Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories
Chapter 4: Castle Oblivion part IV
Sora groaned silently as she leaned against the wall of yet another floor, before sliding down into a sitting position. "Ugh...everything just feels so weird." she muttered while rubbing her face with both hands.
'I've gone through seven levels so far, and I just feel worse and worse each time.' she thought to herself while letting her arms fall to either side.
The girl then tilted her head upward, while letting out a heavy sigh. 'I've made tons of progress in gaining more power, yet I feel terrible each time.' Sora continued, closing both eyes as she attempted to try and clear her head.
'Though, since I still remember all my friends from the island...and everyone I've met along the way, I can sort of count it as a 'win'.' she claimed inwardly in a soft sigh, yet her eyes soon opened when the ever so brief image of a young blond girl flashed through her mind.
She wasn't sure if she was imagining this however, as she couldn't recall the image once it was gone. Sora then shook her head while simply looking up thoughtfully, continuing on with her previous train of thought. 'But on the other hand, being alone for this long has started getting to me. Just like it did in the Realm of Darkness. And they definitely know that, otherwise, I doubt Axel would have given me all the cards needed to reach the twelfth floor.' she mused, slowly pulling out one of these blue cards from her pocket.
'While I've used this time alone to boost my power and magic. It's seriously starting to get harder and harder to keep focused. I haven't felt 'this' alone since...well...since the island was destroyed.' the brown-haired girl thought as she flipped the card between her fingers.
Despite accidentally dropping it on the floor a few times, she just picked it up and continued to flip the card around. 'At least I think so...there are so many things I've forgotten that could have been even worse than 'that'. Though...I kinda hope not.' Sora continued, shaking her head briefly.
After a few minutes, Sora's gaze eventually moved toward the double doors on the other side of the room. Her eyes slowly narrowing, as the apprehension to continue seemed to hit harder and harder with each floor. But knowing that she needed to keep going to reach the end, led for the girl to stand to her feet. "Well...I guess I should push on." she uttered out, doing a few quick stretches before heading toward the door.
'I have been feeling less and less tired after each floor, so it does seem like I've managed to hit some kind of balance for growth. I just hope I don't forget something or someone truly important.' Sora thought in a very worried manner as she briefly recalled the now blank image of someone she didn't recognize.
With another quick shake of her head, the brown-haired girl then opened the doors as the card in her hand vanished. Upon stepping through, Sora then found herself simply coming out to the next floor. As she glanced around, this one actually had a short set of stairs that led to another hall. Which provided a better feeling of an actual upward progression. Though, the teen was merely grateful for the slight change in scenery, as nearly every other room was identical to the last. While they did get progressively more well lit, this stopped after the third level.
But as she walked forward, Sora also noticed that she still didn't feel tired after the fight. This making her nod slowly, knowing that she was still progressing better than what she had during her first journey. 'Looks like even when I forget things, I can still learn from the experiences.' she thought to herself, stepping up to the top of the stairs.
Upon which, a large circle of darkness suddenly appeared a few meters in front of her. In seeing this, the teen just sighed heavily in relief as she didn't care whom it was at this point. The individual that appeared though, was a slightly older teen girl with blonde hair and cyan-colored eyes. Her yellow locks were slicked back and reached around her jaw in length, yet they had two long strands styled in a very antennae-like manner. The girl's clothing was similar to that of the other two Sora had encountered, however, her coat fitted closer to her form and the boots held semi-high heels.
"Hello there~!" the blonde announced in a highly mocking way as she waved her hand.
"So how is the little heroine doing, huh? Behaving like a good girl?" she continued, her voice keeping up the same tone.
Despite all this though, Sora just stared at her silently for a few seconds before smirking lightly. "Huh, you guys are a pretty diverse group." she muttered silently, making the blond raise a brow in question.
"What?" she all but demanded, sounding a bit more confused.
"Oh sorry...I've been kinda by myself for a while now, so having someone suddenly show up was a bit surprising. Plus your force of personality was something I wasn't entirely expecting." Sora responded sheepishly while scratching the back of her head.
"Not to say that's a bad thing. In fact, it just makes you even more memorable to those you meet." she added quickly, obviously trying to compliment her.
Hearing this simply made the older teen raise a brow, before rolling her eyes. "Whatever." was all she uttered out.
"So...what's your name?" Sora questioned curiously, tilting her head to the side.
"Hmph...well if you must know, the name's Larxene. And I'll be your babysitter for the next few levels." the blond responded as she then took on a small, yet sadistic grin.
The brown-haired teen raised a brow for a moment with a blinking gaze; "Why would you need to babysit me? Don't I already have enough cards to make it to the twelfth floor?" Sora asked while resting one of her hands on her hip, but never truly dropped her guard.
"Maybe you do, but Axel seems to be letting you relax too much...so I'm here to kick things up a notch!" Larxene declared as a surge of electricity coiled around her hands briefly.
"Really? I was kind of enjoying the relaxation to be honest." the younger teen muttered, yet she moved into a more defensive stance while summoning her Keyblade.
Larxene simply chuckled before producing four dagger-like weapons from either hand. These being rather oddly shaped, yet they all shared the same yellow and blue coloring. She then crossed her arms to form an 'X' and grinned widely at the brown-haired girl. "Well it's about to come to an end!" she claimed before vanishing from sight.
"So try not to die before I've had my fun." the blonde whispered directly in Sora's ear, to which the teen's eyes narrowed whilst swinging her weapon at Larxene.
However, this attack hit nothing but air as the blonde seemed to have disappeared again. In seeing this, the younger girl immediately ducked, allowing a swinging kick to pass over her head. Larxene blinked briefly in surprise before grinning once more, to which she then lept and flipped into the air. Her avoiding a burst of fire from Sora's free hand, all while throwing the four daggers from her right hand. All but one of these knives had intentionally missed the teen, with the fourth being deflected off the girl's Keyblade.
The moment these other three weapons stabbed into the floor, a large surge of lightning crackled and spiraled upward. Of which became more and more dense before turning into an actual pillar of electrical energy. This completely engulfed the teen, as the sounds of her pain-filled groans could just barely be heard over the roaring lightning. With a smile curling her lips, Larxene just turned her back to this bright light and let out a huff. "Hmph...how boring. So much for the 'great' Keyblade Master." she hummed out in a mocking tone.
As the lightning finally died down though, there was a faint metallic sound heard from where Sora had been standing. Upon turning around, Larxene's eyes widened slightly in surprise as the teen looked mostly unharmed. Yet the small hole in the floor in the shape of the Keyblade's tip, was enough to figure out what happened. Sora used her weapon as a grounding to disburse the lightning into the floor, reducing the damage she took from the attack significantly.
"Well...aren't you the smart one." Larxene muttered with a clearly annoyed voice, to which she resummoned her four thrown daggers.
Immediately after doing so, she then threw all of her weapons toward the teen. Each one sparking with massive amounts of lightning magic, to which Sora quickly moved to the side in order to avoid most of them. However, the blond seemed to be one step ahead as she brought three of the knives back into her right hand. At the same time, she had moved directly toward Sora with blinding speed. Larxene then stabbed these electricity-coated daggers toward the younger girl's stomach.
Just before impact, they stabbed into a Reflect spell. Despite shattering immediately after, it still provided Sora just enough time to move out of the way and grab the blond's wrist with enormous strength. This shocking Larxene once more, as she looked down to the teen's hand with widened eyes. "What the-?!" was all she managed out before Sora delivered a swift jab into her ribs.
The blow knocking the air from the older teen's lungs, causing her to drop the daggers onto the floor in a series of clatters. Instantly following this, Sora then headbutted Larxene on her forehead. While the attack knocked the blond back and against the opposite wall, both girls groaned and clutched at their heads. Even with the understanding this was a fight, they couldn't help but whine slightly in pain.
"Jeez! What is your skull made out of?!" Larxene demanded as she looked to her opponent from under her own hand.
"I could ask you the same thing!" Sora called back in a huff as they both took a few moments to get over this daze.
"Can we just agree no more of 'that'?" the blond stated with a light shake of her head.
"Definitely...no one wins with a headbutt." the other teen responded in a sigh as the two once again moved into a battle-ready stance.
"Alright...it's time I finished this, before you give me any more surprises." Larxene claimed while summoning all her daggers in both hands.
She then slowly gained a powerful yellow aura as Sora could only hold her Keyblade at the ready. Within the blink of an eye, the blond threw two of her daggers at her foe and then lept into the air. While the brown-haired girl managed to block these attacks, four more daggers were already coming toward her from above. Conjuring a large amount of fire magic around her weapon, Sora swung upward toward these knives.
As the lightning mixed with the fire, it created a series of small explosions that allowed for the small blades to change direction ever so slightly. As they passed over the teen however, Larxene had landed on the wall behind her. With a confident smirk on her features, the blond then pierced through the air and stabbed her two remaining blades at Sora. Whom was only able to turn around in time to catch one of the older teen's wrists. The other finding its mark in her shoulder, before immediately sending wave after wave of lightning through her body.
Sora gasped for a moment before letting out a yell of pain. Her eyes closed, while her body began convulsing and shaking from the electricity. It being clear that Larxene had won, as her smile quickly turned into a sadistic grin. However, as the blond continued to shock the girl, she quickly began to notice that Sora's grip on her wrist was tightening. It increasing in strength until it was extremely painful, yet she didn't stop in her efforts to knock the teen unconscious with enough of an electrical shock. "Just go down already!" she growled out in aggravation while wincing from the pain in her wrist.
But in a single moment when Sora's eyes opened and locked with Larxene's gaze, the older teen just stared in shock and confusion. As what she saw, were not the blue orbs the girl normally had. These eyes were gold with slit-shaped pupils. Yet what truly startled Larxene was the fact that there was no more pain in Sora's features, despite the fact that the amount of lightning continued to build. With a heavy glare, the brown-haired teen then let out a loud battle cry.
Instantly after this, a sudden burst of power echoed outward from between the two. This knocked both girls against opposite walls, to which they simply slumped onto the floor. With a few groans of pain though, the pair still managed to pick themselves up after a moment. As they did, the two looked back to one another with a narrowed gaze. Larxene however, was now gazing at the normal blue eyes of Sora. "Did I imagine it?" she whispered silently to herself in a confused tone.
"Imagine what?" the brown-haired girl asked, letting out a few deep breaths as she was feeling a bit more tired than before.
At the same time though, she also felt a surge of energy flowing through her. Yet she simply figured it was because of the leftover lightning magic. Her then looking to the wound on her shoulder, only to find that it was no longer there. The dagger having been knocked away during the blast, as it stabbed into one of the walls on the lower leveled floor. "Huh...weird." she muttered, before swiftly turning back to her foe.
But as the two stared at one another, they both quickly turned as a circle of darkness appeared to the side. Soon after, Axel stepped through with his arms crossed over his chest. "I told you not to break her." he stated in a somewhat firm tone while looking at Larxene.
Whom just huffed and turned to the side; "Whatever...I knew what I was doing." she claimed before slowly looking to Sora once more.
"I took it easy on you, just remember that!" the blonde called out in a near huff before she vanished into a dark corridor.
Axel sighed heavily while shrugging his shoulders; "I told her to come to me if she had an objection to my methods." he said while crossing his arms, turning his gaze to the brown-haired teen.
However, the girl's brown locks didn't appear to be one solid color. The roots on the top of Sora's head looked to be silver in hue, yet with a quick blink, they were back to the usual brown. "Weird." he hummed briefly before clearing his throat.
"Anyway...having fun yet?" was all he asked as a small smirk curled his lips.
Sora simply rolled her eyes, yet couldn't help the smile on her own features. "Oh, most definitely." she said in a sarcastic manner, but still ended up chuckling together with the red-haired man.
Reworking this fight was one of the big reasons why I wanted to redo this whole part of the story, as I feel like the hints for certain things should have been much clearer. And if you're wondering why 'they' activated during the fight, the constant shock of electricity provided a very brief 'spark' in a sense. But it still wasn't enough, nor would it actually work fully.
