Only 2-5 chapters left, and then we'll FINALLY be able to move on to Book 6.
Both mysterious hooded figures in this chapter are "voiced" by Nana Mizuki.
Chapter may be a little short, because IMO these two developments are better without ending with part of the next mini-plotline.
Note Below: I'll try bullet-pointing the disclaimers right here. Let's see if that somehow makes them completely disappear once uploaded to the site, like multiple dashes (- a.k.a. - - - - without spaces in-between) or exclamation points immediately after question marks without a dash ("You what?" versus "You what?-!"); if it does, I'll know not to do it again.
SEE FIRST CHAPTER FOR MOST DISCLAIMERS
KINGDOM HEARTS IS THE PROPERTY OF SQUARE-ENIX: I AM NOT SE, AND THUS DO NOT OWN IT
-CHAPTER START-
Later in the evening of last chapter's day
After everyone returned to Mahora, they reported in the progress they'd all made. Three members of Cosmo Entelecheia – including one of the original Averruncus – dead, with no serious injuries amongst any of the attack teams, made for a stellar success. Shion, however, was somewhat shaken, having little to no memory of anything after her fourth chakra-tail formed against Secundum. The revelation that she'd succumbed to the same dark transformation as Naruto scared her, as she knew it'd likely been pure chance that the monster she'd taken the form of hadn't harmed Teana or either of the Kaedes.
Though she did not in any way regret brutally killing Secundum for what he'd said. In fact, she sorta wished she remembered actually doing it.
At the moment, Teana was going over what data they had on the remaining CE members with Arum and Kilkar, seeing if the veteran warriors had any insight or ideas she might miss. Shion was trying to balance usual meditation techniques taught to her by Ulan with frequent snacking to replenish her expended chakra. Kaede and Marie were… occupied. Mai was helping Chizuru with something. And Ahsoka…
-SCENE BREAK-
Negi sat on the rather large guest bed that the Headmaster had provided him with, this otherwise-empty room that he'd chosen so his late-night studying of various data didn't disturb Asuna's sleep (granted, it was only 8:30 PM, but Asuna wanted to go to bed early after today's events, while Konoka was out doing… something… with Setsuna). He was clad in a loose buttoned shirt and boxer shorts, finishing up his perusing of a datapad containing tactical insights made by Col. Holland and his XOs regarding some of the fights against Cosmo Entelecheia. He was interrupted by three girls entering the room, closing the door behind them.
"Negi-sensei…" Nodoka said, Yue and Ahsoka flanking her, all three girls looking rather nervous. "C-Can we talk?"
Negi nodded, turning off the datapad and putting it on the nearby nightstand. "What do you need, girls?" he asked, a shy smile on his face as he remembered that all three of them had feelings for him.
"We been thinking," Yue said, "and we've realized that though things are going well at the moment, it most definitely won't stay that way. As we continue to keep cutting down members of Cosmo Entelecheia, the remaining ones will grow steadily more desperate. In addition, they still have Dynamis and Primum, two of the most powerful, still alive. Not to mention, we'll eventually have to face the Lifemaker himself."
"The point is," Ahsoka continued, "the odds are that some of us won't survive the coming storm. If there's anything that any of us want to do, it's pretty much now or never." At this point, her nervousness visibly increased, averting her eyes as her cheeks flushed. "S-So for that reason, we three came here… t-to…"
"We came here tonight to… be with you… Negi…" Nodoka finished.
Negi looked confused. "You want to… keep me company?" he asked, his confused tone showing that he meant no double entendre in his question.
"Sensei…" Yue replied, her even tone wavering, "What we mean is that we… w-wish to take this chance, which could end up being the only chance, to be…" she swallowed nervously "i-intimate with you…"
At this, Negi finally got what they were trying to say, his eyes nearly bugging out as his face quickly changed colors to match his hair. He stammered, unable to talk for several seconds as he looked at the trio of blushing young girls who were giving him identical looks that made something stir in his chest.
"I s-see…" he finally managed to say, trying to sound calm only for his voice to sort-of squeak, giving him away. "Ah… Um… A-All three of you?"
"Yes" the trio of girls said in unison.
"T-Tonight?"
"Yes"
"A-At the s-same time?" his voice was a half-whimpered whisper, his eyes wide and his face cherry-red.
"Yes"
Negi swallowed loudly. His whole body felt hot, and he felt something stirring by his stomach. In the few times his mind ever wandered to… those types of thoughts, he'd never imagined his 'first' would be like this.
"B-But what if…" he stammered out. "A-According to a med-scan, I'm now capable of… 'f-firing my cannon', so to speak, despite that physically I'm still a few months shy of 12. What if I get any of you…"
"I found a contraception spell in my book" Yue replied, fidgeting. "I… already cast it on myself and Nodoka."
"And since I'm a different species from you," Ahsoka added, "I don't have to worry about that; you & I couldn't have a kid without some genetic manipulation science-y stuff."
Negi wrestled with some inner turmoil. His shyness and uncertainty were steadily losing ground, his desires overtaking them, though not without suppressing rational thought in the process… since his rational mind was agreeing with the girls' reasoning. Negi swore he could almost hear a little voice inside him going "Do it. DOOOOO EEEEEEET.", and one more glance at the girls' faces solidified his decision. He scooted back on the bed, sitting toward the other end, and his still-blushing face gave a shy smile and a look to the girls that implore them to come on over. As the girls broke into smiles of their own, they walked over and climbed up. When Nodoka kissed him while Yue and Ahsoka started undoing the buttons on his shirt, with Yue's other hand reaching around and grabbing Nodoka's chest while Ahsoka's free hand went lower, the boy realized he was in for quite a night.
-SCENE BREAK-
Next Day – Mid-Afternoon
Teana leapt up the side of the rocks, landing atop the granite plateau; Negi followed close behind. Overhead and about 1,500 meters distant, the Starshot hovered around 100 meters off the ground, keeping a mountain between it and Mahora Academy so as to remain hidden from view. There had been word from the Starshot of unidentifiable demon-type insurgencies around here, which always disappeared by the time any teams could get down here from the ship. She and Negi were here now to see if they could find anything.
Teana had quickly noticed the spring in Negi's step today, and how a near-goofy grin was frequently on his face. When she'd queried him this morning, he'd blushed, smiled, and said something about "bonding with a few of his Ministrae". The sly smirk she'd made at him in response, combined with his reaction to it, told her all she needed to know.
"Anything yet, lover-boy?" she shouted back over her shoulder at Negi, whose concentration on his scanning spell wavered at the teasing remark.
"N-Nothing yet, Teana-san" he replied. "There's been a lot of dimensional transferring here, that's for sure; either one big 'something', or – more likely – several smaller 'somethings'. Whatever they are, I think they might be trying to scout us out."
"Any connection to the Lifemaker or his organization?"
"No. The energy signature is totally different. It's gotta be some independent third party, sending recon to check on us, maybe probe our defenses."
"Maybe we could do it to them in return? I mean, since you've got experience in probing now…"
It took Negi a few seconds to get it, and when he did he shot Teana a dirty look, but his attempt to look intimidating and mad came off as cute, causing the girl to burst out giggling.
"You're not gonna stop, are you?" Negi asked in a flat tone.
Teana got her giggles under control. "Probably not for the rest of the day, nope. Judging by the… state… Ahsoka was in when I saw her this morning, it must've been good. She had the biggest delirious grin on her face and muttered something about you and 'amazing stamina', hm? And she & Nodoka were even more buddy-buddy than usual, too." She sighed. "I think I'm jealous, just a little… You're really damned lucky, Negi-kun, to have so many people that care for you so deeply."
Negi smiled wistfully through his blush as he walked up to her, meeting her eyes. "Those girls… No, all of you – everyone in the class, you & your team, and everyone else I've met along the way – are the best thing to ever happen to me."
Teana gave a warm smile in return. "Thanks, kid. That means a lot to all of us, I assure you." She pulled him into a one-armed platonic hug (though he found it a little difficult to think of it as 'platonic' considering that his face ended up between her breasts, as usual for whenever a girl or woman hugged him). She let go after several seconds, and petted his head. Suddenly, her body stiffened, and her expression hardened.
"Do you feel that?" she said, her voice sharp and serious.
"…Yeah, I do" Negi replied, his body tightening and his senses going on high alert. "It feels… unnatural. In a different way than the Lifemaker or any of those demons that attack the Academy's borders from time to time. It's definitely Darkness energy, though."
It was then that a Barrier Field manifested, sending the two out of phase from baseline reality. It encompassed the plateau, dimming and muting the sunlight (which was already dimmed by cloud cover). Halfway across the plateau from them, a dark swirling portal opened, and through it stepped through a figure wearing a black cloak that completely obscured their features from view. The figure was around an inch over five feet tall.
"Who or what are you?" Teana said, hands gripping the presently-inactive hilt of Mirage Longsword as her Barrier Jacket formed.
"My Master has noticed you, Lanstar" the figure replied in a not-quite-mature female voice, her tone somehow both cold and a little smug. "Being one of his three seconds-in-command, I volunteered to come and see if either of you could become enough of a threat to warrant watching. Namely, if you somehow survive against me, you'll be considered a threat to be watched out for."
"And your Master would be…?" Negi asked, his body already channeling magic.
"I'm not telling. You won't find out unless he deigns to make himself known to you directly."
With that, she held out her hands, and in them appeared two identical weapons, one in each hand. She grabbed hold of the hilts, lowering her arms to a relaxed position and letting the tips of the blades rest on the ground. Negi stared at them.
"…Keys?" he muttered.
Indeed, the weapons looked like giant keys. The handguards were a deep purple, with the blades and hilts pitch-black, the teeth of each key (which looked way too sharp for any key, regardless of size) forming the outline of the top of a heart. A thin gold ring formed the connection between each blade and guard, with another capping the bottoms of the weapon.
"Now…"
(BOSS MUSIC: Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep – "Dark Impetus")
The mysterious armored girl's power flared to life, the ground trembling as a huge aura of red and violet surged around her. Teana snapped both Mirage Longswords to life, she and Negi bracing themselves as they sensed just how much power this girl was letting out. The mysterious figure took a fighting stance, her blades ready.
"…let's shed some blood!"
With that, she charged, launching forward at great speed, straight towards the duo. Even with her own enhanced reaction time, Teana barely managed to bring her swords to bear to block the figure's opening strike, stopping the edge of one blade mere centimeters from splitting her head down the middle. The cloaked figure immediately flew into a flowing, high-speed barrage of attacks that Teana put her all into parrying and blocking, soon getting up to speed enough to launch her own attacks, which were also blocked or dodged by the mysterious enemy. The figure suddenly broke off her blitz against Teana to block a kick from Negi that sent her hurtling through the air several meters, skidding to a stop on her feet. She growled and pointed one of her dark key-blades at Negi, firing from its tip a barrage of Darkness-type projectiles. Negi responded with a quick burst of intense, swirling wind around himself that deflected the blasts. He was then enveloped in a dark aura as he activated his Magia Erebea, taking the technique's basic form. He pulled out his staff and channeled Lightning magic into it, forming a weapon that was a mixture of spear and sword. The cloaked girl rushed at him, temporarily dispelling one of her Dark Keyblades so as to put both hands into striking down with the other, which now crackled with black lightning-type energy. Negi raised his own weapon to block, and then displayed surprising skill in blocking her ensuing attacks, displaying respectable swordsmanship, thanks to Teana's training.
In terms of training methods, Nanoha Takamachi and Evangeline McDowell were on opposite spectrums. Takamachi chose the "slow and steady" method, carefully training people in their respective specialties and then helping them round out, deliberately staying well back from the person's limits. Evangeline, in contrast, chose the "train until they're in agony and barely conscious, and then heal them up" route, essentially hurling them flailing & screaming over their limits; it worked damn well, but only because Konoka was there to patch them up afterwards. Teana, meanwhile, took a middle ground in terms of training others. After the disastrous damage that applying Evangeline's method to herself without the benefit of an SS-rank healer caused her, she adjusted her approach. Now, she would closely monitor those she trained, pushing them to the very knife's-edge of safety, their very limits… but not one step beyond, under any circumstances. This achieved the comprehension and lack of serious harm that Takamachi's teaching style granted, combined with the "push past your previous limits and become better than you were yesterday" style of Evangeline.
As a result of this training, the girls of Gamma Team, along with any Ala Alba members who trained with them, developed at a rather quick rate. This was how, despite now knowing how to use a sword at all a few months ago, Negi was now able to keep up with the skilled black-cloaked figure currently trying and failing to break or circumvent his defenses, and even launching counterstrikes that kept her pressed to block and parry. Eventually, though, she called back her second Keyblade, and the frequency of her attacks went up accordingly, pushing Negi into a corner; thanks to Teana, he'd gotten good, but not that good. Fortunately, his aforementioned instructor came to his rescue, Mirage Longsword swinging at the cloaked figure's neck, forcing her to divert one of her Keyblades to block. Negi responded by quickly channeling a Light-style Sagitta Magica into his right fist, which he then plowed into his foe's gut, releasing the attack on contact. The figure grunted in pain and leapt back away from the two, clutching her stomach. However, the blow had failed to do serious harm, managing only to make her angry.
She pointed her Keyblades at them, firing from them a barrage of Darkness projectiles, but these were homing bolts, as shown when Teana & Negi dodged to either side only for the cluster to split in two and fly at them both. Teana countered with Fire-type Sagitta Magica, using her Sharingan to track and aim at each dark bolt chasing her, while Negi simply brute-forced his way through the issue, unleashing a wave of Light magic that cancelled out the bolts chasing him. He then formed a sequence of hand-seals, unleashing a pair of Lightning Hounds at the cloaked figure, while Teana let loose with Fūton: Shinkū Renpa, several slicing blades of wind/vacuum in rapid succession. The cloaked girl let loose a wave of black lightning that overpowered Negi's Lightning Hounds, and when the vacuum blades drew near she flash-stepped out of the way, reappearing behind and above Negi, blades poised to strike him down. She swung… and a third Keyblade, wielded by a second black-cloaked figure from out of nowhere, blocked her strikes.
As the evil cloak-wearer leapt away, Teana and Negi saw the subtle differences. This new figure was shorter, around 4'10", and around the neck hung a necklace of sorts in the shape of a ridged white cross whose bottom was the upside-down top half of a heart. This figure only had one Keyblade, and it looked quite different from the evil-looking things the first figure had; it had a pale-gold shaft, an orange hilt with a hexagonal blue-black handguard, the head/teeth of the blade looked like a ridged cross that overlapped perpendicular with a long spike, and a keychain attached to the base of the weapon let to a blue-black triangle. Lastly, both of the heroes could sense that while this new figure's energy signature felt… incomplete somehow, it did not have the corrosive, smothering corruption that the belligerent's did.
"What are you doing here?" the evil cloaked girl said, a gust of wind ruffling her hood, revealing within it the briefest glimpse of jet-black hair and cold golden-yellow eyes to Teana & Negi.
"Helping them" the new addition replied, the lock of her blonde hair and piercing red eyes quickly obscured from sight as the wind gust died down. Her voice was quite similar to the darkness-using girl's, only at a higher tone that suggested lesser age, along with a lack of the malice and arrogance present in the evil girl's voice.
"Then you die with them. And this time, since we're not in that realm which that woman either won't or can't leave, she won't be jumping in to interfere."
With that, the enemy rushed forward toward the newcomer… only to feint and go for Teana instead, the redhead's Sharingan and Spartan reflexes combining to just barely give her enough time to bring up a block. Teana immediately non-verbally conjured a barrage of Crossfire Shots, floating behind her, and fired them nearly point-blank at the dark figure, who took three or four hits before flash-stepping away and casting a shimmering violet barrier that blocked the rest. In response, the allied cloaked-figure threw her Keyblade at high speed like a boomerang. The weapon glowed brightly with power, and crashed through the enemy figure's barrier, cutting across her chest (doing magical/ethereal damage that left no marks on her physical body) and then teleporting back to its owner's hand in a flash of light. Teana took the opportunity, firing a Katon: Gōkakyū at the enemy that she barely leapt out of the way of. The dark figure vanished from sight, and a few seconds later the cloaked ally barely avoided being struck down by a rising attack from underground behind her. She leapt away, pointing the tip of her Keyblade at the enemy:
"Prism Rain"
From the weapon's tip fired a salvo of rainbow-colored spheres of magic, swirling through the air and homing in on their target. The dark figure took to motion, trying to outrun the projectiles, lashing out with her Keyblades to bat away any that got too close. Two more salvos followed, and the mysterious enemy countered with her own barrages of black-magic bolts, cancelling out some while others were batted away by her blades of stopped by quick-conjured shields. Lastly, a few got through, hitting her in the upper back, though not doing much. Suitably angry now, the dark figure unleashed a torrent of black lightning at Teana and the newcomer, both of whom brought their blades up and focused Shield Spells through them to block the attack. After several seconds, the black lightning was dispelled as a pulse of magic and a flash of white lightning signified Negi using his Magia Erebea to absorb a Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens, transferring to his Agilitas Fulminis form, his body wreathed in glowing white Lightning-type energy.
He moved, and in an instant he was in the face of the hostile cloaked figure, lashing out with a crackling punch that she countered with her own lightning-enhanced blow, black and purple lightning now arcing around and across her body. There was a quiet (compared to the real thing) thunderclap as their blows met, followed by several more in rapid succession as the dark figure moved with surprising speed to match Negi's following blows. She then barely avoided a point-blank shotgun-burst of Lightning-type Sagitta Magica to the chest, flipping away from Negi and attacking Teana again. Blurs of red-orange accompanied the twin blades of Mirage Longsword moving at speed in Teana's hands as she blocked and countered against the dark figure's own paired weapons. The two seemed evenly matched, neither able to break through or get past the other's defenses. An attack from the friendly cloaked figure forced the enemy figure to break off, flash-stepping back and then unleashing another barrage of Darkness-type magic bolts, this time targeted at the friendly figure. These were promptly blown off-course as Negi let loose his stored spell, blasting the projectiles away.
The allied figure went on the attack, exchanging blows with the enemy figure, the fight showing that both combatants were familiar with each other's styles; no doubt they had fought each other before. There was a bright flash of light that announced Negi taking his Raiten Taisō form, and then with a thunderclap he moved in, dealing a punishing blow to the enemy figure, stopping her from slicing a gash across their cloaked ally's stomach. The dark figure rolled to a stop several meters away, and failed to react quickly enough to block Negi's next 150,000-kilometer-per-second blow… or the next six blows, for that matter. Growling, she flared her aura just in time to repulse Negi's next charge like a shockwave, the lightning-form boy skidding to a stop a little ways away. It was then that a red-orange light flared as a skeletal form emerged around Teana, holding a serrated sword and a round shield. The dark figure steeled herself, only for a deep, echoing voice to speak telepathically across the battlefield.
"That is enough for now, my faithful second" it said. "At your current level, you cannot prevail against a master of Magia Erebea and a Mangekyō Sharingan wielder at the same time."
"But, Master…"
"Fall back, Ruin. That is my order. You are too valuable asset for me to lose at this time."
"…Yes, Master" the girl now known to be named Ruin replied, frustration evident in her voice as her surging aura settled down and dispelled. She looked to the trio. "We'll finish this another day" she said, as a dark portal appeared behind her, which she stepped backward into, the rift closing itself after her. The barrier field surrounding the plateau faded, returning the trio to the normal realm. The remaining cloaked figure looked to Teana & Negi as they dispelled their powers and returned to normal, both of them panting lightly from spent energy. She gave them a small smile and a nod, and then stepped through another whirling portal, vanishing.
-SCENE BREAK-
An hour later
"Man, what happened to you, Boss?" Marie asked. "You look bushed."
"We encountered a new foe" Teana replied. "One completely unrelated to the Lifemaker. She fought me, Negi, and a third person wearing a similar identity-concealing black cloak who was helping us. They had these weird weapons, like giant keys. The enemy ended up being called away by some evil-sounding, ultra-deep telepathic voice; called her 'Ruin'. Anyway, I'm beat; I'm gonna go sit down for a while."
Marie, Ako, Chisame, Yūna, and Chizuru all widened their eyes and looked at Teana as she retreated to the lounge room to rest from the fight.
"K-Keyblades?" Yūna muttered.
"Another player enters the game" Chizuru whispered.
"You don't think it's… him, do you?" Marie asked.
"Somehow I don't think Xehanort's voice qualifies as 'ultra-deep'," Ako replied, "and as far as I remember none of the games had a character named Ruin."
"Curioser and curioser…" Chisame said.
Meanwhile, Negi had inadvertently stumbled upon Nodoka, Yue, and Ahsoka all sitting on a couch together. They and he exchanged shy smiles, and Nodoka & Ahsoka scooted over a bit to allow Negi to squeeze in-between them for a seat, whereupon Ahsoka draped her arm over his shoulders while Nodoka rested a hand on his thigh, Yue leaning her head against Nodoka's shoulder. Suddenly, the quartet felt as a new pair of arms wrapped around them from behind.
"Okay, you four…" Haruna said with her usual grin. "Last night. I want details~…"
-CHAPTER END-
And so we have a glimpse at a future threat set to appear farther down the line in the Teana's Travels series.