(Thank you to anyone who's still reading. I warn you now that there WILL be another Naruto character in the series, mainly because if we've got all this game culture hitting the scene, and then Itachi's all like 'what up biatches' as the only anime reference here, that just puts him ridiculously out of place. That, and it would be nice if somebody knew who Itachi WAS. NOBODY in the series knows.
This character will not be Naruto himself. I SHUDDER to think of what the storyline would be like if he jumped in.
Actually, after discovering that everyone he ever cared about suddenly DIED, and all that's left of his world is an organization that wants to KILL him, he could possibly go into a nervous breakdown and be taken over by the nine tailed fox spirit. After all, growing up the first twelve years of his life being horribly hated by all but a small handful of people, who all died because of a mysterious plague of black creatures out of NOWHERE, might play on whatever emotional and psychological disorders he should already have. Oh good lord, what if the fox spirit, after perhaps taking over his body, turns to the darkness?! Then suddenly you've got this huge omni-powerful evil FORCE OF NATURE running around destroying worlds and-
(Raijinken was interrupted by a flying pineapple hitting him across the face)
Oh god why! Oh, wait, what was I talking about... oh thank god somebody stopped me. While in hindsight, the senario I described above (right up until the fox turned to the darkness) wasn't a BAD idea, it is NOT the plot I have planned.
... Hey, free pineapple! Bitchin'!)
(Everything that has a copyright, is copyrighted to their respective owners)
Oathkeeper
Chapter Twelve: A Judicial Farce
"Wow... That was a party..." Sora was of course talking about the three times unbirthday that had lasted a good nine and a half hours. That settled it, he was coming back even if it killed him.
Who knew that a tunnel mobile could run so fast and efficiently on nothing but tea?
"Sure was! It was real nice of those two to give us directions to a paradise too. Are we goin' there now?"
"Might as well. A paradise would have people there. We can start asking about the King." Donald nodded, satisfied that Sora was keeping the mission in mind. Then Donald stopped, a vacant look passing his face, before slapping a palm over his face in exasperation.
"What? What did I say?"
"Directions. The world changes on a whim. We still don't know where we're going."
"Gwarsh..."
"... God dammit..." Sora sighed, and put his metaphorical chin up. He was walking away from the greatest party in the history of everything ever. He had no right to be a stick in the mud so soon after that monster.
"Well, we don't have any other direction to go. We've gotta end up somewhere." Goofy said, also riding the high of a great party.
"If there's nothing else... perhaps we'll find the ship. Oh, we could be wandering this place for eternity..." Donald however, seemed determined to be depressed.
"Maybe next time we could look for a way to beam ourselves down instead. Then we wouldn't have to look for the ship."
"Sora, this is not any kind of science fiction scenario."
"The fact that we have a space ship says otherwise." Sora stated with a triumphant grin.
"... Touche Keybearer..."
--
"... And of course, you my dear have been found guilty. The charges are attempted theft of my heart, and at the same time, attempted assassination-"
"Wait, why am I guilty?!" A young girl asked frantically, as she knew well by now what the Queen of Hearts' favorite method of punishment was.
"You are guilty because I say you are! Be glad your kind even received a trial!"
"Trial?! I had no defence, and you had no evidence or witnesses! You brought me in here, and rambled on about how I was guilty, a horrid little girl, and how you hate white roses! None of that has anything to do with the crime in the first place!"
"If I say it's a trial, then it's a trial! And you are a horrid little girl if you can't accept when you've been caught."
"Caught at what?! If the pitiful amount of information you've provided is correct, then I was not even in Wonderland at the time of the crime!"
"Can you prove this 'fact'?"
"Can you prove otherwise?"
"I don't have to. You've already been found guilty. Now, the sentence! Off with her head! Immediately!" There was no hope anymore, and she was about to be killed on a whim. She would never see home again. Alice could do nothing now but sob quietly as she was dragged away by a pair of cards.
--
"Oh, is that sunlight?"
"Good gravy it is!" Donald yelled in obvious excitement. "Maybe now we can get some... where... oh..." When Sora and Goofy caught up, they really didn't blame Donald for falling silent. They had almost walked right into an execution.
"Please! You can't really believe I deserve this, do you?!" She appealed to the other cards, that white rabbit who could do nothing but stutter, the Cheshire Cat resting on a hedge still grinning that mad grin of his, but nobody said a word. "P-please... somebody, please help..." The girl was underneath a guillotine of ridiculous size, reaching high above the ground. She was on her back, looking up at the suspended blade, and desperately trying to appeal to those present. The scene of that girl in a position like this seemed horribly, horribly wrong to the three.
"Goofy..." Sora made eye contact with the knight, who was now feeling the pull of his vows. Goofy looked upon the scene seriously. Sora smiled when he saw the knight ready his shield.
"Goofy, is this wise?" Donald asked, not dismissing the course of action altogether. If they rushed down there to be heroic, it could end up being their end. There were several guards.
"I'll bet it's not. But it's right." Goofy answered with a conviction that reminded Sora of storybook knights. Donald readied his staff as well, prepared to unleash magic hell.
"Sora. You should stay here."
"Yeah, I should, shouldn't I?"
"... Stay close."
"I will." Sora grinned. Goofy gestured to the two.
"Follow me. We'll attack from the side..."
--
"Is she secure? No escaping? Good- wait, the blood, you're sure it won't get on my dress this time? You're next if it does. You're sure? Alright, fine. Announce me." The white rabbit grabbed his trumpet, scrambled to a place where he would be easily seen, and trumpeted (rather poorly) the Queen's arrival.
"I now present her majesty, the Queen of Hearts!"
"Thank you, my loyal subjects..." Her smile fell when the Queen realized that it was far too quiet for her liking. "Thank you, my loyal subjects." All of the sudden, every card available burst into raucous applause and cheers. "Thank you... thank you... alright, silence!" As abruptly as the false appreciation started, it ended.
"Her majesty will now read the charges for the guilty!" The white rabbit announced, handing a scroll to the Queen. Said rabbit then flinched away as if he was about to be struck with a sledge hammer. The Queen either took no notice, or didn't care.
"The wretched criminal has been found guilty of attempted assassination. She has tried to steal my heart, and for this capital offence, her head will roll! Now. Off with her head!" This was the only warning, before the six of spades swung his axe and cut the rope holding the large blade in the air.
"Haste!" An orange flash of light shone forth from one of the hedges, and a green blur erupted from the leafy wall and rocketed towards the guillotine, blowing apart a group of guards like a bowling ball to a group of pins.
Clang went the shield the figure held, against the falling blade. Alice opened her eyes and looked up to see Goofy, holding up the blade with his hand now, and rearing back with his weapon. The assembled card guards were paralyzed with shock as the shield hammered, and in a single strike, broke the guillotine blade in two, sending the pieces outward and away from Alice. The knight looked down at the girl, and smiled.
"Hiya there. Still want help?"
"... Thank you..."
"WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING?! Seize him!" The Queen yelled in rage at having been cheated her revenge. The guards sized up the knight, who was in the middle of preparing for the coming fight. Deciding that such strength was useless against their obviously superior numbers, they charged forward. And then the odds became a little more even.
"Blizzaga!" A gigantic chunk of ice formed around half the company. The others stopped, and frantically searched for the source of the phenomenon, forgetting about the knight. That was a mistake.
Cards began flying left and right as Goofy tore into their ranks again.
"Now?" Sora asked, eager to jump into the fray and help his friend.
"Fira!" Donald yelled, striking the reinforcements running in.
"Now." Confirmed Sora, drawing the Keyblade, and dashing forward to clear a path for the following mage.
--
"Now, would you be so kind as to tell me why you interrupted my execution?" The Queen of Hearts asked them, satisfied that they had been defeated. And of course, they looked defeated, backed up against a wall with several guards at their fronts. Sora and Goofy stood guarding Donald, and the girl they had gone to such trouble for. She obviously didn't know what to make of it at all, probably opting to 'ride the wave', and obey any order she had been given. Of course the only order thus far was to follow when they had freed her.
"You said she tried to steal your heart. Does she look like a heartless to you?" Donald asked the Queen. It was clear to Goofy that the duck was concentrating on another spell. The poor guards were gathered quite close together. So vulnerable to magic like that... It would be simple to blow them apart and run again, this time into the forest.
"Of course she's a heartless, just look at her!" Donald's eyebrow twitched. It would be very unwise to blast her instead, because it would leave many guards close by. However, as she talked, he found himself caring less and less.
"I am. I see nothing of a heartless in her."
"She changed her form then, into something less threatening. She's trying to fool us all."
"Heartless can't do that. And they don't care about fooling anybody."
"How would you know?!" Donald wondered how it was possible for women to puff themselves up like this. Daisy did the same thing when she was convinced he had done something wrong.
"Because unlike you, I've actually seen a heartless. So have these two. We've seen several." The Queen was quite red by now. It was understandable, the likes of her absolutely detested logic.
"Impudence! Off with their heads!" Sora tensed in an odd way just then. Donald and Goofy had an idea by now of what that might've meant.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!" All eyes turned to a guard near the back, who seemed to be dissolving into inky darkness. And standing in the middle of it all was a single black heartless, eyes darting back and forth, perhaps determining it's next target. Sora whipped his head down to the Keyblade still in his hand. He had kept it out for far too long... Donald took the opportunity to try and convince the bull headed Queen.
"THAT is a heartless! Not this girl!" Unfortunately she still hated logic quite a bit.
"Impossible! This feeble thing could not possibly steal hearts!" She was quickly proven wrong when it leaped forward, tackled another guard into the ground, and buried it's hands in the card's chest. A flash of light as the heart was revealed, and then nothing when it was devoured. The card began dissolving into darkness, just as the first had.
"Well well Queenie, it looks like you really are a few cards short of a full deck!" The Cheshire Cat said in a manner that suggested it wasn't a joke at all. It's head was turning lazily in circles, but nobody was paying attention.
"What's your name?" Goofy asked the girl, who was looking upon the scene with horror, with good reason too. She snapped out of it at the knight's question.
"A-Alice..."
"Donald, what's the plan?" Goofy then asked the duck, who was watching to make sure the black monster didn't get too close. More were already showing up. And they were about to attempt to eat their way to the Keyblade.
"Sora, don't put away the Keyblade. Even if you do, there are probably more on the way. You need to defend yourself."
"...Alright."
"Goofy, guard Alice. I'm going to make an escape route. Sora, watch my back."
"Can do."
"Let's go." Donald turned to the wall.
"Blizzaga!" Something like a small iceberg jutted violently out of the ground, ripping apart the wall behind them. It quickly vanished, leaving a sizable hole. "Now run!"
"But the others, they'll-"
"The only thing we can do for them is get as far away as possible! They'll follow the Keyblade! Now come on!"
"R-Right behind you!"
"No, behind you!" Sora whipped around just in time to find a heartless launching itself at his head. The Keyblade swiftly rent it in two, and Sora struggled to keep up as several more tried to follow the creature's example.
"Donald, where the heck do we go?! We don't know where Snoopy is!"
"I'm thinking! Thundara!" Goofy shouted back a thanks as the heartless above his head was obliterated. He held Alice's arm in one hand, dragging her along while he wielded his shield with the other. She could do nothing but pant heavily as they ran, unused to such exertion.
"You mean you didn't think of a plan before we did this?!"
"You saw that blade fall! You try coming up with a plan, and by the time you do, the person you're saving is a head shorter!"
"So the only plan we have is keep running?!"
"Yes! Aeroa!" Sora would've stopped in wonder to notice the whirling winds that blew two heartless away, and now orbited him, but it certainly was not the time because they were being chased by a crowd of... nothing...?
"Hey, the heartless are gone!"
"The heartless are what?!" Obviously the heartless abandoning the chase was not a part of whatever plan Donald was making. "Why would they leave?! They don't get tired! If they kept at it, we would've been-"
"Hey, gift chocobo. Mouth. Shut up. Wait, was that the word Yuffie used that one time...? And what the heck is a chocobo?"
"Now's not the time. Sora, have you ever once noticed heartless acting like this?" They continued at a walk, moving ever further from the Queen of Hearts. Sora racked his brain.
"...Yeah, once."
"Exactly. This is highly unusual an- wait, you have?" Donald was prepared to use his experience with the heartless against Sora, but that would be impossible now.
"Yeah. Leon said it was wierd too. And soon after... Uh-oh."
"What's wrong Sora?"
"Uh... I don't know if it's connected or anything, but this huge armored heartless came out of nowhere and started trying to blow us up."
"Malqui!" Donald cried, thrusting his staff in the air. A pulse of sorts erupted, not unlike the Dispell did. The difference was, this new spell was faster, and the pulse came running back after a few moments. Donald looked shocked when it did.
"What'd ya get?" Goofy asked?
"What'd you do?" Sora inquired after, confused as to what this could mean.
"The Malqui is a spell that works like sonar. And... over there..." Donald said, pointing in a direction off in a group of trees and shrubs. And it only took a moment of focus before Sora realized he felt whatever it was that Donald had detected. It was there, coming closer, and it was huge.
"I don't know what it was but-"
"Heartless. Big one..."
"You're sure?" Goofy asked, serious as before they rescued Alice. A serious situation transformed him once again.
"Yeah. Definitely."
"It was the only creature I picked up. Besides that." Donald said, pointing at the Cheshire Cat, who for reasons unknown had followed them.
"Besides what?" The cat's question was ignored.
"Alice, go hide over there."
"A-alright..." She trotted over to the rather secluded area hidden in more trees.
"So... what happens now?"
"Wait, should we warn the door?" Goofy asked, pointing at a giant stump.
"Goofy, the only things here are that- oh, wait. When did that get there?" The door was snoring, from the giant tree stump that hadn't been there a little while ago.
"...He seems pretty out of the way. He'll be fine."
"So, what did it look like? The Heartless I me-" Goofy was interrupted as a tree was knocked aside. There, a red and black spindly creature moved- rather oddly Sora thought- into the clearing. A pair of jagged arms held what appeared to be two torches, and it had five heads, stacked on top of each other. Catching sight of Sora, it cackled in some sort of perverse glee, and bounded forward, torches igniting and spinning into two dangerous rings of fire.
"Ah. I was wondering where that brute had wandered off to!" The Cheshire Cat quipped merrily as Sora, Donald and Goofy leapt out of the way to prevent getting burned.
"Blizzaga!" The way the creature bent out of the way was both something to be proud of, and highly irritating at the same time. Yoga experts would never be able to duplicate such a feat, held back but their human bodies. However, while impressive, it also dodged the ice entirely. Donald grumbled about wasted magic, and began charging another spell. Goofy could do nothing but block weaving strikes from the agile creature, and Sora, without the benefit of a defensively designed weapon, could do nothing but stay as far from the heartless as he could. And this was difficult because it wouldn't stop chasing him. He couldn't get close to attack, and he couldn't use magic because that required close range too. They were stuck.And then came the fireballs.
"Yeow!" Screeched Goofy as a ball of hot flame set the seat of his pants aflame. It was through a mad fluke that Sora found out he could block the fireballs completely with the Keyblade, one that he was grateful for. He didn't much want to test the charm he had been given by Cid. Donald was no longer casting spells, as the creature in all his winding movements had finally designated both the knight and mage as actual enemies, and was no longer ailed by Sora tunnel vision. Fireballs were flying often, as the torches began spinning faster and faster.
"You know, it sure isn't savory for the fire to be thrown around so close to plants. He's starting more fires, do you see?"
"Argh! Freaking ca- oof!" Sora was interrupted mid curse by a sweeping arm of the heartless, that senting him spinning awkwardly back into a tree. Sora grit his teeth, looked up, and then noted with horror that the creature had just pinned Goofy to the ground with a massive foot. The fire was spreading, and if it spread too far, they and Alice would die. If Goofy, now in a decidedly dangerous situation, died... they wouldn't last very long then either.
Sora began gathering magic from his body into the Keyblade. He didn't get the chance to work on the spell with Donald yet, but he had gotten it right a few times under Merlin's watchful eye. Only a few...
'Not a lot of options now. Hang on Goofy...'
--
Alice watched the goings on with a worried eye. She hadn't even known these people for much longer then perhaps a half hour, but they had saved her. And now they were fighting this thing off... The one with the shield went down, and she gasped.
'Oh no... please don-'
"You." A deep voice emanated from behind her, and she whipped around so hard in surprise, she found her neck suddenly sore from the snapping movement. She found herself face to face with a dark figure, his red eyes unlike anything she had ever seen before. She was frozen to the spot as she felt like fear was forced on her being. The man spoke again, and she was painfully aware as this shadowy figure at the moment encompassed her entire world.
"Princess, you are coming with me."
--
The creature had stopped moving, and was poised to strike the knight, who was almost lifting the giant foot off his body with a grimace. This was his chance. Sora charged forward, the word of magical command on his lips-
"RAGH!" A loud grunt of intense exertion as Goofy threw the monster off balance, scrambled to his feet, and threw a brutal shield punch to the creatures mid section. It staggered backwards and was caught in a giant block of ice, courtesy of the mage who had been fatally forgotten. Sora looked on dumbly, wondering what the hell he was going to do now that they had the creature in such a position. He wasn't exactly needed anymore.
"Sora! Kick him while he's down!" Oh, wait, there was a lot of magic in the Keyblade right now. Good idea to put it to use. Sora leapt forward, Keyblade over his head.
And thankfully, because it would've been just criminal if the spell wasn't successful at a time like this, Sora managed to cast his first spell on a heartless.
"Raijinken!" The sword came down on the trapped heartless, and while the blow itself was quite destructive, it paled in comparison to the accompanying bolt of lightning that struck the point of impact. The heartless gave a cry that could break fine glass, and was still. It slowly began to disolve from the large smoking hole in it's middle.
"Oh, thank whoever that's over..."
"Donald! The fires!" Goofy yelled. There were still fires everywhere, and they were beginning to spread to Alice's hiding place.
"Waterga!" And from the tip of his staff, a continuous torrent of water blasted with all the force of a fire hose. It wasn't long before the only remnants of the battle were the dissolving heartless corpse, and several black splotches in the surrounding grass. A moment or two passed, before the three let out a loud cheer for no other reason then just feeling like it. After all, they had just denied themselves a very painful death.
"Oh for the love of Pete! Can you not be quiet and let me rest?!" The now awake door cried from it's position in the stump, shattering the good mood like a brick through a window.
"You know, if we didn't kill that thing, it probably would've gone after you next." Sora said in response.
"What thing? One of you screamed in what sounded like a painful death and that woke me up. Then you proceeded to get everything wet for some reason!"
"That thing!" Donald screamed in frustration, brandishing a shaking finger at... where the large heartless used to be.
"... Lying is about the rudest thing you can do to someone. It is an insult to the intelligence and trust of the person you're talking to." Donald threw a temper tantrum. He obviously wasn't in the mood for such a thing barely minutes after a life or death struggle. Sora shook his head.
"I just don't get it..."
"Neither do I. Who is Pete, and why did that door love him?" The cat was again, ignored.
"Sora, what's that?" Goofy asked. Even though they were in a land that made no sense, he still drew attention to the door, who was now in the middle of a long and loud yawn. The door's mouth, Sora noticed, when wide open resembled a keyhole. And said keyhole was the source of shining heavenly light, and soft melodious singing.
'Oh good lord!' Sora screamed in his mind as he dashed forward, knowing he probably wouldn't get another chance at this. Leaping into a dive, he flew forward, planting the Keyblade in the door's wide open mouth. While the door was now coughing and sputtering around the intruding sword, Sora just managed to force it a quarter turn to the left. The sound that followed was undoubtedly a large lock sliding into place. The sound that followed after that was undoubtedly the door, spitting out the Keyblade and coughing violently.
"What in the name of the Cheshire Cat did you do THAT for?!"
"Sora, as much as that was enjoyable to watch... what did you do that for?" Donald asked over the door's indignant screams.
"I just sealed off the world's heart."
"...That was nothing like what you described."
"I know. This place must be special, I guess." Sora said, wanting nothing more then to crawl into a bed and sleep for a week. "That keyhole's kinda unmistakable... and now that I think about it... yeah, the only difference between this door and the others is that this one has a knob and hinges. It's probably the most like a real door I've seen yet!"
"Guys!" Goofy called as he ran toward them.
"Hey did you see what I just d... what's wrong?" Sora had just noticed Goofy looking worried, something he had never seen him be before this.
"I can't find Alice..."
(Alright, sweet. Thank you to all who are STILL here after I revealed another Naruto character coming.
First thing's first. The 'Malqui' (Pronounced 'Mal-Kee') is a spell of my own invention. It works like sonar, sending out a pulse, and using that pulse to detect objects. The spell however, is made to work for animate objects only however. Meaning the Cat, and the Trickmaster.
Second. Sora's spell was called Raijinken. The word, translated, means Lightning Blade. Because it's using the Keyblade, a weapon of impressive magical strength, I would place the power level of this attack at about... alright, take a regular Thunder spell. Now multiply that by about 1.5x. It's not as powerful as a Thundara, but it's still exceptionally strong. It has it's drawbacks however, as it doesn't have the tactical advantages regular magic does. Donald can drop a thunderbolt from virtually anywhere. Sora has to be at ground zero.
Third. I am well aware that I made my name Sora's spell. In fact... I'm so aware that I decided to do this, just now. Seriously.)
Omake
"Raijinken!" It really looked to anyone assembled that Sora was about to strike the trapped heartless with the Keyblade, but instead, he opted to plunge it into the ground, and viciously twist it, as if unlocking something. A burst of smoke, and standing in the middle was...
"Reporting for duty. What can I do for you?" A young man in his late teens stood there with his back to Sora, fidgeting with the hilt of a katana sheathed at the back of his waist. Long blonde hair spilled down past his shoulders. He was dressed like a stereotypical ninja, in black and a deep shade of green.
"I have better things to do then stand here. What was I called for?" He turned his head back towards Sora, revealing shocking blue eyes and a black facemask that covered his mouth and nose.
"Wait... what are you doing here?"
"Whatever you want I guess. I was sitting at my laptop, writing a story, and suddenly I'm here in full ninja gear. That's why it sucks being a summon." Sora stood there looking at him blankly. Raijinken sighed.
"Alright, look, just point me in the direction of something that needs killing." Sora pointed at the trapped heartless.
"That thing there."
"Wow... you decided to do all the work for me, didn't you? I don't mind an easy job, but don't call me out here for nothing."
"Sora! He's starting to melt the ice!" Donald cried from somewhere on the sidelines.
"Oh? Well, might as well get to work then." Raijinken drawled, walking over while flicking his sword out of it's resting place. "I'm going to cut you up like a Christmas turkey. Stand still now." The ninja said, as if the heartless could move in the first place.
Sora felt mildly afraid as the summon tore into the creature like a wild beast.
(Is my hair long and blonde? Yes. Are my eyes a shocking blue? Surprisingly I was not the first to describe them that way. Why was I a ninja? Two reasons. One, because I felt like it. Two, because I didn't feel like describing my face. Facemask yo.
Until next time.)