Akurei-Shinzo: I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while! When we were installing DSL something went wrong and all of my files vanished! Sniff! Oh well, you people better review cause I worked on the last chapter for an hour and it got deleted! I'm working so hard for you guys and girls! I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any other anime/manga that appear in here, except for a few characters from some of my own series which I hope to get published! So please R&R! Enjoy!
Chapter 9: Kuro Returns
"What's going on?!" yells Yami hanging onto his seat restraint desperately. The cockpit of the Zoid was heating up at an amazingly fast rate and the whole machine shook like it was going to fall apart!
"We're all going to die!" yelped Zeero. Chibi Signal got a hold of the chocolate as soon as Zeero began to panic.
"Yeah!" he piped. "Chocolate!"
"What's going on doc?" asked Riku when he turned on the computer monitor that connected him with the doctor.
"I forgot to mention this to you," said the doctor very slowly. "The Konig Wolf is very high maintenance Zoid, it can overheat if it is pushed too hard…"
"So what are we suppose to do?" exclaimed Yami as he held on tightly to the armrests. The Zoid was becoming an oven!
"Eh…I didn't get to install the cooling equipment needed for this Zoid…"
"Then what do we do?" screamed Riku trying not to let go of the controls which felt like they were going to burn his skin. Then a few Zoids showed up on the radar, they were all zeroing in on the Konig Wolf. "What are those!?"
"Those would be Reddlers and Killer Domes," said the Doctor. "The Reddlers are the dragon like Zoids and the Killer Domes are shaped like crabs. Though they are all low level Zoids I don't think your Konig Wolf can take them on now…"
"We know that! Hey!" yelled Riku. The screen that connected them with the doctor went blank! "Now what?!"
"If we're going to do anything we'd better do it fast!" suggested Yami.
"Huh?" said Riku when the Konig Wolf's combat data showed up on it's own. "Multi-Purpose Boosters?"
The Konig Wolf gave a howl and the two small boosters on it's back (which resembled the Berserk Fury's) opened and shot a full blast of steam at the enemy Zoids. That gave them the advantage they needed to escape their enemy, it also cooled the wolf temporarily. But it soon began to heat up once more.
"Riku, I think this Zoid isn't another ordinary piece of machine," said Yami.
"What do you mean?" asked Riku.
"It's sort of like Bit's Liger Zero, it's an A.I! That's why it activated the combat data on it's own!"
"Really?" said Riku. Then to the Zoid he asked, "Is that true?"
The Konig Wolf roared as if in agreement, then Riku noticed it activated the Particle Goggles. These goggles allowed them to see hidden enemies and it provided a map of the universe, though it was still incomplete.
"Yeah!" exclaimed Zeero for the first time since he began to try to hide inside of the seat. "We're approaching Shin City!"
"I just hope we can make it!" commented Yami. "Look!"
The monitor began to flash warnings of advancing Zoids, but they came by the dozens! And all had their cannons and ammunition set on them! Shin City's door was only a few yards away!
"Come on!" yelled Riku. "You can do it!" The Konig Wolf's armor began to steam, but the stubborn Zoid gave a brave howl and activated its boosters! The door to Shin City was opened slightly, the Zoid shot the gap and the door slammed shut on the enemy.
The Konig Wolf crash-landed onto the ground, it's armor still steaming. The cockpit door opened and the gang quickly got out gasping for air while Chibi Signal complained that his chocolate had melted. The Zoid laid upon the ground, it was cooling off, but the trip had wore it down by a lot! Riku got up and stood in front of the metal wolf, before leaving to find the Keyhole Bit had told him that Zoids were alive. All of them where, they had hearts called Zoid Cores, so the Heartless also prey upon these creatures. Riku put his hand on the Konig Wolf, it gave a soft roar as if it knew what Riku was thinking. Riku didn't want this Zoid to die, he didn't want another heart to be tormented because of him. What kind of lousy Keybearer was he? He couldn't even keep this one Zoid alive.
"Growl…"said the Konig Wolf softly. Riku smiled at it.
"Don't worry," he assured the Zoid. "I won't let you die."
"Of course you won't" said another voice. Riku turned to see a short pink-haired woman staring up at him. He had met her before leaving for Planet Zi.
"Washu?" he asked. The woman winked at him.
"That's right," she said. "I see you still remember my name!"
"How ca you help our Zoid?" asked Yami standing up. Zeero and Chibi Signal were now fighting over a bottle of SAKE in the background.
"Me, Minoru, Skuld, and Ed have set up a machine shop," explained Washu. "We fix broken down machines. If we need any spare parts we asked Alita, she now owns a scrap yard."
"Alita's that android right?" asked Riku. Zeero seemed to have the upper hand with the fight over the SAKE.
"Yup!"
"Then who are the others?" asked Yami. "Are they recent survivors?"
"Sadly yes," said Washu. "Their family and friends are all hospitalized, but now let's get back to fixing up your Zoid!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"New customers Washu?" asked a twelve-year old boy. He had raven colored hair and wore glasses.
"Nah, they're just some friends of mine Minoru," said Washu. "The Keybearer I was talking about, this is him and his friends. I said we'd fix up their machine for free."
"Alright then, we can set it over there."
The hanger was full of gigantic robots, it seemed that they were all built for combat.
"These are the Gundams we are fixing up," said Ed, a young tomboy. Her dog, Ein barked happily as he hopped around the hanger.
"We're fixing them for their owners," said Skuld. "When they all wake up they can get them back without waiting."
"Wake up?" asked Riku.
"Yes, they'd lost their hearts," said Ed. The gang was silent for a moment, even Ein lowered his ears.
"It's kinda dusty he..her…here…ah…ah…achoo!" sneezed Zeero. With a puff of smoke Signal transformed once again into his previous form. The fifteen-year old Signal's hair had returned to its original turquoise color.
"Where am I?" asked Signal a bit groggy. "Why do I feel like I have eaten a lot of chocolate?"
"What happened?" asked Washu, eyes lighting up with interest.
"Uh, Signal?" asked Riku. "Why do you transform when someone sneezes?"
"When the Professor was programming me my little brother, Nobuhico (I'm not sure if I spelled that right), he's my human brother, sneezed so whenever someone sneezes I transform."
"I'd just love to run some experiment!" said Washu with stars for eyes. Signal, feeling uncomfortable, inched behind Riku.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hey," said Terriermon. "Look who's back!"
After dropping off Signal at Dr. Shuichiro's home they had decided to stop by the Tamer's shop. They were immediately greeted by the white/green bunny with horns.
"Hey Riku," said Takato. "There's someone here from another world! He wants to ask you a favor!"
"What kind of favor?" asked Riku.
"He's in the back," said Rika.
In the back room, it was cluttered with books and odd magazines filled with strange looking creatures. He was an old man wearing a lab coat.
"Ah, you must be Riku," said the old man.
"Yes, and you are…"
"Professor Oak, since you were traveling the worlds I was wondering if you could do me a favor."
"Sure."
"When my world was destroyed there were creatures called Pokemon which escaped into different worlds. Could you help me find them? I think there are 99 species of Pokemon still out there somewhere."
"Alright, I'll do my best!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"What's that?" asked Zeero looking at the red device that Professor Oak gave to Riku.
"It's a Pokedex, it's suppose to tell me what kind of Pokemon I've found," answered Riku.
"So how many do we have to find?" asked Yami.
"99…"
The gang stopped in their tracks and hung their heads low. This was no easy mission! Just then a motorcycle stopped in front of them, a woman with blue hair and in a police uniform got off and went up to them.
"Are you Riku?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"I'm Officer Jenny, we need you to come over to the hospital, there is something you should see…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Oh hi Jenny," said a woman with light pink hair. She appeared to be a new nurse here.
"Hey Joy," said Officer Jenny. "Have you seen Amaya?"
"Over here," said Amaya coming out of a room.
"What's the problem?" asked Riku.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"What happened?" asked Riku. A man with midnight hair laid upon the hospital bed in a deep coma. Where his heart was suppose to be was a black hole!
"Do you think you can restore his heart?" asked Rain, another nurse who was the friend of Domon. Domon continued to sleep, the monitor showed that he was still alive, but barely.
"Not just yet," said Riku. "But don't worry…"
The gang left Rain alone with Domon and across the hallway another boy walked out of another room.
"How are your friends doing Heero?" asked Amaya. Heero didn't pay attention to her. He just continued to walk down the hallway, after a few seconds he stopped and punched a hole through the wall.
"Does this happen all the time?" whispered Zeero as Heero turned the corner. Amaya nodded.
"His friends are all in comas," she explained. "They just got here recently, poor Heero. He is the only one left from his world."
The lights began to flicker and soon the hospital was blacked out. Within a few seconds power was restored.
"What was that?" asked Riku.
"The Heartless," answered Amaya. "They keep trying to destroy the hospital so that the coma victims won't have a chance to wake up. Luckily Professor Oak lent us some electric Pokemon, they keep us working long enough so that we can restore power."
"Why do they want to destroy the electricity?" asked Yami. "Since the victims hearts were stolen they can't wake up anyways."
"Not really, you see, the victims' hearts are not completely taken, yet. But if they completely destroy their victim then they have succeeded in taking their hearts," explained Amaya.
"So you'd better not let that happen," said a voice. Riku looked around the hospital to see who said that, but they were the only ones inside this hallway.
"Is something wrong?" asked Yami.
"No, it's nothing…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You can't be serious!" yelled Zeero. Riku had tried to summon the Keyblades later that night, but they didn't appear.
"Maybe you're just tired," said Yami, he too was worried about Riku's not being able to summon the Keyblades.
"Maybe…I'm going out for a walk," muttered Riku. He opened the door and walked into the darkness of the night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Why can't I summon the Keyblades?" asked Riku aloud to himself. He punched a brick wall but that did nothing except hurt his hand. "Why can't I summon them anymore?"
"That's because the doubt in your heart has grown," said that same voice he'd heard earlier at the hospital. Riku turned around to see a person with golden eyes standing a few feet away from him on the bridge. It was Kuro.
"Kuro? What are you doing here?" The fog on the bridge began to thicken, Kuro stared at him with no emotion in his eyes.
"I'm here to test your heart. We're beginning to doubt that you are the true Keyblade Master."
"But I already had a test!"
"Zeero wasn't suppose to help you, but that test was a bit easy."
Kuro leapt onto the railing of the bridge, the fog had thickened into a cloud. The cloud covered the river entirely. The lampposts flickered and some went out.
"What is the test?" asked Riku. Kuro smirked at him.
"Come!" he yelled jumping into the fog. Riku rushed to the bridge and looked over it. He didn't hear the splash that was suppose to be caused by the water, it was as if the water had turned into this gigantic cloud of fog.
"What do you want?!"
"Test your skills against me, if you're not strong enough then I'll know for sure!"
Riku didn't know what to do, if Kuro wanted to fight him then how was he suppose to find Kuro in this thick cloud of fog!? But something told him inside that in order to prove himself him must follow Kuro into the fog. Riku jumped onto the railing and let himself fall into the battlefield-to-be below.
"Riku!" yelled Yami and Zeero. They had come out to look for Riku when they saw him jump off the bridge into the river. They rushed over to the bridge, but couldn't jump in after him!
"Hey," said Zeero. "It looks like Kuro's around here!"
"Who's Kuro?" asked Yami
"A friend of mine, he must want to fight against Riku."
"Why?"
"I dunno, probably wants to tests his skills. The problem is we both know Riku can't summon the Keyblades now, and if Riku doesn't have any weapons when he fights Kuro….gulp…"
"What's wrong?"
"The thing is… if Kuro uses his sword then…well…let's just say it's all over!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Riku opened his eyes and looked around his surroundings, if water were still here he would have been at the bottom of the river. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a shadow leapt out of view. Riku quickly turned to see what it was.
Then realizing his mistake, he turned back around and barely got out of the way of Kuro's blade. Riku put his right arm over his stomach, crimson liquid began to leak out slowly. Kuro jumped out of view once more. Riku looked around desperately for him.
"Why do we have to fight!?" he asked
"It's the only way to tell if you're strong enough!" yelled Kuro as he appeared out of a cloud of fog. His blade managed to slice Riku's left arm. Riku winced in pain and fell over, his right hand covered the wound, but the blood still came out anyways. Riku opened one eye and looked at Kuro. He was staring at him. "You're pathetic…"
"What?"
"You should be able to sense me by now, but you're instincts are so weak you could barley dodge my lamest attacks. Either it was skill or just dumb luck, but wither way you're defiantly not strong enough for the Keyblade! Surrender it now to someone else while you still can! If you continue your quest like this then you'll let a lot of people down!"
Riku slowly stood up, blood dripping down making a small puddle on the ground. He forced himself to look straight into Kuro's eyes. No, he just couldn't give the Keyblades up! Kuro seemed to have read his mind.
"Very well then, it's your choice!" he yelled charging at Riku once more. Blade drawn and sharp.
'He's going to kill me!' thought Riku. 'If I don't do something quick then it's all over!'
Remember this advice Keybearer. Sometimes to find the light, you must look within the deepest part of the darkness…
Akurei-Shinzo: So how do you like it? Will Riku survive Kuro's next attack? How can he win if he doesn't have the Keyblades? To find out please review and I'll post up the next chapter! See you soon!