs and proceeded to put the entirety of her momentum into the right side of her body, hitting the thing in a way that for once, it trembled. Hell, I could swear I heard lightning cackle from it. "It's…" Yes! I knew it! It was… She let her arm fall down, blood dripping from her hand. No… "Harder than anything I've hit." She told me on the verge of breaking down. You could tell she her hopes had been crushed with her hand. She had broken her main weapon ON THE OFFENSIVE and the beast had barely squirmed. Worst yet, if it weren't for me to call out to her, she would've been crushed when the wyvern, or was it a wyvern? Let his body crash to the floor to flatten her. She did manage to get away in time, rolling to the sides of it, but neither I nor her realized how the tail had risen up in a curve to the right and was now swooping in from the air into the ground in an arc.
"Kairi! Jump!" I yelled, too late. She took it to the back, coughing what I hoped was not blood and being thrown against me with such force we both rolled on the ground until we hit the wall. And then, we saw a familiar sight. The eyes became red, the paws filled with blood. Yes, it was on full throttle now. I must've hit the back of my neck on the rocks, because I couldn't feel my legs or anything. The roar was even muffled and god knows it must've been noisy. I could barely make out what was happening as my vision just sort of blacked out from time to time. I knew it was running towards us, mouth wide open, tremors shaking the land as it approached and I knew we were probably done for but… I couldn't move. Then, what do you know? Someone grew a pair of… you know. That someone landed on top of the Akantor and began pushing the dagger, shouting.
"If there's something which can pierce your skin, knife made from your dad, ain't it?!" Wait… now that you mentioned it, the materials looked the same. But that wasn't what impressed me. It was actually going in! The Akantor stopped its charge and began shaking its head to no avail. When it realized it, Shin was smiling as he slowly carved the knife deeper and deeper into its skull. Still, there was just too much of a gap. When the creature roared again, it was a special kind of roar. This was his "I'm going to murder all of you!" roar. The roar was so powerful it created a shockwave and summoned eruptions and threw Shin and the dagger off and right into my feet. "Well… I tried." He simply said, as if he had done it out of duty, knowing it would fail. "I never was as good as that guy on this. Never wanted to be." Okay, that was morbid and I really didn't care what he meant because the thing had just shaken off the pain and was now gunning for us again.
"Sorry Sora. If you hadn't saved me, you…" Kairi told me, appearing to snap out of it as the beast began to charge.
"Don't you dare say that. We're all in this together, aren't we?! How could I live with myself if I knew I let my friends die to get away?" I told her, thinking my life was about to end so I wasn't worried about being, as you would call it, dramatic. "Just close your eyes, it will be okay…" I whispered, earning one of those rare, truthful smiles as she did what I asked. I looked to our impending doom and prepared to do the same until someone reminded me of a little detail.
"Are you going to let your friends die like this?!" Who was he talking t- Oh right! "Get over yourself! What's more important, your arm or your friends?!" Nothing happened. "Snap out of it! Terra!"
Terra's PoV:
I wanted to help, really, I did but… I felt like I was only going to make things worse. I knew nothing about how my powers would react. It was like my magic was gaining a mind of its own. And no, it was not darkness, it didn't feel evil. It just felt like a wild animal that had been caged for too long. People praised me for my control of magic but really… they didn't know half of it. I didn't let my magic out like most mages, I filtered it so it wouldn't break something, break SOMEONE. And lately, I won't lie, it had been hard doing so. Knowing people could die… I wanted to do my best, but couldn't, I was afraid. Rightfully so. But when I saw them getting slaughtered, I was furious, and I was afraid of being like that. I couldn't let myself go.
"Are you going to let your friends die like this?!" Who was he talking t- Oh right! "Get over yourself! What's more important, your arm or your friends?!" I heard it and something in me just wanted out. And I didn't. But then I thought… if they all died anyway, what was I afraid of losing. The answer is obvious, myself. But was I worth more than them? "Snap out of it! Terra!" No, I wasn't. That was the last thought I remember having.
Back to Sora:
I closed my eyes and hoped it was fast. The Akantor was just about reaching us, its tusk scrapping our sides when… it stopped. Mere centimeters away from my feet and Shin. It didn't halt the march, not, it desperately tried to seize us with his mouth but… something stopped him. Something brilliant was grabbing its tail by the clawed end. That very same thing just picked it up and… threw it. Not lying, not pulling your leg. The thing just screamed, overpowering the gigantic monster and sent it hurling towards the rock where the cloaked figure was. The beast flew in midair, still disoriented as it slammed into the rock, demolishing it and apparently the man with it. It was then that it hit me.
"Is that… Terra?" I asked to no one in particular. Not like anyone had an answer. I just said it because her arm matched whatever that was. It had approximately the same height and build but it was so much different. Her hair and skin were now the same tonality as she was becoming when we last saw her, pinkish white, only her feet, hands and the very end of her hair were deep purple. She had no ribbon as her hair was now flowing freely at the flow of her red energy. Both her hands and feet now had claws and whatever clothes she had had dissipated to the wind. "What happened to her?"
"I have no idea." Shin told me, even though he was the one suspecting something. "I knew something was weird, but this?"
"Terra! Is that you?!" I had to make sure it was. It did NOT seem like it. If she was, she completely ignored me and kept walking into the gas cloud. Suddenly, the Akantor erupted from it but it was of no importance. She grabbed one of his tusks with just one of her small arms, apparently strong enough to stop a charge from the beast now, and grinned a disturbingly large grin, plunging one of her now clawed hands into its left eye. So… cruel. The creature cried in pain, breaking free from her grasp by purposely letting its tusk be broken when he pulled back. Now hurt and partially blinded, it began opening its mouth for the wind tunnel we saw him use against Xion… it was ill-fated.
Raising her hand, she stopped him with unseen power, the beast squirming to move, in vain. With a flick of her wrist, it flew against US! We had to run for our lives, leaping out of the way to not be there when it crashed and burned, rolling against the wall, seemingly knocked out. What the hell happened to her? She seemed… so cold. No emotion or reaction. Did she forget about us? She continued to walk on the very same direction, stopping only when someone started clapping.
"Impressive." The man in the cowl congratulated, appearing from the smoke. "I must say, I did not believe the numbers until I saw them in action. You may not be yourself anymore, but for what I need you for, that is just perfect." With that dark remark, he snapped his fingers, causing one giant hand to thrust off Terra's shadow, grabbing her and manifesting into a gigantic heartless. It was at least ten meters tall and had a human-like body, only black and tentacles extending out of his face. It also had a heart shaped hole on its stomach. How fitting. "Now, do you remember these?" He questioned, a squadron of Shadows and Knights appearing around him. I managed to get myself up in time to see a spasm in Terra's pupils. "I see you do. Want me to replicate the incident? I've got plenty of cannon fodder." He was clearly talking about us when he said that, but that didn't really get to me as the fact that he was WILLINGLY provoking something that had just tossed around THAT as a ragdoll. Well, he did it. Terra, or whatever she had become, close her eyes and cringed her teeth. Were those… tears?
"burn… Burn… BURN! I'LL MAKE YOU BURN!" She howled with what seemed to be her last bit of sanity, the Heartless behind her spontaneously combusting, melting into black goo as she continued her rampage by swinging her right arm, creating a massive wall of flames that cleared the entire small army of heartless, in the process creating winds that removed the man's cowl. The man, in tan skin and heartless like yellow eyes, supported a silver spiked mane that reached his shoulders and was amused by it.
"You possess an enormous quantity of power, but yet, it makes you weak." Paradoxical speech again. Before you know it, Terra fell to the ground and shot towards him, thrusting her arm only to have it parried to the side by the man's own arm, twisted and thrown away. However, as she flew away she fired a giant icicle towards him, grasping the side of his neck but only leaving a superficial wound. "Still, power is power. I should be more careful." He said in monologue, Terra stopping in midair as she did.
Now, this is me, don't worry, we'll get back to them in a second.
"Hey, Marly, what's that?" Larxene asked her partner as they neared the scene.
"It doesn't seem human. And is that… boss?!" Marluxia, her partner, gasped. Think they could ignore the flyer and just rush towards their supposed boss, bad choice. They used another nearby rock for momentum and jumped towards him, above Terra. However, just as they did.
"What is th-" Larxene babbled when she heard a freezing sound, looking down to see what was freezing. The one who was freezing was her.
"Larx!" Marluxia called, reaching out to the freezing woman, who reached out back to him. This proved to be a bad decision as well. As soon as they touched, the ice on Larxene's body began spreading at an extreme pace, easily covering the entirety of her, including the hand that was holding her hand, Marluxia's. He was now stuck to an ice block. Worse yet, Terra appeared above him, swiping with her claws at his head. He did his best to dodge, but the weight of the ice was too much and he only managed to dash half of the distance he normally would in midair, the claws mercilessly separating his left arm from the rest of his body. It was bloody, but I cannot be too descriptive, you know, T.
Sora's PoV:
"That… is not Terra." I babbled, witnessing the thing cruelly blasting the man with a giant fireball which sent him flying towards the tan man.
"Not anymore." Shin agreed. At first, I had thought we had found ourselves a guardian angel but when she took her still blood-stained claw and cleaned it with her tongue, her expressing being torn by a bloodthirsty smile as she tasted the liquid, I wondered, was that an angel or a demon?
Kairi just watched. I couldn't read her, but she didn't look as surprised as she was scared, but not out of fear of the woman, it was something else. Even then, I couldn't ask it, we were not even close to being off the hook. Soon enough, the tremors and the roar clued us in, we were seconds away to being mauled beyond recognition. While its back spikes were broken, that wouldn't stop the hulking colossus behind us. As we turned, jumping was the only option and yes, we managed to dodge the charge somehow, but the jump had left us face down on the ground and energy less, to make it worse, the Akantor, like his distant cousing the Tigrex, was able to drift mid-charge and change direction, heading right towards us. I believed we had nothing more to do than saying our prayers, we were caught off guard in the battlefield, we deserved it. However, today was not the day… or at least yet. Three arrows carved into the snout of the Akantor, followed by two giant swords being carved on the left leg. The colossus was downed that easily.
"Phew. Looks like that's another heroic saving from me!" Wearing a massive black plate that resembled the structure of the Akantor was a sandy blonde-haired man that pulled out an equally built massive two-hander.
"Yes, it was ALL you "Master". Get out of your high horse Rex!" The woman in the blue scaly armor, which reminded a lot from a Lagiacrus' skin by the way, snarled, slamming him in the head. She then pulled out the similarly styled giant Katana from the leg of the monster. You know, it was still alive, it was just hard for it to get up and STILL they bickered.
"Would you two stop it already! You act more like a married couple than you do with your respective husband and wife. I'd know I'm your husband Luna." This one seemed to be the man behind the arrows, and his armor was stylized like a Rathalos but seemed to be much lighter than the other two.
"I know I know… was just passing time till this turtle stood up." "Rex" joked. And it did, it wasn't particularly happy either. "Marcus, you're the newbie, protect them." He dismissed, a silver armored teen, stylized in what would be a Silver version of a Rathalos armor approaching us with a bummed out look.
"Yes father." He said cordially, turning to us. "We need to get you to safety, can you walk?"
"Yeah, I can walk fine." Shin spat, standing up and eyeing the man in the eyes, before turning to help us up.
"It has been a long time." He said. Ham, guys, giant monster… skip the backstory.
"We don't have time for this." Shin told him. RATIONALITY! MY GOD! IT EXISTS. For a moment I thought this was going all Naruto and we'd get like five chapters of flashback. Yes, I went there.
"For once, I agree, let's get you and your friends out of here." He nodded, taking off his helmet to reveal a silver haired man about our age. He also was pretty fragile looking, I wasn't going to guess that from his armor. "My name is Marcus and I'm with the Hunter's Guild. What you have there are our best three members. An Akantor was a problem twenty years ago… not so much now." I'd have to see that to believe i- and I take that aback. A tusk of it had just carved right by our side. "Don't be mistaken, it will take a while, but for now let's just… What are those?" Shadows. A lot of them.
"Where did they come from?!" I groaned, summoning my Keyblade.
"From there!" Kairi exclaimed, pointing at a heartless much like the one that attacked Terra. The giant Dark Side. Shadows were literally being born of him.
"Shin, what do you say? For old times sake?" Marcus asked.
"Whatever." He spat, turning to us. "We have to open a path to the wounded."
"Don't worry, I'll get them!" Cuore said, making her appearance from a magic glyph in the ground. "Don't waste your breath, scold me when this is over." Whatever childishness there was in her had totally vanished, she was back to her cold and mystical side. Before we noticed, all our wounds were gone, like, instantly. She was good.
"Okay, this is the plan! The four of us have to destroy the Dark Side, Cu, you get to the wounded and try to heal them. After all of this, if we're still alive, we have to go warn the villagers and fund Aqua and Zack!" Shin shouted, taking control once again. Look, I'm not the leader type as much as I am the one people LIKE to follow. I don't like giving orders so I was down with that. We nodded and all hell broke loose!
"Number one… Sir, what are you doing here?" Marluxia asked his leader, regrouping near him.
"I am here to watch our plans unfold and I might say, while not as expected, the results are marvelous." One said. "Now stand back, I'm about to engage."
"But, Superior, I can deal with her!" Marluxia shouted.
"You've missed the point number eleven. The question is not if you can defeat her, it is I seeing just how powerful she is. Go and retrieve number twelve." The Superior ordered, Marluxia nodding dutifully and vanishing to retrieve Larxene and his arm. "Now, you abomination of nature… come at me!" He ordered, Terra, who had been so patiently waiting, watching the other fights suddenly snarled and charged, shooting a rain of icicles upon the man.
With deft martial arts mastery, he quickly deflected every single one and waited for her to collide with him. Just as she was however, she vanished and reappeared behind him, tackling him to the floor. He had turned his body in time to fail with his back, but terra was now mounting him. She relentlessly tried to carve her claws onto his face but he dodged them easily by moving his head. He then overpowered her from bellow, heaving both arms upwards, catapulting her to midair and following her. He applied great amounts of pressured by successfully hitting her joints and finished with a strong punch to the face.
"You see… you are like the wyverns here. Powers far beyond a human of their level, but irrational. You… are an animal." That insult was enough to set her off.
Roaring and shouting "Riot… BLADE!" She sliced the air with her claws, creating a red shockwave of energy fast enough to make the Superior not only have a hard time keeping his head, but also gashing his check severely.
"You just keep on surprising me…" He taunted yet again, dividing into three. "Shall we?"
Riku's PoV:
"What the hell just happened?" I cursed, rubbing the back of my head. I analyzed my hand and found… blood. That was not what was weird, what WAS was the fact nothing in my body hurt, nor was I bleeding. There wasn't a wound on the back of my head either… it was almost like I regenerated. The sudden change of temperature near me prompted me to look around, seeing the chaos that was ensuing, Heartless everywhere, the beast was still unleashed and something whose color really reminded me of something… which I then realized it was probably Terra, had been to blame for the temperature change, as she had fried two men with one spell. I didn't know they were clones at that point. Right afterwards, a tanned one seemingly just appeared in front of her, locking her in a bear-hug and taunting:
"Is this all? Your father would be so disappointed." That insult didn't pass unheard. The thing I THOUGHT it was Terra shrieked in rage just after, immediately head-butting the man, not once, not twice, three times, ridding herself from his grip. As soon as her arms were free, she grabbed his head and began mercilessly shocking him. At first, he contorted his body uncontrollably but after moments, his body seemed to slump. Was he… dead? Then he smiled, proving me wrong. "You really ARE just a beast, aren't you?" He spat again, kneeing her in the gut and driving her with both his hands strung together into her fist, the girl shooting to the ground.
"I don't have time for this!" I told myself, beginning to run. That was a whole different level, I needed to find someone I could help. All the while though, I felt stronger, faster, like something was urging me on. It was familiar and something in my heart told me it wasn't good… but it felt good.
Naminé's PoV:
I tried to get Roxas and myself as far away from the fighting as I could, hiding in a behind a small rock inside the rock on the left side of the opening. It worked at first… but I wasn't ready for a second of those heartless I read about, the Dark Side, to materialize in front of me. Roxas was barely awake, his consciousness fading due to blood loss and I… had a broken leg. I had abandoned all hope and resigned myself to being crushed as I held Roxas close to my chest when the first came crashing down. The sound of the impact was there… but I felt nothing. I slowly reopened my eyes to see Riku, face tarnished with gashes and blood now held the fist up with his bare hands. How could he…
"Naminé… get… out…" He muttered as his eyes flashed amber. "I don't know how long I can hold it…"
"RIKU! DON'T!" I cried, but it was too late, darkness covered his body, filling him with its corrupt might, empowering him. He easily pushed the fist away and, the dark fumes being his power, congregated into a sword. It was short, about the size of a normal one but resembled a bat wing with purple edge edge and red wing patterns. The handle showcased an eerie azure eye.
"Die…" He sneered, vanishing and reappearing behind the Dark Side. Moments later, seven blazes appeared on the heartless' body prior to it falling apart as those blazing lines indicated each of the lightning fast cuts Riku had inflicted upon the enemy.
"Riku?" I called out to him. He was awfully quiet and I didn't like that one bit.
"This…" He looked at his hands, opening and closing them before unleashing my greatest fears. "Feels great!"
Kairi's PoV:
They bragged a lot of an Akantor being easy, but as I destroyed any Heartless unfortunate enough to cross me, I watched the hunters fight. It wasn't as easy as it would seem. Yes. The Akantor bled sometimes, but most of the weapon swings and arrows seemingly did nothing to him. Was that thing THAT powerful or were those hunters just all talk? I normally would go with the "all talk" but after feeling a Tigrex's skin and then experiencing the difference of the WEAK SPOT of that thing to the toughest skin on it, I could tell it was just a completely different level. I mean, out of my sister's sight level. I could kinda keep up with Aqua, but that thing? The four of us couldn't even do anything threatening to it!
"Watch it Kairi!" I heard someone exclaim, a shadow being cut down right in front of me. Did I just get saved by… Sora?
"Do not worry about my father, he will be alright." I heard Marcus tell me, he who slammed his shield onto a knight and impaled three shadows in one thrust of his sword. He was right, I completely zoned out there but that didn't worry me in the slightest. I. Got. Saved. By. SORA! HOW?!
"You see Kai, I'm not that useless!" Even on the battlefield, he still joked with that toothy smile… As pleasant as the save was, it didn't change the fact that I failed miserably at one of the main principles of fighting. Yet, for some reason, it didn't matter. I failed, and it didn't matter to me… maybe being carefree wasn't that bad. Maybe Sora was onto something right there.
"Okay, so you're good at killing that ONE guy I missed. You are still pretty much a glorified spectator to my battle skills!" I replied in friendly banter. He laughed but for once he realized it was time for "serious mode". We both went on the very definition of a killing spree, mowing down everything in our path to the Dark Side. Of course, they were Shadows, they died in one kick, but I was feeling great, I wasn't going to let that go just for a technicality like that. But… nothing can go right for me. I had just crushed the head of the final minion and was now face to face with the boss himself… however everything around me started slowing down. I immediately lost my breath and fell to my knees. It felt like someone was crushing my chest.
"No… not this again." I muttered. I grabbed my chest and tried to force breathing but I knew I had way overstepped my line. "Not now!" I shouted, immediately coughing right afterwards. My whole body was sweating and any movement was grueling. I could feel my pulse fall.
"Ka… ri…" The world around me started to fizzle out, my vision coming and going, as did my consciousness.
"Damn it… useless body…" I cursed, closing my eyes and hitting the ground with my head, memories flooding what could be my last dream.
"So girls… did you like it?!" Oh, I remember this… the first time and… only time my mother and my sister went to see a movie together.
"We loved it!" We replied as a chorus. The Lion King, wasn't it?
"So, what was your favorite character?!" My mother asked kindly. Naminé went first.
"Nala!" Typical girl.
"Simba! If I was an animal, I wanted to be a lion!" I shouted, much to my mother's surprise.
"But Kairi, sweetie… lions are boys." She tried to explain. "Lioness are girls."
"That's not right! Why are boys the leader by default? I'm like Simba! I'm brave, strong and never quit!" I was such a child back then… Jumping up and down like that. Then the memory assaulted me. "I never… quit…" And I fell flat on the floor.
"Sis?!"
"KAIRI!"
Ping.
"Her heart is a very fragile one Sir… I'd recommend extreme care with her physical activity." I almost hated that doctor for saying that.
"I understand doctor." I heard my damned father say.
Ping.
Yes, I had had a heart attack. And yes… my heart was a weak one. I should never have enrolled in this academy for it, yet, here I was. You might be thinking I'm a suicidal maniac, but trust me, I have my reasons.
Ping.
"Kairi… I think you now realize you can't be a part of my job…"My dad told me. I remember crying so much when he said that. I still loved him with all my heart at the time… I wanted to be a part of whatever he would do but, in retrospective, I'm almost glad I wasn't. "I'll have to settle for Sephiroth."
"But daddy! He can't handle it!" I shouted back. It wasn't that, it was that I wanted to impress him, even then.
"You can't either!" he snapped back in a tone that scared me. He was always so nice to me until he saw me for what I really was to him. A broken tool. "Why are all my children USELESS?!" He snapped again breaking a vase nearby and leaving me in the room, slamming the door. I felt like he said I was… useless. I cried the whole night. Then the next day, Naminé came to visit, giving me a "Get better soon" card that had the cover to the Lion King in it. She told me to "be like Simba."…
Bump…
"Don't give up sis!"
Bump.
"You are useless to me!"
Bump!
"Your father is just stressed."
BUMP!
"I'll make it up to him! I won't give up!"
BUMP!
"Don't give up! Kairi! WAKE UP!" Was that… Sora?
BUMP!
"Just live your live as the little princess you are."
BUMP!
"But I'm not a princess! I don't want to be! I want to help people! I want to show my dad I'm not… useless! And…"
Slowly, I regained my vision. I was still face down on the floor, seeing as the three had their hands full with the Dark Side. Suddenly, Sora was hit by a stray fist and knocked back. Shin tried to help him but was grabbed and held down by a mountain of knights. Marcus was trying to keep the minions that spawned from a dark pool on the floor from reaching us. The Dark Side? It was reaching for me.
"Kairi! Please! Don't give up!" Sora shouted, his plea echoing my one motto in life. Finally, I was fully awake.
"I…" My childish, five-year-old voice said.
"…Won't…" I exclaimed, punching the ground, a shining light enveloping my fist and covering my whole body.
"… Give!" It was like I was encouraging myself. I couldn't let myself down, could I?! My hand was cackling like it did against Sephiroth. I had tried to accomplish this ever since I saw Sephiroth use it. Magic. My martial arts teacher had taught me much, including what could I use magic for but magic had to be awakened by the person. And now… it was wide awake.
"UP!" I roared, the light and lightning converging into my right fist as I punched the ground again to give me momentum go get up. The Hand was now mere moment away from crushing me… if I let it. "Listen… the lion's roar! Lightning… BOLT!" I blared with all my power, dashing through the arm and into the head, piercing it as well with my lightning charged fist. But what everyone saw was just a bolt of lightning crossing the air and opening two massive holes on the Dark Side, one on the hand and one on the head, killing it instantly.
"Kairi! Are you okay? I, I mean, we thought we lost you for a second there!" Sora shouted as he raced to my side.
"What does it look like?" I asked in a harsh tone to scare him. Then, I let out a smile. "Thanks to you… yeah." Well, it wasn't JUST thanks to him, but you have to give credit where it's due, don't you?
"Will you two stop slobbering over each other? Let's go get your sister!" Hey! I was not! Right…?
Naminé's PoV:
Riku was becoming… scary. Efficiently killing any heartless that approach us? Yes. But he laughed like a madman as he did it. He reveled in doing it in the sickest way possible. Not only that, he was getting sloppy. He got various cuts but he just didn't care. He was acting just like a berserker, drunk in power. It only scared me more how the wounds seemed to close moments after getting them.
"This is awesome!" He shouted, laughing darkly. "So much power! Nothing can kill me!"
Bang!
Right in the head of a nearby Knight which had snuck up behind Riku. I almost expected Xion to give a snarky remark about her bullets but no sir. Riku turned to see where the bullet came from, forgetting how Xion used ricochet that much, and, on that exact moment, from behind a rock, Xion appeared behind him, putting him into a sleeper hold. "This is for your own protection…" She whispered. Riku tried to battle it out but soon enough, he had succumbed. "I'm sorry… I should've watched over you better."
"You don't have to apologize. It's normal for him to lose control at least once in a week or two after the revelation. Statistics don't lie." I didn't even question Cuore appearing in her monotone voice. "I'll heal you all, just…"
Crash!
Sora's PoV:
"What is…" I began before seeing the man in black arise from the smoke. We were so close to Naminé and the others and then THIS had to happen. He must've taken a pretty big hit yet… he was unscathed. He looked at us, completely uninterested until he sighted Cuore, who had paralyzed.
"Maenad… I did not think I'd see a failed battery here." He said, as if speaking in riddles. Ignoring all of us, he headed towards her.
"Go away… please…" Cuore pleaded, on the verge of tears, backing off from the man.
"Why? I see you still have magic in you. Magic that belongs to the Organization." He stated, punching Xion out of the way as she tried to interfere with her knife.
"Go way! I'm warning you!"
"I am trembling in fear." He said sarcastically. He was now less than a meter from Cuore.
"I said… go away!" She yelled, a massive glyph covering the ground, throwing both him and us outside. "From above the twelve constellations I summon you! Oh strongest of espers, sealed away by the fearful gods themselves! Oh child of absolute might, whose true form will rain punishment upon humanity! I summon you Scion of Darkness!" As she chanted the summoning spell or whatever it was she was doing, the skies darkened, lighting cackling brewing a thunderstorm. Not only that, but I felt like I was drifting away into a cascade of darkness, terror gripping my very soul. The heartless fled. Terra herself, even in her transformation was visibly scared. The MAN was scared.
"You prefer death?! MAENAD! Stop!" He shouted to no avail.
"Open! The gate to Ophiuchus! KEEPER OF PRECEPTS! ZODIA-" Somehow, the man in the black armor managed to dash in in time to cover her mouth, stopping the incantation and its side effects.
"Thank you for saving me… Guild Master." The sarcasm on the man's voice was obvious, it was satisfying see Terra spear him into the wall and then throw him into the air for a continued bout while the Master tried to calm Cuore down.
"Look, Cu… your parents would be sad if you died, okay? If you summon It you would definitely die from the strain." He told her sternly but with a tone of kindness laced around it.
"I… I panicked! I don't want to…"
"Shh… I know… look, I'll make him go away, okay?" I hushed her tears with his chest before having her ask:
"Are you telling me the truth?" Tremors.
"Rex! The Akantor!" Luna cried to warn her commander.
"I… never lie!" He exclaimed, turning at the exact moment the monster was in range, clubbing him with the flat on his blade so hard he was sent hurling into midair. As fast as lightning, he stabbed the Akantor right in the chest, an explosion of black goo erupting as he retrieved the blade, the Akantor falling flat on the ground, dead or alive he was unmoving. Everyone, even his companions were flabbergasted by his display of power. "It's about time I got serious… XEMNAS!" So that was what the tan man was called.
"Just a moment." Xemnas asked, breaking free from Terra's grasp and summoning a red saber of light from out of nowhere. With it, he inflicted a major gash on the girl from shoulder to hip the pain paralyzing her as he grabbed her neck. "Remember this… power without control cannot be called yours. Grow, I was disappointed with your performance today! You are useless to us like that." I didn't understand… how could he know things that apparently even Terra didn't know about herself?! I was so confused! Terra gasped and was thrown into the ground, crashing and burning. "Now, what seems to be the issue?" He asked smugly.
"How did you survive that fight with Xehanort ten years ago?" He asked, approaching the man slowly.
"You would like to know, wouldn't you?" He taunted. The two began to walk in circles around each other, staring at one another.
"Not as much as what you're doing here." He remarked smartly.
"What is it to you? Our grudge is with SOLDIER." Xemnas replied, instantly summoning his beam sword to parry Rex's. Xemnas tried to counter by creating another sword from his other hand swigging it at his head, but he easily blocked it with his armored hand. Then, Rex's claymore, which I should explain now. It was large, I mean, larger than him and like I said, matched the color scheme from the animal it probably came from, but there were two quirks to it. One, the center line was an about five, ten centimeters long and looked like magma. The sword itself opened to show that reentrance. Two, the sword had two more hidden lines which I had seen by grazing the fight with the monster. When it opened, the sword enlarged not much, but what came of it was the real deal. When he slammed the sword against both Xemnas' beam swords, the ground cracked, opening a fissure just like an earthquake would. Hell, it was like seeing Xemnas square off against the thing he had thrown against us.
"Don't joke around with me!" He warned. "I was there. I know what you are. And worse yet. You waltzed into a world which had NOTHING to do with the war except, well me, and set a bunch of First Class Wyverns, including one that some villages deem to be a god-like being, against my son and his friends. The last thing I'm going to do is be reasonable here! Either you LEAVE or you'll be the first human I kill." He seemed dead serious about it. I wonder… were Eraqus and Xehanort really even more hilariously overpowered than these guys? If they were… holly crap. Back to story though. Xemnas, now floating to maintain his position chuckled and answered.
"I think I'll take the first offer. I have no real reason to fight you. As I told my subordinate, my only purpose here was observation. And I think of it as a success… I never knew the Key had returned. The two, now three persons I was interested in performed… well enough. Now, I warn you, "Guild Master". If you know what's good for your world… you'd stay away from SOLDIER matters." Before we could argue or ask anything more, he snapped his fingers, himself and probably his henchman being covered in pink cherry blossom petals, vanishing without a trace. Was it… over?
"Here we go again…" Rex complained, scratching the back of his neck. "Everyone alright?" He asked us.
"Sorta… This is not my model of a perfect day really." I answered, him laughing at my expense.
"Well, you SOLDIER recruits are getting soft, aren't ya?" I liked this guy already. I found myself a good spot on the ground and just let myself fall back first. This had been one hell of a ride… that was not over yet. The clank of armor and the agitation I heard lead me to sit back up and take a look. "What are you doing kid?" He asked Terra, who apparently had tried to hit him from behind, only succeeding in leaving three lacerations on his right cheek.
"Rex!" The other man in his team called.
"Stay out of this Sol!" He ordered, turning back to his attacker. "You're not listening, are you?" Up close… she was scary. You know when you injure a wild predator and then he starts wailing at anything that gets near him? That was what was happening. Well, it had to end someway, didn't it? It was sad, horribly sad, seeing someone so kind and generous degraded to this point for whatever reason it was but fortunately it ended soon enough. She charged at him and got her right hand grabbed. "Look… I knew your father. And I spared against him. You? Are five years too young for this!" Was he mocking her? Yes, yes he was. As quick as he could, to lessen the time she was like… "that" pulled her arm, making her go over his head and slammed the girl on the ground so hard she was instantly K.O. Violent… but she reverted back to the Terra we all knew, as if by magic, just as her consciousness faded. "Sorry…I'm going to have to call my wife for this…" He groaned, calling one of his team mates. "Give her some potions, okay Sol?"
"Of course." He nodded.
"Well now… I think it's safe to say NOW it's over!" He exclaimed. He was obviously worried sick, but he needed to clear the moods, right? He then went to check everyone, most of them nodding how well they were after Cuore was done with them… except Riku who still hadn't woken up. Terra as well. When he was done inspecting everyone else, he walked over to Shin, who was tending to the Akantor. "So… did I do it right?" He asked him. Wait… no.
"For once you managed to capture something and NOT kill it." Shinryu told the guy, faking anger.
"Does that mean you won't go around and pretend you are not related to me?" Rex asked hopefully, taking his eyes of the beast and looking at him. Holly shit he was.
"While I don't agree with what you do… Maybe dad." He replied, punching him in the shoulder. "Maybe."
Next Chapter:
"THEY DID WHAT?!"
"You're coming with us?"
"Just need a word with Eraqus. I don't like being left in the dark. Don't worry, I'll "leak information" to you."
Next time on Normalcy? Extremely Overrated: The end of Part 1: We're Back!
Profiles:
Now, here's where I stop for a second here. I had to insert natives here, didn't I? Problem is… there is not much in the name of character in the original world so I had to pull out OCs BASED on what they did. This always happens when a game tries to make you BE that person. I also took a page of two fellow authors and I will give them credit since they let me do it, easing my stress.
Rex Verus (Monster Hunter Freedom 2, 40): Guild Master of the Hunters Guild, he was the man responsible for killing the rogue Akantor twenty years ago, also participating in the war ten years afterwards, settling down to become Guild Master then. This one was actually made by me.
Solaris "Sol" Das Licht: (Monster Hunter Tri, 37): Esteemed hunter and researcher of the Hunter's Guild who joined Rex's team after dealing with the strange happenings of Moga with fellow newbie Luna, meeting in the city of Loc Lac on a Jhen Moran assault. Married to Luna.
Luna Das Licht (Monster Hunter Tri, 37): Esteemed huntress of the Hunter's Guild, who unlike her husband is still actively hunting. She joined Rex's team after dealing with the strange happenings of Moga with fellow newbie Sol, meeting in the city of Loc Lac during a Jhen Moran assault. Sol's wife.
These two were made by TheJadeDragon37, so all props goes to him.
Marcus Verus (Monster Hunter 4, 17): Son of legendary hunter Rex and, while not much was shown, brother to Shinryu. They have quite a history of disagreements every time they were less than ten meters away from each other. He decided to become a hunter while Shinryu disliking the profession just followed his mother.
Inhaled Corn is the creator of this character, so props to her and if you like good stories, these two are a good way to find ones.
Encyclopedia:
Akantor (Monster Hunter Freedom 2): Known to many as the Tyrant of Flame, revered as the Black God in Poke, this specific species of uncategorized monsters are known to leave the Guild in shambles by themselves. Rex was, along with his wife and two others, the only man to actually perform an official hunt on it twenty years ago. Danger level 255.
Rathalos (Monster Hunter): The flagship monster. The King of the Skies. This guy needs no introduction. Known for his territoriality and sheer might he is both respected and feared by humans. He inhabits most of the world, choosing to steer clear of snowy mountains.
Post-Chapter Note:I. Put. Xemnas. Here. Happy? Exciting enough for you? I hope it was. I put everything I got to make this a good, exciting climax for you guys since I hit 50 reviews, I had to thank you for it with my biggest chapter in any story yet...and I THINK I managed to do it. Reassure me, giant box bellooooow. Again, props to Jade and Corn.