Riku Meets Rikku
yukito the NM Syndromer
mewprout@yahoo.com
y.NM.S: Okay, I think the last chapter could've been better, but right now I can't really think of anything creative, and I feel like I don't have any inspiration. I hate not being at my best when I write stories, but I also hate not updating at all. So, here's an attempt at a decent chapter.
Arigatou minna! *more huggles* I appreciate all the encouraging words, really. Oh, and Yuna's outfit is from FF X-2, go to www.rpgamer.com or www.rpgfan.com if you haven't heard. I'll try to make the chapters longer from now on, promise.
Okay, on with the story!"
Riku: Finally!
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Riku was out of bed and standing in the living room of Yuna's simple house, waiting. The Heartless were organized creatures, they surely wouldn't gather here in such large groups for no good reason? What did they want?
Riku tried to remember. There were lots of Heartless when the door of Destiny Islands was opened, although they seemed more interested in attacking Sora than they had in inspecting the pale door. There were always Heartless where the door leading to the heart of the world resided. So was it here, in Yuna's house?
"Riku?" The silver haired boy spun at the quiet voice. Rikku was huddled by the hallway, shivering. "Those things… Heartless, are back."
"I know." He sighed, sounding more weary than annoyed. They looked like average Shadow Heartless, not a threat, but he was sick of fighting. He turned back to the hallway to see that Rikku had gone. Oh well. She'd be less likely to get hurt if she didn't try to jump in the fight. Riku opened the door to step outside and eliminate the monsters lurking outside, when Rikku joined him again, strapping the Godhand on her wrist.
"Didn't think I'd let you go alone, did you?" She tried to flash him a cheerful grin, but just ending up looking scared. Riku sighed.
"Fine. Don't expect me to protect you."
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There were about twenty Heartless in all, Riku counted. He'd faced bigger groups before. He charged straight into the midst of the group, slashing one clear in half and kicking another away. He glanced up briefly to see the Rikku was faring better than expected; she was actually killing some of them.
That's when things went from good to bad.
Out of the corner of his eye, Riku saw six of the Heartless standing in a circle, twitching their antennae at each other. Beating away more of the snarling creatures of Darkness, he turned to face the others. Their antennae twitched faster, and then looped around the others, tying them all together. They sunk back into the floor again, and the splotch on the ground turned ruby red. Then, slowly, a horned head rose from the ground, followed by a body and four long, clawed legs. The newly formed Nidhogg Heartless roared and lowered its head, looking like a bull getting ready to charge.
"Watch out!" Riku raised his hand, pointing at Rikku. "Shield," he muttered, and a wall of impenetrable wind covered Rikku, right before two Heartless leapt to attack. She, too, had obviously been paying more attention to the morphing Heartless than the fight. The Nidhogg rammed into Riku and sent him flying, but he was back on his feet quickly. He once again raised his hand, but this time brought it down in a swift motion.
"Thunder!" The sky rumbled and numerous bolts of electricity coursed from the sky, frying the Nidhogg as well as the remaining Heartless Rikku was fighting. The Nidhogg reared back on two feet, and exhaled fire at the two, seeming to be uninjured. "That's impossible!" Riku back flipped out of the way, landing in a crouched position.
"Why isn't it dying?!" Rikku shouted.
"What's going on?" Yuna stood by the door. The Nidhogg turned and stared at the still sleepy Summoner. More Heartless appeared around it, ranging from Soldiers to Invisibles. They stood as still as statues, never looking away from Yuna.
"Summoner." Several raspy, deep voices called out. "Summoner, summoner." They began chanting, and the Heartless started to advance. Riku felt his Keyblade become unsure. The Heartless seemed to be completely fixated on Yuna. Riku slashed a Soldier in half and watched as it vanished in a poof of swirling vapor, but the others kept coming, the dying Heartless's cry of pain. Riku took Yuna's hand, and pushed her before him.
"Run!" he yelled over the deafening chanting, "Something's not right!"
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The three began running through the tropical jungle of Besaid, with Riku bringing up the rear, slowing down anything that caught up to them.
"Where are we going?" Riku called up to the two girls.
"Somewhere where we should be safe," Yuna replied.
Well, they knew this place a lot better than he did, Riku decided. If they thought there was a place they would be safe, then they would go there. In the distance, he saw a faint light shining through the trees. As they crashed through the forest, he saw the light was caused by several blazing flames. There were eight fires, each a different color, circling a raised platform that had odd pictures etched onto it.
Rikku whispered, awed, "Where is this place?" Yuna didn't answer, but moved to the center of the display and started performing a sweeping dance, not unlike her Sending. Riku watched, mesmerized. This area held a lot of different energies, he felt overwhelmed by the power. He inspected some of the symbols etched onto the platform.
The first, a bat-like creature with long hair pulled back and clasped with a metal barrette, the second was a fire-red hellhound. The third looked to be a unicorn of lightening, with silvery bolts of electricity coursing around it. The last one Riku got to look at was of a graceful woman with delicate blue skin, a chilling aura about her.
"It's done." The voice cut through his thoughts.
He looked up to Yuna, who had stopped dancing. "Excuse me?"
"It's done," she repeated, "the Heartless shouldn't be able to reach us now." Riku somehow doubted that they could possibly be kept safe by a dance, but decided not to voice his opinions. He wouldn't have gotten a chance to, anyway.
A bloodcurdling howl ripped through the air, and he spun to come almost face to face with three more Nighogg Heartless. They trained their vicious yellow eyes on him before charging….
And running straight into an invisible barrier. Riku blinked, slowly sheathing his Keyblade in its otherworldly dimension before cocking his head to the side and grinning, amused by the Heartless's futile attempts.
"I guess we should be okay here."
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The night was almost over, and still they hadn't left. They couldn't, they were surrounded by what would have looked like an endless sea of black ink. Rikku played tic-tac-toe with Yuna in the sand, glancing up occasionally to glare and stick her tongue out at the Heartless. Riku sat, alert, staring into the mass of Heartless. He felt something was going to happen, and he wanted to be prepared.
The Heartless had been calling out to someone for the last few minutes, in a way not unlike how they had called to Yuna. The Keyblade kept shooting warning signals into his head, telling him to watch out.
'Something is heading this way,' it intoned, 'Be careful.'
He froze, and gradually looked up to meet Rikku's wide terrified eyes as she started past him. Yuna was half sitting and half standing, obviously confused by something and trying to come to a decision. The violet haired Keyblade master stood and turned to face whatever they were so frightened of, only to see someone he wouldn't have expected.
Himself.
A dark version of himself stood just in front of the army of dark creatures. It had his hair and looks, but something was horribly unsettling about this ghost figure of Riku. His eyes shone a deep yellow, and a maniacal grin stretched across his face, giving the impression of insanity. Rikku whimpered and pointed to the shield Yuna had set up.
"Look."
Tiny cracks spread across the transparent wall. The pseudo-Riku raised his hand and pressed against the wall. It shattered. The Heartless surged forward and surrounded them, so close the three could almost suffocate, before backing off.
The Riku image stood before them, glaring into Yuna's eyes. He held out his other hand, as if expecting her to give him something. Dark light pulsed from his palm as he formed a dark red Keyblade, similar to Sora's. Riku (the real one) rushed to his feet, parrying a blow meant for Yuna's heart.
"Get away!" He yelled, trying his best to ward off the potent attacks.
Rikku faced the dozens of Heartless, and rummaged in her pocket. "Please be there, please be there…" she whispered to herself before grinning triumphantly and drawing a small cylinder. She twisted a small knob on it and hurled it clear into the midst of the enemy. A few seconds passed before an earth shattering explosion destroyed most of them, via Rikku's tiny bomb.
"The petite Al Bhed cast a worried look over her shoulder before grabbing Yuna's hand and running while the Heartless were still confused. Riku grunted as he used all his strength in just blocking the slashes his other self produced.
"You…" A small voice broke his concentration, and he was cut across the shoulder and thrown back. Some Soldiers moved forward to hold him down.
"You are the reason I exist," the voice got louder and Riku was startled to find it was his pseudo-self that was talking. "It's your fault." The maddening grin didn't cease as the dark Riku raised the Keyblade, prepared to end Riku's life.
'I was no one.'
Dark Riku did not get to finish the attack, as he was swept off of his feet by a blast of rainbow colored energy. The Heartless were disappearing around him, vanishing in swirls of smoke. A mighty dragon, with glittering scales the color of purple landed behind Riku. On his back rode Yuna and Riku.
"Hurry!" a deep, gruff voice commanded. Riku didn't bother wasting time to ask questions, and leapt onto Bahamut's back. The dragon king flapped him large wings and shot off into the sky.
Pseudo-Riku had since regained his composure, and stood watching them fly away. One Shadow came to inform him that they could still catch up.
"No." He answered. "Return to Sin. I will get them later." As the Heartless sunk back into the ground, he faded out of existence.
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"Who is this?" Riku stared down at the purple dragon.
"I am Bahamut." It answered! Riku jumped and yelped, and Rikku giggled at him. "I would have preferred to leave you there, if the Lady Summoner and her cousin had not insisted. I didn't want to bring any creature that has connections to the Darkness." Rikku ceased giggling.
"Huh? What does that mean?" She looked over to Riku, who ignored her questions and stared off into the sky. She shrugged and sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. Riku blushed and glared at her.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm tired. That's all." She shifted to look at Bahamut's face. "Where are we going?"
"To someone who can explain all of this," was the dragon's only reply.
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Phew! Chapter turned out okay; the plot thickens and we see what might be the beginnings of a beautiful relationship between Riku and Rikku. If anything was confusing, then say so in a review and I'll try to clear it up next chapter. If you can't read the text at the end, it's in leet and says, "No one has come." Okay, I'm gonna get started on chapters for my other stories. Ja ne!