Hey guys! Today I bring you a new update and good news. This will be the last chapter on Sora's small training trip. Next chapter will mark the beginning of The Keyblade Competition and I'm really looking forward to writing it. I'd like to thank you guys for reviewing and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts: Slave of Love
Keyblade Arc
Ch. 25 A Fisherman's Ambition
The sun rose on the lonesome beach. The tide began to go down and birds came out to roam the skies. There was the sound of singing on the beach but it was but a whisper next to the sound of the waves crashing on the white sand. The sun's rays found their way to Sora's face, making the teen stir and groan.
The sun, my mortal enemy, Sora thought as he sat up and yawned. He stretched his back until it popped and scratched his head. He saw that Auron was still sleeping and growled when he noticed that Auron was somehow under the shade of a palm tree. He then got up and headed to the water. For some reason he always enjoyed being in the beach. He loved the warmth of the beach more than the sea itself. The warmth was not overbearing and it made him feel relaxed. He did enjoy swimming and any other water activities even though he had gone to the beach a few times but he would always stay in the sand most of the times.
"Guess I'll go for a little swim," Sora muttered to himself as he walked to the water and took off his shirt and vest. He felt the cool water on his feet and without a thought jumped into the deeper part of the water. He felt cold at first but soon got used to the temperature. He began to swim around and decided to check out the coral reef. It was blocked by a tall metal wall that probably reached to the bottom of the water so he had to get out of the water in order to get there. As he walked to the coral reef he began to hear a voice. It wasn't talking or anything, it sounded like it was singing. As he got closer he started to hear more of the song and found it to be a sad tune. He got into the water and swam to the coral reef and was surprised to see that the song seemed to be coming from there.
"Might as well see what's up," Sora muttered as he entered the coral reef. When he got in his eyes widened and he stood agape at what was in front of him. There was a woman with red hair wearing only a clam bra singing a song near the surface with a yellow fish. This wasn't what got Sora surprise since he had his own beautiful redhead back home, no, what got him surprised was the fish tail that she had instead of legs.
When the mermaid spotted him she quickly submerged in the water with a look of fear along with the fish. Sora felt a little uneasy since for some reason he felt that she would come out and drag him to the pits of the ocean. With a shake of his head he dismissed that thought and tried to communicate with the mermaid.
"Umm…if you're there then there's no need to be scared. I'm not a bad guy I just want to know what you're doing here," Sora said as he sat on top of a rock. He sat there for a few minutes before sighing and giving up. When he was about to go back to the beach he heard the sound of water splashing. Sora grinned at the re-emerged mermaid and put up his hands as a sign that he wasn't gong to attack hair.
"I'm Sora what's your name?" he asked.
"My name is Ariel," the mermaid said after a small pause.
"Well then, nice to meet you Ariel," Sora said with a smile. "I might be going straight to the point but what are you doing here? I thought that a mermaid would avoid being on the shore."
"I'm here because a man locked us in," Ariel said while pointing at the steel wall. "I was here because I find the things on land to be fascinating but when I was about to leave that wall rose up."
"So the wall is blocking your way home?" Sora asked. Ariel nodded with a sad look and Sora thought of a solution to her problem, it was then that he remembered the shack on the beach. Could the person living there have something to do with this? "Don't worry Ariel, I'll find a way to get you home," he said with a grin.
"Really? You would do that for us?" Ariel asked with a smile.
"Us?" Sora asked in confusion. It was then that he noticed that the yellow fish from earlier was standing behind the mermaid.
"Yes us. This is Flounder a friend of mine," Ariel said with a smile.
"Nice to meet you Flounder," Sora said as he stretched his hand to the fish. The fish looked at his hand oddly before sticking out its fin to touch it. "Don't worry you guys I'll do something about that wall."
"Thank you, we really appreciate it," Ariel said with a happy smile.
"Don't worry about it," Sora said with a smile as he got back to the beach.
When Sora got back to camp he was met by a scene that was probably crafted by the gods. Auron was snoring loudly on his sleeping bag while a crab was walking dangerously close to his face. Sora held his breath in anticipation and tried to hold back his laughter and excitement when he saw the crab get closer. He saw the crab move its pincer to Auron's nose.
Almost there, Sora thought with a grin. All of the sudden Auron's hand shot up, picked up the crab and finally threw it at Sora. The crab landed on Sora's hand and took hold of his thumb.
"AAAHHH dammit!" Sora yelled as he tried to pry the crab off. Auron chuckled at the sight of Sora running around the beach with a crab on its thumb. When Sora finally got the crab off he gave Auron a death glare.
"What's wrong kid?" Auron asked with an amused expression. Sora was about to retort but stopped when he heard approaching steps. He turned around and was met by a men at his thirties with a black ponytail and many scars on his face.
"Can we help you we something?" Auron asked the man.
"I just want to know what a couple of swordsmen are doing here," the man asked with a forced smile.
"We're traveling as you can see and decided to rest here for a while," Auron said while giving the man a calculating glance.
"Splendid," the man said with a smirk. "You probably want to start packing so I'll be going then." The man prepared to leave but stopped when he saw Sora eyeing him in confusion.
"Why do you want us gone so bad?" Sora asked with a frown. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you're hiding something."
"Well it's a good thing you do know better then," the man said with a smile.
"Enough," Sora said with a frown, tired of feeding around the bush. "Why did you put a giant metal wall in front of the coral reef?" If Sora was being honest he would admit to not really knowing if the man really put the wall there. In fact, he was actually hoping to get an answer from his false accusation.
"So, I take it you guys are here because of the wall I set up," the man said with a smirk.
"Can't believe it worked," Sora muttered with a smile.
"Since you two are travelers then you might not know but this beach is famous for its many sightings of mermaids," the man explained. "I managed to corner a mermaid into my little trap. I can already taste the fortune that the mermaid will bring me. If you two help me catch it, I'll give you a handsome reward."
"You can forget it!" Sora exclaimed with an angry look. "I promised Ariel that I would set her free and I'll never turn on a friend because of money or anything else!"
"You leave me no choice then," the man said with a smirk. "I guess I have to kill you two."
"Remind me again why I let you run off by yourself," Auron said to Sora with a sigh. Sora simply grinned and shrugged his shoulders.
"This is the end for you," the man said as gusts of wind started to surround him.
"You don't know how many times I've heard that," Sora said with a grin as he got on a battle stance.
"I'll leave this to you kid," Auron said as he began to walk away from the beach. "You started this and you should end it. It's time you learned that some fights can only be fought by yourself," he said to Sora's shocked look.
"In other words, you don't like being bothered in the morning," Sora said with a sweatdrop.
"Exactly," Auron said before disappearing in the distance.
"Why don't you do like your friend and leave?" the man asked with a smirk.
"You're still here?" Sora asked with a bored expression.
"That's it!" the man yelled with a furious look. "Nobody ignores me and lives to tell about it!"
"Did you say something?" Sora asked again as he stared at a flying bird.
"Die!" the man yelled as he shot two gusts of wind at Sora who only lifted his keyblade. The man smirked but gasped when he saw that the keyblade had stopped his attacks. Sora smirked and faked a yawn, further annoying the man. The man shot another gust of wind only to see Sora block it with his keyblade again.
"Is this really it?" Sora asked with a frown. To his surprise the man smirked and pointed to his feet. Confused, Sora glanced at his feet and gasped when he saw that they were being enveloped in sand. Before he could do anything the sand started to drag him down. Sora quickly used a wind spell to shoot himself off the sand but gasped in pain when he felt a gust of wind hit him square in the chest. Sora landed with a hard thud and gritted his teeth in pain.
"You're all talk aren't you?" the man said with a smile. "I guess it is appropriate I give you my name before you die. I am Dagan one of the top fisherman and warriors to ever walk this lands."
"You sound like a swelled headed idiot to me," Sora said as he got up and held his chest in pain.
"Me a swell headed idiot? Then what does that make you?" Dagan asked with a smirk. "It looks to me that your overconfidence is what made put you in this predicament."
"W-what?" Sora muttered to himself with wide-eyes. It suddenly made sense why Auron had left him to fend off for himself in order to open his eyes. Sora cursed himself for being overconfident just because his powers had grown. The first lesson Auron had taught him was that even the strongest of warriors could be killed by overconfidence.
"I'd like to say it was fun but then I would be lying wouldn't I?" Dagan said with a smirk. He began to gather winds and shot them at Sora without a second thought. The impact picked up dust and the area where Sora had been was shielded from view. "What a waste of time."
"Take this!" a voice said from behind Dagan. Dagan's eyes widened when he saw Sora running at him with his keyblade gripped tightly. Sora brought the keyblade down on Dagan but his eyes widened in surprise when he saw that Dagan had used wind to protect himself. Sora jumped away from the man and threw his keyblade at him with a boomerang. Dagan wasn't expecting this but simply changed the keyblade's course with a gust of wind.
"Damn, this guy is good with wind," Sora muttered to himself as a trickle of sweat ran down his face. He saw his keyblade coming back and took it in hand but almost fell over due to the weight. Damn, I'm still not used to the added weight, he thought with a frown.
"Wind!" Dagan yelled. Sora looked up and gasped when he saw a miniature sandstorm coming his way.
"Reflect!" Sora exclaimed as he was surrounded by a clear barrier. The barrier sustained the sandstorm but could only do so for so long. Sora saw that it was beginning to crack and that the sandstorm was nowhere near finished. He began to think of what to do but was brought out of his thoughts when his barrier finally broke and he was hit by the strong winds. He slammed into a nearby rock and cried in pain. He was going thirty miles per hour at least when he was slammed into the rock. Sora felt a few of his ribs break but the wind hadn't let up. He tried to resist the wind but it was too strong and slammed him into the sand.
"How did you like my last attack?" the man asked when the sandstorm was over. Sora was panting heavily as he began to stand up. "I use simply wind spells here and due to the sand a sandstorm is created. Pretty ingenious don't you think?"
"Pretty stupid don't you think?" Sora asked with his gaze on the floor and his hair covering his face.
"What is?" Dagan asked with an amused smirk.
"Telling me how your attack works!" Sora exclaimed as he raised his face to show his now yellow eyes with black pupils. Dagan was thrown off by this transformation and it was then that he noticed that Sora's clothes were now a dark blue. Sora's feet appeared to be floating but this was due to a constant wind spell that pushed down on the earth. Before Dagan knew what was happening Sora was next to him and slashed his torso before throwing him away with a strong wind spell.
"Looks like you have some skill in you after all," Dagan said with a smirk. "Let's see how you do against my sandstorm a second time!"
"Here we go," Sora muttered to himself as he saw the sandstorm approach him. "Now!" He fired his own wind spell and the two attacks collided with each other. Sand was flying everywhere, trees shook violently, even the water was being pushed back but the two didn't let up on their attack. Finally the two attacks canceled each other out and both Sora and Dagan were thrown back by the force of the strong blast of wind.
"Damn," Sora muttered as he began to stand up. He was barely holding onto his newfound form but knew that he could only maintain it for a few more minutes.
"Curse you," Dagan said as he stood up and glared at Sora. His clothes were torn, his hair was no longer in a pony tail and he was covered in small cuts.
"Looks like we dug our on graves with that last attack, huh?" Sora asked with a weary smile.
"You're really something else," Dagan said with a small smirk. "Looks like the last attack will decide the outcome of our fight."
"Looks like it," Sora said with a grin. "Before we end this thought, I need to know why. Why you're doing this!"
"I already told you that I'm doing it for money," Dagan said with an angry expression. "There's nothing else that matters in this cruel world."
"You're really stupid then," Sora muttered with a look of fury on his dark yellow eyes. "What about friendship, happiness, love? Are you telling me that those things don't matter? I really don't understand how anybody can think so little of life."
"You're just a kid," Dagan said with anger. "You don't know anything about how hard life can be."
"Don't ever imply that I don't know pain, suffering or any other hardships that life throws at you!" Sora yelled in anger. "I was tossed aside like an old rag when I was still a kid. You don't know the things I went through so don't talk like you're the only one that had it rough! Not once did I give up of dreaming on a happy life! I knew that it would come sooner or later, unlike you I worked hard to improve myself and I met friend along the way! People that I made bonds with that will never break! I'll show you that there's more to life than pain and selfishness!"
"You make sense kid but I will not be swayed by your words," Dagan said with a frown. "You and I are a lot alike. I can tell that you've gone through the same pain I have, I can see it in your eyes. So let's put our fates to the test here!"
"Fine, I'll show you why I will never lose to people like you!" Sora yelled as he gathered wind on both of his hands and pointing them at Dagan.
"Let's see your friendship handle this!" Dagan exclaimed as he too gathered wind on his hands and pointed at Sora.
"Wind!" they both yelled as strong gusts of wind came out of each of their hands. The winds collided with each other with great force and pushed each other back. One second Sora's wind was pushing Dagan's back and the other the opposite was happening.
"Die!" yelled Dagan as he put more power into his attack and begin to push Sora's back.
"I won't lose!" Sora yelled as he remembered all of the hardships he came through and all of his friends. He felt that he would fail them if he lost now. This man was saying that friendship wasn't important, that all the bonds with his friends had been worthless. Sora wasn't going to allow a man with these views to win, ever. With a yell Sora put everything behind his spell and watched as it began to push Dagan's back.
The wind was so ferocious now that the steel wall began to break and some trees had been knocked down. Auron approached the area and could see the resolve on Sora's eyes. His pupil had forgotten the essentials of battle and Auron was glad that he had remembered them.
"You can do this kid," Auron muttered as the attacks continued to collide.
"Take this!" Sora yelled as his attack finally overpowered Dagan's. Dagan gasped in disbelief and could do nothing as the wind spells were pushed towards him. He stopped pushing the attack and could now see what the teen had been talking about. He felt that he would die here and nobody would ever think of him again. His money was no good where he was going and there would be no trace of him left in the world, not even a single memory. He was brought out of his thoughts when he saw a chain wrap around his foot and pull him away from the spells.
The spells crashed against the shack, destroying it instantly, and a ferocious wind flew in all directions. The steel wall was now lying on the beach with many dents and holes and large waves were thrown against the current.
When the wind died down Sora was leaning against a tree, gasping for air, with the chain of his keyblade wrapped around Dagan's foot. Dagan had a look of disbelief on his eyes and he felt completely drained of energy. He couldn't believe that Sora had saved him on the last minute, maybe the kid was right after all for he had never met anyone who could beat him with wind spells.
"Busy morning huh kid?" Auron asked with an amused smile.
"Tell me about it," Sora said with a smile. He dismissed the keyblade's chain and began to walk towards the beach.
"Where are you going kid?" Auron asked.
"I'm going to see a friend of mine," Sora answered with a smile. Auron shook his head at Sora's carefree attitude, it was one of the things that he respected about the kid.
Sora neared the shore and saw Ariel sticking her head out of the water. She had a bright smile on her face and Sora could see Flounder's shadow next to her.
"Thank you Sora," Ariel said with a smile.
"Don't worry about it," Sora answered with a grin. "I made a promise after all right."
"I'm sorry but I have to go, my father is probably worried about me," Ariel said with an apologetic look.
"Don't let me stop you from going back home," Sora said with a smile. "Go home to your friends."
"Thanks for everything Sora. If you ever want to visit you know where to find us," Ariel said before diving in the water and disappearing from sight. Sora could have sworn he heard the sound of singing but then again he could be imagining things.
VvV
Later that day Sora and Auron were ready to leave and stood opposite of Dagan who carried a large backpack on his back.
"Thank you for putting me on the right track kid," Dagan said with a smile.
"No worries. It was my pleasure to kick your butt," Sora said with a smug grin.
"Don't let it go to your head again," Auron said with a sigh. The three of them laughed at that, enjoying the light mood.
"Guess this is goodbye," Dagan said.
"No," Sora said with a grin. "There's never 'goodbyes' between friends, there's only 'see you laters.'"
"Humph, I never thought I would have a kid for a friend," Dagan said with a small smirk. "I'll see you later then." With that Dagan walked away from the duo giving them a small wave.
"See you later and next time we'll have a spar instead of a fight!" Sora yelled when Dagan was out of earshot. Dagan raised his hand and gave a thumbs up. "What year did he get stuck on?" Sora thought with a sweatdrop.
"Let's get going kid," Auron said. Sora nodded and walked next to Auron.
"Where to next?" Sora asked.
"It's finally time for the Keyblade Competition," Auron said. "Our next and final stop is Radiant Garden."
"Radiant Garden," Sora muttered with a smile. He finally got the chance to get back to Kairi and all of his friends. He was a little nervous of seeing Kairi again as she had proclaimed herself her boyfriend, but he was happy nonetheless. He knew that his friends had trained hard and couldn't wait to see what they could do.
"Radiant Garden, here we come," Sora muttered to himself with a determined expression.
Ch. 25 End
KH: Slave of Love Short
Heartless Sora sat on a desk in the middle of Sora's stained glass. The desk had a coffee mug and a Wisdom Form Sora figurine on the side.
"Welcome to the Heartless Corner," started Sora's heartless. "I am your host and accompanying me is my good friend Riku." Riku was sitting next to Heartless Sora with a frown.
"I'm not your friend okay. All you did was slash my torso and that was it," Riku said with an angry expression.
"Whatever," Heartless Sora said with a sadistic smirk. "Today we'll be talking about useless Sora's Wisdom Form. In this form he's able to float in the air and use stronger magic spells, of course his nothing compared to me but nobody listens to me right?" Heartless Sora said with an angry yell.
"Calm down or we'll get kicked out," Riku said with a nervous expression. "We don't want that do we?"
"I'll show you what I want. What I want is to KILL YOU ALL HAHAHAHA!" Heartless Sora started but stopped when everything went blank.
"Dammit I told you that we were going to get kicked out!" Riku's angry voice yelled.
A/N: This is the end of this chapter and I hope you like it. The "Heartless Corner" segment will be used whenever I add new forms or attacks, in order to get everyone familiar with what the forms and attacks can do. This is all and please review.