Akurei-Shinzo: Hello! I'm back! The summer's almost over, but this fic is far from it! And I'm going to high school! So expect slower updates when school starts! I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any other anime characters, except for a few that are from my own stories.
Chapter 12: Through the Maze
The underground maze that was located beneath the coliseum was a dark, musty place. Cobwebs covered the walls as well as dark stains that resembled horribly like blood. Luckily there were some torches lit in the corridors so they could see where they were going. Kurama had explained earlier that his friend, Yusuke, had rushed in this very place to save his girlfriend, Keiko, from the clutches of a strange creature. His other two friends, Hiei and Kuwabara, had rushed into this place with Yusuke as well, but when Kurama tried to follow them the entranced was sealed up and Heartless appeared out of nowhere and began to attack.
"I wanna go home…" mutter Zeero, shivering from fear.
"Come on Zeero," said Riku. "You're a demon, why should you be afraid of dark, musty mazes underground?"
"I hate spiders, had a very bad experience with a spider-demon at one point."
"What happened?"
"Uh, let's not talk about it. I'm still having nightmares about it."
"Fine, say Kurama," said Riku. "Do you have any idea where your friends could be?"
"I'm sensing spirit energy from one of my friends, probably Hiei," replied Kurama. "But it is very faint right now…"
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They had been walking around the maze for several hours, so it seemed, Riku had found some chests that held strange red/white balls, they turned out to be Poke balls and where immediately transferred to Professor Oak back in Shin City.
"I smell something really bad," said Zeero after several moments of silence.
"Same here," commented Kurama. "There's something near by with a terrible odor."
"I don't smell anything," said Riku, but then they hear a deafening roar come from the next room.
"What was that?" asked Kurama.
"Let's go!" shouted Riku as they charged towards the door.
But Zeero didn't go with them as they went into the door; instead he looked over to his left and saw another door. He hesitated and looked at Riku and Kurama entering the other room, but he felt that someone, or something in that other room needed help, and fast. So he rushed off in the other direction, both doors then slammed shut and locked themselves.
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Bam! Riku and Kurama turned around to see the door had slammed shut, Riku ran towards it and tried to get it open, it was no use. The door was locked tight.
"The door won't open!" panted Riku as he pulled on the handle.
"Where's Zeero?" asked Kurama. Riku then noticed that the other fox-demon wasn't with them. Could he be on the other side?
Riku didn't have much time to think where Zeero was, because at that moment a metallic monster appeared out of nowhere! It looked like a gigantic metal dragon; only it also represented a chicken! What a weird combination!
"What is that?" asked Riku.
"I don't know, but I don't think it's here to greet us."
The thing gave a roar that caused several rocks from above to collapse down on them. Luckily they managed to dodge the stones, if that thing didn't crush them first, it would burry them alive! Kurama reached behind his hair.
"Rose whip!" he yelled. The whip just banged against the steel, only leaving a simple scratch.
"This can't be good! Wait, I have an idea!" shouted Riku. Behind him was a chest with three Pokeballs. "Please be something useful!"
"Pidgey!"
"Rattatta!"
"Weedle!"
A bird, a rat, and a bug popped out, saw the beast, and returned into their safe little homes. Riku and Kurama sweatdropped. That wasn't much help.
"Let's try that again," said Riku holding up his Keyblades. "Signal!"
The android appeared out of the light that shot out of the Keyhole. Signal saw the dragon and charged at it. Unfortunately he bounced off like of the dragon like a rubber ball on a concrete wall. Signal landed with a crash and vanished, looks like he won't be of any help for some time!
"What are we going to do?" panicked Riku.
Before the dragon got any closer another dragon, completely black, shot out of the shadows. It resembled fire, and it burned the metal dragon into a pile of ashes!
"I know that attack!" said Kurama. "It's Hiei!"
A short guy with black hair sticking up came out of the shadows, his eyes reminded on of the color of blood.
"You know him?" asked Riku.
"Who is this, Kurama?" asked the guy sharply, glaring at Riku.
After all the explanations about the Keyblade the gang decided it was time to look for Zeero. Luckily they didn't have to look far. In fact, he came screaming down the hallway carrying something on his back.
"Mommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed the fox-demon as he ran by, with a cloud of smoke and Heartless after him.
With a rose whip, Kurama managed to take out the pest problem. When Zeero calmed down enough to come out of the shadows Riku noticed that he was carrying someone on his back! Whoever it was he was really beat up!
"It's Kuwabara!" exclaimed Kurama.
"Looks like the idiot tangled with something stronger than him," said Hiei without much emotion.
"Zeero," instructed Riku. "Get this guy outside so someone can heal him."
"No problem," replied the demon. "I was hoping I was the one who can get out of this creepy place…"
With that the fox-demon lifted up Kuwabara ("Whoa! He's heavy!" squealed Zeero) and trudged off to find an exit. The gang watched as Zeero whined and dragged the unconscious Kuwabara off into the shadows.
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Riku, Kurama, and Hiei ran down the hallway to search for Yusuke. Riku had just learned that when the door closed off the entrance to the basement of the coliseum, the Spirit Detectives who were trapped inside had been separated by a mysterious creature (a Heartless). What could the Heartless be planning to do?
They ran until the saw a door up ahead open on it's own, revealing a blinding light. When Riku's eyes got use to the light he noticed that inside the room was a boy with raven-colored hair trying to fight off what looked like a gigantic fish!
"What is that?" asked Riku. The fish turned its attention to Riku and the others.
"Get out of here!" shouted the boy, who Riku assumed, was Yusuke. The fish began to shape shift, its body began to stretch out and his fins melted into its body. The face flattened and shaped into a triangular shape, two sharp fangs glistened brightly in the dim light.
"What kind of Heartless is that?" asked Hiei.
"Whatever it is it seems to have the ability to change its shape into whatever it wants," said Kurama.
Before anyone could make a move, the snake tilted its head upwards, as if it was listening to something, or someone… The ground began to shake and a dark portal appeared under Riku.
"Ah!" yelled Riku as dark tentacles dragged him into the darkness below. Yusuke and the others watched as Riku disappeared beneath the shadows. The snake gave a cry and vanished into thin air. The basement was beginning to collapse!
"We have to get out of here!" yelled Hiei.
"What about Riku?" asked Kurama.
"Never mind him!" exclaimed Yusuke. "We're running out of time!"
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Riku landed on a barren wasteland, not like anywhere he had been before. Everything here looked like it was ready to die, nothing here seemed to breathe…
"So we meet again," said dark, emotionless voice. Riku turned to see the boy who had claimed to be the source of all Heartless.
"You again!" yelled Riku as he glared at the boy. "Just who are you?"
"You should know very well who I am…"
"What do you mean?"
"I am your past, present, and future," said the boy turning to face him. "Riku…I am you!"
The boy removed his blindfold, and for the first time Riku looked into the eyes of this evil being. Those were his eyes he was staring into, except they were empty of emotion. But still, those were his eyes…
Remember this advice Keybearer. Sometimes to find the light, you must look within the deepest part of the darkness…
Akurei-Shinzo: Sorry it took so long to update, and I'll be at a camp for a while and then I'm going to high school! So I'm really sorry if I can't update fast! But I'm not dead okay?! Please R&R!