K² ::Rise K to the Second Keyblade::
Once people prayed to Blue Sky for something.
The craving for power gave birth to the Heartless.
The Heartless drove people to the depths of ruin.
And then it has calmed down.
--
Author's Notes: Tadaima! Welcome to the next segment of our hero's adventure. The last chapter of Fan-Enix's K² tankouban one! (laughs madly) Of course, the actual volume has a lot more chapters but this is fan fiction so everything's elongated. This chapter is the shortest chapter, besides the prologue, to be uploaded.
Dislcaimer: I have no money. I have no power. I have no ownership on three companies and their products. All characters are owned respectably. I own though, a cute colorful small multi-colored dolphin from the Jersey shore. (nods)
K-chan: And? What was that suppose to mean?
Tomogirl: Nothing. (shrugs and walks away)
K-chan: …. (stares)
Quotation Key:
"text"-quote
'text'-thoughts
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Chapter 4: Examination
A minute later, a big cloud of smoke just exploded in the middle of the room. Within it, came a silhouette of a girl.
"Welcome back Vice-Commander," bowed Aerith as Sophie stepped out of the smoke looking pleased.
"Although our mission wasn't that successful, at least we did get back the girl. The enemies will surely come back with bigger plans against us, but we'll find a way to always prevail. Now that we also have the keyblade master in our care, dealing with those heartless will be a piece of cake," Sophie ended with a wink. She then turned to Sora who only backed up a little with a timid expression.
"Before I Omega Warped myself here, I met someone who knew you. Your name is Sora, right?"
"Yeah! Uh… That someone must be Tidus. He's the only guy in the store who knows me better than anyone else."
"Wait.. Your name's Sora? Hahaha! I can't believe it! Your name's meaning…. It's just like the legend,--," Aerith clamped one hand over Yuffie's mouth, "mephasteroaingdomhertz," The shorter girl began to squirm crazily, but no matter how hard she tried, she'll never be able to break free.
"?", Sora looked at Yuffie questionably before returning his attention to Sophie.
"So, what else did Tidus say about me? Is he worried? Does he believe that I'm actually abducted by a UFO? Huh?"
"Actually, I don't know if this Tidus guy, you're talking about, is the same person. He didn't look like someone who would work in a store. He looked more like a spy wearing dark clothing and gloved hands."
"A what? Maybe Tidus is doing another one of his tricks again?"
"Does this Tidus walk on walls and have silver hair, by any chance?", Sophie specified, making sure her point is made clear enough. Sora paused. His eyes widened as he looked up at her.
"Say that again? A guy with silver hair? You sure he knows me?"
"Thought so," she ended with a sigh, "Listen, once you're done with your test, I'll explain the whole story to you."
"Not you too!"
"Relax kid. Everyone here had to take one." Sora still gave her a look of disaster, but complied as he felt Aerith lead him to another end of the room. He was given in for another surprise as both of them halted in front of an arm chair that's facing its back toward them.
"You may go now, Aerith," came a soft-spoken gentle voice, "I'll make sure that he's properly taken care of." The chair swerved around. Sitting on it was the short blonde hair girl with a huge sketchpad in her arms. She was dressed in a long white lab coat and her face was of pure emotionless.
"Yes," Aerith bowed before walking away.
"Hey! No, wait! Come back! On second thought, maybe…," Sora was starting to feel creeps from this woman as he turned stretching his hand toward Aerith's shrinking figure.
"Maybe what?", the blonde hair girl interjected standing up, "You want to be guarded against my supreme presence?"
"I--I..," Sora stuttered speechless of what else he could do.
"Little boy. It's time to see what's in your head, whether you like it…or not. Now, follow me," she swiftly walked toward a skinny door. Opening it up, Sora felt wind like never before coming through it. "Don't be afraid. Come in. Come in," the girl's voice swam through the door pulling the boy in. One single thought did float up somewhere around the room like a feather.
'I-am-not-a-little-boy!' (Completed with a vein)
Moments later…
"Just what is this thing!? I look like a monkey in this contraption," Sora stared hard at the girl as she was working on a gigantic keyboard. He couldn't believe, he was put up to such an exam. Arms and legs were strapped to this gigantic Frankesteinish metal board. His head had this huge bowl-shaped helmet on connected to a lot of wires. The wires lead down to several machines that were situated around the board. Two monitors were laid out in front of the girl as she was typing furiously, stopping here and then, in order to think.
"Listen. Even if everyone wants to keep me here, I don't think, I can stay here too long. I got work issues with the Boss, so I can't actually leave the island yet. Do you hear me!? Therefore, I think I need to go home now." The girl slowly turned her head at him and simply said two words to him.
"Be quiet." Sora's head snapped and his body froze instantly when he made eye contact with her.
'This..this girl. Who is she? Is she even human?' He watched with a numbness feeling all over him.
"Hmm," the girl spoke after twelve minutes has passed. She walked over to Sora and lifted up his chin with one finger.
"The brain, the heart, and the soul…are all disconnected."
"What does that mean?", Sora demanded through quenched teeth.
"It means….your I.Q. is low. It's not too low, but low. You keep asking all these questions. Some of them, you should've known a long time ago. You are the keyblade master after all."
"What? Just because now I have this gigantic key… Oops. Anyways, just because I have it, everyone can now call me the keyblade master? What is this master suppose to do anyway? Fight off all those monsters?"
"Tsk. More questions are being poured out of that little mouth of yours. Keep talking and you'll eventually find yourself talking to a wall."
"Hey! Look, I'm just a normal kid trying to make a living. Suddenly, I wind up on an adventure that takes me to another place and meet up with this strange little girl, Kairi. Could you at least spare me some details?"
"Finally, a more supportive question to what you've been seeking for."
"And can you stop talking in riddles?"
"No."
"……..," Sora gave her a grumpy look.
"To answer the question of adventure, you've been asking for one haven't you? Although you may have not realized it, deep within your heart, it was longing to venture to other worlds. To see boundaries that are beyond your wildest dreams like some fairytale syndrome."
"Ah."
"You and that girl, Hikari, are connected. Fated by the threads of this world and another world's destiny, you are both destined to save our worlds from complete disasters."
"Huh? You mean, Kairi's a keyblade master too?"
"No. She's a princess, as you've known before, but there is a deeper secret that she hides within her. Many years ago, the mainland country of Hollow Bastion was under siege. Its kind-hearted king was corrupted by the powers of darkness and was dethroned immediately. He went into hiding underneath the castle's basement where he began to build a secret base for himself. Soon, a division of our patrol managed to capture him, but he was able to escape once again. Hasn't been seen since then. The new king wasn't actually a good king either once he took power. He was greedy, and mean. Therefore, because of that, heartless were able to break the barriers of Hallow Bastion. Heartless are those black creatures who are born from the depths of the darkness in people's hearts. Mainly, nightmarish manifestations bred with negative energy just like the ones you've seen last night. They took over parts of the world. Somehow, they spared the greedy ruler out of his desperate pleads and decided to follow under his rule. Now, the word of Hikari's existence came to him briefly after the attack of the heartless. Hikari had some kind of power that's powerful enough to save worlds. The ruler feared her power, but at the same time, craved for it. That's why, Hikari was locked up in that safe by a keyblade master, and placed under sleep magic. Only a keyblade master has the ability to open it"
"You can't tell me that, that master was me who locked her up!? I wouldn't be able to--- I mean, that's---."
"Impossible? I didn't say it was you. I'm just saying, it might be. There are other keyblade wielders in other worlds. You, just happen to be an exception."
"That weird flashing light. Is that one of her own powers?"
"Yes, but there's something more basic than that which is at stake here."
"And what is it?"
"Think, and you might just remember. Just like how you remembered Hikari's true name."
"Hik…Kairi?"
"And possibly, learn to not ask so many questions, you have no understanding to."
"……."
Immediately after a moment of silence, the blonde haired girl started drawing something in her sketchbook.
"Are you going to just leave me here?", Sora asked with an impatient tone of voice. His arms really felt dead on the board since all of the blood felt like it flowed down into his stomach.
"Only when I'm fully done with my observations."
"Your drawing!? Ha! I bet you're mocking me right now."
"You don't even know what's on here."
"Oh yeah? It should be me, with two rabbit ears, big long goofy teeth, and a lion's tail!" In response to that quote, the girl turned her sketchbook over to show the boy. His face froze at the sight of it.
"There's nothing on it! It's just a blank piece of paper, but…you were drawing on it, weren't you?"
"When you've fully realized your potential, will you be able to see what I've drawn here," she ended softly before there was a series of repetitive knockings on the door, "Come in."
"Um," Yuffie walked in rather nervously at first, "Yes, I'm just here to ask when your little operation is going to be done."
"Oh, quite soon in fact."
"Ok-doki," Yuffie skipped happily toward Sora with a tremendous grin, "I guess, I'm in charge of showing you the ropes kid. The ship's pretty big so you'll definitely have the ability to get lost." The minute she mentioned the word 'ship', Sora's heart seemed to have skipped one beat.
"A ship!? You mean we're not in a building at all!?"
"You didn't show him yet, did you?", the blonde looked up at Yuffie, asking even in that same monotone voice.
"Nope. Might as well before he does go haywire without those restraints on his arms and legs," she clapped twice loudly. A little rumble occurred around the room. A large panel, that was on a wall in front of them, began to split into two. Once parted from each other, a window could be seen bearing a beautiful sky. Sora's jaw might've dropped if it could.
"Welcome to Hollow Bastion's First Air Patrol Unit Gummiship! One of the best ship in its fleet. It comes even with automatic soap dispensers," Yuffie had her eyes sparkling at the thought of it.
"I'm on a gummiship!? ….," Sora pondered endlessly as a certain memory aroused from the back of his mind, 'I remember a long time ago, an old man came by our store…."
"Here, my boy. I want you to have this," a familiar elderly man was handing Sora, who was on his roller blades, the small 'special' key, "Someday, you'll be going to far off worlds where they have their own battles, gigantic gummiships, and tales of incredible adventure. This key will open up that door for you. Just take good care of it, you hear? HARHARHAR!"
'He had a strange name too. Ohinakano or Ohinakana. Something like that,' Sora could only stare out into space now.
"Hey! You got a low I.Q.! Of course! Even a dummy could figure it out! Probably not you though," Yuffie was staring at Sora's score sheet with an even bigger grin on her face. She noticed that he wasn't listening to her. "You there!? Kid?", Yuffie kept waving her hand in front of his face, but it appeared, his mind has been somewhere else for quite sometime, "Sigh. I know, you'll grow eventually. That's why, I'm bullying you so I can hopefully snap you into reality. Although, I don't think it's working yet. I can't wait to get into a nice decent conversation with you!"
"Huh? You said something?", Sora blinked and looked at Yuffie with a clueless expression. She smirked and pointed directly at him.
"I psyched you! Mwahaha!"
"What? What?," Sora kept twisting his head right and left, not understanding one single thing she just said. Question marks popped all over the place.
"Ignore her. She's just jealous," the blonde looked up briefly before looking back down at her sketch pad. Sora sweatdropped realizing that he'll get no straight answer from both of them.
--
In a dark dismal room somewhere else in the ship, the man, known as the Commander, was staring hard at the little red head. She looked on, as usual, innocently at him
"You know that your awakening will start a set of devastations that may befall this world, and countless of others. Yet, you chose to be awakened. Is there something important coming our way? Tell me."
-----
"Ah-Ahhhh!", a voice was yelling in one of the large rooms that looked like a library. Sounds of layered 'booms' and 'bams' came right after the 'ahs'. Mr. Porter dropped a water bucket onto a table and ran straight down a long hallway.
"You alright, miss? That sound, just seconds ago, didn't sound good at all," he poked his head through the room's tall door. He found Kairi sitting on the floor with thousands of books scrambled all around her.
"I'm fine," she gave her usual smile, "I guess, it's not easy after all when dealing with so many books at once."
"Woah there. You got it all wrong. Holding these many books might just make you extremely smart. HARHAR!", the old man helped Kairi up and bended down onto his knees in order to help pick up some of the fallen books., "It's ok if you carry several books at a time. There's no need to hurry in this type of place."
Kairi nodded as she bended down to pick up the other fallen books. Once they were both done, she began to spin in order to see every corner of the room.
"One thing that amazes me are the amount of books that are stored here. I didn't realize it before without remembering that this is a castle…"
"Ah. These are just here to help keep me company. Since I don't get that many visitors here, I'll always come here to entertain myself. A lot of these books existed way back when this kingdom was fully running with prosperity."
"I see…," Kairi's voice faded off as her attention was once again caught with a large stain glass window that's situated at the far end of the library. A glow of light was bobbing up and down somewhere in the darkness. This time, it seemed to have stayed rooted in one place.
"Mr. Porter?" she looked back at the elder with eyes of wonder, "What's he searching for?"
The old man looked at the window with a weary expression for what felt like two long minutes. Kairi found herself a seat on one of the stack of library books. She watched the window amusedly until Mr. Porter turned his attention back to her.
"No matter how many times, I keep telling him, he just wouldn't listen to me."
"Eh? Pardon?", the girl tilted her head a little showing she's confused..
"That boy, Sora," Mr. Porter stared straight into her eyes solemnly, "He's searching for a way out of here. An exit…"
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A.N.: There are actual automatic soap dispensers in Japan therefore, what Yuffie says fits. Moving on.. Yay! The K² Teaser Trailer! This is based on the R² teaser trailer found at the end of volume one. I can't actually believe I pulled everything off until now (although, it's believable). Now, I'll have to figure out how to place each of these quotes in the next future chapters. Hoohoo.... Since, it should happen that all of these quotes should be appearing in the second tankouban (or beyond it). Maybe, I should buy the Japanese second tankouban? Hmmmmm.... (rubs hands together) This is the Fan-Enix world though so, I'm definitely going to butcher the stories. P.S.: These quotes won't tell you who's saying them, but you can sort of guess who is who. One can tell that Yuffie's quote didn't make it to the trailer.
Tetsuya: Now, you've gone too far. (raises his knife)
Maki: Yes. I agree. (raises her knife too)
Together: We shall now send a virus to your computer and corrupt your files.
Tomogirl: Noooooo!!!
Special: The K² Teaser Trailer
Once people prayed to Blue Sky for something.
The craving for power gave birth to the HEARTLESS.
The HEARTLESS drove people to the depths of ruin.
And then it has calmed down.
Through the foggy depths of an empty kingdom.
A girl was knocking on the gates of her own destiny.
In paradise, surrounded by water.
A boy saw a falling star on a clear night.
There's danger to be faced.
"I told you, leave the rest up to me."
Tied by two keys.
"And what if I don't want to go in!?"
Their paths will cross once more.
"I've come from a world that was once filled with light."
Secrets are found that were once shredded in darkness.
"You've been given a mission. Hurry up or you'll ultimately fail."
As the door to Kingdom Hearts will finally open.
"I have to save Kairi!"
The rise to the next keyblade is already here.
Are you ready?