If there's one thing the average archeology adventure gets horribly wrong, it's the length of time required to find a hidden artifact. Real archeology is a process that involves years of research, thousands of kilometers of travel, and lots of dead ends all over. It can take years or even decades to find a rumored artifact within the confines of a single city; imagine this spread across a whole galaxy. Certainly far from the glorified scavenger hunt implied by the Indiana Jones series. As such, it's no surprise that nearly three months later has produced not even the slightest clue on the next keystone. After all, it would have to be truly well hidden to escape so many grave robbers over the millennia.
During this time, good old Kiko has been pretty busy. Recognizing that her only real shot at getting Riku's attention is on the field of valor, she spends her free time in the gym pumping iron and running circles. That good old systematic damage of the body to force its adaptation during repair. Unfortunately for her, she started at a plateau when she entered the universe and that's where she remains. No added strength, no muscle development, not even any difference in the aches. Just the same old performance at the same old resistances.
Still, if she just gave up after only three months, she'd only be proving herself unworthy. No, she must go on. Break that barrier, surpass her limit, and demonstrate herself exceptional enough for Riku's consideration. Even if she doesn't ever really progress, her work ethic and dedication might seep into her other actions and offer insight into her capabilities. Battle isn't quite as brainless as the media would have one believe, after all.
On this beautiful Saturday afternoon, rather than go out to the Radiant Garden festival, she has decided to stay in the weight room and see if she can break the 60 pound barrier on her bicep curl. After failing to surpass her 120 pound chest press or 100 pound shoulder press, it seems only fitting to go for the last major upper body exercise. If she can't lift a fully loaded M61 Vulcan or effortlessly wield a 0.7x1.8 meter heavy sword, what good is she compared to the mountain splitting powers of Riku?
But before she can do any of that, she needs to get this hunk of metal in front of her face. She already ate her high protein, high carbohydrate breakfast and lunch while drinking lots and lots of water. All the usual preparation short of those performance enhancing drugs no responsible military would supply. Keeping in mind the no swing rule, her sheslowly but surely starts to bend her elbow. The usual pain shoots through her muscles, but if she lets that dissuade her, how will she ever progress? She just needs to keep going, keep going...
"Hello, Kiko," Riku casually greets as he walks in, mildly startling Kiko into spinning to face. Pretty bad timing, too, with the dumbbell slipping out of her grasp and barely missing her foot by a millimeter. Lucky.
"Sorry," Kiko says, looking down as she reaches for the freshly embedded iron. That's definitely going to leave a mark. For some reason, Riku seems to be wearing this thick golden amulet over his usual clothing. It's hard to miss even from the corner of the eye.
"60 pounds, huh?" Riku comments, walking past towards a collection of barbells, "That seems kind of heavy for your training. I thought you were on the speed and gymnastics track?"
"I wasn't getting any better at it," Kiko starts, heaving the dumbbell out of its crater and starting back towards the rack, "I can run for dozens of kilometers without getting tired, do fifty one-arm chin-ups in a row, and climb a straight wall with regular boots, but I can't lift a Vulcan. What good am I if I can't use a real weapon?"
"A Vulcan?" Riku asks, apprehensive, as he starts clattering together a weight, "But that's a heavy vehicle weapon."
"I know," Kiko says, walking towards the rack while trying to avoid looking at Riku, "I did lots of tests in the simulation room. It tore everything to shreds."
"Of course it did," Riku comments, "A 250 pound machine tossing up walls of lead will do that... want to spot for me?"
"Huh?" Kiko says, unsure of what he's talking about, "...oh, yeah. Sure."
"Thank you," Riku says with a last click of a fastener. As Kiko walks over to him, she can't help but notice just how different he seems. Along with this new jewelry, his physique just seems less sculpted and more puffy; almost pudgy, even. Certainly not the pinnacle of male humanity like she knows and loves. And yet, it isn't this sudden softness so much as the weight he has set up that bothers her. She knows from experience that he can burst through several tons of hard granite. Why is there only about a hundred pounds on the barbell? And he asked her to spot him on this?
"You seem... different," Kiko comments uncomfortably, assuming a position over the bench.
"It's the amulet," Riku starts, lying down and scooting underneath the barbell, "We got it about a week ago. It's great. Completely inhibits my keyblade and all its power as long as I wear it."
"How is that great?" Kiko asks, unsure of why he would ever do something this stupid. Who wants to give up such power?
"I can work on my real self," Riku says, straining to lift the barbell, "The keyblade is great and everything, but it doesn't really make me stronger. It remolds me and lets me defy physics, but it doesn't use my muscles at all. Take it away and I'm just a normal person who hasn't been going to the gym."
"Why not just keep the keyblade?" Kiko asks, lightly touching the bottom of the bar as Riku prepares himself, "If it's already making you strong, why does it matter?"
"But again, what if I lose it?" Riku posits, slowly lowering the weight towards his chest, "I'd just be a weak nearly-17-year-old boy like everybody else and probably couldn't take on anything stronger than a Soldier. Even with those, I don't know if I could break the flesh; much less cut deep enough to kill. If I really want to be worth my title of 'Savior of the Universe', I have to be strong both with and without my source of power."
"I won't let Maleficent take your keyblade," Kiko reassures, finally figuring out the source of his concern. For whatever reason, Riku ignores her as he struggles to get the bar back up. He grimaces as his arms start wavering, the weight straining his tendons and bending his wrists backwards. Sweat flows from his every pore as he softly grunts. It almost sounds like a whimper in the face of his inanimate metallic oppressor.
Suddenly, his arms give out and the weight comes crashing down towards him. It's only through Kiko's quick reflexes that she manages to stop it just short of crushing her idol's ribs. It almost seems disappointing how manageable it feels in her hands, with barely any effort required to put it back on the rack. She would almost think he's faking it, but his heavy breathing and the rubbing of his biceps shoots that idea down. A pretty pathetic sight compared to his reputation, to be certain. After a little less than a minute of gasping, he sits back up and turns to face the bar.
"105 pounds..." Riku muses as he glances over the bar, his eyes stopping on each of the disks. Kiko just watches her hero as he stretches his arms over the next minute. She isn't sure how to even respond to this. Here he is, defeated by a weight that didn't even phase her. Is this the real Riku? But then again, it's probably worth considering his position. He's had the keyblade for some indeterminate amount of time and only recently got this amulet to nullify it. It's only fair to expect him to be a little out of shape. In fact, doing as well as he did with over a hundred pounds is downright admirable. After another minute, Kiko finally feels discomforted enough by the silence to come up with a break.
"How much can you lift with the keyblade?" she asks.
"More than the bar can support," Riku starts, standing up and walking around slowly, "Easily over 1600 pounds. I lifted a dune buggy once."
"Holy crap..." Kiko says, trying to visualize her hero lifting a car. Seems a little macho, but definitely far from implausible.
"It doesn't mean as much as you'd think," Riku starts, "Physical type IV Heartless can go well over a ton and that's not even scratching the surface. I've personally seen ones that can lift and toss whole skyscrapers without breaking a sweat."
"And I can't even lift a good weapon..." Kiko sighs dejectedly. Riku rolls his eyes as he steps on a treadmill, keying in some stuff on the computer.
"Everyone has their talents," Riku starts, jogging at a fairly decent clip, "I would have thought you'd realize this after four months, but I guess not. Are you even trying any more?"
"...why aren't you with Sora and Kairi?" Kiko asks in a desperate plea for a distraction. If the conversation can go south this fast, maybe she can divert it away just as quickly.
"The festival is for a week," Riku says, "How are you missing your talents?"
"What talents?" Kiko starts, forced to accept that she's not ducking out of this one, "I die in the simulation room all the time. I never win large battles with knives or pistols and I only sometimes win with a sniper rifle. I tested all the weapons and the only one I ever win enough with is the Vulcan."
"Ever consider the possibility you're not supposed to fight the Heartless?" Riku asks, directly and succinctly.
"...huh?" Kiko says, confused. Not fight the Heartless? Balderdash.
"You're being trained as a specialist," Riku starts, "Reconnaissance, infiltration, human assassination. Not front lines or heavy weapons, yet that's how you're acting."
"But that's what this is about, right?" Kiko says, "Fighting Heartless?"
"We're not fighting the Heartless," Riku starts, "The Heartless are the easiest things in the universe. They're completely undisciplined, unorganized, and have no concept of target differentiation. They have no training, no overarching goals, no cultural attachments, not even a self-preservation instinct. Pure chaos. Do you know why we need an extensive, expensive training program like this?"
"I don't know," Kiko says, trying to think of what the program is for if not to fight Heartless. Must be a trick question. King Mickey himself said this is about combating them, after all.
"Guess," Riku says, annoyed.
"They get so big?" Kiko answers.
"They become more docile the larger they get," Riku retorts, "Try again."
"There are so many of them?" Kiko posits.
"You've seen me fight before," Riku starts, "I can kill about four or five a swing. Come on, think. Why are they so dangerous?"
"...because Maleficent is siccing them on us?" Kiko randomly guesses, "I don't-"
"You got it," Riku interrupts, continuing his jog. Kiko isn't quite sure why it should matter. Maybe they can direct the Heartless to attack specific targets, but surely, that doesn't somehow make them stronger. And she isn't quite sure what he means by 'docile'. They all seem pretty vicious to her. Another awkward minute of near silence goes by as Riku keeps up his slightly wobbly jog.
"But that just means we have to be stronger," Kiko starts, "I'm not going to beat Maleficent or Mint or that big electric guy with wimpy weapons. I need a real one."
"You're really trying my patience," Riku sighs, "All our patience, actually. Mickey... King Mickey told me he's considering just handing you over to the police. He said it's like nothing has changed these past few months and you're just wasting our time and money."
"But I'm trying so hard," Kiko starts out of frustration, "I spend so much time in here so I can be the best fighter possible."
"And you're still missing the point," Riku starts, shaking his head in disappointment, "You can be an incredible scout and assassin. Without any magic at all, you're already the fastest human enrolled."
"No, I'm not," Kiko protests, irritation at the baseless pandering getting to her, "I've seen you and Sora fight. I can't do anything nearly that fast."
"We're not really that fast," Riku continues, "Maybe it just seems that way because we don't follow the same laws of physics. I'm sure you don't believe me, though, so how about a match?"
"...huh?" Kiko says, now completely lost in the conversation.
"A race to the front gate," Riku starts, stopping his treadmill and letting it gently slide him off, "You never timed it, did you?"
"No," Kiko admits. How would somebody time that, anyway? There are a lot of different paths.
"How about this," Riku starts, "If I beat you, you have to stop this big chaingun bullet deluge warrior champion queen crap and start focusing on your real training."
"I'll give it up if you just ask," Kiko says, deciding she doesn't want to be beaten into submission, "You don't need to-"
"If you win..." Riku interrupts, pausing for a few seconds as he looks down and away, "...I'll go on a date with you."
"...what?" Kiko says, taken off guard.
"Meet me at the north tower in an hour," Riku quickly says as he dashes out of the room, a slight wobble to his step.
--
As Kiko walks into her room, she thinks hard on what Riku's sudden offer is supposed to mean. Is he trying to trick her into something? Get her to reveal something about herself in the process? It just seems so unlike him to make a bet like this, so there must be more to it than that. Maybe he's trying to see if she'll honestly believe she can defeat him if he dangles a metaphorical carrot in front of her face? That would be kind of an insult to her intelligence and show a total lack of faith.
But a more distressing thought is the possibility that he might be right. What's even the point of having magic powers if a mere human can exceed them? It's not even like he is just some apprentice warlock or something; this is Riku, savior of the universe and bearer of the legendary keyblade... a legendary keyblade, anyway. Sometimes, it's so easy to forget about boyish, naive Sora at times like this. After all, Riku is so much more talented, more powerful, and otherwise just flat out more potent than Sora could ever hope to be.
Regardless, it's a pretty silly notion to think she can win in a fair contest, but he still shrugged off her direct offer to stop this side training. It's as though he wants the race regardless of outcome. That opens up the possibility that he might throw the match for whatever reason. A date would be the end result, so it raises its own questions. If this is to raise her self-esteem to get her to perform better, why not just ask her out directly? Sure, there are probably better ways of improving morale than a sham date, but such a ritualistic hurdle is rather pointless. However, what if he does really want a date? Why mask it behind some trial as a reward for a normally impossible task? If anything, it would be a crappy preface to a date and just make it feel like an obligation rather than a recognition of mutual affection.
Such a hassle over some side training. Why doesn't he praise her for going to so much trouble to try and be a better fighter on her own accord? She put forth the research into better fighting tactics and has already come to accept that magic is not in her future. It's not like she's getting any progress with this stolen baton, after all. About the closest thing to a magic trick she can manage is to get it to be slightly warm to the touch, but that could just be from grasping it for so long. No fire, no balls of destruction, not even that taser effect Uina once used on her. No reward at all for so much risk.
Then the solution hits her: why not just concede the match? And if he still wants to race, just cut the possible reward of a date? If he really wants to date her, he can ask her like a normal human being. She needs Riku to genuinely recognize her to be worthy of being his girlfriend and having the date be the reward to some contest is just wrong. It wouldn't be a real date, now, would it?
After a little, she remembers what she came all the way to her room for: climbing gloves. Maybe it's a bit pointless to grab them now that she has decided the race shouldn't happen, but whatever. She'll leave a good impression if she comes prepared regardless of her intent, after all. Slip into her stealth outfit, put on some combo grip and bounce boots, use some anti-chafe cream on her joints, and drink some water. Riku gave her an hour to prepare and she'll want it to look like she used it to the fullest extent. Preparation is 90 percent of performance, after all.
With everything set up for her big race, she starts on her way to the north tower while taking in the sights. If she's going to have to race Riku after all, she needs to think of a path and methodology to master her terrain to the best of her capabilities. Riku has the advantage of being able to both jump and drop several stories, so he'll overtake her at the elevator. However, who says she has to use the elevator properly? All the shafts have emergency ladders on either side and four sides of horizontal metallic girders every two meters, so she could probably just bounce downwards. Kind of amusing how she used to be afraid of heights for about a week, but she's pretty confident in both her luck and the school's safety systems to prevent any untimely death.
Passing through the gate and going over the bridge, the sight of the unmapped spires gives Kiko a new idea. If she's supposed to be a scout and infiltrator instead of a fighter, why not use this skill on the castle itself? It really bothers her to have so much uncharted territory connected to her residence and there is some vague line in the manual about finding ways to incorporate your skills into your regular life. It's the perfect excuse.
Another casual walk through the overly elaborate hallways later and she's at the north bridge with Riku waiting. Here's the man that she truly admires, his physique back to its supple but firm perfection. Such sweet flesh, his every feature sculpted to the height of human design. One could lose herself in his arms for hours. Why he would ever willingly choose to deny his true self and block his keyblade when he has so much is anybody's guess.
"Welcome," Riku announces, "You're here pretty early. Any questions before we start?"
"I don't want to race," Kiko announces, "I'll stop my side training and focus on my 'real' skills."
"That's great," Riku remarks, "I still want a race."
"Well..." Kiko starts, uncomfortably shifting around as she feels her courage fading, "You don't have to give me anything if I win. Just a race to see who's faster."
"Pardon?" Riku says, looking at her pensively.
"You don't need to offer a reward to get me to go along," Kiko acknowledges softly, "If you want to go out with me, just ask."
"Well, then," Riku says, apparently ignoring that statement, "The rules are simple. Get from this archway to the front gate without setting off any of the school's safety systems. I have the stopwatch. Ready?"
"I guess," Kiko says, walking next to Riku and standing by his side inside the archway. As much as she'd rather avoid this, she can't exactly argue with Riku. It's not like this is some completely unreasonable request.
"Okay, on the beep," Riku says, fiddling with something in one of his pockets and then dropping to a crouch. Kiko follows suit, thinking on her final plan as she waits for that vague signal. Another major hang-up might be the south tower, but she kind of doubts Riku will jump across the gap. It wouldn't exactly be fair.
Beeeeeee~p.
With that, Kiko starts her mad dash to the front gate. Right off the bat, Kiko has taken the lead by about a meter, but she won't get to appreciate it with this branching of paths. Since their shortest paths have them traversing different directions of the circular hallway, they are getting some alone time. This will probably be the last time she'll see Riku until the end, but no matter. She promised to do her best, so it shall be done.
One of the disadvantages of having to run around a perpetual corner is the angle and minor G-force making her feel like she's going to topple over. She'd almost be concerned, but she was built for this sort of thing and gets through it just fine as a result. She approaches the south tower and finds Riku not anywhere nearby. He's probably way ahead of her by now, but no matter. She just continues over the bridge like nothing is out of the ordinary. She emerges within the south tower and starts running around the half-circle, mentally pumping herself up for the elevator shaft. Going to take all her confidence to get through that.
Just as Kiko passes the midway mark of the half-circle, she hears a loud huff from somewhere behind. A quick glance over reveals Riku arcing through the air with his legs raised to his chest. How the hell did he get over there? It's just not possible he failed to keep up... is it? Well, with that running leap directly across the gap, he has both pulled way ahead and demonstrated his seriousness. She was half-expecting him to limit himself for her sake, but apparently not.
Kiko follows behind, her feet hitting the ground ever so slightly harder as she pushes against her boundary. She just has to hold her head lower, lean her body forward, and think of it more as jumping at an angle than running to get better results. Riku has just burst through the door, but if she just speeds up ever so slightly, she can get through before it slams on her. She can afford it with the gravity doing most of the work for the elevator drop, thus offering some respite.
With only centimeters to spare, she gets through the door just in time to see Riku casually dive down an open shaft. Just as expected. Luckily, she wasn't mis-remembering the structure of the elevator shafts and the two ladder system is ready for her theory. With nothing to lose but her pride, she leaps towards the ladder on her right. She slightly damps her fall a little as she kicks off a rung, launching herself towards the other side. It's actually surprisingly easy for someone of her dexterity so long as she doesn't think of the height. Barely any timing involved.
Of course, it's not the trip down that's tricky so much as the transition back to the horizontal plane. She could probably slow herself down significantly during the last few bounces, but that would take too long and Riku is already past the shaft. The cage structure gives her an idea: what if she swings off a beam to direct her momentum through the door? Seems simple enough. With that last bounce, she flings herself towards the beam with body parallel to the ground and arms outstretched. Outside of the sheer, unmitigated pain that comes from grabbing a relatively thin metal beam at such a speed, it seems to go pretty smoothly. She just barely misses knocking her head on the top of the arch and lands on her feet a good ten meters inside. After the smallest delay admiring her feat, she continues her dash.
Emerging within the spiral room reveals Riku diving towards the pool of water. While no doubt impressive, even Kiko can recognize the impracticality of this course of action. Without wasting any time, she starts her own genius plan. Flinging herself over the guard rail, she lets herself drop a story before grabbing the next one down. This method must be at least as fast as Riku's dolphin-like maneuver because he's still in her sight as she reaches the bottom. He's even tracking wet footprints across the carpet. How rude.
With only a small detour around a staircase breaking up the straight run from this point on, it's time to see whether Riku's claim has any merit. Kiko starts pushing herself harder and harder as she runs as fast as possible, slowly but steadily closing the gap of about 30 meters. She runs through the elaborate foyer of yellow wallpaper and bronze statues, Riku coming up closer with each step. She's kind of disappointed by his wide arc around the staircase, but it's his own choice to waste time like this. Kiko passes the stairs with her shoulder lightly brushing the side, getting halfway across the lobby before Riku bursts open the front door. Only fifteen meters to close now.
Kiko puts forth her full effort into a sprint as she passes the door. To her total shock, she can probably win this pretty easily. The front courtyard is about 150 meters from front door to gate and she now only has ten meters of gap to close. Easy-peasy. Without much fanfare, Kiko passes by Riku with a good forty meters of distance left. At this speed, it only takes a couple seconds before she passes through the front gate. Victory at last. Kiko trips over herself as she tries to stop, rolling harmlessly on the ground a couple times before pushing herself back to her feet and sliding to a stop. Not very graceful, but she's not used to running this fast. Riku comes through the gate, casually stopping on a dime. Show off.
"Good enough for you?" Riku asks out of the blue.
"...huh?" Kiko says.
"You beat my best," Riku starts, "You thought I was going to cheap out, didn't you? Let you win?"
"...I guess I did," Kiko says, just a little uncomfortable about this whole affair. There's just no reasonable way she won on her own accord, but Riku really did seem to go at his full capability. If he threw the match, he did so very convincingly. It would be nice if he would just say something, but another thirty seconds pause finally gets to Kiko. As much as she likes Riku, it just creeps her out to be around him when he's like this.
"I'm going back to my room," Kiko announces, starting on her path back up.
"Wait," Riku calls out.
"Yes?" Kiko says, turning to face her idol.
"Er..." Riku says, looking really uncomfortable as he avoids eye contact, "...would you like to go... with me... to-the-festival-tomorrow?"
"Pardon?" Kiko says. Riku turns his face completely away, breathing calmly as he focuses on something. Kiko has no clue why he's acting so odd, but it would be nice if he's genuine about this offer. Finally, recognition for her as a genuine person and all she had to do was disprove the absolute power of the keyblade. Feels almost bittersweet. After a little, Riku stands up straight and turns with the most serene of expressions.
"I would be honored if you would go with me to the festival," Riku starts, his face not showing a whole lot of interest or emotion.
"...really?" Kiko says, her hopes and dreams finally coming to fruition, "Is this a date?"
"...yes," Riku answers with the most minor of twitches, short and to the point, "I'll stop by your place around 11:00. That okay?"
"...yes!" Kiko says joyfully, smiling widely at Riku. She can already feel her face get hot with blood, but what does she care? If she can't allow herself to be seen flush, this would never work out.
"Well, then," Riku says, clapping his hands together, "I'll see you tomorrow. I'm... really looking forward to it."
"So am I!" Kiko announces joyfully, imagining all the possibilities of her very first date. Such a long and winding road to this most glorious of landmarks and yet, the journey has only begun.
"See you later," Riku breathes somberly, starting on his walk back to the castle.
