I'm back after a long hiatus, thanks to my last laptop breaking and having to get a new one, so I'll work on a few chapters of this story to catch up on it while also trying to tune up on the re:route stories. Please pray for me that it can work out.
Chapter 6:Test of trust
(one day ago, before Sora arrived at Gessen academy)
"A boy with a key shaped sword, I know I've heard something like that before…" Yumi said to herself as she sat at a table in the dimly lit library of Gessen academy with a book in front of her, a journal that belonged to her late grandfather. "I believe you have the answer, grandfather…" She said as she opened an entry from fifteen years ago.
"The strangest guest had arrived at my doorstep today, and he brought a young boy named Ventus for me to look after for a little while, and he is barely responsive at all." The voice of Yumi's grandfather spoke in her head as she read the journal. "Apparently, young Ventus had gone through a dramatic ordeal and Eraqus needed someone to watch over the boy until he recovered enough to return back with him and was apparently led to me as a reference. To help me understand the whole situation, Eraqus gave me a special piece of history, something that explains that Ventus is quite an important child." The entry explained before Yumi's attention changed to another book with the emblem of a key on the cover that the ninja girl picked up and opened and found the contents inside both interesting and frightening .
"What is this?" Yumi questioned as she came across a passage in the book titled, "The keyblade war".
(Gessen academy:ninja room, present time)
"Hmm…" Yumi grunted to herself as she thought back to what she read about the keyblade war and couldn't stop thinking about Sora's connection to it, that he was one of the people who nearly ended the world. But part of Yumi knew it wasn't Sora's fault since the war happened hundreds or thousands of years ago, long before the boy was even born. But Yumi couldn't shake that Sora could make the same kind of mistake as she sat atop of the rafters looking over the ninja room, waiting for the right moment to jump down as she watched Sora enter the room with a toothbrush in his hand.
"*Yawn*This place is more of a maze than Hanzo, and it's just to find the bathroom. Well, at least I haven't walked in on any girls."Sora said to himself before an object flew down from above and knocked the toothbrush from his hand, which turned out to be a kunai that lodged the toothbrush into the floor. "Hey! Who killed my toothbrush?!"
"Hah!" Yumi shouted as she hopped off the rafters and dove downward at Sora with one of her fans drawn as he summoned the star seeker keyblade to his hand to block her attack before jumping backwards when she swiped at him with her fan.
"Are you still trying to get me to leave? Because I feel like you still don't want me here, AHH!" Sora yelled in surprise as he ducked to avoid Yumi's thrown fan that ended up cutting a set of samurai armor in half, slightly scaring Sora. "I'll take that as a yes…"
"I know there's no getting rid of you right now, I just thought I'd see how sharp your reflexes are. They're not bad…" Yumi said as she caught her returning fan and Sora raised an eyebrow.
"Seriously? You made me think you've nuts for a minute, just to see how good I was?" Sora questioned.
"I think you would if I was actually trying to kill at least…" Yumi said as she put her fan away. "The search and destroy mission is in an hour, I expect your preparations will be done by then."
"Yeah, sure thing, lady." Sora said as he dismissed his keyblade before a question came to mind about Yumi's prior knowledge of the keyblade. "Hey, Yumi. How did you know so much about the keyblade before I said anything?"
"Depends…Why do you wish to know that?'
"Well, Kiriya knew I was from another world right away himself, but I'm guessing it's because he's a bit on the old and wise side. I just wanna know if someone told you." Sora answered as Yumi sighed and crossed hands before deciding to answer.
"My grandfather had met one of your kind over a decade ago. Another warrior of the keyblade you wield, named Eraqus." Yumi explained as the name sounded familiar to Sora.
"Hmm, you know…I think my own master, Yen Sid, talked about Eraqus before. Can I ask where your grandpa might've met him?" Sora requested as Yumi shot him an angry glare.
"My grandfather, Kurokage, has already passed away." Yumi said with venom as Sora flitched from her angry tone.
"Oh…I'm sorry. I didn't know…"
"You wouldn't. You're just supposed to be someone passing though. Instead you're interfering with our world's order, which could end in tragedy." Yumi stated as Sora was taken back by her icy cold word and watched her turn and leave the ninja room.
"...Maybe you're right, Yumi. But it could end even worse if I just left." Sora said to himself as someone snuck behind him.
"Heya, Soraing!" Shiki greeted as Sora became startled.
"Ahh!" Sora shouted as he jumped back and summoned his keyblade again.
"Whoa, calm down. It's only us." Yozakura assured as Sora lowered his keyblade.
"Well Yumi just decided to get the jump on me, so the rest of you just gave me a heart attack." Sora said as he dismissed his keyblade once more.
"Sounds like Yumi was putting you to the test,and it would seem you have passed." Murakumo stated.
"Oh goody. She's into pop quizzes, ones that could cut me to pieces…"
"Don't worry about it. Yumi's a nice person when you get to know her after a while, she's just super serious when it comes to training." Minori explained as Sora and the Gessen girls walked over to the kitchen counter at the edge of the ninja room. "That's why I always like to play games instead."
"Well, I don't think she'll anytime soon. I just asked about her grandfather and she got mad, because I didn't know he was gone…" Sora explained what happened earlier between him and Yumi while the ninja girls all suddenly had sad looks on their faces (Including Murakumo underneath her mask) which the keyblade wielder noticed. "I guess you all know what's going with that."
"We do, more than anyone…Master Kurokage raised Yumi after her parents passed away, including the rest of us when the same happened." Yozakura explained.
"So that means…You're all adopted sisters or something like that?"
"Well, in a way, yes. All of us actually had shinobi as parents, so it should be expected when in combat and dangerous missions. When it happened to all of our parents, Kurokage was the one who stepped in for us."
"None of us would be here today if it weren't for him…" Murakumo commented.
"And we miss him everyday too…" Minori said, sadly as Sora was starting to feel guilty for asking Yumi about her grandfather.
"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have brought him up. I just wanted to know how Yumi knew about the keyblade in the first place." Sora apologized.
"Nah, it's totally okay. You would've found out about him anyway." Shiki said as positively as she could, but still showed hints of her own sadness while Yozakura decided to stand up from the counter.
"Well, no use wallowing in sadness right now. We have a mission to get ready for, and we shouldn't keep Yumi waiting too long." Yozakura said as she walked to the back of the counter and placed an apron on.
"Sounds good to me. The sooner we get out there, the sooner I can take care of those heartless for you, girls." Sora said.
"I am quite eager to see you fight, because you are just what I need to break through my writer's block. So be as heroic as possible!" Murakumo exclaimed as she got close to his face, making the keyblade wielder back up a few inches.
"Uh…Sure, I'll try my best."
"Hey, Soraing? Think you can tell me more about that totally off the hook outfit you wear? I think I'll find one like it for myself." Shiki requested.
"Oh, sure. I'll tell you all about it. Also, Sora-ing? I think you mean Sora or soaring." Sora pointed out.
"Oh no, I mean it like that, it's my cute little nickname for you. I give one to everyone I know. Right, Minnow?" Shiki asked the pig tailed girl next as an example as Minori was taking a bite out of a large lollipop.
"Yuh-huh! Shiki's got a nickname for everyone!" Minori agreed as she was about to take another bite of her lollipop, only to have it taken out of her hand just as she made her bite.
"Minori, how many times have I told you? No sweets in the morning, you'll ruin your appetite." Yozakura scolded as Minori smiled innocently like she didn't do anything wrong.
"Huh, Yozakura is the team mom." Sora noted.
"You can thank raising twelve brothers and sisters for that. Becoming a shinobi hasn't changed that part of me at all." Yozakura said as she turned the stove on and began cooking curry on the pan she had on while Sora smiled at her last statement.
"You know, I think you're all more like family than you might think." Sora said as he waited with the Gessen girl for breakfast, all while Yumi was far on the other side of the ninja room, watching the scene with the others unaware while the icy shinobi sighed.
"Grandfather, can I trust this boy?" Yumi said as she looked up towards the ceiling, hoping for an answer. "He might be what Gessen needs right now but…I can't help but fear him…"
(Snow field)
(Music: Frozen wonderland)
After wrapping up preparations for their mission, Sora and the Gessen ninja girls left the academy towards the snowy training fields the shinobi in training at Gessen use and were coming under attack by apparently unseenable heartless. Now Sora and the ninja girls were standing on a bridge in the middle of a frozen lake to discuss their plan.
"According to the students who were attacked, the spears that erupted from the ground appeared around this area. Yet, we have not found any evidence of the enemies." Yumi stated.
"Just like the last couple of times we've checked out this area.A whole butch of nothin'..." Yozakura said, annoyed.
"Sounds like whatever we're looking for is really good at playing hide and seek!" Minori said with her childlike innocence.
"Except this game is life or death! It is also the perfect chance to see what kind of heroic character Sora might be!" Murakumo said in excitement as she and the Gessen girls turned to see the keyblade wielder at the end of the bridge, shivering while standing near a pile of sticks he gathered and igniting his keyblade with a fire spell.
"Come on, come on, come on!" Sora begged as he poked the pile of sticks with his flaming keyblade, and caused it to burst into flames. "YES!" He shouted in victory, which was short lived when a snowy wind blew out the flames on his keyblade and the pile of sticks. "Oh, give me a break!"
"It would seem our hero can't handle the cold at all." Yumi commented.
"Hey, I'm an islander, the cold is my natural enemy! I'm gonna take every chance I can to get warm."
"I guess that says alot about you and me then." Yumi said as Yozakura put a hand on her shoulder.
"I don't think that's what Sora meant at all, Yumi. I think he means the weather." Yozakura assured Yumi to keep her calm before turning to the keyblade wielder. "So, Sora. You're the expert when it comes to these heartless, what can we do to find them?"
"Hmm…Well, the fact that they keep going into hiding is a bit surprising, since they're after the hearts of people. Normally more people would bring out more of them." Sora said as he crossed his arms to think about the situation before he thought of something. "How many of the students are attacked at a time?"
"At least a pair at a time." Yumi answered.
"Hmm, maybe the heartless are trying to lure whoever comes here into a trap, but when too many people show up, that's when they decide to hide."
"Like, for real? Wouldn't it make more sense to wait for more people instead?" Shiki questioned as Sora shrugged.
"It kinda does make sense since Gessen academy is full of shinobi, unlike Hanzo. These creatures seem to like to swarm their prey with numbers since so many appear at a time." Yozakura said.
"Then our underground foes must only be a few then." Yumi agreed.
"Yeah, but they might also be tougher to fight as well." Sora guessed before he saw a flash of black out of the corner of his eye, and a quick look to see a mysterious coated figure walk down a path, which escaped the notice of the Gessen girls. (Was that organization XIII? Guess Yumi really did see one of them…)
"Hey, Sora? Are you still with us?" Minori's voice brought the keyblade wielder back to reality as he turned to see the Gessen girls all staring at him.
"Oh, sorry, I had something on my mind. So, does anyone have any plans to catch the heartless? I'm up for anything."
"Well if you must know, I suggested that we split up into pairs to find the targets. But if they can sense if multiple people are nearby, we are going to need a new plan." Yumi said.
"I hate to say it, but maybe only one of us should go ahead and find them." Yozakura suggested.
"Unfortunately, Yozakura. You might be right, it could be our only option right now…"
"Seriously? Just leave one of us out in the open for some monsters to attack? Like, that's totally crazy! Who would even take that job?" Shiki said before the ninja girls heard footsteps walking away and they turned to see Sora walking in the direction of the organization member he saw.
"Are you going somewhere?" Yumi questioned.
"Well of course. You said having one of us go out there was the best idea, and the heartless alway usually come after me. I just was saving us the time of choosing me." Sora explained as Yumi had her eyebrows raised, which Yozakura noticed.
"Come on, Yumi. He's kinda right, Sora might be our best shot at finding those heartess things. He's the expert, so we should trust him on the decision." Yozakura said as Yumi kept a blank and quiet face. "Don't tell me you don't trust him as bait either."
"No, I was merely deciding that you are correct, Yozakura. Our keyblade wielder here might be the best choice after all, but not without something to keep track of him." Yumi said as she took a small cylinder-like object and tossed it to Sora.
"What's this?" Sora asked as he looked over the strange object.
"It's a shinobi beacon, it's a flare that only shinobi can see. So even when you set it off, only we can detect it, and not any more unwelcome guests." Yumi explained.
"So don't forget to pull on it when you find the enemy." Yozakura said as Sora put the flare away in his jacket.
"Alright, sounds easy enough to remember. So thanks for the gift,I call you guys when I've found the heartless." Sora said as he turned to continue walking down the snow path.
"Be careful out there!"Minori said as she was waving.
"Save some of them for us! I totally gotta take pictures of those things!" Shiki requested.
"And remember to be inspirational! I need it!" Murakumo yelled as Sora looked back to scratch his cheek at her comment before moving forward while Yumi and Yozakura watched the scene.
"Think I made the right choice trusting him now, Yozakura?" Yumi asked, unsure of her decision to let Sora go ahead.
"Of course. Sora's being selfish by going ahead and making sure it's safe for us, he's really concerned about our safety. Is someone really so dangerous be such a big help?" Yozakura questioned as Yumi turned her head to hide her unsure face. "You actually seem to be feeling pretty guilty about sending away someone you want to get rid of so bad.
"Strange, isn't it? I don't want him here at Gessen, yet I seem hesitant about letting him leave…"
(Meanwhile, with Sora)
After splitting up from the Gessen girls, Sora followed the path he saw the organization XIII walked down, hoping to not only to find out what the follower of Xehanort was doing, but also to find any heartless along the way. So far, Sora wasn't having luck with either.
"Come on, heartless. I'm out here, on my own, and completely vulnerable." Sora said as he looked around the area, hoping to catch some sight of the creatures of darkness. But all he saw was the endless amount of snow around him. "That's just weird, usually the heartless are all over me by now, like I'm sort of a celebrity." He said as the scene to Sora sitting at a table and signing a piece of paper with an autograph.
"Next!" Sora said as he handed the paper to a shadow heartless with a baseball cap on its head as the view panned out of a long line comprised all sorts of heartless of various shape and sizes before the scene switched back to real time to Sora looking around for any clues or disturbances in the area.
"Come on, I'm practically begging for something…" Sora said as he continued to walk around and wait before he nearly stepped on the first real clue since setting off, human footprints in the snow that weren't his own. "Gotcha…" He said to himself before following the footprints in a straight direction towards a nearby fenced in ridge, and at the end was a figure in a familiar black coat that was looking over the edge of the ridge.
(Music: The 13th discretion)
"Now what are you up to, pal?" Sora questioned as he hid behind a rock to watch the organization member before a corridor of darkness opened up next to him as another organization member walked as the first one pulled off his hood to reveal himself to be Vexen.
"Do you have it?" Vexen asked the other still hooded member.
"Oh yeah, well at least I think I did." The organization member said, who was clearly Demyx underneath the hood as he reached into his pocket to pull out a red orb and handed it to Vexen. "That is what you need, right?"
"Yes, but I could've sworn I asked you to retrieve as many as you could, not just one!"
"Hey! Those yoma things are nasty business like the heartless! So I did get as many as I could!" Demyx argued as Vexen face palmed.
"Grrggg…It'll have to do for now. I still need one of those scrolls to test my theory, the only problem right now is to take them from one of their guardians." Vexen said.
"Yeah, that's not happening now that I've caught you guys." Sora said as he summoned his keyblade and crawled out of his hiding place in an attempt to sneak up on the two organization members. But when the keyblade wielder made a few steps forward, he suddenly felt movement in the snow beneath him before a long object shaped like a spear narrowly missed him. "AHH!"
(Music: Miracle on ice)
"What?!" Vexen exclaimed before he and Demyx turned their heads to see Sora standing nearby.
"Ahh! Him!" Demyx shouted as he pointed at Sora.
"I knew leaving heartless out here while looking for yoma would help, but I didn't expect we'd be alerted to the boy! We're leaving, now!" Vexen ordered Demyx as he vanished into a corridor of darkness.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Demyx yelled as he was also about to vanish into a dark corridor.
"Wait!" Sora shouted as he ran forward to stop the organization member from leaving, only to be blocked when several winter horns appeared in his path, allowing Demyx to escape into the corridor of darkness. "Right, forgot the whole point of coming here was to find you guys." He said before another spear emerged from the ground.
"*Whine!*" The winter horns bellowed as they tried to ram Sora with their horns, which he dodged and was about to counter until more spears erupted out of the ground to stop allowing more of the other heartless to try and attack him.
"Ahh! I can't fight at all with this big mess! Ahh!" Sora yelped when another spear exploded out of the ground near him, allowing another opening for the winter horns to try and ram him. "Okay, let's try taking care of the obvious problem." He said to himself as he blocked the antlers of one of the heartless before rolling out of the way, just as another spear emerged from the ground.
"Fire!" Sora shouted as he shot a fire spell at the spot where the spear erupted, causing the snow around the spear to melt and expose more of the strange object. "Fire! Fire! Fire!" He repeated a few more times to shoot more fire spells at the ground and melt more snow, while causing the group of winter horns to back up from the flames until the source of the underground attacks finally decided to emerge in a burst of snow to reveal itself to be a large dragon like skeleton with the heartless emblem on its head dubbed "Frost Serpent."
"So it was you, huh?" Sora questioned as the frost serpent spun its two claws like drills and charged at Sora and slammed to a nearby rock, which the keyblade wielder saw as an opportunity. Unfortunately, when Sora was about to attack, a familiar sharp object emerged in front of him to block his path.
"Huh?" Sora questioned as he backed up, wondering if the frost serpent was using its tail again, only to be excluded when another spear popped up behind him. "More of them?" He questioned as the keyblade wielder found himself surrounded by the winter horns again. As Sora tried to think of another way out, he suddenly remembered the shinobi beacon he was given earlier.
"Oh right! The flare!"Sora said as he took out the object, only for a winter horn to knock it out of the keyblade wielder's hand and into the air. "Hey!" He shouted as he swiped his keyblade at the heartless that just stole from him and destroyed it before running after the flare while more winter horns were chasing after him, along with frost serpent tails as well,including the original frost serpent winding up it's claws again and charging at Sora, which he was hoping for as the boy hop over the frost serpent's claws to jump on its head and used it as a launch pad and propelled himself into the air to grab the flare and pulled on its string, allowing the projectile inside to launch into the air and exploding in the sky to create a kanji symbol.
"Yes!" Sora exclaimed as the other frost serpents decided to emerge from the snow as well, but also to emerge pairs of wings as well to fly into the air to chase after the keyblade wielder and attempted to take bites at him while Sora was in freefall, which he dodged by twisting his body before grabbing onto one of the heartless' tail and propelling himself forward the frost serpent's head.
"Pack it up, because it's time for a crash landing!" Sora exclaimed as he grabbed the head of the heartless and forced it to turn into the other frost serpent, causing them to crash and begin falling out of the air and back down into the snow with a hard landing while Sora hopped off the creature safely while the frost serpent he was riding was quite upset.
"*Roar!*" The frost serpent angrily roared at Sora before the keyblade ended up in the hollowing monster's mouth and a fireball was set off inside and caused the heartless to be melted from within and destroyed.
"You shouldn't speak with your mouth full." Sora said, wittily before turning around to see the rest of the heartless in the area, which seemed to have increased in numbers with many more winter horns and the other surviving frost serpent he caused to crash earlier. "Still outnumbered and outmuscled, now what?"
"*Whine!*" One of the winter horns bellowed as it and a few others jumped into the air in an attempt to tackle Sora, only to be swiftly destroyed by a familiar flying fan.
"I could've sworn you claimed you were capable of handling this." Yumi said as Sora turned around to see her and the other Gessen girls standing on a ledge behind him.
"I also remember that I was asked to leave some for the others." Sora reminded the icy shinobi.
"He's got you there." Yozakura stated with a bit of a chuckle.
"Enough daddling." Yumi said as she and the other Gessen girls took their transformation scrolls. "Ready?"
"Shinobi, transformation!" All the Gessen girls exclaimed at the same time and their scrolls began glowing and unrevealing, causing their clothes to vanish( And Sora to look away) As Yumi's and Yozakura's shinobi outfits appeared while Murakumo wore armor with a spear and cleaver in hand, Minori with a yellow dress and hamster backpack while holding a pail and Shiki wore a skimpy bustier suit with a witch hat and a dual sided scythe as her weapon.
"Let's wrap this up!" Sora said as he got back into his battle stance while Yumi walked up next to him.
"I'd appreciate it if you don't give orders to my squad." Yumi said as the remaining frost serpent dove into the snow to convert into its grounded form.
"The big punk is mine!" Yozakura said as she held her gauntlets ready just as the large heartless spun its claws into her, only to be held back by her strength.
"Guess we'd better step it up, or Yozie is gonna make us look bad." Shiki said as she, Murakumo and Minori jumped into action while Shiki jumped into a horde of winter horns that tried to ram her, only to be easily evaded before the shinobi tossed her scythe like a top at any heartless that crossed its path. "Sorry, but the ice on the antlers doesn't work for any of you!" The witch like shinobi said as she spun her scythe in a circle around her body to destroy any heartless that surrounded her.
"Hah!" Sora grunted as he swung his keyblade down on a winter horn before quickly turning around to slice at another heartless until more spawned in front of him, surrounding him on one side and were about to engage with the keyblade wielder until Minori suddenly jumped on the back of a winter horn like a horse.
"It's playtime!" Minori exclaimed with a smile as the winter horn she mounted began to panic and trashed in an attempt to throw the girl off, only to no success as Minori was able to hold on while she was enjoying herself. "Hahahaha!"
"Whoa! What are you doing?!" Sora questioned as he watched the scene unfold.
"I'm playing shinobi of course! I also thought I would play with the horsies while I'm at it." Minori explained as the winter horn she was riding began bucking and kicking the other heartless in its panic. "Am I doing it right?"
"Well, you're not doing it wrong…" Sora said with a sweatdrop while Yozakura came into the scene with the frost serpent she was wrestling with by bursting from underneath the snow when the heartless tried flying back into the air, only for the gauntlet wearing shinobi to jump above it with her fist ready and dove downward into the head of the heartless and destroyed it with a powerful punch that shook the ground when Yozakura's fist made contact with the earth.
"What did I miss?" Yozakura asked as the frost serpent faded under her and Sora pointed at Minori still riding a winter horn.
"Hahahaha!" Minori continued to laugh as the heartless kicked other heartless before she lost balance and the winter horn tumbled over and was destroyed. "Aw, I broke it…" She pouted as the remaining heartless began to converge around her.
"I should go take care of that. You should go see if anyone else needs help, like Murakumo." Yozakura said before she dashed away to help Minori while Sora turned to see the masked shinobi standing in front of a confused looking frost serpent with a notepad in her hand.
"How very exciting, you creatures come in all shapes and sizes, don't you? I might have to make a few adjustments when I add you to my comic, would renaming your kind "Soulless" be alright?" Murakumo asked the heartless before it tried taking a bite at the masked girl, only for her to easily jump over the attack and dove into the heartless' back with her spear to impale it before Murakumo took out her cleaver and chopped the frost serpent in two down the middle and destroying it. "Well, I'm doing it anyway." She said before a group of blue rhapsody's manifested nearby and shot icicles at Murakumo, most of which she dodged except for one that knocked off her ogre mask and revealed her fair skinned face.
"A-Ah, oh no! M-m-my mask!" Murakumo said in a higher and nervous voice before collapsing to her knees and trying to cover her face, unaware that the blue rhapsodys had surrounded her and about to shoot icicles at her before some were suddenly shot down by several fireballs from Sora.
"Hey, snow cones! Over here!" Sora shouted to get the heartless' attention as they shot more icicles at him which were avoided when Sora slid underneath the hail of ice before tossing his keyblade upwards at the floating heartless which bounced off the blue rhapsody's before Sora called back his weapon to perform a rising attack into the air to destroy a few heartless with a sweeping attack that he landed afterwards. "Murakumo! You're free to fight back now!"
"I-I-I c-can't! The whole world can see my ugly face!" Murakumo cried as she continued to cover her face with her hands before quickly peeking between her fingers to look at Sora. "Ah! You must think I'm a horror to look at as well!"
"She's got some issues to work out…" Sora said with a sweatdrop before noticing Murakumo's mask in the snow nearby and picked it up to toss in it the ninja girl's direction. "Here, catch!"
"Ah!" Murakumo yelped as she caught the mask and placed it on her face.
"Thank you, now if you'll excuse me…" Murakumo said in her deeper voice before taking out her spear and cleaver, just as a blue rhapsody materizeled behind her, only to be run through by Murakumo's spear as more heartless appeared around her, only either sliced apart by her cleaver or spear.
"Okay, looks like the girls are doing alright." Sora said as he looked around to see everyone fighting without trouble with Shiki outmaneuvering the heartless with swings of her scythe and swarms of bats she summoned while Yozakura crushed the creatures of darkness with powerful punches from her gauntlets and Minori was playing swinging around a large weight the smacked the heartless that came near her and Murakumo called a pair of wolfs that hunted down any heartless. But while Sora was busy observing the fighting, a winter horn appeared behind him and jumped at the boy to attack, only to be destroyed by a flying fan.
"Should you be paying better attention to your surroundings?" Yumi asked as Sora looked behind him to see her catch her fan. "I swear, you haven't been paying attention to any of the lessons you were receiving at Hanzo academy…" She said as a frost serpent suddenly burst out of the snow behind her with a roar as she could only turn around to see the heartless come at her before it was destroyed by a quick blur like something ran through it which happened to be Sora after transforming into limit form.
"You were saying? I think you still need a touch up, yourself." Sora joked as he slung the keyblade over his shoulder which Yumi made a smirk of amusement.
"I guess you do have a few redeeming qualities." Yumi said as many winter horns and soldier heartless materialized around her and Sora. "Shall we dance?"
"Though you'd never ask." Sora responded as two soldiers performed twirling kicks at the keyblade wielder's back, only to be dodged easily when Sora backflip over their attack to slam the keyblade down on one before smacking the other soldier away as a winter horn tried to ram Sora, only him to catch the heartless by grabbing it by the antlers with his keyblade and tossed it away while a soldier jumped on his back. "Hey! Get off!" He exclaimed as he tried to shake the heartless of him before a certain fan struck the soldier off him.
"Thank me later…" Yumi said as she caught her fan on return before tossing it again at several winter horns that passed though the heartless with clean slices while Yumi took out her other fan and swung it to create a blast of icy wind at some soldiers and blew them the edge of a cliff as more jumped at the ninja girl and tried swiping at her with their claws, only for Yumi to call back her still flying fan and used both together to create another gust of wind that blew back the soldiers as the fans began to spin in the air.
"Secret ninja art: Black ice!" Yumi exclaimed as she shot out a large ice lance from her fans at the heartless that struck a dozen of them and froze them in a web of ice.
"My turn!" Sora announced as he shot forward with a high speed lunge into the ice and caused it to crack upon impact, which was then followed up with an arcing uppercut with the keyblade, causing the ice to shatter and destroyed several heartless while a few more where send flying upwards into the air and began falling.
"Here's another!" Sora announced as he swung the keyblade upwards to generate a pink crystalline dome with ripple drive and destroyed the falling heartless, which impressed Yumi by Sora's ability to adapt to his surroundings.
"Quite impressive, he does seem to be experienced in fighting with quick thinking." Yumi noted before noticing several large body heartless had materialized in a circle around Sora and all used the snowy environment to slide on their large bellies in an effort to ram Sora together. "Look out!" She warned before using her fans to create a circle of ice that froze all the large bodies before they could run over Sora.
"Thanks for the save, again." Sora thanked as he then stomped the ground and released a spherical burst of energy with stun impact to destroy the frozen heartless surrounding him and limit form wore off. "I'm starting to think you like me after all."
(Music ends)
"Don't flatter yourself just yet…" Yumi said as she looked around to see the rest of the Gessen girls gather together with no more heartless in sight. "Is everyone well?"
"No issues here, Yumi." Yozakura stated as she dusted her hands with her gauntlets still on.
"That was pretty fun!" Minori said with a smile.
"I'm just bummed that I couldn't get any photos." Shiki said while Murakumo was writing at high speed on her notepad.
"I'm having a storm of ideas for my next comic! I hope we fight those monsters again soon! Because I think my writer's block has been erased!" Murakumo exclaimed happily before two frost serpents suddenly erupted out of a nearby snow bank and took off into the air.
"We got a couple of runners. Should we do something about that?" Yozakura asked as Sora stepped forward.
"Well I'm taking any chance of them causing trouble later." Sora said as he aimed his keyblade upward and began building up energy on the tip of it for ragnarok, which was a bad idea in Yumi's eyes.
"Wait! Hold on!" Yumi objected which was too late as Sora already fired off the bolts of energy into the air after the frost serpents and struck both in an explosion that resembled fireworks.
"Wow! Very pretty!" Minori said in awe as Shiki was taking pictures and Murakumo was taking notes again. While the Gessen girls were watching the shower of fireworks, Yumi suddenly grabbed Sora by the shoulder and pulled him aside.
"Whoa! What's the matter?" Sora asked when he noticed Yumi seemed to be angry again.
"That was reckless! If those monsters were any closer to the mountain, the explosion from your attack could've easily caused an avalanche and damaged the school!" Yumi scolded.
"Hold up. I don't see Gessen anywhere." Sora said as Yumi then pointed down the cliff as Sora looked to see Gessen academy off in the distance. "Oh…Now I see it…"
"It would you have too much to prove for yourself and it causes you to be reckless."
"Yumi, calm down. He only wanted to make sure those creatures didn't hurt anyone if we let them go. He was only thinking of everyone's safety." Yozakura defended Sora's action as Yumi ignored her and turned around to walk away.
"Our mission here is complete. We should let the other students know the training field is safe again." Yumi said as everyone watched her leave.
"I guess I was a little reckless back there, I kinda forgot we're on a mountain. But you think things between me and her would be a little better." Sora said.
"Gessen academy is ours and Yumi's home. If anything happened to it, she'd be devastated." Yozakura reminded Sora.
"Guess I still need to learn a few things if I'm fit in here then. Gessen is a lot different from Hanzo academy…"
"I think you're fitting in pretty well, Sora…" Minori said.
'Yeah, you already won us over. Yumi's gonna start liking you sooner or later, Soraing." Shiki said.
"Indeed, this is a trial of trust! Most heroic protagonists go through this test to gain an important ally and the next step in their journey!" Murakumo exclaimed dramatically as everyone just stared at her in awkward silence.
"Okay…I'll hold you to that advice. Anyone else wanna go back?" Sora asked as the Gessen girls nodded in agreement.
"That's a great idea. We should go back to rest and get cleaned up for later. You never know when duty will call again." Yozakura suggested as the whole group began walking to follow the same path.
(Gessen academy: Girls showers)
After clearing the training field of heartless, Sora and the Gessen ninja girls returned to the academy to rest up while the girls decided to take showers to clean up and the Yumi was the first one in as she went ahead of everyone else, leaving her alone with her thoughts as water poured over her from the showerhead.
"Maybe I was too hard on him...He did seem to have everyone's best interest at heart." Yumi said to herself, regretting how harsh she was to Sora.
"You sound like you wanna say sorry." Yozakura's voice spoke up as Yumi turned her head to see her walk into the shower stall next to her as the hometown girl turned on her own shower.
"I'm just very conflicted. I know he seems to be our best chance at defending the school, but I can't help but feel like he's just as dangerous to Gessen."
"What? Because of some old story? Sora's clearly nothing like whatever you might've read, he's too nice to hurt anyone. If he's gone overboard, it's because Sora cares."
"He doesn't need to showboat though…" Yumi commented.
"Haha. Yeah, he can show a little off a little too much. He might not have a girlfriend and he's trying to impress us." Yozakura laughed which Yumi couldn't help but smile at the joke.
"Hehe…Alright, I give the boy another shot. We still need him after all, but I can't promise I'll be happy if he makes another mistake like today."
I think all Sora wants is a chance to get you to trust you anyway. He's not asking you to marry him or something like that." Yozakura joked as Yumi made an unamused face.
"Don't joke about that! I-I don't think I could marry a boy like him away!" Yumi said as Yozakura chuckled at her friend's embarrassment while the two girls continued to shower for a little while before finishing up and leaving the girls showers in bathrobes together.
"So, Yumi. What are we gonna do now?" Yozakura asked as the girls walked into the ninja room.
"I was thinking we'd plan our next course of action first. Along with any training we should catch up on as well."
"How about lunch first?" Sora asked as Yumi and Yozakura turned to see the keyblade wielder at the kitchen counter with six plates lined up with futomaki rolls on them.
"Oh wow! Asuka gave you some of her grandfather's rolls for the trip?" Yozakura asked as she and Yumi sat down.
"Uh, actually, I made these myself from what I remember seeing master Hanzo make them. I think I did a pretty good job for the first try." Sora said with a prideful smile that was quickly undermined when the stove behind him suddenly burst into flames before a female ninja appeared to put out the fire with an extinguisher and then quickly left while Yumi and Yozakura raised their eyebrows at the boy. "Okay, it took at least five tries to get it right…" He confessed as the two girls took bites out of the sushi rolls and seemed to be satisfied.
"These are pretty good for your first, uh fifthish attempt." Yozakura said as she took another bite.
"I'll admit, these are pretty good. But Asuka's and her grandfather's are definitely superior." Yumi noted.
"Well, I already knew that. So need to tell me." Sora said as Yumi remembered her earlier guilt of what she said to Sora after fighting the heartless.
"Listen, about what I said earlier…I understand that you were only making sure that the enemy wouldn't be a threat in the future, but you could've seriously done damage to the school yourself."
"Yeah, I understand you, Yumi. No need to pull on my ears…"
"Let me finish. It's true that you are the best chance we have at keeping these monsters from destroying Gessen academy and keeping the students inside safe. So I'm gonna put my trust in you, for now." Yumi said sincerely which took Sora by surprise considering her earlier attitude towards him. "So I hope at the very least you can complete the mission you were given as a start to gain my favor. Otherwise, I'll continue to deem you a problem for us."
"All I want is a chance to prove myself and for you to trust me. I will get rid of the heartless attacking the school, and keep you and your friends safe." Sora promised as Yumi nodded in agreement.
"I'll hold you to it…" Yumi said as Sora smiled at her, however as soon he did, Sora's appearance was replaced with a blonde boy making the same smile.
(Music: Ventus' theme)
"Ah!" Yumi sighly gasped as a memory from her childhood surfaced.
(Flashback: 15 years ago)
Some years ago, Yumi, as a child was sitting down at a bench underneath a sakura tree playing with one of the fans she would use in the future, opening it and closing it before hearing a door nearby open and her curiosity lead her to standing up and moving towards the noise to see her grandfather, Kurokage talking to a man in a white robe at the front door to the ninja room while a teenage boy with blonde hair stood in the back near the door who had a blank expression with eyes that had no life in them. Concerned for the older boy, Yumi waited for the Kurokage and the other man to walk away before she decided to approach the catatonic boy.
"Excuse me, are you okay?" Yumi asked, but the boy didn't answer, but instead did lift his head up to acknowledge the young girl. "I'm Yumi, what's your name?"
"...Ventus…" The blonde answered quietly while giving his name.
"Oh, you can talk. I'm glad."
"Yumi…" Ventus repeated the girl's name as if he was making sure he was able to remember it.
"Are you here to train? Does my grandfather know that man that was with you?" Yumi asked as Ventus' formly blank expression began to turn into strain. "Are you a shinobi, too?"
"Ahh…" Ventus gasped as Yumi noticed his pained expression before the boy hunched over and gripped his head. "AHHHH!"
"Ah! What's the matter?"
"Yumi! What happened?!" Kurokage's voice called out as Yumi turned around to see her grandfather and the white robed man return.
"I don't know! I…I was only asking this boy some questions." Yumi explained, worried she might be in trouble as the unknown man was checking on Ventus.
"Young girl, Ventus cannot tell you anything…" The man said as Yumi turned to see Ventus had fallen unconscious in the man's arms. "...Because he cannot remember anything…"
(Present day)
"Yumi?Yumi!" Sora called out to snap Yumi out of her trance as she regained composure.
"Yumi, you okay? We lost you for a minute there." Yozakura said.
"I'm…I'm fine. I was just remembering something from long ago…" Yumi said, which Sora may have had an idea of.
"Hey, could it have anything to do with master Eraqus? The keyblade master that your grandfather met?" Sora asked.
"I believe it did. But…I also remembered something else about their meeting, something I've haven't thought about in just as long…"
"What is it then? Something important Sora might need to know?" Yozakura asked.
"No, it may actually be someone…You see, Eraqus brought with him a boy named…" Yumi said before the door to the girls' shower suddenly opened with the other three Gessen girls, Murakumo, Minori and Shiki all strolling out in bath towels instead of bathrobes like Yumi and Yozakura.
"Oh goodie! Are those futomaki rolls?" Miniori said.
"Omigod! I think Sora might've cooked them, that's totally boyfriend material for sure!" Shiki said.
"What are you three doing?! Put some clothes on, there's a boy here!" Yozakura exclaimed as she pointed at Sora whose face was bright red at the sight of the barely dressed girls.
"I got more here if you for the rest of you…" Sora said as he stared while also bringing out more sushi rolls.
"It'll be fine, I have perfect towel control!" Murakumo boasted while Yozakura sweatdropped.
"Sure you do…" Yozakura said.
"I don't care if those towels are attached to you, please put some clothes on!" Yumi pleaded which fell on deaf ears.
"But we wanna eat now!" Minori said.
"Yeah, decency can wait." Shiki said as both her and Minori sat down, but the second they did, the top of their towels began to slip off and caused Yumi to panic.
"Ah! No peeking!" Yumi shouted as she quickly pulled her fan to blow a gust of icy wind at Sora and froze him from head to toe and caused the boy to fall behind the kitchen counter just as Shiki's and Minori's towels fell off their bodies.
"Ahh, you froze Sora again? He's not gonna like that." Minori said.
"And how could the two of you not care that he was about to see the both of you completely naked?!"
"Sorry, we were just so used to not having a boy here that we felt a little comfortable. Besides, I don't think he would take pictures or get handsy like Kitty kat would, so unfreeze him and throw him a little bone." Shiki suggested.
"She'll unfreeze Sora, but only after you all put some clothes on. Now please go!" Yozakura said as Minori and Shiki put their towels back on and headed towards the changing room.
"Would that include me as well?" Murakumo asked.
"Yes!" Yumi said as Murakumo also left the room while Yozakura picked Sora up and cracked the ice with her gauntlets and freed him.
"I would've closed my eyes." Sora said as he brushed the remaining ice off himself.
"Sorry, even though we like you, you're still a boy." Yozakura stated.
"Speaking of getting decent, Yozakura shall change as well. And to make sure the others follow through with it." Yumi said as she and Yozakura then turned away to go to the changing room themselves as Sora remembered that the Gessen squad leader was going to say something before they were interrupted.
"Hey, wait a second…Weren't you gonna say something about master Eraqus?" Sora asked.
"Yes, but I think we should talk about it another time. I believe the moment has already passed…"
"You got that right…" Sora agreed as he began to clean up from making food while Yumi and Yozakura continued to walk away.
"Are you sure you don't wanna tell Sora what you know right now? It sounds like he was really counting on you to tell him something about this Eraqus person." Yozakura said.
"Patience is a virtue, Yozkaura. He can wait a little while, he should focus on his training for now then we can talk about what I know." Yumi said.
"Do you still not trust him?"
"Well, it's…" Yumi said as she stopped walking with Yozakura, who also stopped to wait for an answer. "I'm…Actually not sure if it's a matter of trust, or something else that's holding me back."
"Whatever the issue is, Yumi. I'm sure you'll get over it, you're strong willed. You can certainly be strong enough to talk to a boy." Yozakura said as Yumi smiled at her.
"You're right about that. It's only a matter of time before I say something." Yumi agreed as Yozakura then walked away before Yumi's smile then faded away.
"I can't believe I've forgotten all about him until now,grandfather Kurokage. Ventus, the boy who was my brother for a short time…"
(Meanwhile, outside the academy…)
While Sora and the Gessen girl were resting from their mission, one of the hooded organization XIII members was standing on a cliff overlooking the academy with his arms crossed, waiting for someone to arrive as a corridor of darkness formed nearby with Vexen and Demyx walking out.
"Okay, so good news, and bad news…" Demyx stated.
"Bad news first." The hooded figure said.
"Uh…Sora's here…"
"Hmmh! Tell me some actual news that isn't surprising."
"We managed to find some of those Yoma creatures, but we only managed to recover one red orb from them." Vexen reported, which didn't seem to surprise the hooded man.
"We need the power of the yin yang scrolls to harvest more. The Yoma will avoid beings like us from other worlds, and make sure we do claim the remains of their fallen allies." The hooded figure said.
"Oh yeah! Now I remember! I only got one of those orb things because the yomas that were left scooped up the red orbs! I knew it wasn't my fault!" Demyx said as Vexen looked annoyed.
"Now you tell us, you fool?!" Vexen shouted, making the sitar player flitch.
"Enough of your babbling, both of you!" The hooded figure shouted.
"Er, so do we stop the Yoma things from taking off with the things we need? Kinda feels like we're going in a circle with that." Demyx said.
"That is what we need the scrolls for. Their power will act as a beacon for the Yoma, they'll be drawn to them. Allowing us to gather as much of the orbs as we please." The hooded figure explained.
"Yes, but every attempt so far hasn't gone well for us. We've underestimated the strength of the scroll's guardians, the heartless aren't strong enough…" Vexen stated.
"So what? We use nobodies now?" Demyx asked as Vexen stared at him. "What? I thought maybe we could start using them again."
"No…We're not taking it easy on these children anymore, we can't defeat them with numbers." The hooded figure said as he removed his hood to reveal his face as a tan man with long straight silver hair and gold yellow eyes. The man was Ansem, seeker of darkness and Xehanort's heartless.
"We shall strike without mercy with our own hands!"
Journal update
Master Kurokage: A powerful shinobi warrior when he was alive and Yumi's grandfather. When he and Hanzo were young and allies, Kurokage believed in absolute justice and became a rogue shinobi to enact his vendetta against evil itself. But after his decision to take Yumi and the other Gessen girls under his care, Kurokage's will to destroy evil was replaced by the wish of the girls' wellbeing, which stayed with him until his passing.
Ansem: The seeker of darkness and Xehanort's heartless. During Sora's first adventure, Ansem attempted to open the door to darkness to gain the power of kingdom hearts, but was destroyed by Sora instead. Now Ansem has returned and is seeking the super secret ninja art scrolls for their power.
