Chapter 23: Heartless Hunt
Early in the morning, the duo get dressed in their magic outfits as Sora and Kairi are outside at a café to enjoy breakfast.
"Too bad, I can't enjoy your sweet food," Sora said as he is eating his pancakes covered with syrup and butter.
"Well, its good to rest my cooking hands for a nice meal here at the café," Kairi said as she takes a bite from her cinnamon French toast soaked with butter and maple syrup.
"That was fun last night huh?" Sora asked.
"Yep, it was a day I will never forget. It was wonderful you and me enjoying each other and our friends," Kairi said.
"I bet you enjoy it," Sora said with a wink as Kairi blushes at the dirty things they did within the park.
"Oh yeah I sure did, a little too much," Kairi said.
"It was worth it blowing some steam," he said.
"Yeah, it was fun beginning to end. We need to do this more often," Kairi said.
"Doing it in the woods," he joked as Kairi utters a cute pout.
"That's not what I mean but it would be nice. Anyway, I mean just us going on dates like we been doing like the museum, the beach, water park and the festival. Its important to stop the Heartless and their masters but its nice to get some R&R you know," Kairi said.
"Yeah I do, oh I found this flyer about someone wanting us to take out Heartless for a bounty. It reward is quite hefty," Sora said to pull a piece of paper from his pocket to hand it over to Kairi to see it was two strong Heartless called Stalwart Blades.
"Oh cool, I can buy some nice dresses with this," Kairi said.
"This is a good idea for your training. By the way, there are two Dark Elves coming your way. I sent them to meet you and get to know you better," Umiko said.
"Oh cool, the more the merrier," Sora said.
"What are their names?" Kairi asked.
"Prishe and Ulmia, Prishe is short with long purple hair as Ulmia is quite tall with short orange hair. Both have chocolate brown skin like me," Umiko said.
"Got it," Kairi said as they finish up their breakfast for two dark elves are walking through the crowd of various species within Traverse Town.
"Man, I hate crowds," Ulmia said feeling unnerved by her surroundings for the short dark elf pats her on the back.
"Hey, don't worry about it Ulmia, let's just enjoy the yummy food they got here," Prishe said to have her hands behind her head as Ulmia sighs.
"Carefree as always," Ulmia said as then Prishe felt someone grabbing her rear.
"What the fuck?" she cursed to see a dirty old man groping her rear. The man looks at the dark elf female's face to see sheer terror as she cracks her knuckles. "Any last words old man," Prishe said.
"You are so small, it was not worth it," he said as Prishe's face flared up and uppercuts him into the air with everyone looking on in shock including Kairi and Sora watching this scene from afar.
"As if ass hat, my buns are cute and perky," Prishe said as Ulmia flush from everyone giving them weird looks.
"Yeah, we should not keep making a scene despite the guy being a creep," Ulmia said.
"Sure, I need something to eat to calm my nerves," Prishe said as Ulmia sighs again.
"And she goes back to food, I wish I can as simpleminded as she is," Ulmia said as they noticed the humans sitting at the table.
"Oh; you must be Prishe and Ulmia, right?" Kairi asked.
"What's up Red, I am guessing the master told you about us," Prishe said.
"Good morning you two, we are pleased to meet you," Ulmia said to perform a curtsy as they sit with them.
"Man; I need some food, waiter. Bring me some tasty cinnamon rolls," Prishe shouted as everyone looks at her including Kairi and Sora at her oddness.
"Well as you can see Prishe is quite special," Umiko said putting it lightly.
"Indeed, she is," Kairi said for the elves gotten their orders to enjoy Kairi's and Sora's company.
"So Master Umiko send you guys here?" Sora asked as Prishe is digging into her food like a savage with Ulmia eating her food like a proper lady.
"Yep, we are going to get you know better before our big mission," Prishe said to drink a cup of orange drink without stopping for she lets out a big burp to pat her thin belly. "Oh boy, that hit the spot," Prishe said.
"Yes, it would be best to check how our abilities stack up to one another and that Heartless bounty is perfect for that," Ulmia said.
"So, what do you two do in combat?" Kairi asked for Ulmia finished her meal for they begin to leave to head for the target location.
"Oh, I am quite the badass with hand to hand and white magic. Ulmia can't fight but she is a Bard using magical songs," Prishe said as Ulmia summons a harp on her left arm.
"I can boost your performance in combat while I can demoralize the enemy making them less effective," Ulmia said.
"Wow, that will come in handy," Kairi said.
"How so?" Sora asked sounding confused.
"Well her magic can booster us into fighting hard while our foes will be slowed down making them easier to fight, a win-win for us," Kairi explained.
"Yeah that does sound handy," Sora said.
"Indeed Red, where are these beasts so I can give them a good ass kicking," Prishe said.
"They are sighted in the post office which is very big," Kairi said.
"Cool," Prishe said.
"So, are you two friends," Sora asked.
"The best of friends," Ulmia said to show a small reserved smile.
"But you seem so different," Sora said.
"Sora, you and Riku are quite different yet you two are best friends," Kairi pointed out.
"Good point," Sora said.
"Well we been together for a long time since Prishe came into the church where she used to work at as a guard. Then we became aids of Master Umiko," Ulmia said.
"Really, do you have parents?" Kairi asked.
"My grandfather works at the church," Ulmia said.
"I am orphan, I don't know about my parents," Prishe said as her normally loud voice is strangely low.
"Interesting, also you called me Red?" Kairi asked as Prishe's mood changed suddenly back to being peppy.
"Yep, your name is Red. His name is Spiky and that silver haired friend of yours is Emo," Prishe said as Sora is taken back by that.
"Spiky?" Sora asked as Prishe points to his hair. "I am not that spiky," Sora said.
"Well your name to me is Spiky," she said to go off.
"What is her deal with the nicknames?" Kairi asked Ulmia.
"She only gives nicknames to people who are strangers to her, she only calls you by name if you gain her friendship," Ulmia said.
"That is odd," Kairi said.
"Well she went through a tough life and friends were hard to come by," Ulmia said as they arrive at the post office to hear people getting out of the building to see two Heartless shaped like knights with arm blades.
"We found our targets," Kairi said as she summons her Destiny's Embrace Keyblade as Sora takes out his Keyblade with Prishe is empowering her fists and feet with magic.
"Hey Ulmia, play us a nice beat," Prishe said as the tall elf summons her harp to begin playing it for her magical energies spreads from her music. Ulmia's music engulfs the trio to empower them as they feel energize.
"Oh my, this is crazy," Kairi said.
"I feel like I can do anything," Sora said to jump up and down to feel boundless energy.
"See, my girl has got us covered," Prishe said as Ulmia nods her head for the trio go into the post office to see its very huge with tons of boxes filled with mail along with machines that help transport the mail. They noticed the two powerful knight Heartless drawing their blades.
"Time to put these guys down," Sora said as the twin Stalwart Blades are on top of huge boxes to brand their blades to dash at them with fierce speed.
Sora and Kairi take on one and Prishe takes on the other one with them trading blows with the Heartless. Sora and Kairi noticed the Heartless are not as fast as they were before.
"Weird, we fought one of these knights before and it was pretty tough but this ones seems sluggish," Sora said.
"Yeah, you are right," Kairi said to shoot out orbs of light but the fiend managed to dodge her light based spells. The Heartless strikes Kairi's blade to shove her into a corner with Sora clashing with the Heartless but getting overwhelmed.
"Don't slack off, you still need to keep on your toes," Prishe said to evade the Stalwart Blade's sword arms with the short dark elf is kicking the blade away from her. "Banishga," she is tossing several balls of light to cause several explosions with the Heartless is leaping away from the light blasts.
"Graviga," Prishe said to gather gravity energy into her palm as she jumps onto a moving crane to dodge incoming energy crescents from the Heartless.
She leaps off the crane to crash onto one of the Heartless's blades to pin it down and shove her palm onto its head entrapping it in a sphere of gravity. She swiftly gets onto the ground to empower her feet with energy and deliver a powerful dropkick to send the Heartless flying across the mailroom.
"Freeze Raid," Sora cloaks his Oathkeeper in cold energy and toss it to strike at the knight to freeze it in place with Kairi blasting it with Banish spells doing even more damage. The knight surges dark energy to break out of its frozen status.
It leaps onto one of the machines to slice the cable making it fall towards them. "Oh shit," Kairi pulls up a barrier to block it from crushing them.
"Thanks, Kairi," Sora said as he leashes out energy crescents to keep the Heartless on its toes.
"No problem," Kairi is throwing Aero and Water spells with one of the water beam striking the armored beast to stun it. Sora is jumping on the cranes to reach for the Heartless as he cloaks himself in flames to air dash at the Heartless to tackle it into a crate.
"Well fuck nut, no time to screw around," Prishe tosses another Graviga as the large sphere of gravity hits the monster with the high pressure keeping it pinned in place. "Holy," Prishe said as he lifts her skinny arm in the arm to conjure a big ball of divine energy to brighten up the whole massive room. "I am going to shove this down your piss hole," Prishe said to fling the Holy spell to smash into the monster to instantly destroy it.
"Wow, Prishe is so strong," Kairi said looking awestruck by her skill and power.
"She is impressive," Sora said as they begin to finish off the monster with Kairi using Zero Gravity to encase in a sphere of gravity. Sora covers his Keyblade with flames to slice through the Heartless to kill it.
"We did it," Kairi said.
"Good, I will give you your reward later," Umiko said via telepathy.
"Oh Master, you set that up?" Kairi asked.
"Yes, seeing your skills and its quite good. You are getting there," Umiko said as they reunite with Ulmia outside the building.
"Great work in there," Ulmia said.
"Your magic is pretty good," Sora said.
"Yeah, it is very useful. Thank you Ulmia," Kairi said as the tall orange haired dark elf bows her head.
"It's my pleasure Kairi, I am glad to help you," Ulmia said.
"Well its time to go to the last dark tower and its in my world. Alfhelm, land of the Elves," Umiko said.
"Wow, we are going to the Elven homeworld?" Kairi asked with her voice filled with excitement.
"Yes, Riku and Terra is coming with you guys to lead you to me. We will meet face to face Kairi, I will be waiting for you by my house," Umiko said.
"Well time to get back home," Prishe said.
"Good, its been awhile since we went back to Alfhelm," Ulmia said as they began to travel to Alfhelm.
Elsewhere a lone man with long sliver hair, a single black wing and a very long sword by his side is standing on top of a mountain overlooking the capital of the Light Elves to sense the power of an Esper within the city.
"How interesting, the power of the Esper is here. Cloud, I will make you suffer along with everything you hold dear," the man said as he vanishes into the darkness.
A/N: Alfhelm arc will explore some of Umiko's backstory and two FF11 characters Prishe and Ulmia will be focused as well.