Sorry it has been a long time with doing these stories. Finals Week is a killer, and with three math classes for a fourth year college student, it's troublesome. But rest assured, I am making up for it. How? By making a double feature! That's right, two episodes together. Truth be told, I did the next one before this one because I was so excited for it. I hope this will work out for you! Read and enjoy!
(I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Sword Art Online. All I do is form my imagination from both stories, and share it with the world!)
Prologue
Up in the tower of Hyrule Castle, Wolf Link was staring down at the injured Midna on the ground, and the cloaked Zelda was knelt down next to her. Link was cursed by a dark being named Zant, and he had heavily damaged Midna, bringing her close to death.
Link managed to make his way back to Hyrule Castle, where Princess Zelda laid captive within. However, Zelda was unable to remove the curse from Link. Instead, she told him about a sacred sword within a grove that could lift the curse, reverting him to normal.
"Link…" moaned Midna, "You can… You can get to the woods…on your own, right?" Wolf Link looked from Zelda to Midna, wondering. "Princess… I have one last request…" Midna continued, speaking to Zelda now, "Can you tell him…where to find the Mirror of Twilight?"
Zelda gasped at the request, then after looking at Midna for a second, she said, "Midna… I believe I understand now just who and what you are. Despite your mortal injuries, you act in our stead. These dark times are the result of our deeds, yet it is you who have reaped the penalty. Accept this now, Midna. I pass it to you…"
Zelda folded her hands around Midna's hand as she started to glow brightly. The energy she was producing now started to pour itself onto Midna, who floated into the air, surprised at what was happening. She looked to the light surrounding her body, then at Zelda, then she became shocked. "NO! Link! Stop her!" she shouted. Link was too shocked at the display to do anything. Midna's pleas for Zelda to stop became inaudible as she continued to float higher. Zelda watched her ascend, then she removed her hands from Midna's just as her body vanished in a sparkling of lights, leaving her cloak behind, which fell to the floor.
Midna came back down again, fully recovered. She landed on her feet in front of Link, and both of them looked at the spot where Zelda was at before. After a few seconds, Midna started. "We go back, Link! Back to Faron Woods!" she ordered. She flipped herself onto Link's back again.
They were about to head out when something outside the rainy window caught there attention. They turned to see a bright orange mist appear off in the distance. "What's this?!" gasped Midna, surprised, "Why is twilight descending onto Hyrule again? This shouldn't be possible!" Link stared at it, wondering the same thing.
(Cue Opening song)
Chapter 1: Twilight Wolf
The team made it back to the crossroads once more, and took the direction they hadn't gone through before. The space gate wasn't as crazy as the one from before, and with their Highwind, it was very easy. The team made it out and towards the next world. When they arrived, they found a world that looked like a medieval-styled world, but a part of the world was covered in an eerie sort of dark-yellow atmosphere. Most of this was centered around a large castle, which seemed to be stuck in a pyramid-shaped barrier.
"What the heck is with this world?" Kirito asked, "And what's with that fog?" "The land in which we are traveling to is called Hyrule." Yui replied, looking up at a monitor, "And unfortunately, it is in great danger. Parts of the land are covered in an area of 'twilight'."
"Twilight?" Sora repeated. "Is it dangerous?" Asuna asked nervously. "According to this, it turns normal people into spirits." Yui explained, "And what's worse, there are monsters down there that can easily turn the spirits into one of their own." "I bet the Heartless find the people's spirits easy prey as well." Kirito said in a serious tone, standing up onto his feet, "Let's go down there."
"But what if the twilight turns us into spirits, too?" Donald asked hastily, "How'll we fight then?" "Oh, I'm sure things'll work out." Goofy assured him. "And besides, Yui said it affects NORMAL people." Sora reminded him. "Let's hope we are not normal here." Kirito stated amusingly. Sora and Goofy chuckled at his joke. Asuna just looked absentmindedly down at the world. A world full of spirits and monsters. she thought to herself, Can any world be normal for once? She and Donald climbed onto the transporter with the other boys as Yui tapped in the coordinates, and they went down to the surface.
When they arrived, they found themselves in the plains, within the twilight. The team looked around. The name said it all, since it looked like the time of day, except for the white sky above them, and the black specs that were all around them. The place did not look natural. Off in the distance, they could see a large castle, but it was surrounded by a diamond-shaped prism barrier, one made of a different type of twilight.
Both Asuna and Donald rubbed their arms, shuddering. "This place is really creepy." Asuna mumbled. "Not as scary as Halloween Town, right?" Kirito asked her. Asuna flinched when she remembered that world in Sora's dimension. "Y-Yeah." she stammered, "That place was definitely scarier." Kirito rolled his eyes. She still was frightened of that place.
"Still, this place is very…weird." Sora pointed out, looking around. "And we didn't turn into spirits!" Goofy added, looking at his hands. He was right. All six of them remained themselves even in the twilight. "I wonder why we haven't changed?" Kirito asked, looking at his hands. "It's because we aren't from this world." Yui answered, "Remember back when Jack Sparrow turned into a skeleton because of the treasure's curse? We weren't affected by that for the same reason." "Yeah, that does make sense." Sora understood, slamming his fist into his palm.
After a few seconds, Kirito started. "So…where to?" he asked the team. Everyone looked to Sora, who looked to each of them. "I guess we should start by figuring out what's causing this twilight." Sora suggested, "If the Heartless are enjoying this scenery, then that means this 'twilight' is influenced by the darkness. We have to stop it!" The others nodded in agreement.
All of a sudden, the stone pillars surrounded them, with red pattens engraved on them. The red patterns then formed a barrier, surrounding the group. "What in the…!" gasped Yui, but before she could finish, Heartless started to appear. They were Armored Knights, and they weren't alone.
A black and red portal opened up above them, and down came two more black creatures, ones that looked dark and dangerous as a Heartless. Most of its' body looked human-like, but it was on its' hands and legs, it had a shield-like mask that covered its' face, and tentacles growing from the top and bottom of the beasts' face. There were also red markings on their chest similar to the ones on the surrounding stones.
"Wha-what are those things?!" gasped Asuna, panicking with Donald and Goofy at the sight of it. "Yui!" shouted Kirito. "My scanner isn't telling me!" Yui replied, looking at the activated eyepiece which had the words 'unknown' on it, "My guess is that it's native to this land." "This thing is normal in this place?" a confused Sora asked, whipping out his Keyblade, "Well, whatever! We gotta take it down along with the Heartless in order to remove this barrier!" The others pulled out their weapons, readying themselves against the Heartless and creatures.
The team started taking out the monsters within the enclosed area. While the Heartless weren't much of a problem, they still kept reproducing. What were the troublesome ones were the new creatures. Frontal attacks didn't do much what with their shield masks, and they were quite strong with their attacks. The team had no choice but to attack them from the back when given the chance. Once the two creatures were knocked down, the Heartless stopped reproducing, and the team defeated the rest.
Once all taken out, the creatures suddenly disappeared into several black specs, only to form themselves up above where the portal was once at. the red parts of the portal turned green, and the barrier was lifted from around them. "What was that all about?" Kirito asked as the team looked up at the portal. "I don't know. But whatever those things were, they're probably the source of the twilight." Asuna assumed.
"Well, well. What do we have here?" said a sly girl's voice. The team turned to see someone, or something, riding a wolf towards them. The wolf's fur was a mixture of light and dark grey, with weird markings on its' forehead. Its' eyes were blue. He also had blue earrings and a cuff with broken chain on its' front left leg.
The thing riding the wolf looked sort of like an imp, but it had some sort of feminine features on it as well. It was black and white, with green markings on its' arms, legs and ears. It had on a grey, horned, crown-like mask on it, which had a part that covered her left eye. It also had long yellow hair that fell behind her, and it glowed a bit.
The wolf stopped in front of the wary group, and both it and the imp looked at them. "This is peculiar." the imp said, looking at them, "You are all within the twilight, and yet you don't seem to be affected by it." "Who are you?" Kirito asked, finding the new figure suspicious. "I'm the one who should be asking YOU that." the imp replied, "Who are you three, and where do you come from?" Where do we come from…why is that such a common question?! Thought an irritable Kirito.
"I'm Sora." Sora stepped in, "This is Kirito, Asuna, Donald, Goofy, and Yui. We just came here when this happened. Don't know why it doesn't affect us, though." "Hmm… How odd." the imp muttered.
There was a few seconds pause, then Sora asked, "Aren't you gonna tell us who you are?" "Oh, how thoughtless of me." the imp replied, "I'm Midna. The wolf-boy here is named Link." "Wolf-boy?" Asuna repeated, eyeing the wolf, who was eyeing right back. Looking into its' eyes, Asuna could tell that this wolf was not normal.
"That's right." Midna replied, hopping off Link's back, "This wolf was once a young Hylian, but was cursed by Zant, who 'rules' the twilight. But that beast has no right to call himself a king…" Midna looked down a bit, and her fists curled in anger. Kirito and Sora looked to each other, puzzled.
Midna shook her head of these things, and looked back at the group. "But that's beside the point right now." she continued, "Link and I were just about to set out for the Sacred Grove when we found the land in this unnatural twilight." "Unnatural in what way?" Kirito asked. "I mean that it shouldn't even be here." Midna replied, "This land is suppose to be void of all twilight since we restored the Spirits of Light once more. But this… It is rather unusual."
"Is there anything we can do about it?" Sora asked. "I'm not sure, though your presence here and the fact you aren't affected by it does bring up a lot of questions." Midna replied, "So until these questions are answered, you will accompany us to the Sacred Grove."
"And what would happen if we refuse?" Kirito asked suspiciously. "Kirito, we aren't here to start up a fight." Asuna snapped at him, "Besides, they could help us out here." Kirito thought for a second, then looked to Yui. "What do you think, Yui?" he asked. "Midna does look suspicious, but she doesn't look like she'll harm us."
Everyone was eyeing Kirito, who looked to everyone in a nervous manner before sighing, "Okay, fine. We'll help them out." Sora grinned eagerly. "Since all of you are in agreement, we shall be heading off." Midna stated, getting onto Link again, "Follow us if you can." With that, the wolf dashed passed the group, with the team chasing after him and Midna.
They ran on for a while, making their towards a path, and made it into a crevice surrounded by rock walls. Countless Heartless kept impeding in their path, but the team dealt with everyone that came. They noticed how well Wolf Link, who they called, was good in combat. Using his agility, along with combat skills with his fangs and tail, which he used almost sword-like, against the Heartless. In return, Midna was impressed by the powers and magic that the team possessed, particularly the Keyblades.
They made it to the edge of the twilight, which was in the middle of the crevice. A barrier was in their path, preventing them access to the outside. "Now what?" Donald asked. "We need to just get through it, right?" Sora asked, walking up to it. "I can get Link through, though I don't know about you guys." Midna stated as she eyed the portal, "Too bad. Looks like I will have to leave you behind." "What?!" gasped Donald and Sora. She didn't even think of a way around it. Kirito thought irritably.
Yui walked up to the barrier and examined it for a second. "What is it, Yui?" Kirito asked. "I think…the Keyblade could open it." she replied, turning to them, "It might be in a different form, but this is still a doorway between the twilight and the world outside…" "Great!" cheered Sora. "But it's a one way trip." Yui continued, "And I don't think the barrier will stay unlocked for long, even if you use the Keyblade." "If it means getting us out of here, I'm not complaining." Asuna replied.
"You can unlock the barrier?" Midna asked in a puzzled tone, "Just how are you able to do that? Only the Twili can do such things." "Watch…" Asuna replied, stepping forward and pulling out her Suite Harmony Keyblade. She pointed it at the barrier and concentrated. The Keyblade lit up, and fired a beam at the barrier. The moment it made contact, a large white keyhole opened up in front of them.
"Such power…" Midna gasped. "It will only last for a few seconds!" Yui told the group, "Everybody, get through!" The team did so, leaping one after another into the keyhole, which already started to shrink on them. Donald was the last to make it through, and almost got his tail stuck in the keyhole, but he pulled it out, leaving a few white feathers behind.
Outside the twilight, the team watched as Donald jumped out, landing face-first into the ground. "Good. Everyone's here." Sora stated, looking at the crowd. "That weapon of yours is very unusual." Midna stated, swooping over to Asuna and grabbing her Keyblade. "Hey!" Asuna barked as Midna floated above her, examining the weapon.
She held it aloft, then took it by the handle and examined it up and down for a few seconds. "I wonder if this would work for Link?" she thought out loud, "It would come in handy for us." "Yeah, if he was its' chosen wielder." Asuna retorted, making the Keyblade come back to her hand, which surprised Midna, "This weapon can only be wielded by me, Kirito, or Sora. It's not yours for the taking."
"Gee, that's a shame." Midna huffed, "I was hoping to use it to break all those locks we find in the dungeons we go to." "Huh?" Sora questioned. "Never mind." Midna replied, getting back onto Wolf Link again, "We're wasting time here. Let's go to the Sacred Grove. It's through the Faron Woods." And with that, the team continued.
The sky said that it was evening, with the stars twinkling in the night sky and a few clouds showing themselves here and there. Behind them, the area of twilight glowed like a giant lantern in the night sky. The Heartless, however, weren't stopping their attacks, though. They kept coming at the crew, and the crew kept retaliating stronger. They were really abundant when the team crossed a large stone bridge.
"What's causing these monsters to go so rampant?" Midna asked after the tenth wave they crossed on the bridge. "The Heartless try to take people's hearts." Sora explained, "Not only that, they fear the Keyblade, and want to destroy it."
"Even so, this is a serious amount of Heartless than usual." Asuna pointed out, "Either Pete and Maleficent decided to take things seriously, or…" Asuna looked to the twilight, way off in the distance. Everyone else followed her gaze, and realized the alternative. "…Or the Heartless are involved with the twilight in some way." Kirito voiced everyone's thoughts.
Chapter 2: To the Sacred Grove
Sora looked to Midna. "Say, you said something about 'Spirits of Light' that you restored before. Who are they?" he asked. "They are the four spirits who protect the light of this land." Midna explained, "They were once weakened by the monsters of twilight, which in turn turned the places they protected into twilight realms. We restored their power one after another, while searching for the Fused Shadows."
"Fused Shadows?" Kirito asked. "Dark artifacts that I was gonna use against the 'ruler' of Twilight, Zant." Midna explained, "But just as we gained them all, that fiend took them away from us, and stuck Link here into a wolf form. In order for him to turn back to normal, we need to go to the Sacred Grove."
"I get it." Sora understood, "So we just need to go to Sacred Grove to turn him back, right? That doesn't seem too hard." "We shall see." Midna replied, turning Link back to their next destination, "For now, we need to go to Faron Woods first. From there, we can make it to the Sacred Grove." And with that, the team continued on their way.
By the time they got to the edge of the woods, it was daybreak. The timetable in this world was much shorter than one they were use to. Either that, or time flies by when you're having fun taking down Heartless. At least, in Kirito and Sora's case. The team finally got the Faron Woods in their sights, and they went in.
When they entered the woods, they crossed a small wooden bridge towards a shack that had a man with big, brown hair sitting out in front. "Excuse me." Asuna called as the team drew in closer. The man turned to the group. "Oh, hello there!" greeted the man, "It's rare to get so many visitors here. Especially ones with wolves."
The team looked to Wolf Link and Midna, but somehow, Midna had vanished. "Where…?" Kirito started. "Huh?" Donald squawked. "Is something wrong?" the man asked. "N-No. Not really." Asuna stammered, "In any case, have you seen a place called the 'Sacred Grove'?" The man scratched his head for a second. "Hmm…no, haven't seen it." The team bowed their heads depressingly.
"Although…" the man continued, getting the team's attention again, "I did see someone walk along through the caves that way." He pointed towards an enclosed path in front of them. "I was curious. He didn't look like a native." the man stated. The team looked curiously at one another. Could it be one of their enemies?
"Thanks for the assistance." Kirito thanked the man, and the team ran towards the path that the man pointed to. Once out of sight, Sora called out for Midna. "Where'd she disappear to?" Asuna asked, looking around.
"I'm right here." giggled Midna's voice. Kirito looked down at his shadow, and to his shock, Midna appeared in a black form before returning to her normal self. Everyone but Link looked shocked. "How did you do that?!" exclaimed Kirito. "I can meld into the shadows." Midna explained, passing a hand through her unusual hair, "It's just one of the many gifts I have." "That's both creepy and amazing." Asuna stated. "It's almost like you're one of the Heartless." Sora compared. Kirito thought the same thing. Was this imp really to be trusted?
"C'mon! We gotta go through this cave!" Goofy told the group, pointing to a cave that led further into the forest. The team walked into it, and saw how dark it was. Heck, they couldn't even see each other.
"Argh! I can't see anything!" Sora stated. "Ouch! watch it!" Yui squeaked. "Sorry!" Goofy replied. "There's gotta be a way to shine some light here." Kirito stated, "If only I could use Night Vision magic right now. It would come in handy." "Hold on. Let me try something!" Asuna stated.
Moments later, the gem on her Suite Harmony Keyblade started to glow, brightening up the place. "Awesome!" cheered Sora. "I didn't know it could do that." Kirito said in amazement. "Must be because of the Keyblade's design." Asuna figured.
"Hey, hold on!" Sora exclaimed, pulling out his Shining Wing Keyblade and focusing. Immediately, the two gold rings on the teeth of the Keyblade started to glow as well, making the cave brighter. "Cool!" cheered Goofy. Kirito pulled out his Elucidator Keyblade and concentrated. The Keyblade didn't glow. "Guess mine can't glow like yours." Kirito sighed. "Don't worry. You'll find one eventually." Sora assured him as he and Asuna walked ahead of the group, their Keyblades aloft.
The tunnel was also filled with Heartless as well, and since the passageways were so narrow, the team had some difficult time fighting. The Heartless were using a lot of the darkness to their advantage, though their yellow eyes did give them away at times. The crew powered their way through and made it to the other side of the cave.
Outside the cave, they found themselves in a misty part of the forest, and the team saw a dense purple fog on the ground near them. "If I know poison gas clouds, they usually come in purple color, right?" Kirito asked, staring at the fog. "What do we do about this?" Asuna asked.
"I have an idea!" Sora exclaimed, walking forward, "I'll use my new magic to get us through this. Aero!" A ball of wind shot forward, hitting the fog and making it disperse. "Great! Make a path for us to cross." Kirito told Sora, who nodded in agreement. He led the team forward, using Aero constantly as the team crossed through the blanket of poison fog. After a while, they made it towards a pair of wooden gates further into the forest.
Going through them, they saw that the sunlight from above was peaking down upon them. They ran through the forest towards an open part, that had a narrow path that led up to a great tree, who's roots grew far down below. There was a wide, deep gap between the path and a rock wall, with narrow ledge pieces going along in between.
The team went near the edge of the path and looked down. "It's hard to see the bottom." Kirito stated. "Look!" Donald squawked, pointing towards the far side of the gap. There, standing on a ledge that led further into the forest, was Pete. He was just walking from the ledge into the forest.
"So Pete was behind all the Heartless!" growled Sora. "Wonder where he's going?" Goofy asked. "My guess is that leads to the Sacred Grove." Midna replied, looking beyond, "We have to get over there. Follow me!" She led Wolf Link over to the edge of the cliff. Then leap by leap, she guided Link in going from one ledge to another, until reaching the final ledge. "Wow!" gasped the boys.
"But how're we to cross?" Asuna asked, looking at all the ledges, "There's no way we can cross like them." The team pondered as Midna came over to them. Goofy looked to one side, then said, "Hey, look!" The team looked over to see six chickens coming down the pass, coming near them.
"Are those chickens?" Sora asked. "They're cuccos." Midna replied, "Annoying little poultries… Although, they can be used to cross the gap." "Eh?!" Donald and Kirito gasped, "What do you mean by that?!" "By holding them over your head, you can float from ledge to ledge." Midna explained, "And look at that; there are six of them. I think you should use them."
"I never knew chickens could fly." Yui stated skeptically. "Never mind that. Lets just do it." declared Sora, and he went to grab one of the cuccos. He brought it with him over to the ledge, and everyone watched as he used the bird to float across the gaps, all the way to where Wolf Link was at.
After seeing Sora, the rest of the group did the same. Yui and Asuna went first, followed by Donald and Goofy. It was fortunate that the cuccos were capable of flying them over. They just had to hold on as they carried them.
As soon and Donald and Goofy joined the group, they heard a crow of a rooster, followed by Kirito yelping from a distance. The team turned to see Kirito getting attacked by a bunch of cuccos that came out of nowhere, and Midna standing there, sighing as she witnessed Kirito's moment. The team gasped as they saw Midna's hair contort into a large hand, then grabbed Kirito and carried him over to the rest of the group. She dropped him, and the team saw his face scratched in some places, having been pecked endlessly.
"What happened over there?" Asuna asked as Kirito moaned in pain. "All I did was accidentally bent one of that cucco's legs wrong." he gasped, "It crowed like a rooster, and suddenly, all these other birds came out of nowhere, and started to kill me." Asuna chuckled nervously as she turned to the cuccos they used to cross. "Guess we shouldn't mess with these birds." she stated.
"Enough talk!" Midna barked at them, hopping back onto Link again, "Let's go. We gotta go through the forest to find what we need to help Link." "Which is…?" Sora asked as Asuna healed Kirito of his wounds. "A blade that evil cannot touch." Midna explained, "At least, that's what Zelda said would reverse Link's stasis."
"Who's Zelda?" Yui asked. "She's the princess of Hyrule." Midna explained, "That is, until Zant took it over. Then just recently, I was heavily injured by Zant, and Zelda healed me." Midna looked down mournfully as she continued, "However, she sacrificed her soul to do so, transferring it to me so that I may live." "She did all that to save you?" Sora asked surprised. Midna nodded. Asuna and Kirito looked to one another. This princess did all this to help Midna. Maybe they were misjudging the imp, thinking she was evil.
"But this is not the time to talk. We have to get wolf-boy here back to normal." Midna continued. "Right. Let's head into the Sacred Grove!" declared Sora, and they rushed in together. They had to cross some rotating bridges that turned by the wind, to which Sora happily assisted with, walk along a tight-rope, and finally further into a short cave.
When they came out, they found themselves in what they guessed as the Sacred Grove. The trees' trunks were tall, and their branches were wide. Sunlight peaked out from around the branches, shedding its' light down to the ground around them. The air itself seemed to show off a sort of mystical wave of energy. They were only at the entrance, but the place had an aura to it that was totally unusual.
"This looks like the place." Kirito stated as the group looked around. "But where's Pete?" Goofy asked. The team examined the area around them. Pete was nowhere to be seen. "Let's go further in." Sora told the group, "He's bound to be around here somewhere. Let's go look for him, along with the blade that can reverse Link's form." The others nodded in agreement.
"Hey, what's that?" Goofy asked pointing over to something. He was pointing to an old stone slab, and it had a triangle picture on it, with a smaller upside-down triangle hole in the middle of the triangle, making three connected triangles around the hole. The team walked over to it, and started hearing wind go right through the hole. But for some strange reason, there was no wind around them, and they heard a sort of whistle through the hole, making a tune of some kind.
"What's that mark on this stone? And why is it whistling?" Kirito asked, examining it. "This is a howl stone." Midna explained, "It carries out a tune to which Wolf Link her can howl as well." She patted the head of the wolf. "Alright, Link. Try to memorize this tune." Link stepped right next to the stone, closed his eyes, and listened. After listening to the tune once, Link started to howl the tune as well. He was good as repeating the tune, which almost sounded like a lullaby.
"Now don't forget that tune, Link." Midna told the wolf. "So what's with this triangle?" Kirito repeated, pointing at the symbol on the stone, "Does it mean anything?" "Have you people been living under a Goron? That's the Golden Power of the Sacred Realm!" Midna answered, surprised they didn't know, "It the power from the heavens bestowed upon this land. Some call it something called the 'Triforce'. It is said that three individuals were blessed with the power of the Goddesses. As a matter of face, Link is one of these people."
Everyone stared at Link, shocked. Then Kirito noticed something. On his front-right paw, Kirito could make out a faint glimpse of the same symbol as the one on the rock.
"And that's not all." Midna continued, "Zelda has the other symbol." "Zelda does?" Asuna asked, "But you said she sacrificed herself. What happened to it then?" "She gave her soul to me, but her body is still there. There might be a way to return her soul once this is all done." "Let's hope so." Kirito agreed.
Chapter 3: Puzzles, Pete & Sacred Powers
The team continued on into the grove. It was pretty confusing. It felt somewhat like a maze with all the different combs of the grove they went through. Some parts had small rivers and waterfalls, while others had trees that stuck out well enough for the group to cross them to another level. And as they went further in, they started to see old stone walls of a temple here and there.
It was a beautiful place, but they didn't really have time to stand around and gaze. The Heartless kept coming up upon them like a bad rash. However, their locations on where they attacked did give the team a trail to follow around the forest. Yui guessed that Pete must've been leaving the Heartless behind as he went further in, probably to make sure no intruders get in his path. However, that wasn't the case.
Pete made his way through a stone archway, into the center of the ruined temple, panting slightly. "Dat dumb little squirt with the lantern and horn ticked me off!" he growled, "He caused so much delay in my plan. I had to send a bunch of my Heartless after his puppets in order to keep goin'." He started to look around. "Well, since he's outta here, I might as well go lookin' for that sword. Zant said it would cause BIG trouble if I didn't find it."
Pete continued to look around, but was unable to find the sword. He started to walk about, searching high and low for the sword. "There's nothin' here." Pete said, standing on a higher level, "Now where could that sword be? Zant promised the Key of Folly over to me. Now where is it?!" He started to rub his chin, wondering. If he was hoping to get one up on Vanitas, since he was doing so good. Maleficent was constantly praising Vanitas' work, and not Pete's. It's about time he got a Key of Darkness for Maleficent, too.
Just then, he started to hear a voice. Sora's voice. "Over here, guys!" he shouted. Pete was surprised when he heard them, and dove behind a broken column to shield himself from the brat's view.
Down on the ground, Sora, Kirito, Asuna and the group all got to the center of the ruined temple and looked around. It was old. The stones covered in moss here and there. On one side, there were flights of stairs that led to higher parts of the temple and grove. On the other side, there were two stone statues that guarded the stone door behind them that looked too heavy to move, and displayed a picture of a bird-like creature holding up the Triforce.
"Where's the blade?" Yui asked, examining the place. "It looks like we've hit a dead end." Goofy pointed out. "If the blade is not here, then it has to be further inside the grove." Midna assumed, "The question is; where can we go next?"
"Guys, look!" Donald squawked, pointing to the ground near them. There was a stone circle in the middle of the surrounding walls, and in it was a square with the same triangular symbol they saw before. It was facing the doorway and statues. "Is that the Triforce symbol?" Sora asked as the team circled around it. "Yeah, but what's it doing here?" Kirito asked, looking down at it.
Wolf Link stepped forward, into the golden symbol, facing the doorway with a serious expression. "What are you doing?" Kirito asked. The wolf paused, then he opened his mouth and started to howl the same lullaby-like song they heard on the howl stone before. The others listened to him as he howled, wondering if the tune was suppose to do anything.
It did. All of a sudden, everything around them went black for a second, all but them and the two statues before them were present. Then the symbol flashed for an instant, followed by all but Link and Midna to be shunted to the sides. Several lighted squares started to appear from all around, forming a heart-like pattern, with two squares going underneath the two stone statues feet.
The darkness vanished, and the team was shocked to see that the grounds turned into several platforms, with a bottomless pit down below. Sora, Donald and Goofy were on one far side of the pit while Kirito, Asuna and Yui were on the other side. "What just happened?" Sora gasped, looking at the place. "Look!" Goofy shouted, pointing to the two statues, and for good reasons.
The statues started to move. Blue lights went along their body, and they flashed as they raised their staffs from the ground. They jumped into the air, and landed on the squares directly one away in front and behind Wolf Link. "Watch out, Link! Midna!" shouted Sora. We are the guardians of this land… spoke the statue in front, Guide us to where we once stood. Only then can you enter the true Sacred Grove.
Link and Midna looked to each statue, wondering. "What does it mean?" Kirito asked. "Look! The panels on which the statues stood before look different from the others." Yui pointed out, "I think if you can somehow guide the statues to their rightful place, they'll let us proceed. Link! Move the statues somehow!"
Link understood, and leapt to the platform on his left. Immediately, the statue behind him turned left, but was unable to move without a platform to jump to. The statue in front turned to the left, and hopped onto the platform next to it, which was one of the places where the statues were suppose to go. Everyone was surprised at this. "How did that happen?" Kirito gasped.
Link looked at the statues at first, then jumped to a front platform. The statue behind jumped one stepped forward, while the statue in fron went one step back, off the platform it should be on. "I get it." Asuna realized, "It's a puzzle. Every direction Link goes towards, the back statue follows the same pattern while the front one does the reverse."
"So all he has to do is move correctly in order to bring all the statues back to their rightful place." Yui summarized, "That shouldn't be too hard. If I can read the patterns, maybe I can help Link out." "No, I think Link can do it." Kirito stopped her, drawing the attention of the girls. "Why's that, papa?" Yui asked.
Kirito was watching Sora, Donald and Goofy. They were cheering for Link as he proceeded with moving around the platforms like it was a game board. "I believe Link has what it takes to do it." Kirito stated, "I don't know how I know he can do it, but I know he can." The two girls wondered why he believed that Link could do it, but decided to just cheer him on.
On and on, Link kept moving, with Midna giving some advice on his back. Link constantly examined the board before making a move, making sure he was doing it right. The others could tell that Link is a good puzzle solver. He was able to see the pattern in the statues, see the placement of the platforms, and was now starting to figure out how to get the statues back to their rightful place. Pete watched from a distance, waiting carefully.
After about ten minutes, Wolf Link finally placed the statues in their places again. The statues turned to Link once more, and hammered the ground with their staffs. The stone door behind them rose up, featuring a tunnel and stairs that led further in. Go now to the sacred place, beast… spoke one of the statues, We yield passage to the Sacred Grove. And with that, the lights from the statues died, making them lifeless once more.
The team was so fixated on the statues, that they didn't realize that the grounds returned to normal as well. The team realized it seconds later, surprised, but not saying anything on it. The team gathered around Wolf Link and Midna, facing the door. "After you, Link." Kirito told the wolf, and the group followed Link through the door, with Pete sneaking behind, grinning slyly.
The team walked through the open tunnel, walked up the stairs, and found themselves in an open part of the grove. The ground had a slight fog to it. There were nothing but trees around, with the sunlight shining down all around, specifically into the center of the grove, where a large plinth was at.
On the plinth was a sword, stuck into the ground. Despite the fact that no one was able to come here, the blade looked perfectly fine, without a single trace of rust. It was a double-edged longsword, with a purple, wing-like ricasso hilt and yellow gemstone. Engraved on the top of the metal blade was the same three triangle symbol.
"Is this the blade?" Kirito asked as the team stepped forward towards it. "This is it." Midna answered, examining the sword, "The blade of evil's bane. The one to which no one with evil hearts can touch. The Master Sword." Kirito, Sora and Asuna could clearly feel the sword's power emanating.
Link was about to step forward when a dark barrier suddenly lit up, blocking the others from getting to it. Link leapt back as the team looked around, surprised. They heard someone laughing, and turned to see Pete standing there, chortling. "Pete!" Donald and Goofy barked in unison. "So this is the sword dat Zant character was talkin' about." Pete stated, surprising Midna and making her sneer, "And since I's found it, I might as well smash it into smithereens!"
The team whipped out their weapons and got into battle positions. "That's what you think!" barked Kirito. Link was growling. Pete snapped his fingers, and a bunch of Heartless started to surround him, and raised his fists. It looks like he was ready to fight them. The team examined what they were dealing with before charging at the Heartless and Pete.
The Heartless were composed of Wizards, Soldiers, Lance Soldiers and Armored Knights. Both parties charged at one another, and the battle ensued. Kirito, Sora and Asuna carved a path through the Heartless to Pete, and the team scattered as they took on the Heartless.
While everyone else took on the Heartless, Pete ended up going against Kirito and Link, who impeded his path between him and the Master Sword. Pete attempted to send some of his Heartless at the trio, but Midna used her dark magic to paralyze the Heartless, then Link pounced on each of them, defeating them.
"Get outta my way!" barked Pete, throwing a tantrum and racing at them. Kirito caught his attack and shoved him back. Pete spun around, throwing a bowling ball that exploded at Kirito's feet. "Crap! I forgot about that thing!" Kirito growled, flipping himself in midair, landing on his feet. Link pounced onto Pete, gnawing on him. Pete pounded his fist onto Link's head and tossed him off of him. Link skidded to a halt next to Kirito. The two glared at Pete, who was rolling his shoulder to loosen it up, and the two charged once more.
Pete's attacks were the same as before; punching randomly in front of him, exploding bowling balls, tantrum shockwaves, and his magic shield. However, he had added one more trick to his arsenal; smokescreen bombs, which blinded Kirito, Link and Midna, and Pete would charge right through the smoke, his fists out in front of him. Otherwise, he was the same as before.
Kirito, Link and Midna continuously knocked him around, damaging him continuously. While at the same time, the other team members kept dealing with more and more Heartless, and no matter how many fell, more came up in their place. Yui guessed that they wouldn't disappear unless they defeat Pete. Sora and Asuna went into their Limit Forms, and started pounding at them even further.
After several minutes with Pete, Kirito, Link and Midna were finally wearing Pete down. Pete was breathing heavily, but still full of vigor. "I won't be goin' down that easily!" he panted, "I've still got one more trick up my sleeve." He raised his fist, and slammed it into the ground. Immediately, more of those stones with the red markings surrounded the four of them, keeping Sora, Asuna and the others away from them.
A red portal opened up above them, and Kirito, Link and Midna watched as three more of the strange black creatures with the shields on their heads fell down from the portal in front of the group.
"Not more of these things!" moaned Kirito as the creatures lined up together, protecting Pete. "Shadow Beasts." growled Midna, "These things were once twili, my tribe. But thanks to Zant, they have become corrupted. We have to destroy them in order to give them peace." "Got it." Kirito responded, and Pete ordered the Shadow Beasts to attack them.
While Wolf Link and Midna attacked one of them, Kirito started to take on the other two by himself. Link was far more use to the beasts than Kirito was, and easily took the one he had out. Kirito kept knocking each one back until he finally took one down. Kirito smirked, but Midna shouted, "You idiot!" "What?" Kirito asked. The third Shadow Beast howled, and the other two they took down came back to life. "What the hell?!" Kirito gasped. "You have to knock out the last two at the same time, otherwise one of them will revive the other two!" Midna explained. "You could've told me that!" Kirito shouted back as the Shadow Beasts made a lunge for him.
Kirito backed off, now realizing his mistake, but was immediately hit by a bowling ball bomb from Pete. "Hah! Take that, little pipsqueak!" laughed Pete. "That bastard…" Kirito growled as he got to his feet, but immediately had to dodge another swipe from the Shadow Beasts. "We'll take care of the two!" Midna shouted as she and Link raced passed him to the two Shadow Beasts, "Take care of the one quickly!" "Right!" Kirito responded, and they switched targets.
Kirito charged at the Shadow Beast, dodging another bomb from Pete, and slamming his Keyblade onto the Shadow Beast's shield. He propelled himself into the air, and drilled down straight on top of the beast, knocking it out. "Okay! I got it!" shouted Kirito to Midna and Link. They understood, and Midna used her dark magic to paralyze the two Shadow Beasts, therefore giving Link a chance to take both of them down together.
The Shadow Beasts disappeared into black specs, then flew up to the portal, which turned green on them. The red-marked stones around them vanished. Kirito looked from the portal to Pete, who was dumbstruck at what just happened. Kirito took this chance, and charged at Pete, hitting him with a flurry of attacks, ending with one final slash.
Pete fell to the ground as Sora and Asuna's crew mopped up the last of the Heartless. Pete sat up, shaking his head, then glaring at Kirito, Link and Midna. "You ain't won yet you guys!" he boomed, and he sent a couple more smokescreens, blinding the trio. He raced passed them, lifted the barrier, and got onto the plinth where the Master Sword was at. "I'll just be taking this." he declared as the team gathered around. "No, don't!" shouted Midna, raising a hand.
Pete grabbed the sword, but a blinding light came from the blade and jemstone, blinding everyone. Pete was somehow knocked away by a force from the sword, bouncing along the ground until he hit a tree. Midna was flown off Link's back as he braced himself. The others skidded back away from Link.
Midna sat up as everyone watched Link holding his ground, edging closer to the Master Sword. He stopped close to it, and let out a growl as his body turned black for a few seconds, then the blackness shed itself off Link, morphing into a black and orange stone in front of Midna, who held it floating in her hand. The team looked to it, then at Link who was surprised to see him changed.
He was no longer a wolf, but a human. Or at least a human with pointy ears. He looked about as young as Kirito. He had short blonde hair, which was covered by a floppy green hat, and blue eyes, and a medium build. His garments were a green tunic over chain mail shirt and a white, long-sleeved shirt, white pants under his tunic, and brown leather gauntlets and boots. He also had on a brown belt with a gold buckle, and another one across his chest, used to hold his blue and yellow scabbard on his back. He also had a shield on his back as well, which was blue and silver, and had a red bird picture like the one on the door, along with a golden Triforce above it.
Everyone watched as he grasped the hilt of the sword. The blade stuck in the ground glowed slightly, and Link pulled the sword out of the plinth and raised it up high triumphantly. The fog along the ground stirred as the energy pushed it away, and the sunlight above shined even brighter. The six heroes were awed and amazed. Pete growled slightly, and stood up.
"So this is Link's true look." Kirito stated. "It's so cool!" Sora gasped. "He's not that much older than us." Asuna pointed out. Link swiped his sword around to feel the new strength, and placed it into the scabbard behind him.
He turned to the group, who walked towards him. "Glad to see the real you, Link." Sora stated. Link smiled and nodded in agreement. "Link's not much of a talker." Midna told the group. "Gotcha." Kirito understood.
"But what's that stone in your hand?" Yui asked as Donald raised a finger to it. "Don't touch it!" barked Midna, keeping it away from Donald, "This thing is the embodiment of the evil magic that Zant casted upon Link. It's definitely different from our tribe's shadow magic. I don't know what would happen to you people if you touch the stone, but if Link touches it, it'll turn him back into a beast." "That sounds dangerous." Yui responded.
"So just throw it away." Sora suggested, "Since you got it out of Link, then you don't need it, right?" "That's true…" Midna answered, "On the other hand…if we kept it, Link would be able to transform into a beast anytime he wanted. Yes, since Zant was kind enough to give it to us, we should use it all we can. I'll just hold onto it when you need to transform."
"Wait, where's Pete?" Asuna asked, looking around. The team looked to the spot that Pete was at before, but he wasn't there. "Must've escaped when our backs were turned." Kirito assumed, "I'm sure we'll see him again." "But what about the twilight?" Kirito asked, "We need to go back there in order to figure out what's causing it." The others nodded in agreement.
"Leave that to me." Midna answered, drawing their attention, "Since you opened up a portal for us within the twilight, I can teleport all of us back into it." "Really?" Asuna asked surprised. "It's easy." Midna answered in a not so humble tone, "Just stay close to me, and I'll bring all of us there. Hold on." The team gathered in close as Midna concentrated. Then she raised her hands, and the group's bodies turned into black specs as they were teleported away from the Sacred Grove.
Chapter 4: Cause of Twilight
The team found themselves inside the twilight once more. The team looked around. "The area that the twilight covered seems to have expanded." Yui pointed out. "At this rate, all of Hyrule will be covered in twilight!" Sora realized, "We gotta find a way to shut it down for good." The others nodded in agreement.
"Midna, do you have any idea what's causing this?" Kirito asked. "I'm not sure." Midna replied, "With the Spirits of Light, it should be impossible to have the twilight spread this much. Either Zant is using some sort of strange magic to make this, or there is another cause." "We should look around to see where to start." Kirito told the group, "Let's start at that town over there." Everyone nodded in agreement, Midna dove into Link's shadow, and they raced towards it.
Getting to the town was tough. Since the Heartless loved the twilight area, they kept getting in the way. However, Link in his Hylian form was more useful than his wolf form. Not only was he a skilled swordsman, but he also carried weapons like a whirlwind boomerang, a bunch of bombs, and even a bow and arrows. Seeing this just begged the question 'where was he keeping them?'.
The team made it across the bridge, and into the town, which was simply called 'Castle Town'. Inside, the team examined their surroundings. The town looked like a medieval styled town, and it was lively with people…who, thanks to the twilight, was now spirits. The spirits were basically light green flames flickering above the ground. Asuna fearfully hid behind Kirito as they walked around town.
"So these are the spirits of people." Kirito assumed, looking at them. "Yes. These people have no idea they are in this twilight." Midna explained as they looked around, "They can't see us, but we can see them. I can even allow you to hear them." "That doesn't stop the fact that this really creeps me out." Asuna shuddered, "I take it back; Halloween Town was less creepy than this."
"If we can hear them talkin', maybe one of these fellers know what's causin' the twilight." "Seems like a good start." Kirito agreed, "Lets split up. Asuna, Link and I will go to the main street. Sora, Donald and Midna should check one half of the alleyways. Yui and Goofy, head to a different part of town as well. Got it? Then let's move out!" And with that, the team split up.
Finding information was difficult, considering the amount of spirits. Before leaving, Midna granted them a bit of power to hear the spirits. She also decided to turn Link into a wolf, since his senses are better in his beast form. Link and Kirito led a frightened Asuna through town, stopping at every spirit to listen into their conversations.
Meanwhile, Sora, Donald and Midna went along the alleyways, searching desperately for clues, while Yui and Goofy raced off another path. All Sora could figure out was that this sudden mist came over the land like before, and they saw a large monster off in the distance that created it. As such, it stood to reason that whatever this shadow is, it is big, and not here. From Kirito's crew, the information they got was that the black beast had yellow eyes, and a heart-shaped hole in its' chest. This mean that they were dealing with a Pureblood Heartless. Kirito wondered if it was something like Dark Thorn from Sora's world.
The two parties got together again. "Did you figure anything out?" Kirito asked. "Only that a black shadow is what's causing this twilight." Sora replied, "What about you?" "The townsfolk saw a large Heartless from a distance. My guess it's the same shadow the people are talking about."
"So a Heartless is what's causing this twilight?" Midna asked, surprised. "Looks like that." Kirito answered, "I bet that Pete and this Zant character are working together, consuming Hyrule in an inescapable twilight, and making it easy for the Shadow Beasts and Heartless to attack the people and make them into one of their own." "How despicable!" spat Donald. "That's scary." Asuna shuddered. "Zant… how far will you go?" snarled Midna.
"Now that we know what is causing it, we need to know where it is." Sora stated, "We need to go search for more clues." "No need for that!" Yui's voice shouted, and the team turned to see Yui and Goofy race up to them, "We found out where the problems happening." "We found out from a bar that a monster was seen close by that Great Bridge of Hylia." "Then that's where we're going." Kirito responded, "Let's go!" Asuna was grateful to leave the town, racing out ahead of the group, careful not to get too close to the spirits. She was the first to leave Castle Town ahead of the group.
Once everyone was out, the team raced towards the great bridge, through the fields. The Heartless were swarming the place like cockroaches, and the team had to take care of them, otherwise they would try to make it to the townsfolk. Link went back to Hylian form, and started attacking with his Master Sword.
Kirito and Link got separated from the crew at one point, and were back to back, surrounded by Heartless. "Link, let's see what happens if we work together." Kirito stated. Link nodded in response, and the two clashed their weapons together to form their Limit Break, 'Golden Hylia'.
Link raised his sword, and the Triforce on the back of his sword hand glowed. Immediately, a large Triforce symbol appeared on the ground around them, spreading a wide radius. Kirito and Link's eyes flashed, and they went to work. They used 'Great Spin', in which they stood back to back and spun around with their swords out stretched, and 'Jump Strike', in which Kirito and Link jumped forward in unison, slamming their blades into the ground to create a shockwave.
Their final attack was 'Triforce Slash', in which the symbol on the ground floated up and a duplicate came down from above, sandwiching the Heartless in the middle. The shining triangles flipped vertically, with Kirito and Link on either side. They then started to swipe randomly, their blade extended as they attacked the defenseless Heartless. Then with one final slash, they stabbed right through the Triforce symbol on each side, shattering it and finishing off all the Heartless in between. They landed onto the ground, twirled their blades around, and sheathed them into their backs, though Kirito didn't have a scabbard for his Keyblade.
The team continued to press on, going towards the bridge. It took some time, but the team eventually made it to the bridge. They started to cross it, wondering what they would meet. They stopped close to the middle when they saw someone in front of them. Someone that made Midna look angry.
In front of them was two people. One was Pete. The other was a human-like figure. His face could not be seen through his lizard-like helm. He wore a metal shoulder-guard that wrapped itself around his chest, with a red embedded gem. He also wore a black and neon green-lined robe, his hands unable to be seen through the long sleeves. He also wore a red piece of cloth between his robe and shoulder guard with yellow decoration. Underneath his robes, he wore bronze colored metal shoes.
"Zant!" snarled Midna. "It looks like I wasn't able to kill you before." Zant replied, "How unfortunate. I really hoped to get the two of you out of the way, but yet you come back here once more, and with more troublesome characters." He indicated the six heroes around Link and Midna.
"Heh. Here that? We're troublesome characters." Kirito told Sora smugly. "You're the one whose causing all of this twilight!" barked Asuna, pointing her Keyblade at Zant, "Return it back to normal! Give these people their lives back!" "And what makes you give the right to order me, a king, around?" asked Zant, "My powers were granted by a god. There's no possible way you can stop me. Midna, why not join my side? Together, we can take over the land of the light dwellers, and rule the land in darkness!"
"You still don't understand, Zant." Midna sighed, "You will never understand. Ruling a land in darkness and chaos isn't the right way to rule. Just because you have incredible powers, it doesn't give you the rights of a king!" There was a moments pause, then Zant turned his head to one side. "Very well… If you don't intend to join me, I have no other choice but to destroy you. Pete, show these fools the power of darkness you possess!"
Pete stepped forward, raised his fingers to his mouth, and whistled loudly. The sound echoed down to the lake below. After a long pause, the bridge started to shake a bit, and the heroes tried to maintain their footing as Pete and Zant calmly stood there. All of a sudden, from below, a black figure appeared from the side of the bridge. It was massive, muscular, and menacing. It had wild hair, small wings, large arms and claws, small feet, and a large heart-shaped hole in its' chest. It was also pulsating with orange lines along its' body, like veins. It's beady eyes bared down upon the group.
"I know this thing." Sora muttered, "How can I forget? This is the very first Heartless I faced." "It's called Darkside." Yui analyzed, "A Pureblood Heartless. One of the strongest, too. But for some strange reason, my scanner says it shouldn't have those orange lines." "This dark beast has been imbued with my powers of twilight!" Zant shouted, "It is no ordinary Heartless. It is Twilit Darkside!"
The Heartless raised its' hands to the sky, and roared as the orange lights around its' body glowed brightly. Black specs shot into the sky, where they started to spread throughout Hyrule. "That thing's responsible for creating the twilight here!" gasped Goofy. "We have to take it down!"
Midna looked from the Heartless to where Zant and Pete stood, but they were no longer there. Midna curled her fists in fury, but Link tapped her shoulder. She looked to him, and he nodded to her, assuring it was okay. He then set his sights on the Darkside, who lowered its' hands and turned back to the weapon-drawn crew. Midna dove into Link's shadow. The battle on the bridge was about to begin.
Chapter 5: Vs. Twilit Darkside
The Darkside raised a fist, and slammed it down upon the group. The team scattered as the fist crashed onto the bridge, producing a dark pool and a shockwave to appear. "What's that?!" Asuna gasped, seeing the dark pool, and a few Shadow Heartless spawning from it. "The Darkside is an elite Heartless. It has the ability to produce Shadows." Yui explained.
"Target its' fist while it is stuck in the ground!" Sora told the crew as he, Donald and Goofy went in for the attack, knocking the Shadows away and striking the Heartless's fist. Kirito, Asuna, Yui and Link joined into the attack, slicing at the fist a few times before the Darkside relinquished it.
It raised its' hands and scooped in a ball of dark twilight energy, then it dispersed into smaller orbs, and rained down onto the group. Donald, Asuna and Yui got hit, but Sora and Kirito quickly evaded while Goofy and Link used their shields to protect themselves.
The Heartless grasped the bridge with both hands as it raised its' chest, and missiles made of mixed dark and twilight energy shot out of the heart hole in his chest, homing itself onto the crew. The team did their best avoiding them. Asuna, Yui and Link decided to attack the hands that were gripping onto the side of the bridge.
Kirito shoved Sora out of the way in order to take the hit from a couple missiles. "You okay, Kirito?" Sora asked. "Yeah, just peachy." Kirito moaned, shaking his head as he got back up again, "Just keep your eyes open!" The Darkside let go of the bridge, and readied its fist again. The team focused themselves, and begun to attack it once more.
The Heartless basically did these same three moves during the first half of the battle, punching onto the bridge, raining balls of twilight energy, and homing energy missiles. The team was unable to attack physically unless it sent its' hands down within range of their attacks. Though magic attacks were good long range attacks, along with Link's boomerang and arrows.
After a while, it started to do something else. It dove underneath the bridge, and started sending its' hand through a black and red portal, almost always hitting one of the crew. However, after every third strike, it would pause for a second, its' arm sticking out. This gave the team a chance to attack it. After a few seconds, it would retract its' arm, and come up on the opposite side of where it was before.
This Heartless was tricky, but its' size and brute strength were its' weaknesses. It was hard to attack while throwing balls of twilight orbs, but it was too stupid to not just use that attack. Every time it pounded its' fists or grasped the side of the bridge it made an easy target for the crew to attack. Every once in a while, it did the same attack from below, but it still gave a chance for the crew to attack.
The Heartless relinquished its fist from another failed punch. The Heartless was almost down. The team was somewhat worn out themselves, but they still had plenty of stamina left to win. "C'mon, just wait for that one opportunity to slip up." Kirito muttered under his breath.
What they had not expected was for it to back away from the bridge slightly, then thrusted its' hands against it, causing a massive shockwave upon it. Rubble started to fall from the bridge beneath it. The team knocked off their feet. This wasn't normal. Something was up with this monster.
The team sat up as the Darkside gathered up some of the twilight energy into its' body once more, only a lot more than just a simple orb barrage. The hole in its' heart started to fill with a bright orange energy. "Look out. It's about to do something big." Sora warned the crew as they got to their feet again.
The Darkside rose even higher into the air, and landed on one end of the bridge. It concentrated, then fired a blast of energy down the bridge, towards where the team stood, horrified. "Run!" shouted Kirito, and the team raced down the bridge, being pursued by the blast of energy. Kirito could tell there was no way of outrunning it, and the other side of the bridge was blocked by a shadowy barrier placed by Pete.
Kirito turned his head back, horrified about what's gonna happen. Link dove right in front of him, his shield up. He protected Kirito as the blast hit his shield. Kirito pressed himself onto Link, adding more endurance to the pressure of the blast. The rest of the team was unable to outrun it, so they did the only thing they could. They leapt over either side of the bridge, falling down to Lake Hylia below, screaming in panic. "Asuna! Yui! Everyone!" shouted Kirito over the raging blast.
Asuna, Sora, Donald, Goofy and Yui were screaming as they fell down to the Lake Below. Asuna stopped panicking and straightened her body, keeping her body rigid and straight as she dove head first into the water, followed by everyone else. Goofy hit the top of the water like concrete, before sinking into the water.
The Darkside's attack subsided, and Kirito immediately rushed over to look down at the lake below. Using his SAO eyesight, he was able to see the other five pop out of the water. Asuna and Sora looked fine, but Donald and Yui had to hoist up the unconscious Goofy above the surface.
Kirito sighed in relief as Link joined his side. "They're alright." he assured Link, "Goofy looks a bit dazed, but besides that, they're fine." Link smiled at Kirito, who smirked back. Then the two boys glared as the Darkside jumped off the bridge and surfaced itself in front of the two boys.
"You just messed with the wrong team, you black muscle-head." growled Kirito, he and Link raising their blades. The Heartless raised its' hands once more, and the two prepared to attack. However, the Darkside had other plans. It swung its' hands down and grabbed each of them, squeezing them as he raised the two towards its' face. Kirito and Link struggled to get free from the clutches of the Heartless, but to no avail.
Kirito looked at the face of the Heartless, and saw its' eyes. It was fearful, and dangerous. Kirito stopped struggling, unable to move. He was petrified. This monster definitely caused Kirito fear. The beast was a lot smarter than he thought. It squeezed Kirito harder, and he gasped in pain. It felt like this was the end for him.
An explosion in the other arm drew the Darkside's attention. A bomb was set off by Link, releasing him from the Heartless's grip and causing him to fall. "Link!" shouted Kirito, shocked to see him fall. Link, however, pulled out a new weapon, a hookshot, and shot a claw and chain at a part of the Heartless's body, latching onto it. He then pulled himself up, leaping off of it, landing on the arm that had Kirito.
He thrusted his Master Sword into the arm, causing it pain and making it let go of Kirito. Kirito quickly managed to grab one of the fingers of the Heartless before he fell, and climbed his way back up. Link helped him up, and together, the boys jumped back onto the bridge again.
"Thanks, Link." Kirito sighed, doubled-over slightly, "I lost my nerve there." Link patted his shoulder, and Kirito looked up to see Link with an assuring expression. Kirito looked at him for a second, then realized something. He also looked at the Heartless's eyes as well, but he wasn't afraid, so he shouldn't either.
Kirito stood up straight again, facing Link. "You know, you really are something, Link. You got a lot more guts than me. I should learn a thing or two from you." Link smirked. Kirito smirked as well. He could tell that Link was thinking the same thing about Kirito's leadership.
The roar of the Darkside drew their attention, and they saw the Heartless ready to strike at them once more. "You may have frightened me before, but I'm not gonna let that happen again." Kirito warned the Heartless, "With Link and I together, we will become the unstoppable force that'll take you down, and eliminate the twilight. Only then will these people be free from your clutches. The people of this land. Our friends. Our comrades. They are counting on us to stop you in your tracks. So get ready, cause we're gonna win this battle!" Kirito and Link roared in fury, stunning the Darkside, and drawing the five heroes on the edge of the lakeshore upwards.
Suddenly, a light in Link's chest started to glow brightly. Link and Kirito both looked at it, then Kirito's body started to glow as well. "What's this?" Kirito asked, looking at his body, "I can feel some sort of new power coming from you, Link. It's joining us together."
Link placed his right hand to the light in his chest, closing his eyes to feel the energy. He snapped them open, and removed his hand, revealing an orb of light in his palm. He tossed the ball upwards, where it spiraled upwards, settling itself down in front of Kirito. "Is this…a Drive Orb?" Kirito questioned, then realized, "It's a Soul Drive Orb. Our hearts have been connected, and a new power is coming from it!" Kirito touched the orb, and it dove into his body. His body started to glow a light green energy as he felt the new power. "Hylian Soul!" shouted Kirito, and his body bursted with energy.
In a cutscene, his attire changed from head to toe. His Keyblade was blade first in the ground before him, and he reached his gauntlet out to pull it out of the ground. He swiped it around furiously, ending with a sword spin, shouting a battle cry like Link's, before raising the Keyblade upwards triumphantly.
Asuna gasped as her eyes glowed with her SAO eyesight. Kirito had transformed into a new Soul Drive. He wore a floppy hat like Link's. His coat became a tunic, over a white, long-sleeved shirt and chain mail, with his black pendant sticking out. His cross-straps and belt became brown, with golden buckles. Kirito's gloves were now leather gauntlets. His slacks became knee-low white pants, and his shoes became brown boots. The Triforce symbol was embedded onto his left gauntlet, where he held his Keyblade. His shoulder-guards became miniature forms of the Hylian shield.
Kirito's eyes were set as the Heartless looked stunned at the transformation, then it thrusted its hands forward, slamming them into the bridge. The two boys jumped up onto the ledge and jumped just before the shockwave took place. They landed on each arm of the Heartless, and slashed furiously at the Heartless's head.
Kirito's new combo of attacks were like Link's, including using a Sword Spin. Kirito used his new ground Finisher, 'Leaping Strike', jumping at the Darkside with a powerful attack, and sending a shockwave all across its' body.
Link and Kirito leaped high into the air as the Heartless flinched form the move. They looked to one another, and nodded in agreement. They held their swords, pointing them downwards like they were on pogo sticks, and dove down at the Heartless, roaring furiously. The Darkside looked up just in time as the two thrusted down upon the Heartless's body. The monster started to fall, the duo pushing it down to the lake below.
Asuna, Sora, Yui, Donald and Goofy all watched as the Darkside fell from above, splashing heavily into the water, sending a wave crashing into the shoreline. The five shielded themselves from the water sprays, then turned to see what happened to Kirito and Link. The water died down, revealing the two on a small piece of land in the middle of the lake, watching the Heartless disappear into darkness.
"They did it!" cheered Sora. "Hooray!" cheered Donald. "And Kirito's got a new Soul Drive!" Yui added. "Look! The twilight is fading away." Goofy pointed out. Everyone looked up. The twilight atmosphere started to fade away, revealing the sunny sky once more. The spirits on the shoreline far from them turned to people again. Everyone looked happily all around the place, except for Asuna, who stared at Kirito and Link.
The two boys looked around, then looked to one another. Kirito fist-pumped in victory. Link smiled and nodded in response. Midna appeared out of the shadows in front of Kirito. "It looks like you're just full of surprises, boy." she told him. Kirito's body glowed, and he reverted back to normal again. "I get that a lot." Kirito chuckled, "But at least everyone's safe in Hyrule once more." "Not until Zant is stopped." Midna retorted, "Once he is gone, then both the light realm and Twilight realm will be safe again. We cannot allow him to mold the two into darkness." Kirito nodded in agreement.
Kirito, Link and Midna made their way back to the group. All of a sudden, a shimmering light appeared before Kirito. He held his hand out, and a new Keyblade keychain appeared, one with gold links and a Triforce symbol for its' medallion. "That's the 'Mark of Courage' Keyblade." Yui explained, "It has great physical strength, and it'll increase your defenses in critical situations."
Kirito took the keychain and switched it with his Elucidator. The new Keyblade became something like the Master Sword, except for the purple, rounded guard and the Triforce symbol as the teeth. Kirito gripped it tightly, and the bird symbol appeared around the teeth, adding wider range. "This'll come in handy." Kirito acknowledged, putting his Keyblade away.
"Since things have calmed down here, we'd better get going." Sora told Link and Midna. "You have to leave so soon?" Midna asked curiously. "We gotta." Asuna replied, "There are other places that will be falling into darkness if we don't stop Pete, the Heartless, and many other foes." "But we'll be back to check up on things." Sora assured Midna, "After all, you guys are our friends." Midna smirked slyly, but it was a grin that also showed her kindness. "You'd better come back with those blades of yours." she told them.
"Take care, Link." Kirito told Link, shaking his hand, "I hope you stop Zant. And make sure Midna doesn't control you too much." Link nodded again in a reassuring way. Kirito turned to walk away when he heard a male voice behind him say, "Be brave, Kirito." Kirito stopped, surprised. He turned back to Link, who smiled at him.
"Wha?!" squawked Donald. "Did he just…?" Goofy started. "I think he did." Asuna gasped. "He actually did!" Sora gasped. Kirito paused for a second, then smirked. "Yeah. Thanks, Link." he answered, and he walked through the stunned five, who looked to Kirito as he left, then to Link, then back at Kirito, and realized they were getting left behind. Midna rested herself on Link's shoulder as the two watched the six heroes leave, going towards the next world.
A new Soul Drive for Kirito had been found! Kirito's new Keyblade is on my Deviant Arts page, if anyone is interested. His Hylian Soul is not on yet, but I will draw it and send it in. Please review, tell your friends, and move onto the next episode!
Next time on SAKII:
Goofy: Gawrsh, it sure is hot here!
Sora: This world is a pirate world, so why are we in a desert?
Asuna: Ah! That boy with the straw hat can stretch his body!
Kirito: And that black-haired woman is certainly mysterious. What's her story?
Sora: Dunno, but we have to help these pirates with the princess. C'mon!
Author: On the next Sword Art Kingdom: Dimensional Bonds: Alabasta Kingdom! Baroque Works Brawl!
Luffy: I'm gonna be King of the...
Asuna: 'WHACK' Shut up! This is our bit! Ahem...
Sora, Kirito & Asuna: Let's unlock the path to our bonded hearts!
