PROJECT: TEENAGE WASTELAND
XX | blitzkrieg I
The instant the starting bell goes off, Sora and Kairi break out into a run.
With heightened senses, they watch and listen to every bit of their surroundings as they run, eager to get away from the chaos. From all sides creatures of all shapes and sizes throw themselves at the other competitors, and for the most part they defend themselves well. This was the first time Sora and Kairi had seen the others fight, and they were quite impressed by the variety of styles they were witnessing.
"Sora!" Kairi suddenly screams in alarm, and Sora knows the time for admiration is over when his partner summons her Destiny's Embrace in a flurry of twinkling petals. He summons his Oathkeeper and spins around to readily face the onslaught of shadow creatures behind them.
The two form a back-to-back formation to guard the other's rear at all times, and for a while they slash and slice and thrust and burn, trusting that the other could pull their share of the weight. There may not have been any physical damage done to either of them, but they aren't able to push forward, either. If they didn't put an end to this now, they'd be behind.
"We need to move," Sora insists when his back meets Kairi's. With a firm, understanding nod, the two lace hands from behind and cast a faith spell that sends out numerous pillars of light in a circular formation. With the creatures out of the way for the time being, Sora takes point with Kairi trailing closely behind him.
The two continue to run across the tropical rainforest, careful to avoid any creatures or unidentifiable plant life that might be hazardous to their health, and examine their allies from their peripheral vision. To their right, Larxene electrocutes a wave of creatures with her electrified throwing knives, and Isa clears his share with a swoop of his massive claymore. To their left, Roxas performs swift and powerful reversals against their attackers with the two keyblades Sora had lent him (his previous silver belt Oathkeeper and Oblivion), and by his side, Axel throws his fiery chakrams with master precision. When a creature manages to pass the latter's defenses and bring him to his knees, Kairi casts a quick Cura spell in his direction, and her fellow redhead salutes her in thanks before returning to the action.
"So where do you think the oasis is?" Sora asks as they dismiss their keyblades and slow to a jog. A flying sphere-shaped object zooms past them, likely a camera in search for some good content to broadcast.
"I have no idea," Kairi admits. The jungle looked and felt as if it stretched on forever. Finding this oasis wasn't going to be easy.
Without warning, two tiger-like creatures suddenly emerge from the bushes, cutting both Sora and Kairi off. They're pitch black in colour with neon yellow stripes, and a red heart-shaped emblem with jagged lines sits on their foreheads, right in between their hungry red eyes. The first pounces on Kairi, effectively separating her from Sora. He almost runs over to save her, but the second creature growls at him from behind.
Crap, he mentally curses, caught in between his opponent and Kairi's. His looked just about ready to pounce at any given moment. One move towards Kairi, and he would surely respawn before he could even re-summon his keyblade.
Behind him, the dark tiger successfully pins Kairi to the ground. She writhes and struggles beneath it as its hot saliva slowly drips onto her face. Without hesitation, she grabs the creature's right arm with both her hands and knees it in the belly. As it howls in pain, she takes the opportunity to throw it off her with a pained groan. She dodge rolls to the side and summons her keyblade before the creature can get back on all fours.
"You good?" Sora asks, his voice quivering slightly in concern.
"I'm fine," Kairi insists as she wipes the side of her mouth. Sora sighs in relief.
When the other creature realizes that its companion was violently thrown aside, it places one paw in front of the other and pounces. As if telepathically communicating battle strategies, Sora and Kairi swap places. After swiveling to the right and switching opponents, Kairi brings her keyblade down on the head of the first tiger as Sora summons his keyblade mid-swivel.
"Come and get it," Sora taunts after successfully managing to inflict a large scar on the creature's arm.
When pure strength eventually fails, the creatures turn to their magic. Sora and Kairi dodge the streaks of thunder with ease and within a minute's time of playing around, Sora's tiger was down, and Kairi's was well on its way there. Just as she's about to strike her final blow, however, the weakened creature suddenly finds the will power to lunge itself at her with pointed claws and angered eyes.
When its claws are mere inches away from her chest, a blur of black and red suddenly streaks past her and knocks the creature down. Sora stands before her with a smug grin on his face, keyblade proudly glimmering in hand.
"You know, I could've handled that myself," Kairi insists with a hand on her hip. "I refuse to play the damsel in distress."
Sora merely shrugs. "I know, but it can't hurt to show off in front of you, right?"
Just as Kairi rolls her eyes, a faint whizzing noise captures her attention. She turns towards the source and finds a large shuriken headed straight for Sora's head. With widened eyes, she takes action and grabs his arm before sidestepping to the right.
"You're right, they really aren't going to play nice," Sora says when he realizes what could've happened.
"Doesn't mean we have to," Kairi reminds.
Before the weapon can return to its master (a girl named Yuffie, if they remembered correctly from the list of competitors the night before), Kairi casts a magnega spell to call it back. When she has a firm grasp on the handle in the center, she chucks it as hard as she can into the vast unknown with an angered cry.
Behind her, Sora crosses his arms with a grin. Certainly not a damsel in distress indeed. And that new battle dress? Wow. Just wow.
"Let's get moving," Kairi suggests, but a pained hiss from Sora catches her attention. "What was that?" she asks accusingly.
"N-nothing," Sora lies while clutching his left arm protectively, but Kairi sees right through it.
"You're hurt," Kairi guesses, most likely from the dark tigers they'd fought earlier.
"No," Sora says defensively. "I'm fine, really."
"Let me see, then," Kairi says as she walks towards him.
"Really, Kairi, I'm good!" Sora insists.
"Then it shouldn't be a problem if I take a look at it, right?" Kairi points out.
"But Kairi, we have to keep movi–"
His best friend forcefully grabs his arm and removes the bloody hand covering his injury. Three scratches (definitely inflicted by the tiger's claws earlier) lay right above his elbow. They weren't too deep, but deep enough to make him bleed. Upon closer examination, Kairi notices faint green marks on the edge of each wound. Her eyebrows knit together in suspicion.
"You're poisoned," she immediately concludes. "We have to tend to it right now. You see what would've happened if I didn't check? Honestly, Sora, you're so stubborn sometimes. Now come here."
"Yes, mother," Sora teases as Kairi drags him aside. She forces him to sit with his back against a tree near a small lake. With a deep breath, she summons her keyblade, kneels before him, and concentrates on tending to his wounds with an Esuna spell.
"Ow," Sora hisses, the back of his head making contact with the bark behind him. Ven had taught him about poison back home, but he had never experienced it so powerfully firsthand.
"I know," Kairi whispers as her spell expertly glides across his exposed flesh. "It'll just sting for a little bit, I promise."
And sure enough, after a few agonizing minutes, a cooling sensation washes over Sora as the last of the poison is extracted from his body. Kairi sees his muscles relax beneath her as she switches to a Curaga spell to close his wounds.
"Mmm," Sora hums, relaxing into her touch. "Thank you, Kairi," he then says, fully aware that what she was doing took plenty of patience and precision.
"You're welcome," she says, finishing her work. The instant the last of his wounds close, Sora suddenly pulls her to him, embracing her with his chin on her shoulder.
"S-Sora?" Kairi squeaks. "I know you're grateful, but you don't need to…"
"I know," Sora whispers into her ear. "I just wanted to find a way to be discreet about this. Don't look now, but there's two competitors waiting to ambush us approximately ten meters away. Behind the bent tree, five o'clock."
Kairi glances ever so slightly at the position Sora had pointed out and discovers that he's right. She slowly pulls away from their embrace with a nod.
"One," she whispers, resting her hands on his chest to prepare for takeoff.
"Two," he says.
"Three!" they both exclaim.
Two competitors emerge from their hiding place and recklessly throw themselves at the two keyblade wielders. Their exact names escape them—Cloud and Tifa, was it?—but their fighting style certainly didn't go by unnoticed earlier. The male is equipped with a large buster sword, which he uses to launch the female (who excelled in hand to hand combat) upward and towards Kairi. While Kairi dodges Tifa's swift punches, Sora immediately goes head to head with Cloud. With a few wisps of fire and flashes of thunder, Sora and Kairi made quick work of their attackers and send them both back to the starting line within seconds with critical hits.
"Nice work," Sora compliments, raising his arm for a side bump.
"Same to you," Kairi says while returning the gesture. "How's your arm?"
"Good as new," Sora answers while stretching it out.
Not long after, Zidane's voice on the speaker informs them that the first team has managed to find the oasis, leaving only five slots left.
"Looks like we gotta go," Sora says, and Kairi nods in agreement.
The two continue their search for what feels like hours, fighting constantly and trying to catch their breath along the way, but Sora, being the impatient one, is the first to lose his cool.
"Where the hell is this thing?" he whines, casting a Waterra spell on the nearby lake to splash and hydrate himself. "It feels like we've been going this way for hours."
Kairi's ears perk upward at his choice of words. The scenery hadn't changed drastically for a while, and now that Kairi thought about it, that lake did look an awful lot like the one they were ambushed in earlier…
"The forest is repeating itself," Kairi mumbles to herself, entertaining the possibility while tapping her chin in thought.
"What?" Sora asks, clearly confused.
"That's the same lake we were ambushed in an hour ago," Kairi points out. "We've passed two just like it since then. The further we go, the more the simulation just seems to repeat itself."
Sora scratches the back of his head, still trying to catch up. "So what are you trying to say?"
"We're going the wrong way," Kairi clarifies. "The way isn't forward from where we started. It's backwards."
"Huh?" Sora asks with his head cocked to the side in confusion.
"Think about it," Kairi starts. "The way we've been going has been never ending. The platforms faced us in the wrong direction to trick us, and despite being very skilled fighters, those competitors that ambushed us earlier didn't really put up much of a fight. I think it's because they figured it out. They didn't ambush us to win. They ambushed us so that we could send them back to the starting point, and what happened when they got back to the starting point?"
"Zidane announced not long after that the first team had made it to the oasis," Sora finishes, finally caught up. "You're right. They had to have gone backwards. So how do you want to go about this? It's a long walk back to the starting line."
Some rustling nearby captures Kairi's attention, and she finds two other competitors (a brown-haired male with dual swords and a pink-haired female with a compound bow) lost on the other end of the lake. Kairi throws her fist into an open palm with a knowing smirk.
"I think it's time we pick a fight."
When the two purposely lose the battle and respawn at the starting point, they immediately turn around and start sprinting in the opposite direction. A few minutes into their run, Zidane announces that the fourth team has successfully made it to the oasis, leaving only two slots left, so Sora and Kairi decide to quicken their pace.
"I think I see it!" Sora exclaims, sensing a waterfall up ahead, but just before they can taste victory, a large spider-like creature emerges from one of the trees and screeches at them.
Sora gulps when he stares into its eight beady and menacing eyes. "Well hello. I'm assuming you're the boss battle?"
"Sora!" Kairi screams when it raises one of its sharp, sword-like legs.
It screeches once more before trying to pierce right through Sora, but he quickly moves out of the way and summons his Oathkeeper in the process. He hops onto a tree and uses it to propel himself forward, adding extra strength to his attack. He manages to slice one of its legs off, causing it to shriek in pain, but not long after, another leg quickly replaces the missing one. Now even angrier than before, the creature begins charging at Sora once again, but Kairi stops it with a Thundara spell.
Setting its sights on a new victim, the spider begins making its way towards Kairi, but instead of trying to hit her with one of its legs, it suddenly shoots a web from its abdomen and effectively traps her in between two trees.
"Kairi!" Sora calls out, panic flooding his eyes. He rushes in front of her and throws arcs upon arcs of fire to send the creature back, distracting it, and figures he's bought himself enough time to set Kairi free. He freezes the web with a Blizzard spell and begins hacking away at it, but the web proves to be tougher than he thought. He decides to switch gears and melt the web with a subtle Fira spell, trying not to hurt Kairi in the process.
"Sora," Kairi whimpers.
"Sorry," he whispers, trying to be as gentle as possible. "I'm almost there."
"No, Sora," Kairi whimpers again, her tone becoming stern and warning. Sora turns around to find the spider closing in on them, and with widened eyes, rushes his work. At the last possible second, Sora sets Kairi free, casts a current of air to send her back upon instinct, and finds himself thrown to the side with so much force that the wind is practically knocked out of his lungs when his back slams into a nearby tree.
"Sora!" Kairi cries, whipping her keyblade and teleporting to his side with a Curaga spell ready. Blood begins to drip from the side of Sora's mouth, and her eyes begin to water at the sight.
"You'll be okay," she assures, her voice quivering and hands shaking as she heals him.
"Pl-please, this is nothing," Sora insists with a weak hero-like grin. His ocean eyes then widen in panic when he feels the ground shake beneath them. The beast was coming.
From the corner of her eye, Kairi watches as another team manages to run right past them and into the oasis, leaving only one slot left. She tries to heal faster, but she can sense the spider closing in. In an act of pure desperation, she ends her Curaga spell prematurely and casts a Reflega shield over her and Sora just as two of its legs come raining down on them. The creature tries bashing its legs against the shield again and again, slowly cracking it open. Sora wearily places a hand overtop Kairi's on the handle of her keyblade, strengthening the shield by just a bit more, but even he could feel the shield starting to give in. He hadn't fully recovered, and the more their hearts pounded, the more the creature fed on their fear.
After an onslaught of hard hits, the shield shatters, and just when Sora and Kairi think they'd awaken back at the starting point, another blade sings as it meets two of the spider's legs.
Kairi shakily looks up, and her mouth hangs open in shock at the sight of Tidus' Brotherhood longsword clashing with the spider's legs. She watches as the star player of the Zanarkand Abes pushes the beast back with a loud grunt, effectively knocking it away.
"There's only one slot left," he says, his back still facing them. When the two remain unresponsive, he turns to them with urgency. "Take it, go!"
"Is this another act for the cameras?" Kairi asks bitterly as she helps Sora onto his feet.
To prove a point, Tidus spots a spherical camera heading towards them and slashes it in half when it arrives.
"It's not," he assures, his eyes earnest. "I know this is hardly enough, but let this be the start of me saying sorry. I heard about what happened to your friend Xion, and I want to help."
Kairi gulps, unsure what to say. On one hand, she's still hurting, but on the other, her Master had always taught her to be forgiving.
"You don't have to say anything," Tidus says, sensing her hesitation and discomfort. "Just go while you still can. Auron and I will distract this thing."
"Kairi," Sora says hoarsely, noticing the presence of another team (the same one they'd purposely lost to earlier) running towards the oasis. "We need to go."
Kairi nods in agreement while healing the rest of Sora's wounds. When he's capable of moving on his own, the two make a run for it.
Parallel to them, Kairi can see the female (Serah, from what she'd heard the male Noel call her earlier) loading her bow. She fires a shot towards them, but her arrow whizzes right over Sora and Kairi's heads. When the two teams nearly collide, the tip of Kairi's keyblade begins to glow bright blue, and Sora knows exactly what she has in mind.
"Sora," she calls when the other team gets close enough, "now!"
With both hands on her Destiny's Embrace, Kairi casts a Blizzaga spell and gracefully creates a spiraling path of ice. With his Oathkeeper beneath his feet, Sora uses it like a snowboard to ride the path upward and, when he has the other team in his sights, he spins downward and delivers the final blow, knocking the other team back with large and powerful shards of ice.
"Nice work," Kairi compliments, knowing their masters would be proud of the perfectly executed technique.
"You as well," Sora returns gladly.
The two look ahead, only a few feet away from the oasis.
"Shall we?" Sora asks.
Kairi nods. "We shall."
The two move forward, pushing aside some greenery, and are greeted on the other side by a peaceful waterfall and some applause.
"Finally," Axel teases, standing alongside Roxas, Larxene, and Isa. Demyx and Ienzo, however, don't seem to have made it. "We were starting to think you two weren't going to figure it out in time."
"Well we're here, aren't we?" Sora asks while bumping a fist to his chest.
"Certainly not without help though," Kairi whispers to herself, recalling Tidus' timely rescue.
A loud air horn suddenly blares through the speakers, followed by the voice of Zidane.
"Attention Underdrome Tournament participants!" he exclaims. "The sixth team has just crossed into the oasis, putting an end to the first stage of the competition. If you're standing in the oasis right now, congratulations! You will be advancing to tomorrow's Titan Cup. And if you're not, I'm sorry to say that you have been eliminated from the tournament. Better luck next time!"
Just as Zidane and Garnet sign off, Tidus and Auron cross into the oasis, though as the seventh team to make it, they'd face elimination. For a brief moment, Tidus eyes' lock with Kairi's, and the redhead freezes in place. After what happened between them, confronting him wouldn't be easy, but Riku's words about her friends always being there for her give her the confidence and strength to slowly make her way towards him.
She wasn't quite ready to forgive him, but without him, she and Sora wouldn't be on their way to the second stage of the competition. She could at least have the decency to thank him.
"Hey, Tidus," she says, her tone and expression neutral. Not overly happy, but not menacing, either. "Thank you. For saving us earlier."
Tidus acknowledges her words with a small smile, accepting the brief exchange as their first small step towards recovery. "You're welcome."
Back in the chambers, Sora, Kairi, Axel and Roxas are bombarded with praise and compliments from their friends.
"You guys did great!" Olette cheers. "We watched you the entire time."
Hayner, on the other hand, goes for a less subtle approach. "You guys totally kicked ass in there! All those fire whooshes and lightning zaps and reflector shields, and that icy slider move at the end with Sora and Kairi? Ohh man! Talk about a fatality!"
In the midst of her giggles, Kairi turns her attention to Riku while Hayner continues his fanboying with Sora.
"How'd we do, coach?" she asks.
"Great," Riku answers proudly. "I knew you'd figure it out eventually."
"Anything you would've done differently?" Kairi questions.
"Hmm," Riku says, tapping his chin. "Yeah. I probably would've listened for the waterfall and gone backwards right from the start."
He immediately shields his face with his arms when Kairi begins hitting him playfully.
Back with Roxas and Axel, the former opens his locker in search for his phone.
"Hey, I just received word that all the merchandise from the online shop sold out," Roxas announces excitedly, holding the screen up for his best friend to see.
"Nice!" Axel cheers, going in for a high five.
"Roxas?" a sweet voice calls out.
The blond's ears perk upward, and his face glows when his eyes land on his girlfriend at the entrance of the chambers. He runs up to her, arms wide open, and scoops her into his arms, twirling her around. To the normal observer, it was an act of affection, but for Naminé, something about Roxas checking on the status of the Oathkeepers' merchandise shop before letting her know that he was okay after a brutal battle didn't sit quite right with her.
Later that night in the Disney Castle den, Riku treats Sora and Kairi to a well deserved pizza night.
"Do you guys think I can rock a man bun?" Sora suddenly asks out of the blue.
Riku and Kairi visibly stop chewing at the ludicrous question. Sora had been sporting the same hairstyle since he was a toddler.
"Are you being serious?" Kairi asks. "Sora, I can hardly straighten your hair, let alone get it in a ponytail."
After some contemplation, Sora eventually nods. "Yeah, you're totally right. I'll leave the man bun to Riku."
"Good choice," Riku compliments with a smirk.
Sora then gets up and dusts some crumbs off his shorts, but not before stuffing another two pizza slices in his mouth. "Be right back, gonna get another soda."
"Sora, don't eat too much!" Kairi advises as he makes his way to the door. "We're fighting tomorrow!"
"Sorry!" he apologizes, his voice muffled. "I can't hear you over all this pizza in my mouth!"
"Ugh," Kairi groans, defeated. "Why do I even bother?"
"Are you scared for tomorrow?" Riku asks, changing the topic after taking a swig of his soda.
Kairi shakes her head. "No, surprisingly. After our talk yesterday, everything seems… bearable, actually."
Riku nods in acknowledgement, his index finger drawing circles on the top of his soda can.
"I want to thank you again, by the way," Kairi continues, a grateful smile on her lips, "for reminding me that my friends will always be there to support me. It helped me feel whole again, and it actually gave me the confidence to face my fear of confronting Tidus earlier. I didn't exactly forgive him, not yet at least, but I managed to thank him for saving Sora and I earlier."
"That's good," Riku says, pleased with both Kairi's actions and the fact that he was able to help his friends yet again. He jumps a bit when he suddenly feels Kairi's hand supportively resting on his shoulder.
"I want you to know that your friends feel the same way about you," Kairi assures, her tone soft and comforting. "We'll always be there for you, and I hope that one day, knowing that will eventually help you face your fears, too."
The following afternoon, Sora is pleasantly surprised to find a new outfit waiting for them in the chambers.
"A pirate outfit?" he exclaims excitedly while holding up the trench coat, captain hat and all. "Cool!"
"Well at least this looks comfortable to fight in," Kairi points out while holding up her own battle garments, thankful that she wouldn't be expected to fight in a ball gown or low-cut revealing dress. Instead, it was an intricately made outfit very similar to the one Elizabeth Swann had worn when she was Pirate King, sans the hat.
When the two change and head out into the arena, they step onto the platforms right beside Axel and Roxas; this time, however, there are only twelve as opposed to twenty-four from the day before.
"I see someone has taken a liking to the pirate outfit," Roxas points out, noticing Sora's bouncier strides. He himself was dressed in an oversized maroon tunic, leather vest, and loose-fitting black pants.
"Dude, how can you not?" Sora returns, and Roxas tips the edge of his captain's hat in response.
When all the remaining competitors step onto their platforms, the simulation, which had previously been the generic underworld by default, transforms into an incredibly realistic depiction of Port Royal in the Caribbean complete with lush, exotic greenery, white sands, crystal blue waters, and –
"Pirate ships!" Sora gushes, noticing them at the docks. Beside him, Kairi only shakes her head at his childish behaviour. He definitely took after his master in that regard.
"Good afternoon competitors, and welcome to the Titan Cup of the Underdrome Tournament!" Zidane announces through the speakers as the countdown begins.
"You're here because you performed admirably in the Pain and Panic Cup yesterday," Garnet says, " but can you survive today's challenge? Zidane, why don't you tell them what's in store?"
"You've been cursed!" he announces dramatically. "Everyone's wrist has a Doom countdown. This indicates how much time you have left before being consumed by the curse and facing elimination."
At the new piece of information, everyone checks their wrists, and surely enough, the numbers begin ticking down from three hours.
"To lift the curse, each team has been assigned a treasure in the compass provided to them," Garnet informs. "The first three teams to find their treasure before their time runs out will advance to tomorrow's finals."
Between Sora and Kairi, the former pulls out a compass from his coat pocket and examines it. It seemed like he and Kairi would be searching for an ornate treasure chest with a blue-coloured gem inside.
"But be careful," Zidane advises. "This time, critical hits won't send you back to the starting point. Instead, they'll reduce the time on your countdown, so try not to get hit!"
"And one more thing," Garnet adds. "To pass the challenge, both members of each team must take hold of the treasure. If only one of you holds it and the other's time runs out, the whole team will be eliminated."
"That is all for today's challenge. Good luck!" Zidane cheers, and they're off. The countdown hits zero, and Sora wastes no time when the starting bell goes off.
"Sora, don't be reckless!" Kairi pleads.
"Let's go slowpoke!" Sora says excitedly, running through the settlement at a remarkable speed; however, he, alongside everyone else making a beeline for the docks, is quickly cut off by creatures spawning left, right, and center. Sora summons his Oathkeeper, poised for attack.
"Got my back?" he asks when Kairi catches up to him.
Kairi calls on her Destiny's Embrace in response. "Always."
When the two expertly clear their wave of creatures (decidedly called "heartless" by Sora during their pizza party last night, a name he generated from the symbol on their bodies), they make a run for the docks where they find four pirate ships.
Four ships, six teams, they observe. Two would have the misfortune of swimming, or trying their luck with a canoe.
Unfortunately for the two, they're among the last to reach the docks but don't hesitate to fight for the last available ship. They launch themselves upward with an Aerora spell and board the deck with a graceful tumble, but they aren't the only ones there. Yuffie and her partner Leon already seem to be expecting them with their giant shuriken and gunblade at the ready.
Trying to gain the upper hand, Kairi aims a Waterra spell at Yuffie, but the young ninja disappears into a puff of smoke before it can land. Leon fires a few shots at Sora who deflects each bullet with ease, and the two begin charging at one another. Leon performs a few quick strikes, but Sora fights back with equal fervor, the clanging of metal ringing in their ears. When Leon goes for a low hit, Sora takes the opportunity to propel himself upward with an Aero spell, and the gunblade wielder finds himself completely bewildered by the arc of fire Sora kicks in his direction while in mid-air. He's knocked to the edge of the ship, and Sora finishes him off with a perfectly aimed streak of lightning, throwing him overboard.
Back with Yuffie and Kairi, the former manages to inflict a few hits on the latter with her constant disappearing and reappearing (likely payback for chucking her shuriken into the abyss yesterday), but when Kairi eventually recognizes her pattern ("Observe first, then retaliate," her master would say), she finds her opening and takes it. When she knows the young ninja will appear to her left, she freezes her feet in place with a Blizzard spell and performs her signature Seven Wishes blitzes, eventually knocking Yuffie overboard at the end of the combo.
"You okay?" Sora asks, casting a quick Cure spell on his partner for good measure. When Kairi nods and dismisses her keyblade, his eyes wander onto her wrist. "How much time did she shave off of you?"
Kairi pulls up her sleeve and checks the countdown on her wrist. "Not much. Just fifteen minutes."
"All right, but we should get going just in case," Sora suggests while dismissing his Oathkeeper and heading towards the helm. "We don't know where or how far our treasure might be."
Kairi playfully salutes him. "Aye aye, Captain."
Sora takes hold of the wheel, compass in hand, and with Kairi casting an Aeroga spell on the sails, the two begin traversing the High Seas.
A few minutes into their trip, Kairi can't help but notice how delighted Sora looks with the wind in his hair and the seawater spraying his cheeks. When they were younger, they'd build rafts on the play island for fun and pretend to go on epic adventures, but taking command of an actual pirate ship must have been a childhood dream come true for Sora, and the sight was downright adorable. For a brief moment, she feels like they're carefree preteens again, and she gladly basks in the nostalgia.
Their peaceful ride, however, comes to an abrupt end when another pirate ship suddenly appears from behind a nearby rock structure, turning and heading straight for them. Sora pulls a spyglass from his coat pocket and tries to identify their attackers from afar.
"Noctis and Prompto," he says, recalling their faces from last night's online recon session. Prompto fires their cannons, initiating the battle, and when the timing is just right, Kairi uses the surrounding waters to cast a water wall over their ship to shield them from the oncoming barrage. As the wall fades, Sora tries to formulate an attack plan and eventually figures it out after looking through his spyglass once more.
"Kairi, when I give the go ahead, fire the cannons at the weak point of their ship," Sora instructs, referring to the dark, red ball right under the bowsprit.
"Got it," Kairi says, heading for the cannons. Sora expertly commandeers the ship, giving Kairi the best angle possible, and when she has the weak point in her sights, she fires the cannons just as Sora yells "Fire!", successfully sinking the enemy's ship.
"All right!" Sora cheers, punching a triumphant fist in the air.
"Okay, that was pretty awesome," Kairi admits. "We totally wrecked their ship!"
"Actually we scuttled it, savvy?" Sora says with a tryhard pirate accent. Kairi only rolls her eyes, albeit with a smile.
After examining the activity of the compass for quite some time and steering the ship in the (hopefully) right direction, Kairi eventually spots a small isle on the horizon through the spyglass.
"Land ho!" she exclaims. She then turns to Sora with her hands laced behind her back, playfully rocking back and forth. "Did I get it right this time, Captain?"
Sora nods proudly. "Sure did."
When they get close enough, Sora drops the anchor and parks the ship in place at what their map had labeled the Huddled Isles.
"The compass says the treasure should be here," Sora says when they step foot on the island's sandy entry point.
"How much time do we have left?" Kairi asks.
"About an hour and a half, give or take," Sora answers when checking his wrist, recalling the small amount of time Yuffie had taken from Kairi.
"All right, let's go treasure hunting," Kairi says, diving into the mystic waters without hesitation. Not long after, Sora joins her, and with their right hands outstretched, the two spin their keyblades on the palms of their hands to propel themselves through the water at a quicker pace.
After making their way around some vibrant, aquatic plant life and dodging some glowing jellyfish, the two soon discover that the path leads to an undersea cavern. They swim past a large shipwreck, fighting some glowing Lightning Anglers along the way, and eventually come across multiple pathways. By some unspoken, underwater agreement, the two split ways to cover more ground, knowing that the other was fully capable of defending themself.
Taking the pathway to the right, Kairi swims through a narrow pathway that eventually leads into a larger opening. She finds herself surrounded by multiple Lightning Anglers, all of which try to chomp at her legs, but after casting a few strategic Sea-Fires and Sea-Blizzards, she continues her search for the treasure. Another narrow pathway awaits her, this time infested with glowing jellyfish, so she carefully swims around them, hoping not to get stung. At the end of the pathway she's rewarded with two ornate treasure chests, but after opening the two, she finds that none of them hold the blue gem she and Sora needed.
Trying her luck elsewhere, Kairi heads back and tries another pathway she'd missed, but the treasure chest contains nothing but coins. She continues her way along the path and finds that it converges with Sora's, but unfortunately, he too is empty-handed. The two then look ahead, noting that there was only one path left, and they swim through it together. At the end of the path, they swim through what appear to be underwater geysers and work their way up, eventually resurfacing at a tunnel. With the water still lapping at their knees, they run ahead, eventually coming across a cave above the water's surface with sharp rocks at every corner. At the very end, a treasure chest (one far larger than the rest, so it had to be theirs) awaited.
"The treasure!" Sora cheers, running straight for it.
"Sora, what did I say about being reckless?" Kairi whines, running behind him.
Surprisingly enough, Sora makes it to the chest without any disturbances, but when he tries to open it, some sort of forcefield sends him flying back. He tumbles in the air, but he manages to land on his feet, the sand slowing him and stopping him right beside Kairi. The ground beneath them then begins to rumble, and Sora instinctively summons his Oathkeeper and stands in front of Kairi, ready to protect her if needed.
"Looks like it's boss battle time," Kairi says with her Destiny's Embrace already in hand. Last time, they were unprepared for such a battle, but not this time. This time, they'd be ready.
From the sand, a large four-legged creature with sword-like claws and menacing red eyes emerges, the ground shaking each time its paws make contact. Its numerous sets of teeth are razor sharp, and its grotesque grey body looks thick and rough to the touch with the "heartless" emblem imprinted on its chest. It roars loudly, blowing both Sora and Kairi's hair back, and snarls in their direction before charging.
Eager to fight, it claws at the two keyblade wielders, but the two manage to dodge roll away, albeit with frightened cries. Their heart rates increase tremendously at its display of both speed and strength, but it does nothing but feed the fire of the beast. As Kairi stands up to run once more, a powerful Thundaga spell forces her to take a step back. Certain that it wasn't Sora that just tried to electrocute her, Kairi turns to the large heartless with her mouth slightly agape.
So it can use magic, she thinks grimly.
"All right, I'm going in," Sora says while spinning his Oathkeeper.
"Sora, wait!" Kairi exclaims, but Sora doesn't heed her warning and heads straight for the beast.
After slapping her forehead, Kairi decides to examine the battle logically. Instead of jumping in head on (otherwise known as the Sora method), she watches and waits for the beast to give something away while recalling a lesson that Aqua had taught them years ago.
"Like humans, every creature has a weakness," Aqua said as she paced around the training grounds with her hands behind her back. "Whether it be physical or magic related, you should take the time to find it before wasting unneeded energy. It is essential for victory."
"Well we both know what your weakness is, Sora," a sixteen-year-old Riku snickered as he wiggled his eyebrows in Kairi's direction. The younger boy frowned at him as he shoved his arm with tinted cheeks.
"Riku, Sora, are you two paying attention?" Aqua asked in an accusatory tone. Her pupil narrowed her eyes in their direction.
The two boys immediately stiffened and saluted in respect.
"Yes ma'am," they said simultaneously.
"Good. Now every creature, feral or in nature, has different weaknesses and strengths," Aqua continued. "For instance, while one creature is immune to fire, it could be another's weakness. If you notice that your opponent's weakness is not in its physical construction, beware not to use the same spells frequently when fighting them. You may not realize that they are absorbing the energy of your magic, thus feeding their strength even more. Try a variety of spells, watch carefully to see which one affects them the most, and use it to your advantage."
Back in the arena, Kairi examines their enemy. Its weakness was definitely not in its physical construction, so it had to be magic. Kairi realizes that Sora had been smart enough to cast a variety of spells at their opponent, but he casts them all out of impulsiveness—water, blizzard, fire, thunder, water, blizzard, fire, thunder, and repeat. She watches him slash at its eyes, but the beast angrily swats Sora away.
For Kairi, it all happens in slow motion. As the back of the beast's claw makes contact with Sora's torso, a spark of thunder circulates its arm and fuels its strength as it knocks Sora to the ground. She immediately runs to him and casts a Cura spell as their foe prepares its next attack.
"So did you enjoy watching me get ass whipped back there?" Sora asks, voice laced with sarcasm.
Kairi rolls her eyes as she continues to work on his back. "If you must know, I found out something very interesting about our little friend over there. Watch carefully."
Sora obediently does so and watches as small sparks of thunder course and spiral around the beast's body, and suddenly he understands.
"Oh," he says just as Kairi finishes her healing session. "So what do we do now?"
"We hack away at it with water, and once we stagger it, we go for the final blow," Kairi instructs. "We'll have that thing down in no time."
"Great, because I only have fifteen minutes left," Sora confesses sheepishly while revealing the numbers on his wrist – the price he paid for his impulsive nature.
Kairi nearly rams her head into a wall. "Fucking hell, Sora."
"B-but it's like you said – we'll have this thing down in no time!" Sora reminds. He gets back on his feet, feeling good as new and twice as determined. "Now let's go."
Thankfully for the two, being surrounded by water made it that much easier to overwhelm the beast with an onslaught of Waterga spells. The creature certainly doesn't make it easy, but the two finally get it to lose its footing and stumble backward. Sensing it as their opening, Sora and Kairi join their keyblades together and take aim, finishing it off with a powerful Waterza spell.
The beast wails, and in its final efforts to cause havoc, it suddenly swipes at the two keyblade wielders, flinging their keyblades out of their hands and knocking them into the water. Refusing to admit defeat, it rams its head into the walls and casts multiple lightning strikes, but it's frenzy is short-lived. By the time Sora and Kairi's heads resurface, the beast fades away completely, but the cave is on the brink of collapse.
Sora eyes both the treasure chest and the numbers on his wrist. Two minutes. It also doesn't help that the voice of Zidane informs them that the first team had already managed to find their treasure, leaving only two slots open for the finals.
Without wasting any more time, he swims up to the shore with Kairi not far behind him, but being the gentleman he is, he quickly turns around to help her up from the water. Kairi accepts his hand, but her indigo eyes widen in fear when she sees a large rock fall from above, heading straight for Sora's head. Without her keyblade in hand to cast a shield or push him to safety, she selflessly lunges herself forward to move him out of the way. The rock misses him entirely, but it crushes Kairi's leg from the knee down, causing her to let out a piercing cry at the excruciating pain.
"Kairi!" Sora screams with watery eyes. He immediately outstretches his arm, trying to find his keyblade, and senses it deep within the water. With furrowed eyebrows he desperately calls for it, and after a few moments it eventually answers. He breaks the rock in half with a powerful slash, relieving Kairi's leg of the weight, but the damage has already been done. He throws a Reflect shield over them both to keep them safe from any more oncoming rocks, but after one look at her leg, Sora already knows it's beyond his (and even Kairi's) skill to heal.
"Go," Kairi commands hoarsely while revealing the numbers on her wrist. Thirty seconds.
Sora doesn't hesitate to take her into his arms, carrying her towards the treasure with the shield still on them.
"We both have to make it, remember?" he says while forcing his signature grin to try and cheer her up, but Kairi can see right through it. He's devastated, and she knows it.
With only a few seconds left to spare, they make it to the chest, but this time round, Sora is able to open it without any trouble. Inside sits a bright blue gem: the very treasure that could lift both their curses. Sora takes hold of it, admiring the way it glistens in the light before presenting it to Kairi. She weakly rests her hands overtop, and the two are sent back to the starting point.
Not too far from the Huddled Isles, Roxas and Axel sail their way to Exile Island: a tiny islet that likely held the trident that could lift their curse. It was excruciatingly difficult to find, but after fumbling around with the compass and squinting at the map for what seemed like an eternity, victory was literally on the horizon.
And just in time, too. Zidane had recently announced that the second team managed to find their treasure, leaving only one slot left.
"I think I see the treasure!" Roxas exclaims while looking through his spyglass, but a piercing cry distracts the two from their goal.
From afar, the two see a ship being attacked by what appear to be large, swinging heartless with both anchors and cutlasses for arms. Someone has the misfortune of being knocked overboard while their partner fights to stay upright and fend off the attackers, too preoccupied to help them out of the water.
Axel takes the spyglass from Roxas, observes the person in the water, and feels his heart drop.
"Larxene," he whispers breathlessly. He watches her fumble uncomfortably, and it's then that he learns something new about her: she can't swim.
An overwhelming need to take action suddenly fills him.
"We have to help," he voices out loud.
"Sure, but… there's only one slot left," Roxas reminds, knowing the price at which their good deed came.
Axel curses under his breath. He knew that. He knew that he had to choose between winning the munny for Xion's procedure and saving his friends, but if it wasn't for him, they wouldn't have joined the competition in the first place. They took a risk for him, and he'd be selfish not to take one for them in return. Besides, Larxene could handle herself, but drowning wasn't something that could be fixed with a simple Cure spell, and it's not like her lightning could do anything for her, either. She needed him, and he'd be there for her, because if he wasn't mistaken, she'd been there for him.
"Let's be quick then," the redhead decides, stirring the ship in their direction. They arrive moments later and immediately take action. While Axel jumps off their ship to assist Isa, Roxas dives into the water to save Larxene. When he has her, he uses his keyblades to control the water with spinning motions and blasts them upward, back onto the ship.
Back on the deck of Isa and Larxene's ship, Isa and Axel stand back to back, claymore and chakrams at the ready.
"Thanks for coming," Isa says, breathless but grateful. "I realize how risky this must be."
"Don't sweat it," Axel says while spinning his chakrams.
"On three?" Isa asks. He sees the redhead nod from the corner of his eye. "One, two, three!"
While Isa goes berserk, Axel creates a ring of fire, trapping and burning the remainder of the attackers. More spawn in, but not before Roxas joins the party and rains down on them with a deadly stellar inception shotlock, obliterating them all in one fell swoop.
"We gotta go," the dual keyblade wielder says, knowing that they were really pressed for time now. Axel and Roxas look to their ship, but before taking off, the former helps a coughing Larxene onto her feet.
"You okay?" he asks, his tone surprisingly concerned and soft.
"Fine, thanks," Larxene answers, turning away with heated cheeks.
Chuckling at her "tough girl" act even in the hardest of circumstances, Axel acknowledges her need for space and salutes his two friends farewell before jumping back onto their ship.
With Axel at the wheel, Roxas takes a deep breath and musters all his strength to cast an Aeroga spell to push them forward towards Exile Island. The instant Axel drops the anchor and parks the ship, Roxas hastily somersaults off, hacking away at the monkey-like creatures that spawn when he arrives. When he clears the wave he makes a beeline for the large treasure chest tucked between the base of two palm trees, but just when the chest is within his grasp, it disappears, the air horn blares from the speakers, and Zidane announces the end of the Titan Cup.
Roxas falls onto his knees, defeated, and the two are eliminated from the competition.
Later that night at the hospital, the members of the Disney castle crowd around Kairi's room to comfort her, but no one can deny the gloomy atmosphere. On the bright side of things, the medics were able to reduce Kairi's shattered leg to a sprained ankle that would take a few days to heal, but on the dark side, the injury rendered her unable to participate in the finals. It wasn't ideal, but Sora assured her that he'd take a sprained ankle over permanent leg damage any day.
Still, Kairi berates herself for letting the team town.
"I'm really sorry," Kairi tells Roxas and Axel when they enter the room.
"Why are you apologizing?" Roxas says as he walks to her bedside. "You fought commendably, Kairi, and risking yourself to save Sora took heart. You even secured a spot in the finals, so we should be thanking you, honestly."
"But without a partner, I'm not sure if Sora can participate," Kairi reminds with dismay. "And you and Axel…"
Roxas nods, though defeatedly. "Yeah, I know."
"Since we're on the subject of apologies, I want to apologize, too," Pence says with misty eyes. "Someone claimed to have won the Lucky Emblem challenge, so I'm afraid I've also let the team down."
Naminé places a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Pence. You all did the best you could."
Everyone in the room sighs heavily, their morale dwindling and hanging by a thread. Their two weeks to pay off Xion's procedure were almost up, but they hadn't raised as much munny as they thought they would. Pence had lost the Lucky Emblem Challenge, Roxas and Axel (as well as Larxene and Isa) were eliminated from the Underworld Tournament, Sora and Kairi faced elimination, and even after all the munny collected from multiple competitions, new merchandise, and additional gigs, they were still short thousands. The Verum Rex competition was still a week away, and it would take a while before any new merchandise arrived, so that ruled out any quick wins.
Things were looking down.
Until Olette speaks up, that is.
"Wait a minute," she says, Pence's tablet in hand. "I think we may still have a chance. I'm looking into the rules for the Underworld Tournament, and it says here that in the case of injury, a team member can be substituted by someone who a) is physically capable of completing the obstacle course set before the tournament, and b) hasn't already participated in the current tournament. There's still hope."
Axel throws his arms up in frustration. "Well that's great and all, but who's fighting with Sora in the finals this late in the game? They'd have to train together just to get some combos right, and anyone outside of our circle would likely ask to split the winnings, which we literally can't afford."
At the corner of the room, Riku leans against the wall with crossed arms, eyes closed at the unique circumstances. With his troubled past, he swore he wouldn't take hold of a keyblade ever again, but... these were desperate times. Someone's life was literally at stake, and he'd be selfish not to take action. As much as he didn't like admitting it out loud, helping others in their time of need was in his nature, and if he didn't help now, he'd regret it every day of his life.
And he may have only known her for a few weeks, but in those few weeks, Xion had somehow made him feel alive again. She ignited flames deep within him that he thought were long extinguished, and the very thought of her sends electricity through his veins. She'd been fighting to stay alive her whole life and took a leap of faith for him just to participate in the teenage bucket list. It was about time he fought (really fought) and took a leap of faith for her, too.
Besides, he'd already failed her once at the Kingdom Karts track. He wouldn't fail her again.
So with Kairi's words from the night before ringing in his ears about facing his fears, Riku pushes himself up from the wall and steps up, knowing what has to be done.
"I'll do it," he volunteers, and as expected, shocked expressions fill the room. "I'll fight with Sora."
tbc
A/N: Oh boy, do you have any idea how long I've been waiting to write this one? From the very beginning I knew Xion would be the reason for Riku to take up his keyblade training again, but to finally see it happen and lay it out there makes me feel… I don't know, accomplished in some way? I hope that was as fun for you to read as it was for me to write (with epic boss battle music in the background, of course)!
Also, full disclosure, yes I wrote this one quickly because I was excited to write more keyblade action (I also loved the Caribbean in KHIII), but I must confess that I also got it out so quickly because I stole a lot of scenes from the fifth unreleased chapter of my old story Survival of the Cutest. I figured that wasn't going anywhere (not anymore, at least), so I decided to put the dusty pages to good use. Doesn't really count as stealing if I'm taking unused content from my past self, right? And strangely enough, the word count for this chapter is almost the same as the last one, yet I feel like so much more happened in this chapter. Perhaps I didn't describe things as much/well as I could have? Just feels strange… although I just hope that I did our girl Kairi some justice!
Also, if you've read the original Teenage Wasteland, you may have noticed a familiar scene here. During the Leadenstrike race, Sora is actually the one to save Kairi from a falling rock, getting his leg crushed in the process, but this time round, I had the tables turn. Did you like this change of events better? I certainly do! The chapter title "Blitzkrieg" (translated as lightning war) was also used as a chapter title in the original.
From a personal standpoint, not much has happened since the last release apart from the usual. I did, however, bake cookies for the first time. If you've watched How I Met Your Mother, I decided to try the "Sumbitch cookies" and they are tasty as heck. 10/10 would recommend. Easy to make, too.
Special thanks to Tyjet Ansatsu, ellekhhearts, chrome-scale09, Audielen, Michelle, skysailz, Mr. Spinner and ChuckleBunny for reviewing the last chapter so quickly! Sorry if I misspelled any pen names, but thank you all for staying interested in my strange imagination.
I hope you all enjoyed the twentieth instalment of Project: Teenage Wasteland! Please kindly leave a review to share your thoughts and/or feels, I apologize for any grammar errors that I might have missed, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!
xoKyorii