Thanks for being paitent, everyone! Syaoran and I have been busy lately, mostly because school's started again...for us both, I think. Either way, we're busy again, which means you're going to have to be paitent with us, okay? Enjoy the chapter! (And thank you to bluemoonlightgirl, who pointed out to me that this chapter wasn't finished because of the blankity-blank uploading service. AGAIN. Jeez, I wish they'd work that bug out already!)
Whoo-hoo, I finished writing this world over Synod, and I was right - it IS three chapters long. And I already love it, it's cock-full of clues and hints, and action and drama! My only regret is that I was not, in fact, able to work in my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh character, Ryou Bakura. Damn.
IMPORTANT NOTE, READ THIS NOW: The next several chapters of the side story (you remember… Elemental Hearts: Inside/Outside with Riku and Kouichi) has some major plot points and important information. It will be eventually described in this story, but if you really want to know the whole story as it is happening, you need to go read I/O. Also, yes, I/O has some shonen-ai hints, but you can skip by that - the only chapter where it's really blatant is number six. It's just very important that you read from Ch. 7 and on of I/O. This is where the two stories really start to coincide.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or Kingdom Hearts. Yu-Gi-Oh is the group property of Kazuki Takahashi, Shueisha INC, Konami and VIZ's Shonen Jump.
Kingdom of the Elemental Hearts
Chapter 13: Domino City Pt. 2
Yugi shuddered with an almost painful jerk, dropping to his knees in mild shock. He panted, feeling roughly as though he'd just been shot out of a cannon through a pane of bulletproof glass.
"Are you all right, Yugi?" A familiar voice echoed through his mind. It was his other self, the Pharaoh, his dark side… Yami.
"I'm all right, Yami." He thought, projecting his words into his own mind. "Just…a bit surprised, that's all."
"Be on your guard." Yami warned quietly. "Something is amiss."
Yugi opened his eyes and saw that, as usual, Yami was far too right. All around them, the city's colors had been warped into a strange bluish gray, almost completely saturated in the dull, pale monochrome. The only true color came from the glowing beams of laser-like light and the shimmering, glass-like blue barrier that spread between them, trapping the entire city within the pyramid's boundaries. Everyone and everything inside the barrier was frozen - completely and totally motionless in an instant of time. Jonochi dangled forward in mid-punch, while Donald hovered in mid-air with a half-formed lightening bolt forking from the end of his wand and Anzu's hand stretched out for her friends, her mouth frozen in a cry of warning. Everything was completely locked into a split-second of timeThere was no movement, none at all, from any of them, not a twitch, not a breath.
"Oh no…" Yugi whispered aloud, climbing to his feet. "Jonochi… Honda… Everyone."
"I don't think they've been hurt, Yugi." Yami soothed from within. "I sense a great amount of Shadow Real energy. I believe that this city has been partially transported into the Shadow Realm, and only those with the same power are able to break free."
"That makes sense." Yugi said sadly, turning his eyes to where both Sora and Kouji were frozen back-to-back in their battle-ready stances, their odd weapons emitting a soft glow of their own. "But if that's true, we have to do something, or everyone will…"
He was cut off by a sudden loud crack. Sora's Keyblade vibrated wildly in his hand and jerked, more and more of the shattering noises filling the air. Kouji's light-sword was doing the same, the glowing blade slowly increasing its luminosity as long fractures began to appear through the monotone of the two boys' skin, revealing their true coloring like paint cracking away to reveal a layer beneath.
"Yugi, stand back!" Yami warned, and the boy jumped backwards just as Kouji and Sora broke free with the resounding chorus of shattering glass. Both of the younger boys hit the ground, Sora on his back and Kouji on all fours.
"Ow…" Groaned the brown-haired boy, sitting up and rubbing his head painfully. "That hurt…"
Kouji was panting, trying to catch his breath, as though he'd been struggling hard, his muscles tense and his knuckles white around the Sager's hilt. "What the hell was that?"
"Are you two okay?" Yugi hurried over to help Sora to his feet.
"Yeah, fine." Sora groaned, stretched, and came face to face with Goofy, frozen in mid-leap and half-crouched over his shield. "GAH! Wh-What the heck?"
Yugi glanced over his shoulder quickly, then hurried to explain. "The city's been put under a kind of spell, everything's stuck at one moment. For some reason, we're the only ones who could break free."
"Why?" Kouji asked, standing.
"I don't know." Yugi reached down and touched the heavy gold pendent dangling around his neck with a contemplative, loving air. "My Millennium Puzzle protected me, but I don't know about you guys…"
The Keyblade let out a light ring, as though drawing attention to itself. Sora lifted it a bit and smiled. "I do. The Keyblade always takes care of me. The Licht Sager must've done the same for you, Kouji."
"You think?" Kouji glanced down at the gleaming silver blade. It hummed quietly, like it always did, but now the tone seemed almost happy with itself, as though it had just completed some great and important task.
"But then…what do we do now?" Sora asked blankly, waving his hand in front of the immobile Goofy's eyes. "We can't just leave them all like this!"
"Of course we can't." Yugi nodded. "So we have to fix this."
"How?"
Kouji stretched his tense shoulders and groaned a bit. "That should be obvious. We go to find the source and take it out. Permanently."
"But who is 'the source'?" Sora asked. "Could the Heartless do something lie this?"
"Not by themselves…" Yugi muttered softly, a dawning realization starting to shine in his amethyst eyes. "But if they had some help, I know who could pull this off…"
"Incoming."
Sora and Yugi started at the calm tone in Kouji's voice. The dark-haired boy had tensed again, his face turned away from them and both hands gripping the Licht Sager in a harsh ready-for-attack stance. Just over his shoulder, the others could see a small mob of black creatures… Heartless, of course… rushing at them.
"Uh-oh." Yugi took a step back. "Should we… run?"
"What good will that do?" Kouji commented coldly, shifting his weapon-grip into attack. "We'll have to fight them sooner or later. We better make it sooner."
"Something's wrong, though." Sora muttered, his body slowly curling into the low stance that moved easily into his most powerful strikes. "I've never seen Heartless like that before."
Kouji silently agreed: these Heartless seemed very strange. They bore the familiar Emblem, so they had to be Heartless, but no two looked like anything they'd ever seen or even vaguely similar to one another. While normal hoards of Heartless tended to look like mobs of biological clones, every creature in this great mob was a different shape, size, even color lacing their black bodies had been strangely skewed into dozens of wild patterns and shades.
By the time this had all registered, the attacking mob was on top of them. Kouji and Sora instantly slid back to cover Yugi, who's hands went almost immediately to the Puzzle in his own strange defensive reaction.
With a sideways glance at each other, Sora and Kouji swiped their weapons deep into the mob of monsters and managed to do… absolutely nothing.
All Sora managed to get out was a startled, "What the…?" before the Keyblade bounced back and nearly knocked its owner to the floor. Kouji's stroke went straight through the Heartless he'd been aiming for, loosing his balance and leaving his torso open to the creature's sudden, harsh attack. The black-hair swordsman doubled over, gripping his stomach.
"Minamoto-kun!" Yugi gasped, taking a few steps forward. A Heartless lunged at him, missing only because the boy's body jerked backwards in a motion that didn't quite seem to be a natural reaction.
"Watch it!" Sora shouted, scrambling in front of their only unarmed member. "Something's majorly weird here. I can't even hit them!"
Kouji growled, swiping uselessly at the Heartless as more and more piled around and on top of him. He could hear both Yugi and Sora shouting in panic and pain, but he couldn't move to see them. He could hardly open his eyes. His arms gave out under the weight, dropping him onto the hard sidewalk as darkness covered his eyes. He couldn't move… He couldn't breathe…
"Am I dying?"
A wave of indignation rippled through his otherwise unfeeling body. Die? Here? Like this?
No way in hell.
"I can't die like this!" His mind burst out angrily. "I haven't found Nii-san…or the others…I can't die like this!"
The howl of a mighty wolf broke through his thoughts, and suddenly the weight vanished.
Kouji craned his head up painfully, trying to focus as best he could through the swirling shadowy remains and the keening screeches of dozens and dozens of Heartless. They were vanishing, dying, but why? What could be beating them if the Licht Sager and even the Keyblade couldn't do it?
The shadows cleared, and Kouji found himself staring.
Standing right before him, head raised grandly to the strangely-like monochrome sky, was the wolf from his vision, the monster from the card resting in his pocket, the creature who had called to him in this world. 'Silver Fang'.
As Kouji slowly lifted himself to his feet, Silver Fang planted all four of his paws firmly and curled his long muzzle into a harsh snarl. He growled and snapped threateningly at any Heartless who dared to venture within five feet.
Kouji stood slowly, watching the wolf in a cautious manner. Slowly, he took a wide step to the right, then another.
Silver Fang took a small bound and placed himself firmly in front of the boy again, still growling out at the black monsters. Kouji stepped again, a bit further this time, and the wolf leapt after him, never dropping its stance.
"He's protecting me." Kouji realized dumbly. "But only me…"
His eyes scanned the mob for the other two, finding his companions in similar situations. A small red fairy darted around Sora's head, leaving a trail of golden dust to drift down onto the confused boy's shoulders, whacking the shadowy enemies with a strength that shouldn't have been possible from such a tiny Key. Yugi, on the other hand, was not surprised at all. In fact, he looked downright calm as a little brown furball growled in an adorably threatening manner by his side.
"What the hell?" Sora wondered out loud. The Key Mace - fairy thing turned to him with a big smile and tapped him on the nose with its Key. Sora sneezed.
Yugi chuckled softly and for some reason, the cool, calm, collected sound made Kouji's hair stand on end. "Don't worry. I think I know what's going on."
Sora and Kouji turned incredulous looks on the young gamer, keeping one eye on the Heartless cautiously.
"Kuriboh and I have fought together before." The little fuzz ball butted against his outstretched hand with a light coo. "I believe that Key Mace and Silver Fang may have attached themselves in a similar manner."
Kouji, not actually understanding a word of what the gamer said, looked down at Silver Fang, who was now braced beside his right ankle, tense and ready to act. "Can they fight? Against those Heartless, I mean."
"Indeed." Yugi smirked in an almost devilish manner. "Because they, too, are a part of the power of this world, the way that those creatures have become. I believe that they will fight for you, if you ask them to."
"Ask?" Sora blinked, stepping back from the chattering mob of Heartless.
"Like this." Yugi, on the other hand, took a step closer to the black creatures, which shrieked wildly and lunged at him in one great mob. But the spiky-haired boy was not fazed (fazed). "Kuriboh! Go!"
The furball let out a delight squeal and shot through the air at his 'master's command. It swiped out at the Heartless with its little claws and sent its own body bouncing off and between them at high speeds, knocking the black creatures to the floor and blasting them away almost instantly.
"Awesome!" Sora's dull, confused expression perked into a battle-ready grin as he glanced up at Key Mace. "You ready, buddy?"
Key Mace giggled and did a mid-air flip, making Sora grin wider at the show. "Okay, sic 'em!"
The little fairy darted out and quickly proved to be stronger than one might have thought. Each strike of the tiny Key left a puff of black smoke and any of the Heartless who managed to get past her missed Sora by several feet, blinded by the golden dust that rained down from the fairy's flight path.
Kouji raised a curious eyebrow as a low whimper floated to his ears. He looked down to find Silver Fang gazing up at him with a wide-eyed, pitiful expression. He whined again and pawed at Kouji's ankle, one leg raised in a definite 'beg'.
"…Fine." Kouji shrugged. "Go for it, then."
Silver Fang barked happily and gave his tail one joyful wag before he leapt into the fray, slicing through the ongoing waves of Heartless with his claws and fangs and earth-shattering howls. The howls were especially painful, deafening, shaking, absolutely mind blowing, but they held a sort of length and tone that indicated the creature was holding back.
Before one could do so much as turn their head, the relatively large group of seemingly unstoppable Heartless had vanished into the monochrome of this frozen world, leaving only the three boys and the creatures that stood with them.
"Wow." Sora commented with a low whistle, watching Key Mace as it circled his head in a kind of victory lap, accompanied by her own voice of happy bells. "We couldn't even touch them, but these little guys wiped them out like they were nothing! Were these guys always this strong?"
"Not by themselves." Yugi smiled again, scratching Kuriboh behind what could only be called the 'ear'. "Monsters cannot use their full power without someone to guide them in battle. They draw their true strength from their duelists - that is to say, from the Duelist's Heart."
Kouji looked down at Silver Fang, who was now yipping happily, wagging his tail, and butting up against the boy's free left hand. "Really…"
"Indeed." Yugi nodded sagely. "The bond formed between Monster and Duelist is known as the Heart of the Cards, and if you believe in that Heart, the cards and their monster spirits will be more than happy to grant you their strength."
"The Heart of the Cards…" Sora reached up with two gloved hands and caught Key Mace gently. The little creature's head popped out between the boy's thumbs and let out another bell-like chime, which made Sora grin. "Cool."
"Ch." Kouji blew his bangs up and moved forward, Silver Fang on his heels. "I'll buy that, for now. But there's just one thing I want to know."
"Oh? And that is?"
With an electric buzz, Yugi's words were cut off by the sudden reappearance of the Licht Sager, its shining tip now coming to rest in the small of the gamer's throat. Amethyst eyes widened with a sharp breath to meet cold, glaring navy ones as Kouji faced the older boy down.
"Who the hell are you?" Growled the young swordsman.
Sora moved to mediate on the tri-haired boy's behalf. "Hey, cool it, Kouji. It's Yugi, remember? We just met him a few hours ago!"
"Like hell we did." Kouji hissed again, shaking Sora's hand off his shoulder and never breaking the course of his glare. "Whoever you are, you're not the Yugi Motou we met before. You don't feel anything like him."
Yugi raised a confused and curious eyebrow at an unfamiliar term. "'Feel'?"
"Yes. Feel." Kouji grit his teeth with a bit of a hiss. "I've been training in martial arts since I could walk, and that's more than enough to start picking up on a person's basic energy. Yours is not the same as Yugi's. So who are you? And where is he?"
Yugi… or rather, the not-Yugi… looked surprised for just a moment, but it soon faded into an expression of calm understanding. "I see. I've never met anyone with such sharp senses. That's very impressive."
"Start talking." Kouji snapped. "Who are you?"
"Please calm down." Not-Yugi soothed gently, raising his arms in a placating manner and nodding kindly to a very confused Sora. "I promise you, Yugi has not been harmed. I could not harm him, even if by some madness I wanted to. He is me."
Sora groaned in confusion. "Say what?"
"In a way, I am Yugi, and he is me." Continued the other calmly. "I'm not quite sure myself who I am or why this has happened, but I know that I am a sort of alternate consciousness within Yugi Motou. We are two minds sharing the same body."
Kouji narrowed his eyes. "Like a split personality, or a parasite."
"Neither." Not-Yugi lifted the gold pendant into his hands contemplatively. "Or, I would like to think, closer to the former. All I know is that our bond was formed simultaneously when Yugi completed the Millennium Puzzle. That moment is the start of my current memories. I can tell you no more than that."
"So you think you came from the Puzzle?" Sora summarized as much as he could.
"That is our best guess so far." Yami sighed, his purple eyes drifting to the light-blade at his throat. "Now, if you could please put away your sword…"
"I don't like it." Kouji growled, pulling the Licht Sager down but not putting it away.
Yami relaxed a bit, but his face remained curious. "Have I yet given you a reason not to trust me?"
"Why should we trust something that takes over a person's body so it can live?" Kouji replied, his tone cold.
Yami raised his eyebrow. "You sound as though you've had a bad experience."
"Maybe I have." Sora blinked at the strangely icy tone in Kouji's voice that indicated a barely-contained sort of rage. "A few eyes ago, someone gave my… someone very important to me… a sort of 'Item', and it corrupted him. That…thing…forced him to do things he would never have done if he was himself. It tried to completely wipe him out, his memories, his personality, everything."
Sora nodded, understanding the connection, his jaw set in a manner that was almost tough, but leaned more towards being sad. "Yeah, I get it. The same thing happened to Riku… my best friend. Ansem would have taken his body over forever if we hadn't been able to stop him."
Yami was silent for the entire time the two boys spoke, thought Kuriboh cooed a few worried little whimpers. Finally, the tri-color haired teen took a deep breath. "I understand your concerns, and why you both must feel that way, but I assure you that my bond with Yugi is consensual in both ways. I only take control now because I do not wish that he or his friends be harmed in any way."
Both swordsman and Keyblader retained skeptical expressions, causing the Spirit to sigh. "Please, we need to trust each other if we are to get through this. I may be used to operating in the Shadow Realm, but these creatures are new to me, powerful in a way I have never known. This is a challenge I cannot complete on my own."
"How do you know this stuff?" Sora asked, generally confused and curious, as Key Mace chirped at his side. "And what do you mean, you know this place?"
"It's simple, really." Yami touched the Millennium Puzzle meaningfully, as his other form had before. "Yugi and I have been through this realm before. And because of those experiences, we know who could be casting this spell, and I can feel that he has acquired a great amount of power from those… Heartless… creatures. Even with Kuriboh, I cannot defeat Anubis without your help."
Sora drew in a deep, apprehensive breath through his nose. "Anubis…?"
Kouji's scowl deepened, so Yami decided to play his final bid. "As you can tell, Yugi and I are more than familiar with Anubis, and with the Shadow Realm. And, obviously, the two of you know much about these creatures you call Heartless. If we work together, combing our knowledge, skills and the help of our companions, there is no doubt that we will be able to stop this and rescue our friends."
His amethyst eyes turned sadly to the unmoving forms of Jonochi and Honda. Sora's eyes also drifted to Donald and Goofy as Key Mace and Kuriboh cooed worriedly. "You… You really think we can get them back?"
"Indeed." Yami nodded confidently. "I have been in this position before and emerged victorious. I am certain that together, we can do it again."
Both pairs of eyes turned to Kouji, followed by the wide yellow and tiny blue orbs of the two monsters. Kouji had a serious frown on his face, a contemplative expression of deep thought that indicated the wheels were turning patiently, calculating, weighing the options. Silver Fang, still sitting by his ankles loyally, whimpered a bit and licked the boy's hand.
"…Fine." Kouji sighed, pulling his hand away from the wolf and slipping the Licht Sager back into its place at his side. "Let's get this over with. I'm about ready to kick someone's ass."
( - ) ( - ) ( - )
Anubis chuckled to himself as he gazed out over the frozen city. The Heartless were now combing the light-paralyzed streets, blanketing anything and everything they touched with a wondrous blend of light and shadow, the perfect mixture of cold burning light and beautiful, icy darkness…
"Well, well. You've done a pretty good job here, Anu."
Anubis was not startled by the voice, since a swirling portal into the Corridors of Darkness had opened two feet from his right elbow just seconds before it spoke. He turned to the dual-haired teen and smirked. "Impressed are yeh, Ansem?"
"Not hardly." The teen who had borrowed the name of Ansem the Wise - or perhaps it was Ansem, Seeker of Darkness - sniffed lightly with a cocky smirk of his own. "Just interested. Rather surprising that you managed to get the Heartless to accept the Light, even in such a small quantity."
Anubis's smirk widened into a toothy, animalistic grin. "Give 'em the right angle and anybody will 'accept' anything you want them to." His huge, dirty, tanned hands reached down to grab the blue-crystal pyramid that dangled from his thick, beefy neck. "Meh Pyramid of Light was specifically made to counter the Pharaoh's 'righteous items' that tame the shadows. With this light, real light, Ah can set the Heartless free on this world to fulfill their ultimate potential!"
"Just be careful how you use that 'light'," warned 'Ansem', crossing his arms over his black-clothed chest, "or this place'll wind up crawling in Nobodies."
Anubis smirked at him again. "Like you?"
The teenager scowled and turned to glare back out at the time-frozen city streets, which seemed to be contained in an immense Stopga spell. A bit of movement in the not-too-distant distance caught his violet eye, and a black eyebrow cocked. "O-ho. Looks like you've got a couple of bugs in your plan, and I ain't talking about the Shadows."
Anubis followed his gaze to a tiny spot of light advancing through the darkly-lit streets. Focusing his hawk-like yellow and blue eyes, he soon uncovered three… no, six, figures: three humans - two radiating light, one wrapped in a thick layer of warm dark - and three Shadow Realm beasts, all cloaked in the glowing darkness that designated the loyal servants of the Pharaoh and his Millennium Item baring cohorts.
The feral King of the Deserts just grinned. "Ah. The Pharaoh an' his guards are comin' for a visit at last."
"You aren't worried?" The teen's eyebrow quirked ever more.
"Of course not. This is what Ah've planned all along." Anubis's eager animal face returned, and he turned with a dramatic sweep of his fur-lined cloak. "Now the real games can begin. Ah'm gonna make that pious, pompous piece a' gold case wish he'd never gotten back tuh'gether again."
'Ansem' glanced back out at the rapidly approaching group, then let a cocky grin slide up the side of his face. "Games, huh? Mind if I join in?""
"The more, the merrier." Anubis turned his head back to give the teen a falsely curious gaze. "But why yer sudden interest, Ansem?"
"No real reason." The boy popped his gloved knuckles as he turned with the much taller, burlier man. "I've got a score to settle with the Light-brats… and it's really gonna be fun getting into Ponytail's head."
Anubis let out a light snort of amusement. "Sounds like fun."
And they both stepped off the roof of the building, dropping four stories to the ground and landed without so much as a breath from either of them.
( - ) ( - ) ( - )
"So you're sure this 'Anubis' guy is at the museum?" Sora asked Yami intently as Key Mace chirped from her place in the Keyblade Master's hood.
"Positive." Yami's deep voice was a stark contrast to the shrill-yet-agreeable shrieks of Kuriboh beside him. "The beams of the Pyramid originated from that spot, I can see that from here. And Anubis's mummy has been on display there. It must be the place."
Kouji glanced about them, as did Silver Fang, though the creature's efforts were pointedly ignored. "Are we any closer?"
"Nearly there." Yami-Yugi motioned down the apparently endless street. "It's just a few more blocks."
But instead of being soothed by this news, Kouji's s cautious glare simply intensified and he slid to a stop. Yami raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong, Minamoto-kun?"
"…Yeah. Real wrong." Kouji muttered, a frown set deep in his face. "Don't you think it's weird that we've gotten this close to the 'center' and there isn't a single Heartless around?"
"You're right." Sora's fingers curled more tightly around the thick grip of the Keyblade. From his hood, Key Mace let out a few tinkling chimes and flared her transparent wings. "Something's got to be up."
Kouji's hand moved to grip the handle of the Licht Sager, slipping into the familiar opening stance of Lai. Silver Fang looked up at him with big blue eyes and whined, pawing at Kouji's ankle and licking the hand that reached for the weapon.
Kouji jerked his hand and his leg away, startled and glaring. "Stop that."
Silver Fang whimpered and pulled away as though he'd been kicked. Sora instantly leapt to the creature's defense, Key Mace flying up to let out an offended tinkling cry. "C'mon, Kouji! Don't be so mean! Silver Fang just wants to help you!"
Kouji's glare intensified. "Who said I wanted his help?"
"Minamoto-kun." Yami whispered softly, coming to Kouji's side. "You may not want his help, but the fact is that Silver Fang needs yours. You are his Duelist, he came to be through your deck and your Heart. He cannot act unless your Heart allows him to. You are his power, and in this world, he is your protection."
Kouji turned to face this so-called 'King of Games' with a sullen expression and a light sigh. "Look," he muttered, "In case you didn't notice, I don't really do this whole 'game' thing. I just don't. And I'm not going to stand back and let some… creature… fight my battles for me. If nothing else, I'll do that much on my own. That's all there is to it."
He turned on his heels with a light huff and stormed in the direction of the museum. Behind him, Silver Fang, as though realizing that he really wasn't wanted, sank to the ground with a painful whimper and covered his head with his front paws.
"Auw, it's okay, Silver Fang." Sora soothed, kneeling down to scratch the silver hound behind the ears as Kuriboh and Key Mace hovered over to make worried, comforting squeaks. "It's not like Kouji doesn't like you, really. See, I think it sounds like he had some abandonment issues in his childhood, and he expresses that through a defensive attitude and emotional wall…"
A small rock, a pebble really, flew through the air and bounced off the middle of his forehead. The Keyblade Master rubbed the spot painfully. "Ow. What was that for?"
"Why the hell are you psychoanalyzing me?" Kouji growled, his right fist gripping another stone.
"Pretty good, right?" Sora gave a bright, lopsided grin. "I picked it up out of the books in the castle library."
"You know that's not what I meant! Why the hell do you think you can-" Kouji cut off suddenly, his eyes sharply focused over Sora's right shoulder. "Where did Yami go?"
Sora blinked at him blankly, then twisted around. Indeed, neither the Spirit-who-wasn't-quite-Yugi-Motou nor Kuriboh was anywhere to be found. It was like they had vanished… into thin air.
"Where are they? Yami! Yugi!"
"Calm down." Kouji grabbed Sora's arm before the other could move. "It's probably a trap, and if we're not careful, we'll get caught in it, too."
Key Mace's chime-like voice suddenly rose into a cry of warning. Kouji spun to face the noise, then realized that his gripping hand had now closed in on itself.
"Sora!" He shouted, but the Keyblade Master and his fairy familiar were gone.
A light whine filled his ears, followed by a low growl. It was Silver Fang's early warning before a hand suddenly descended on Kouji's shoulder. The Licht Sager was out and illuminated in a split second as he spun to face the new opponent…
"Kouji, wait! It's me!"
Kouji stopped dead, if for no better reason than he simply couldn't believe his eyes.
"…Nii-san?"
TBC…
There are two kinds of Heartless, natural and 'Emblems'. Emblems are Heartless types that are the result of the experiments concocted by Xehanort, assistant to King Ansem the Wise, who later stole the name of the Hollow Bastion ruler to become Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Emblem Heartless all have a marking in the shape of a black-and-red twisted heart and come in all varieties, shapes and sizes. The only Natural Heartless that I know of are the Shadows and the Neo-Shadows, but they come in great numbers.
These three monsters are, in fact, not that strong. Kuriboh is a One-Star Monster with 300 ATK and 200 DEF. Key Mace (#2) is a Four-Star Monster with 1050 ATK and 1200 DEF. Silver Fang is a Four-Star monster with 1200 ATK and 800 DEF. They are all very low-level monsters… alone. But when skillfully used, they can be quite formidable, if that is your style.
Corridors of Darkness - pathways that exist naturally between the Worlds. Beings of Darkness, such as the Heartless, the Organization and Riku (in the second game), can slip in and out of these to travel between worlds.
Stopga - Highest level of the 'Stop' series of spells. As their name suggests, these spells stop their targets in time, allowing Sora & Co to bash the hell out of them as they wish.
Lai - A Japanese sword style that I picked up from an episode of Saint Seiya. It is supposed to be very effective and powerful, a balance of both offense and defense. However, it only has its power as long as the sword remains in the sheaf. If you force the swordsman to remove the sword before they are prepared to, the move will be killed and the sword will be useless. It seemed like an advanced technique that Kouji would enjoy learning.
P.S. - To all picky people of grammar, not just my beta, but all of the reviewers who constantly point this out erroneously: when a proper name ends in an 's', the possessive form of said name requires an apostrophe AND an 's'. In other words: Anubis's, James's, Remus's, etc. The apostrophe without an 's' is for groups of more than one: Duelists', boys', playmates', etc. Pardon the touchiness, I'm just tired of hearing it in half-a dozen reviews…