Chapter 9: Out of Time
RESTORATION AT: 97%
Kioku summoned his Keyblade. He looked back at his friends, "You guys ready?"
Kioku smirked. "I promised I would be back. But I was a little late.."
Spongebob and Patrick smiled at Kioku, who was ready to go head on into danger.
"Wait are we waitin' for? Come on, let's go!" Kioku said, pointing his Keyblade forward.
"Okay, you win." Taiyo handed Kioku the Thalassa Shell Lucky Charm she was working on. On one of the Thalassa shells, she had drawn a small depiction of Kioku's face.
"Take this with you."
"I knew it was you, after you turned into a Heartless." Taiyo said. "Where ever you go, I'm always with you. Don't you ever forget that."
Kioku nodded. Taiyogave him a more serious look. "One more thing."
"Huh?"
"You'd better bring that Lucky Charm back to me! I worked pretty darn hard on it!" Taiyo bantered, making Kioku flinch again.
"You got it." Kioku nodded. "We're off."
Just as Kioku turned around, Taiyoq uickly grabbed his hand. "Wait. One more thing."
Kioku rolled his eyes and turned around. "What is it Tai-"
Taiyo stepped closer to Kioku and she pressed her light pink lips up against his. Kioku's eyes grew big and his face turned red. Taiyoopened her mouth and kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. Kioku slowly slipped his arms around her hips and held her. They held the kiss until they couldn't breathe. Taiyo opened her mouth and smooched his lips once last time, right before pulling away.
Everyone around them stood in silenced, while the princesses couldn't nearly stay composed. Spongebob and Patrick's jaws were agape. Kioku was in shock as he had kissed Taiyo, for the first time ever.
Taiyo caressed Kioku's cheek, "That was also for luck, too. Silly goose."
Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick stood and overlooked the sea of darkness. Kioku clutched Taiyo's Lucky Charm in his hand.
"So..this is it.." Patrick said.
"Yup." Spongebob replied, awkwardly as he stared forward into the remains of the worlds decimated by the Heartless.
"So, this is all of that's left of the worlds destroyed by Heartless?" Kioku asked.
"Yup. Those worlds be will restored once we beat Vlad." Spongebob answered.
Kioku chuckled. "Sweet."
Patrick rubbed his chin. "I wonder where that Vlad guy went.."
"Dive into the most dangerous place, and we'll find him." Kioku nodded.
Suddenly a large orb of darkness appeared, and flooding out of it was a group of Heartless, along with another Behemoth Heartless. Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick readied their weapons.
The three exclaimed as they got a look at the World of Chaos.
"Holy crap!" Kioku shouted in shock.
"MOTHER OF NEPTUNE!" Spongebob and Patrick exclaimed.
Vlad laughed maniacally. "Behold the endless abyss of darkness!"
"Within, lies the heart of all worlds...KINGDOM HEARTS!"
Vlad bared a fangful smiled. "Every light must fade, every heart return to DARKNESS!"
"Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness!" Vlad chanted.
A large white door sitting on a fragmented snowy platform was creaked open. And flowing out of it, was darkness.
"Damn! We gotta shut that door!" Kioku cursed.
"Right!" Spongebob nodded. As the three got ready to fly towards the big white door, thick wisps of darkness suddenly started to wrap around the three of them and tighten up, making it hard for them to move. Kioku struggled.
"Gah...ahhhhh...!" Kioku choked. His heart beat so fast, felt like it was going to explode.
Vlad laughed once again. "It is futile, the Keyblade alone cannot seal the Door to Darkness."
Spongebob and Patrick struggled. "Hgh...Nhf..Ahh!"
"And now! All of your hearts will return to darkness from whence it came!" Vlad shouted.
The darkness slowly began to swallow the three. Kioku growled.
"THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE WRONG!" Kioku shouted. "THAT'S NOT THE HEART'S TRUE ESSENCE!"
Vlad raised an eyebrow. "What was that, boy?!" Vlad's voice echoed loudly. "What would you know about the heart? You know nothing.. you've learned nothing."
"The heart may be weak, and sometimes...it may even give in.." Kioku's voice echoed. He again thought of Yoru and his fall into darkness.
"But I've learned. That deep down, there's a light that never goes out!" The wisps that were slowly swallowing Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick disappeared.
Vlad stuttered as the light inside of the door to darkness began to shine brighter than ever. He exclaimed in pain. "AAgghgahh!
Vlad cried. "THE DARKNESS WILL EAT YOU ALIVE! KINGDOM HEART'S DARKNESS WILL RIP YOU TO BITS!"
Kioku shook his head. The three stood in a trinity formation, facing each other. They pointed their weapons to the ground.
"We know now.." Kioku started.
"...Without a doubt." Spongebob added.
"Kingdom Hearts..." Patrick added.
The three lifted their weapons in the air in perfect synchronization. An orb of light forming in the middle of them exploding into a raging storm of light.
"...IS LIGHT!" The three shouted.
Vlad writhed and squirmed.
"WHA-?!"
The warm light had began to engulf Vlad and his Heartless battleship.
"LIGHT?! BUT WHY-?!" Vlad cried.
"SO...W-WARM!"
"Tartar sauce! The door is too heavy!" Spongebob shouted, pushing as hard as he could.
Beads of sweat started to drip from Kioku's forehead as he pushed. "It's so heavy."
"Don't give up!" Another voice shouted.
Yoru appeared on the other side of the door, he gripped the door. "Come on, Kioku!"
"Together we can do it!" Yoru smiled.
Kioku smiled and nodded. Spongebob and Patrick peered into the door and saw hordes of Heartless emerging from the inside.
"H-Hurry!" Kioku shouted.
"It's no use!" Spongebob cried.
On the inside, the shadowy figure of a large crab jumped up. It was holding a Keyblade. A bright, warm aura blazing around it. A good chunk of the Heartless were defeated. Spongebob and Patrick's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at they looked at the figure.
"Your Majesty?!" The two said in shock.
The crab held up his Keyblade. "Now Kioku! Let's close this door for good, me boy!"
"Close it quick!" Spongebob said.
"But..."
King Krabs turned in their direction. "Don't worry, lad. There will always be a door to the light."
Patrick nodded. "Kioku! You can trust King Krabs!"
Yoru turned to King Krabs. "Now! They're coming!" he shouted.
King Krabs nodded. "Spongebob, Patrick..thank you, lads."
Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick pushed and pushed, and the door was budging! As the door was closing, Yoru turned back to Kioku, smiling. His next words made Kioku stop briefly.
"Take care of her."
Kioku ran and ran, until he finally got over to her.
"Taiyo!" Kioku called out to her.
Taiyo's face lit up as she saw Kioku.
"Kioku!"
The two ran to meet each other. They hugged tightly, and parted to look each other in the eyes.
"How did you get here?" Kioku asked.
"I don't know, one moment I was with Link and the others and then I'm here." Taiyo said.
Suddenly the ground under them shook violently. The ground in between them was splitting apart.
"Ahh!" Taiyo exclaimed. Kioku grabbed her hand and Taiyo tightened her grip. The two held on tightly.
"Taiyo! Remember what I said before?" Kioku shouted. "I'm always with you too,"
"I'll come back to you, I promise!" Kioku said, still holding on. Wisps of bright light fell softly from the dark sky as the two were splitting apart from each other.
"I know you will!" Taiyo shouted.
Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick walked down a single path in a vast grassy field. Kioku had his hands resting behind his head, a single piece of wheat hanging out of his mouth. Sponngebob and Patrick walked on both sides of him in their casual clothing. After they defeated Vlad, the Seeker of Darkness, and was separated from Taiyo. The three immediately began their search for Yoru and King Krabs.
Kioku looked up at the sky as they walked.
"Well, now what?" Spongebob asked.
"We've gotta find Yoru and King Krabs." Kioku replied.
Patrick chimed in. "But where do we start looking for the door to the light?"
The three thought about and the all stopped in their tracks. Then, they all slumped over, sighing. Kioku they picked his head up and his face had the look of confusion
"Huh?"
Kioku saw a snail slither across the path. The snail looked over at them. Spongebob and Patrick looked down at the snail, as they seem to recognize them.
"Gary? A puzzled Spongebob said.
"Hiya, Gary! Where've you been?" Patrick asked. Gary meowed.
Kioku notices the envelope pasted on Gary's shell. "Huh?"
"That's the King's seal!" Patrick said, pointing out the red KK on the letter.
"Hey, have you seen King Krabs?" Kioku asked. Gary meowed and turned around and started to slither away at a really fast pace.
"Hero of the Keyblade!"
Kioku flipped up to his feet and summoned his Keyblade, the Guardian Locker. He looked around in caution. "Who's there?"
He looked around some more, he heard Spongebob and Patrick mumbling in their sleep. "Mmm..save me some Krabby Patties, will ya?" Spongebob mumbled.
Kioku felt a strong presence far in front of him, he looked foward and saw a rather skinny figure, wearing a black coat. His face shrouded by a hood.
Kioku got into a stance with his Keyblade. The figure started to talk.
"Ahead lies something you need.."
Kioku dashed towards and figure, intending to attack. "But to claim it.."
"You must lose something that is dear to you."
Kioku took a swing at the cloaked figure, but fell flat on his face as the figure disappeared. The figure appeared behind him. "Over here.." The cloaked man taunted as he appeared far behind Kioku. Kioku spun around only to find that the man in black had disappeared. Spongebob and Patrick slept soundly, along with Winslow.
"Damn." Kioku cursed under his breath, dismissing his Keyblade.
Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick had arrived in front of a huge castle. The castle's architecture was very remarkable, with its tower's tops resembling an interesting isosceles triangle, and a noticable monster with horns on the center of the castle. Two smaller parts of the castle, lieing on floating islands are joined to the main structure by chains.
On a dark, quiet beach stood a tall man wearing a black hood. He gazed out at the sea calmly. He then heard footsteps in the sand approaching him, he turned and saw a teenaged boy wearing the same black hood as him. The man smirked, "I've been to see him."
The hooded boy stopped and stood in front of the man. "He looks a lot like you," The hooded man finished.
A boy walked through the rain, wearing a black coat. with the hood shrouding his face. His long, blonde bangs showing slightly along with his cocky smirk. In his hands he held two Keyblades. One belonging to the light, while the other belonged to the darkness. The rain poured down endlessly, and he stepped foward, the sounds of his feet stomping through the puddle of rainwater were barely audible in the noisy rain. Around him were bright lights and tall buildings. Seems like he was in a city of some sort. Standing only far before him with a large skyscraper, outlined with neon lights that lit up in the night sky. Countless of black ink puddles surrounded him and in the blink of an eye, Heartless appeared. The Heartless were taller, more muscular versions of Shadows. Their antennas were longer and blue veins were popping out of their heads.
The hooded boy looked up and saw someone standing on top of the skyscraper, bearing the same black coat as he did. The boy's long, silver hair was tied back into a ponytail and his bangs flew wildly in the wind. His eyes were concealed by a black blindfold. But for some reason, he could sense the hooded boy's presence.
A few of the Neo-Shadows jumped at the Hooded boy, but he quickly swiped them into oblivion with his Keyblades. He started to cut a few of them down to size, adding in a couple of kicks. Some more Neo-Shadows hopped high into the air, threatening to attack from there. The hooded boy quickly tossed one of his Keyblades into the air and let it rapidly spin and tear through the Heartless. While his other Keyblade was ripping through countless of airborne Heartless, the hooded boy swiped through the the surrounding Heartless with a spinning slashed, taking out a large chunk of them.
He lifted his hand into the air and his second Keyblade came back to him. He ran to the bottom of the Skyscraper and looked up at the blindfolded boy. His grips on his Keyblades tightened and he jumped onto the Skyscraper and started to dash up the front of it. Heartless followed behind him and tried to hinder him by getting in front of him. The hooded boy's hands rapidly moved his Keyblades at a fast pace, chopping down all of the Heartless that jumped in front of him, while quickly making his way up the tall building. The hooded by cocked back and threw one of his Keyblades up the building, let it spin towards the blindfolded boy.
The blindfolded boy smirks and started to make his way down the Skyscraper. He caught and Keyblade and flew towards and Hooded boy. The hooded boy and the blindfolded boy were slowly about to meet up. Getting closer and closer. A loud clashing noise echoed throughout the city, and their Keyblade's were locked together. The blind folded boy took a swipe at the hooded boy, but he had quickly evaded the attack with a backflip. The blindfolded boy dashed at the hooded boy, striking his Keyblade forcefully and making the latter fall quickly towards the ground.
Regaining his footing in the air and quickly falling to the Heartless covered ground, the hooded boy plunged his Keyblade into the ground, making nearly all of the Heartless spring up into the air. The blindfolded boy jumped off of the side of the building and dashed over to the hooded boy with amazing speed. Soon, the two were locked in combat. Their Keyblade constantly clashing and slamming against each other, with fiery sparks emitting from them. In between swings they would occasionally cut away at the Heartless surrounding the combat area, to even out the field.
Soon all the Heartless were gone and the two stood on the opposite sides of the street. The glowing, captive hearts floating into the rainy air. The two readied their Keyblades. The rain started to get heavier, and the tension thickened. The lights of the dark city flickered and buzzed as the two dashed at each other and hopped into the air, getting ready to cut one another down.
The hooded boy quickly swung his Keyblade and knocked the blindfolded boy's Keyblade out of his hand, disarming him. He swung a few more times, with the blindfolded boy dodging the swings, but he felt his ponytail come undone from the hooded boy's stray swing. The hooded boy then spun around and kicked the boy in his chin, making him fly back and hit the ground in pain. The hooded boy spun his Keyblade and rested it on his shoulder and slowly walked towards the silverette boy, who had just sat up and wiped the fresh blood from his mouth. He spit, "Why?!"
"Why do you have the Keyblade?!" The blindfolded silverette shouted over the rain. The hooded boy gave his Keyblade a look and then looked down at the silverette. "Shut up!" He then raised it in the air and brought the weapon down on him.
-The Old Mansion: White Room-
Zafira calmly sketched in her book with her making very precise marking without error. She was drawing a picture of Ikkxou and his three friends Nero, Lena and Meru standing atop of the large clock tower. She regularly swapped colored pencils as she drew this picture, adding different colors to the picture. After meeting with Ikkxou, she occassionally would think about her telling him everything. Everything that involved him being somehow connected to Kioku. What also came to mind was Vlad's hindrance of letting her tell Ikkxou the truth about himself, making part of her believe that maybe Ikkxou is better off ignorant.
"But is it better being ignorant?" Zafira asked herself, still sketching in her book. She sighed in annoyance as she couldn't even answer her own question. She pouted and continued to sketch. A portal of darkness appeared in front of her and stepping out of it was Vlad, who had his face shrouded with his hood. She looked up at the tall man as he had quickly presented a question to her. "Are the preparations for Kioku complete?"
The teen nodded, "Yes, we'll be able to meet again pretty soon." Vlad raised an eyebrow as he looked down at the picture Zafira was drawing, which made the girl shuffle nervously in her seat. "That picture.."
Zafira blushed, "Um..It's Ikkxou and his friends from that world." She smiled sadly and lightly set her pencil down. "You know, as nice as it feels to live like this. DiZ said, when my job is done I'll no longer be needed." Vlad stayed quiet as the girl turned to look up at him.
"I know, you've come to erase me. But please do me this one favor." Zafira started. "Please let me see Ikkxou one last time. There's I have to tell him, no matter what!" She said, raising her voice slightly.
-Where Nothing Gathers-
In the round, white room in some far away world, was a gathering between 7 people who all wore black coats At the meeting, Rembex was arguing with the rest of the members about Ikkxou...after failing to bring him back again.
"You 'couldn't bring him back?', One of the hoods exclaimed. Rembex sighed and tried to reason with them, "There was nothing I could do! The kid's forgotten everything!"
The girl sighed again, "Come on..just gimme a little bit more time. That's all I need."
The hooded being in the highest chair looked down at Rembex, "There is no more time." He said darkly. "If you cannot bring him back..simply erase him..."
Rembex gasped at her superior's words. She was presented with an idea she before refused to carry out. But now, it seems like it's the only thing she must do in order for her not to be stripped of her rank and turned into a dusk. Rembex swallowed spit and took a deep breath, "Alright..whatever.."
-Twilight Town: The Usual Spot-
It was two days after the ghost investigation over at the Mansion, and today was officially the last day of summer vacation. After Ikkxou had woken up from the usual weird dreams and had gotten dressed, he headed over to the Usual Spot to meet up with his friends and sulk together at the thought of school starting up again. The blonde haired boy entered the usual spot and he saw his friends standing in a circle and talking. He rubbed the back of his neck, "Man, I could not sleep last night," He announced, but to his surprise he didn't get a response. The other three just kept talking and carrying on like as if Ikkxou wasn't there. The boy raised an eyebrow and reached out to touch Nero's shoulder. "Hey."
Ikkxou nearly let out a loud shriek as his hand went right through Nero's back, he quickly jumped back in horror. Meru and Lena had then laughed at something Nero had said, making Ikkxou glare at them. "Hey! This isn't funny, you know!" the boy shouted, "How did-"
Nero, Meru and Lena then turned around to face Ikkxou, all three of them sharing a blank expression. It was like the three of them were peering into his soul, it made Ikkxou feel like they had forgotten all about him. The three then ran right through the boy, leaving the Usual Spot and running into the alleyways. Ikkxou freaked out again, and he wonder how in the world they could just run right past him and not say a word. Ikkxou stood in the empty room, appalled and hurt from being flat out ignored by his friends. He felt tears well up in his eyes and he quickly wiped them and sniffled. "Why did they just ignore me..why did they run right through me.."
A corridor of darkness had then opened up from behind him, making him spin around. Rembex stepped out of the portal of swirling darkness and gave the boy a dark stare. "Hey.."
She noticed tears streaming down Ikkxou's face, along with looking into his glassy eyes and rosy cheeks. "Jeez kid, what's with the face?"
Ikkxou wiped his face again, "What are you doing here?" he asked. Rembex rubbed the back of her neck, "Uh..I've been ordered to do something pretty bad." She answered. "Put it like that." She continued, "Basically, If you don't come back to us. I'll have to destroy you."
Ikkxou gasped, just before slowly looking towards the ground. "You mean..you'll kill me?" Rembex quickly responded. "I mean I really don't want to, if that's what you're thinking!"
Ikkxou blushed and looked up at Rembex, "We're..friends, right?" He paused. "Special kind of friends?"
Rembex's face lit up, "Ikky! You remembered!" she then blushed slightly. "Yeah..I guess we were something special, huh?"
Ikkxou shifted his eyes elsewhere, "We..don't exist? We can't exist?"
Rembex's face dropped, she rolled her eyes. "Gosh, what are you even saying anymore?" She groaned. "You really had me going, thinking you remembered and all."
She slowly started to stroll around the room, "You really have forgotten everything and frankly, I'm pretty jealous." Rembex's guitar had then appeared in her hand in a flourish of flames. "I'm about to teach you a little something, Ikkxou."
With a large swing from her guitar, she knocked over the nightstand which held the lamp and a few books on it. Rembex took another swing and slammed her guitar into the shelves and knocked down the framed pictures of Ikkxou and his friends. The boy shouted, "Hey! Stop it! What are you doing?!"
Rembex growled, "You dumb dipstick! Don't you get it?" She slammed her guitar into more of Ikkxou's things. "This city is fabricated, everything!"
"Every building, every lamp post. Every single damn thing here is nothing but coding and numbers!" Rembex shouted angrily, smashed more stuff out of pure rage. Ikkxou watched on in horror as Rembex wrecked more stuff, her words about the town echoing and repeating in his head. Fabricated? Is everything Ikkxou thought about this town a lie? Was every moment he spent here just an illusion? Ikkxou couldn't wrap his head around the thought of himself being surrounded by a bunch of data. People that aren't even real. Feeling that aren't even real. It was all too much for the boy to handle, and he just wanted to scream.
He calmy sat on the edge of the couch in silence, while Rembex was nearly tired out from smashing everything in the Usual Spot into rubble. She turned to look at Ikkxou, "Hey, Ikky.."
"There's still time.." Rembex said softly. "I can save you from this place. You can come home."
Ikkxou gritted his teeth and shot a nasty glare at Rembex, and in a flash of light his Keyblade heeded his call. He stood up and got into a stance with it. Rembex sneered at the boy, "You dumbass.." She cracked her neck and got into a stance. "You better not regret this!"
Rembex raised her hand into the air as if she was getting ready to play a single coord and burn Ikkxou to a crisp, but her body had completely froze. Along with her facial expression. Ikkxou gave the frozen girl a stare, wondering how she was able to just stop like that.
"IKKXOU!" a loud voice echoed in the boy's head.
"COME TO THE MANSION!"
Ikkxou sighed and lowered his Keyblade, his eyes shifted towards the floor and he glanced at a picture of Nero, Meru, Lena and him all at the beach. He exhaled sadly as he muttered their names to himself. His eyes then narrowed into a determined glare and he turned to run into the alleyways, holding his Keyblade over his shoulder as he ran. He wanted to know what was going on and why the last week of his summer vacation had to be the most weirdest and emotionally stressful one at that.
Rembex lowered her guitar and scoffed. "I understand, the Ikkxou I know is already gone for good."