AN: Hey KH Fans, we're back again, and this chapter's a long one, and I don't want to take up too much of your time today so you can get right into it, so there won't be any review answers this time around. And in point of fact, we're also going to be jumping over any discussions with the cast since its just that long. The fact that most of them are so exhausted from all that went into this chapter, rehearsals for the upcoming chapters, and preparations for the immediate sequel and all the sequels after that have nothing to do with it.
Riku: [groaning in exhaustion] I'm barely even in the next story all that much, and I'm still wiped out!
Xion: [groaning in exhaustion] How do you think Roxas and I feel? We're two of the main stars right from the beginning!
Sora: Hey! Mister author, Xion just gave away a spoiler! Can we do a quick gag to punish her before starting?
AN: No time! Big events are happening here! Need to get right into things. Besides, it's not that big of a spoiler. I'm pretty sure I've implied pretty heavily that Xion would be in the sequel to this story a few times already. Now, disclaimer and chapter, go!
I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter XX
Even though it had been given the minimum amount of necessary repairs, it still took a little while before the Kingdom managed to get off the ground and off the world it had crashed down on. All the same, the team breathed a sigh of relief when they finally managed to get off of Roundup Ranch and put it in their rearview mirror before activating the Warp-G on a course for Traverse Town. While they were on their way, they made it a point to call ahead to Cid in order to let him know that they were probably going to be coming in for a rough landing at the port due to receiving seriously heavy damage, and Cid had assured them that he would be ready for them when they arrived. Apparently, the gummi engineer did not really expect the Kingdom to be as banged up as it was, because when they did come into dock at Traverse Town, Cid's jaw dropped down to the floor, bounced back up, and dropped again at the mere sight of how bad the ship had been damaged. Ven could have sworn that the man looked like he was going to start crying over the amount of harm that had come to the Kingdom, and probably would have laughed at the man for it too if they did not have more pressing needs at the moment. Once he had pointed that out to the gummi engineer, Cid quickly set to work fixing up the gummi ship, with Chip and Dale pitching in while Ventus volunteered to stay behind and help as much as he could while getting a run-down of how long it would take for the trusted ship to be restored to full functionality, leaving Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy to call together Leon and the others so that they could inform them of the events that took place in Hollow Bastion.
Once they learned that Leon and the gang were all waiting for them at the Traverse Town crew's new base of operations, the group of four quickly raced over to the Third District as fast as they could, but they quickly found getting there a lot harder than expected. As it turned out, the Heartless that had made Traverse Town their hunting ground were now much stronger than ever, right to the point where some of the more powerful Heartless that they had encountered in Hollow Bastion were appearing in the haven world as well. It did not make much sense as to why so many Heartless would be here now, be it the ones that had appeared here originally or any new ones, because with the Keyhole sealed, there was no reason as to why the Heartless should remain, at least not beyond their base instinct to seek out the hearts of others. Either way, the four found themselves having to fight their way over to the Third District house, and it was not that easy of a fight. Yes, it was easier than fighting the Heartless in Hollow Bastion, but it was still difficult. Naturally, they were all glad when they received a last minute save from Yuffie and Wakka, who provided them with covering fire until they had gotten to safety inside the house, and after Aerith had cast a quick light spell that destroyed the ones that remained while Selphie glomped Kairi in an excited hug to show she was glad to see the redhead again at last, Leon brought everyone's attention onto the group by asking for the adventurers to tell them what happened.
Sora took point on the story-telling for the most part, at least up until the point where he became a Heartless, at which point Kairi stepped in to fill them in on what happened while Sora was a Heartless, and neither one of them held back any information at all. There was not really any point to keeping something secret now, including the fact that Kairi's heart was inside of Sora, and their friends needed to know everything if they were going to so much as understand the new situation they were now in. There were several different reactions throughout the story and after they had finished, though the most notable would be how everyone let out gasps of horror when they heard Sora used the Keyblade on himself to free Kairi's heart, and how mad Selphie got when she found out that Sora knew Kairi's heart was inside of him the whole time and did not tell her or Wakka. The Blitzball player was much more calm about it, even before Sora explained their reasons for not telling the two, so he was a big help in calming Selphie's rage on the matter. That did not mean he did not still punch Sora at least once for withholding that information, but he insisted that it was just because the Kingdom Key wielder still deserved it even if he did understand the reasoning. Sora let Wakka have that, but ultimately shrugged it off, because there was still something more important to deal with: Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and the Keyhole that had unleashed such powerful darkness into the worlds.
There was a moment of silence after the story was finally finished, and it rested heavily in the room until Leon finally broke it. "I see. So the darkness is flowing out of that Keyhole."
"No wonder there are more and more Heartless everywhere," Aerith noted sadly. "The only way to stop it is…"
"Seal the Keyhole, right," Sora asked, proudly displaying Kingdom Key so that everyone could see that he was more than willing and ready to go for it.
"Maybe, but no one knows what will happen once its sealed," Leon informed him.
"Well we can't just stay here. We have to do something," Kairi protested.
"She's right. We've still got a friend back there," Sora added.
"I'm not so sure about that, considering what that friend has done recently," Wakka growled, earning surprised looks from the others. "Come on, after all that he's done, do you really think we can still call Riku a friend? We wouldn't even be in this mess right now if he hadn't started messing around with stuff that shoulda been left alone, ya?"
"It's not all Riku's fault. He's been possessed by Ansem, remember," Sora pointed out.
"Only just recently, ya, but what about before dat? Was he possessed when he did all that other stuff too? Was he possessed when he opened the door that destroyed our home and got us all separated from our friends and families? Or when he teamed up with pirates to keep you from getting Kairi's heart back into her body? Or how about when he fought against you all those times," Wakka immediately questioned.
"No one's saying that Riku hasn't been making some bad, stupid choices lately, but it wasn't all his fault, and he was at least able to hold Ansem back long enough for us to get away," Kairi reminded, trying to stick up for her friend.
"Yeah, he held him back, but if he could do that, then why didn't he try to hold Ansem back when he was fighting with Ven and Sora, huh? Why wait until after Sora had practically sacrificed himself to actually do something to help," Wakka demanded. "You ask me, Riku's long gone, and there's no saving him now. Besides, he wanted to get away from home so bad he let it get destroyed, so if that means he gets possessed by some creep while da rest of him is sent off to somewhere else, then I say good riddance!"
"Wakka! What's the matter with you? None of us are saying that Riku's innocent, but you can't really mean any of that, can you? Sora and Kairi are right, he's still our friend and he needs help," Selphie shouted, hardly believing that her friend was so willing to write Riku off like that.
"I…I know. I'm sorry, but it's just been getting really tough, ya," Wakka sighed in defeat, proving that he was just venting without really meaning anything behind it. "The Heartless have all suddenly gotten stronger, the guy we all thought was good is actually the one behind all of this, there's still no sign of Tidus, and…we can't just keep going like this forever, ya know? Sure, fighting Heartless and keeping people safe is all well and good, but there's only so much we can do, ya?"
No one wanted to admit it, but Wakka did have a point. They could fight the Heartless while protecting everyone here all they wanted, but at the end of the day, it was just a stalling tactic that would not last forever. Not only that, but like Leon said, even if they did seal the Keyhole, there was no guarantee that the Heartless would disappear or even get weaker. For all they knew, the dark creatures could actually end up getting worse, or something else just as dangerous might happen, so going forward with any plan definitely had a wellspring of risks. Everyone was feeling the weight of that falling on top of them, and they were all soon hanging their heads in dismay as they thought about all of this more and more. At least until someone finally spoke up again to remind them why they had to keep going.
"We can't just give up," Kairi insisted with a smile and an upbeat tone. "We still have a chance to set things right. We can still seal the Keyhole, save Riku, and get everyone's homes back to the way they were before all of this had happened."
"And how do you figure that," Yuffie asked. She was feeling a little better after hearing Kairi say that, but she was still curious on how they were going to pull off what she wanted them to try and do.
"Because one of us has already beaten the darkness countless times, saved his friends, and returned from the darkness," Kairi reminded everyone, looking to Sora with pride and love when she did. "Sora not only used Riku's Keyblade to free my heart and return it to my body, but he managed to beat the darkness and come back to us. He might have had others to help him, but all we did was give him a push and a vague direction. Everything else was all him."
"She's right," Leon immediately agreed, surprising everyone a bit. "Not only that, but Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses' hearts, just like that Keyhole you all saw. Of course, without Kairi's heart, it remained incomplete. Once that Keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' hearts should have been freed. Meaning that Sora's not just saved himself and Kairi from the darkness, he's also saved the other princesses as well. If anyone can save his friend, he can."
Sora was flattered by the confidence everyone seemed to have in him, but he was not entirely sure how much of it he really deserved. Yeah, he did do all of the things that they said he had, but it was not like he did it alone. He had help from all of his friends, be it ones he knew or had only met once, and he was just acting off instinct most of those times. Well, instinct and the things that Ven had taught him, but that was beside the point. Could he really save Riku? Looking around at the others, he began to think that maybe it was possible that they were right, and he found himself remembering one of the most important lessons he had learn since this journey started. He did not need to know if it was possible; he just had to believe, and it would become possible, be it because of his own actions or not. Sora was not going to leave any of his friends to fall into darkness now or ever, and that included Riku.
With his resolve now firmly secured, Sora felt that he was now ready for anything, but before he could comment, Aerith felt the need to speak up again. "There's something else about all of this that bothers me," the kind hearted woman admitted. "I know that the darkness is stronger now than before, but I thought it would be much stronger once that Keyhole was completed."
"Seriously? The only way it can get any stronger is if all the worlds had already fallen to darkness," Selphie pointed out, hardly able to buy what Aerith was trying to say.
"No, I think Aerith has a point," Kairi revealed. "I can't explain it, but I've felt like something more powerful than any darkness that's been unleashed until now was inside of that Keyhole. Something really dangerous that scared me completely, but for some reason, it hasn't come out yet. All that we've seen until now is the Heartless getting stronger while more powerful Heartless are also appearing in places that they did not before like how there are now Defenders and Darkballs appearing here in Traverse Town."
"It's almost like something is holding the darkness back," Aerith added on.
"Which is all the more reason why we need to get back to Hollow Bastion right away," Sora declared, pulling the room's attention onto him. "We're not out of this fight just yet, so I say we head back and show that we're not going to stop no matter what."
"Hate to break it to you, but we're not going to be able to go anywhere near Hollow Bastion right now," Ventus's voice announced, and everyone immediately turned just in time to see the blonde walk in with a downcast expression. "All scans that Cid and the Kingdom have done of the pathway there showed that there are Heartless ships swarming every inch of the route. Any attempt at flying straight there is going to end in disaster, even if you're flying the best gummi ship ever designed by the great gummi block engineer in all of the worlds."
"So we can't get back at all," Donald asked.
"I didn't say that," Ventus pointed out. "Cid's already got a way around that, and it's one that allowed him to bring himself, Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith here when Radiant Garden fell and became Hollow Bastion." The blonde ignored the confused looks that were shared between the three he had just mentioned, because this was far more important. "He has a special navigation gummi that reveals a wormhole passage way that will lead us around the Heartless ships and right up to the doorstep of Hollow Bastion. After arriving here, Cid removed it from his own ship and hid it in the secret waterway, not just to keep others from finding it and accidentally leading all of those Heartless here, but also in case he ever needed it again."
"Well, I'd say that we definitely need it now, so how about you guys go get it and have Cid install it on your ship," Yuffie encouraged.
"And we will, but even without that gummi, we won't be going anywhere for a few hours," Ventus revealed sadly. "Just installing that gummi is going to take time, and that's without accounting for how heavily damaged the Kingdom is after that last fight she was in. Adding that bit of repair work in with the installation of that gummi is going to take hours at best, even with Cid, Chip, and Dale all working together nonstop."
"Which means we're stuck waiting here for now," Goofy finished sadly.
"Well, you're partially right, Goofy," Ventus corrected. "Yes, we're stuck here, but there are other things we can do besides just sitting around and waiting. For one thing, we can finally return those missing pages to Merlin's book, and help Kairi to better hone her magic talents as well. Not only that, but we can also take advantage of this time to get some very overdue rest in, and I highly recommend you get that rest in particular, Sora."
"What? But I'm not even that tired," Sora protested.
"Maybe, but you did just get pulled back from the darkness, and we have no idea how much of an adverse effect that may have had on you. For all we know, you're going to collapse at any minute. Besides, it's not like any of us have really done that much sleeping since we started this journey."
Sora would have argued with that if a yawn did not choose that moment to slip past his lips, earning amused smiles from everyone in the room. "Okay, fine. Can I at least go with you guys to return the pages to Merlin's book and get that navigation gummi first, though," he conceded with a quick last request.
Ventus thought it over for a minute before he finally shrugged and said, "Oh, okay why not? You and Kairi go on ahead to Merlin's and I'll meet you guys there. There are a few things I want to discuss with Leon and the others really quick."
Sora and Kairi nodded in response and quickly rushed out with Donald and Goofy so that they could head for Merlin's, and as soon as they were out the door, Leon decided to get right to the very matter that Ventus wanted to talk about. "They're not going to be ready for what they'll face in Hollow Bastion as they are now."
"Yeah, I know," Ventus admitted. "If we want to survive that onslaught, we'll need them at their best. Not the ideal best, because that's still very out of reach, but definitely at the best they can achieve right now."
"Well you're not going to get them there with a little nap and some magic practice," Leon remarked. "It's going to take a lot more than that."
"So we help them practice and get better. They'll be better than the rest before you know it with our help, ya," Wakka declared, sounding absolutely confident, and there was no doubt that he really did believe that idea.
"Yeah, we'll have Sora and Kairi up to the level of masters before you know it," Selphie agreed, obviously thinking along the same lines as Wakka.
"I'm sure they would appreciate that as much as I do, you two, but it's going to take a lot more than just some sparring practice with friends. In point of fact, it's going to take a lot more than they can get training just anywhere, even if they were to train at Olympus Coliseum," Ventus replied. After a moment, a small smirk started to form on his face as he finished, "And I know just the place where that kind of training is possible, but we can't go without those two getting something special first." He looked to Leon and his friends again, and asked, "Did you guys happen to find the items I told you about after I first got here?"
"Yep. We even found enough for two. Why do you ask," Yuffie asked. Ventus did not say anything at first, but instead just simply continued to smirk with some eagerness. As it turned out, that was all the answer that he needed to give, because the others all quickly caught on. "You can't be serious," the ninja of the group gasped.
"Believe me, I am," Ventus replied. "I truly believe that there is no better time than now. The worlds need a lot more than just a pair of Keyblade wielders right now."
The first thought that came to Merlin's mind when he saw Sora and his friends come in was that they were back for more magic training. While that was partially true, they soon revealed that they were there for other reasons, and the first of those reasons was to return the missing pages to the special book he was still keeping on a small desk. Before that though, Sora quickly went to talk to Fairy Godmother in order to get the summon charm he had recently found restored, and once that was done, they quickly returned the pages to their rightful place. They figured that they would just place the pages in the book and hope that Merlin would use a spell to make sure the pages stayed, or that people would just be careful when reading it in the future, but to their surprise, Merlin did not need to cast any spells at all. Instead, the pages magically reattached themselves into the book, with any signs of the tears vanishing the minute that they were in.
"Whoa! I guess that book really is just as special as Merlin and Ven said," Goofy noted.
"Oh, the book is special for reasons beyond just that, Goofy," Merlin informed the knight. "After all, it does contain an entire world inside of its pages."
"So is there some way to get into this world," Kairi asked, honestly curious about the whole matter.
"Oh I don't think so," Merlin replied. "You could access a part of it to gain new powers to be certain, but that was before it fell into such a damaged state, back when Ven and his friends had first found and read it themselves."
Whatever was said next, Sora had not noticed, because his attention was firmly fixed on the book in front of him. He was very curious about how a world could be inside of a small book, but more than that, he felt like the book was calling to him, or rather, something inside of the book. He could not explain why he felt that way, but he did not hesitate in approaching the book and opening it up again. Looking through its pages, Sora saw what looked like a map of a small forest, with small drawings of what appeared to be animals around certain locations, but what he did not see were any words. Despite that, he could somehow see various different stories unfolding from within this book, almost like he was right there in the middle of them, and he was so fascinated by that, he never once realized that the book had started glowing until the light had grown too bright for him to keep his eyes open while Kairi cried out his name in what sounded like startled panic.
When Sora opened his eyes again, he was surprised to find that he was no longer in Merlin's study, but a wide, open field in the middle of a forest beneath a clear, open sky. Looking around, Sora found that aside from the green grass, there was nothing in the clearing, until his eyes finally rested on a large log that was sitting in the middle of the clearing, and from where he was, Sora could see that there was something sitting on top of the log. Figuring he had nothing to lose, Sora decided to take a closer look and walked up to the log, until he was close enough to see that the thing he saw was actually what appeared to be a small, stuffed toy bear in a red shirt. What came as especially surprising was that the bear was moving and speaking all on its own, and from what he could tell, the little guy seemed to be really deep in thought on something.
"Think, think. Think, think," Sora heard the little bear mutter once he got close enough, and given that he did not react badly to his approach, Sora figured that the bear was not harmful, so he might as well see if he could help somehow.
"Hi there. What's wrong," Sora asked once he was close enough.
"Nothing. Just thinking," the bear replied.
"Oh," Sora nodded. "What about?"
"I was thinking of how to say goodbye to Pooh," the bear informed him.
"Pooh?"
"Yes," the bear asked, but the way he said it almost sounded like he was letting someone know they had his attention, which quickly clued Sora in on something.
"Wait a second. You're Pooh," Sora asked as he settled into a spot next to the little bear.
"Yes, I'm Winnie the Pooh. Pooh for short. Who are you?"
"I'm Sora."
"Oh. Hello, Sora. Have you come to say goodbye to Pooh, too," Pooh asked, and while it was a sad question, he said it with a surprising amount of innocent curiosity that Sora had to wonder if he was upset if that was the case.
"Well, no," Sora replied with a small laugh. "Why would I do that? We've only just met."
"Because everyone's gone away," Pooh replied.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we all lived here in the Hundred Acre Wood," Pooh explained. "And we'd take walks together, or play Pooh Sticks, and every day, I'd eat some honey. Just one small smackeral would taste very good right now. But now everyone's gone. All my friends, and my favorite Hunny Tree too. Everyone must've gone away while I was napping, I think…So, who knows? Maybe I shall end up going away somewhere as well. But I wonder, how do I say goodbye to myself?"
As Pooh started thinking on his conundrum again, Sora began to think on a few things as well. Could Pooh's friends' disappearance have anything to do with how the book had lost some of its pages? It definitely made a lot of sense, and it would explain how Pooh's Hunny Tree would have disappeared all of a sudden, so maybe returning the pages into the book brought it all back. It was certainly worth looking into, and doing this definitely seemed like a nice relaxing job in comparison to either training or fighting the Heartless like he had been lately. Besides, Ven just said that he had to get some rest. He did not say how he needed to get that rest, so that made his decision easy.
"Hey Pooh, maybe your friends have come back while you were thinking. Why don't we go and look for them," Sora offered, and the idea seemed to make Pooh very happy, so the two were off to find the bear's friends.
Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Merlin all stared at where Sora had previously been reading the mysterious book, hardly believing their eyes. One minute, Sora was reading the book, the next thing you knew, the book was lit up like a sun, and Sora had vanished into thin air while the book had dropped back onto the desk it had previously been resting on. While Merlin just looked on in curiosity, the other three were all experiencing a sense of déjà vu, and with it came a feeling of dread, because the last time that Sora had vanished like this, he had reappeared as a Heartless. Not one of their best memories in so many different ways, and Kairi really hoped that this was not the case. None of them were sure what had happened to Sora, but thankfully, someone did, and they did not hesitate to give it.
"Well, it seems that Sora found a way to access the book's powers after all," Merlin remarked as he stroked his beard.
"He did," Donald and Goofy both asked in surprise at the same time.
"As I've said, the book contains an entire world inside of it, and after falling into a damaged state, its powers had changed. Apparently, one can now access that world by simply reading the book," Merlin explained.
"Well, can't we get him out," Kairi asked.
"Hmm…I believe we might be able to, but it would be wise to not attempt anything should there be a risk to the world inside the book," Merlin replied.
"I wouldn't worry about him too much," Ven's voice suddenly said, and they all turned to see the blonde entering the room with a small smile on his face. "There's nothing in that book that could be considered a threat, so if anything, Sora will just be getting a nice relaxing break for a little bit. If I'm right, when he does come back out, it'll be his choice, and he'll be much more rested than he would be just from taking a nap." He then paused for a moment before finishing, "But I'm still planning on making him get some sleep before we go back to Hollow Bastion."
"So we just need to wait for him to come out," Kairi asked, relief clear as day in her voice.
"Pretty much, and while we're waiting, we can help you practice your magic," Ventus informed her. "We don't want you to wear yourself down into exhaustion because of back-to-back casting again like you did before on Roundup Ranch."
Kairi immediately nodded in reply, instantly agreeing with Ven's decision. She could well remember how horrible it felt to suddenly drop down in exhaustion like she had during that particular fight, and she was not too eager to repeat that experience. If practicing her magic would help her avoid that, she was all for it, so they quickly moved up to the study where Merlin had helped Sora to hone his magic and set to work at once. Even while they were doing that, Kairi could not help but wonder what Sora was doing inside that book right now, while at the same time worrying about Riku's current state. Wakka may have been right in that so many of the tragedies they had been dealing with up until now were his fault, but despite all of that, Riku was still their friend, and one of her best friends. Add in the fact that he had helped to save both her life and that of her newest friends, despite his initial feelings towards some of them, and Kairi was just as sure as Sora that they could still help Riku.
Darkness. Vast, endless darkness. That was all that he could register beyond the ground which he walked on at the moment, and he could barely feel anything else, including his own body. He had a faint sense of his being, but just barely enough to know that he was on the edge of life and able to move. More than that, he could also feel an odd sense of pain throughout his body. It was hard to really describe it, but if he had to narrow it down, he would have to say that it was close to a sensation of burning and flash freezing at the same time, if that made any sense. Physical pain was nothing to him at the moment, because right now, Riku was feeling far more pain in his heart.
"Sora…Kairi…I'm sorry," Riku muttered aloud, as he struggled down the winding path he was currently on. He had done so much to harm them, never realizing that he was doing so despite his best efforts to do the opposite. Well, maybe not entirely in Sora's case, but he was still trying to help them both, and yet look what happened. Their home was gone along with most of their other friends and family, Sora doubtlessly hated him for keeping Kairi's body away when all he wanted to do was get her heart back into it, and let's not forget about how he had insulted both his friend and the blonde master that had taken on his younger friend as an apprentice. That last one did make Riku a bit jealous of Sora, even without the fact that Sora had gained a Keyblade while he did not, but that was no excuse for how he had responded. Now, all Riku wanted to do was find a way to make sure his friends were okay, but given what this place seemed to be, that might be a little harder than he would have liked.
"Is this the afterworld," Riku questioned. A moment later, he found himself stumbling a little while something started to grab hold and pull on him, like it was trying to pull him under water and hold him there until he drowned. Riku was not one to go down easily though, and he was not going to start now. "I'm not ready. Not yet," Riku groused. "Not until I see Sora and Kairi one last time…"
After he said that, something else suddenly reached his senses, and it was far different from what he had been feeling when he first came to in this place. This was not the same odd sense of pain or drowning he felt before though. If anything, this was so far different, one could say that it was like night and day, and more than that, this definitely belonged to a person who felt very familiar to Riku. He was not sure where, but he did feel like he had felt a presence like this somewhere once before a long time ago. Then, it seemed to either vanish or fade away just as quickly as it had came. Riku was already questioning what that could have been when another one suddenly reached his senses, similar to the first but different at the same time. Partly because this did not feel familiar to him at all, but mostly because this one actually spoke to him in his mind.
"Riku, can you hear me? I'll be there soon," a voice called out, no doubt belonging to whoever emitted this new presence.
"Who is that," Riku called out as he attempted to find the person speaking, only to find nothing but the surrounding shadows. He did not receive a straight answer though, but then again, the answer he did get gave him a few clues.
"I'm trying to get the other Keyblade," the voice revealed. "The one that belongs to this world."
"Huh," Riku questioned, not quite understanding what the voice meant by that or why he was telling him this.
"There are two versions of every Keyblade, one that exists in the Realm of Light, and a copy of it that exists in the Realm of Darkness, and if we are to survive the darkness that is threatening the worlds, we needed a Keyblade from this world that is the opposite and equal to one of the newest ones. The one that chose your friend Sora as its wielder."
"So then why are you telling me this," Riku asked.
"Because I need your help as much as I need Sora and Ven's," the voice said. "I've been trying to get through to you, but the darkness in your heart kept me away."
"How can I help? I've done nothing but hurt my friends and the worlds ever since I left my home," Riku questioned. "I've made nothing but bad choices lately."
"You made some misinformed choices, but the fact you regret your actions is a sign that you can still overcome and truly control the darkness, just like the one who passed the power to wield a Keyblade down to you. Besides, you can still help make things right."
"Before that, can you tell me what's happened to me," Riku asked, and the answer came very quickly.
"Your heart won the battle against darkness, but it was too late for your body. That's why you're here, in this place of darkness where hearts are gathered."
Riku let that stew for a minute, and took that to mean there was still a chance for him to get back, and that made it easier for him to ask the next obvious question. "So what do I do?"
"The Door of Darkness will open soon, but it's a door we can't enter," the voice explained, and Riku was about to protest against that until this mystery person preempted that question. "It has to be closed from both sides. To do this, you need two keys and two hearts. In order to make absolutely sure of this, we can use a second pair of hearts and keys. The other two keys don't have to be reflections of each other like the two Kingdom Keys. It'll work so long as they are both Keyblades of true wielders. Maybe you're here for one of the same reasons that I am. Maybe it was fate."
"Fate, huh," Riku scoffed lightly, but he was willing to believe just about anything at this point. "You seem to know everything, don't you? Then tell me: Are Sora and Kairi okay?"
"Don't you feel the echoes of their hearts," the voice asked in reply. "You already know the answer. Look inside your own heart."
Riku did just that, closing his eyes to better focus, and when he did, he could feel the light of his friends shining in his heart. Not just shining, it was radiating brighter than it ever had before, at least to his knowledge, and somehow, he could feel they were still going to come after him in an attempt to save him, and feeling this made Riku smile an honest smile. If his friends were not going to give up on him then he could not give up yet either. Still, that left one thing unanswered. "Do you know what that other presence I felt before was? The one I felt just before you started speaking to me," Riku asked. "It felt like a very strong light, but then it seemed to fade away, and I could swear that I had felt it before."
"What," the voice exclaimed in surprise. It was then silent for a moment before saying, "I guess this means you're here for all the same reasons that I am, because if you could sense that light, then it means that you can help me save the person it belongs to. But if that light did suddenly fade like you said it did, then that means we're running out of time to help her. Please, help me save her?"
Riku could only smile a little more before he nodded and said, "Okay. Might as well do some good while I still have the chance."
He soon heard the voice send him some thanks, and he was off once again, this time with two directions to go in. Out of those two though, he was more focused on getting to that light that he had first sensed a moment ago, because it belonged to someone who needed to be saved from darkness.
Kairi's magic training, while productive, was a bit slow in its progression. It was not that she was not capable of getting better with her magic abilities, she certainly did, and all the way up to the level of being able to use some very impressive and powerful spells like Firaga, Curaga, and more, but the real problem was that she was too quick to jump right from one spell to the next. Ven had done his best to shake her out of doing so, knowing that it would lead her to exhaust herself mid-battle like it had the last time, but helping her to break that habit was proving difficult. He did his best to make it clear that she needed to not cast so many spells in a row so rapidly, but helping her to put that exercise into practice was another matter.
"Don't just cast spells back to back like you're trying to cast them all at once. Pace yourself and try to take a pause in between or do something that doesn't require magic every so often," Ventus had coached time and again, and Kairi would simply nod and heed his advice for a moment before going right back to her rapid fire of spells again. Thankfully, it took a bit longer every time, so Ven was sure that she would get it eventually. He still made a note to buy as many Ethers at Huey, Dewey, and Louie's shop before they left though.
Aside from that, he also had Kairi practice unleashing her personal Tier One Command Style, thinking she might be able to use it already after seeing Sora use it against Ansem, but while she was able to access said ability, it took a long while for her to do so. This definitely proved an earlier point of his when he said that watching others unleash certain powers was a lot different from using them yourself, because despite being able to use an ability that was unique to her, it was still the first time that Kairi was using Command Styles herself, so the feeling was still new to her. Shotlocks on the other hand came a little more easily to her, and she managed to unleash two or three different ones. It may not have been as many as Sora could use, but definitely an impressive amount for someone who's just started. In fact, she eventually managed to use the same Shotlock that Sora had defeated Maleficent's dragon form with, which she revealed to be named Starlight Storm, and Ven had to admit, it looked a lot more beautiful when she used it.
They were just about to move on to the next round when Merlin called up to let them know that Sora had finally returned from the book, putting an end to the magic practice so that they could rush down and see him. When they arrived in the main study, they found that sure enough, Sora was back and looking much more relaxed and rested than he been before he had gone into the mysterious book, and he was smiling a great deal as well. Seeing that smile quickly brought smiles to the faces of the rest of his friends, while prompting Kairi to joke, "Guess you had quite the vacation in there. I'm a little upset you didn't bring me along now."
"I'm a little upset that I didn't get a chance to bring you with me too," Sora quipped in response. "You would've liked meeting everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood."
"We have no doubt about that, and while I am glad to see you well rested again, Sora, did you guys ever get around to getting that navigation gummi Cid will need so we can get back to Hollow Bastion," Ventus asked with an amused smile, clearly already knowing the answer even before the smiles that the others had turned sheepish with matching chuckles. "Yeah, I figured as much."
"Sorry Ven, but we got a little more curious about the book when we saw it apparently repair itself after we placed the pages into it," Goofy explained.
"Plus, I had a new summon charm I needed Fairy Godmother to revive while we were here," Sora added, pulling out the charm in question to show Ven. Looking at the charm, one could see that it was gold and red in color, with the image of a fire-breathing dragon curling around on the medallion's center. "I figure that it must be pretty powerful based on both the image on it and the fact that I found it after we beat Maleficent the second time on Hollow Bastion."
Ven studied the charm for a minute before he replied, "I think you might be right, Sora, but if it doesn't turn out to be what you think, try not to be too disappointed. After all, it's not wise to judge a book by its cover." When Sora nodded in reply, Ven smiled and said, "Now, let's go and get that gummi so that Cid can install it and finish up with the repairs to our ship."
The team immediately agreed, and after getting permission from Merlin, they quickly took the secret path from his study to the waterway to retrieve the navigation gummi. Admittedly, it made sense that Cid would hide it here, since it was not a place that you would hide very many things, but that same reason also made it hard to figure out where the thing could be hidden. There were very few places that something could be hidden which was also easy to remember, and they all doubted that Cid would have hidden it under one of the rocks or in the water, so they had a hard time figuring out where it would be. At least it would have been difficult if Kairi had not noticed something that the others had passed off as unimportant before. Down in a corner of the waterway, there was a small mural of a shinning sun in the middle of a blue sky with some fluffy white clouds that broke off into a pair of waves. It was truly beautiful, but there was something about it that Kairi found to be a little hypnotizing in its own way.
Feeling that it was too hard to ignore, Kairi slowly walked over to it, drawing the boys' attention to her the minute her feet hit the shallow water. They all watched as she came closer and closer to the mural, until the mural suddenly flashed with a faint light and then changed into a crescent moon in the middle of a night sky, surrounded by small stars. When it did, Kairi quickly held out her hands so that she could catch something that had fallen from where the moon was on the mural. When she looked down at the item she now had in her hands, she immediately grinned and rushed back over to show the rest of the team, letting them see that it was in fact the very navigation gummi that they were looking for and bringing grins to their faces as well.
"I get the feeling Cid had Merlin or Aerith's help in hiding this," Ventus muttered under his breath with a smile, since he knew that Cid was not too big a fan of magic. He then turned serious again when he turned to Donald and Goofy, and asked, "You guys take this on over to Cid and meet us back at Leon's place. We're going to stay here for a couple more minutes."
The two animals nodded in response and set out, leaving the three Keybearers behind for a moment. Even after they were sure that the two had departed, they all remained silent for a few moments. Sora and Kairi did not say anything because they believed that Ventus had something to tell them, and while the blonde did in fact have some information he needed to share, he was not entirely sure how to tell them what he knew, so he kept quiet. This all made the silence rather heavy, but it was far from awkward. If anything it was actually rather peaceful and somewhat comforting. After all, you do not always need to say anything when among good friends. Sometimes, a little silence can be rather relaxing, as it showed that you had confidence and trust in the friends around you. That does not mean that it should last too long though, and it was starting to reach that point rather quickly for the three.
Eventually, right when it was reaching the point where it would become awkward, Ven finally spoke up, noting the mural that Kairi had pulled the navigation gummi from when he did, feeling it would make a good icebreaker for this conversation. "It's a lovely mural, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess," Sora admitted.
"Almost hypnotizing, really," Kairi agreed. Her gaze soon turned wistful while a smile slowly stretched across her face, as she whispered, "A light at the end of the tunnel…"
"Oh yeah, like your grandma's story, right," Sora asked in remembrance.
"Right," Kairi smiled in response, glad to hear that he remembered that memory she showed him, while Ven looked between them with a look of slight confusion. Of course, that expression was just a cover for the knowing look in his eyes, since he had a pretty good idea what they were talking about, but he was not going to tell them about that. If he did, it would lead to him having to explain a long list of things that would be hard to really explain or even believe.
Sora grinned a little at seeing Kairi smiling again, when he thought of something. "You want to know something a little funny," he asked, and he did not hesitate to answer before they could ask him to explain. "I get the feeling that if Ven never told me you were in my heart, I would've looked everywhere for you, not knowing you were with me all along until we finally arrived in Hollow Bastion. It actually makes me wonder how different things would be if I didn't know, and it kind of scares me a little. Makes me think I would've been a lot more reckless in a lot of my battles or on all the different worlds we visited, never really caring for my own safety that much without knowing that you were at risk too. I'm glad that I knew you were with me the whole time."
"I'm sure it wouldn't have been that bad, Sora," Kairi reassured him. "You're really strong on your own, and you do have…a few moments of being smart."
"Hey, what do you mean 'a few moments,'" Sora pouted in response, earning a small chuckle from Kairi when he did, which ultimately broke down his attempt at appearing offended so that he could join in on the laughter, with Ven doing the same a moment later.
"I'm glad that we're finally together for real, Sora," Kairi admitted with a tender smile once the laughter had died.
"Me too," Sora nodded. "Now, it's time to get Riku back."
Kairi's smile fell a little when she heard that, and she decided it was time to come clean. "Sora, do you really think we can help Riku? I mean, so much has happened with him since this journey started, and despite what I said, I have to admit that Wakka had a point in what he said. Do you think it'll ever be the same again between us? Even if things hadn't gone the way they had, Riku's still lost his…"
Ventus could tell that despite what had happened, and any worries she had about being around their friend again, Kairi could not bear to really think about what had happened to Riku when he was taken over by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. He could not really blame her. He felt the same way when he heard about what had happened to Terra, so he could easily relate, even if he did not have anything to say in reassurance. Thankfully, someone did, and while he knew the kid pretty well by now, he was still surprised that Sora did have something to say on it. "When I turned into a Heartless, you saved me, remember," the boy asked Kairi. "Sure, Master Aqua gave me a small push, but it was you who really helped me to come back. I was lost in the darkness. I couldn't find my way. As I stumbled through the dark, I started forgetting things. My friends, who I was…The darkness almost swallowed me, even with Master Aqua giving me a small push out, but then I heard a voice…Your voice. You brought me back."
"I didn't want to just forget about you, Sora. I couldn't," Kairi told him with a smile.
"That's it," Sora suddenly cheered, surprising the other two a little. "Our hearts are connected, and the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light. I think that's what saved me."
"I'm sure it is," Ventus confirmed for him, reminding the other two that he was there, even if they had not totally forgotten about him. "The power of the bonds we form in our hearts with those we care about most can always shine through any darkness, because that's one of the lights that never go out, no matter what happens."
"No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within," Kairi quoted from her grandma's story with a smile.
"I guess it's more than just a fairy tale," Sora remarked with a smile.
"And it always will be," Ventus confirmed with a matching smile of his own, to show how confident he was about that.
"Guess that will make us even better when we go back to stop Ansem and seal the Keyhole," Kairi reasoned with a grin of excitement.
"Wait, what? No, you can't go with us. It's way too dangerous," Sora immediately insisted.
"You're kidding right," Kairi asked in disbelief. "We made it this far by sticking together. Even if you have Ven and the others with you, I won't let you go without me. Besides, I'm a Keyblade wielder now, too, and Ven's been helping me get better with my magic while you were in that book."
"She may still have a bit left to learn, but she definitely shows a lot of promise and could be a huge help. After all, it might be better to have three Keyblade wielders in this little adventure," Ventus admitted.
"I know that, but…I just…" Sora tried to think of a good excuse for Kairi to stay behind, beyond the fact that he just did not want her to go because he did not want her to get hurt. Sure, it was a good sign that he cared about her and her safety, but he also knew that Kairi was one of those girls who did not appreciate being treated like a fragile doll, especially if they had a way to keep themselves safe like she did. In the end, he gave up and came clean. "I just don't want to see you get hurt after I just got you back."
To his surprise, Kairi did not get mad, but instead, she actually gave him a small, cute smile and said, "I know, Sora, but I don't want you to get hurt, either, and that's why I have to go with you. I want to do whatever I can to help make sure that you're safe, and that we can all come back home after this is over. More than that, I don't want to be separated from you after being with you through all of this."
"Kairi, even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore, right," Sora asked in friendly reminder.
Kairi only smiled in reply in response, with a small giggle, and said, "You know, I can help a lot more than you think. Besides, I'm going to figure out some way to come along no matter what you or Ven say."
While Sora was starting to feel annoyed by this, Ven could not help but smile when he eventually said, "You know, you're a lot like Aqua. She refused to just sit back and watch her friends get into trouble too, and even made it a point that she was not going to just sit back and wait for us to come back if she could help out somehow."
Sora looked between his master and the girl he loved for a few minutes, until he finally sighed in defeat and said, "Okay, you guys win, but can you please promise that you'll try to be careful, Kairi?"
"Sure, Sora," Kairi nodded. She then paused for a minute before reaching into one of her pockets and grabbing Sora's hand so she could place something in it. "Take this," she said, prompting Sora to look down and see the same good luck charm he saw her making the day they were making their final preparations for their voyage with Riku, now fully completed. Thinking of that, Sora felt almost like that was a lifetime ago, but it did make him smile when he saw the star-shaped charm made out of seashells. His smile grew a little bit when he saw that it had a smiley face on the top point, but he had to wonder if she had tried making the face look a bit like his when she added it. "It's my lucky charm," Kairi told him. "Be sure to give it back to me when this journey is finally over."
Sora smiled a bit and promised, "Don't worry. I will."
"Promise," Kairi asked.
"Promise."
A minute later, Kairi's good luck charm suddenly flashed with a small light, and something suddenly shot up out of it, hovering in the air before it slowly dropped into Sora's free hand. When the light dimmed, it revealed a Keychain that had a charm which looked just like Kairi's good luck charm, attached to a chain that looked like a strongly woven braid. "Whoa," Sora gasped. "What just happened?"
"I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes," Ventus admitted, drawing the other two's attention to him. "It seems that Kairi's good luck charm, and the bond that you two share actually gave birth to a Keychain for a whole new Keyblade; one that has not existed until now. I've heard that such a thing was possible, and Aqua told me that was how she came into possession of the Destiny's Embrace Keychain, but I didn't really believed it could happen until now."
"So does this mean I now have a new Keyblade," Sora asked.
"No, just a Keychain that's likely far more powerful than any of the ones you've found until now," Ventus replied. "Kingdom Key is still your Keyblade, and the Keyblade this Keychain belongs to will likely find its destined wielder someday, but for now, it is yours."
Sora studied the Keychain in his hands for a minute, pocketing Kairi's good luck charm as he did, until he finally summoned Kingdom Key and exchanged its Keychain for the new one. In an instant, the simple Keyblade had completely transformed, so that it was now almost entirely silver, save for some points on the teeth that were either blue or gold, the blade seemed to be comprised of two long, interconnected poles, while its shaft displayed two hearts, and the handle was encircled by two angel wings. In the simplest of terms, this Keyblade was truly unlike any of the ones that they had seen up until now, and all three Keyblade wielders were completely mesmerized by its appearance.
"It's beautiful," Kairi finally whispered.
"I'd certainly hope so," Ventus smirked. "After all, this is a Keyblade that was born from the bond you share with Sora."
"Do you think that a Keyblade could be created from my friendship with Riku too," Sora asked.
"Only time will tell," Ventus replied.
Sora could only nod in response, before returned to studying the new Keyblade, letting its name ring into his head through the connection he shared with Kingdom Key, until he decided, "I think I'm going to stick with Oathkeeper until the end this journey. I feel like it will be perfect for both finishing this fight and for guaranteeing that I'll keep my promise to Kairi."
Ventus and Kairi both nodded in response, and after Sora had dismissed his Keyblade, Ven decided that it was time to come out with one of the reasons why he wanted to speak with them alone. "Kairi's not the only one who has something to give you, Sora, but I actually have something for the both of you," the blonde revealed, reaching into his pocket so that he could produce the objects in question for them to see. "Ta-da!"
The two looked and their eyes quickly widened in awe at the sight. In Ven's hands, was a pair of star-shaped charms, similar to the one that the blonde carried, but these were different from his. These charms he was holding out for them were dark red and bright pink in color, but the most significant difference was that instead of having the same symbol as the badge that Ven wore on his chest, the symbol was an exact match to the crown symbol on Sora's necklace. After another minute or so, Sora finally managed to ask something, but just barely. "Are those…?"
"Wayfinders, like the one I carry, but at the same time, these are far more special," Ven replied. "When Aqua made them, she explained that…she had a dream about two very special Keyblade wielders who's lights would be able to shine brighter than any other wielder before them, and they would become very good friends of ours. Knowing that, she decided to make these charms for them so that they would know that they were a part of our circle of friends. When she disappeared, she left these charms behind in the hopes that they would someday find their way into the hands of the ones they were meant for. I think…No, I believe that they were meant for the two of you."
"Ven, we can't accept these," Kairi tried to say, and Sora obviously agreed with her given the expression on his face.
"Oh yes you can," Ventus insisted. "They're meant for you guys. I'm sure of it, and I would want you guys to have them."
Sora and Kairi both seemed to think it over, until they finally nodded in acceptance, and soon, they could feel the cool steal of the charms meeting their palms, but despite how cool it felt, there was a certain warmth to them that made the two feel like they had now truly become part of something even greater than anything they had ever known before. The two then smiled at Ven, unable to truly voice how honored they were to be given something so special, but from the smile on his face, it was clear that the blonde had a very good idea of exactly how they felt. Eventually, Sora found his voice again, and stated, "With this kind of light in our hearts, there's no way that Ansem can beat us now."
Ven's face quickly fell when he heard that, much to Sora and Kairi's confusion, and the blonde finally looked like he was ready to reveal just what he had been hiding up until now. "Guys, there's something you should know about Ansem, and it may come as something of a shock to you."
"What's that," Kairi asked.
Ven was about to respond, before he thought of something else, and then said, "Let's head back to Leon's place, and I'll tell you there. After all, this is something that everyone needs to know about."
Sora and Kairi wanted to argue, but from how serious Ven looked, they knew that they could not really argue with him and expect to change his mind, so they agreed and followed him back up to Merlin's secret passage. Still, something about this made them feel a little nervous, and they were worried about just what they might learn about this.
A shortly while later, everyone was gathered together again, with Cid even taking a break from his repair work so he could hear as well at Ven's insistence, and the Keyblade master was sitting in the center of the room, silently gathering his thoughts until he was absolutely sure that everyone was here and giving him their full attention. There was no easy way to really begin this though, but he knew that it was better for them to learn about this particular piece of information, before too much more damage could happen to reputation of an old friend of his. Taking a deep breath, Ventus decided that it was time to just bight the bullet and get right into things. It would have been pointless to beat around this particular bush, anyways.
"Let me start off by saying that this may be a little hard for some of you to really understand at first, but I need you to bear with me on this," Ventus requested, taking a quick breath before he went into the story. "The being that we encountered at Hollow Bastion and who is now possessing Riku, despite his claims is not actually Ansem the Wise. He may have been the one who had likely wrote the reports on the Heartless, but he's not the real Ansem. The truth is, he's the Heartless of someone that is as far from the kind of person that Ansem is as you can get, and is very dangerous."
"Wait a minute, from how you guys described him, he looked pretty human to be an actual Heartless, so how could that be possible," Yuffie questioned.
"Like I said, it's a little difficult to explain, but I'm going to do the best I can," Ven replied with a quick look that made it clear that Yuffie needed to stay quiet for a minute. "You see, there are some people who have so much darkness inside of them that when they become a Heartless, they don't lose their original form, and this particular man is one of them. I knew him long before he had became a Heartless, and I can assure you that he was far more dangerous back then than he is now. His name…is Xehanort."
"Xehanort? Hmm…Why does that name sound familiar," Goofy pondered, not quite able to put his finger on it.
"That's the name of the one who caused all that trouble with Vanitas and the Unversed ten years ago," Donald quickly reminded Goofy.
"Oh yeah! But I thought he was gone for good," Goofy finally remembered. "I mean, there's been no sign of him since Aqua left to try and save Terra, right?"
"That's actually only half true. There was one sign of him, but we didn't realize it until it was too late," Ventus admitted.
"Wait a minute. Just who is this Xehanort and how is he so bad, anyway," Sora asked.
Ventus paused for a moment at that question, until he finally replied, "Xehanort is a former, fallen Keyblade master who became obsessed with learning everything he could about the Keyblade War, and recreating the very weapon that had been the inspiration for the Keyblades. In order to achieve this, he created a being of pure darkness by extracting the darkness inside of my heart, which he named Vanitas, and once we were both strong enough, he would let us refuse and allow that weapon to be created. It succeeded for a short time, but it did not last thanks to both my own strength of will, and the efforts of my other friends. Still, Xehanort is incredibly brilliant, a prodigy of his generation, and he had several plans in place to further his goals, including fanning the dark fires in my friend, Terra's heart so that he would have a new, younger body that would allow him to survive into a new age, despite his own body beginning to reach an old age."
"So it's Xehanort's fault that Terra is currently a prisoner in the darkness," Kairi asked, earning an affirmative nod in reply. "But why would he want to use you to create this weapon?"
"Because…Xehanort was my first master, before the king and Master Eraqus," Ven revealed, shocking everyone. "I know. It makes me sick to remember a time when I was his student these days as well, and the time I spent training under him is not exactly something that I enjoy remembering. I've long since stopped considering him as one of my previous masters, and I wish I could just put him in the past where he belongs, but he's still presenting a threat to the worlds, and this scheme with the Heartless is just the most recent."
Everyone was now silent after hearing that, all feeling very sympathetic for Ventus, but there was something that stuck out for Leon. "You said that there was a sign that he was still around, but you didn't realize it until it was too late. What was that?"
Ven did not immediately reply, but he knew he had to anyway, so he reluctantly replied, "Leon, do you and the others remember Ansem having any apprentices?"
"Yes. He taught them almost everything he knew and they helped him with a great deal of his research," Aerith replied for the group.
"Well, among the brightest of his apprentices was a man by the name of Xehanort," Ven revealed. "And before you ask, yes this is the exact same Xehanort that had possessed my friend Terra and caused so much hardship to befall my friends and I. When I first met him, I was not entirely sure that he was in fact the fallen Keyblade master, and the apprentice did not appear to recognize me, but I could never mistake the darkness that I sensed from him as being anything other than that of my former master. I didn't say anything to anyone but the king when I first sensed that from him, and he decided that it was best to keep it to ourselves. Now, I can't help but wonder if we were right to do that, because I'm sure that your world fell because he did regain his memories and plunged it into darkness, while taking on Ansem's name as his own so that the good man I once knew would take the fall for his crimes."
"If that is the case though, why would he turn himself into a Heartless," Cid asked, gaining curious looks from the other afterwards. "I mean, from what you're saying, Ven, the guy was a lot more powerful and dangerous as a regular guy, so why would he willingly turn himself into a Heartless if it would make him weaker?"
"I wish I knew," Ven admitted. "All I do know is that it's likely part of some larger plan that Xehanort has had in place for a long time now, and we need to stop him, no matter what that plan might be. Xehanort's Heartless, or Ansem, Seeker of Darkness as he insists on calling himself has to be stopped, and even if he is only at half the strength he would possess if he was whole, in the realm that he has opened a pathway to, that won't matter, because it's doubtlessly a world where darkness thrives to unimaginable levels. More than that, there is a real chance he may find the way to the true, everlasting darkness, which he no doubt intends to unleash upon on all the worlds: the legendary Kingdom Hearts."
If the others were worried before, they were now absolutely terrified. From what Ventus had just told them, this Xehanort was completely insane, and if he managed to achieve what he was after, there would be nothing anyone could do to stop him. One would likely have had to be crazy to not be at least a little frightened by that prospect, and given how the regular Heartless were already showing signs of being stronger than before, there was no telling how much stronger Xehanort's Heartless now was. Sora and Ven had barely survived their last encounter with the dark being, and this was back when he still needed to use Riku in order to fight them or have a body at all. How could they really hope to survive against him now that he was even stronger?
That particular question was resting especially heavy on the minds of Sora and Kairi, and it showed in how they were looking so deep in thought at the moment. Yes, they fully intended to go back and try to save Riku while closing the Keyhole that Ansem had opened, but after learning about all of this, they were feeling a lot more nervous about their chances. If he really was getting to be as powerful as Ven was implying that he was, then fighting Ansem was likely going to be something that they would not survive as they were now, so they quickly assumed that could only mean one thing for them. Still, they were not sure how much help it could be, so they did not say anything about it. That did not mean someone else remained silent though.
"So what's your plan to stop him," Wakka finally asked, finally breaking the eerie silence that had fallen into the room.
"For now, we need all of you to keep holding down the fort here," Ventus started, gazing upon the Traverse Town team when he did. "I know that's probably not much, but it will actually be a big help to us if we don't have to worry about this place too much while we make our next run on Hollow Bastion."
"You do remember that you're not going to be able to get there any time soon, right," Cid asked in pointed reminder.
"I know, but I don't plan on going there just yet. There's somewhere else that I plan to take Sora and Kairi to first. A place that is now most suited for providing them the training that they'll need in order to ensure that they'll be ready for this fight," Ventus revealed. "That said, I was actually hoping that we could borrow either your ship or one of the spare ones you've been working on so we could get to this world, Cid."
Cid scratched his chin for a minute before he finally sighed and said, "Ah what the hell? So long as you don't scratch her, I guess I can let you borrow one of my ships."
"Just where would we be going, anyway," Sora asked.
Ventus smirked a little at that question, showing that he was glad to be off the previous topic now, and said, "It's a world known as Mirage Arena. A very old, very powerful world that was created ages ago by the early Keyblade masters to use a place to train both themselves and promising Keyblade wielders that had proven they were ready for something more advanced. These days, it's used by other types of warriors as well, along with hosting special, high-stakes tournaments every now and again, but its purpose as a training arena for Keyblade wielders still remains the same."
"Well then why didn't we go there before," Sora asked.
"Weren't you listening? I just said it was meant for Keyblade wielders who had reached a certain level in their training, and you had not quite reached that level until just recently. Kairi is mainly coming with us because we don't have time to wait for her to get to that level, and she's shown a natural magic talent that is suiting for a wielder of that strength," Ventus explained. He then paused for a moment before adding, "Besides, it's not exactly a world that one can just enter as easily as we have others. You need to possess special armor or enchantments in order to be able to get inside of the arena's main hub because it's really more of a large building that floats in the vastness of interspace, and any spells that could help you survive in such circumstances cannot just be placed on you by someone else. You have to be the one that casts the spell, or it won't work."
"Well why take us there at all if we can't even survive there," Kairi questioned, not seeing the logic in this.
Ventus smiled and said, "Who said you wouldn't have the means to survive?"
"Huh," Sora and Kairi both asked, but Ven just kept the same, mysterious smile on his face as he motioned for Yuffie to shut the blinds and lock the door.
"Everyone, gather around in a circle and present arms," Ventus requested in a commanding tone of voice. When Sora and Kairi prepared to join the others, Ven stopped them and said, "Except you two. You'll both be standing in the center of this circle, and do exactly as I say for the next few minutes." He then looked to Leon and said, "Lay the items on the floor between me and our two young wielders, if you would?"
Leon nodded, and after gathering a small collection of items into his hands, he carefully placed each one before Sora and Kairi. To the two of them, the items did not really seem like anything more than some unimpressive pieces of metal, but judging by whatever was going on right now, clearly they were meant to be something much more than that. This was only further enforced when Ventus suddenly summoned Guardian Wind and held it before in a salute or respect before he commanded, "Kneel, young wielders."
The two did as requested, and at once, the metal fragments seemed to glow a little with a faint, gold light. That same light seemed to wash over Ven's Keyblade, and the weapons that the others carried, and the glow slowly grew brighter and brighter as Ven lowered his Keyblade to tap it on the shoulders of the two before him, almost like one would if they were knighting someone, all the while reciting what sounded like an important chant. "By the right of the Keyblade. By the will of Kingdom Hearts. Sora and Kairi of Destiny Islands, arise no longer mere wielders, but now as Keyblade Warriors, defenders of the worlds."
A moment later, when Ven raised his Keyblade up again, the metal pieces all burst into brilliant spheres of light that circled around the two for a few moments until finally coming to rest on their left wrists, shining even brighter until nearly everyone had to close their eyes in an attempt to block it out. When the light finally faded, Sora and Kairi looked down at their wrists to see a pair of odd-looking gauntlets now adorned their left arms, with a small dial in the area of the wrist that looked similar to that of a watch face. Sora's gauntlet was mainly colored black with red highlights, while Kairi's was mainly pink with some purple detailing and white highlights. Looking at the gauntlets, the two could only stare in awe as they finally stood up again, while the others remained as they were until Ventus gave them a nod that said they could relax, and the minute they did, they all seemed to gain knowing grins over what had just happened.
"I don't understand," Sora finally admitted. "What did you just do?"
"Think of this as a kind of field promotion," Ventus explained. "You are both now what I once was when I first traveled the worlds many years ago, and with that comes your own sets of Keyblade armor."
"Really," Kairi asked in excitement.
Ventus just nodded with a grin and prompted, "Go on. Tap the dial on the gauntlets and try them out."
The two shared a quick look with each other before doing as Ventus instructed, and mere seconds after they had tapped the dials on their gauntlets, their bodies were encased in a brilliant flash of light that soon faded away to reveal they were now clad from head to toe in each of their own sets of very form-fitting armor. Unlike Ven's armor, neither of theirs had a cape or any decorative features that made them stand out, and their helmets also lacked the horns that Ven's had, giving the suits a very basic kind of appearance, and even though their faces were now hidden behind the visors of their helmets, Ven could see the looks of awe and wonder of the two kids' faces as they studied their new suits before eventually turning to give him, no doubt to ask why their suits were so different from his.
"Your armors are still at the standard beginning stages, both to show you've only just gotten them, and a way of signifying your current status in your training as Keyblade wielders," Ventus explained. "At this stage, the armor recognizes that you are now newly minted Keyblade Warriors, but as you advance in your training, the armors will change accordingly, both in their full form, and in the forms that they take on when you're not wearing the full suits like now. That's why you have gauntlets instead of shoulder armor like mine. Eventually, it will change into something else, be it a pauldron or something else, but what it will turn into will actually be shaped by who you are as a person. The armor may be an extension of your Keyblades' power, but it's also a reflection of who you are as a person in one way or another."
Sora and Kairi both nodded in reply to this, showing they understood the basic gist of what Ventus was telling them, and with that, they dismissed their armors and after getting a few rounds of congratulations from the rest of their friends, they followed Ven and Cid to the gummi ship hangar so that they acquire their temporary vessel for the trip to Mirage Arena. They may still be nervous about the coming storm that their next confrontation with Ansem would bring, but with their new armors and the training they were about to receive, their confidence was steadily growing a little more.
When they first laid eyes on Cid's ship, they were a bit skeptical about whether or not it would be able to get them to another world. In point of fact, the Shera looked more like a ship suited for just flying around one world fast than looked like a ship meant for traveling worlds. Still, Cid insisted that this was the ship that he had used to fly everyone from Hollow Bastion to Traverse Town, so they could not really argue with him too much, especially given how defensive he was about the thing. Add in that he made them promise not to scratch it lest they face a terrible fate by his hand, and any arguments that they may have actually had were quickly washed away in favor of taking off for Mirage Arena.
On the plus side, Cid's ship did have the advantage of being very large and spacious, which meant that they had more room to train safely, and without putting the vessel at risk. With that in mind, Ventus had Sora and Kairi run a few drills in their new armors while they were in flight so that they could better get used to fighting in said armor. Sure, it may be designed to not hinder a Keyblade wielder, but there had been times when one would need to take a moment to try and get used to the armor, and Ven knew that he felt a lot different the first time he fought using his own armor, so it was better safe than sorry. Besides, even with a Warp-G like the one Cid had on his ship, it was still going to take a small amount of time to reach Mirage Arena, so they might as well use that time to get used to any new equipment that they now had before they arrived. It was a good thing he did too, because Sora and Kairi were honestly left really surprised by how it felt to fight using their armor. In truth, they were expecting to be a little slower because of some extra weight that it might have added, but in reality, the armor was not that heavy at all. If anything, it seemed to make them faster and lighter on their feet. They figured that was part of the magic enchantments that went into the suits, and Sora was quickly beginning to see why Ven said that it was normally used in especially serious fights when it was not being used to protect the wearer as they traveled between worlds. By the time the two young Keybearers had finished running through the last drills, they had arrived at their destination, and they were both left surprised by the sight of this strange world.
Unlike the other worlds they had visited, Mirage Arena did not actually look like it could be a full-scale world. Instead, it looked a lot more like it could be a large, spherical station of some kind, with two large, concentric rings that were constantly rotating around the sphere. Across various points of the large sphere, they could see several small, flashing electrical towers extending outwards, along with a taller one that was thin and grey, and at the bottom of the sphere they saw a grey triangular shape, while the top had a large, saucer-like structure resting on it with cables running beneath said structure. A few ghostly rings could be seen circling around the bottom of the sphere, with another half-ring running around the center of the main structure, and to complete its appearance, there was a hemispherical platform resting a short distance outside of the main structure. In short, there were plenty of signs to tell them that this was a world that someone had built if they did not already know that, and Sora and Kairi were both eager to get a closer look.
Ventus smiled in amusement, knowing that they were just as excited about going down there as he was the first time he came to Mirage Arena and saw it from the outside, and since that was the case, he had a feeling that they would be jumping out of the ship the minute he gave the okay, so he carefully docked the ship near Mirage Arena as quickly as he could, and then brought their attention back to him so that he could make sure that they were ready. "Okay you two, armor up in full, because we're going to need to teleport to the entry platform before we can get into the main lobby of Mirage Arena, and there's no breathable air out there. Once we're in the main lobby, you can take your helmets off if you'd like, but I'd hold off on doing so if I were you, just in case the field that we get dropped into after accessing the lobby's computer is in a similar environment."
Sora and Kairi were not sure what to make of that, but they were too excited to care about it right now, so they just did as Ven asked, and made sure to get fully armored up before joining him at the Shera's transporter pad, teleporting down to the platform that was floating outside the large sphere minutes later. They then followed Ven up to the transporter pad that would admit them into Mirage Arena's main lobby, and the minute they had stepped into said area, they were soon gazing around in awe as they slowly walked forward to the large computer that was waiting on the other side of the room. When they dismissed their helmets so that they could see a little better and looked up at the ceiling, they quickly spotted a large machine that was projecting a sphere of moving light, no doubt to give the room a main light source so that no one would be stumbling around in the dark, but what they spotted next to the computer was what really grabbed their attention.
"Is that…a toy Moogle," Kairi asked, approaching the floating little creature as she did and giving it a small tap on its belly.
"Hey, that tickles, kupo! And I'm not a toy, kupo," the Moogle cried out, startling the two kids, and making Ven pause in his typing on the main computer so that he could laugh a little at their reactions.
"Sorry about that, little guy. It's their first time here, and I'm guessing it's also their first time seeing a real Moogle," Ventus explained.
"No worries, kupo," the Moogle cheered in reply.
Despite that reassurance and knowing that Moogles were supposed to be very peaceful creatures, Sora and Kairi still slowly edged their way over to Ventus after hearing that, but mostly so that they could see what he was doing. Ven was more than happy to explain that he was setting up the arena so that they would have an ideal area to train in, along with the various workings of Mirage Arena as well. While it was similar to Olympus Coliseum in that the enemies it generated were realistic imitations of the real things, it had several different features to it that made it very different. One could easily set a difficulty level or choose from various different modes before entering the actual arena, and not only that, but the arena generated a either a standard battlefield, or one that was based on places that a person had been in the past. Kairi was immediately wondering how it did that, and when she asked, Ven explained that it basically did a scan of the person the minute they arrived on the entry platform and teleported into the main lobby, and since it had a constantly updating database on every world in existence, the machines inside allowed the arena to generate exact replicas of the locations of those worlds, as well as the enemies that one could face there, if they wanted to fight such enemies. It was all incredibly fascinating, and Ven was eager to get the thing fired up so that they could start the intense training regimen that he had in store for the two kids, but there was going to be a slight delay in that regards.
After he had set everything up the way he was planning to, Ven went to activate the arena's generators so that they could teleport into their planned battleground, but when he did, the computer returned an error message that he was not expecting. "Huh, that's odd," Ventus noted. "The system says that someone's already in there, but I know I didn't see any ships or signs of someone traveling here when we arrived so how could…"
Ven's question, while unfinished, was still answered when the teleporter pad in the center of the room suddenly glowed brightly and deposited someone onto the floor, and from the look of said person, he was in really bad shape. The yellow jacket he was wearing had several tatters in it along with his pants that had one leg shorter than the other, and it looked like something had been torn off the back collar of his jacket, most likely a hood, while the gauntlet on his left hand had several dents and dings in it, much like the blue pauldron on and armor on the rest of said arm. His right arm was left bear, save for the black glove he wore on his right hand, which seemed to just barely be holding onto a blue, hooked sword that lay at his side. The only part of his attire that was not too badly beaten up appeared to be his shoes, but given the cuts and bruises that they could see across his skin, that was small comfort, especially since Sora and Kairi were able to recognize this dark blonde haired boy rather easily.
"TIDUS," the two Islanders cried out in horror as they rushed over to him, with Ventus turning his full attention back to the computer, muttering something under his breath about injuries in the arena's battlegrounds.
The other two paid little mind to the blonde master, as Sora just slowly turned their friend over so that Kairi could give better attention to the boy's wounds with her healing magic. Soon enough, all of Tidus's injuries had been healed, and he eventually started to groan a little while his eyes slowly opened, showing that he was starting to wake up. "Sora…Kairi," Tidus groaned weakly in question, his vision likely still a little hazy, but soon clearing up as he started to grin a little more. "Man, am I glad to see you guys."
"I wish we could say the same, pal. What happened to you," Sora asked, as he continued to support Tidus.
Tidus slowly sat up, relieving Sora of his duty to support him with a groan, and said, "Let's just say that I got my ass handed to me by someone who's way stronger than you or Riku are likely to ever be, and go from there." Sora bristled a little at that, but he quickly remembered that Tidus did not know about how much things had changed since they last saw each others, so he quickly calmed down. At least, until Tidus suddenly gasped in horror and shot up to his feet again in a panic. "Oh no! Yuna! I've got to get back in there and save her!"
"Wait, what? Who," Kairi stuttered, wondering where such energy had suddenly come from as she watched Tidus rush over to the control console that Ven was rapidly working on.
"Out of the way, buddy! Someone in there needs my help or she's going to die," Tidus shouted as he tried to push Ven aside, only to find little luck as the blonde barely even moved before pushing back.
"You're hardly in any condition to help carry a small child right now, let alone fight, and besides, you can't go back in now anyway," Ventus argued. "The system in Mirage Arena is set up so that no one can enter a battle zone until whoever is already inside has completed their turn on whatever course they've set up for themselves."
"So then change it or something! I can't let Yuna fight that guy alone! He's serious trouble and she's not that much of a fighter," Tidus argued.
"Whoa, whoa! Calm down, Tidus! We want to help, but we can't if you're freaking out this badly," Sora reasoned, and that seemed to get his friend's attention as Tidus was soon taking a deep breath in an attempt to ease his nerves. Afterwards, he was not completely calm, but he was not completely freaking out like before, and that was good enough for now. "Now, tell us everything from the beginning, starting with who the hell is Yuna?"
"You mean, you don't know," Ven asked in surprise. "I figured she might be someone from Destiny Islands like you guys."
"If she is, this is the first I've ever heard of her," Kairi revealed.
"Yuna's not from Destiny Islands, but she is…well, she's a really amazing girl I met after I ended up here," Tidus revealed, and no one could miss how he suddenly became really bashful at the topic, especially not Kairi, if the way her face lit up with an excited grin was any indication.
"Tell us everything," Kairi immediately demanded with a smile. She may be a bit of a tomboy and much more adventurous than other girls her age, but Kairi was still really enamored with things like romance and the like. Besides, this was the first time she had ever seen Tidus acting like this over a girl, so this was a big deal in her book. Sora had to agree with her on that, but he was a bit more restrained in his reaction, choosing to just let a sly smile cross his features at seeing his upbeat and often overconfident friend like this.
If Tidus was bothered by Kairi's demands, he did not show it, but instead, just smiled a little wistfully as he explained a few things about this Yuna person, with Kairi and the others nodding along all the while. "Well she's really cool. She's also a really gifted mage, especially with healing or light magic…Oh, she's really polite, honest, and nice to a fault, and…she says that she's a summoner from some place called Spira."
"Spira? As in the world of the aeon summoners," Ventus questioned.
"Do you know about that place, Ven," Sora asked, drawing a small look of confusion from Tidus, as if he finally realized that there was one person here he did not know.
"Only by reputation and things I've read during my training to become a master. From what I've heard, Spira is a world full of unique people and creatures, some of which are known as aeons, and it's protected from various evils by people who train almost their entire lives to control the aeons so that they might fight alongside them," Ventus informed them, reciting what he could remember of the top of his head when he did. "In a way, they're similar to either Keyblade wielders or the Jedi, like Ahsoka, but for the longest time, a summoner's pilgrimage was said to end with the summoner's death."
"Well that's apparently changed, because Yuna completed her pilgrimage and is still alive and well," Tidus revealed with a hint of pride in his voice. "Of course, that doesn't mean much since her world ended up the same way as Destiny Islands did, and she ended up getting thrown into this place with me. We've been trying to figure out a way to get out of here and to civilization ever since we met, and to pass the time, we've been telling each other a lot of stuff about ourselves and where we come from. Yuna taught me a bit of magic, and I taught her a few things about how to fight without her aeons."
"I'm guessing you haven't really had too much luck with getting out of here though, since there aren't usually any ships that come by here these days," Ventus noted.
"No, unfortunately, but I do wish you guys were the first ones we had seen in what feels like months," Tidus admitted.
"It's only been a few weeks, Tidus," Sora revealed. His face then turned pensive as he asked, "Hasn't it?"
"Uh…I'd say it's probably been close to at least one month, to be honest, Sora," Ventus replied with a shrug. He had lost track of how long it had been himself, so he was just as unsure as his apprentice was.
"Either way, the guy that did show up next was definitely not friendly. The minute he appeared, Yuna and I both got a really bad feeling from him; the kind of feeling that tells you that someone is nothing but bad news, and we weren't wrong, because the next thing we knew, he had done something on that computer, and thrown us into the arena, saying that he wanted to fight us in a battle to the death," Tidus revealed. "Yuna and I tried to refuse, but the thing had already started and we were already on the battlefield, so…"
"You had no choice but to go along with it," Ventus finished, knowing very well how things worked in Mirage Arena. "Any ideas what changes he made to the system, because I know for a fact that usually any serious injuries you receive in the battlefield are reversed after being ejected from the fight, and yet you still seemed to have all of yours."
"Not all of them. That guy ran his seriously huge sword right through my chest just before I was ported out," Tidus revealed, rubbing his chest a little at the feeling of a phantom pain shooting through him.
"Well, at least it's good to know that the system is still preventing you from being killed in a fight at least, but whether or not that holds true for your friend remains to be seen," Ventus noted. "What can you tell us about this guy?"
"He didn't give his name. All he said was that he wanted to test the light of a summoner against someone who was of pure darkness," Tidus revealed. "He was dressed in black and had long, silver hair if that's important."
The three Keybearers were all quickly exchanging worried looks upon hearing that, with Kairi ultimately voicing the question they were all wondering about. "Do you think it could be Ansem?"
"It does sound a lot like him, and that definitely sounds like something he would say, but then again, it's not like Ansem, Seeker of Darkness is the only one who could make claims like that," Ventus admitted.
"Well if we want to know for sure, then we've gotta get in there," Sora determined. "Are you sure that there's no way to get into the arena while someone else is using it?"
Ventus pondered this over for a minute before he finally replied, "There might be one way, but I never thought I would have to use it myself." He then returned to the main computer and began typing again, erasing what he had entered into the system earlier and entering a new set of commands in their place. When he finally stopped typing, he looked straight up at the monitor and commanded, "Computer, engage control override. Keyblade master priority pass."
"That command requires authorization from an official Keyblade Master and their corresponding pass code," the computer reported.
"Authorization: Master Ventus. Pass code: wind's mage."
A few seconds later, the computer let out a few beeps and reported, "Authorization confirmed. Pass code accepted. Welcome, Master Ventus. What can I help you with?"
"Override the lockout on the active arena to allow anyone to access it, even if they've already been ejected," Ventus ordered. "And reset all the standard safety protocols to their previous settings."
"Commands accepted. Running…Program complete. Enter battle zone via transporter pad when ready."
Ven turned to see the other three staring at him in surprise and mild confusion, and he immediately explained, "This place was originally built by early Keyblade masters, and being an official master grants you special access to some of the private settings in Mirage Arena's controls. I just used mine to reset things so that no matter how hurt we end up in there, when we come out, all of our injuries should be completely healed."
"Should," Sora asked.
"Well…some more serious injuries might still be there, but only as a mild bit of phantom pain and nothing else," Ventus admitted with a shrug. "It's still better than nothing, and we can now get in there to help save Tidus's girlfriend."
Tidus immediately blushed bright red and stuttered, "Sh-She's not my girlfriend! She's just a friend, who happens to be a really, really cute girl…And who are you anyway?"
"Oh! Right," Kairi gasped, finally realizing that they had not introduced the two blondes yet. "Tidus, this is Master Ventus of the Keyblade. He's taken on me and Sora as his apprentices."
"I've taken on Sora as an apprentice, and I'm helping you get started," Ventus corrected, earning a surprised look from Kairi that had a hint of dismay mixed in. Ven just smiled and explained, "Someone else already has the job of being your master, and they're a lot more suited for the job than I am."
While Kairi nodded in reply to that, Tidus did not really understand what Ven was really talking about, but he did still get the basic gist of what this guy was doing here, so he smiled and said, "Nice to meet you, Ventus."
"Call me Ven. Any friend of Sora and Kairi's is a friend of mine," Ventus told his fellow blonde as they shook hands. "Now, enough introductions and explanations for now. We've got a fight to get into."
Everyone immediately nodded in response and stepped onto the large teleporter pad in the center of the lobby. When they were all in position, Ven gave a voice command for the system to activate the pad, and they were all teleported into the battlefield that Tidus had previously come out of, mentally preparing themselves for what they were about to face as they did. When they arrived, they were all left horrified at what met their eyes. What was no doubt once a beautiful city with towering buildings and several other large structures was now all in ruins, set ablaze by some outside force. Not only that, but they could see several places looked like they had been cut clean in two, or parts of some places had just had something cleanly sliced off, and not just at one angle either. There were also places that looked like someone had taken a sword and cut through them with powerful, diagonal, horizontal, and vertical slashes, leaving the top halves to drop down on what was surrounding the structure that had been cut so that they would also collapse into ruin. There were several other signs of powerful, destructive magic being at work here, such as large ice crystals that did not seem to melt very quickly despite the intense flames, areas that were sparking with residual electricity, and more than a few places that looked like they had been blown over by a powerful wind of some kind.
As he looked over the destruction, Tidus's worry for his friend grew more and more with every second. Sure the same could be said for the Keybearers, but from the look of his face, it was clear that Tidus was far more worried than any of the rest of them could have been even if they did know this Yuna by more than just what they had heard from him. Eventually, Tidus did managed to find his voice again, but just barely, because the next thing he said came out in a whisper, and yet it still drove shivers up everyone's spines. "It's even worse here than it was when I was kicked back into the lobby."
If anyone claimed that they were not frightened by that statement, they would definitely have been lying. Tidus had only been in the main lobby with the other three for a couple of minutes at least, if not a mere three or four, and yet whoever was responsible did all of this in that amount of time. Sora and Kairi looked to Ven and silently prayed that he would tell them that time passed differently inside of the actual arena of Mirage Arena, but the blonde did no such thing. What really worried them was that Ven seemed to be almost as pale with terror as they were, slowly coming closer to reaching that point by the minute, and anything that scared Ven this much was probably something that they needed to be concerned about, considering the blonde had seemed so fearless despite whatever horrors they had come across in this entire journey so far.
Feeling the need to know about this place, and to also try and pull some of the terror out of their system, Kairi finally asked, "What is this place supposed to be, anyway?"
"It's a city called Luca, according to Yuna. She said it was one of the biggest cities on Spira, and that people normally came here for big events that took place in its massive stadium like music concerts, important announcements to the world, and Blitzball tournaments," Tidus explained in near monotone. Everyone could understand why there was so little emotion in his voice at the moment, because the sight of such a place suddenly falling into ruin, even if it was not the real version, would have made anyone suddenly lose all feeling inside of them.
"There's no way that this is Ansem's doing," Sora finally said, breaking the tense silence among them after Tidus's explanation. "I mean, sure, he possessing Riku's body, but there's no way his sword is powerful enough to do all of this, and he couldn't possibly do this on his own either…Could he?"
"No, this isn't Xehanort's Heartless," Ventus confirmed for him, but the fact he still seemed so pale did not make them feel any better about who was waiting for them here. His next statement was even worse though, because it had the exact opposite effect from easing nerves. "This is something worse. Much, much worse."
Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out from nearby, and they all turned to see a large, avian creature with dragon-like wings, talons, red feathers, and a long lizard-like tail flying away from the inferno that had followed said explosion. While the creature was odd to the other three, Tidus's eyes had instantly widened with recognition at the sight of it. "That's Valefor," he shouted, earning confused looks from the others. "He's Yuna's go-to aeon. Yuna's gotta be over there fighting right now!"
"Then that's where we need to go," Ven decided, nodding for Tidus to lead the way. Not the younger blonde needed any prompting, because he was already rushing over there before Ven had even finished speaking, so the Keybearers were all left running after him as fast as they could, hoping that Tidus would not get too far ahead of them, or end up reaching his friend and their foe at a time that could prove especially dangerous for him. If this guy that Tidus and Yuna were fighting was really as powerful as Tidus had been implying up until now, then they were likely going to need everyone here just to make sure they all survived.
Navigating through a destroyed town is hard enough on its own, but navigating through one that's on fire is much more difficult since there's the added hazard of getting burned to worry about along with the blocked paths, falling rubble, and sharp objects that could cause serious cuts if you got to close. Nevertheless, the team of four was still hurrying as fast as they could to wherever Tidus's friend was at this very, hoping that she would still be there when they arrived. Of course, that did not mean that they did not take some precautions as they made their way over, as Ven used a brief burst of magic to blow away some rubble where he could, while Kairi used some similar bursts of healing magic to heal any injuries that they incurred while enroute. Before long, they finally arrived at their destination, and while they were glad to see that it was a wide, open area, that relief was overshadowed by the sight of a young woman lying on the ground next to a recently dropped staff.
They did not need much guesswork to figure out that the girl was Yuna, even without Tidus crying out her name in horror and then rushing to her side in a manner that was almost identical to how Sora had reacted when he saw Kairi's body back in Hollow Bastion, and after reaching her, they all breathed sighs of relief when they learned she was just unconscious. That did not mean she was not in need of help, and Kairi was quick to provide said aid with a healthy dose of healing magic, supplemented by Ventus. Shortly after the spells had done their job, Yuna finally stirred, and opened her eyes, allowing them all to see that the color of said were mismatched with one being green and the other blue. She had a rather cute face to her that lit up a little with a relieved smile when she laid eyes on Tidus, and her straight brown hair fell like waterfalls onto the tops of her shoulders.
After Tidus helped her to stand and handed her the staff that was laying beside her, which she accepted with a nod of thanks, the rest of the group took a moment to better take in her appearance. In its entirety, they could only describe it as being rather regal while enhancing her already beautiful features. She wore a black camisole underneath a white sash that wrapped around her neck and over her chest, tucked into a yellow sash that was tied into a bow at her back and wrapped around her middle, while her arms were left bare save for the white sleeves that reached from the middle of her upper arms down to her wrists. Along with that, she also wore a flowing, purple pleated dress with flower patterns running along it, and a pair of black boots with small, almost unnoticeable heals. To complete her outfit, they saw that she also wore a blue-beaded earring on her right ear, though it was mostly hidden by a lock of her hair, with said earring being woven into blue beads with gold rings around a larger bead in the middle, along with a silver pendant hanging around her neck on a thin necklace.
"I'm so glad you're okay, Tidus," Yuna confessed, her tone showing just how much she cared about him even without the look of adoration in her eyes. Said look was soon replaced with confusion when she noticed that Tidus had not come alone. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you were there."
"It's all right. Trust me, we know how distracting certain people in our lives can be," Ventus reassured her, throwing a knowing look to his fellow Keybearers that soon drew faint blushes to their faces.
"Well, despite our current situation, I should still introduce myself. I'm Summoner Yuna from the Spira island of Besaid," Yuna declared with a small bow in greeting.
"It's an honor to meet a summoner of Spira, Lady Yuna. I'm Keyblade Master Ventus, former student to the late Master Eraqus and later on, Master Mickey Mouse, king of the world known as Disney Town," the blonde master bowed in return.
Hearing that introduction, Yuna immediately gasped in surprise and asked, "You're a Keyblade master? A real Keyblade master?!"
"Yes I am. One of the last true masters at the moment, I'm afraid," Ventus admitted.
"Then the honor to meet you is all mine, Master Ventus," Yuna declared. "I've heard many legends growing up about the mighty wielders of the Keyblade and their quest to defend the worlds."
"Well I certainly hope I live up to your expectations. That said, please, just call me Ven," the blonde insisted.
"Very well, but then if you're Ven, then I'm simply Yuna." The girl then looked to the last two members of the group and asked, "Are these two Keyblade wielders as well?"
"Indeed they are," Ven confirmed with a smile. He then waved to the other two, who bowed in concert with his words as he introduced them. "Allow me to introduce Keyblade Warrior Sora, and his girlfriend, Keyblade Warrior Kairi, both of which come from Destiny Islands."
"Oh, so you're Sora and Kairi! Tidus mentioned you and you're other friend, Riku many times," Yuna happily revealed, clearly excited at the fact she was meeting some of Tidus's friends from his homeworld.
"Oh yeah! Where is Riku, anyway? Isn't he with you guys," Tidus asked. What he did not expect was for the two to suddenly gain very somber expressions the minute his question had come out.
"Riku's…not really himself right now, and he's in a lot of trouble," Sora revealed after a minute of moping. "The main reason that Ven brought us here was so that he could give us special training that would allow us to be better prepared for when we go to save him."
"Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to bring up…" Tidus started to say, but Kairi was not going to let him finish that apology.
"It's okay. You didn't know," Kairi reassured him. Suddenly, a sharp pain seemed to shoot through her body, and the redhead dropped to her knees gasping in horror and looking like she was on the verge of a panic attack.
"Kairi, what's wrong," Sora asked, instantly dropping to her side when he saw her drop to the ground.
"Something's…something really bad is coming," Kairi gasped in terror. "This darkness, is…It's like nothing I've ever felt before."
"I can feel it too," Ven reported, his whole body trembling as he shivered like he was suddenly feeling really cold. "This is almost nothing like Xehanort's darkness. If anything…it feels much worse."
"I sense it as well," Yuna revealed, readying her staff in front of her like she was preparing for battle. "He must have sensed me after you helped me to recover. I've drawn him right towards us."
"Hey, don't start blaming yourself, Yuna. Besides, we all came in here expecting to fight him in order to save you, so we're ready for this," Tidus soothingly reassured her, earning him a cute smile in return.
All smiles quickly vanished though, when the source of the darkness they were sensing finally landed before them in a loud crash, and everyone quickly raised their arms to shield themselves from the onslaught of the powerful winds the individual's landing stirred up. When the winds died down, they all looked upon the figure before them, and were greeted with the sight of a tall man with pale skin, long silver hair, and dressed in an all-black ensemble, the most notable part being his leather coat that had metal rings on the cuffs of the sleeves, with silver pauldrons on his shoulders, and on both of his forearms, they could see odd, black and red fin-like protrusions. What really struck Sora as odd was that the guy's face looked really similar to Cloud's, and not just because his eyes were the same striking shade of blue as the swordsman that he watched Ven fight in Olympus Coliseum. The most intimidating things about this man though had to be the incredibly, almost ridiculously long katanna blade he carried in his right hand, and the large black wing that was protruding out of the back of his right shoulder. While Yuna and Tidus were both glaring at this man, as Sora and Kairi studied him, Ven's face seemed to pale even more than it had before, much to the confusion of anyone who had noticed.
"You're proving to be much more resilient than I expected, Lady Summoner," the man commented with a smirk that was anything but friendly. He then looked over the group before him until his eyes rested on Tidus for a moment, when he commented, "And it seems your guardian has managed to survive for another round."
"Like I told you before, I'm not gonna let you hurt Yuna," Tidus promised, brandishing his sword for extra effect. His bravery only earned him a dark chuckle from the man, but what came as even more surprising was what Ventus told them next.
"Kairi, take Tidus and Yuna, and run. Find some place to hide, anywhere that you can, and stay there for as long as you can. Sora and I will buy you some time, and once your clear, I'll send Sora to join you," Ven ordered, his voice holding a great deal of fear in it to everyone's surprise.
"What? No way! I already told you that I'm sticking with you and Sora through anything," Kairi argued.
"This is NOT up for debate! Neither one of you are anywhere near ready to take on someone like this," Ventus snapped, surprising everyone with how urgent he sounded. "Hell, I don't think I would be able to fight him and win, but at the very least, I can slow him down long enough for me to use the override I entered in the main lobby so that you can all be evacuated via an emergency exit."
This was not something that Sora would ever expect to see or hear from his master, and he did not like it one bit. Whoever this man was, he was clearly dangerous enough to make Ventus not only worried, but scared for all of their lives, and judging by the amount of darkness he could now feel coming off the mystery man as clearly as Kairi, Ven, and Yuna had before, Sora could not blame him. The darkness this man gave off was comparable to Maleficent's after Ansem had struck her with the Keyblade of Heart, only several times greater than that, and it did not seem to carry even the tiniest hint of light beneath it. From this feeling alone, Sora could not help but think that this man was an embodiment of darkness itself in all of its worst and terrible forms, and it made him shiver a little while making him feel a bit sick at the same time.
"Just…Just who is this guy, Ven," Sora finally asked, hoping that his master could explain his reasoning behind either his distress or this stranger's powerful darkness.
Ventus just kept his eyes fixated on the man before him, making absolutely sure that they did not wander at all even as he answered, "Someone who could easily rival even the most powerful of dark beings in ability alone. He first appeared almost ten years ago, at most, and since then, a mere whisper of his name would drive chills through even the bravest and evilest of beings. I've often heard that even Maleficent herself had feared to so much as think of approaching this man due to how powerful his darkness is even at a distance. Though his exact intentions are largely unknown, he has been known to bring destruction and terror wherever he appears, and very few ever survive afterwards. He is known as the one-winged Heartless Angel…Sephiroth."
Hearing Ven say all of that certainly gave everyone chills, but for some reason, when the others heard the man's name, they all felt a sudden need to back away in fear of the man. Sephiroth himself on the other hand merely chuckled at the revelation that had just been shared, looked at the Keyblade master and fellow Keybearers and said, "So, you know my name and reputation, but tell me…You three…Who are you?"
The fact that Sephiroth's question was asked the same time he had spun his sword around so that it was pointed at them gave the Keybearers more than enough reason to jump back a little and summon their Keyblades into their hands like they were ready to engage in battle at a moment's notice, if for no other reason than the fact that his rather frightening aura seemed to intense when he just raised the weapon. Still, they did not leave the question unanswered. At least, not entirely. "Sorry, but I get the feeling we shouldn't tell you anything of that nature," Kairi denied, attempting to glare at the intimidating man despite how afraid she was feeling right now.
Sephiroth did not seem to care too much for how they were not giving him any names to go with their faces, but he did take a particular notice in the weapons that the three new arrivals were carrying. "Well now…Those are interesting swords you're carrying."
"They're a lot more than just interesting, considering that there's nothing like the Keyblade in any world," Sora boasted. He probably should not have done so, but at the moment, he was just doing what he could to keep as much of his concern and fear of Sephiroth at bay as he could.
"I see…So those are Keyblades," Sephiroth mused, studying the three holding them as he did. "And I suppose that makes you three their chosen wielders."
"So what if we are," Ven hesitantly asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know where this was going.
"I wonder if one of them won't change its mind…once I defeat you," Sephiroth declared, raising his sword up to show that he was now prepared to do battle with them.
"Good luck with that," Sora challenged, and he was about to charge when Ven suddenly stopped him.
"Would it kill you to listen to me when I tell you something as important as I did when I was telling you about this guy," Ven asked, rhetorically. "The chances of us defeating this guy are not just slim, they're next to impossible. Everyone who has ever tried to defeat Sephiroth has ended up dead…"
"Or worse," Kairi finished for him, thinking that was where he was going.
"No…at best," Ven corrected. "That's why I'm telling you all to run while I hold him off. At least this way, all of you will survive and be able to stop Ansem."
"Well what's the point of saving the worlds if one of our friends isn't in it with us," Kairi asked him, surprising the blonde a little. What was even more surprising was she suddenly moved to stand right beside him, all signs of fear now gone from her, even as she spoke again. "We're all with you right to the end, Master Ventus, just like you have been with us since the beginning. That's not going to stop now, or any time soon."
"She's right. We're all in this together, and we're going to get out of it together too," Sora decreed, mimicking Kairi's actions by taking his place on Ven's other side. "So what if no one else has beaten this guy before? That doesn't mean we shouldn't at least try, and we'll never know for sure if we can't stop him until we do just that."
Ven looked between the two young Keybearers for a minute, and a glance back to Yuna and Tidus showed that they had no intention of running away just yet either, so what else could he really do but sigh in defeat with a smile. "Kairi makes a bit of sense, given her nature as a Princess of Heart, but in your case, I think that maybe I taught you a little too well when comes to all those lessons about why it's better to stick with your friends, Sora," Ven joked at last, schooling his features into seriousness again seconds later. "All right, but be ready for anything, and armor up completely. Your suits can protect you from a good majority of the damage you would take in battle, and against this guy, you'll need all the protection you can get. All the same, be careful, because if they do take too much of a pounding, your suits will disappear back into their dormant state, and you'll be left much more vulnerable. Tidus and Yuna, since you two don't have armor like ours, I'd advise you to try and keep your distance as much as possible and only attack when you have an opening with as few risks as possible."
Even though the last two he addressed did not seem to fond of their part in his battle plan, they all nodded in agreement with Ven, and the minute that Sora and Kairi's helmets reformed on them, the struggle against Sephiroth began. No one was surprised that Sephiroth would make the first move once he knew that they were going to fight him, but what they were surprised about was how fast he did move. It almost like they had blinked and all of a sudden, he was almost within arm's reach, but they did not need to be that close for him to be able to slash at them with his sword, and getting hit by that definitely did more than leave a scratch. In point of fact, it blasted them all several feet away. An instant later, Ven was raising his Keyblade up in an attempt to block or parry the furious barrage of slashes that Sephiroth was dealing out to him specifically, and he was just barely succeeding on either front. He did not even have time to cast even a simple defensive spell between attacks, and that was a problem given how much damage his armor had no doubt taken by now. Thankfully, having Sephiroth's attention on him did allow for someone else to use some magic to help him, and Kairi proved that by casting Aeroga Shield around him. When Sephiroth realized what the redhead had done and turned towards her, he ended up getting a face-full of Firaga, Blizzaga, and Thundaga in quick succession, all before Kairi broke off and darted into cover.
When the smoke from Kairi's spell barrage cleared, everyone was shocked to see that Sephiroth did not have any visible signs of damage on him. Not only that, but he did not even appeared bothered by the barrage of magic he had just been hit with. If anything, he looked amused! Three of the Keybearers' most powerful, basic three spells had just hit him dead on, and he was apparently amused by it! Seeing that made Kairi nervous to try anything else right now, but Ven was not afraid to, and he proved it when he saw that Sephiroth still had his attention on Kairi, providing the blonde with just the opening he needed to jump into his Fever Pitch Command Style. He managed to score two or three hits on Sephiroth thanks to the new speed boost and powers of his Unique Tier One Command Style, but Sephiroth managed to recover quickly and eventually began to block and parry Ven's strikes with what seemed like little effort. This was definitely a set-back for Ventus, since he remembered this same ability giving Cloud a run for his money, and to have it shrugged off so easily like this was definitely proving to be a sign that he was going to need an extra hand in a moment.
Instead of hand though, Ven received a few whirlwinds of help, which came in the form of Sora's personal Shotlock, Typhoon Barrage, and it allowed the blonde a chance to fall back to point that was out of Sephiroth's range. What Ven did not anticipate was that Sora would make a hasty charge once he had fallen back, his Keyblade charged with energy to show he was about to try and special attack like Sonic Blade, but he never reached his target, as Sephiroth just waved his hand and summoned several, fiery columns up from the ground around him that shielded him from Sora and blasted the boy back after he got hit by them. Luckily, Sora's armor seemed to absorb the damage, but there were still a few scorch marks on his suit that were hard to miss. Sora's dazed state left him open for Sephiroth to attack him, but the silver haired swordsman took his time in approaching the wielder of Kingdom Key, and as such, he did not seem to notice when Tidus rushed in to slash at him several times over with his own sword. It may have been a vain attempt to save his friend, but Tidus did not really care how high or low the chances of his attack succeeding were. He just wanted to help stop this guy however he could before the villain could hurt his friends.
Once again, Sephiroth appeared amused by the attack, and he soon sent Tidus flying away with a simple backhand, if you could call a strike that had sent someone flying through several buildings simple. Yuna was quickly in rush to get to his side, darting out of cover and into the open when she did, but Sephiroth paid her little mind and returned his attention to the two Keyblade wielders before him. He did so just as Sora came charging in with Oathkeeper pulled back at the ready for another strike, but his attack never went through, as Sephiroth just deflected or parried every shot Sora made at him. Not that the boy was alone in his attack for long, because Ventus came rushing in a moment later as well, still glowing with the power of his Command Style, and the two were soon throwing every attack they could at Sephiroth in a coordinated effort to land so much as one blow that was more than simply glancing or minor on him. It did not really seem to be succeeding, but when Kairi joined the two in their efforts by throwing out some spells for support, things seemed to start turning in their favor.
That belief ended up getting dispelled when Sephiroth used the same ring of flames he used before to blast them both back, and while they did manage to avoid most of the damage thanks to the Aeroga Shield that Kairi had summoned around them both, they were not quite able to avoid the series of long, fast slashes that Sephiroth threw at them afterwards. It did not appear that Sephiroth had much problem with holding his own against the two of them either, and since he had little distractions aside from when Kairi managed to find an opening to shoot him with some more magic, the two had few openings to exploit. Sora did eventually find one opening after Kairi had hit Sephiroth with a quick blast of Thunder, but before his Keyblade could connect, Sephiroth suddenly seemed to vanish, leaving nothing but a series of black feathers in his wake. The three all looked around rapidly in an attempt to locate him, but it was not until Yuna returned and shouted a warning just at the last second that they finally spotted him again, preparing to strike down Kairi.
Thanks to Yuna's warning, Kairi managed to duck under Sephiroth's swing before her head was separated from her body, and she was soon spinning Destiny's Embrace around in rapid defense against the long blade that Sephiroth wielded. She was especially glad that having Sephiroth's attention on her allowed Ven the chance to erect and Aeroga Shield around her, but considering who she was up against, it did not seem like she was going to last long. Not that she was trying to power through the assault like she had before, but she could not really duck, weave, dodge, and parry forever. Eventually, she did manage to land a few hits on Sephiroth, punctuating her strikes a little by throwing out a spell or two where she could, and at that moment, her body lit up with the energies of her own Command Style, and she was soon racing back so that she could better strike at Sephiroth with the ranged attacks that said Command Style provided her with.
With Kairi striking from a distance, Sora and Ven took the opportunity to close in on Sephiroth once more, and this time, Sora made sure that he would land a few blows after reaching his foe by using Radiant Blade to close in on Sephiroth. Since the guy seemed to be made of darkness like the Heartless, Sora was sure that this attack would do some significant damage, but when he looked at the aftermath of his attack, he was surprised to see that, while he did leave a few marks on the man, it did not seem like Sephiroth had become too concerned at all. Ven quickly changed that though when he rushed in and unleashed a few different light-based attacks like Salvation on Sephiroth, and if the man had not pulled the same disappearing trick that he had before, Ven likely would have dealt a very impressive amount of injury to him. After he had disappeared, Sephiroth quickly reappeared again, ready to strike down the blonde master from behind, but the Keybearers were ready for him this time, and Sora proved it by rushing to his master's rescue and parrying Sephiroth's blow before it could hit. As a result of his actions, Sora felt the energy of his own Unique Command Style flow through him, and he did not hesitate in activating Destiny Blaze right then and there before pressing his attack.
Seeing all three Keybearers were lit up with the aura of their Unique Command Styles actually drew a slightly larger smirk onto Sephiroth's face, making them think he was starting to get a little impressed. They just wished he had a better way of showing it, because he soon lifted up into the air as his body glowed with a faint aura of energy, while he chanted, "The time has come. Let us make the future."
A moment later, the Keybearers were all moving as fast as they could to avoid a storm of meteors that began raining down on them in rapid succession, and after getting into cover for a brief time, Kairi made sure that Tidus and Yuna would remain safe by quickly casting an Aeroga Shield around them both. Once she had done so, Kairi had dashed away from her cover just before it had collapsed under a few more meteors, but in doing so, she placed herself into the path of Sephiroth's next sword attack. Luckily, she managed to parry it just in time, and then fall back enough to fire off another rapid barrage of Firaga spells, allowing Sora the chance to rush in with both Oathkeeper and a Ghost-Keyblade that looked identical to Kingdom Key in hand to attack. Sora had intended to start his sword barrage with a leaping strike, but Sephiroth easily caught both of his blades in one hand and pushed him back, along with the smokescreen that Kairi's fiery attack had erected around him. Thankfully, he was not able to dodge Ven's strikes from behind, and one look at the blonde allowed one to see that he had activated Wingblade at some point when no one was paying attention. Since this Command Style was a light-based ability, Sephiroth had to have felt that one, and it seemed like he did, as he finally let out a sound of pain for the first time in the entire fight. Sure it was just a small grunt, but they were going to take what small victories they could.
The small victory was quickly soured though, when Sephiroth smirked and said, "Well, I'm impressed now. You've actually managed to inflict a somewhat significant injury to me. I suppose that means I should probably stop holding back."
Everyone instantly froze up in fear a little. All of that power they had dealt with up until now was him holding back?! They would have to be crazy to not be afraid of what kind of strength he had when he was giving it everything, and unfortunately, it seemed Sephiroth was about to show them as he slowly lifted up into the air while chanting once more. "Descend…Heartless Angel."
The moment that Sephiroth had said that, they all felt as though every ounce of strength had suddenly been zapped right out of them, and if it had not been for Ven's quick thinking on tossing out a few Elixirs to replenish Kairi and Yuna's strength at the last second, they all would likely have felt the sting of the follow up slashes that were far too fast for the naked eye to have followed without some extra assistance. The boys on the other hand were not so lucky, because they felt the full effects of said slashes, and if it were not for Kairi and Yuna both using several healing spells in quick succession, they were sure that they would have ended up dead right now. As it was, they were all panting rather heavily, and were clearly on their last legs after that attack, so they were going to need something big to save them at this point.
Yuna must have realized this, because her expression quickly became set in determination as she stood upright and asked, "Ven, do you and the others think you can manage one last, big attack?"
"Considering that we're all somehow still holding onto the power of our Unique Command Styles, I think that might be possible," Ven tiredly huffed and puffed in reply.
"Then get ready to use them. All at once if you can. I'll create an opening for you to do so," Yuna ordered, and she soon began spinning her staff around in a focused, well-practiced manner. Seeing her do this quickly told Ven what she was planning to do, and he decided to give her some space to do so by letting Sora and Kairi know what the plan here was. The two had both learned about and confirmed their understanding of the plan when Yuna's little dance had finished, while she took her own turn to chant. "I call upon the power of the mighty aeons. Please, lend us your strength in this fight. Descend Bahamut!"
As she was chanting, several different runes had appeared from beneath her feet and a small distance above her head, and when she finished, kneeling down when she did, a massive, dragon-like being descended from the sky at a rapid speed that left the ground trembling under its hard landing. When they all looked upon this massive dragon, they were all left in awe of its large, red wings, muscular form, and large jaws filled with sharp teeth as it roared at its next opponent, and soon enough, under Yuna's direction, it was racing straight for Sephiroth, with massive, killer claws at the ready. Sephiroth was able to sidestep many of Bahamut's attacks, and even parried one or two of them, but he was not lucky enough to avoid getting hit by the powerful energy blast that the aeon released from its maw. Even so, he did not take the hit lying down, but instead, retaliated in kind with another rain of meteors, all focused on the aeon until it finally vanished from the battlefield. Sephiroth was now smirking widely, thinking he had defeated one of Yuna's most powerful aeons, but his smirk quickly vanished when he saw Yuna smiling confidently despite that, and that was when he realized that the girl had not been aiming to actually defeat him with the aeon.
"Command Style: Wingblade Finisher," Ven suddenly shouted from behind the Heartless Angel, and Sephiroth immediately spun around to see the blonde already in position above him to release the finishing attack of his Unique Tier Two Command Style. In an instant, the six energy swords that surrounded Ventus all struck the ground in a circular, magic emblem made of light, which Ven immediately dived down into the center of. Just like before when used the ability against Cloud, a massive burst of light exploded outwards when Ven hit the ground, blinding everyone with its brilliance while encompassing both Sephiroth and Ventus. When the light finally faded, Sephiroth could be seen trying to rub the spots from his eyes with the hand that was not holding his sword, and that proved to be just the distraction needed for the next attacker to strike.
"Command Style: Destiny Blaze Finisher," Sora shouted as he rushed in to attack. In an instant, Sora was unleashing a furious barrage of strikes using both Oathkeeper and the Ghost-Keyblade in his off-hand, while images of his various Keyblades appeared around the former while the latter cycled through them every so often. Finally, Sora back flipped away from Sephiroth and charged forward with one last cross-slash to end his barrage. Now it was Sephiroth's turn to stagger in his steps a little, but whether that was due to shock that they were dealing him so much damage, or because he was actually that hurt, Sora did not really care at this point. He was more focused on the person who was about to finish their barrage of attacks. "Now Kairi," Sora shouted.
"You've got it! Command Style: Shooting Star Finisher," Kairi quickly shouted, making Sephiroth turn around once again, just in time to see the red haired girl begin spinning around on one foot while a series of five-pointed stars formed around her. Upon coming out of the final spin, Kairi swung her Keyblade in front of her, and the stars immediately raced off to fly into and through Sephiroth, drawing more than a few grunts of pain from him when they all hit.
With the last of the Command Style finishers being completed, they all watched with baited breathes to see if Sephiroth was going to still be able to continue. It was definitely a possibility given what he had managed to shrug off up until now, and the fact that he was still standing, but that idea quickly passed when Tidus rushed in and hit him from behind with his sword, making Sephiroth fall to one knee at last as a result. They all grinned in satisfaction at seeing Sephiroth fall at last, but they quickly began shielding their eyes when they were all suddenly engulfed in a blinding, bright light that seemed to be making their surroundings disappear, until they finally just blacked out.
When the five friends finally came around, they quickly noticed that they had been transported back into the main lobby, and all of their injuries from before were completely gone, along with the damages that their attire had previously taken during the fight. A quick glance over to the main monitor also allowed them to see that a set of results was now displayed which stated that the previous program had been completed at last, with the five of them being named the victors, much to their relief. Of course, they became a little worried when they looked to see Sephiroth standing over them, looking none the worse for wear as well, but considering that it looked like he had been conscious for a lot longer than them and had done nothing in retaliation for how they had managed to defeat him, they did relax a little more, letting a brief silence fall over the room when they did.
After letting the silence continue for a few minutes, Sephiroth finally reached up and brushed some unseen or just imaginary dust from his shoulder as he said, "I'm impressed. I admit you're each very skilled in your own rights, but apparently none of you are the one who can eliminate me."
"Uh, maybe you missed the fact that we just kicked your butt," Tidus quipped in retort.
"He didn't say defeat. He said we're not the ones who can eliminate him," Ventus pointed out, his gaze firmly fixed on Sephiroth once more. "You're looking for the person who can defeat you in a true battle to the death, aren't you?"
"Very perceptive," Sephiroth confirmed. He then turned away from them and looked like he was preparing to leave as he said, "My search for him continues on."
"Think again," a new voice suddenly shouted, drawing everyone's attention to the speaker. When they laid eyes on him, Ven, Sora, and Kairi were all shocked to discover that it was none other than Cloud, but what was even more surprising was that the swordsman in question was glaring fiercely at Sephiroth. "I've been looking for you, Sephiroth," Cloud revealed.
"As have I," Sephiroth admitted. "It's good to see you…Cloud."
"Hmph," Cloud huffed in retort. "As long as you exist, I'll never wake from this nightmare. You're my darkness, and you're going to pay for what you did."
That served to shock everyone else in the room, while Sephiroth just smirked a little wider as if he had just heard a really funny joke. "Cloud, what're you talking about," Ven asked, voicing what everyone was wondering.
Glancing over to his two former opponents in the games and the rest of their group, Cloud seemed to consider keeping quiet on the matter until he ultimately revealed, "Several years ago, I was captured by an unknown group and subjected to various experiments. As a result, my darkness was extracted from my heart, ultimately creating Sephiroth, or at least this version of him. The real Sephiroth had died in battle some time before my capture, and this one was created using his image for reasons I still haven't quite figured out. At the time, he was a lot more out of control than he is now, and he ended up destroying the entire lab and the town it was based in. If it wasn't for Zack coming in to rescue me just in time, I would've been killed too. The only problem was that I was too weak to so much as stand on my own, so Zack had to carry me out, and as a result, he was unable to defend himself when Sephiroth stabbed him in the back. Zack still tried to fight him off, despite his injured state, but Sephiroth was too much for him, and…it wasn't until several hours later that I finally regained enough strength to finally crawl over to Zack just in time for him to give me his sword and a few last words before he finally died from his injuries."
"So then…Sephiroth's…Sephiroth's the one who killed Zack," Ventus gasped in horror, hardly believing that he had just been fighting against his old friend's murderer.
"Yeah, and what really gets me is that since he's my darkness given life, I hold some responsibility for that as well," Cloud admitted with a sad expression. "For that reason especially, I have to be the one who ends him."
"I'm a part of you, am I," Sephiroth asked with a chuckle. Apparently, he found everything about this to be amusing, but he was soon reaching for his sword again as he continued on. "Then join me in this eternal nightmare untarnished by light."
Cloud responded by readying his sword as well, and the two likely would have gone at it right there in the lobby had Ven not intervened just in time. Thanks to the Keyblade master's intervention, the two combatants were immediately transported into Mirage Arena's default battlefield, and the others were now unable to do anything other than watch as Cloud and Sephiroth began to duel against each other in what promised to be an ultimate life-and-death battle. As they watched, it quickly became clear that neither one of the two were holding anything back against each other, and the five spectators could barely keep up with the action as it unfolded before their eyes. More than that, it also seemed like Cloud and Sephiroth were evenly matched with each other the more they fought. Eventually, it even started to seem like they were never going to stop, until something truly unexpected happened.
After another barrage of colliding sword strikes, Sephiroth spun himself skyward in a position above Cloud's, and began to glow with a dark aura. Cloud responded in kind by gaining a bright aura of his own, only this one was clearly infused with light, and the two immediately charged each other, aiming to land a final strike that would no doubt end this fight for good. Whether or not their attacks ever landed would end up being a mystery to the five, because just as they were about to collided, a brilliant light suddenly flashed from between the combatants that caused everyone to look away or risk being blinded. When they looked again, the arena was completely empty, and the computer was saying that the battle had been aborted due to the combatants both leaving the field.
"What…just happened," Tidus asked.
"Where did they go," Yuna followed up.
Sora and Kairi had both turned to Ven for an explanation, but even the blonde master did not have one, as he simply shrugged in his shoulders with an expression that proved he was just as confused as they were. They all ended up taking a moment to think about what could have happened to Cloud and Sephiroth, until finally, Kairi suggested, "Maybe…they went off to somewhere else. Some place that's closer to home for them so that they could truly settle things without any risk to us."
"Maybe…We may never know either way," Ventus conceded, not having any better ideas himself. He then sighed a little as he looked to the two, newly minted Keyblade Warriors, "Sorry you two. This is far from what I had in mind when you brought you here for training."
"Hey, don't worry about it, Ven. It wasn't a total loss," Sora reassured him, surprising the blonde a little. "Fighting against an opponent that tough did help us to find a few areas we could improve on, and I kinda feel even stronger and more confident about our chances against Xehanort's Heartless after fighting someone that strong and just surviving."
"Not to mention we also found Tidus at long last, along with getting another new friend in the process. I'd call that a pretty good win that made this trip worth it," Kairi added on, earning a smile from both Tidus and Yuna when she did.
Ven smiled in response to this, glad to see that the two were looking at things so optimistically, and he had to admit, they did have a point. Fighting against someone that strong was definitely likely to help make someone even stronger than they already were, and give them a few pointers on how they could improve for the next time they came up against an opponent like that. Sure, Ansem was not in the same league as Sephiroth, but at least now, they knew how to be ready for anything when fighting someone with as much darkness as him, so like Kairi said, the trip was indeed well worth all the trouble they had just gone through.
It seemed like good moods being quickly ruined was a reoccurring theme today though, because before they could really enjoy the moment, the main lobby's computer suddenly started beeping, and Ven quickly identified that as being a sign that someone was trying to contact them on Mirage Arena's communication system. Hitting the necessary controls, everyone was surprised to see Cid's face appear on the monitor, and the look on said face was giving no indication of what he was calling to say. "Hey you guys! Thought you'd like to know that the Kingdom's all fixed up and raring to go anytime, new navigation gummi and all," Cid reported.
"Yes," Sora cheered, wrapping Kairi in a tight victory hug when he did while said girl laughed in equal excitement.
"Hold your horses, kiddo. There's more, and I'm afraid that the rest ain't good news."
"Of course," Ven sighed in response. "Seems like there's never good news without bad news these days. Well, lay it on us, Cid."
"We've had a bunch of long-range scanners and the old coot, Merlin keeping an eye on the Heartless and the amount of darkness that they put out all across the other worlds, and the readings on them just shot up to being nearly off the charts," Cid revealed, and everyone who knew what that meant could instantly feel their worries growing.
"Where is it happening? We can get there and deal with it from here," Kairi reasoned, eager to put her skills to the test after that little encounter with Sephiroth.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple, girl," Cid cautioned. "The readings aren't in just one place. They're in several, and given how high they are, these are Heartless that are likely to drown both the world they're currently on into darkness and any others that they can get to whether said world's Keyhole is sealed or not."
Now they were all concerned on a vast number of levels. They all knew that the Heartless were becoming a bigger problem because of the Keyhole to darkness, but if they had gotten that bad, then there was no telling what could happen to the worlds if they were left unchecked. One look between them, and Ven knew that Sora and Kairi were both thinking the same thing as him: they had to get back to Traverse Town, get the rest of these new details, and start coming up with a whole new game plan, because getting the endgame of all this just got a lot more complicated and difficult.
AN: Well, there you have it. We've found Tidus at last, Sora and Kairi get there Keyblade armors, Sora gets the Oathkeeper, we visited Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood, Yuna made her debut into the series, and finally a training trip to Mirage Arena gets way derailed because of a surprise attack by none other than that mega ultimate villain that we all know and love from Final Fantasy 7, Sephiroth! [cue brief moment from Sephiroth's theme] Be honest, how many of you were either hearing that guy's theme music playing in your head, or just flat out started playing it yourself when you read that Sephiroth was in this chapter?
Cloud: From what I remember, Sephiroth did not actually kill Zack in FF7. Why change that here?
AN: Well, the main reason is because this is not a Final Fantasy 7 story, even if so much of it does follow that story line, and I wanted to differentiate it a little more while still keeping it close to what had happened in the story you guys came from.
While we're on the topic of Final Fantasy character debuts, let's talk about our girl, Yuna. I know she appeared in KH2 along with the rest of the Gullwings as a small fairy that was just tall enough to reach Sora's knee at least, but...well to be honest, I've recently been playing through Final Fantasy X quite a bit, and watching some of the cutscene movies for that game series, so I'm not afraid to admit that I've really fallen for the pairing of Tidus&Yuna, and I really wanted to work that into this story. Speaking of which, that's also the reason as to why Tidus is sporting his attire from that game series in this as opposed to his Destiny Island attire, and the Botherhood sword instead of that long stick he had on the islands.
Yuna: I'm actually really impressed how you worked the story of that game into here, along with an explanation on the aeons and summoners.
AN: Thank you, Yuna. And don't worry, we'll still see the Gullwings showing up in the next story in the same way that they did in KH2, and I've already got a small explanation for how they ended up at Hollow Bastion and how they became the tiny fairies they were when they appeared. Though I doubt I need to explain how there will naturally be one or two changes to them when we do see them in the next chapter.
Sora: Hey, by the way, I thought you said we weren't going to see Pooh's world in this.
AN: Yes, originally, that was not going to be any more than a small mention, but I figured that I should at least show one little bit of that story in here, and as you can clearly see, nothing really changed in that area. It was just like in canon. Sora went into the book, met Pooh and his friends with every new page that was added in, and ended up getting his image placed into the cover of the book after everything was said and done.
Moving right along, everyone got a kick out of the moment when Ven had knighted Sora and Kairi as Keyblade Warriors, right? I'll admit, that drew some inspiration from Star Wars, because why wouldn't someone try to make something from that happen in a story, or at least mention it if they can make it possible, but there's more to it than just that. I'm sure you all recall a few chapters back when I posted that second little Power Rangers theme song parody (the one that went by the title of Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Warriors), and here's a part of the reason why that is. The way I view things, being just a simple Keyblade wielder in general means the same thing as being a Jedi youngling until you become an apprentice to a Keyblade Master. Moving up to the rank that Sora and Kairi now have is basically the equivalent to being a Jedi Knight, and...well, you get the idea. As for the armors that Sora and Kairi received, they're pretty similar to the suits that Sora and Kairi wore in Keyblades of Future Past just without all the extravagant details and the little horns on the helmets. Just think of a really basic version of the armors and you should have an idea on that. The suits will change with time.
Kairi: What about the whole gauntlets as opposed to shoulder armor thing?
AN: Right that, well first off, if you're having trouble picturing how the gauntlets look, just think of the Ultimatrix from Ben 10 Ultimate Alien, except in the colors that were mentioned here. Second, like I had said in the story, the gauntlets also represent their current level of skill and power at the time when they were knighted as Keyblade Warriors. It shows that they're still new to the rank and still somewhat new to being Keyblade Wielders, but they will change over time as they get stronger and further into their training. You'll see a more exact change in them come next story at the earliest.
Riku: Did anyone else notice how my little scene in this story was a lot different from how things played out in the original version of that scene? I'm sure no one really needs to think too hard about what that means, right?
AN: Of course not. Yes, Riku is going to tag-team with Mickey and help him find Aqua in the Realm of Darkness. This is just one other little push that I'm putting in to help make sure that Aqua does not end up staying behind in that awful place just so the heroes can save the day and the worlds at the end. Speaking of Aqua, I'm sure you all caught the little meaning behind Ven's admin password in Mirage Arena, right?
Ventus: [blushes]
AN: Yeah, he got it. By the way, in case it was not already clear, Oathkeeper is going to be the Keyblade that Sora uses for the rest of the story. This is partly because I really like that Keyblade, and I normally use it for the remainder of the first Kingdom Hearts game after I get it. The rest of the reason is because...Oh who am I kidding? I love that Keyblade, it's basically the coolest in my opinion, and one of the best ones that Sora could use here. Plus it shows off how he's going to keep his promise to Kairi, so what more could you really want in reasoning than that?
By the way, just to be clear, we'll be going back and forth with calling Ansem, Seeker of Darkness either Xehanort's Heartless and Ansem for the remainder of this chapter, but when we get around to the sequel, that will change for the obvious reasons that every Kingdom Hearts fan should likely know by now. I mean, since Ven revealed all that this time, it would be a little strange if they didn't do that here, wouldn't it? Well, it would in my opinion, so there ya go. I don't what the rest of you might think, but then again, that's part of what reviews and private messages are for, right?
Oh, and just in case it wasn't already obvious, Sephiroth's not the only secret boss we're going to encounter here. Next chapter will definitely help prove that. Right from the start, I wanted to include the fight against Sephiroth in here, mostly because he's Sephiroth and I wanted everyone to see Cloud again before we reached the end. What better time than here? Plus, I didn't want to make it happen in Olympus Coliseum, so that's also part of the reason why we came to Mirage Arena. You know, besides the reasons that Ven gave in the story. What I didn't originally plan on was working in some of the other secret bosses along with him, but...well, I think the chapter preview should give you a little idea on how that changed. Which means, it's time to move Onto the Preview!...
Returning to Traverse Town with Tidus and Yuna in tow, the Keybearers learn that there are now three locations where darkness has grown to the new levels, and the bad news does not end there. What's worse is that they only have time to deal with one of the new danger zones before it's too late, and it would be next to impossible to stop the other threats if they do wait for too long to deal with them. With no other options open to them, the team decides to split up into three teams, with one Keyblade wielder per team, and the Traverse Town gang, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and Yuna joining in on the main field of action. Meanwhile in the Realm of Darkness, Riku meets up with King Mickey in person, and the two must now hurry if they are to reach Master Aqua before she falls into even deeper trouble than before. New battles and dangers are all abound, as we'll all soon discover, next time.
Yeah, there's a big reason on why that changed right there. Leon and the gang are getting into a much more active role for the action this time! Oh, and just so we're clear, we will see the face-off with Xemnas as well, but for now...
Please read and review, and see ya real soon!