Yo! Here's Sora Sentry with the conclusion of the Final Exams! I'm sorry for the wait, but as usual it took me time to make this one after I break I took after making the last one, which it took a lot outta me, but things got delayed with personal matters, including the unexpected passing of my uncle due to the virus, but me and my family are managing, I thank you for being patient and I'll try to resume my pace.
With further to do, please enjoy! May your hearts be your guiding key and go beyond plus ultra!
The Final Exams, Part 2: Those Who Fight Further.
"Now..." Cloud into a fighting stance. "...Come at me, Heroes." He declared with a cool look on his face.
The Heroes of the Keyblade dashed at him at incredible speeds, leaving an impression on the concrete. They roared as they readied their Keyblades to strike at the SOLDIER at the same time.
However, Cloud dashed backwards and avoided their dual attack. Sora dashed at him again and swung his Kingdom Key at the blond swordsman, his blade made contact with Cloud's Buster Sword briefly before he deflected the boy to the side just in time to block an incoming attack from Riku. The young Keyblade Master tried to slice at him again, but Cloud blocked him with his huge broadsword before he pushed him again in time to turn around and block Sora's attack.
The boy tried to attack him again, resulting in the two of them clashing blades a pair of times. Sora tried to perform an upwards slice at him, but Cloud evaded him. Riku tried to attack him from behind, but Cloud stepped out of the way to dodge him before retaliating against him, swinging his sword at him, Riku blocked him with his Braveheart, resulting in him being pushed back again.
In quick succession, he turned around to deflect another attempt from Sora to land a hit on him and then quickly deflect one from Riku as soon as he did. The young heroes briefly stopped their attacks as they stared in awe at the SOLDIER Hero, standing calmly in the middle of the two of them as he waited for their next strike.
The two Keyblade teens glanced at each other and nodded at each other, knowing their next move will be. Both dashed at Cloud at the same time and the teacher got ready for the incoming team attack, resulting in a three-way swordlock, sparks flew off from the contact between blades. Sora and Riku were standing side by side as they pushed as hard as they could against Cloud, however his Buster Sword didn't move a single inch and Cloud's face remained calm and focused, as if this was no big deal for him.
In contrast, the boys were shocked at this. "Not bad, both of you." Cloud praised them with a serene tone. "But I know this ain't your best." Then a blue aura flared around him before he pushed the boys' Keyblades and then he performed a spinning slash at them. The Keyblade Heroes blocked this, but the force behind the attack sent them back quite far. The younger heroes drifted to a stop and glanced back at their opponent as they recovered their breath. "I told you to not fear coming at me with all you got." He declared with a stern look on his face.
"Okay then…" Riku said as he wore a determined frown. "Don't forget you asked it." He went into stance once again.
"Yeah, we're just getting started!" Sora declared with determination and with that both dashed once more at Cloud.
The 2 vs 1 duel resumed, with the Keybladers on the offensive and Cloud defending from their attacks. Sora and Riku attack Cloud consecutively in incredibly fast succession, however, in a shocking display of skill and speed, Cloud blocked and deflected each of their swings seemingly without much effort as his face remained fixed on its expression.
At the observation room.
The group of teens observed in awe and even shock as they witnessed how the newly arrived teacher, Cloud Strife, handled both Sora and Riku at the same time. He blocked and evaded the attacks of one of them and pushed them to then repeat the process with the other, it was crazy to see the speed and precision in which Cloud achieved this.
"A...Amazing…" Eijiro muttered eye-wided.
"Strife-sensei is dealing with them at the same time…" Tsuyu wore a noticeable enough look of bewilderment.
"He's so fast…" Ochako muttered in shock.
"It's unbelievable, with that huge sword he wields and yet… That speed and precision, it's like he's not weighed down at all!" Tenya was surprised and shocked at what he was looking at.
Shouto's expression was cool and collected, but he wore a serious frown. Within he was amazed by the skill of the SOLDIER. "Sora really wasn't kidding when he said that Strife-sensei can rival the top pro heroes." Now he totally believes that statement.
"Wait, for real?!" Eijiro asked, shocked as Tsuyu, Kyouka, Tenya and Ochako glanced at him and also shocked at this statement. Momo had her eyes glued to the screen and all over her face was concern and worry.
"You can't be serious!" The Earphone Jack girl said in disbelief.
"He is." Recovery Girl said to the teens, sounding completely calm. "All Might himself said as much. He saw with his own eyes what Strife is capable of. He may be the age of the average rookie in hero, but he has the power, skill and experience to fight and defeat some of the heavy-hitters at the very top. The fact that All Might, the No.1 Hero, believes that, speaks volumes about what Cloud Strife, Omnimerc, can accomplish. If you don't believe me, you can ask him and he'll tell you the same" She explained to the group of students, most were jaw-dropped at this. "I can see why he believes it now that I can see his battle prowess. The very fact he is able to face Sora Nomura and Riku Yasue, who are far above pro Hero level as of now, at the same time without major issues is really telling." She added as she watched how the match continued, with the fighters exchanging blade clashes. "The craziest thing is that as of right now, Omimerc is on the defensive. How would he be when he goes on the offensive?" That question sent shivers down the spine of the hero students. Shock and fear reflected in most of their faces as Recovery Girl was right, Cloud so far has only been on the defensive, so what will happen when he starts going on the attack…?
The teens glanced back at the battle as the answer would soon reveal itself…
Back at the match.
The fight raged on as sparks flew and blades collided.
Sora and Riku continued on with their assault on Cloud and yet they weren't able to even dent the wielder of the Buster Sword. He was fast to evade and deflect their slashs and pushed them back through counters.
Sora charged forward at Cloud and their weapons clashed a few times before entering in a brief swordlock that broke due to the two stepping back as Riku tried to attack Cloud from above with a slamming slash.
The Hero of Light leaped into the air and dived at Cloud as he performed a Hurricane Winder, but the blond swordsman countered him with an upwards slash, blocking the attack and sending Sora back.
Riku dashed at Cloud, their blades collided a pair of times before both entered a swordlock. "Pretty good, Riku. As expected from a True Keyblade Master." The spiky blond praised the silverette.
"Thanks. You're pretty good too, Cloud." The Hero of Dawn replied as he pushed as hard as he could to overpower him. However, Cloud managed to push him away.
Riku glanced at Cloud with a small scowl as Sora quickly got right beside his partner with a surprised expression on his face. "Man… He's faster than before." Sora said to his best friend in amazement. Cloud was always fast, but Sora can tell that he was way faster now going off of how he perfectly blocked and evaded their combined efforts.
"Yeah." Riku nodded in agreement. "Not only that, he's only been defending himself and waiting for us to move first. He's yet to go on the attack against us." He analyzed out loud as he glanced at Cloud, yet again, standing still waiting for their next move. Both Keyblade teens seemed slightly unnerved at that prospect.
"What's wrong, Heroes? Already feeling like giving up?" Cloud provoked them with a stern tone and a cold look in his eyes.
Sora smirked confidently and got into a stance again. "Fat chance!" And he then jumped into the air. The blade of his Keyblade glowed bright white, Sora brought it overhead as he charged up one of his signature moves. "Explosion!" He performed a downward slash at Cloud, unleashing a bright blast of light. However, after the light faded and dust settled, there was a shocking revelation. "...!" Sora witnessed in total shock and disbelief as he saw that his blade was stopped by Cloud's. The swordsman only glared back silently at him with a cold expression, he held his Buster Sword with only his right hand as he blocked Sora's Keyblade from going any further and the ground beneath his feet caved into a crater reasonably big and yet he remained unmoved...
Sora wasn't the only one shell-shocked by this. Riku witnessed this eye-widened shock and so were the teens back at the observation room.
"No way… He stopped it? But that's one of Sora's best attacks!" Riku couldn't believe what he just witnessed, Cloud stopped an attack that had erased giant Heartless at once like it was nothing!
Needless to say that the group of teens watching were left utterly speechless at this.
In an instant, Cloud threw Sora away really high to the sky!
"Sora!" Riku cried as he jumped high after him, fortunately he was fast enough to reach and caught him in mid-air. Both descended back to the ground and managed to land safely. "You okay?" The silverette asked his partner.
"Y-yeah." Sora nodded. "Thanks, Riku." He thanked him, both then then glanced forward. They saw that Cloud stepped out of the crater and just stood still once more with his cold expression.
"Now it's my turn, Heroes." The SOLDIER declared as he got into battle stance, a blue aura manifested around him.
"..!" The Keyblade Wielders' eyes widened in shock.
"Here I come." Cloud brought his sword behind himself, ready to attack. "Blade Burst!" With a horizontal swing forward, the blond swordsman unleashed a blue wave of energy at the Keyblade Heroes that traveled at high speeds.
Both of them jumped high into the air to avoid it and when they did they saw in utter shock as the wave of energy was so wide that it sliced through the surrounding buildings at once! Rows of buildings were sliced before collapsing to the ground!
At the observation room.
The group of teens looked outright terrified with the huge amount of damage caused by Cloud.
"Dammit…! He brought down lots of buildings… With just one slash!" Eijiro was the first to find his voice, his face reflected utter shock and fear. "It's… It's freaking crazy!" It was complete madness what everyone just saw with their own eyes.
"If they didn't dodge that they would have-!" Tenya said in shock.
"Don't you dare finish that thought!" Kyouka shouted at him. More than anger, was fear in her face. Momo also shared that same expression.
"His power is monstrosus…" Shouto uttered, his eyes widened in shock as he sweated cold. "I only saw a power such as that, and it was from…!" He recognized a familiar feeling with seeing the power of Cloud Strife, but it was impossible! Or could it…?
Back at the match.
Sora and Riku, still in mid-air, looked down at the destruction Cloud caused with just one swing of his blade.
"Man, that was a close shave!" Sora said with a shocked face.
"Too close!" Riku was the same. "If we received the full force of that attack, we would have-!" He began his sentences.
"...Been sliced in half" And someone else finished it for him. But it wasn't Sora...
"...!" Both Keyblade teens reacted in shock. Cloud was right in the middle of them!
Sora acted quick and swung his Keyblade at him, but Cloud grabbed him by the wrist with his off hand and stopped the attempt. At the same time, Riku tried to attack him, but he was meant with a counter from Cloud and the strength behind it sent Riku downwards, he crashed in a building and he even went through it, emerging on the other side and landing on the ground harshly.
"Riku-!" Sora shouted before being pulled by Cloud and being thrown away with great strength in the same direction Riku was sent off and the result was the same, Sora crashing through the building and coming out of the other side.
Right when Riku got on one knee he looked forward and saw how Sora came through and collided with him! Both boys dropped to the ground with a loud thud.
The Hero students watching wore highly concerned faces as they saw the painful looking impact the 'Heroes of 1-A' suffered.
The young Heroes groaned in pain as they raised their upper bodies. "Ow… That hurt..." Sora said as he held his right arm.
"You tell me…" Riku replied as he held his midriff. Both of them got up just in time to see the building that they just came through being sliced by three vertical waves of energy as large as the large building.
Both reacted fast and moved to the side to avoid them. After the waves passed them by, they saw as they sliced through anything in their path as they left claw-shaped markings on the ground and any building just collapsed, including the one in front of them. No doubt that Cloud was behind it.
The boys shielded their eyes from huge clouds of dust raising around them. When the dust settled they both looked and saw how a quarter of the replica city had been turned to ruins, where once stood buildings, now were rumble.
The teenagers glanced around jaw-dropped at the amounts of destruction that Cloud caused in a few moves. "He really became stronger… Much stronger than the top Heroes…" If Sora had reasons to doubt something than All Might himself said about Cloud, now those were utterly destroyed. Both Keyblade Heroes glanced forward again as they saw Cloud landing on top of the remains of a destroyed building, his face was cool and collected.
There was noticeable fear in the faces of the boys. "I don't think it's just that, Sora." Riku replied as dripples of sweat ran down their faces. "I think you realize it as well…" Sora could only gulp down in reply. "He's not just stronger than the top Heroes… Cloud's strength… Is on All Might's level!" Riku declared having no doubt in his mind after witnessing his power. He only felt a power such as his once and it came from All might himself…
Sora tensed as he knew as much as his friend that this was true. Both glanced directly at Cloud's blue eyes and they couldn't help but be reminded of All Might's, feeling the same weight of intimidation that the legendary Hero can invoke on an opponent.
"Funny, that's exactly what Toshinori said once. He even said I have the potential of surpassing him in his current state. Must be true if you think that as well." Cloud said nonchalantly to them. The boys tensed up and even took a step back in response, he could clearly tell that they were afraid. "Now that you know the extent of the power of your opponent, what will you do now, Heroes?" He asked them with a cold expression on his face.
Sora wore a look of fear on his face and felt a huge pressure over him. For a moment, doubts started to creep into his mind until he felt a hand on his shoulder, he glanced at his right and saw his best friend glancing at him with a determined glint in his eyes. That was all he needed, nothing needed to be said. Sora nodded at him with determination in his sky blue eyes before he looked forward at Cloud. "Isn't it obvious, Cloud? We keep fighting further, until we win!" He declared with determination as he and Riku got into stance once more.
"We're far from over Cloud, come at us with everything you got!" Riku declared with determination. "We won't lose!"
"Very well… Don't regret it then." Cloud replied plainly as his aura flared up and got ready to attack. "Ascension!" And with that, Cloud dashed forward at them at insane speeds, next thing they knew was they were thrown high into the air and they then saw Cloud, whose aura changed from blue to red, unleashed a fast and power combo on them before rising higher into the air holding his Buster Sword overhead and then he dived at them, bringing them back to the ground, causing a huge blast upon impact!
Both Sora and Riku were sent flying in opposite directions, Riku crashing extremely harshly on the surrounding wall at the edge of Ground Midgar and Sora did the same on the huge tower in the middle of the area before both plummeted face first to the ground.
Cloud stood within a huge crater where his technique impacted.
The Hero students in the observation room reacted terrified once more by the power of the SOLDIER Hero. For a pair of girls, though, they were far more focused on the Wielders of the Keyblade than on the swordsman…
"Sora-kun!"
"Riku!"
Both girls shouted at the same time as they saw them lying badly wounded on the ground. Horror plastered on their faces.
Back at the match.
Riku staggeredly got on all fours as he coughed, terrible pain surged through his whole body. "A… Amazing…I don't know how we even made it out of that last attack " He thought as he endured the sharp, agonizing pain. He felt it was a miracle he and Sora survived it, even more with all of their limbs. "Granted, this is an exam, so of course Cloud wouldn't go that far, but if he really wanted to, he would have already done it…" The silver Keyblade Master glanced forward at the huge cloud of smoke coming out of a massive crater, the place where Cloud landed that last devastating attack, it would have leveled whole blocks in the area if they weren't already turned to rubble. "Not a single doubt now… His overwhelming power and speed are truly a match for All Might's. If there's someone that can bring down the greatest Hero of this world… it's him!" Riku now knows the one man that might be the one to defeat his idol and that was the wielder of the Buster Sword himself… The SOLDIER of another world.
Meanwhile Sora struggled to get at least on his knees as his body twitches of pain and agony. He summoned his Keyblade again and nailed it to the ground and forced his body to raise up as he used his Keyblade for support. The boy groaned as he slowly got up once more until he stood up on his feet again. He had a tight grip on his Keyblade as he felt like he would lose balance and fall back.
He pulled out his Keyblade out of the pavement although he nearly lost balance when he did. "Riku…" He muttered as he took a slow step forward and began to slowly move toward where he came flying from but a minute ago. His muscles cried, begging him to stop, but he couldn't, not now… "I must… Keep fighting…" He forced his feet to move forward slowly and unsteady. He nearly fell down, his body felt weak and heavy. "Have to… go on…!" He said between ragged breaths. He collapsed back on the ground as he took another step forward. He slowly tried to get up once more, his arms flanked and almost collapsed, but willed himself to get one knee. He paused as he tried to recover his breath. "I have to… Help Riku…" Through willpower alone he stood up once again. He glanced forward with a pained expression in his face. He had to use Curaga and heal himself, he can't stop now, he has-!
"Why the long face? It's not like you." The boy flinched when he heard Cloud standing right behind him. The man had his back turned to the boy and had the blade of his huge broadsword resting on his right shoulder. In a burst of adrenaline-fueled strength, he swiftly turned around and tried to slashed at him, but Cloud wasn't there anymore. The boy looked surprised for a brief moment before he felt a kick in the back that pushed him forward a few meters away. He groaned in pain after he landed with a loud thud. "What's wrong? Don't tell me you'll give up now. You wouldn't stop at a wall like this, would you? You're a Hero after all." Cloud said sternly as he looked at the downed boy.
Sora slowly got on his knees, glanced at the blond swordsman from over his shoulder. "I thought you'd know, 'Sensei'..." He started to rise back on his feet. "Heh... You're as much of a rookie teacher as All Might if you don't know anything about your students." He wore a tiny smirk on his face. "Even if I'm alone, even if my body is weak and broken and the odds are against me… No matter what… I won't bend and I'll never give up!" He faced the SOLDIER with determination in his eyes as he got into a stance.
Cloud's face remained stoic and he silently got into a stance once more. He was about to attack Sora once again "...!" However, he sensed something coming from behind him, he glanced from over his shoulder and saw a huge barrage or dark projectiles coming at him!
The projectiles impacted against Cloud causing an explosion! Sora shielded himself with his arms. "Sora, get back!" He heard someone shouting at him. He knew it was Riku. After healing himself, the Hero of Dawn shot Dark Divide projectiles at him while he was distracted with Sora. However he knew it wouldn't have been enough to take him down. Right now he had jumped into the air ready to shoot another volley of dark energy bullets at Cloud, but from within the smoke generated from that last attack, the SOLDIER jumped at Riku and he seemed unscathed! "...!" Riku's eyes widened in shock before he shot at Cloud over 60 Dark Divide projectiles!
The swordsman swung his Buster Sword at incredible speeds and blocked each and every one of the projectiles as he dashed at Riku in mid air! Cloud attempted to attack him with an overhead slash, but Riku Air Dodged to the side, however in a swift motion, Cloud swung his blade at Riku. The Keyblade Master reacted in time and used his Dark Barrier to block the attack, but Cloud put more strength behind it and forced Riku back to the ground. When crashing against the ground, he bounced on it as his barrier came undone, the boy recovered and landed crouching before touching the ground.
A wave of energy came at him, which forced Riku to move backwards to avoid it. The Blade Burst impacted on the ground, leaving a deep cut marking, if the area were to be suspended, that part would have fallen off for sure. Cloud landed back on the ground safely and glared at Riku. "A sneak attack, pretty clever, but as you saw, not enough." He commented offhandedly.
"Figured it wouldn't." Riku actually did that to have Cloud away from Sora and give him time to recover, which was exactly what he was doing as he casted Curaga on himself. "Thunder!" He casted Thundaga and lightnight bolts rained on Cloud, but of course he dodged them without much difficulty and dashed at Riku. "Fire!" He shot several Dark Firaga projectiles at him. Cloud side-stepped to dodge them as he approached Riku fast.
Cloud tried to use his Focused Thrust, but Riku summoned his barrier again to block it. Although the force pushed him back a bit. The silverette used Counter Aura to push his opponent back considerably and Cloud twirled before landing grounding in the ground. The young Keyblade Master closed the gap immediately and entered a swordlock with Cloud. The blond swordsman saw Riku smirking confidently and then he suddenly jumped upwards right before Sora's horizontal slash would connect with him, somehow he knew that Sora tried to attack him from behind! The boys were taken back by this and quickly looked upwards and saw Cloud manifesting his blue aura.
"Braver!" He spinned in the air once before diving at them in a slamming attack. The boys stepped back to avoid them, however, the attack caused a shockwave that sent them both flying away in opposite directions. The boys rolled on the ground before coming to a stop. They glanced forward and saw Cloud standing up straight again within a large crater, not even close to the one he caused with his Ascension, but still sizable. "Pretty good move, have me distracted before trying to attack me from behind. You both sure sure know how to work together and come up with plans on the fly." He praised them. "But you'll need more than that to catch me off guard." He continued. The 'Heroes of 1-A' raised up once more.
Sora was ready to dash once more into the fray, however he saw Cloud dashing at him at high speeds. The boy was quick enough to react and side stepped out of the way and avoided his downward slash, his sword ended nailed on the ground, causing big cracks."It's my chance!" Sora took this chance to counter, but in a surprising move, Cloud let go of his sword and grabbed Sora's right wrist and landed a heavy punch on his abdomen, knocking the air out of his lungs. Cloud then kicked him away before grabbing his Buster Sword again.
"If this is the best you can do, then I'll end this already. I'm the bad guy here, after all. And sometimes bad guys win." Cloud declared with a cold look on his face. Sora looked up to him while holding onto his aching midriff. Cloud only took a pair of steps before he quickly moved his weapon to the side in a defensive position, then a loud sound of metal clashing boomed. Turns out that Riku attempted to use Zantetsuken on Cloud, but he managed to block him out, he didn't even move back a little!
"...!" Both teens were shocked at this. That was the fastest attack they both had and Cloud just blocked it like nothing! In fact the group of teens in the observation room were also shocked to witness this.
Cloud then pushed Riku back. "You're done." He got into a stance and dashed at him. Riku called his Dark Barrier right when the swordsman got close enough. "Cross-Slash!" Cloud performed a diagonal downward slash, following up with another in the opposite direction to finish with an outward slash, each time he slashed he created a craving of energy until they formed the kanji for 'bad luck'. The first two slash were blocked by Riku's barrier, however, the strength behind them was so great that it cracked until when Cloud landed the final slash, it broke through and landed solid on Riku, blowing him away until crashing hard into a building, cracking it upon impact!
The boy fell upturned onto the ground. He staggeredly tried to get up, but nearly fell back as he held onto his chest with his right arm, where his ribs were to be precise. He felt sharp agony coming from there. "Dang! I think my ribs cracked!" He knew that this pain only meant that his ribcage must have cracked, almost broke. He tried to get up again as he endured the pain, however he coughed out blood twice, his insides must have also suffered damage. Strength was waning from his body before finally collapsing to the ground…
At the observation room.
"He's… he's unconscious…" Shouto was the only one that spoke, nevertheless he was as horrified as his speechless classmates at the brutal beating Riku just received.
"...No…" None were more mortified than Kyouka, her heart dropped, her blood froze as she witnessed it all. She almost couldn't believe it, she did not want to believe it. She felt a huge pain in her chest when she saw him in agonizing pain, she was at the verge of tears, she wanted to look away, but didn't have the strength to do so…
Back at the match.
"Riku!" Sora cried as he quickly stood up.
"I would worry more about myself if I were you." He heard Cloud right behind him, the boy widened his eyes when he did. Sora swung his Keyblade as he turned around, however Cloud rejected it with a swing of his own, causing Sora to lose his grip on his weapon and be sent flying to a nearby building, nailing itself upon impact. Cloud then landed a heavy and brutal attack on Sora's torso, sending him flying away to a building, crashing so hard that it caused a hole in it! The Keyblade hero came out of the building, but his body was staggering, heavily battered and bruised, his left hand latched to the wall as his right arm held onto his ribcage, he whined through his clenched teeth in agonizing pain. He tried to endure it as he tried to step forward, however his legs gave out and fell on all fours to the ground. He coughed out blood twice, his ribcage was cracked to the point of almost being broken and he felt his insides bleeding. His vision was blurring as he felt his body growing heavy and weak… The boy then saw a shadow looming over him, he raised his glare and saw Cloud, still wearing his cold expression, aiming his Buster Sword at him. "...You give up?" He asked him sternly.
Sora didn't reply, just shut his eyes tight, clenched his teeth not just in pain but also frustration as he lowered his face back to the ground.
At the observation room.
The hero students were now shaken to their cores as they witnessed what they thought was almost impossible… Sora Nomura, their classroom champion, on his knees terribly beaten up and bleeding, on the edge of collapsing…
"...Did… Did Sora...L-lose…?" Eijiro asked, shaken. He could not believe what he was seeing, no one could in fact.
Momo had covered her mouth with both hands out of shock of seeing Sora in such an unreal position, the same Sora that always came out on top. Her very soul ached as she saw him like that, writhing in pain and agony as he bled through his mouth. "Sora-kun… Will he really-?" She muttered softly. "No, he won't give up, he never gives up!" She refused to believe that this was how the match would end, Sora was the type of guy that no matter how many times he's pushed down, he always gets back up and keeps on fighting.
"She's right, it's not over yet. He will rise again and continue to fight no matter what." Shouto agreed with her with certainty in his eyes.
Back at the match.
Sora's body was about to give out, but even so he refused to give up. "Not yet… I'm not… done yet…!" He clenched his right hand tightly. Bolts of dark red electricity were manifesting around it… Rage and frustration were accelerating further within him… Sora raised his head to look at Cloud. The SOLDIER's eyes widened in shock and surprise when he saw Sora's changed to a glowing crimson as dark bolts of red energy manifested around him. In a blink of an eye the boy dashed at him as he roared enraged, Cloud tried to move backwards, however he wasn't fast enough to avoid the swipe from his right hand, which became claw-like with elongated nails.
After gaining enough distance from him, Cloud looked down at his chest as claw markings on it as blood came out, the cuts were shallow though. Cloud glanced with a shocked look on his face at Sora, his face was that of pure rage as he held his right hand up, which was stained in blood.
Sora could feel his rage rising up quickly, however he shut his eyes tight and focused all of his mental fortitude he still had in not succumbing to it. "Calm down, Sora…! Calm down! Don't give in into the rage!" He screamed in his head as he fought against the near primal impulse to attack. He suddenly felt his body stop and let out a breath before breathing in. He opened his eyes and they were their normal blue once again, he looked at Cloud, who looked back at him in shock with a pronounced claw marking on his chest, the boy then looked back at his blood stained hand and realized what he had done in the brief moment he lost himself… His hand trembled slightly as his eyes widened in horror. "Again… I let it take over again…" Once more his 'curse' took control over him, even if it was for a second, he could have seriously wounded Cloud…
He heard steps approaching him. He looked up and saw Cloud right in front of him, his face looked cool and collected, but Sora noticed a concerned glint in his eyes. "Sorry." That was all he said before he moved his Buster Sword behind him, ready to knock Sora down before something bad happens.
Sora just stood there frozen, like a deer in front of the lights of a car, he was so shaken up at what happened that he no longer had the will to fight...
He thought this was it for their fight and that he and Riku would have failed… However…
"...!" Cloud quickly glanced to the side as something fast approached him. The man stepped back to avoid a barrage of yellow-ish icicles coming at him! The sharp ice crystals stood right in-between him and Sora.
Both of them were taken by surprise, however it didn't end there as a huge burst of black purple-ish flames now came at Cloud, forcing the man to jump away to avoid it.
"...Those are-!" Sora recognized these elemental spells.
"Sora!" He turned to the side and saw Riku, in his Shadowbreaker mode, a good distance away from where he stood
"Riku!" The boy replied relieved and surprised to see him up and about. Riku teleported right beside him immediately.
"You alright? I saw what happened." He said as he cast a Curaza over his best friend thanks to his enhanced state, the advanced spell was more potent than the already effective Curaga, healing his inner bleeding and cracked ribcage. Riku witnessed what happened right before he used his enhanced magic to force Cloud away from them.
"Yeah, better now." Sora nodded in reply. "But I thought you were out cold." He added in confusion.
"For a moment, I thought I wouldn't hold on, lucky I resisted long enough to transform and heal myself." Riku explained what happened.
Sora smiled in relief. "Good thing you did." He replied.
"Lemme tell you, that Cross-slash of Cloud's hits like a bullet train. If it were against anyone other than us, he could probably slice others to pieces." Riku commented with a deadly serious expression.
"Yeah, I can tell. No wonder why they put him against us, it's kinda crazy that we didn't get any worse from his attacks." Sora agreed with him.
"For sure, but this isn't time to talk about it, we have to continue fighting." The Silver Keyblade Master reminded him of their current task.
"..." Sora looked down with a conflicted face.
Riku understood what was going through his mind. Hey, pull it together Sora. We can't stop now." He grabbed him by the shoulder, which made him look at him in the eye.
"But I…" Sora tried to reply, but Riku cut him off.
"I know and it's alright, you held it together this time." Riku said to him in a calm, compassionate manner.
"But I could have-" Sora yet again tried to reply, and again Riku interrupted him.
"But it didn't happen. I know that you're scared, but it'll be alright, you're the strongest person I know and if you're about to lose it, I'll be there." He reassured him with a smile. "Now c'mon, we have a fight to win and an exam to pass." Riku told him with confidence."We saved the World before, we can pass this school test." He added.
Sora smiled back at him. "Right." He nodded in response. "And no way we'll miss in on that summer camp and let the others have fun!" He smirked. "We'll win this and go together!"
"That's more like it." Riku smiled.
Both of them stepped out from behind the wall of light ice to face Cloud, who stood still at a good distance from there.
"You guys are resilient, I'll give you that." Cloud praised them with a calm expression. He then raised his off hand towards his chest and suddenly a green energy enveloped him, closing the cuts on his torso. The Keyblade Heroes reacted surprised by this. "You're not the only ones here with magic, you know?" He added, he casted a Curaga on himself to close his wounds in an instant.
Sora snarled in frustration. "It's alright, Sora. If Cloud's magic works like ours, then he has a limit of how many spells he can cast and he used a healing one, it'll take a while before his mana recharges." Riku explained to him quickly.
"Oh, right! He won't be able to use magic for a while." Sora smiled in response.
"Perceptive, Riku." Cloud praised him. "And caught on quick, Sora." He then praised the spiky brunette. "Question is if you can land hits on me before I had the chance to heal them. Only one way to find out." He got into a battle stance once more.
Riku got into a stance. Sora summoned his Keyblade, he held it with both hands in front of him as he lowered his head and closed his eyes. "Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens…" He then lowered his blade and faced his opponent with burning determination in his eyes. "Protect your honor… as a Hero!" With that oath, he formchaged into Second Form and dashed at Cloud. "Come and get it, Cloud!" He shouted as he brought back his Kingdom Key ready to strike!
The SOLDIER dashed at him as well and their blades collided heavily. Unlike previous times, Cloud was also attempting to push Sora, but he held steadfast as he tried to push him back.
Riku suddenly appeared right above him and dived at him, however Cloud suddenly disappeared, taking both young Heroes by surprise. Then, both looked upwards and saw Cloud charging up a technique and shot a Blade Burst that flew at them at extreme speeds.
Sora and Riku casted barriers to protect themselves, the wave of energy crashed against them, pushing them back, but they maintained their barriers up until the Blade Burst came undone. Both saw Cloud dashing , Sora and Riku shot Ragnarok and Dark Divide respectively at the same time!
The huge onslaught of projectiles came at Cloud, forcing him to deflect the homing shots at insane speeds. However right as he finished he was suddenly met with the Keyblade Heroes right in front of him, about to land a double slash on him! Cloud reacted fast and blocked them on time, but both of them managed to launch him forward!
Cloud skipped once before twirling and crouching on the ground, in time to see a huge barrage of light ice coming at him! Cloud jumped high into the air to avoid what was clearly Riku's light-blizzaga spell, encasing over whole buildings in ice! Cloud saw in brief as he looked down the large distance from which the wave of ice came at him and how many buildings were covered in ice and frost from both ends of the street.
He then saw Sora dashing at him in mid air, he had jumped at him. Both of them exchanged slashes in an aerial duel, Cloud did a downward attack that Sora managed to block, but ended up being pushed downwards. Cloud dived at Sora as the boy descended towards the ground, however many projectiles of black fire came at him from behind!
The shots of dark Firaga landed on him, causing a big explosion in mid air! However, after the smoke settled, there was Cloud within a barrier spell of his own and after undoing it he shot a 3 Blade Burst at Sora. The boy reacted quickly, enveloping his Keyblade in light and then he slashed at the energy waves, breaking them and making them fade away.
Sora landed on top of a building, however he jumped off the rooftop to the ground as a Blade Burst had slashed through it. When Sora touched the ground, he saw Cloud diving at him ready to perform a Braver on him. Sora raised his Keyblade up in a defensive manner and braced for the impact. Cloud's attack impacted and Sora managed to hold on his defense with huge amounts of effort, the boy strained due to the weight and force of the impact and it was extremely hard to not flank, but he did despite that the ground beneath him caved into a big crater!
Cloud's eyes widened in surprise at this. The Hero of Light roared as he put all of his might into pushing him away and he successfully threw him off him!
"Firaga Burst!" Sora raised his Keyblade up and formed a giant orb of fire and from it a myriad of fireballs came at him!
"Freeze!" Cloud casted a good number of Blizzaga projectiles from his off hand that clashed and nulled quite a few of the fire balls as he gained distance from them. Little that he knew was that Riku was a good distance from where he was coming from, from his left foot light-infused ice came out towards him! "...!" Cloud looked behind himself and saw this, he turned around and slashed through the large shards of ice and jumped towards a rooftop to avoid a barrage of fireballs.
Sora and Riku gave chase after him though the city replica. Riku casted shots of light Blizzaza that upon contact became large barrages of ice shards in combination with several projectiles of dark Firaga that went at Cloud as Sora casted Thundaga to try and catch him, unsurprisingly at this point, Cloud managed to either reject or narrowly dodge the spell attacks as he tried to get away from the relentless team assault. Huge waves of ice came at him and Cloud was forced to dash away from it as try to gain reprise skywards was not possible with both of Sora and Riku raining on him with projectiles or spells
"Okay, that's enough!" Cloud charged his Buster Sword and performed yet another powerful Blade Burst, three huge horizontal waves were shot and it mowed down the incoming ice barrage coming at him, reducing what would have been a huge glacier to raining chunks of ice!
At the observation room, the group of Hero students watched this jaw drop and it looked like Eijiro's mind crashed out of the insane epicness of the fight. It was already pretty hype that Sora and Riku returned to the fray in a show of manly iron will, but it was on whole other level see how now they were not only more even with Strife-sensei, but that the combat alone of these three is decimating Ground Midgar! That's on the anime crazy level of craziness! (Self awareness 100%)
Back at the fight. Cloud panted briefly as he used a lot of power in that last Blade Burst. He glanced forward and found that Sora and Riku weren't there.
He looked up and saw them diving at him ready to attack him. The SOLDIER enveloped his sword in red energy "Counterstance!" He then entered a defense stance and got ready for the incoming attack.
One moment, the duo had landed their attack and the next second both were blown away after receiving three strong hits! In a blink of an eye Cloud counterattacked them the second their attack made contact on him!
Sora and Riku flew in opposite directions, crashing into buildings. They touched the ground as they groaned in pain. "Amazing… I don't even know exactly how that happened, it was just a blur!" Sora was amazed at the crazy speed in which Cloud moved right in front of him and Riku, he almost didn't see him! He got up once more ready to continue, at the same time Riku did the same and both of them dashed towards Cloud.
A high paced 2 vs 1 duel ensued, neither party backed down. Sora and Riku went on an assault on Cloud, attempting to slash at him and cast spells, Cloud narrowly dodged most hits, but Sora and Riku managed to land a few solid attacks on him, however this wasn't even close from one sided as Cloud not only blocked and dodged, but also retaliated when he had an opening, forcing the Heroes back and casting fireballs and such to null magic projectiles and attack them first. The conflict caused huge damages to the streets and buildings, huge slash markings on the pavements, explosions and buildings being torn down by the epic battle.
Riku went to attack Cloud, their blades collided into an intense swordlock, the Silver Keyblade Master tried to trap him with ice from under his feet, but he broke the swordlock before he could and appeared behind him and did a horizontal slash at him, Riku turned around and blocked it in time, but he was thrown away.
Sora then dashed at him, the blade of his weapon shining in a golden light. Sora and Cloud clashed blades a few times with Sora being more aggressive. The young Hero went for an inward swipe, but Cloud blocked him, before pushing him away. Sora drifted to a stop and glared at him with a scowl.
"Alright, Sora. Time to check how good you perfected my technique." Cloud declared as he got in an attack stance.
"Oh, you're on!" Sora replied with a competitive smirk.
"Sonic Blade!" Both combatants dashed at high speeds at each other at the same time as they performed their shared Sonic Blade technique. Thrusting at each other at sonic speeds several times.
At the Observation room.
The teens were in awe as they saw this clash of the same move performed by two different people.
"Amazing, their attacks are the same. Strife-sensei is Sora's mentor alright." Eijiro said with a hyped grin. He and the others saw how Sora and Cloud clashed techniques at blistering speeds.
Back at the match. Sora and Cloud thrusted at each other one last time and when it happened, Sora was pushed back and when he stopped he saw Cloud diving at him in a plunging attack.
However, Cloud saw a barrage of black flames coming at him, which forced him to dodge in mid air to avoid it. He then landed back on the ground.
"You okay, Sora?" Sora turned to look at his partner approaching him quickly.
"Yeah. Thanks, Riku." The boy nodded in response.
"Don't mention it." Riku replied.
Both of them glanced back at Cloud as he stood straight up again, he was panting in what seems to be exhaustion.
"Hey, look! He's getting tired!" Sora pointed out with a confident smirk. Riku also smirked.
"War of attrition, wear down your enemy before taking him down." The blond swordsman said to his students calmly. "Pretty good tactic against someone stronger than you, however you can only gain the upper hand like that if you're confident that you can outlast your opponent and from the amount of techniques and spells you used I can tell you're also reaching the end of your ropes, am I wrong?" He deduced correctly. Cloud was getting tired, but so were the 'Heroes of 1-A'.
The expression of said boys turned serious at this. "Are we that obvious?" Sora asked him.
"For me you are." Cloud replied nonchalantly.
"Welp, then we gotta make what we have left count." Riku replied with a confident smile as he got into a stance.
"Yeah!" Sora did the same.
A notable smile was drawn on Cloud's face. "Then let's finish this." He then got into a stance.
And so the combatants dashed at each other, their weapons entering into a three-way swordlock. Riku created ice from under his foot, which forced Cloud to break the lock and jump back to avoid it. A huge barrage of light-infused ice came at Cloud and he decided to flee from it, he saw the tower in the middle of the battle-torn Ground Midgar, which surprisingly still was perfectly intact, he jumped to it and ran upward on it.
Sora gave chase, jumping after him and dashed after him as he ran up the walls of the 70-folded tower. Cloud shot several Firaga projectiles at him and Sora side-stepped and slashed through them. He then shot Ragnarok projectiles at him.
Cloud jumped high as he had reached the rooftop of the tower. The SOLDIER deflected all the rays of light before landing on the rooftop, a second after Sora reached it, his Keyblade glowed brightly again as he charged an attack. "Last Charge!" Sora slammed down his Keyblade into the ground generating a pillar of light, the radius of the pillar reached Cloud, sending him flying, he managed to roll to the ground before stopping, a few centimeters off the edge of the rooftop.
"Dark Break!" Cloud then looked up and saw Riku diving right above him. The SOLDIER quickly moved and casted a Reflectga barrier around himself and blocked the powerful attack, although Cloud strained a bit to maintain it and it even cracked severely! His barrier came undone and returned the force of the attack back to Riku, sending him backwards. The boy plunged his Keyblade to stop, Sora then charged at him to attack, but Cloud jumped high into the air to avoid him.
The blond swordsman raised his weapon overhead and his blue aura flared up. "Uh oh!" Sora knew what would come now.
"Get ready!" Riku shouted at him right before Cloud shot a huge Blade Burst to fly downwards at Sora and Riku. The boys jumped out of the way of the wave of energy as the slash went right through the huge tower all the way to the base and started to collapse!
Sora sky dived as rubble fell to the ground like meteors. He saw Cloud dashing at him, he slashed diagonally at him, but Sora simply vanished right in front of him. The man was caught by surprise.
"Hey Cloud! Catch this!" Riku shouted at him, he turned around and saw that Riku used Zero Graviga on a huge fragment of the collapsing tower, put together in the shape of a meteor! "Force!" Riku then swung his Keyblade downwards as he inverted the spell into a Graviga spell and increased the weight of the meteor as it flew right at Cloud!
"You serious!?" Cloud snarled as he jumped off the falling debris toward the meteor, resulting in him slicing it in many pieces like it was mere paper!
He flew at Riku and was ready to slash him, but the Silver Keyblade Master used Doubleflight to jump higher. "Take this!" He then used Raid Strike, throwing his Keyblade at Cloud, the SOLDIER narrowly dodged it. He then saw the boy smirk confidently and he realized that he was being set up! He glanced behind him and saw Sora dashing at him, he caught Riku's Braveheart in his free hand.
Cloud turned around and swung his blade at Sora, but he deflected it to the side with Braveheart and with the opening he landed a heavy impact on his torso with his Kingdom Key, without stopping the pace he continuously attack him with a dual-wielding combo before twirling both Keyblade, bringing them behind himself and unleash an double outward slash that sent him flying crashing towards the ground!
Upon impact Cloud caused big cracks on the ground, he ground in pain as he got on one knee. "Heaven Piercing Ice Wall!" He glanced forward and saw a massive barrage of ice coming at him!
The next second Riku's version of the huge glacier was formed among the heavily damaged battle stage. There the Keyblade Master stood in front of the massive ice wall he created as he let out cold vapor. But in an instant the wall was sliced apart by none other than Cloud, big shards of light-infused ice crystals dropped to the ground as Cloud glared at Riku with a level-headed frown. "Don't tell me you thought that would work?"He asked him rhetorically.
"Nope." Riku replied calmly. "'Cause that wasn't the attack." A smirk was drawn into his face before his right side ignited into an intense burst of black flames, the heat he generated was so intense that the ice around them evaporated in less than a second!
Cloud glanced around, taken aback and slightly confused until it drew on him. "...Is he gonna-?!" but before he could finish the thought Riku shouted.
"Sora!" The moment he did, Sora came out from the clouds of vapor, the tip of his Keyblade imbued in light and fire, he aimed it right at Cloud!
"Oh no!" Cloud knew what they were doing and he knew he wouldn't be able to escape.
"Shoot!" Riku ordered him as he aimed his Keyblade imbued in dark flames.
"Sorry, Cloud!" Sora apologized with a determined look on his face. Sora and Riku then shot at Cloud from opposite sides, spheres of light and dark Mega Flare, respectively, the SOLDIER reacted in time and casted a barrier on himself.
With the combination of the expanded air and the two advanced spells colliding on Cloud, the result was a massive explosion of the same proportions as the one they caused in the Sports Festival, only this time the shockwave went unrestrained, extreme and violent winds and debris flew everywhere in a very wide radius. Sora was sent flying until he plunged his Keyblade down to stop himself as Riku was being dragged backwards through several ice barriers as he himself was within his Dark Barrier, struggling to maintain it.
Cloud was sent flying through several buildings and when he did, his barrier crumbled and he impacted painfully and harshly on the wall surrounding the city replica, the cracks were so big that that part of the wall crumbled along with Cloud, ending up buried in debris.
The blond man rose up again, although with a notable stagger. His body hurt alot and he then coughed into his fist, he saw that he had caught out a small amount of blood onto his left hand. "Guess now I know how it feels like for Toshinori..." He commented calmly. He was impressed with how the Keyblade teens took the team move from Bakugou and Midoriya and made it even more effective and potent, receiving the full force from that blast was like he received an Ascension himself.
He then saw Sora thrusting at him at high speeds, the SOLDIER dodged to the side and swiped at him in retaliation, Sora reacted in time to block it with his Keyblade, both entered an intense swordlock and sparks flew. "You said that Heroes wouldn't stop at a wall like this, you're right. Heroes don't stop at any wall and guess what, Cloud? I'm breaking through it!" Sora said with a determined smile as he managed to push Cloud's sword away. He got in a familiar stance for Cloud. The man was eye-widened as he recognized what attack Sora was about to do. "Cross…!" Sora swung his Keyblade downwards, Cloud tried to stop it, but his Buster Sword was deflected and then Sora swung his Keyblade back upwards striking with Cloud's Buster Sword with enough force to knock it away from his hand! "...Slash!" Sora then landed an outward slash, completing a kanji writing in a bright gold light and thus executing Cloud's Cross-Slash perfectly!
Cloud was sent flying away, time slowed down and looked at Sora, who had a bright confident smile on his face. Cloud smirked. "Not bad, kid." He muttered to himself. He then crashed against a wall of a building, causing a dust cloud to rise up. Sora glanced as he panted heavily
Cloud groaned in pain, he tried to stand up again, however he couldn't move his left wrist forward and he heard a metallic sound, he tried to do it again and that's when he saw as the dust dissipated… "Gotcha." There stood Riku with a victorious smile as Cloud's wrist was cuffed to an ice pillar beside him.
Cloud smiled. "You did." He said with his eyes closed and head tilted down. Sora and Riku successfully 'captured' him!
The horn played. "Team Nomura and Yasue approved! All of the matches of Class 1-A's practical exams are over." And so Sora and Riku managed to pass their test and the practical exams were finally concluded. The group of teens at the observation room cheered, especially for Momo and Kyouka, who hugged each other in joy and relief.
"Congratulations, you passed with flying colors" Cloud congratulated Sora and Riku with a sincere smile.
Both boys turned back to normal as they recovered their breath. Sora held onto his knees. "See, Riku…? Told ya." Sora said in-between pants.
Riku wore a tired smile. "Yep." He replied as he also panted.
"Now I'm gonna… gonna just…. just lie here and… and rest…." Sora said as he sat on the ground and lied on his back. He let out a sigh as he closed his eyes, seemingly falling asleep on the spot out of extreme exhaustion.
"Know what…? That's not… a bad idea…" Riku did the same. Both exerted themselves to an extreme and thus dropped off like this out of soreness and tiredness.
Cloud simply swung his left arm to break the ice pillar, he stood up and teared the cuff off his wrist like it was nothing. He walked towards his Buster Sword that was nailed in the ground, he grabbed it and put it on his back once more. He approached the sleeping teens, he moved his hand forward and casted Curaga on them.
"You sure made a scene, eh Cloud-kun?" He heard a familiar voice.
"Toshinori." He turned as he glanced at his friend still in his buffed up form.
All Might approached him. "Hmm, good thing that their results won't be affected by collateral damage." He commented as he glanced at the essentially ruined Ground Midgar. "Cementoss sure would want a raise due to this."
"Sometimes you can't avoid fights against villains that will cause heavy damages to the area, the important thing is for the heroes to deal with them and make sure people are evacuated." Cloud replied casually.
"Yes. I see you learned pretty well about hero work." All Might commented to him. They didn't have much of a chance to talk much since Cloud arrived.
"Got to, I made a living out of this." Cloud shrugged. Toshinori laughed a bit.
"Now then, we should bring these shounens to Recovery Girl, you roughed them up a lot." The No.1 Hero then approched Riku and carried him over his shoulder as Cloud approached Sora.
"Yep." Cloud then grabbed Sora by his right arm and left hip before pulling him up.
"Then again, they did make you sweat a lot, even if you didn't go all out, if that were the case well… we would be having a different conversation." All Might commented. Cloud just hummed in response.
Both men looked up and saw some heavy clouds before it started to drizzle. They carried Sora and Riku out of Ground Midgar (Play Hollow by Yosh, FF7 Remake ending theme)
As drops fell on a soft drizzle, it can be seen as All Might and Cloud walked toward the Center Plaza carrying the unconscious forms of Sora and Riku.
"Almost there, Sora. We're almost there." Cloud said to Sora, even if he was asleep and limping as his feet were being dragged by Cloud. The SOLDIER assured his grip on the boy as he and All Might walked towards the building.
"Cloud…" He stopped dead in his tracks as he heard a voice, a soft, assuring voice. He looked behind him hoping to see a certain woman, only for there to be no one.
"What's wrong?" All Might noticed this.
Cloud's face turned a little sad before shaking his head. "It's Nothing. Just hearing things." He replied with his usual cool expression before resuming the pace.
The sun was setting, the day was finally drawing to a close.
Recovery Girl had applied her quirk on Izuku, Katsuki, Sora and Riku after they all were brought to the temporary infirmary.
"T-thank you, Recovery Girl…" The very battered and tired emerald child thanked her. He was lying on a bed upside down with his butt sticking up for obvious reasons, beside him was Kacchan lying unconscious on another bed. beside their beds were Sora and Riku lying in another pain of beds sleeping deeply, if Deku wasn't feeling as sore and exhausted as he was, he would be more concerned for his otherworldly best friends.
Curiously enough, while Deku and Kacchan's heads were facing downwards, Sora and Riku's were facing upwards, kinda like a mirror image, even Sora was lying on his chest like Deku was and if his eyes were open he would be looking at his butt.
"All Might, don't you know how to hold back?" The old tiny nurse asked him angrily as she approached him. "If you punched them harder, they would have permanent damages. Most of all Midoriya's back. I almost couldn't heal it" She scolded him bucking his right thigh in her syringe-shaped crane as he coughed. "*Sigh* Bakugou won't wake up for a while. For now, they should rest." She added as All Might kept coughing. Cloud stood beside him with his arms crossed.
"Hai, we will…" Izuku said to her in understanding as he glanced at Sora beside him, although he only could really see his back and rear before he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
"And you, Omnimerc." Recovery Girl then glanced angrily at Cloud. "You were too brutal on these two over here, honestly it baffles me how they weren't sliced into pieces with your over the top attacks back there. On top of that you almost crushed their ribs along with their organs, even with your healing magic, they still had fractures and organ damage." She ranted as she bonked her crane on his leg, but Cloud didn't even flinch and remained calm.
"They're tough, they took some of the worst things not even seasoned pros took. They'll be fine." Cloud replied cool-headedly.
"Seriously though, their level of endurance and pain tolerance is comically absurd. They just took a terrible beating that would kill those at the very top and here they are just sleeping like babies after it." The nurse commented as she looked at the sleeping Keyblade Wielders, it was crazy that after all that, they are asleep due to overexhaustion once again.
"That's the Keyblade Wielders for you." Cloud replied casually. "They are lucky and very special." He added as he glanced at them. "And hey, they also gave me a beating back there." He added as he rubbed his chest, it turned out that his ribs were also cracked and suffered internal damage, but he patched it up with a healing spell.
"Serves you well, Anyway, they will be out cold for a while as well so let's just let them rest." Recovery Girl concluded as she walked past the two men.
All Might glanced at his successor in his sleep.
"You became so strong that I almost don't recognize you, Midoriya-shounen." He softly told him before he turned to look at Bakugou. "And this shounen too… Bakugou-shounen. Because you smile in front of a wall." He said to the explosive teen, even if he couldn't hear him.
"Yep, they're pretty good, Deku here is a lucky kid too." Cloud said to him as he stood right beside him. "And they can become even stronger, especially because they have them." He then glanced at Sora and Riku. "They'll make them grow stronger and stronger, Deku will need it the most." He added.
"Yes. They can become stronger, the Keyblade Wielders too." All Might replied to him. "Sora-shounen and Riku-shounen grow stronger by the day, they have the potential to become some of the strongest Heroes, strong enough to defeat any threat in front of them and I could not be happier that they will be there for Midoriya-shounen when he needs them. They'll be stronger than me and you, as their teacher I couldn't wish for more than that." He added as he glanced at the otherworldly heroes, knowing in his heart that they will surpass him one day, just like his successor, the thought brought him great relief and assurance.
"They'll have to work hard to reach that goal, they're still long ways off, but as long as they keep going like this, they'll make it." Cloud replied with a serene face. "Sora and Deku. It's not just Deku that gains a lot from Sora, he gains a lot from him as well, both will become stronger together." He added with certainty. "And if the darkness tries to take Sora, I'll be there with everyone else whose hearts were touched by him." He was concerned with the brief moment in which Sora was overtaken by his rage, but he knew that the people that connected with him will never abandon him.
"Yes, they will." All Might agreed with him. "You know, Cloud-kun? I've been thinking about it lately, but I believe that there is a reason for all of this, why you and the Keyblade Wielders are here in this world." He commented with seriousness in his tone.
"Ah, yeah? And what do you think that is?" He asked him with slight curiosity.
"I believe that Sora-shounen, as Symbol of Peace from his world, came to this one with the purpose to guide Midoriya-shounen, helped him become the next Symbol of Peace of this world as well as to drive back the darkness from the other world. Riku-shounen is here to help him and make sure he remains true to himself, a piece of his home in this world, a tie back home." He said to him with a solemn voice, he believes that this is their reason to be here, their mission in this world.
"Hmm." Cloud glanced at the Keyblade teens. "Maybe that is, maybe it was their destiny." He commented as he crossed his arms. "And why do you think I'm here?" He asked his friend.
"Well, for the longest time you've been haunted by your past and struggling with your demons, but ever since you arrived here you became better, as a warrior and a man. I think you came here for that, to grow past your grievances and finally put an end to your enemy, Sephiroth." The legendary Hero told his otherworldly friend.
Cloud wore a tiny smile. "You know, Toshi? I think you're right, I know when next I fight Sephiroth, it'll be the last time and I'll be able to truly put it all behind." He said to him with certainty as he looked at his right hand before clenching it into a fist.
All Might nodded "It still unnerves me that he didn't act yet as far as we know." He added.
"Yeah." He nodded. "But I don't think he allied with All for One or the League of Villains, it wouldn't be like him, so it's a given there." He explained.
All Might nodded in understanding. "I know that you will be able to stop him before he causes a major calamity." He said to Cloud with certainty. "Also, I believe that you're here to help Sora-shounen." He added.
"Help him?" Cloud asked, arching an eyebrow in confusion.
"Yes, as his teacher is your job to guide him and nurture him so he will achieve his goal. There is no greater joy for a teacher than to see his student succeed and I know that you're fond of Sora-shounen, it's because of him that you came to U.A after all, so by all means I think that your meant to help him grow stronger if the fact that he mastered your Cross-Slash in the first attempt is anything to go by." All Might said to him with his ever present grin.
"Well that did surprise me, Sora is very talented. As you said he has the potential to be one of the greatest heroes of all time." Cloud replied, crossing his arms. "I guess I could give him a hand. How hard can it be?" He glanced at Sora's sleeping form.
All Might chuckled. "Well teaching is actually harder than it looks like and this is just your first day, but don't worry my friend you'll learn the ropes of teaching very quick." He said as he patted him on the back.
"Hmph. Hopefully I won't be as bad as you." He replied with his usual sassiness.
"Ha! Glad to see that you're still you, Cloud-kun." All Might replied not one bit offended by Cloud's snarky comment, he's used to those. Cloud wore a smirk on his face as he tilted his head to the side.
Knocks were heard on the door. "Excuse us." The door opened and there were Ochako, Tenya, Shouto, Tsuyu, Eijiro, Momo and Kyouka.
"Ah, you came to see your friends. I take it, come in and good thing you didn't make a fuss." Recovery Girl greeted them as the group walked in after thanking her, although most visible tensed when they saw Cloud being present.
"...I think they fear you now." All Might sweatdropped when seeing the obvious look of fear in the faces of most of the young ones.
"Meh, they'll get over it." Cloud replied uncaringly.
As expected from both of them, Kyouka and Momo approached the beds in which Sora and Riku were sleeping in as the others were being told that they, Midoriya and Bakugou would be fine, that they just needed rest. Ochako wanted to approach Deku's bed, but felt conflicted about it with a certain phrase in her head that just made her not want to.
Sometime passed and Sora and Riku slowly woke from their sumbler, only to both end up receiving a tight embrace from Momo and Kyouka respectively while the others rushed towards them.
Both Keybladers figured that they were brought to the infirmary and the others came to check on them out of worry if they saw their match, they can tell that the girls hugging them were worried sick if they were they held them in their arms as if not wanting to let go was anything to go by, although they were hugging them a little too tight as their bodies still feel sensitive, so it actually hurt a little.
Obviously Tsuyu told them to lessen their grip as she saw that Sora and Riku were straining a bit. Momo quickly let go of Sora and apologized to him a lot, Kyouka did the same and apologized slightly bashfully.
Both just shrugged it off with warm smiles, the others then approached to receive words of praise from passing and the cool, but really dangerous fight, especially from Eijiro who was as hyped as hell, enough to not mind that he failed his exam.
Overall, their friends were happy that they passed and that they were alright, especially from Momo and Kyouka.
Sora and Riku noticed that Deku and Kacchan were still passed out, not that they blamed them, they had it as bad as them, but they were not as durable so they were in a more battered state. But they knew they'd be alright, Sora made a nod to congratulate them when they wake up.
Sora and Riku came to understand that while they are strong, they still have a long way ahead of them, there will always be a great obstacle ahead to face and thus they must be ready for when the time comes.
A lot of things happened. Some learned about their weakness and took a step forward. Others learned what was needed to be a Hero… Others crashed against a big wall… Some learned from their own impotence… Others advanced with a new objective… With these bittersweet feelings, the Final Exams ended.
At the League of Villain's lair…
Tomura sat on the table of the bar as he looked at the three pictures of the brats that had gotten in his way.
"Tomura Shigaraki, do those boys, Izuku Midoriya, Sora Nomura and Riku Yasue, give you curiosity?" Kurogiri asked him.
A dark corridor opened and from it came Luxu. "We're back, hope you didn't miss us." He greeted them with his usual cocky grin as Giran also came out from the portal. However, only Kurogiri turned to look at them, Tomura still had his gaze fixed on the pictures in his hand.
"Shigaraki-san… They don't stop talking about you lately." The shady businessman said to him with a sinister smirk as he held a cigarette in his right hand. "I heard that you're starting something big-" His comment was cut off by Shigaraki.
"So? Who are they?" The decay villain drily asked as he wrinkled the pictures in his fist, causing them to disintegrate.
"Straight to the point I see, alrighty I'll bring them in." Luxu commented casually, still smirking as Giran just smirked. Luxu walked back into the dark corridor and came back out with two people and the portal closed.
"So it's you. I saw a photo of you, but in person you're gross…" One of them was a young man with black spiky hair, the most disturbing thing about him was that he had what seems to be burned skin on his arms, lower half of his face, ears and even under his eyes. He also had piercings on his chin, on the line between normal and burned skin on the lower half on his face all the way to his neck and both eyes, giving them a look of being staple paper and also on both ears. His tone was flat and his turquoise eyes were cold, he wore a very subtle smirk.
"The hand guy! You're friends with Stain-sama, right? Lemme join the League of Villains!" The other one was a teenage girl with blond hair fixed into buns with strands standing out, her eyes were amber and cat-like, her cheeks had a blush that seemed fixed for whatever reason and she had sharp fangs. She wore a beige cardigan over what might be a typical school girl uniform shirt going off the rest of her attire. While one might say she is cute, and it's not a wrong statement, there was something unsettling about her. Her voice was shrill and childish and she seems excited about wanting to join the league.
The League of Villains will act for a third time and each time they are stopped by the Heroes, they return stronger and a certain ancient Keyblade Master is in this world to make sure it happens as dictated by the passage of fate itself…
To be Continued...